Chapter 8 - Eerie.

The sun hung high.

Warm light, like threads, gently caressed the earth.

Hua Erling squatted beside the black soil, and after much hesitation, still couldn't resist reaching out and grabbing a handful.

After a thorough inspection.

He saw that the black soil was extremely fine, with distinct grains, like quicksand.

Furthermore, it was chillingly cold to the touch, the coldness penetrating deep into the bones, as if it could freeze a person's soul.

Not only that, but this soil was also extremely heavy; even a small handful weighed more than copper or iron.

"This... truly lives up to being immortal soil."

Hua Erling released his grip and turned to stare at the scattered corpses on the ground.

He sighed deeply.

Then he got up, dug a pit, and buried the bodies.

Besides those, there were also Hou Qi's remains.

Even though Hou Qi often mocked him for warming Qianyuanzi's bed, death was a serious matter, and they had all suffered together since childhood, so he wouldn't dwell on those things anymore.

That night.

After finishing everything, Hua Erling casually built a straw shed beside the black soil and settled in.

Days passed.

The earth gradually warmed, and vegetation slowly returned to life.

But Hua Erling was on edge all day long.

This was because every night, that black soil...

In the first half of the night, countless "hehe" strange cries emanated from it, their sound piercing, like the wailing of countless infants and the mournful cries of ghosts.

In a trance, he could even see yellow paper ghost money scattering across the heavens and earth, drifting down onto the black soil.

But in the latter half of the night, the situation changed.

The wailing of ghosts ceased, replaced by dense sounds of chanting, solemn and majestic, bright and peaceful, as if all the gods and buddhas were performing a salvation ritual.

"This is simply too absurd!"

"Is what Shiwu planted truly an immortal?"

Hua Erling stood by the straw shed, his eyes filled with worry.

In the blink of an eye, a month passed.

Tonight.

The stars and moon were hidden, and the world was unusually dim.

However, that patch of black soil seemed unusually calm tonight. Read at Novels Haven (novelshaven.com)

"Boom... crackle."

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning flashed across, its momentum vast, connecting heaven and earth, turning the pitch-black night into a momentary daylight.

Hua Erling awoke from his sleep, turned his head to look, and instantly his breath hitched, his pupils contracting to pinpricks.

"Shi... Shiwu?"

He saw that in the center of the black soil, at some unknown time, a crack had appeared.

From it emanated deep red light, filled with a heart-pounding, ominous aura, and a peculiar quality that seemed capable of annihilating everything, reducing it to dust.

It was also at this moment that Hua Erling saw.

A pitch-black humanoid skeleton slowly, bit by bit, crawled out from within.

Like a demon from the Nine Netherworlds, breaking free from its restraints and descending upon the human world.

"Shiwu, is that you?"

Hua Erling stared at the black skeleton, tears welling in his eyes, his throat almost choking up.

He had never imagined that his last remaining fellow disciple would turn into such a ghastly sight.

But in the next instant, a miracle occurred.

An invisible and indescribable peculiar force seemed to surge from the black soil covering the ground; it was profoundly mysterious, coiling around the black skeleton in circles.

Following this, flesh buds began to grow and intertwine on the black skeleton, bit by bit.

The night slowly passed.

After an unknown period of time.

A man with hair like a waterfall, a serene and gentle face, faint and unrestrained eyebrows, and who was excessively young, stood there completely naked.

"Erling, stop crying for now."

"I mean, could I get some clothes first?"

Li Shiwu held his crotch with his left hand and his forehead with his right, smiling helplessly.

A moment later.

Li Shiwu put on his original Daoist robe.

A simple bonfire was lit on the ground, sparks occasionally shooting high before vanishing in an instant.

"Shiwu, have you become an immortal?"

Hua Erling's face was flushed red by the firelight; after hesitating, he finally couldn't help but ask the question.

"An immortal?"

Li Shiwu raised an eyebrow, then shook his head.

"I don't think so."

"So far, I've only taken the first step, successfully 'Planting an Immortal'." Read at Novels Haven (novelshaven.com)

"As for whether it's a blessing or a curse in the future, who knows."

As Li Shiwu spoke, he raised his palm and observed it intently.

Beneath his fair skin, he could clearly perceive the surging power of flesh and blood it contained; tearing apart tigers and leopards would be trivial.

Besides this, he knew very little about his current body and needed to explore it slowly.

Hearing this, Hua Erling couldn't help but sigh.

"It's a pity, the Seed Immortal Temple is gone, and the black soil where you planted the immortal is also gone."

"Otherwise, we might have been able to find some clues from it."

However, as soon as these words were spoken, the atmosphere by the fire froze.

The lightheartedness on Li Shiwu's face vanished, replaced by an indescribably grim expression.

"The black soil beneath my feet is gone? Since when?"

"Just now, when your flesh and blood regrew, I saw the black soil disappear with my own eyes."

Hua Erling was somewhat puzzled, not understanding the meaning of the question.

Li Shiwu said nothing, just lowered his head to look.

Because from his perspective, the eerie black soil beneath his feet, used for 'Planting an Immortal', was still there.

Not only that, but the Seed Immortal Temple was also there, and he was currently inside the Daoist temple.

"Erling, can you truly not see the Seed Immortal Temple and the black soil beneath my feet?"

"No, I can't," Hua Erling shook his head.

Li Shiwu stopped asking, simply got up, and walked towards the temple gate.

However, just as he was about to step out of the temple gate, something eerie happened again.

The Seed Immortal Temple, as if a lingering spirit, automatically moved forward, making it impossible for him to step out.

"Heh heh, I don't believe it."

"Just a broken temple, and it thinks it can trap me?"

Li Shiwu cursed under his breath, then suddenly exerted force with his legs, lunging forward in one direction.

After about a hundred meters, he looked up and found that the Daoist temple was still following him, and he was still inside it.

"Shiwu, what are you doing?"

Seeing Li Shiwu jumping around like a monkey, Hua Erling was somewhat bewildered.

"It's nothing."

Li Shiwu uttered two words, then tried to lift his feet from the black soil, but found he couldn't.

The black soil clung to his feet like maggots to bone, impossible to shake off.

"How can this be? How can this be?" Read at Novels Haven (novelshaven.com)

He kept questioning himself, his mind racing.

"Planting an Immortal, Planting an Immortal."

"Like a vegetable seedling, it cannot be separated from its root soil."

"Could it be that I, this 'immortal seedling', also cannot escape the black soil beneath my feet and the Seed Immortal Temple?"

Thinking of this, Li Shiwu became unusually silent.

He always felt that after escaping the big pit that was Qianyuanzi, he seemed to have jumped into an even bigger one himself.

The night wind swept past, causing the firelight to sway and also stirring the two men's unsettled emotions.

Just like that, a night passed.

Morning.

Li Shiwu's eyes were downcast; he extinguished the bonfire's embers with a kick.

And after exploring last night, he gradually figured out some tricks.

That is, neither the Seed Immortal Temple nor the eerie black soil beneath his feet could be seen or touched by outsiders.

From his own perspective, although both were constantly clinging to him, they were like transparent entities, not affecting his vision or daily activities.

"Coffin Master."

Li Shiwu fixed his gaze on the millstone-sized bronze toad and approached it step by step.

Strangely enough, the fierce and not-very-intelligent Coffin Master now had a rare look of fear in its small eyes.

"Good boy, be obedient."

Li Shiwu reached out and stroked the toad's head, gently comforting it.

In the blink of an eye, the large toad vanished, leaving only a rather delicate, bronze-colored toad ornament in his palm.

After thinking for a moment, he imitated Qianyuanzi, letting the toad bite onto his left earlobe, hanging there casually.

With this simple adornment, an indescribable sense of eerie strangeness emanated from the young, handsome Daoist.

After doing all this, Li Shiwu suddenly jolted, as if remembering something, and quickly turned back.

He asked, "Erling, where is Qianyuanzi's body?"

"He had a sheepskin scroll, which he treasured greatly; it should contain information about the Seed Immortal Temple."

"Otherwise, how could an old man with a pockmarked face know such a great secret of the world?"

Hearing this, Hua Erling quickly responded.

"A sheepskin scroll?"

"Shiwu, come with me, that thing should still be on the old man's body."