My Love Life With The Sect Masters in Xianxia (Patreon)

Chapter 140: The Millennium Corpse’s True Identity

The Millennium Corpse was severed at the waist, split cleanly in two.

Supporting itself with both hands, it struggled to rise, its upper half standing like a dwarf.

Li Ran furrowed his brows slightly.

At this moment, the corpse’s decayed internal organs dragged along the ground, making for an extremely grotesque sight.

Yet—

The foul, evil stench was gone.

Instead, from its clear, lucid eyes, a faint Buddhist aura could be sensed?

“Apologies for harming you… This humble monk should not be in such a state,” the Millennium Corpse rasped in a hoarse, grating voice.

Li Ran could clearly sense that the death energy sustaining it was rapidly fading—

It wouldn’t even last an incense stick’s time before it completely vanished.

So, for the moment, he did not rush to strike again.

Lin Langyue, watching curiously, asked, “So… are you alive or dead right now?”

From the outside, it clearly looked like a dried corpse, yet it was speaking with them in complete clarity.

The scene was utterly bizarre.

The Millennium Corpse shook its head.

“This humble monk has long been dead. Right now, I am merely sustained by corpse puppet arts and a final trace of Buddha’s aura. Once the incense burns out, I will return to dust.”

After speaking, it cast a grateful glance at Li Ran.

“To think… that before perishing, I would encounter a true master of the Way. If not for the pure Buddhist energy you awakened me with, this last sliver of consciousness would have faded forever.”

Li Ran shook his head.

The corpse had mistaken him for a Buddhist monk.

“No need to thank me,” he said. “I was just trying to kill you. Waking you up was pure accident.”

The Millennium Corpse paused, then smiled bitterly.

“The master speaks the truth… This humble monk should have perished long ago.”

Li Ran, sensing an opportunity, asked, “Since you were a Buddhist monk, why do you know the Corpse Puppet Arts?”

The Millennium Corpse sighed deeply, regret thick in its tone.

“Back then, this humble monk knew his end was near. I came here, hoping to pass on peacefully…”

“But within this cavern, I discovered an ancient text, recording the secrets of the Corpse Puppet Arts.”

“Refine the living into corpses.

Refine corpses into puppets.

Seize the mysteries of Heaven and forcefully extend one’s life.”

“At first, I despised these dark arts… but as death crept closer, day by day—

I wavered.”

Li Ran’s expression darkened.

“So… to stay alive, you turned yourself into a corpse puppet?”

The Millennium Corpse nodded slowly.

“I refined my own body, delaying its decay.”

“Rather than ‘staying alive,’ it is more accurate to say I became a thing that is neither human nor ghost.”

Li Ran immediately understood.

No wonder—even after thousands of years, this Millennium Corpse had not turned to dust.

Its body was like iron, its movements swift—

It had practically turned itself into a magical artifact.

“Some die in a day.

Some in a season.

Some in a decade, a century…

But death comes all the same.”

“Death is simply a cycle—a truth even children understand.

And yet, I was blinded by fear.”

The Millennium Corpse’s voice was hoarse and distant, filled with deep remorse.

“Hold on.”

Li Ran cut it off mid-monologue.

“Before you start lamenting fate, answer me this—”

“Where the hell is Gan Ye?”

“Gan Ye?”

The Millennium Corpse was momentarily stunned, then realization dawned.

“Ah… You mean that disciple of the Path of Corpse Cultivation?”

“That’s right. You know him?” Li Ran asked.

The Millennium Corpse nodded.

“Though my cultivation was lost, leaving me a mere corpse puppet…”

“A mere Soul Division cultivator is far from enough to refine me.”

“Just now, he overestimated himself and actually tried to possess me.”

“In an instant, his soul was crushed by mine…”

“He has already vanished into nothingness.”

Li Ran and Lin Langyue exchanged glances—

Then both let out a sigh of relief.

No wonder they couldn’t sense Gan Ye’s presence—

His soul had been utterly destroyed.

“Wait a second.”

Lin Langyue suddenly recalled something the Millennium Corpse had said earlier.

“You called him a mere Soul Division cultivator…”

“Then… what was your cultivation level before you died?”

The Millennium Corpse’s voice was calm.

“I was once a Supervisor Monk of Wuwang Temple.”

“My Dharma name was Ming Yuan…”

“And my cultivation was at the Peak of the Tribulation Crossing Realm.”

“The Tribulation Crossing Realm?!”

The two of them had their mouths wide open in shock, and the secret chamber instantly fell silent.

Lin Langyue snapped back to her senses and said in disbelief, “Holy Son Li, you actually cut a Tribulation Crossing Realm monk in half?”

Li Ran swallowed hard. “It was an accident, purely an accident.”

He hadn't expected that old monk to be so powerful.

If it weren’t for the fact that the monk’s Buddhist energies had completely dissipated and his strength had been weakened over a thousand years, the two of them might have really been in danger.

“To think that such a great phenomenon would be triggered, even causing a beast tide in the Ten Thousand Mountains. It turns out that Gan Ye was trying to refine a Tribulation Crossing Realm corpse!”

Ming Yuan’s Tribulation Crossing Realm aura, combined with the death energy accumulated over a thousand years, not only triggered a heavenly phenomenon but also terrified the beast horde into fleeing hundreds of miles in panic!

“Attempting to refine a Tribulation Crossing Realm being while still at the Soul Division Realm… That Gan Ye is truly insane,” Lin Langyue muttered.

At this moment, Ming Yuan sighed apologetically. “In my lifetime, I have made many mistakes, but if I truly owe anyone an apology, it would be the two of you.”

Li Ran waved it off. “No worries, it was just a fight. Besides, you’re the one who died, and we didn’t even get hurt.”

Ming Yuan shook his head. “That’s not what I meant…”

“Huh?”

Li Ran was stunned. “Then what are you apologizing for?”

Looking a little embarrassed, Ming Yuan said, “Back when I realized I was turning into a mindless monster driven only by slaughter, wreaking havoc on the outside world, I set up a restriction in this cave.”

“A restriction?”

A bad feeling rose in Li Ran’s heart.

Ming Yuan continued, “If I were to wake up by accident, the death energy I released would activate the restriction. If it couldn’t be lifted within the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, it would mean I had lost all reason, and the cave would automatically seal itself.”

Li Ran stared at him in a daze. “You mean to say…”

Scratching his head awkwardly, Ming Yuan said, “The moment we started fighting, the cave’s doors had already closed… It seems the two of you might not be able to get out.”

“…”

Li Ran and Lin Langyue exchanged a glance before turning around and dashing up the stone steps at full speed!

They sprinted all the way to the entrance, only to find the massive doors tightly shut.

“Move aside!”

Li Ran gathered his blood energy and slammed into the door with all his might.

A formless ripple spread out, and he was instantly bounced back by an invisible force, sending his blood surging chaotically.

The restriction had been set by a Tribulation Crossing Realm expert—it was impossible to break through with brute force.

Lin Langyue attempted to gather her Daoist powers, but her meridians were empty, and she couldn’t summon even a trace of spiritual energy.

“No good, this place is still tainted with corruption, locked in a state of forbidden laws… There’s no spiritual energy to use…”

Her face paled slightly.

Li Ran gritted his teeth. “Damn bald donkey, even in death, you have to screw me over one last time!”

Clenching his fists, he stormed back down the steps.

Lin Langyue called after him, “Where are you going?”

Li Ran growled, “He hasn’t kicked the bucket yet—I’m gonna beat him up again!”