Longevity Chronicles

On the borders of Demon City, the Baina Camp was livened by the corpses used as trees.

Tao Qian, filled with murderous intent, resolved to enter the tribulation and transformed into Star Light, heading straight toward Qingming Camp where fifty thousand disaster victims were about to be slaughtered.

Yet, by looking at his solemn expression, one could tell he was uncertain of his success.

It was only normal.

In the first calamity, facing the True Inheritor of the Evil Sect, Lian Yulou, if Tao Qian hadn't made preparations in advance, benefiting from Yunrong's support and summoned over a dozen Haotian Divine Lights, he would have likely been devoured alive by Lian Yulou.

Now, in this second calamity, the adversaries Tao Qian was facing had changed to the Fungus Demon Army and the demons fostered by the Taishang Primordial Demon Manifestation Saint True Monarch.

A misstep, and he might have to face the Heavenly Demon Army.

How could he possibly fight this?

To the common observer, this situation was a sure death sentence.

Even Yuan Gong, at this moment, sent a message to pour a bucket of cold water.

"Young man, don't show off your strength, not to mention those alien demons nurtured by the old fellow Lingwa."

"Do you know the origin of these fungus demons? Don't underestimate the Fungus Sect because it's considered a heresy and heterodoxy."

"This sect is not only extremely ancient, comparable to our Secret Demon Sect, but its methods are incredibly weird, nearly undying and undemolished, not to mention having parasitic and devouring abilities. Should you carelessly fall into their trap, all your cultivation could go down the drain."

"A few hundred or even a thousand fungus demons might be manageable, but with hundreds of thousands ahead, your newly refined Golden Light Mantra, Innate One Qi Great Seizing Hand, and Silent Divine Thunder, although excellent for individual battles, will see their effectiveness significantly reduced once on the battlefield."

"Charging in like this is akin to courting death."

"I advise you to put aside your pride and kindly ask your family elders for help. Although using such a cultivation tribulation technique is somewhat crafty, it's still better than letting hundreds of thousands of fungus demons drown and devour you."

This earnest advice from Yuan Gong was truly heartfelt.

Unfortunately, Tao Qian had already made up his mind.

"It's not about pride, but rather the Infinite Tribulation Method that holds profound mysteries."

"Getting the Primordial Sect involved is already extremely risky. If I were to ask my Master or Aunt Bai Yin for help, it could likely create a huge mess."

"Currently, it's only me, but that doesn't mean I'm without means."

In an instant, his form neared Qingming Camp.

In the next moment, Tao Qian witnessed a scene he would never forget:

On the ground covered with black snow ahead, a massive army was moving in a bizarre manner, appearing under the moonlight like a sly forest, dense and thriving yet merged with the darkness.

In the blink of an eye, the forest shifted forward instantaneously.

Silent and without a trace, only shadows moved.

The only "disturbance" came from above, where the sky was completely covered by spores clouds.

Densely packed, ink-black spores, emerging thread by thread from within the forest, coalesced into clouds and obscured the sky.

Tao Qian's high spirit vision allowed him to clearly see each "soldier."

They wore no clothes because they didn't need them.

Perhaps they were once human, but now they certainly were not.

Men and women alike, all naked.

Their bodies were parasitized by various fungi, hardly leaving any soldiers alike. Some were adorned with vividly beautiful mushroom-like fungi, others with hard, armor-like black fungi, and yet others that shone brightly like stars, or emitted nocturnal glows… What they shared in perspective were their eyes, a haunting green color, flickering like flames.

Inside, there was neither resentment nor desire for slaughter.

What existed was more akin to a natural life force that secretly conformed to the heavens and earth.

Their eerie movements meant that every shift devoured any life within the range ahead.

The Mortal Human Race, that is, the disaster victims.

They stood no chance of resistance. The spores, seemingly fine as sand to the naked eye, were omnipresent. They entered the bodies through breath and the human orifices, rooted in the blood, bone marrow, and brain matter, and in a moment, thousands upon tens of thousands perished.

Transforming into fungal corpses, they stood rigidly, forming a forest of fungi.

But the spores planted in the human bodies didn't have those eerie forms.

Some resulted in rot, emitting foul odors.

Before Tao Qian could act, cultivators from the National Salvation Congress and some nearby righteous cultivators had already clashed with these fungus demons.

Transcendent beings, too, showed the terrifying combat prowess of these fungus demons.

As Tao Qian observed from a distance, he saw the front lines of the battlefield.

Cultivators from the National Salvation Congress and eager cultivators and demonic beings alike were being slaughtered.

He didn't even have time to make out the methods of the fungus demons, only seeing streaks of rainbow and gleaming lights flicker, strange shadows flitting about. Whether cultivators, demons, or mountain spirits and ghosts, all that lacked protective measures were robbed of life in an instant.

Cultivators willing to aid mortals were already few.

Stricken by sudden attacks, most retreated.

Only the cultivators from the National Salvation Congress stubbornly held their ground before Qingming Camp.

But anyone with clear eyes could see that these people wouldn't last long, soon to perish along with their cultivation paths, and then, none of the fifty thousand within the camp would escape a cruel fate.

A chill ran through Tao Qian's heart, his movements ceaseless.

He circulated the Golden Light Mantra to protect himself and transformed into a rainbow, forcefully piercing through the massive, dense spore clouds ahead.

"Everyone, step back, let me handle this."

The cultivators from the Qingming Camp of the National Salvation Congress had suffered heavy casualties, and only a few were left. Upon hearing that voice, they had no time to react.

Suddenly, a dazzling golden light tore through the sky and smashed into the Qingming Camp with a thunderous roar.

As the light faded, a "strange man" appeared.

He was a young cultivator with an odd appearance, resembling the legendary dragon face, and having double pupils, not to mention a belly as large as a pregnant woman in her tenth month.

No sooner had the strange man stabilized on the ground than he waved his hand, and a sky filled with thunder struck down, turning the ground ahead into scorched earth and blasting at least a hundred various fungus demons into dust.

However, those behind him from the National Salvation Congress immediately changed their expressions and warned, "Daoist, be careful. These fungus demons are almost undying and the Thunder Skill does little against them. Seal all your orifices immediately and release your protective divine light, or you'll be parasitized and devoured in an instant, turning into nourishment for the fungus demons."

Before the person had finished speaking, the charred corpses of the fungus demons burst open, and a cloud of spores erupted like a black giant net, instantaneously engulfing Tao Qian.

A chillingly creepy sound filled the air.

"It's over, our backup has been ambushed as soon as he arrived."

"This Daoist was too reckless, interfering without first understanding the fungus demons' tactics; we couldn't even warn him in time."

"Fight to the death then, even if our Dao perishes it doesn't matter, we should move as many refugees to Tianjiang as we can."

"It's probably hopeless though, those demons are coming too, and none of us may make it out alive."

As the few members of the National Salvation Congress grudgingly prepared to stake their all,

Tao Qian, engulfed in the cloud of spores, had records flashing through his mind.

[Record Name: Fungus Demon.]

[Record Type: Alien Species.]

[Record: In the great province of Wu Yue, there exists a side door heterodox sect called 'Fungus Sect', whose cultivators are like but not humans, all considering themselves descendants of the Fungus Ancestor... These are puppet soldiers cultivated through special means by the Fungus Sect, each possessing some transcendent trait, able to merge with spores passed down through generations of the Fungus Ancestor, the earlier the generation of merged spore puppets, the stronger their combat power.]

[Note 1: Once a Fungus Sect cultivator reaches the Foundation Establishment Realm, they can achieve a degree of immortality. Separating from their physical body, as long as a single origin spore remains, they can be revived, though if they fail to break through to the next realm within a limited time, everything including their soul will turn back into the most primitive spores of the Fungus Ancestor, and this time limit is extremely short, just one year between Foundation Establishment and Transcend Mortality.]

[Note 2: As cultivation is extremely difficult, there are not many Fungus Sect cultivators. This army is led by eight Cavernous Mystery Realm fungus demons and over a hundred Transcendent Mortality fungus demons.]

[Note 3: The Fungus Ancestor spores are almost invincible, fearing only several special flames such as the Tusita Fire of the Taishang Dao, the Taiyi Pure Yang True Fire of the Pure Yang Sect, the Heart Lamp Buddha Flame of the Great Freedom Temple, or the True Sun Fire, Outer Heaven Flame Essence, etc., which are rare in the world.]

...

When the third note appeared, a light immediately flashed in Tao Qian's eyes.

His heart roared with joy:

"So that's it, the opportunity for life is here."

"I knew it, me, Master Tao, just at the Foundation Establishment Realm, how could there not be a shred of hope left for me."

With a flash of thought, Tao Qian immediately took action.

He had neither the Tusita Fire nor the Heart Lamp Buddha Flame.

But as for the Outer Heaven Flame Essence!

As long as he could withstand it, there was plenty.

Without those little things helping, Tao Qian could not have casually produced so many demon pills.

With a thought, a spark flashed at Tao Qian's fingertip.

It fell into the cloud of spores, and instantly the sparks spread.

As if wailing spirits cried out abruptly, when the black ash fell to the ground, Tao Qian now held a peculiar elixir in his hand.

[Record: Spirit Fungus Pill, refined from Fungus Ancestor spores mixed with the resentment of fungus demons, can increase cultivation power, can resolve the parasitism of Fungus Ancestor spores, can resolve all poisons.]

"Good stuff!"

Having obtained the Spirit Pill, Tao Qian was exhilarated.

But immediately, joy turned to sorrow.

An army of tens of thousands of fungus demons had once again shifted mysteriously and arrived.

In that instant, Tao Qian only had time to throw the few people from the National Salvation Congress out to safety.

He himself, along with a third of the Qingming Camp, were completely engulfed by the fungus demons and the ubiquitous spores of the Fungus Ancestor.

At the same time, the trans-spatial voice of Lian Jing'er rang in his ears:

"Qingming Camp has been invaded, already 150,000 refugees have been parasitized... it has been detected that the Fungus Demon Army is beginning to divide, splitting into a total of thirteen groups, each attacking a camp still holding refugees."

"Detected to the west, 300 alien demons are devouring refugees, the death toll has risen to 10,000... detected 200 alien demons have invaded the Ten Thousand Miles Camp, starting to devour the refugees... detected 500 alien demons have invaded the Stove King Camp, where the number of dead refugees has risen to 50,000..."

"Qi Ye has sent a message, the Heavenly Demon Army is setting out, they will form the Chiyou Slaughter God Formation, launching a massacre from three angles, it is estimated that the Heavenly Demon Army will be able to kill the remaining over a million refugees within half an hour..."

"A moment ago, the target Lingwa has released another exotic treasure of the Taishang Demon Sect, estimated to arrive in Demon City in 10 breaths, under the current conditions, there's about a 60% chance of completely cutting off that branch of Tianjiang, with two million people inside dying from mutation..."

"Boom"

The real thunderbolt from a clear sky had come.

Tao Qian's eyes instantly turned completely red.

He knew without guessing that Ling Qi and Lingwa, this father and son duo, probably couldn't wait any longer.

Completely ignoring the benefits of shifting the burden, they planned to take matters into their own hands.

Even if they had to endure the backlash of the consequences, Ling Qi must refine the Mountain and River Map.

ps: More to come.