The Immortal Path Is Blocked, Yet the Uncanny Leads to Enlightenment

Ye Chuan continued walking forward.

Su Rui and Lin Xi followed closely behind him. They kept their footsteps very light, terrified that even the slightest noise might wake whatever was slumbering in these ruins.

The architecture here was far more massive than they had imagined.

In the distance, a collapsed immortal gate lay across the void. Half of its pillar had broken off, covered in withered black vines.

Occasionally, an eye or two would open on the surface of the vines, only to shrink back immediately like they had been burned whenever the power of chaos swept past.

Su Rui's scalp tingled with fear.

This place could no longer just be called bizarre.

It was the literal definition of bizarre—bizarre knocking on bizarre's door, completely at home.

Lin Xi whispered, Mr. Ye, these things seem to be very afraid of you.

Ye Chuan glanced at the rapidly withering flesh tissue near his feet. You bet.

Lin Xi fell silent for a moment. What did 'you bet' mean?

Don't worry. I am the greatest terror here, Ye Chuan continued.

Lin Xi stayed silent for a while. She felt that this sentence didn't make much of a difference, yet it somehow sounded even more terrifying.

The three of them walked up the broken stone steps.

At the top of the steps was a half-collapsed plaza.

There should have originally been a giant statue in the center of the plaza, but now only the lower half of its body remained. Its head had rolled a short distance away, still maintaining a look of compassionate pity for all living things.

Except, that face had split open.

Inside the cracks wasn't stone, but clusters of dark red fleshy tendrils.

The tendrils squirmed slowly inside the statue, as if something was using the stone body to grow back. Dense clusters of eyeballs seemed to be swimming within it.

Su Rui took one look, and her stomach churned again.

Why would the ruins of an immortal cultivator civilization turn into this?

This is too disgusting.

Ye Chuan didn't answer.

He raised his hand and waved it.

A black-gold power swept past, instantly turning the fleshy tendrils inside the statue to ash.

The stone head of the statue finally quieted down, and a hint of relief seemed to appear on its cracked face.

The power of an Outer God. I'm very familiar with this, Ye Chuan said.

Having experienced so many eerie worlds, it was still rare for him to see the eldritch combined with immortal cultivation.

Oh? At this moment, he seemed to notice something.

Ye Chuan stopped at the edge of the plaza, moved his finger, and a broken piece of jade flew out and landed in his hand.

The jade piece was only half the size of a palm, carved with dense runes, and its edges were blackened from corrosion.

What is this? Su Rui was taken aback.

An immortal slip, a relic of the cultivation civilization. Ye Chuan turned it over in his hands and found that there was still some spiritual energy inside. Though fragmented, it seemed to record something.

Can you still read it?

A wisp of spiritual energy appeared on Ye Chuan's fingertip, and he gently tapped the jade piece.

The next second, the jade piece glowed faintly, and lines of blurry text floated in mid-air.

Su Rui and Lin Xi couldn't understand those ancient runes; they could only see them twisting like water ripples.

Ye Chuan, however, could see them clearly.

The path to immortality is severed, the Heavenly Gate remains hidden, and ascendants of all realms are trapped in the mortal world.

We have cultivated bitterly for ten thousand years, yet see no response from the upper realm.

If the Great Dao is broken, we shall reconnect it with human strength.

Ye Chuan's eyes shifted slightly.

The path to immortality is severed...

Did it record the fact that they could no longer ascend?

Lin Xi asked softly, Mr. Ye, what does it say?

Their path to ascension was cut off, Ye Chuan said calmly.

Immortal cultivators who originally could have ascended to a higher plane were all trapped here.

They were trying to find ways to continue advancing their cultivation.

And then?

Ye Chuan continued reading.

The text on the jade piece was heavily fragmented, but he could still barely piece together the general meaning.

A voice came from beyond the heavens, claiming it could bestow the method of eternal life.

Those who first heard it felt their minds tremble and their cultivation skyrocket.

Those who heard it again felt their blood boil, unable to calm their rage.

Those who heard it a third time dreamed of a giant eye hanging in the sky, and upon waking, their killing intent was endless.

The elders said this method was flawed, but with the immortal path severed, if we do not try, we will never advance an inch for all eternity.

After reading it, Ye Chuan pinched his fingertips slightly. The jade piece turned into powder and scattered from his palm.

Ye Chuan understood everything—

They came into contact with the power of Outer Gods. At first, they thought it was a new cultivation method. Only later did they realize that while their cultivation did indeed increase, they themselves would slowly lose control.

Su Rui turned pale as she listened.

So this place wasn't simply invaded by Outer Gods.

They actually used the Outer Gods' things as a cultivation method?

Ye Chuan nodded.

Pretty much.

Lin Xi muttered softly, Isn't this just the cultivation world's version of a sketchy cheat code?

And the kind where, once you use it, not only does your account get banned, but you get banned in real life too.

Su Rui glanced at her.

To still be able to crack jokes at a time like this... that was so like her.

The three of them continued forward.

On the other side of the plaza was a broken long bridge.

The bridge spanned across the void, and beneath it was a slowly swirling sea of black mist.

Occasionally, blurry human faces would surface in the sea of mist.

Those faces had no eyes, but their mouths were wide open, as if screaming silently.

Ye Chuan stepped onto the long bridge.

When Su Rui and Lin Xi followed him onto it, the stone slabs beneath their feet suddenly vibrated slightly.

Chaotic footsteps echoed from the distance.

A group of explorers rushed out from another branching path.

There were over a dozen of them, wearing a messy assortment of gear. There were humans as well as alien races.

A few of them still had excited looks on their faces, clutching broken magical artifacts and jade slips in their arms.

Hurry up!

Forget about the people behind us!

Those eyes are catching up!

The leading man shouted as he ran, his voice full of terror. But as they ran, their speed suddenly slowed down.

One of the men holding a jade slip suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked down at the object in his arms.

The fear on his face faded bit by bit, replaced by an eerie smile.

I hear it.

I hear it, I hear its voice!

It says I can become an immortal!

Seeing his companion go crazy, the person next to him immediately roared, Are you insane? Let's go!

The man, however, violently jerked his head up.

The whites of his eyes had turned completely black, and several rings of tiny eyes had appeared within his pupils.

The next second, his neck began to stretch, his back split open, and dense fleshy tendrils burst out from inside.

The jade slip in his arms melted into his chest like a living creature, fusing with his flesh and blood.

Become an immortal.

I will become an immortal.

The immortal gate is hopeless, so I will become an immortal alone!

Muttering to himself, he lunged at his nearest companion.

Before that person could even scream, he was grabbed.

The bodies of the two men stuck together like melting wax. Their flesh and bones crushed against each other, making a nauseating sound.

Su Rui's face went deathly pale, and she almost threw up on the spot.

Lin Xi was also terrified and shrank behind Ye Chuan.

What the hell is that?!

Why are they melting together?!

It wasn't just that one person.

The rest of the explorers also started having issues.

Some fell to their knees clutching their heads, constantly muttering incomprehensible words.

Others suddenly drew their blades and hacked at their companions, their eyes hollow, yet wearing smiles on their faces.

Underneath the skin of others, small bulges swelled up one after another. When each bulge split open, a rolling eyeball was revealed inside.

The group of people who had just been fleeing for their lives transformed into monsters tearing at each other in the blink of an eye.

They all seemed to have fallen into their own hallucinations.

Someone was kowtowing to thin air, crying out for their master to spare their life.

Someone else hugged a broken stone pillar, weeping bitterly and claiming they had finally ascended.

"Hahahahaha, I did it! I did it!"

"Hahahaha!"

Another person knelt on the ground, laughing maniacally. As they laughed, a fleshy tongue covered in eyes extended from their mouth.

Su Rui felt completely chilled as she watched. It wasn't her first time seeing the eeriness of the Outer Gods, but experiencing it firsthand was an entirely different feeling.

Ye Chuan glanced at the mutated people, his expression remaining calm.

"They've been infected by the anomaly. They are beyond saving."

After he spoke, he raised his hand and pointed.

Black-gold light flew from his fingertip, transforming into dozens of thin threads that instantly pierced through the bodies of the infected.

The twisted flesh monsters didn't even have the chance to struggle before they were burned to ashes by the power of chaos.

The long bridge fell quiet once more.

Only some shattered dharma artifacts and storage devices were left scattered on the ground.

Su Rui looked at the ashes, her lips a little pale.

"Just now... did they think they were still living in their hallucinations?"

Ye Chuan replied, "It's not just hallucinations. It magnifies the deepest obsessions in their hearts."

"Those who want to ascend see ascension."

"Those who want to kill see their enemies."

"Those who desire treasures will feel like everyone is trying to steal their things."

Lin Xi asked softly, "Then why are we fine?"

Su Rui also immediately looked at Ye Chuan, seemingly not understanding why the few of them were unaffected.

Ye Chuan said lightly, "Because I am here."

Lin Xi blinked.

Su Rui fell silent.

Very well.

Simple and crude.

Completely irrefutable.

The three of them continued deeper in—

A relatively well-preserved complex of palaces appeared ahead.

The main gate of the palace was shattered, and the plaque hung crookedly, engraved with three ancient characters.

Ye Chuan took a look.

"Ask Immortal Pavilion."

These three words were very ordinary.

But placed in such a location, they carried an unspeakable sense of irony.

They had asked the immortals for a lifetime, and in the end, all they got was a bunch of eyeball monsters.

Su Rui felt that this sect's luck was somewhat terrible.

After walking into the Ask Immortal Pavilion, the scene inside was even more eerie. Many dried bones sat on both sides of the great hall.

Those dried bones were still wearing decayed Daoist robes, sitting in a neat posture, as if they were listening to someone preach.

But their skulls were all tilted upward, their hollow eye sockets pointed toward the deepest part of the hall.

At the end of the hall, there was a shattered preaching platform. A large number of broken immortal jade slips were piled up on the platform.

Many of them had been contaminated by flesh and blood, with fine black hairs growing on their surfaces.

Ye Chuan walked over and casually picked up a few relatively intact immortal slips.

He scanned them one by one.

The records inside were even more detailed than the one from before.

"Three thousand years after the Heavenly Gate was severed, all sects convened to seek a method to continue the Dao."

"A voice from beyond the heavens descended in a dream, claiming that the Great Dao is not the only path. The physical body can be a boat, the soul can be a sail, and all thoughts can be the fire."

"Those who cultivate this method break through their realm in three days, grow strange pupils in seven days, and become violent in temperament in ten days."

"A disciple angrily killed seventy of his peers. After waking up, he claimed to have seen an immortal imparting the method in his dream."

"The elders did not believe in the rumors of evil entities and still ordered a hundred disciples to test the method."

"On the nineteenth day, the disciples testing the method all claimed to hear immortal voices from beyond the heavens."

"On the twenty-third day, a disciple grew fleshy patterns on his body and an eye opened in the center of his palm."

"On the thirty-first day, all the disciples testing the method lost control."

"The Ask Immortal Pavilion was sealed."

The records that followed were cut off for a long section.

Further down, the handwriting had become messy.

"We were wrong."

"That is not an immortal, it is an anomaly—parasitizing through the immortal path."

"They are looking."

"They have always been looking."

"Do not listen."

"Do not dream."

"Do not ascend."

Seeing this, Ye Chuan's eyes finally showed a slight change.

Su Rui noticed his expression and couldn't help but ask, "Did you find something?"

"It recorded a few things..." Ye Chuan said. "The records of those sect cultivators before they were corrupted by the Outer Gods."

The last immortal slip was almost broken in half, leaving only a broken and intermittent divine sense inside.

"The Sect Master has fallen into demonic deviation, using his body to house the Eye from Beyond the Heavens."

"The Supreme Elder burned up his Dao Fruit to seal him into the central altar."

"The seal must not be opened."

"If future generations see this, leave immediately."

"The severing of the immortal path may not be a dead end."

"But if the door is opened, there will be no path to survival."

The immortal slip completely shattered at this point.

Ye Chuan looked down at the fragments in his palm, revealing a thoughtful expression.

In other words—

The tyrannical aura he had sensed was that sealed Sect Master who had been corrupted by the Outer God?

"Central altar." Ye Chuan released his divine sense and quickly locked onto a location.

"It seems the key is over there."

Right at this moment, a shrill, miserable scream suddenly came from outside, followed by dense crashing sounds.

"Run!"

"Monster!!!!!!!!"

"Outer Gods, these are all Outer Gods!!!!"

Su Rui hurriedly ran to the entrance of the hall to look.

In the distant ruins, a mercenary team was fleeing madly.

Chasing behind them was a massive lump of meat.

The lump of meat looked like it was formed by forcibly sticking dozens of people together, with countless arms and legs protruding from its body.

Every face grew in a different position. Some were on the chest, some on the back, and others were directly embedded in the thighs.

Those faces were all talking.

Some were laughing, some were crying, and some were screaming for help.

The most terrifying part was that the surface of the flesh lump was covered in eyes.

All the eyes rolled simultaneously, looking uniformly in the direction of the Ask Immortal Pavilion.

Lin Xi's face turned pale.

"It sees us."

As soon as her voice fell, the lump of flesh abruptly changed direction and charged toward the Ask Immortal Pavilion.

It crawled at an extremely fast speed, countless hands and feet wildly grabbing at the ground, emitting a wet, squelching friction sound.

Su Rui subconsciously took a step back. "Scared the crap out of me. This thing drops your sanity way too fast."

Ye Chuan stood in front of the hall door, still pondering the matter of the Sect Master. Seeing the flesh monster attacking from afar, he merely frowned slightly. "Noisy."

He just casually waved his hand.

A black-gold blade of light swept out.

The monster formed by the fusion of the infected was instantly sliced open, and in the next second, it was burned into nothingness by the chaos flames.

Not even much ash was left.

Lin Xi breathed a sigh of relief.

"With Mr. Ye here, a horror movie directly turns into a power fantasy."

Su Rui nodded in deep agreement.

Although the surroundings were still terrifying, she suddenly felt her sense of security return. As long as Ye Chuan stood there, these ghastly things were just like background extras hired to set the mood.

Wonderful.

"Keep up," Ye Chuan said.

"Oh, right."