Chapter 16: The Eerie Grudge Book
"The day after tomorrow I'll reach the second level of Qi Refining, yet I still only have a vague, foggy understanding of cultivation and Dao techniques. There's so much I still need to learn!"
Li Qingyun was well aware of his own situation. This body had not even a trace of Dao Bone or Spiritual Root — he couldn't even measure up to He Xiao.
And constrained by his lack of knowledge about this world's Dao techniques, his comprehension of the Treasure Furnace Qi Absorption Art was only mediocre.
The so-called Daoist scriptures and incantations he had read online in his previous life were vastly different from this world's methods — incompatible and impossible to forcibly integrate.
Lu Liqian's guidance on the Treasure Furnace Art was several levels above his own understanding!
So on the path of cultivation, he still had to put in diligent effort.
Thinking he could slack off just because there was that mysterious Dao Effigy in his mind — that would only hold himself back!
"Hmm, the contents of this 'Compendium of Dao Techniques' have clearly been cut all over the place — missing this, missing that. It's so frustrating to read!"
Li Qingyun opened the copy of "Compendium of Dao Techniques," only to be deeply disappointed.
"I thought this would be a comprehensive foundational text. I didn't expect that I couldn't even find out how many major realms there are — every reference to Foundation Establishment and beyond has been completely removed..."
Over the past three years, leveraging the connections of the Marquis of Qinghe's Manor, he had done his best to gather information about the Transcendent world circulating among ordinary people, and had gone out of his way to befriend practitioners of the Unorthodox Path. He had confirmed that the two lowest major realms of the orthodox Transcendent power system in this world were Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment, but beyond that, his knowledge was sparse.
The Unorthodox Path practitioners rooted in the mortal world were said to cap out at the Foundation Establishment Realm, which was why he considered such methods to be a castrated version of Transcendent power.
What had surprised him even more was that he had once asked the retainers of the manor whether there were immortals in this world.
The moment the word "immortal" left his mouth, it struck a great taboo. Those retainers instantly lost their composure — their faces drained of color, their expressions filled with terror, as if they had heard something forbidden. They immediately fell silent and practically swept him, the Third Young Lord, out the door.
After that, the manor's retainers refused to discuss cultivation with him at all, avoiding him like a venomous snake.
So he had always harbored a nagging question: why was the word "immortal" a taboo in this world?
"Let me look at this one. This Dao text was probably written by a powerful senior of the Lingbao Sect."
Li Qingyun picked up the copy of "Lingbao Daojun's Answers to Doubts."
The text used a self-questioning-and-answering format to introduce and describe many aspects of cultivation knowledge. But roughly half the content was about the Lingbao Sect's own affairs, boasting about their Dao techniques in grandiose terms. Between every line, there was a certain air — as if mastering the true Lingbao Dharma would make subduing demons and achieving immortal longevity effortless, as though one could do anything at all.
However, large swaths of important content had been cut here as well, and there was still no explanation of Foundation Establishment or anything above it.
"So the Dao Affinity Token I spent money on is worth this little!"
Since everything was a castrated version anyway, he sped through the rest of his reading.
Skimming quickly and picking out key points while browsing online in his previous life had become second nature.
He flipped through the scriptures one by one with rapid, rustling sounds, drawing frequent cold sidelong glances from the two formal disciples nearby.
But those two soon selected the techniques they wanted and left.
Growing ever more disappointed, Li Qingyun's gaze fell on the bookshelf before him. He reached out somewhat casually and pulled out a volume.
In that instant, something felt subtly off in his heart.
The space before his eyes seemed to faintly twist and ripple for just a moment!
What he had pulled out was wrong — this wasn't the book he had chosen!
"'Maple Mountain Grudge Book'? What a strange name. And it's leather-bound?"
The Dao text in his hands gleamed with a dark crimson luster, as if portending something ominous.
The pages were not paper but some kind of exotic hide — tough yet thin as paper. As he ran his fingers over it, he felt a faint chill seep in from his fingertips.
It was as if some genuine grudge energy was emanating from within the Grudge Book.
"I am no longer who I was yesterday — disperse!"
He gave his Dharma Power a sharp pulse, rousing his yang energy, and immediately drove back that thread of cold, sinister intent.
The Treasure Furnace Qi Absorption Art was, by nature, a technique of refining yang and absorbing qi within the Treasure Furnace. The Dharma Power it cultivated inherently carried the force of yang fire, making it especially effective against cold and sinister phenomena.
With surprise and curiosity — and a guarded wariness in his heart — Li Qingyun slowly opened the first page of the Grudge Book.
All the scriptures on the first floor of the Scripture Repository were castrated versions. He was rather hoping that this eerie Maple Mountain Grudge Book might contain something genuine.
The moment he opened it, the dark crimson page was completely blank.
But immediately, a line of blood-red text surfaced, as if flowing from liquid gore.
"I followed the ancient method, cultivating the Corpse Liberation Dao, secretly buried within Cloud Mountain, hoping to achieve immortality through ascension..."
"Unexpectedly, the wicked Daoists of Lingbao lurked nearby and severed my path to immortality at the critical moment. Afterward, they used my own fortune to derive a Blessed Grotto-Heaven and establish their Dao grounds... I curse all the thieving Daoists of the Lingbao Sect — may they die without peace, never enter the cycle of reincarnation, and sink into eternal perdition..."
"Die, die, die, die, die!"
The twisted blood-red characters flashed in a frenzied state, and between every line, a towering, sky-reaching grudge energy surged!
The final string of "die" curses abruptly transformed into a streak of blood-light that shot upward and, like lightning, bored straight into Li Qingyun's left eye!
Li Qingyun was horrified. His hands went slack and the Grudge Book fell to the floor.
He felt as though a frenzied, twisted mass of resentment had appeared in his mind, trying to devour his soul and seize control of this body!
For a moment, he was overwhelmed with shock and dread, and a wave of bitter regret surged through him!
What should he do?
"Right — don't I have a mysterious... something living in my mind?"
The thought flashed through him like lightning. He immediately sat down and crossed his legs in meditation.
In his mind, the spectral silhouette of the Dao Effigy appeared at once.
The figure wore ancient robes and a jade crown, its brows and eyes still cast downward, indistinct and unreal, like a statue that had lain dormant for ten thousand ages.
"Hmph!"
Then, from deep within his mind, a faint, barely perceptible cold rebuke rang out.
Ah!
The dark crimson resentment that had just invaded his mind was struck with sudden terror — before it could do anything at all, it was snuffed out in an instant by an invisible force, like a cigarette butt being pinched out!
Not a single trace remained!
In his mind, the spectral silhouette of the Dao Effigy remained as indistinct as ever, its background shrouded in darkness, as if nothing had happened at all — a faint wisp of pure qi even drifted upward from the top of its head.
Though it appeared utterly indifferent, Li Qingyun knew it was the mysterious Dao Effigy that had acted.
His meridians tingled faintly. Li Qingyun quickly withdrew from his meditation posture and stood up again, his entire body breaking out in a cold sweat.
His heart was still pounding with lingering fright!
"I let my guard down. No wonder they say curiosity killed the cat! Wait — where did that Grudge Book go...?"
He looked down at the floor. The "Maple Mountain Grudge Book" that had just fallen there had vanished without a trace, at some unknown point.
He checked the bookshelf as well — it was nowhere to be found.
As if it had never existed!
He turned to look at the old Daoist guarding the first floor, only to find the man lying back in a rattan chair, dozing, completely unaware of the disturbance that had just occurred nearby.
Well, since nothing bad had happened, it was better not to invite trouble — otherwise there would be too much to explain...
Li Qingyun made his decision in an instant.
He reckoned that this eerie "Maple Mountain Grudge Book" and whatever lay behind it were probably a high-level secret of Lingbao Temple — and might even touch on certain fundamental truths of this world.
"Corpse Liberation? Immortals? Revival?"
"To think that without even trying, I stumbled upon some remarkable secrets in this strange Grudge Book!"
"From what that thread of resentment implied, Maple Mountain was originally its site for Corpse Liberation — it had intended to achieve immortality and undying existence through the Corpse Liberation method. Quite an audacious ambition! But it had long since been discovered by the Daoists of the Lingbao Sect, who cut it down at the critical moment and severed all hope of the 'immortal' reviving. Afterward, that great figure from the Lingbao Sect wasn't thorough enough and left behind a small loose end!"
"Still, the immortals of this world seem rather weak, don't they? By the standards of my previous life, achieving the Dao through Corpse Liberation would only count as a ghost immortal at best..."
He let his thoughts wander in a scattered, distracted haze.