Shanghai, on the east side of Chongming Island, facing the vast expanse of the Yangtze River and the sea, there is a nearly hundred-acre mansion called Hidden Garden. The typical Jiangnan garden-style mansion is shaded by dense trees, with small bridges, flowing water, carved beams, and painted rafters, all immersed in a lush green environment. The gray tiles are arranged in a harmonious pattern, exuding elegance and serenity to the extreme.

  This mansion has a history of over 200 years, it was built here after the Second Religious War and has been used as the daily administrative headquarters and contact point for the Asian Taoist Alliance.

  Koxinga sat in the transport ship, still thinking about Yurisa who had disappeared in the chaos at the Hawaii base. When the soldiers surrounded the base, Koxinga happened to see Yurisa, dressed in a white dress, floating into the crowd like a ghost.

  Several senior military officers greeted Ulysses and after showing a document he slipped into a car that sped away.

  "It's fine for now... To be honest, I'm more inclined towards Aridyah. This girl is the one who suits Saren!"

  The corner of his eye stole a glance at Sai Er's smiling face, Gu Xie Chen couldn't help but snicker and laugh out loud. As soon as he laughed, Sai Er's expression turned extremely ugly on the other side.

  The transport ship hovered above the Hidden Garden, and several artificial hills below slowly moved away in all directions, revealing a spacious landing area.

  Gu Xiechen and others walked down the transport ship, dozens of young men and women dressed in different attire had already come to greet them. Xiao Zhang Daoren and others laughed loudly, their eyelashes almost bursting with laughter, as they warmly greeted these people and played together in a heap. The frozen quiet Xiaodao girl's Xuanbing was carefully lifted out, and three old men wearing cyan Taoist robes, full of medicinal scent, hastily walked out, taking the person to an unknown place with Xiaojing Daoren.

  Two lovely little girls, looking like silver dolls, walked quickly over, pursing their mouths and smiling at Gu Xianchen, saying "Mr. Gu? The old ancestor is calling for you!"

  Peng Hua, who was busy chatting and bragging with acquaintances, hastily pushed Gu Xiechen and said with a smile, "My master is looking for you. Hey, Ox Nose, I'll come find you later!"

  Two little girls led the way, Gu Xiechen, Peng Hua, Sai Zhen, and Arediya followed behind them, winding their way through the Hidden Garden for a while before arriving at a small courtyard. The courtyard was only about ten meters long and wide, but after being arranged by skilled craftsmen, several bamboo poles and a fake mountain surrounded a small and exquisite flower hall, with a large patch of wisteria covering more than half of it. A clear spring flowed out from the side of the flower hall, circled around it once, and then flowed out from beside a fake mountain.

  In the courtyard, there is a wisteria, I don't know what variety it is, nor have I seen it bloom, but it has produced countless green bean-sized fruits, and as soon as you approach, a faint fragrance wafts over, which is refreshing.

  In the flower hall, there was a delicate pavilion on one side, with a clear pool of water in front of it. Inside the pool were two pairs of carp that were only as long as a palm, and at the bottom of the pool was a small crab about the size of a sea bowl. The carp were nothing to be concerned about, but this black crab had an aura of evil around it. Its pair of bulging eyes shone brightly, casting a eerie green glow on the water, giving off a ghostly atmosphere. When Gu Xuan and others walked in, the crab actually floated up from the pool and glared at Gu Xuan with its teeth bared and claws outstretched.

  "Squeak, squeak!" A mournful and eerie howl came from the crab's mouth, and a whirlwind of dark air emerged from the flat ground.

  Peng Hua kicked the crab flying with one foot, and he smiled dryly at Gu Xie, "This guy is a pet raised by my master, it has been following him since the early Song Dynasty. Its original body is an overseas alien species, star-patterned iron-armored crab. Alas, after so many years of cultivation, its corpse energy still can't condense into shape, so it's always in the form of a crab."

  Crab zombie? Pet? Gu Xiechen stared at the star-patterned iron-armored crab that was kicked flying by Hua Ye and lay on the fake mountain, spitting white foam, feeling his eyes widening. This crab exuded an aura of evil energy that made Gu Xiechen feel even stronger than when he first met Sai Tzu, such a freakish crab, yet it was just a pet. A high-pitched, clear and elegant guqin sound suddenly came from the flower hall, the sound lingering around him, full of ethereal and otherworldly charm.

  "Gu Xiechen coughed lightly and bowed his fist, saying, 'Junior Gu Xiechen pays respects to the Corpse Emperor!' "

  The sound of the guqin came to an abrupt halt, and a voice directly echoed in the minds of Gu Xie Dust and others, "Come on... Moon Flower, Moon Spirit, brew a pot of Blood Jade Dew!"

  Two little girls, Yuehua and Yueling, smiled with pursed lips, and a whirlwind of gray mist rose from their feet, and they disappeared without a trace. Gu Xie curled his lip, only to realize that he had been mistaken all along. He had thought they were just two ordinary little girls, but now it seemed they were also of the same kind as Penghua, who was an undead creature. Yuehua and Yueling might be spirits or demons.

  Followed Peng Hua and walked into the small flower hall (officially signed by the strong man, four dishes and one lie), Gu Xie dust flew quickly to take a look at the decoration inside the flower hall.

  Antiquity, extreme antiquity, all the components in the flower hall are estimated to have a history of at least over a thousand years. On the walls hang hundreds of pieces of ancient colored jade carvings with tortoiseshell patterns, and in the corner, a ghost-faced bronze square cauldron has several peculiarly shaped bronze long swords inserted into it. A suit that appears to be made from stone-carved characters leans against the wall at an angle. Under the large south-facing window is a large table made of unknown giant beast bones, on which rests an ancient zither that looks like it would turn to dust with just one blow of the wind.

  In the first sect of the Nine Nether Dao, the first master of the corpse emperor sat cross-legged in front of a large beast bone platform.

  Although he was sitting cross-legged, the Emperor's height had almost reached Gu Xiechen's neck, and it can be imagined how majestic his physique was. A simple set of grayish-white coarse linen robes, pale skin with a faint blue tint, a square-shaped face, a Taoist bun on his head, with three jade hairpins inserted, each carved with dragon, phoenix, and turtle patterns. Except for his extraordinary height, the Emperor looked like an ordinary old man in everything else.

  Gu Xie dust morning corpse emperor hands clasped together and bowed, his upper body deeply bowing down.

  "A junior of Gu Xianchen has seen Emperor Taizong before."

  "Senior's demeanor is indeed heartbreaking."

  The Corpse Emperor smiled slightly and said in a low voice, "I already know about what happened on that Youxian Island."

  "Kneel down and acknowledge me as your master, or else that old, worn-out, good-for-nothing cow nose will steal all the attention from you!"

  He pointed at Xie Zhen and Aretha with his hand, and the Corpse Emperor chuckled, "You two... it's fine, kneel down together."

  Gu Xiechen noticed that the Corpse Emperor said "Youxian Star" instead of the Federation's name, "Tiantang Star". This name was also something Gu Xiechen had heard from Xin Jia's mouth.

  Two gray whirlwinds brought a chilling air from underground, and two little girls, Yuehua and Yueling, carefully carried a set of tea utensils out of the whirlwind.

  Gu Xie dust respectfully knocked nine loud heads, then presented a cup of moonlight handed over a dark red blood-like fragrance pungent tea.

  The Corpse Emperor nodded in satisfaction, took the tea from Gu Xiechen and drank a mouthful. He placed the teacup on the bone table beside him and handed over a grayish-white, evil-radiating recognition token to Gu Xiechen.

  "You, this apprentice, have received it. This is some introductory methods of our school for guiding and leading Qi, as well as some practical techniques, you can play with them when you're free."

  Gu Xie dust took over the traction recognition, and stuffed it into (ap. official signboard Meng Nan four dishes one lying upload) Xiao Qiankun pouch.

  On the way, Saijin had already explained to Aridyah the agreement he had reached with Gu Xiechen, so Shi Di asked them to kowtow and become his apprentices. The two of them obediently followed Gu Xiechen's example and kowtowed nine times, presenting a cup of blood jade wine afterwards, and also became Shi Di's disciples. From then on, when they traveled outside, if someone wanted to make things difficult for them, they not only had to consider their identities as Jieshi, but also had to be mindful of the powerful evil cultivator standing behind them, Shi Di. He clapped his hands in laughter and said with a smile, "Today I have obtained three excellent disciples, it's truly a joyous occasion!"

  With a flip of his palm, Emperor Shi took out a strange-shaped bronze sword from his sleeve and handed it to Sai Zhen. The style of ancient Chinese bronze swords was usually thick and heavy, but this sword was long and thin, just right for Sai Zhen who was used to Western-style rapiers. This four-foot-eight-inch-long rapier was as thin as paper, only about the width of an ordinary person's little finger. The blade was densely covered with tortoiseshell-like cracks, and the entire sword emitted a cold aura, clearly not an ordinary item.

  Saijin grasped the long sword with joy, and with a light swing of his arm, he felt that its length and weight were just to his liking. With just a slight infusion of his inner power into the sword, a foot-long sword aura burst forth from the tip, its might truly astonishing. But in an instant, Saijin's entire body was drenched in cold sweat - how did this Emperor of Corpses know that he liked using thrusting swords? And had even prepared such a divine weapon for him?!

  Gu Xie's mouth twitched and he glanced at Sai Ren who was standing stiffly, smiling and saying, "Master, I wonder if this sword has a name?"

  The Corpse Emperor smiled and shook his head, saying, "This sword also has no name. Three hundred years ago, my master stole it from an ancient tomb in the Western Kunlun Mountains. The sword is too light, and my master's disciples all liked heavy axes, so no one used it until today when it finally met its owner."

  Being interrupted by Gu Xie Chen, Sai Jin suddenly woke up with a start and hastily bowed to Shi Di in gratitude.

  The Corpse Emperor laughed a few times and then pulled out from his sleeve a fist-sized gemstone that was entirely bright red.

  The temperature inside the flower hall suddenly rose in a straight line, and the two little girls, Yuehua and Yuexia, were rushed out of the door by the high temperature. The Corpse Emperor handed the pearl to Ardiya with a smile, "This pearl has some origin, according to the records of our sect's classics, it was left behind by our ancestors six generations ago. This is an inner elixir of a fire python that was about to transform into a dragon and cross its calamity, our ancestor stole up and killed the fire python, seized all its essence and blood, only this inner elixir contains pure yang fire energy, which counters my Nine Nether Dao method, so it has been left behind until now!"