CHAPTER 726: 601 BORROWED BODY

Using her profound spell, Dongxuan Immortal trapped over twenty elite disciples of the Emei Sect in various "Gu Pits," and then unleashed a potent curse.

Her Witch Gu Curse was tremendously powerful, bolstered by the Golden Silkworm Gu that she had grafted with learning from the Green Robe Ancestor’s Mysterious Yin Scripture. Although she hadn’t refined the Mysterious Yin Pearl, she employed the Gestating Gu Technique to separate from her own body her Second Primordial Spirit, Third Primordial Spirit, Fourth Primordial Spirit... as the Gu eggs developed into Golden Silkworm Gu.

Each Golden Silkworm Gu held a power similar to that of the Mysterious Yin Pearl, employing the Five Great Snake Gods externally, and internally using the transformed Golden Silkworm Gu, she cursed each of her enemies.

She was literally staking her life, casting with all her might.

If used against anyone else, even someone with an Undying Body, like the venerable Tian Chi, would find it unbearable.

Unfortunately for her, these Emei Sect disciples all originated from the orthodox Mysterious Sect, with stable mindsets. Figures like Qi Lingyun amongst others had cultivated to the stage of the Pure Yang, and were unaffected by externally induced Demon Path Techniques, Evil Divine Powers attempting to influence their minds or entrap their Primordial Spirits, or curses aimed at their souls.

Dongxuan Immortal continued to increase her output of mana, the Hemp Banner waving mightily. Each Gu Pit manifested a Myriad Gu Primordial Spirit, essentially just a Spiritual Body, akin to a demon but all imbued with the will of Dongxuan Immortal.

Some appeared as Heavenly Scorpions with wings, others as Golden Toads with eight legs, floating up and down in the darkness, intermittently visible.

They could only see the vague outlines and the terrifying eyes, floating around people, then suddenly lunging forward.

Since they were merely an entity of curse-incarnate, tangible but without substance, no Immortal Sword or Flying Sword Magical Treasure could break them, and when they lunged, they imprinted upon the Primordial Spirit.

At that moment, anyone with even a slight flaw in their psyche, or an imperfect Primordial Spirit, would be vulnerable to its attack, which could seize the Primordial Spirit.

However, the minds of those from the Emei Sect were exceptionally strong, and their Primordial Spirits were all nearing perfection; some like Qi Lingyun were already in the Pure Yang stage.

These curses fell upon their Yang God and simply could not corrode, evaporating as quickly as sugar figurines on a hot stove.

The Hemp Banner of Dongxuan Immortal’s ritual started burning one section after another, each burned section indicating a curse being broken.

Her fully deployed curse, unable to break her enemies, would rebound upon herself.

These intense curses were not even bearable by her; she had to use her Golden Silkworm Gu replicas to transfer the curse.

Watching her painstakingly cultivated substitute Golden Silkworms being destroyed one by one, her heart bled: "Emei Sect! I am irreconcilably against you!"

Knowing this method was futile against these people of the Emei Sect, she then furiously unleashed poison rain, poison fog, and poison fire, tore her white hair from her head, chewed it up and spewed it out, scattering it across each Gu Pit World, using these substances in rain, fog, and thunder fire to transform into Gu eggs, relentlessly hatching billions of Gu worms, surrounding and attacking ceaselessly.

The standoff lasted four days and four nights, ultimately Qi Lingyun and Zhuge Jingwo were the first to find a way to break the spell and escaped from the Gu Pit.

Once the two emerged, one using the Taiqing Immortal Technique and the other employing Mysterious Sect Sword Qi, they swiftly attacked Dongxuan Immortal, who summoned millions of Golden Silkworm Gu to assault the duo.

Both were of Heavenly Immortal level and highly astute. However, besieged by Dongxuan Immortal’s formidable mana and the vast swarm of fierce Golden Silkworm Gu, they found themselves outscaled, amid rounds of Infinite Golden Stars.

However, other members of the Three Heroes and Two Clouds swiftly broke free as well and joined the battle.

Their hands wielded exceedingly powerful Flying Sword Magical Treasures—naturally not to exclude the Purple Ying Sword and Green Rope Sword, rendering Dongxuan Immortal hard-pressed to withstand their edge.

What truly infuriated Dongxuan Immortal was the Seven Cultivation Swords. Together, they formed a set specifically designed to counter the Five Poisons and were the nemesis of all evil Gu!

The seven swords first gathered together—dragon, toad, chicken, rabbit, centipede, turtle, snake—in a formation, transforming into a hundred zhang-long Sword Rainbow aligned forward, dazzlingly colorful and terribly striking. The seven Sword Spirits also manifested, continuously spewing various colored glows, dissolving and scattering all evil Gu and evil influences in their paths, reducing even the formidable Golden Silkworm Gu into ashes within the glow of the Sword Qi!

Faced with this bane, Dongxuan Immortal was genuinely down on her luck; out of a million Golden Silkworm Gu, nearly half were eradicated within the span of a meal, with the seven figures moving freely and adeptly within the Gu Formation.

She released her Mysterious Yin Golden Silkworm Gu, harbored in divided Primordial Spirits, transforming into Golden Light Giant Hands, attempting to seize the enemy’s Flying Sword Magical Treasures, only to be cut down by the Seven Cultivation Swords...

Her Mysterious Yin Golden Silkworm Gu were indeed miraculous; even if sliced by other swords, they could regenerate from the remains through Gu eggs, reviving anew. However, when slain by the Seven Cultivation Swords, they were utterly annihilated, along with their divided bodies meeting immediate destruction!

Against such overpowering odds, Dongxuan Immortal, challenged by over twenty Heavenly Immortals and nearly Heavenly Immortals of the orthodox Mysterious Sect, endured for half a day before finally being defeated, her Poison Dragon Staff chopped down to stumps, and both her hands and feet severed by the Seven Cultivation Swords, leaving her with only a mouth on her torso. Desperate and at the end of her tether, she only managed to pierce through the enemy formation using nine body-doubling Gu exploding in succession, managing to escape.

Li Yingqiong, however, was relentless, wielding the Purple Ying Sword and pursued Doggedly, resolved to eradicate the menace.

But Dongxuan Immortal, having sufficient substitute Golden Silkworm Gu prepared against future Heavenly Tribulations, had cultivated them in ample quantities. East, west, south, and north, over thousands of miles, Dongxuan Immortal’s incarnations were scattered everywhere. Li Yingqiong successively slew over a dozen of those before ultimately losing the pursuit entirely and returned disappointed.

Dongxuan Immortal finally flew to a deserted island in the North Sea, stopped, and descended into the woodland on the island.

Her plight was worse than that of the mythic Human Pig which had only its wrists and ankles severed to render it a human-shaped pig. She was chopped at the waist by the seven swords, collapsing on a sand slope, blood streaming everywhere.

Her silver hair, stained with blood, was scattered and splayed out in utter disarray.

Dongxuan Immortal gnashed her teeth, "Emei Sect! If I don’t completely annihilate your sect and kill every Emei disciple, I swear I’m not human!"

After cursing, she chanted a spell and began to draw the blood on the ground back into her body continuously.

Then, from the wounds on her shoulders and hips, many Gu eggs began to form, wriggling and squirming inside the flesh like silkworms or maggots, rapidly growing and getting stronger...

She intended to use the Golden Silkworm Secret Spell to regenerate her limbs.

While she was closed her eyes, full of boundless hatred, and focused intently on chanting the spell,

suddenly a cold wind blew over from the sea, sweeping across her body.

She shuddered violently, opened her eyes, first confused, then her eyes flickered with a faint red light.

Then, all the silkworm Gu in the flesh of her shoulders and hips died, followed by a surge of blood-colored light energy. It extended from her shoulders outwards, forming bones and meridians, followed by muscles and skin, quickly regenerating.

In but the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, her new limbs and extremities were completely regrown, her skin pale and smooth, like that of a maiden.

She raised her hand to touch her face, very dissatisfied with her wrinkled skin, so she closed her eyes and red smoke began to emit from her body.

After a while, she grabbed her temples, gently tugged, and peeled off her facial skin, using both hands to tear it off like removing a plastic film, peeling up even the scalp.

Quickly, she stood up, shook her bald head, and strands of black hair rapidly grew from beneath her scalp, thick and dense, stopping only when it reached her waist.

In the blink of an eye, what was once an old woman with white hair and missing limbs became a long-haired beautiful girl.

With pride and significance in her eyes, she examined her newly reborn body, twirling on the spot, feeling the surging mana within her body, very satisfied.

Then, red demon light emerged in her eyes as she gazed toward the Central Earth Continent in the southwest, a contemptuous smile and deep hatred apparent on her face.

Over at the Emei Sect, after Dongxuan Immortal was badly injured and driven away, they swept through the islands, executing the Heavenly Silkworm Immortal Mother. Only the Heavenly Silkworm Child survived being bisected by the Purple Ying Sword, but reattached his bisected body. Li Yingqiong and others like Golden Cicada used the Seven Cultivation Swords to try and completely destroy him, but Zhuge Jingwo intervened.

Zhuge Jingwo, having calculated the karma before and after of the Heavenly Silkworm Child, felt pity, "This child is also pitiful, forcibly brought into being by the mating of two silkworm spirits by the wicked Dongxuan, fed plenty of Gu Medicine, and forced to cultivate specific Curse Techniques, prepared to use him as a decoy in future tribulations. We’ve slain enough today; we shouldn’t create more killing karma."

Always prudent and stable, Zhuge Jingwo, with Li Yingqiong as the Emei Sect Leader unable to entirely disregard his words—especially since they were reasonable—retracted the Purple Ying Immortal Sword.

In the following days, they spent several days eradicating all the Gu worms on the island, destroying altars and temples, breaking the evil formations, ensuring this place could not recover before they departed.

At the same time, as the Rashamon Sect and the Divine Dragon Sect were being dismantled, the Qingcheng Sect and the Snow Mountain Sect were jointly eradicating the Western Sect in the southeast.

The Western Sect’s thirteen factions, each more formidable than the last!

Shi Feiyang originally manipulated Ji Fan with Wei Fengniang, believing through this sect hierarch, he could control the entirety of the Western Sect’s influence in Central Earth.

However, since the inception of ’Cangxu God,’ the Western Sect’s strength greatly increased; through Cangxu God, it could directly communicate with Ji Fan through divine-demon interplay, leaving even Wei Fengniang oblivious and unable to perceive anything.

Cangxu God told Ji Fan that they were constructing heaven and the Myriad Tribulations Divine Ship in the West Pole Mountain, currently unable to attend to Central Earth’s affairs, and instructed Ji Fan to develop his own influence.

Thus, Ji Fan outwardly showed neglect, focusing solely on cultivation for entertainment, delegating powers downward while covertly supporting various major factions.

These factions fought amongst each other, yet in reality, they were all brought up by Ji Fan, their leaders secretly following his orders.

In Ji Fan’s view, apart from the Xie Wang Sect which wasn’t his, all others were his people.

He couldn’t suppress the Xie Wang Sect overtly as it would alert Wei Fengniang, only covertly allowing other factions to strike against them.

But Shi Feiyang had instructed Wei Fengniang to support the Xie Wang Sect, allowing it to grow and strengthen.

Whenever the Xie Wang Sect faced oppression, they would come seeking Wei Fengniang’s help, who would then discipline Ji Fan from the ground up, thoroughly handling him until he complied, reluctantly yielding benefits to the Xie Wang Sect time after time.

After all, the Western Sect was from the West, and the other factions were even more distinctly Westernized.

Only the Xie Wang Sect was localized, better fitting the tastes of the Ming Dynasty people.

This allowed the Xie Wang Sect not just to avoid shrinkage but to grow even more robust, becoming the most influential faction within the Western Sect!

Now, with the court branding the Western Sect as a cult and designating the Xie Wang Sect as the Orthodox Sect, even more people flooded into the Xie Wang Sect.

Every faction’s leaders came to Ji Fan for advice, yet before Ji Fan could come up with a solution, people from Qingcheng Sect and Snow Mountain Sect had already launched an attack!