Gateway of Immortality

Sun De's eyes flickered. "Junior Brother Qin, if you are not afraid of the Heart-Devouring Insect consuming your primordial spirit, there is no need to rush. I have answered all your questions honestly, which shows my sincerity. Now it’s time for you to show your sincerity. Find me a suitable body to possess, and once I am safe, I will definitely tell you how to remove the Heart-Devouring Insect..."

Qin Sang's expression remained cold as his spiritual power surged wildly in his palm. His hand tightened into a fist. Sun De, caught off guard by Qin Sang’s sudden decision to kill him, shouted urgently, "Only the Kuiyin Sect’s Foundation Building stage cultivators know how to remove the Heart-Devouring Insect from you. Spare my life, and I will ask my father to help you… Ah…"

Sun De's scream was cut short as his primordial spirit was crushed to fragments by Qin Sang, scattering into motes of light.

"You must be wondering why I can resist the Heart-Devouring Insect’s consumption, yet you never asked a single question. That’s quite impressive. You wanted to turn me into the primary soul of the Yan Luo Banner, knowing so many of my secrets and having such deep scheming. How could I let you go? As for the Heart-Devouring Insect, I’ll stay in Shaohua Mountain until I break through to the Foundation Building Realm. Kuiyin Sect will be left with only an old Golden Core cultivator. Surely I won’t be so unfortunate as to encounter him?"

Qin Sang clapped his hands and muttered to himself.

Leaving Sun De a breath to give him a chance for his primordial spirit to leave his body was intentional on Qin Sang’s part. From the beginning, he had no intention of sparing Sun De’s life.

Qin Sang's gaze shifted, feeling that the chill in his heart had not yet dissipated. He had truly experienced the dangers of the immortal cultivation world. Without the assistance of the Jade Buddha, he did not know how many times he would have died.

His eyes swept over Sun De’s corpse and landed on the Mustard Seed Pouch that had been knocked aside. He summoned it with a wave of his hand.

Using his spiritual consciousness, he extracted the contents of the Mustard Seed Pouch, filling the cave dwelling with a large assortment of items.

Among the miscellaneous items and low-grade artifacts, Qin Sang's eyes were drawn to seven black ghost banners.

There were seven ghost banners in total, six small and one large. The six smaller ones were the same size as his Yan Luo Banner, but the ghosts depicted on them were even more ferocious and varied in form compared to his Yan Luo Banner. Qin Sang mused that these must be the Yan Luo Banners of Ten Directions.

Sun De actually had six Yan Luo Banners of Ten Directions, enough to form an array. No wonder he was so evasive and constantly tried to use artifacts during their confrontation. It was fortunate that Qin Sang hadn’t given him a chance to catch his breath.

The Yan Luo Array of Ten Directions left by Founder Kuiyin was surely formidable. If Sun De had the opportunity to set up the array, the ebony sword might not have been his match.

Qin Sang felt a sense of relief. He picked up the Yan Luo Banners and found that their grade was somewhat inferior to the average high-grade artifacts and far from top-grade. It seemed Sun De was indeed constrained in Shaohua Mountain and dared not act recklessly.

These Yan Luo Banners still needed to be refined before they could be used. Qin Sang collected them and took a look at the largest banner. His expression changed slightly.

This banner was identical to the one Zhao Yan had used in Yuanzhao Sect—it was an astra!

"Could this be the genuine Yan Luo Banner of Ten Directions left by Founder Kuiyin?"

Qin Sang muttered in surprise. Sun De had just said that Founder Kuiyin had left five Yan Luo Banners of Ten Directions to his disciples, and his father was one of those disciples.

Remembering that Zhao Yan had been able to wield this astra, Qin Sang's heart burned with excitement. If the ebony sword, as just a fragment of an astra, was so powerful, then if he could wield a complete astra, who could be his opponent in the same realm?

However, Qin Sang quickly calmed down as he remembered Zhao Yan's use of the astra likely involved the power of the sect leader’s phantom within the Four-Clouded Divine Seal. Otherwise, with his Qi Refining Realm cultivation, it would have been impossible to use an astra.

Now that he had discarded the Four-Clouded Divine Seal, he could only watch helplessly.

Qin Sang let out a quiet sigh as he carefully stored the astra away and continued his search. He soon discovered that Sun De's wealth was indeed substantial—having a Foundation Building Realm father was a considerable advantage.

There were five middle-grade spirit stones and over a hundred low-grade spirit stones.

Some common spirit talismans that Sun De hadn’t had the chance to use were now Qin Sang’s gain.

There were also bottles of spirit medicines that dazzled Qin Sang. Having become familiar with the immortal cultivation world, he could identify these medicines to some extent. Most were healing medicines, significantly better than those he had obtained from the strawhat man.

There were also medicines for restoring spiritual power during combat.

Qin Sang sorted and stored everything, setting aside the unfamiliar items to research later at Treasure Tower Peak. When he flipped open a jade bottle, he suddenly gasped, and an expression of immense excitement appeared on his face. He grabbed the jade bottle and examined it closely.

Inside the jade bottle were two blue, bean-sized spirit pills that emitted a sharp scent, exactly as he had heard described.

Foundation Building Pills!n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

And there are two of them!

Sun De, not yet forty, had already reached the eleventh stage of Qi Refining Realm. One of these pills was likely a reward from Shaohua Mountain, while the other was probably left to him by his father. 𝙧ÂN∅𝐁Ёš

Sun De had likely planned to break through to a higher realm before using the Foundation Building Pills, increasing his chances of success.

Qin Sang's hand tightly gripped the jade bottle, his heart racing even more than when he had just obtained the astra.

The astra was an external object, but the Foundation Building Pills could truly transform him!

Foundation Building was such an exhilarating and obsessive term. Successfully reaching Foundation Building would mean no longer being a small fry at mercy. The sect would value him more.

More importantly, it was a significant step closer to the path of immortality!

Qin Sang had been most worried about his poor aptitude and whether a single Foundation Building Pill would be enough for a breakthrough.

He had even prepared to spend over a decade collecting them. Although the chances of success decreased after forty, as long as he remained healthy before fifty, the impact wouldn’t be fatal.

Now, with three Foundation Building Pills beckoning to him, how could Qin Sang not be thrilled?

Reluctant to put the pills down, Qin Sang examined them again and suddenly remembered something. He quickly sealed the jade bottle, afraid that the spiritual qi from the pills would dissipate and affect their efficacy—something he would deeply regret.

Overcome with pride, a self-mocking smile appeared on his face, but he couldn't suppress the corners of his mouth from rising, nearly bursting into laughter.

After calming his excitement, Qin Sang began to consider how to conclude the situation.

As a genuine disciple of Shaohua Mountain, Sun De couldn’t be disposed of as easily as a rogue cultivator. However, since Sun De had come secretly to collect the Yan Luo Banners of Ten Directions, he wouldn’t have informed anyone. The Sunken Cave was an ideal place for destroying corpses and clearing suspicion, so it shouldn’t be too difficult.

With this in mind, Qin Sang immediately took action, gathering all the important items and carrying them along with Sun De’s corpse deeper into the Sunken Cave.

Once the items were burned to ashes and scattered into the Sunken Cave, Qin Sang felt relieved.