LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 1: chapter 1
Prologue - Previous Life
At the very center of the spiritual veins, standing proudly, is the Wanbao Hall.
It is said that powerful beings from the cultivation world have gathered dozens of divine instruments with celestial power in the Wanbao Hall, using t
At this very moment, countless powerful beings have gathered outside the Wanbao Hall, attractin
"How did so
"They'
"I say, why bring the ghost cultivator to the Wanbao Hall?
"You don't understand. The spiritual instruments in the Wanbao Hall are caWenxian pla
"The ghost cultivator is coming.
A sound came from the distance. The cultivators, who had been discussing, looked up and saw a large cag
The massive cage, forged from thousand-year-old meteorite iron, contained only a broken figure. The figure was neither fully human nor ghost. Flesh and blood coexisted with white bones in a strange and eerie manner. It was also sealed with layers of runes, completely bound by the formation in the cage.
Only then did the onlookers realize what was inside the cage. A figure, crawling on the ground, with pale skin, neither human nor ghost. The lower legs, covered by the rune array, had already turned to bone. A cold white snow sword
"What
"That's the sword of the Tianxu Sword Sect, also the sword of that ghost cultivator's sen
"Don't mention it, I heard he killed his senior brother and even ate him."
Everyone turned their attention to the Wanbao Hall, whose doors stood wide open. On the high platform inside, spiritual energy surged and faintly formed the shape of a celestial soul. Surrounding the hall were countless soul-binding bells, seemingly all meant to suppress the ghost cultivator under the Wanbao Hall, who had been harming the cultivation world.
No one knew the ghost cultivator's name. It was said that a thousand years ago, he was originally a wandering soul born with an evil aura in the Eastern Huán cultivation world. He was taken in and raised by the Tianxu Sword Sect, only to become an ungrateful and cruel being. He practiced the inhumane "Spirit Devouring Technique," devouring the souls of living beings. He killed his master, destroyed his sect, and single-handedly slaughtered dozens of high-ranking cultivators from the Tianxu Sword Sect before fleeing to the Void.
This event enraged the great beings of the Eastern Huán cultivation world. Many powerful cultivators surrounded him, intending to kill him to avenge the Tianxu Sword Sect's spirit. But to their surprise, the ghost cultivator had reached such power that he had become immortal. In the end, he could only be imprisoned beneath the Tianxu Sword Sect's Sword Tomb.
Now, as the Wanbao Hall was nearing completion, the ghost cultivator, burdened with karmic debts, would serve as the foundation for the hall, bound forever to the Wenxian platform and never to rise again.
The ghostly aura emanated from the prison cage, and the layers of law formations pressed down on the cage from all sides.
At this moment, the cage slowly ascended the heavenly stairs of the Wanbao Hall, step by step, descending deeper into the earth.
The surroundings were silent, and the great beings observed as the cage entered the hall.
The elder from the Tianxu Sword Sect cupped his hands toward the cultivators around him and said, "That is the heart of the Wanbao Hall, the foundation of the Wenxian platform. We ask for your help. Once this evil being is sealed in the Wanbao Hall, he will never be able to reincarnate, and the Wenxian platform can be completed."
An elderly monk in monk robes responded, "Elder, you are too polite."
The elder from the Tianxu Sword Sect nodded. "We mustn't delay, everyone…"
However, before he could finish speaking, a crisp ringing sound echoed throughout the vast hall.
Ding-ling, ding-ling—
The soul-binding bells in front of the Wanbao Hall emitted a piercing sound, and a soul-stirring magical resonance filled the air. After being silent for so long, the treasures within the hall seemed to respond to the sound, and a terrifying spiritual energy spread out from them, rushing toward the celestial soul on the high platform with an unstoppable force.
"What's going on?"
"The soul-binding bells of the Wanbao Hall have rung!"
Before the cultivators could inject their spiritual power, the entire array of celestial weapons in the Wanbao Hall began to tremble. The hall was filled with flickering lights, and the celestial soul on the high platform began to disintegrate under the impact of the soul-binding bells. As it collapsed, cracks appeared in the iron prison that held the ghost cultivator. A terrifying, white ghostly aura surged from the Wanbao Hall.
"Grand Elder, wasn't this evil spirit's cultivation sealed?"
The elderly monk's face changed dramatically. "This isn't right... Why hasn't the soul-sealing formation of the Wanbao Hall been activated?!"
Everyone turned their attention to the central formation, where the formation designed to seal ghosts had, unbeknownst to them, turned into a sacrificial array.
The central controller of the array was none other than the imprisoned ghost cultivator.
"He's trying to escape!" The grand elder of the Tianxu Sword Sect urgently called out, "Please, everyone, assist in purging this evil spirit. Don't let him harm the human realm."
"Purge?" The ghost cultivator did not raise his head. His voice, strange and eerie, echoed in the heavy atmosphere of the hall. As his words fell, the formation around the enormous prison suddenly activated. The golden veins turned blood-red, pulsing like veins, as the entire hall trembled...
The monks dressed in monk robes began to retreat, and the leading high-ranking monk's face changed drastically.
The surging spiritual energy infused into the divine platform, and the spiritual energy shackles fell layer by layer, immediately sealing off all the paths for the cultivators in the hall.
"You're crazy, insane!" The elder at the forefront immediately realized what the evil spirit was doing. "Using the soul as a guide to summon the evil spirit? Where did you learn this suicidal method?"
The great powers tried to transcend this ghost cultivator before the Wanbao Hall collapsed, but they didn't expect that the cultivator had silently altered the array formations and runes, delving deep into the underground spiritual vein, turning this place into a sacrificial formation spanning thousands of miles.
"The array of the Tianxu Sword Sect... This kind of formation, I've already played with it until it's worn out," the ghost cultivator said, raising his head. His white hair cascaded down like a waterfall, and his eyes, engraved with red runes, stared at the cultivators in white robes beneath the Wanbao Hall. He ignored the other cultivators' voices, only the word "transcend" filled his remaining consciousness.
Transcend? Transcend who?
He had waited for hundreds of years, waiting for these people to all enter
"And what does that have to do with me?" The ghost cultivator chuckled lowly. His face was nearly ashen, yet the bloodstains flowing down from his eyes were exceptionally beautiful. His entire body trembled with laughter, and the formation suppressing him slowly began to shatter. "Wanbao Hall, the Immortal Query Stage… it's filthy."
Crimson liquid flowed from his eyes, dripping
For a moment, many of the great powers quickly retreated, but they were already trapped by the formations surrounding the Wanbao Hall. The sacrificial formation had already been completed, and the closest great powers were now trapped, their
The voices of the cultivators below sounded as if muffled by deep water, buzzing faintly, accompanied by the distant sound of the soul-stopping bells. It was the collective mournful
The evil soul felt the restraints on its body gradually dissipating. Along with these restraints, his life was also fading away… He raised his head, hearing the cries of anguish all around, ignoring their voices as he struggled to climb out of the cage. As he turned, the bones in
Behind him, there was nothing but a snow-white sword standing unyielding in the sacrificial formation.
The ghost cultivator suddenly smiled, reaching out to touch the sharp sword on his leg bone, moving a
"Se
As the rune array devoured the cage, the shackles that had bound him for nearly a thousand years turned to dust. His half-human, half-soul evil body also began to crumble with the wind. From his bony form, he transformed into a shadowy vapor, dissipating into the torrent of spir
Just as he was about to disappear, the broken souls of the immortal artifacts in the Wanbao Hall seemed to realize something. The shattered souls gathered together and rushed towards the center of the sacrificial array. The snow-white sword he held in his hand suddenly emitted a faint sword light, flying rapidl
The immortal spirits wrapped around the evil soul, and the mournful wail of the soul-stopping bells vani
The ghost cultivator looked up, as if seeing a glimmer of light in the darkness.
During the Tianqi Era of the Eastern Horizon Cultivation Realm, the Wanbao Hall collapsed, the Tianxu spiritual veins were destroyed, and countless great powers fell. From then on, the spiritual energy of the cultivation world began t
A thousand year
The rainstorm was torrential, and the shadow speeding through it splashed mud everywhere. A pale-faced young man dashed through the dense forest, running without thinking, his body covered in cuts from branches and rocks. His heart was nearly overtaken by the sounds closing in wit
Suddenly, the young man stepped into a pit and fell into the muddy water of the mountain path.
The young man's face turned pale as he frantically groped around. He grabbed a piece of broken stone from the ground and waved it around in fear. But as he lifted his hand, his left arm was suddenly twisted behind him with a loud crack, as if it had been broken by someone.
A powerful gust
At this month
"Still running?"
The young man gasped heavily, as if feeling the wind from the cliff's edge. He tried to shr
"Suyu, from the Sū family of Tianyuan City, eighteen years old, born on an inauspicious day, with three broken souls..." The person in b
Raindrops splashed against the young man's body, his hair in disarray. As his name was spoken, he trembled and tried to pull away. His lifeless eyes were calm, but his struggles grew stronger. However, he c
"...Just a Qi Refining Stage, and it's a pity to waste such a star-crossed fate." The figure in black sneered, lowering his gaze to the life book in his other hand. The young man's fate was written clearly on the pages. In the short span of eighteen years, he had never been favored by his family, his intelligence dull, his talents poor, and even blind with illness. "A Sū famil
"Even with such poor talent, it's already quite impressive that you've entered the Dao." A middle-aged cultivator approached but dared not come too close to the figure in black...
"Rest assured, the person is no longer of any value to the Su family; you can dispose of him as you wish."
The man lowered his head, pulling the young boy in front of him. He admired the boy's face, which was gradually turning red from suffocation. His gaze swept over the boy's features, almost as if he were inspecting him. It seemed that he did not find what he wanted to see in the boy, and with a disinterested click of his tongue, he muttered to himself, "Such a worthless thing... it's hard to believe the Su family kept him around for so long… it took quite some time just to get him out."
The man had said—"The fate of a star born in the dark times is best erased from this world, that way we can prevent future troubles."
The moon hung low in the sky, the dark night cold and forbidding. The howling wind whipped through the cliffs, and the oppressive aura of Yin energy began to rise uncontrollably.
The man in black looked down, holding the boy, whose clothes were now soaked through. A living person still posed some risk—there was always a slight danger.
The boy had a star-crossed fate; this would likely be the last one.
The boy's face grew steadily redder. The man increased his pressure, his voice carrying no sympathy—"Poor thing... you can only blame your bad timing."
"Next life, remember to choose a good family."
In the pouring rain and wind, the boy's disheveled hair was blown about, and his struggling grew weaker.
The middle-aged cultivator, who had taken a few steps forward, was suddenly pushed back by a gust of wind from the cliff below. When he looked up again, he was startled to see someone standing at the edge of the cliff in the distance. It looked like a person, but more like a wisp of a ghost, standing silently by the boy's side.
That ghost looked exactly like the boy who had stopped struggling at the edge of the cliff, but unlike the boy, the ghost did not speak. The dark depths of its eyes reflected the bright moon above, cold and sharp, with traces of icy light flickering.
As the cold light flashed, red-gold threads began to climb upward from the ghost's eyes, forming spiderweb-like patterns that seemed to be transforming into some sort of special seal.
What was that!? A ghost!?
In a split second, the middle-aged man felt as though those eyes saw through him completely. He snapped back to his senses and hastily took a few steps back.
"What's wrong?" the man in black glanced over, loosening his grip.
At that moment, the boy, with a pale, emaciated hand, grabbed the man in black's wrist. The man in black looked down, and before he could react, the boy used his hand to leverage himself and broke free from the man's grip, falling to the ground.
"Troublesome," the man in black frowned, gathering strength in his palm. He pushed forward, sending the boy flying with a burst of force. The boy, unrestrained, was sent spiraling uncontrollably toward the bottom of the cliff.
The middle-aged cultivator, who had just come to his senses, looked again, only to find that there was no ghost by the cliffside. The boy had already been pushed down.
Letting out a breath, the cultivator thought to himself that the Yin wind here was indeed strange. A bit worried, he asked, "Should we go down and check?"
The man in black wiped his hands and frowned, "No need."
With his Qi Refining stage cultivation, it was not enough to protect the body.
If he fell, the person would be gone for good.