Chapter 23: Primordial Spirit

"Then what should we do now?" Li Chuyi scratched his head, "I can't leave. Can I ask Zi Yuan to come out and try?"

The Taoist priest nodded and said, "Okay, let her come out and try."

Li Chuyi took out the Demon-Conquering Mirror from his arms, and after half a minute of silence, he saw a purple mist drifting by, gradually condensing into a beautiful silhouette, which was none other than Ziyuan.

Li Chuyi didn't waste any time and quickly told Zi Yuan about the situation. After speaking, Zi Yuan looked at the two of them and nodded, saying, "No problem, I'll give it a try."

A cold breeze blew by, and the purple kite floated towards the stairs made of piled corpse ashes. After looking at it, she stepped up. When her jade feet stepped on the first floor, the stairs did not float away like when Li Chuyi stepped on them just now, but firmly supported Zi Yuan's steps.

Li Chu suddenly became excited, but before he could express his joy, he saw a dark green light burst out from where Zi Yuan stepped. Zi Yuan let out a cry of pain and was knocked away by the light.

Seeing Zi Yuan get up with a look of pain on her face, and the foot that was hit by the dark light turned into a purple mist that couldn't condense, Li Chuyi knew that she was injured, and it was probably serious. So much so that even the injured position cannot be condensed.

"How could this happen?" Li Chuyi looked at Zi Yuan and asked blankly.

The Taoist priest said in a low voice: "It should be the problem with this corpse dust. I just said that this corpse dust has been sacrificed and refined. It seems that the result of this sacrifice is not only that these corpse dust can be turned into stairs leading to the fifth floor, but also There are also some restrictions that I don’t know about.”

"That's right!" Zi Yuan came over and said, "I don't know what that green dark light is, but it directly hurt my soul body. If I hadn't been completely condensed, I would probably have just stepped on that I wasn’t just injured a little bit on the first floor.”

Turning to look at the dumbfounded Li Chuyi, Ziyuan added: "If they are like the five little ghosts who haven't even completed the process of condensation, I guess this first layer can completely break them up and even damage them. Wisdom.”

Li Chuyi scratched his head for a long time. He wanted to help Zi Yuan heal his injuries but didn't know what to do. He also wanted to help the Taoist priest come up with ideas but he really couldn't think of any other good way. After holding it in for a long time, he asked a little frustrated: "Master, we What should we do? If it doesn’t work, let’s leave first and come back when Zi Yuan’s cultivation is high.”

The Taoist priest had been thinking about something since just now. He came back to his senses after hearing what Li Chuyi said. He shook his head and said: "Don't worry, there is another way you can try. If it doesn't work, we will do as you said. We will come back when Zi Yuan's cultivation level is high."

"What can we do?" Li Chu looked at the Taoist priest, and he knew that the Taoist priest must have a lot of backup plans.

The Taoist priest looked at him, then turned to look at Ziyuan who was frowning and trying to re-consolidate the purple mist's feet. He pondered for a moment and whispered: "You can try to leave the body with the soul. Go to the fifth floor."

"The soul left the body?!" Li Chuyi's eyes widened.

The Taoist priest nodded and said: "That's right! Ziyuan has just proved my previous guess that these stairs are not for living creatures to walk, but for spirits like ghost cultivators to walk. The reason why she was beaten down was because of a It's because we don't have a way to break the restriction, so forcing a breakthrough will trigger a counterattack from the restriction. The other reason is that Zi Yuan's cultivation level is too low and she doesn't know how to use her own magic power. This is actually the same as the first reason. Yes, if you want to go upstairs, either you have a way to break the restriction, or you have to be strong enough to fight your way up."

Turning his head to look at the one person and one ghost who were listening carefully, the Taoist priest continued: "Although Zi Yuan's cultivation is not strong enough to fight hard, his cultivation as a teacher is definitely enough. Moreover, the monk's soul is cultivated by his own soul. Come on, strictly speaking, they are a kind of ghost, they are just contaminated with anger. Then we might as well try to climb the stairs with our soul and see if we can get through and get through!"

At this point, the Taoist priest chuckled proudly and whispered: "Even if the soul can't break through, there is still a way for me as a teacher. Maybe I can get through it. In short, I have come this far, so I must try all the ways I can." Try it!”

Li Chuyi wanted to ask the Taoist what the last solution was, but when the Taoist simply mentioned it and kept silent, he gave up the idea of ​​asking. Based on his understanding of the Taoist priest, if the Taoist priest wanted to say something, he would definitely tell him. But if the Taoist priest didn't want to say it, then it would be in vain for him to ask.

Instructing Li Chuyi and Zi Yuan to step back a little, the Taoist priest sat down cross-legged on the dusty ground and adjusted his breathing silently for a long time. His face trembled slightly, and he saw a figure floating out from the Taoist priest's head, slowly It fell next to the Taoist priest.

Looking at the figure in front of him who was exactly the same as the Taoist priest in appearance and clothing, but with a slightly transparent figure, Li Chuyi knew that this was the Taoist priest's soul.

This was also the first time for Li Chuyi to see a person's soul leave the body. In the past, he had only heard Taoist priests mention it. He knew that powerful monks who cultivated their soul to a certain level could leave the body and hurt the enemy thousands of miles away. The detached soul can move within a certain range around the physical body. The time and range of detachment depend on the monk's level of cultivation.

At the same time, Li Chuyi also knew that the physical body of a monk whose soul had left his or her body was the most fragile and needed the most concealment and protection. After the soul leaves the body, the monk's physical body is in a state of suspended animation and will not have any sensory response except breathing. If the enemy discovers and destroys it at this time, the soul floating outside will have no physical body to return to. If you are lucky, you can be reborn or become a ghost cultivator; if you are unlucky, the soul will collapse when the time comes. Re-enter the cycle. The most tragic thing is to be captured by some monks who practice evil skills and use the soul to sacrifice their own magic weapons. Then they lose the right to reincarnation and can only suffer in the magic weapons forever. .

At this time, the Taoist priest left his body without saying a word. One was because of the limited conditions and there was no place to hide. The other was because of his trust in Li Chuyi, especially Zi Yuan, so that he could rest assured. for.

Li Chuyi looked at this "Second Taoist Priest" excitedly, looking at his slightly transparent body, and couldn't help but stretch out his fingers to see if there was any real feeling. Just when his fingers were about to poke him, two cold eyes fell on him. Looking at the Taoist priest's knife-like eyes, Li Chuyi smiled coquettishly, withdrew his hands and lowered his head and stood aside in silence.

Staring Li Chuyi back, the Taoist priest shook his head helplessly and was speechless towards such a disciple. Looking up at them, the Taoist priest said: "You two protect my body, I will go and check it out." After saying that, he turned around and turned into a white light, flying towards the corpse-ash staircase.

The moment the Taoist priest flew up the stairs, a green light burst out, which was several times stronger than when Zi Yuan had just climbed up the stairs. This green light shot towards the Taoist priest, and before he could get close, it was hit by a layer of people around the Taoist priest. The golden light mask blocked it.

The Taoist priest is not Zi Yuan, so how can a mere counterattack from a ban defeat him? The Taoist priest didn't even look at the green light, he flew up all the way, and was halfway gone in the blink of an eye. As the Taoist priest went higher and higher, the green light emitted from the stairs became stronger and denser. Countless green lights bombarded the light shield protecting the Taoist priest. Even though the light shield was extremely strong, it was compressed smaller and smaller by the endless attacks. By the time the Taoist priest had walked four-fifths of the entire staircase, the mask of light was already extremely thin and almost clinging tightly to the Taoist priest's body.

Although Li Chuyi broke into a cold sweat when he saw it, Zi Yuan secretly clenched her hands. Seeing that there was only a thin layer of the Taoist priest's protective mask left, Li Chuyi couldn't help shouting: "Master, if it doesn't work, just withdraw first. Keep the green hills. Don't worry about not having firewood. In the worst case, we can start from scratch." Then again, he will be a good man after eighteen years, no, sixty years later!”

Upon hearing this, the Taoist Priest Bankong frowned and couldn't help but cursed: "What nonsense are you talking about, little bastard? Shut up and stay there and don't move!"

Looking at more and more green lights in a blink of an eye, the Taoist priest raised his eyebrows and said coldly: "Hmph! If the old weirdo Wuyang was still alive, the poor Taoist would have to be more careful about him, but he is already a dead ghost, leaving behind this How dare you block Pindao’s path even with the mere formation restrictions!”

"Open it!" The Taoist priest shouted angrily as he pinched a seal in his hand.

Following the Taoist priest's roar, bursts of black and gray billowing smoke were seen filling the air from all over the Taoist priest's body. The almost solidified death aura emitted by the thick smoke made Li Chuyi and others nearby... Zi Yuan even felt nauseous, bored, and extremely sad.

This thick smoke that was even more evil than the evil skills made Li Chuyi stunned on the spot. Before he could figure out how the Taoist priest who had always been decent could do such evil skills, he saw the figure of the Taoist priest transformed from the Yuan Shen in the sky. Trembling all over.

Lalala~~

There was a sound like ice breaking, and a crack suddenly appeared on the Taoist Priest's body, and nothing could be seen in the crack.

Lal~~lalala~~~

The crackling sound did not stop. As the sounds became louder and louder, more and more black cracks appeared on the Taoist priest's body, and his body shook more and more violently.

With the last loud "click" sound, the Taoist priest's body stopped shaking, but except for a little bit of his left thigh, the entire left half of his body and the small half of his left face disappeared, and the right side of his body was also full of blood. black cracks. At the fracture where the body disappeared on the left side, there was no flesh and blood, but like those cracks, there was only a dark hollow, which made people shudder.

"Teacher, master?" Li Chuyi called out blankly.

The Taoist priest did not respond. He looked at his missing body, frowned slightly, and waved with his remaining right hand at the black smoke swirling around him. He saw that the black smoke exuding the indestructible aura of death suddenly billowed, covering up the Taoist priest layer by layer. Wrap it up.

When the last trace of the Taoist priest disappeared into the black smoke, the endless green light on the stairs stopped immediately and disappeared in the blink of an eye, as if it had never appeared. The Taoist priest was covered in black smoke and flew towards the end of the stairs. At the junction of the stairs and the roof, there was only a flash of light, and the Taoist priest disappeared amid the black smoke.

Li Chuyi slowly turned his stiffened neck and looked at Zi Yuan, who also turned to look at him.

After half a minute of silence, Li Chuyi asked hoarsely: "How could this happen?"

Zi Yuan looked at Li Chuyi with a confused face and didn't know how to answer him. After being silent for a long time, Zi Yuan opened her mouth and said: "I don't know why this is happening. I only know that the black smoke emanating from your master's body should be extremely rich death energy, even worse than the mirror I was hiding in before. The death energy inside is even stronger. Even I don’t dare to touch it easily, I feel it can assimilate me.”

Li Chuyi was silent. Of course, he felt the power of the death energy. But he couldn't figure out how a Taoist who liked drinking, visiting brothels, eating delicious food, and all the worldly things could practice such an evil technique? Could it be that the Taoist was also an evil cultivator?

After thinking about it, Li Chuyi suddenly had an idea and thought of a special cultivator mentioned by the Taoist before - the living dead! Living people refine dead souls in an attempt to break the cycle of life and death and achieve enlightenment. Could it be that the Taoist also practiced this heaven-defying technique?

The more Li Chuyi thought about it, the more he felt it was possible. First of all, the Taoist priests treat all cultivators equally, and they do not distinguish between good and evil in their hearts, only between what they can tolerate and what they cannot tolerate; secondly, the Taoist priests have profound magical powers, and they are not afraid of even the heavenly tribulation, and they even lose their voices with a roar. It must be because they have practiced the way of life and death and have been struck by thunder many times, so they have gained experience; finally, and most importantly, the Taoist priests like night the most, and they also like to visit brothels the most, because the yin energy is strong at night, and brothels are places with extremely heavy yin energy, and there is even some resentment in them. Isn’t this exactly what zombies like? Although zombies are different from the living dead, they should not be much different. I wonder if the Taoist priests will need to suck blood like zombies at the end of their cultivation, and then suck themselves dry.

The more Li Chuyi pondered, the more he felt that his guess was correct. As he was thinking wildly, his face was bright and dark, happy and sad. Zi Yuan frowned and looked at him, thinking that he was too stimulated and was going crazy.

Bang!

A crisp sound rang out, Li Chuyi covered his face, looked at Ziyuan angrily and said: "What are you doing?"

"I'm saving you." Ziyuan said lightly.

"Save me? What are you saving? You slapped me and told me that you saved me? Do you think I'm stupid? I want to save you eight or ten times, okay?" Li Chuyi was almost in tears, too bullying!

"Your face was not right just now, as if you were crazy, I slapped you to wake you up, so that you don't really go crazy." Ziyuan still had that light tone.

Li Chuyi on the opposite side had rolled his eyes. Damn, it's rare for me to think seriously once, but I was treated as crazy and slapped myself. Where can I go to reason? This girl is not lying, right?

Turning his head and taking a closer look at Ziyuan's expression, he found that she was serious. Li Chuyi sighed sadly, knowing that there was no way to get back at this place.

Alas, this slap was in vain!

Ziyuan looked at Li Chuyi, who was covering her face with a face full of resentment, thought for a moment, frowned, and asked, "Weren't you crazy just now?"

Li Chuyi looked at her with tears in her eyes. Is this girl really stupid or pretending to be stupid? !

Seeing that Li Chuyi didn't say anything, but just looked at her with tears in her eyes, Ziyuan also knew that it was a real misunderstanding, and a trace of embarrassment appeared on her pale face.

I wanted to apologize, but I have never been humble to others. After thinking for a long time, Ziyuan stretched her little face forward and stretched it in front of Li Chuyi.

"What do you mean?" Li Chuyi was a little confused by her.

"I asked you to call back." Ziyuan said lightly, staring at Li Chuyi.

Li Chuyi burst into tears. Is this girl really stupid or pretending to be stupid? ! Is this the rhythm of playing with yourself? ! It's okay if she doesn't apologize for calling the wrong number. Anyway, she is also well-intentioned. Everyone just pretends that it didn't happen and it's over. Now, she even stretched out her face to let me fight back. Damn, let alone such a beautiful female ghost, even if it was an ugly female ghost, I couldn't do it!

Hmm? No, I may not be unable to fight against an ugly female ghost. Li Chuyi muttered secretly in his heart.

After waiting for a long time, Ziyuan saw Li Chuyi staring at her stupidly and not doing anything. She frowned and asked: "Do you want to fight? This posture is very tiring."

Ghosts still think that the pot waist is tiring? Which teacher taught this truth?

Li Chuyi's eyes were filled with tears, and she trembled and said: "Sister, I was wrong, don't play with me. You hit me for my own good. Even if you hit me wrongly, how can I fight back!"

Wiping away tears, Li Chuyi continued: "I was not crazy just now, I was guessing why my master was like a big chimney with black smoke all over his body!"

Ziyuan retracted her body and asked: "Why?"

Li Chuyi quickly told her his guess again, and looked at her with shining eyes after he finished speaking.

After listening to what Zi Yuan said, she did not speak immediately. Instead, she pondered silently for a while before she said, "I think most of your views are correct. However, there is one question that cannot be explained."

"What question?" Li Chuyi was stunned.

"Why was your master's soul incomplete after the black smoke appeared?"

Zi Yuan looked at Li Chuyi and asked, "Although I am not very proficient in cultivation, I understand one thing. Whether it is our ghosts or the souls of cultivators, they should be complete. If there is a defect, it is incomplete, which means that it is injured. Your master's soul was complete at the beginning, but after the death aura appeared, he was covered with scars, and even only half of his body was left. I feel that the black aura is not what your master practiced, but it seems to be something that caused his soul to be broken."

Li Chuyi was silent when he heard this. Thinking about it carefully, what Zi Yuan said also made sense. According to his understanding of Taoist priests, Taoist priests are so vain and pay attention to appearance. They should not practice such evil skills that damage their souls to ugly and terrifying levels. But if this deathly energy was not cultivated by the Taoist priest, then what on earth could have hurt the Taoist priest, who was like a god in his heart, so badly?

Li Chuyi was puzzled and the more he thought about it, the more upset he became. At the end of his thought, he yelled "I don't want to think about it anymore". Since he couldn't figure it out, he would just wait for the Taoist to come back and ask him, why bother himself. If the Taoist didn't say anything, it didn't matter. Anyway, he knew that he was the Taoist who saved him when he was young, raised him up little by little, and taught him how to practice. The rest didn't matter.

After figuring it out, Li Chuyi closed his eyes and meditated beside the Taoist, waiting for the Taoist to return.