PDLP Chapter 19: Immortality
Chapter 19: Immortality
"What should be the third step?"
Ying Zheng's heart jumped into his throat.
A strong premonition told him that this third step was the real key and the biggest obstacle on the path to immortality.
Ying Zheng felt as if his heartbeat was about to stop when Zou Yun paused.
Zou Yun raised his head and sighed deeply, his gaze seemingly piercing through the palace dome, looking towards that unknown and mysterious place.
The solemnity contained in that sigh made the temperature in the entire hall seem to drop several degrees.
Even Ying Zheng could clearly sense that what Zou Yun was about to say was the real taboo.
A strange, bone-chilling cold suddenly spread from somewhere, causing Ying Zheng to shiver involuntarily.
"The third step should have been to ask the Queen Mother of the West, the mistress of Kunlun Yaochi, to bestow upon her the legendary supreme divine object, the Phoenix Gallbladder, so as to protect her true spirit from perish."
At this point, Zou Yun deliberately paused, not forgetting to add a supplementary point for Shi Gong and the others.
"This is also one of the so-called elixirs of immortality that Shi Gong and others have been searching for, traversing mountains and rivers and traveling overseas."
Then, he slowly shook his head, a look of helplessness and guilt appearing on his face.
"However, the immortal mountains are elusive, and the Jade Pool is even more difficult to find. Even with my meager cultivation and all my efforts, I... I really have no confidence that I can find it."
The uncertainty in his words was like a bucket of ice water, completely extinguishing the burning passion in Ying Zheng's eyes.
However, before Ying Zheng could show his disappointment,
"but--!"
Zou Yun changed the subject, which made him even more anxious.
"I have a solution that can replace it."
These resounding words gave Ying Zheng his first taste of the thrill of a rollercoaster ride.
Like a drowning person grabbing onto the last piece of driftwood, Ying Zheng suddenly looked up, his eyes bursting with an unprecedentedly crazy light!
The concepts of "supreme emperor" and "greatest emperor of all time" were completely forgotten at this moment.
He no longer cared about imperial dignity, and suddenly stood up from the throne, facing Zou Yun below the steps in a posture that was almost only reserved for disciples serving their teachers and parents.
He clasped his hands together, bowed deeply, and performed a most respectful and reverent salute.
"Please teach me, Master Zou!!!"
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outside the temple.
Zhao Gao stood like a stone statue, personally guarding the door, only his slightly trembling fingertips revealing the burning desire in his heart.
Inside the hall, the faint sounds of conversation, like magical incantations, intermittently entered his ears.
Although it was not very clear, as if it were through a thick fog.
However, it also contains elements related to "immortality," "immortal arts," "substitution," "jade burial suit," "phoenix gall," and "rebirth from death"...
These words, seemingly imbued with magic, were like a red-hot branding iron, leaving a deep imprint on Zhao Gao's heart.
Immortality!
An ultimate fantasy that countless emperors, generals, alchemists and madmen have dreamed of since the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors!
At this moment, I'm only one door away from him!
The temptation is so close, so real!
Even though he was just a lowly eunuch, Zhao Gao couldn't help but harbor fantasies, and an uncontrollable jealousy and ambition grew in his heart.
"Why? Why is it that only he can obtain this secret technique? I...I...can't I...take his place?!"
Once this crazy idea took root, it entangled him like a vine.
Driven by this thought, Zhao Gao couldn't help but move forward little by little, trying to catch a glimpse of more earth-shattering secrets through that gap—
"this......!!!"
The next second, as if pierced by an invisible ice spike, Zhao Gao suddenly shivered.
A fear emanating from the depths of his soul surged forth, but his remaining rationality compelled him to cover his mouth tightly, forcefully silencing the scream that almost escaped his lips.
Cold sweat instantly soaked through my back.
Zhao Gao's eyes widened, his pupils contracting in extreme horror.
He stared intently at the massive vermilion palace door before him, the one he opened and closed every day.
On the heavy door panel, a layer of crystal-clear white frost rapidly condensed at a speed visible to the naked eye, shimmering brilliantly in the sunlight.
"What...what's going on?"
In late autumn, although there was already a chill in Xianyang, the river was still far from freezing over, let alone the palace gates.
"This is definitely not a force of nature!"
This thought flashed through Zhao Gao's mind like a bolt of lightning.
The vast palace appeared to him as a giant ice coffin.
It seals away some unimaginable horror, and that being is silently eroding the boundaries of reality.
Staring at this palace that once symbolized supreme power, now covered in frost.
Zhao Gao felt a bone-chilling cold rush from the soles of his feet to the top of his head, and even his soul trembled uncontrollably.
"What...what's happening in here?!"
A profound fear, accompanied by an even deeper greed, gnawed at his heart like a venomous snake.
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When the palace door was reopened, a chilling, white aura slowly wafted out.
Zou Yun remained expressionless, as if everything he had just experienced was nothing more than a trivial matter.
He stepped out slowly, and amidst the astonished gazes of the crowd outside the hall, he walked straight toward the direction of the Immortal Temple, his figure quickly disappearing into the depths of the palace garden.
Zhao Gao, like a hyena that has smelled blood, immediately darted into the palace.
The scene before him made him feel as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.
The once solemn and magnificent hall now appeared as if it had been swept away by a sudden blizzard.
Four walls, beams and pillars, carved railings, jade steps...
As far as the eye could see, everything was covered with a thick layer of white frost.
Countless fine ice crystals, like eerie white moss, stubbornly grow from those magnificent beams and pillars, shimmering like cold stars in the dim light.
However, the most chilling thing is...
It was the center of the main hall, the location where Ying Zheng and Zou Yun were talking.
In this frost-ravaged palace, only this place remains spotless and warm as ever.
The terrifying, ever-present, seemingly alive chill seemed to obediently avoid this location, as if it had encountered an inviolable forbidden zone.
It seemed to be deliberately avoiding something that it instinctively feared.
At this moment, Ying Zheng still kept his head down, sitting behind the imperial desk that symbolized the supreme ruler of the world, unable to come back to his senses for a long time.
His figure appeared exceptionally somber against the backdrop of the hall filled with icy crystals.
"Your Majesty...Your Majesty..."
Suppressing his shock, Zhao Gaoqiang tentatively called out in a trembling voice, almost in a whisper.
Upon hearing this, Ying Zheng abruptly raised his head.
In that instant, Zhao Gao saw a pair of eyes—
Those eagle eyes that once chilled six kingdoms and changed the landscape.
At this moment, what burns within is no longer the grand ambition to conquer the world.
It is a purer, more terrifying, more unquestionable desire, capable of burning everything.
"Zhao Gao..."
Ying Zheng's voice was low and hoarse. He slowly stood up and stepped down from the imperial desk.
Step by step, through the frost-covered ground... step by step...
He slowly walked to Zhao Gao's side, who stood frozen like a puppet. Zhao Gao, as if his soul had been captured by those pupils, remained rooted to the spot.
As the two passed each other, Ying Zheng spoke again.
This time, his voice was extremely low... extremely low... like a chilling wind from the depths of hell, reaching Zhao Gao's ears.
"Kill them."
After saying this, without waiting for Zhao Gao to react, Ying Zheng walked out of the main hall and, escorted by armored soldiers with halberds, went to other palaces.
After a long time—
In the deathly silent hall filled with frost, Zhao Gao stood alone.
He lowered his head and softly responded in the direction Ying Zheng had left.
"promise!"