Chapter 52: Jiang Wang of the Demonic Path, Your Finest Life Mentor
Chapter 52: Jiang Wang of the Demonic Path, Your Finest Life Mentor
After restoring his dantian and calming down, Chu Fan buried Ye Nantian.
He laid his master to rest beneath the shade of a tree on Green Sun Peak.
Then he threw himself into cultivation, determined to fulfill Ye Nantian’s dying wish.
However, after two days of training, Chu Fan noticed something amiss.
“Why is my progress so sluggish?”
His current cultivation speed was far slower than before.
Yet both his dantian and physique had improved significantly compared to his previous state.
Strangely, his cultivation speed showed no signs of increasing.
Even Jiang Wang found this perplexing.
The most cunning figure of the demonic path began doubting his own judgment.
The Three Saints Sect was built upon a spiritual vein, where the concentration of heaven and earth’s spiritual energy far exceeded ordinary environments.
Not to mention Chu Fan possessed a special physique, and his dantian—repaired by Ye Nantian at the cost of his life—should have carried traces of Celestial Power to aid his cultivation.
After an entire day of training supplemented by pills, Chu Fan still hadn’t broken through to the Transcendent Realm.
At this rate, who knew how long it would take him to regain his former cultivation level?
Sensing something was wrong, Jiang Wang placed a hand on Chu Fan’s shoulder to examine the flow of his spiritual energy.
The inspection revealed an anomaly.
Of the spiritual energy Chu Fan normally absorbed and converted from heaven and earth, only thirty percent remained after circulating through his body—the other seventy percent had vanished without a trace.
To be thorough, Jiang Wang had Chu Fan take another pill. Yet after ingestion, less than ten percent of its energy was refined.
This discovery left even Jiang Wang dumbfounded.
In his nearly hundred years of life, he’d never encountered such a phenomenon.
How could spiritual energy absorbed into one’s body just disappear?
If the cause wasn’t found, Chu Fan might need a century of normal cultivation just to touch the threshold of the Nirvana Realm.
By this point, Jiang Wang was already regretting his decisions.
He should have killed Chu Fan, taken the ‘Taotie Devouring Spirit,’ and severed all ties with this Three Saints Sect disciple.
At the very least, he shouldn’t have stopped Chu Fan yesterday—letting him cause chaos on Chenyang Peak might have yielded better results than the current situation.
Having come this far, Jiang Wang could only console himself that he’d already invested too much to quit now—abandoning everything would be a total loss.
A chess piece he’d created himself had to be played to the end.
Fortunately, Jiang Wang’s vast experience soon pinpointed the issue.
Another soul resided within Chu Fan’s body—the missing spiritual energy was most likely being absorbed by the Taotie Remnant Soul.
This also explained how the Taotie Remnant Soul had recovered so quickly after being severely injured by him earlier.
With deliberate uncertainty, Jiang Wang shared his findings with Chu Fan.
“Spiritual energy vanishing into thin air—this is the first time I’ve seen such a thing. It’s as if something is siphoning away the energy within your body…”
Then he added, “Young friend Chu Fan, is there some secret you haven’t told me?”
Faced with such a blatant hint, Chu Fan immediately thought of the ‘Taotie Devouring Spirit’ he’d obtained.
If anything could siphon his spiritual energy, it would be that artifact.
But it was his greatest secret—should he really share it with this Qi Jiang before him?
“What am I thinking? Senior Qi has helped me so much—how could he mean me harm? And at this point, what’s left to hide?”
Recalling the meticulous care the other had shown him from start to finish, Su Ming decided to withhold nothing from this Qi Jiang.
After Ye Nantian, this person was the only one he could still rely on.
“Senior Qi Jiang, I did obtain certain fortuitous encounters.”
As he spoke, Chu Fan summoned the ‘Taotie Devouring Spirit’ from his storage ring.
“This artifact is called the ‘Taotie Devouring Spirit’…”
Chu Fan recounted everything that had happened after being caught in the spatial turbulence—including the nature of the treasure in his hand and the Taotie Remnant Soul now residing within him.
“Right now, I don’t dare use this thing at all—I fear falling into the demonic path…”
The thought of his body being controlled by the Taotie Remnant Soul filled Chu Fan with dread.
“To think young friend Chu Fan has endured such hardships…”
While comforting Chu Fan, Jiang Wang pondered how to smoothly coax him into using this artifact.
Having completed cultivation of the Soul Devouring Body Tempering Technique, once Chu Fan started using the ‘Taotie Devouring Spirit,’ its nature would make it impossible for him to stop.
Unfortunately, they were within Three Saints Sect territory—every action had to be taken with extreme caution.
If they’d been in the Northern Frontier, they could just find some random people for Chu Fan to kill—no need for all this mental effort.
“These hypocrites and their endless rules…”
Though he thought this, Jiang Wang’s words conveyed the opposite: “Though this treasure of yours is sinister, power itself is neither good nor evil—it depends on the user’s character.”
“I recall a certain mountain bandit stronghold where the brigands specialize in robbery and plunder… Why not test your artifact on them first?”
“Those who bring harm to others—eliminating them would be a righteous act. What do you think?”
Jiang Wang’s words opened Chu Fan’s eyes to a new perspective.
Ultimately, the ‘Taotie Devouring Spirit’ was still his own power—as long as he controlled it properly and used it for righteous purposes, wasn’t that acceptable?
Truly worthy of a Jixia Academy scholar—his perspective was different. With just a few words, he’d illuminated the path forward.
“I’ll follow Senior Qi’s arrangements.”
“In that case, let’s make this quick.”
During this period, Jiang Wang hadn’t been idle apart from interacting with Chu Fan.
He’d observed the Three Saints Sect’s current state of chaos.
Though he didn’t know what schemes this number one orthodox sect was brewing, now was indeed the best time to move freely within its territory.
As for the bandit stronghold he’d mentioned—it was merely a settlement he’d glimpsed on his way to the Three Saints Sect.
Whether it actually housed bandits was irrelevant.
If he said they were there, then they were there!
Under cover of night, Jiang Wang led Chu Fan to the so-called bandit stronghold.
Throughout the journey, Jiang Wang continuously drilled into Chu Fan the absolute necessity of showing no mercy.
As a veteran demonic cultivator, this was second nature to him.
At this moment, Jiang Wang fully transformed into a life mentor.
“Remember this—what you’re about to do isn’t murder, but salvation!”
“Kill one bandit, and you protect countless innocents. Wipe out a stronghold, and you restore peace for miles around!”
“Have no guilt—whether for your path or the common folk living nearby!”
“Your master’s spirit in heaven will rejoice at your decisiveness. The people will sing praises of your righteous deeds.”
“Do you understand?”
Under Jiang Wang’s words, Chu Fan’s gaze grew resolute.
“Senior Qi, I understand…”
“Go then. I’ll wait here.”
With Jiang Wang’s encouraging look, Chu Fan stepped into the so-called bandit stronghold—without a trace of hesitation in his eyes.