Chapter 230

‘This Spiritual Master Bai Mu is actually fighting me to the death? Has he truly gone mad?’

‘Could divine ability injuries even affect a person's mind?’

A moment later, the endless azure radiance filling the sky finally dissipated.

Golden light blazed across Fang Qing's body as dragon-elephant roars echoed from within him. The flames of Ignorance Illuminating Ashes raged fiercely around him as both hands exerted force, tearing apart a strange azure-scaled creature.

The monster resembled a merman. Its upper body was human while its lower half was that of a fish. It had emerged from the rain itself, intending to launch a surprise attack.

Unfortunately for it, this Duzi was renowned for his Vajra Strength. His qi-blood and physical body were astonishingly powerful.

He had simply grabbed the merman and ripped it in half.

In an instant, the azure drizzle filling the heavens ceased.

The curtain of rain that had isolated the battlefield vanished, revealing the figures of Sangji, Moonlight White, Peacock, and the others.

However, both Dumu, Moonlight White and Peacock, appeared noticeably weakened. Their auras were dim, and they seemed to have suffered severe injuries.

Meanwhile, Sangji stood with palms pressed together, silently recalling his White Bone Sarira while chanting a rebirth scripture.

"This..."

Fang Qing turned toward the grove of solitary trees.

There he saw Spiritual Master Bai Mu slumped against a banyan tree. The vines and wooden growths covering his body had snapped apart. Hideous cracks covered him from head to toe, while streams of azure water surged endlessly from within.

Even now, his Purple Mansion Dharma Body continued swelling uncontrollably.

'This Purple Mansion cultivator... is about to fall?'

Shock rose within Fang Qing's heart.

Although he had witnessed several Purple Mansion deaths before, seeing a Purple Mansion Spiritual Master personally undergo Dao transformation before his eyes felt entirely different.

"Why must Spiritual Master go this far?"

Fang Qing sighed softly.

"This old man has long been trapped by injuries to my divine abilities. My lifespan was already exhausted."

For the first time, Bai Mu's face no longer appeared calm. Instead, it carried a relieved smile.

"I forcibly suppressed my wounds and fought against all of you. In truth, I had already reached the end of my strength."

"Now that the upper sect has abandoned us, where is there any path to survival?"

After speaking, he glanced around him.

"After this old man dies, this place will become a Bitter Spring."

"The spring water will carry a faint bitterness. Men who touch it shall drown. Beasts who drink it shall perish."

"How pitiful... Three generations of treasured lands belonging to my Eastern Water Bai Family. Today they shall become a cursed land."

He spoke no further.

Pain gradually filled his expression.

Purple qi swirled around his body as though he were beginning to merge with heaven and earth itself.

Moments later, his figure gradually became translucent like mist and smoke. Faint radiance shone through his body.

Suddenly, Bai Mu trembled.

The purple qi erupted from him like a breached floodgate, surging outward in every direction.

His Purple Mansion Dharma Body melted away like spring snow.

Drop after drop transformed into crystal-clear beads of water that drifted gently to the ground.

The droplets gathered together, forming winding streams that flowed across the earth.

The moment the water appeared, its color was already dark and gloomy, as though it concealed endless suffering.

Wherever it passed, vegetation withered.

Insects died.

All life seemed unable to endure the misery contained within the bitter water.

The foul spring water continued overflowing, pouring into every spirit spring of the Eastern Water Bai Family.

One after another, the formerly pure springs became contaminated.

A bitter, corrupted water aura spread throughout the land.

"When Purple Mansion Spiritual Masters undergo Dao-transformation upon death, they either become a blessed land or transform into a cursed land."

"The rarest outcome is becoming some kind of demonic or malevolent entity."

Feeling the corrupt water aura rushing toward him, Fang Qing extended a hand.

A spring that had not yet been completely polluted suddenly began boiling.

A concentrated essence emerged from its depths and flew into Fang Qing's palm.

It was none other than the Dao Foundation spiritual object he had desperately desired back when he reached Qi Ingestion perfection:

Heavenly Wind Spirit Spring!

Unfortunately, the spiritual object now emitted faint black bitterness.

Most of it had already been contaminated.

Before purification, any Qi Ingestion cultivator attempting to use it for Dao Foundation breakthrough would undoubtedly die.

"Old Ancestor!"

Bai Mulin stumbled through the now-cursed landscape.

His expression seemed caught somewhere between laughter and tears.

He knelt before the White Bone Dharma King.

"The Eastern Water Bai Family... ends here."

After speaking, he slammed his forehead to the ground.

Blood immediately poured from all seven orifices.

He committed suicide on the spot.

"We surrender!"

With both the family's ancestor and patriarch dead, the remaining Bai Family cultivators lost all will to resist.

One after another, they knelt and begged for mercy.

Sangji handled matters skillfully.

He ordered people to register the captives, inventory the population, and seize the clan treasury.

At the same time, he instructed all cultivators to stay far away from the Bitter Drowning Spring.

The place had already become a Cursed Land.

Ordinary Qi Ingestion cultivators who touched its waters would likely drown immediately.

Even Dao Foundation cultivators would suffer considerable harm if they remained there too long.

'No matter what, the White Bone Dao's campaign has succeeded.'

Yet Fang Qing still felt something was wrong.

Purple Mansion Spiritual Masters were beings of extraordinary status.

How could one simply die so easily?

And yet the signs of Dao-transformation and the corrupt water aura could not be faked.

Only the death of a divine ability cultivator could produce such phenomena.

'And Bai Mulin as well...'

'A clan patriarch choosing death along with the clan? Was he really that resolute?'

Descending from the air, Fang Qing arrived before the surrendered Bai Family members.

"Does the Bai Family treasury contain any [Ji Water] Purple Mansion spiritual objects?"

"And what about Purple Mansion cultivation methods?"

A middle-aged cultivator immediately stepped forward, his face covered in flattering smiles.

"Reporting to the Vajra Strength Duzi, our treasury contains no Purple Mansion spiritual objects."

He hurried over to rummage through Bai Mulin's corpse before respectfully presenting several jade slips while kneeling.

"As for Purple Mansion cultivation methods, only the Old Ancestor and Patriarch possessed complete copies."

Fang Qing accepted them and swept through them with his divine sense.

His expression immediately froze.

"Destroyed?"

Large sections of the jade slips were blank and shattered.

Before his death, Bai Mulin had ruthlessly destroyed the Bai Family's Purple Mansion inheritance. If he had done this, then there was an overwhelming chance that Bai Mu himself had not left behind any complete inheritance either.

'Doesn't that mean...'

'Hidden Forest Bank is gone?'

Fang Qing's face darkened instantly.

"Spare us, Duzi! Spare us!"

"This was entirely Bai Mulin's doing!"

The Bai Family cultivators repeatedly kowtowed, tails wagging like dogs begging for mercy.

"He still has direct descendants alive! We will immediately hunt them down and kill them!"

"Forget it."

Fang Qing waved his sleeve dismissively.

"Even if all of you died, would the Forest Creek Deer-Sighting Art suddenly leap out on its own?"

With that, he turned and returned to the White Bone Dao camp.

Night gradually fell.

...

Fang Qing sat cross-legged, calculating karmic threads.

‘The Bai Family's ancestral land has transformed into a Bitter Drowning Spring. It's completely ruined now. However, when evil reaches its extreme, purity may arise from corruption. Thirty-three years from now, a Purple Mansion spiritual object known as the Cloud-Clearing Spirit Ripple may emerge there.’

The Cloud-Clearing Spirit Ripple was a decent Purple Mansion spiritual object. It symbolized clear springs nourishing all things after long droughts and lingering clouds. However, it could not help a cultivator at Dao Foundation perfection break through to Purple Mansion.

Its primary uses were alchemy or the refinement of Purple Mansion treasures aligned with the authority of [Ji Water].

As for the treasures on Spiritual Master Bai Mu's person, Sangji had naturally inspected them personally. No inheritance related to Purple Mansion divine abilities had been found.

The only truly valuable item was the Purple Mansion treasure, the Water-Parting Ring.

With a flick of Fang Qing's hand, a jade-green ring appeared before him.

Sangji had been unable to properly wield a Purple Mansion treasure. Naturally, he had offered it up respectfully to Fang Qing, this revered one.

“A fine treasure indeed.”

After refining it slightly, Fang Qing quickly understood its three profound abilities.

The first was called [Water-Parting], whose power he had witnessed personally during today's battle.

The second was [Spring Guest], which could summon a type of [Ji Water] spirit known as a Spring Guest, beings whose appearance resembled merfolk.

The third was a healing ability called [Healing Spring]. It could summon a warm spring capable of gradually restoring injuries suffered by a Purple Mansion Dharma Body. The process was slow, but effective.

‘With a healing divine ability like this, Bai Mu still remained heavily injured all this time... Just how severe were his wounds originally?’

Fang Qing felt that something about the matter was strange. It was as though he had overlooked something important, yet could not remember what it was.

Immediately, he circulated the Plum Blossom Divination Technique.

Several plum blossoms drifted down, forming the Hexagram of Humility.

“Humility?”

Fang Qing murmured.

“'The gentleman examines himself thrice each day'. So there truly is something I've overlooked?”

“Overlooked...”

“Hidden Forest Bank?!”

His teeth clenched.

Silently, he connected with his golden finger.

‘Dao-Genesis Pearl!’

The Dao-Genesis Pearl spun gently.

Rosy clouds surged. Clear and turbid qi revolved.

At that instant, it seemed as though a layer of dust had been swept away from Fang Qing's eyes. His spiritual perception abruptly expanded.

He rose to his feet and stepped out of the tent.

Soon, he arrived at the camp where the Bai Family prisoners were being held.

His gaze swept across the area.

His expression remained unchanged.

Then he turned toward the direction of the Bitter Drowning Spring.

Inside, however, he was cursing furiously.

‘Bai Mu, you old bastard...’

He had just seen Spiritual Master Bai Mu again!

Naturally, it was not a ghost.

Rather, Bai Mu was currently residing within a Bai Family youth through his divine ability.

The youth had surrendered before Fang Qing's very eyes today and was now imprisoned within the camp.

In Fang Qing's enhanced vision, the youth appeared dazed and confused, his face filled with fear and panic.

Behind him, however, Bai Mu's lower body had transformed into countless vines that wrapped around the youth's limbs and dantian.

The man himself hid behind the boy like some kind of lingering spirit.

Above the camp, Moonlight White Dumu sat upon her towering golden body, chanting scriptures.

She glanced downward briefly when she noticed Fang Qing emerge.

Yet she detected absolutely nothing.

A living Purple Mansion Spiritual Master was hiding right beneath everyone's noses.

And neither Fang Qing, Moonlight White Dumu, Peacock Dumu, nor even Dharma King Sangji had noticed him.

‘I'm cultivating immortality, not raising ghosts.’

Fang Qing inwardly complained.

At the same time, he quietly began calculating karmic connections.

Now that the metaphorical leaf obscuring his vision had been removed, his thoughts became incomparably clear.

Combining this new insight with his previous deductions, he quickly reconstructed most of the truth.

‘This must be the effect of the divine ability Hidden Forest Bank!’

‘The way it governs concealment within water is truly astonishing!’

‘Its greatest use isn't combat or stealth at all.’

‘It's concealing heavenly secrets and extending one's lifespan by escaping death!’

‘A tree hides within a forest. Water hides within the sea.’

‘The true profundity of this divine ability is likely that when Bai Mu was on the verge of death, he used Hidden Forest Bank to conceal his true spirit within his own bloodline and live a second life!’

‘Because he hid among his descendants, he avoided the flaw of "a single tree cannot form a forest." That's why neither Sangji nor I noticed anything.’

Of course, such a death-avoiding technique undoubtedly carried flaws.

For example, Bai Mu's divine ability, Long-Awaited Sweet Rain, had genuinely undergone Dao Transformation.

His cultivation had regressed significantly.

He was now merely an early Purple Mansion cultivator possessing a single divine ability.

Having determined the outcome first, Fang Qing found it remarkably easy to reverse-engineer the entire process.

‘In that case, Bai Mulin's death was simply to silence him.’

‘After all, if I obtained the Forest Creek Deer-Sighting Art, Bai Mu's little trick would immediately be exposed.’

‘And thinking back on it, when we traded before, the Bai Family handed over Long-Awaited Sweet Rain instead of Hidden Forest Bank. That itself was suspicious.’

‘How could a Purple Mansion clan casually hand over its clan-defining divine ability first?’

‘If it were me, I would certainly trade away Hidden Forest Bank first and hold back Long-Awaited Sweet Rain.’

‘Unless Hidden Forest Bank itself concealed some secret!’

A smile appeared on Fang Qing's face.

‘Brilliant.’

‘This way, Spiritual Master Bai Mu has truly "died."’

‘From now on, he no longer needs to involve himself in the mess between two Golden Core sects. The seas are vast and the skies are broad.’

His eyes gradually brightened.

‘This Hidden Forest Bank divine ability is actually quite useful.’

‘In fact, there are many aspects worth learning from.’

As a cultivator primarily aligned with [Ji Water], whose attainments were already profound, Fang Qing quickly discerned the weakness of the divine ability.

‘A lone tree cannot conceal itself.’

‘Therefore, if one wishes to deceive the heavens and cross the sea in this manner, one must use a bloodline clan as the "forest" providing cover.’

‘The stronger the clan and the more descendants sharing the bloodline, the greater the effect.’

At that thought, a strange expression appeared on his face.

‘Looking at it this way, the Fang Family is actually somewhat useful?’

Bai Mu's false-death escape scheme was something Fang Qing could replicate immediately after reaching Purple Mansion.

At that time, he could easily use a member of the Fang Family to deceive heaven and earth, allowing him to avoid the most dangerous periods of war.

Unfortunately...

A trace of regret surfaced in his eyes.

‘I'm still not a Purple Mansion cultivator yet...’