Chapter 56 : Not the Same

Chapter 56: Not the Same

Where the mountain wind passed, the jade steps before someone deepened by another layer.

The drifting mist shimmered faintly under the sunlight, reflecting an increasingly bright path ahead.

Fang Chang smiled and said, “Just talk from chaotic times. People from the Outer Regions are all good folks, and they speak nicely too. I often hear that some people really like it over there.”

Zhong Ling hadn’t expected her to rate the Outer Regions so highly.

She waved her hand a little awkwardly.

Then, her expression dimmed with disappointment:

“The climate in the Outer Regions is harsh, nothing like the lands of the Nine Provinces. Everyone has long grown tired of it, only wanting to come to the Nine Provinces to find a stable place to live. But who would have thought the cultivators here treat us like rats crossing the street.”

“In truth, the Corpse Refinement Path in the Nine Provinces isn’t much different from rats either.”

Fang Chang said.

“Completely different.”

Zhong Ling lowered her head, finishing the chicken leg in her hand in a few bites, casually wiping the grease onto her pants.

“You people of the Nine Provinces don’t understand anything about the Corpse Refinement Path. You always say our methods in the Outer Regions are cruel, say we defile corpse material, that one corpse is used five ways. But you don’t know—there are few people there, and even fewer corpses. If we don’t use them sparingly, what would we rely on to resist the Black Wind Fiend?”

Fang Chang didn’t respond.

He reached out and brushed aside a strand of mist hanging before his eyes.

The Corpse Refinement Path entered Dao through corpses, requiring a large amount of corpse material.

There were few practitioners of the Corpse Refinement Path in the Outer Regions—the lack of people was the fundamental reason.

And the scarcity of corpse material…

would also give rise to another path within this Dao.

The Corpse Refinement Path of the Nine Provinces pursued “corpse liberation creation, all spirits natural.”

They believed that after death, the spirit of all things still retained a unique “form” and “qi.”

They sought to excavate and preserve the corpse’s original traits and talents to the greatest extent.

These people were like the most fanatical collectors.

Wandering through ancient battlefields, great tombs, and forbidden lands, searching for those special corpses that were born with Dao resonance.

Things like “Nine Yin Body,” “Heavenly Thunder Struck Body,” “Ancient Mystic Ice Corpse,” and the like—

these were all terms coined by this branch of the Corpse Refinement Path.

Fang Chang belonged to this branch.

As for the Corpse Refinement Path of the Outer Regions—

what they played with was “singularity.”

Once decided, that corpse puppet would become the only one in their entire life.

For them,

the process of refining a corpse never ended. They would continuously search for rare materials, refining them bit by bit into the corpse puppet’s body.

Purifying the corpse, nurturing yin, body refinement, form stabilization, awakening spirit, recognizing the master...

Within these six processes,

they moved the awakening spirit and recognizing the master forward, body refinement never stopped, and form stabilization was never used.

The Corpse Refinement Path of the Outer Regions… Fang Chang had killed quite a few in the game.

The main reason was that they were just too ugly.

The kind of ugly that made you want to gouge out your eyeballs and wash them after a single glance.

This was actually considered a deviant branch of the Corpse Refinement Path.

Though, since the Corpse Refinement Path itself was already a heterodox path, no one really cared about their deviation.

At this moment, sunlight slanted down.

Zhong Ling happened to be covered by the shadow of clouds, her entire body emitting Yin Energy.

Fang Chang curled his lips into a smile.

“And now that the light boat has already passed ten thousand mountains, congratulations, fellow Daoist, for choosing a good tree to perch in—coming beneath Canglan Mountain to seek the Dao.”

Zhong Ling shook her head, the sorrow in her eyes undiminished.

“Though I’ve come here, my fellow Dao brothers, my parents, my siblings… are still struggling bitterly within the Black Wind Fiend of the Outer Regions… I haven’t brought them over yet…”

“That’s true. Even your fellow Daoists have their own parents, siblings, and relatives—it would be endless.”

“Yes…”

Zhong Ling’s expression grew even more desolate. “Tell me, if those righteous path cultivators weren’t so merciless, wouldn’t fewer of us have died? If we hadn’t been driven to the Outer Regions, wouldn’t we have suffered so many painful separations?”

While she spoke,

Fang Chang had already finished the roast chicken and put away the food box.

“This matter is actually simple to resolve.”

“How?”

“You fellow Daoists just shouldn’t cultivate those Eighteen Demonic Sects and Thirty-Six Deviant Paths.”

Zhong Ling froze, then shook her head. “That’s not the same.”

“What’s not the same?”

“There are three thousand Great Daos. It’s not that only certain paths are orthodox while others are deviant. We’re just like countless cultivators, pursuing the Great Dao. There’s no need to distinguish between good and evil.”

“In that case, you think the righteous path cultivators are no different from you?”

“Of course.”

Fang Chang smiled lightly, a hint of amusement in his gaze.

“Then you must also think the rules of the righteous path are damn suffocating—no slaughtering mortals, no harvesting souls, no dual cultivation, no refining living people, even raising a ghost requires registration. All this order and morality—how is that even cultivation anymore?”

Wanting to enjoy privileges and rights, yet unwilling to bear responsibilities and obligations.

And now speaking of three thousand Daos, no distinction between righteous and evil.

It was somewhat laughable.

Zhong Ling heard the mockery in his words, her expression darkening.

Yet she couldn’t refute her own double standard.

“Don’t forget—you are also of the Corpse Refinement Path.”

The implication was clear.

And yet you speak on behalf of the righteous path.

Fang Chang stood up, patting off his clothes.

The Red Lotus Sword, warm like jade and radiating heat, suddenly appeared in his hand.

“The Outer Regions—I’ve been there many times. The land is harsh, the people are harsh. No one forced your ancestors to go there—they fled because they lost.”

“If you lose, you accept it—that’s the rule. Now that time has passed, you’ve forgotten the sins your ancestors committed, and you want the righteous path cultivators to show great mercy, bring you back, treat you with fine food and drink, even carve out a blessed land for you—so that the world becomes peaceful?”

Fang Chang’s face carried a frivolous smile.

“Miss, are you trying to make me laugh?”

Zhong Ling’s expression changed slightly.

It seemed he had struck a sore point.

Her face turned cold. “Do you think saying such flattering words at Canglan Mountain will make them open their gates and welcome you? In the end, you are still of the Corpse Refinement Path.”

Fang Chang burst into laughter, suddenly changing his tone.

“I’m just a passerby eating melon seeds, joking with you for a bit. Why take it seriously?”

Standing on the moral high ground, saying my piece, then slipping away—what can you do to me, hahaha—

Zhong Ling let out two cold laughs.

Anger churned in her chest, rising and falling.

Faintly, her hand had already reached toward the coffin behind her.

Suddenly—

a thin layer of frost spread across the Red Lotus Sword, like warm sunlight turning cold.

Mist surged in from all directions, filling every inch of space at the mountain’s base.

The sword swept through the mist, yet it did not disperse. Instead, it froze—the floating droplets of water suddenly halted, like countless tiny beads of ice suspended midair.

Moisture surged from all directions—the flow of mist, the breathing of the wind, the murmuring of a distant stream—all were drawn by this single sword.

“Crack—”

The crisp sound of ice shattering exploded from deep within the mist.

Those frozen droplets shattered all at once.

Only then did the sword wind erupt violently, like breath held too long finally released, stirring and tearing apart the mist across the mountains.

“AHHHHHH!!!”

A shrill scream erupted from the void, layered upon layers, echoing without end.

Everyone present trembled.

Many raised their heads in shock—they knew—

this was the sound of ten kinds of Inner Demons being severed in succession.

—Ice Dissolution.

Not only slaying the three corpses and nine parasites, but also the so-called ten demons.

Looking not far ahead,

they saw before that gloomy young man in green robes—the mist had fully dispersed, and a jade stairway, both illusory and real, rose layer upon layer, leading straight to the immortal mountain.

The young man turned back with a frivolous smile, stepped onto the jade steps, and instantly vanished.

They recognized him.

For several days in a row, he had brought roast chicken just to tempt people, never seriously waiting—leaving after only one or two hours.

Though no one said it aloud, they all held some contempt.

But now…

for a moment, everyone stood frozen.

“The Waiting for the Heavenly Steps… actually succeeded?!”

“Just like that???”