Chapter 403: This Immortal Uses the Top Corpse Driving Technique

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The ancestral hall.

"It seems the villagers frequent this place. Look, there is so much food set out before the spirit tablets."

Meng Jingzhou remarked with a touch of surprise. The ancestral hall was swept clean and brightly lit, and the offerings of mantou and pickled vegetables arrayed before the tablets were remarkably austere.

"Indeed, and the food is still hot."

Lu Yang observed that wisps of steam were still rising from the steamed buns, as though they had only recently left the wicker steamer.

"Seeing this makes me hungry. Let us have a bite."

From his identity jade token, Meng Jingzhou produced several portions of prepared food. These were delicacies he had purchased from the commercial street, dishes whose consumption offered significant benefit to one's cultivation base.

Such was the wondrous utility of a spiritual chef.

At the sight of these provisions, Lu Yang was reminded of the immortal chef residing within his own spiritual space; the meals prepared by her hands would be of vastly greater assistance to his cultivation.

Reflecting on this, Lu Yang’s heart grew heavy.

With a flick of his hand, Lu Yang cast forth a cluster of Samadhi True Fire. No kindling or branches were required; a mere thread of spiritual energy was sufficient to sustain the burning of this divine flame for a long time.

The two of them placed their food over the Samadhi True Fire to roast and heat, and the already savory dishes grew increasingly enticing.

"Speaking of which, since the Eldest Senior Sister is absent, do you not know the Lu Family Pictographic Boxing? Would it not suffice to simply summon her?" Jingzhou mused on a sudden whim, conceiving what he deemed the most convenient resolution, for that venerable lady would surely remain untouched by the backlash of karmic retribution.

Lu Yang cast a sideways glance at Meng Jingzhou, thinking that it was easy for him to suggest such a recourse when he was not the one performing the invocation.

"Consider the times I have entreated Eldest Senior Sister to descend—was it ever for anything less than a crisis of life and death? This trifling karmic backlash of yours is hardly a momentous affair. If we call her hither and she discovers it is for such a business, do you suppose she will first resolve your karmic retribution, or resolve you?"

Meng Jingzhou envisioned the Eldest Senior Sister being summoned by Lu Yang, listening to the origins and consequences of the matter, and subsequently fixing her cold gaze upon him as though he were a dead man, causing a chill to rise from the depths of his soul.

"Then... then let us forget it. We had best resolve this karmic backlash by our own efforts."

Lu Yang continued to explain: "Furthermore, Eldest Senior Sister manages ten thousand affairs a day, and the tasks she undertakes are of far greater consequence. Were I to disturb her and cause her to err, or delay her undertakings, what then?"

This was precisely why Lu Yang would not lightly summon the Eldest Senior Sister. Though one might entreat her aid to resolve difficulties when encountered,

doing so would, on one hand, deprive them of the opportunity for refinement, and on the other, given her profound cultivation, the matters she attended to were of vital importance and could not be lightly disrupted.

Unless confronted with an inescapable precipice of life and death, Lu Yang would not invite her presence.

"It is a pity the Grand Elder is not here; otherwise, with his venerable experience, he ought to have been able to provide an alternative answer."

Though they knew not what business had taken the Grand Elder abroad, Meng Jingzhou could well divine that, in all probability, he had gone to construct tombs.

Judging by the Grand Elder's frequent habit of fashioning tombs and filling them with zombies, Meng Jingzhou found it impossible to believe that the old man shared no commercial dealings with the Corpse Driving Sect.

The Grand Elder possessed a profound cultivation base and vast experience; perhaps he would know how to contend with such a situation, or else direct them to whom they should seek within the Desolate Province.

"It is said that the Desolate Province has possessed the tradition of corpse driving since antiquity. One hundred thousand years ago, when the Great Yu Dynasty collapsed and the realm fell into chaotic ruin, uprisings erupted everywhere. In this region, slaughter became an entangled mess, rivers of blood flowed, and corpses littered the wild. Many of those remains underwent cadaveric mutation, which gave rise to a great multitude of corpse-driving artisans. A faction of these artisans banded together for mutual warmth, ultimately establishing a sect—which is the present Corpse Driving Sect." Meng Jingzhou pointed to a passage in the *Cultural Geography of the Desolate Province* as he spoke.

"Spoken of thus, the custom of corpse driving is indeed quite ancient." Lu Yang remarked with emotion. To him, an epoch one hundred thousand years ago was already a remarkably distant era; even the Dao Seeking Sect, one of the most ancient institutions, possessed a history of a mere one hundred and twenty thousand years.

"Corpse driving is far older than you imagine." The Immortal Fairy spoke up at the opportune moment.

"The art of corpse driving existed in the ancient era?"

The Immortal Fairy smacked her lips, recalling the magnificent years of yore: "More or less, though in those days everyone's techniques for driving corpses were varied and strange, and the incantations cast to manipulate the remains had no unified name. It is not like the present, where they are collectively termed the Art of Corpse Driving.

"You still remember that fool who could command reality with his spoken words, do you not? With nothing but his mouth, he could drive corpses, and his prowess was formidable indeed. Whenever he encountered a powerful foe, he would dive into a graveyard and shout a single command, whereupon the corpses within the burial ground would vie with one another to emerge. It was exceedingly terrifying, one of the formidable adversaries I encountered."

To be designated a fool by the Immortal Fairy indicated that the individual was truly, unmistakably witless.

Lu Yang remembered this fool, whose words became law and who was exceedingly difficult to deal with. Renowned throughout the ancient era, he was one of the few individuals with the greatest hope of achieving immortality, and legends of him persisted in later generations; yet he had been ambushed by the Immortal Fairy, who cried out, "This hurts me to death," whereupon he truly perished.

"There was also that fellow who formed the Harem Golden Core. Through a stroke of serendipitous fortune, he cultivated a beautiful female zombie. Over a long period of mutual adjustment, the beautiful zombie developed emotions, and after she ascended to the rank of a Draugr, she seemed truly resurrected, becoming one of that fellow's harem."

Lu Yang also recalled this individual of the Harem Golden Core, who possessed countless beauties and a vast harem. With the assistance of various beautiful women, he cultivated the methods of the He Huan Sect, indulging in pleasure night after night, and his cultivation base advanced by leaps and bounds; in the end, because he failed to manage the relations within his harem, he was dismembered and met a wretched demise at the hands of his consorts.

Truth be told, if one disregarded the final conclusion, the experiences of this genius of the Harem Golden Core were still quite enviable.

"Fairy, do you know how to drive corpses?"

"Of course, this Immortal employs the most supreme Art of Corpse Driving!"

"You do?" Lu Yang’s eyes shone with astonishment. As expected of an immortal, she was well-versed in every manner of technique, and the most supreme at that.

It was bound to be far superior to the corpse-driving arts of the Corpse Driving Sect.

"Do you wish to learn the Art of Feigning Death?"

"I wish to... wait, the Art of Feigning Death?" Lu Yang suddenly caught himself.

"Indeed. I first feign death, and subsequently return to life—is that not the most supreme Art of Corpse Driving?"

Lu Yang fell silent. A dead person returning to life was indeed the most supreme manifestation of corpse driving, yet he felt inherently that something was amiss.

Recalling an inquiry, Lu Yang asked: "Aside from your Art of Feigning Death, are there other corpse-driving arts that can restore the deceased to life?"

"Uncertain."

"Uncertain?"

"Theoretically they exist, but this Immortal has yet to witness an art of corpse driving that can compare with my Art of Feigning Death."

"The five of us discussed this very question while dining. Reason dictates that the most supreme art of corpse driving could resurrect the dead, yet if the original soul has vanished and a new soul is generated within the old vessel, how can that be termed resurrection?"

In his heart, Lu Yang suspected that the topic had only been discussed because the Immortal Ying Tian and the other three were terrified of dropping dead after eating the food she had prepared.

"Hold, something approaches!" Lu Yang desisted from further conversation and withdrew from his spiritual space.

He sensed the approach of some entity nearby, and judging by the sound, the numbers were immense!

Almost simultaneously, Meng Jingzhou also perceived the disturbance, falling into a stance to receive the coming enemy.

Bang—

The doors of the ancestral hall were flung open, revealing a horde of withered corpses outside; at a single glance, there were nearly a hundred!

The two released their divine sense, only to discover that this multitude of withered corpses had surrounded the ancestral hall so thickly that not a drop of water could leak through!

"How is it that the Desolate Province is so utterly plagued with living corpses?"