69: Immortal Mountain or Demon Cave? The Mysterious "Immortals"!

Gu Yang stepped on the waves, passing through the last layer of mist as if walking on flat ground.

The scene before him suddenly opened up, like an ink wash painting slowly unfolding between heaven and earth.

A huge island, a hundred li in circumference, floated on the sea. Ancient trees towered on the island, their canopies like covers, and the Spiritual Qi was so dense it almost materialized into white mist, lingering in the mountains.

From a distance, pavilions and towers could be seen hidden among the verdant greenery, and several Immortal cranes gracefully circled and danced in the clouds. It was truly a legendary paradise untouched by the mortal world.

Penglai Immortal Mountain!

"What a great place! This environment is several times better than the inner sect of the Five Elements Sect!"

Gu Yang took a deep breath, feeling his lungs clear and the fatigue from days of travel seemingly dissipating.

"Even the soil here has Spiritual Qi. If used for farming, radishes could grow as big as trees, right? If only I could move this island back to be my vegetable garden."

He stepped onto the island. The soil beneath his feet was soft and fragrant, and the wild grass by the roadside emitted a faint glow. Everything seemed so beautiful and peaceful.

However, Gu Yang quickly frowned, instinctively sensing something was amiss.

It was too quiet.

Although the island was picturesque with lush vegetation, not a single bird call could be heard, nor was there any trace of wild beasts running about.

Even the Immortal cranes flying in the sky moved somewhat stiffly and rigidly, like puppets on strings, repeating their flight patterns along fixed trajectories.

A deathly silence prevailed, with only the rustling of leaves in the wind. But after listening for a long time, this sound began to resemble countless people whispering softly.

Gu Yang reached out and touched the trunk of a large tree nearby. It was cold and slick to the touch, not like wood, but rather possessing a strange "fleshy texture," as if the tree were a living creature with body temperature.

"Something's wrong. This place has an evil aura."

Gu Yang tightened his grip on the heavenly demon meteor hammer, dropping his playful demeanor, and cautiously walked deeper into the island.

Passing through a peach forest laden with bright red peaches, an ancient village appeared ahead.

At the village entrance stood a moss-covered stone tablet, inscribed with the three large characters: "Longevity Village."

"Guests have arrived!"

"It's been hundreds of years, and finally, guests have arrived again!"

The village suddenly became lively, and dozens of villagers dressed in ancient attire poured out of their houses.

There were men and women, old and young, but every one of them had overly rosy complexions, skin as delicate as jade, without a single wrinkle, and their eyes gleamed with an almost fanatical, eager light.

An old man, leaning on a dragon-headed staff, tottered forward, his face creased with laughter, but his voice was unusually loud:

"Brave warrior, are you from the outside world? This old man is the Village Chief of Longevity Village. Penglai Immortal Mountain is isolated from the world, so for you, brave warrior, to pass through the mist and arrive here is a great destiny. Please, come into the village for a cup of hot tea!"

Gu Yang looked at these overly enthusiastic villagers and sneered inwardly.

His Five Elements Great Millstone was frantically warning him, an instinctive repulsion to anomalous energy.

In his perception, although these people had a strong Life Qi, this Life Qi was too fake, like rouge painted on a corpse, superficial. And beneath that layer of false Life Qi, a nauseating, decaying Death Qi was hidden!

It was like a group of monsters in human skin, desperately trying to play the role of "people."

"No need for tea."

Gu Yang didn't expose them on the spot but pretended to be simple-minded, rubbing his belly and looking like a big, foolish fellow:

"I eat a lot, and I'm starving after traveling for days. Is there any meat? Preferably large chunks of meat!"

"Yes! Of course, there is!"

The Village Chief's eyes lit up, as if he had been waiting for this very sentence. "Today is precisely the village's 'Longevity Feast,' the day we offer sacrifices to the Immortals. Since you, brave warrior, have come, you are an honored guest, please take the main seat! We have prepared Dragon Liver and Phoenix Marrow, guaranteed to satisfy you, brave warrior!"

A moment later, the village square was filled with a flowing feast.

Long stone tables were laden with plates of fragrant delicacies. Braised meat chunks were translucent and glistening invitingly; steamed large fish were tender and juicy, their eyes still sparkling with spiritual light; and there were various Spirit Fruits and fine wines, even more lavish than an imperial banquet.

The surrounding villagers sat around, but no one touched their chopsticks. Everyone stared intently at Gu Yang, their eyes filled with desire, their throats making swallowing sounds.

"Brave warrior, please eat! After eating this Longevity Feast, you can live as long as heaven and earth, and enjoy eternal bliss!" The Village Chief held a cup of amber-colored fine wine, solicitously offering it to Gu Yang, his smile looking unsettling no matter how one viewed it.

Gu Yang picked up his chopsticks, grabbed a piece of braised pork with a good balance of fat and lean, and examined it carefully before his eyes.

Under the cover of illusion, this was a top-grade Spirit Beast meat, even showing dripping juices.

But under the imperceptible vibration of Gu Yang's Extreme Dao Force Field, that exquisite illusion instantly shattered like a mirror.

How was this braised pork?

It was clearly a piece of slightly squirming rotten meat, covered in white fur and green spots! Between the meat's fibers, several plump maggots could even be seen crawling in and out, emitting a suffocating stench!

And that so-called "fine wine" in the cup was clearly black, viscous corpse fluid, with several unknown hairs floating on top!

As for the other "delicious dishes," they were all kinds of rotten organs, dead mice, toads... "Ugh—"

Gu Yang almost threw up on the spot.

Although he had eaten many strange things in his life to become stronger—insects, dragon dung, iron blocks, magma—he was a principled foodie and never ate spoiled food!

This was an insult to food, and an insult to him, a top-tier gourmet!

"What? Is it not to your taste, brave warrior?" The Village Chief's face instantly darkened, his smile frozen, appearing exceptionally ferocious. The surrounding villagers also slowly stood up, their formerly benevolent faces beginning to twist, as if something was moving beneath their skin.

"To your grandpa!"

Gu Yang violently overturned the table in front of him.

Splash!

The table full of rotten meat and corpse fluid splashed all over the Village Chief.

"You try to fool me with this stuff that even pigs wouldn't eat?! Do you take me for a garbage collector?"

Gu Yang was furious and kicked the Village Chief in the stomach.

Bang!

The Village Chief flew backward, crashing through a wall. Strangely, his body didn't bleed; instead, it made a "crack" sound like dry wood breaking, and black pus flowed from his fractured waist, emitting a pungent corpse stench.

"Roar—!"

Their disguise exposed, the villagers stopped pretending.

Their skin instantly shriveled, turning grayish-white like paper, their fingernails grew long like blades, and two-inch fangs sprouted from their mouths.

The adorable little granddaughter transformed into a small ghost with a face full of corpse spots and one eyeball half hanging out; the kind old woman became a hideous zombie with hair disheveled like tangled grass.

It turned out that these so-called "Everlasting People" were all living dead, relying on sucking the Life Qi of living people to maintain their false lives!

"That's fresh flesh and blood! Flesh and blood full of Spiritual Qi!"

"Eat him! Eat him and we can live another hundred years!"

Hundreds of corpse monsters let out shrill roars, their voices like the cries of night owls, making one's scalp tingle. They surged from all directions towards Gu Yang like a tide, wanting to tear this vibrant blood-food to shreds.

"Want to eat me? Aren't you afraid of breaking your teeth!"

Gu Yang pulled out the heavenly demon meteor hammer from his back, his body glowing with a brilliant glazed golden light, and his Que Xie Golden Body activated, forming a black-gold barrier that blocked all the dense corpse Qi and Death Qi around him.

"Since you're not human, I won't hold back!"

"Five Elements Great Millstone—Transcendence Mode!"

Boom!

Gu Yang swung the 300,000-jin meteor hammer and charged directly into the horde of corpses.

This was like a heavy tank crashing into a kindergarten.

With one swing, the air exploded, and three charging corpse monsters were instantly smashed into meat paste, not even bone fragments remaining.

Although these corpse monsters had bodies as hard as iron, they were as brittle as potato chips before the heavenly demon meteor hammer.

Bang! Bang! Pop!

Gu Yang smashed and observed.

"Eh? What's in this thing's belly?"

He stomped on the head of a Foundation Establishment Stage corpse monster, and a grayish-white, thumb-sized bead rolled out.

Although the bead was stained with foul blood, it emitted extremely pure energy fluctuations, even denser than a Low-Grade Spirit Stone.

[High-energy condensate discovered: Corpse Core (condensed from a thousand years of Corpse Qi)!]

[Composition analysis: Although it contains a large amount of Yin Sha Qi, its energy purity is extremely high. The System can purify and absorb it!]

Gu Yang's eyes instantly lit up.

The earlier feeling of disgust vanished, replaced by the gaze one would give a "buffet."

"I knew it, how could such a large dungeon not have any drops?"

"So the essence is all in their brains!"

He picked up the Corpse Core, casually wiped it on his clothes, and popped it into his mouth like a candy bean.

Crunch!

A chilling current instantly rushed into his body, then was crushed by the Five Elements Great Millstone, transforming into pure energy.

"It's a bit cold, like eating a mint, but it's still edible after washing!"

Gu Yang looked at the corpse monsters that had originally been hideous, but now he felt they all looked quite pleasing to the eye.

"Come on, come on, don't run! Let me give you all a full body check-up!"

"Whoever runs is a grandson!"