Gateway of Immortality

"Dodge!"

Wandering Man also noticed something was wrong with the flying yaksha, and called out urgently.

But he was too far away. In order to trap the Shadow-Devouring Panther, he had fully unleashed both the power of the demon king's blood seal and the Flawless Orb, exhausting his own spiritual power. He was helpless at that moment.

Why did the flying yaksha betray us?

Qin Sang was stunned. He could clearly sense that his soul imprint still remained within the flying yaksha, untouched and fully intact.

Yu Hua's consciousness had already been completely erased when the living corpse was refined.

Under normal circumstances, the yaksha could never rebel. If it were possible, it would have backfired the moment it was created.

There had been no sign of rebellion before this. Not a single indication.

And now, because he had withdrawn to avoid the aftershock of the Xutian Thunder, there was little distance between him and the yaksha. When it suddenly turned to attack, it was already right in front of him.

Caught off guard, Qin Sang instinctively triggered the soul imprint, attempting to forcibly seize control and stop the yaksha.

Its body stiffened. It let out a strange, bestial hiss.

That cyan, fanged face, which had always been expressionless and lifeless, now contorted in visible pain and struggle. For a moment, it looked almost human.

It was resisting his control!

At the same time, Qin Sang felt a power he had never sensed before rise within the yaksha, striking violently against the soul imprint.

This power had been buried so deep, he had never noticed it.

It was utterly foreign and sinister, giving off a chilling sensation. Yet it was clearly different from the corpse qi of the yaksha.

It was not the yaksha's own power!

After that brief pause, the yaksha's vicious expression returned. It lunged forward once more.

Its figure was like a phantom. Corpse qi surged forth.

Qin Sang realized that his soul imprint had been fully suppressed. The yaksha was no longer under his control.

But he didn't panic.

The time he'd bought was enough. He may have lost access to the Xutian Thunder, but he still had the corpse core.

As he retreated, the corpse core in his Qihai unsealed. Vast true essence coursed through his body, completing a full cosmic orbit. A brilliant sword light burst out between him and the yaksha.

The sword qi was like a rainbow. Thunder rumbled all around.

The ebony sword had finally unleashed the power of an astra once more.

The yaksha had turned on him, and Qin Sang didn't know why. He dared not hold back. The ebony sword shot straight for its forehead, aiming at its vital point.

He had crafted the yaksha himself and knew all its weaknesses. Its greatest vulnerability was the primordial spirit. If he shattered the Heavenly Corpse Talisman and destroyed its primordial spirit, the yaksha would die instantly.

Unexpectedly, although the ebony sword was fast, the yaksha reacted just as quickly. With a shriek, it threw up its ghostly arms to block.

Both of its hands were mangled by the ebony sword, but it managed to shield its vital point and avoid instant death.

Immediately after, the yaksha leapt back. A shrill voice came from within its body. "Corpse core?"

Hearing this cry, Qin Sang's expression turned grim.

He had already suspected that the yaksha could not have betrayed him without cause. The only explanation was that some wandering ghost had concealed itself from him and taken over the yaksha's body.

Thinking it through, there was only one possible time this could have happened: the Sunken Cave.

After capturing Yu Hua, and all the way through refining the yaksha, Qin Sang had kept it close. No one could have sneaked in and seized it under his watch.

Only after slaying Daoist Jiupao, when the yaksha was severely wounded and recovering in the Sunken Cave, had there been a window of opportunity. Qin Sang had not been present then.

This cry confirmed his suspicion.

Strangely, the voice sounded familiar. Qin Sang felt as though he had heard it before.

But there was no time to think further.

The yaksha, having failed in its ambush, turned and charged toward the Purple Cloud Fruit. Green light flashed across its chest as it erupted forward with astonishing speed, even faster than the ebony sword when it unleashed its Sword Qi Thunderclap.

Wandering Man was drained and could not stop it.

Qin Sang, caught off guard, was too late to intercept.

In the blink of an eye, the yaksha soared across the lake and landed in front of the Purple Cloud Fruit tree. It raised a palm toward the tree as corpse qi spiraled around the trunk and the ripe Purple Cloud Fruit.

Then it turned around, its black pupils flashing with icy light as it fixed a cold stare on Qin Sang.

"If you move, I'll destroy it immediately."

Qin Sang stood on the surface of the water, his face ashen. At last, he remembered where he had heard that voice before, and to whom it belonged.

"Yi Tianye... You're still alive!"

Yi Tianye, sect leader of Kuiyin Sect.

It had been Yi Tianye who planted a Heart-Devouring Insect in Qin Sang's primordial spirit, forcing him to infiltrate Yuanzhao Sect, triggering a chain of calamities.

He was the first ruthless, domineering devil Qin Sang had ever encountered, one that he had been powerless to resist. He had no choice but to be manipulated and used.

Yi Tianye had already been near the end of his lifespan back then. In a final gamble, he stole the Nine-Illusion Heavenly Orchid, a treasured item of Yuanzhao Sect, but was caught in a counterattack by their sect leader, who detonated a grand array to kill him. It was said that nothing was left of his remains.

Qin Sang had long believed him dead, long since in the depths of hell. Yet here he was, alive, having seized the yaksha's body and launched a surprise attack.

The yaksha's face writhed unnaturally, transforming into Yi Tianye's visage.

Even if that face were reduced to ashes, Qin Sang would still recognize it.

"Turning yourself into a corpse, using a corpse core as an External Core... ruthless enough."

Yi Tianye let out a sinister cackle, then sighed in mock admiration. "Our Kuiyin Sect actually produced someone like you. I really misjudged you. The very brat I once declared to be worthless turned out to be a ruthless one. Hiding in the righteous path, cultivating demonic arts, wiping out the entire Kuiyin Sect in a single move, even using corpse refinement on yourself to disrupt my plans... There's hardly a second person like you in the entire immortal cultivation world. No wonder you've come this far."

In Yi Tianye's tone, there was even a trace of genuine admiration.

Qin Sang felt no honor. His chest was ablaze with fury, like a volcano on the verge of eruption. "Your primordial spirit has been hiding inside Yu Hua this whole time?"

Now that he knew the one who had taken over the yaksha's body was Yi Tianye, Qin Sang's mind suddenly became clear. All the past doubts and irregularities made sense now.

He recalled his encounter with Yu Hua.

Back in Endless Valley, it was through the Heart-Devouring Insect that Yu Hua sensed his location and came to hunt him down.

But at that time, Qin Sang had already been suppressing the insect's fluctuations using theXuyuan Seal, restricting the signal to a very small radius. Only someone within that radius could sense him.

Yi Tianye, the original master of the Heart-Devouring Insect, was the exception.

Back then, the one who sensed him might not have been Yu Hua at all but Yi Tianye.

Furthermore, Yu Hua's knowledge of Kuiyin Sect's remaining members far exceeded what a mere Foundation Building disciple should have known. He not only knew their whereabouts, but also had a detailed understanding of Daoist Jiupao, including his background and his hiding place.