CHAPTER 568: CHAPTER 290

The old woman dispelled her entire cultivation power, released a half-hearted firecracker with a bang, and then there was no more.

Xu Qing was somewhat apprehensive; this old lady’s daoist skills had exceeded his understanding. In the cultivation systems of both cultivators and demons, at the very least, she would be an extraordinary old monster who had surpassed the millennium tribulation.

Based on the bits and pieces of information revealed by the old woman, Xu Qing roughly guessed her criteria for finding a ’scapegoat.’ It had to be someone with a kind heart, a great wish to rescue and save the world, and a fate strong enough not to fear the calamities of life and death. Only those meeting these criteria could be chosen by her.

Luckily, he was cautious and did not let his true self take action. Otherwise, if the old woman had found something amiss, who knows what kind of trouble might have arisen.

After all, he was fundamentally not some ’immortal seedling’ with a hard fate and several lives to spare.

What fate, what life force could a zombie have?

Xu Qing even suspected that the aura of death on him might provoke the old woman before him. If she regards him as a stand-in wandering the secular world sent by a Netherworld Corpse, and reverses course to eliminate demons and uphold the dao, wouldn’t that be unfortunate?

The old woman died, at least she seemed dead.

But Xu Qing still did not dare to let his true form come over to help her pass on; people like the old woman were dirtier in their hearts than anyone else, full of schemes; who knew if she was truly dead or faking it?

On the god’s altar in the Incense Hall, a wisp of bloody incense fire appeared on the fingertip of the Goddess of Safe Birth statue. The incense fire was like a ribbon, rolling up the magic sword carried behind the statue of the child to protect birth, and mercilessly nailing it toward the old woman!

About half a cup of tea later, Xu Qing finally confirmed the authenticity of the goods before him.

Pure, very pure, extremely pure!

The purity of this corpse was no less than any corpse he had previously helped to pass on; it was absolutely dead beyond death.

"Was this old woman really so selfless, willing to give up her life for a vague hope? If so, why didn’t she choose to become the one to face the tribulation herself?"

Xu Qing always felt that the death of the old woman was scheming something, but did she really think she could take all her secrets to the grave with her?

The Goddess of Safe Birth statue returned to silence as a tall figure stretched into the Incense Hall under the moonlight from outside.

At the end of the long shadow was a young man with a white face, wearing a funeral robe, holding a mountain-splitting axe.

Even after repeated confirmations, when Xu Qing approached the old woman’s body, he still pinched the eighteen-layer Tiangang Axe formula.

Fortunately, there was no danger. When he reached out to touch the old woman’s body, the Sutra of Salvation slowly turned its pages.

This time, the Sutra of Salvation unlocked new cutscenes, and Xu Qing saw the depths of the Underworld, where the Wangchuan River twisted like a bloody python, with blood waves surging while skeletal ghosts floated up and down.

In a certain stretch of the river, an ancient bluestone bridge straddled above it, with an additional small gold bridge, a small silver bridge, and a small iron bridge dividing it in the middle.

The gold bridge was wide and bright, exuding an awe-inspiring aura; the silver bridge was covered like moonlight, not wide but able to accommodate three to five people walking side by side.

Only the iron thread bridge was narrow as a suspended wire, barely wide enough for one person to stand on with two feet. If any ghost crowded or lost balance, they would inevitably fall into the tumultuous Santu River.

The Sutra of Salvation continued to flip its pages, with many familiar figures flashing over the bridge, all of whom were corpses Xu Qing had once helped to pass on.

On the gold bridge, the figures of Hu Baosong, the foolish monk, and dozens of others walked past.

On the silver bridge, more than two thousand figures lined up, treating each other with respect, with no one cutting in line to disturb the order.

Finally, on the iron thread bridge, over ten thousand people crowded in, jostling like dumplings being placed in a pot. Shadowy figures occasionally fell into the roaring river waters, eventually washed clean by the river, with only skeletal bones left floating with the current or dragged into the water and consumed by the river’s shadowy, unnamed massive forms...

The forbidden images flashed by. At the end of the bluestone bridge spanning the Santu River stood an unattended tea pavilion, and in front of the tea pavilion was a huge food cauldron. However, the bone-filled kindling beneath it had ceased to burn.

When Xu Qing saw this, for some reason, he felt inexplicably thirsty, like a key page of cultivation technique was missing during martial arts practice or skipping an important class while attending school.

But the feeling was fleeting; as he felt thirsty, the Unstable Black Water within his body surged. The water corpse’s characteristic of controlling water cleared all negative states on him in an instant.

Xu Qing had an epiphany: zombies do not belong within the six realms; many material laws that could affect the soul do not work on zombies.

This was a common trait among all zombies, regardless of rank.

If one attains mastery in cultivation and achieves the status of a Corpse Immortal, they can transcend beyond the three realms and five elements, truly becoming an immortal, indestructible being.

But before reaching Corpse Immortal status, there are celestial corpse paths like Kui Ba to follow; mastering five kinds of celestial corpses, and then advancing to Corpse Immortal, what kind of scene would that be?

Xu Qing’s thoughts traveled along with the cutscenes to the end of the bluestone bridge, and only then did the old woman’s magic lantern begin to run.

There was a towering dead tree with claws reaching skyward, and beneath it were three thousand old women leaning on gourd-headed canes. They looked exactly alike, and if not for their ancient robes, Xu Qing would have thought he had entered some mechanized crisis or artificial factory.

The old women were gathered in front of the dead tree, and at this moment, Xu Qing was one of the ’old women.’

Under the dead tree was a roughly constructed altar made of blackened soil, on which lay heads of demon-like creatures resembling ox heads, sheep heads, and dog heads, along with other primitive and ancient objects exuding a sense of antiquity.

Bone-inscribed turtle shells, masked ritual face masks, flags, horns, and an ancient stone monument inscribed with tadpole runes, standing alongside a vertically erected red coffin.