Chapter 341
Chapter 341
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 341
Chapter Title: Chapter 341 Evil Transformation
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"Breaking through to the Void Refining Realm?"
Cold Mountain Loose Cultivator and Wanderer Loose Cultivator exchanged glances. Just moments ago, Yu Tiancheng had been at the peak of the Incarnation Realm—now he was about to break through to the Void Refining Realm?
There were indeed people in this world who cultivated at astonishing speeds, but none this absurdly fast!
Cold Mountain Loose Cultivator coughed lightly and stepped onto the altar to inspect Yu Tiancheng's cultivation progress. He said,
"There are all sorts of perceptual illusions on the path of cultivation. Even as your master, I sometimes delude myself into thinking I've ascended to immortality, only to wake and find my body aged and my lifespan exhausted, leaving me in quiet sorrow.
What you just experienced must have been due to your profound insights causing such a misper... You're really breaking through to the Void Refining Realm?!"
He jumped in shock.
When the True God from beyond had descended earlier, the Divine Embryo's second descent had brought immense power that tempered Yu Tiancheng's body, elevating it to a whole new level.
The Void Refining Realm was achieved, with the True God's aid, by shattering the void.
And the process of shattering the void was precisely transforming the primordial spirit force field into a primordial spirit Dao domain. Now, Yu Tiancheng's primordial spirit Dao domain was taking form!
Wanderer Loose Cultivator was also startled and stepped forward to check. He saw that Yu Tiancheng's Divine Embryo contained an unimaginably vast power—enough to transform his primordial spirit force field into a Dao domain!
But power alone wasn't enough; insight into the Dao was required as well.
At this moment, all sorts of Dao methods flooded Yu Tiancheng's mind, insights bursting forth one after another. His primordial spirit power rapidly transformed into a Dao domain, while the barrier between his body and the outer heaven and earth gradually shattered!
Yu Tiancheng's eyeballs bounced around their sockets like two extraordinarily elastic meatballs, moving up, down, left, and right. He muttered to himself,
"Qi connects to the Supreme Spirit, flowing fragrance nourishes the channels, shades and moistens the masses, crowned and belted at the golden gates, splendid roots vivid, served by stone scenes, sea mother infuses essence, follows heaven's qi transport, accompanies the sun's glory, nine orifices accept truth, liberation of the original form... I get it, I get it!
"Sun soul flows light, five colors drench, refines the soul to gold, perfect vista towering, spirit radiance spits brilliance, receives the Heavenly River... Haha, so that's how it's solved! So simple!"
"Yellow qi yin splendor, yang essence pierces fresh, bathes in nine souls, crowned and belted in golden dawn, perfect clarity announces, jade embryo refines immortal... So that's it, so that's it!"
"I'm breaking through! No, I can't break through—I just reached the Divine Descent Realm... How can realms be so fated? One step, one Kunlun! I'm breaking through!"
Cold Mountain and Wanderer, the two elders, stared呆呆 at the manic Yu Tiancheng. Big Jade City—like a giant rabbit—leapt from the altar,
jumping into the clouds. His primordial spirit Dao domain unfurled, with flowing moonlight hanging in the sky, dazzlingly brilliant.
In the air, long winds chased the moon, the Dao domain forming on its own.
Wanderer Loose Cultivator murmured,
"Innate Dao Embryo—does it cultivate this fast?"
Cold Mountain Loose Cultivator glanced at Yu Tiancheng and shook his head.
"It's probably not the Innate Dao Embryo cultivating quickly, but rather the power and insights brought by a wisp of its aura that accelerated this unworthy disciple's cultivation so dramatically."
Wanderer Loose Cultivator asked,
"Will it lead to premature growth?"
Cold Mountain Loose Cultivator shook his head.
"I'm worried it's growing a bit too robust. If this unworthy disciple can't withstand all these insights, he might go mad."
He couldn't help but marvel. The Innate Dao Embryo was simply too powerful. Chen Shi's Dao Embryo had been seized by someone, yet even the lingering aura granted insights and power far surpassing a first-grade Divine Embryo—enough to let someone leap realms.
A long while passed. Yu Tiancheng sat in midair, oblivious to the outside world. Cold Mountain and Wanderer both revealed envious looks as Yu Tiancheng entered a state of Dao enlightenment.
He had gained too many insights and needed time to absorb them.
A cultivator might never enter such a state in their entire lifetime, yet this Divine Descent had pushed Yu Tiancheng into it!
When he awoke from enlightenment, his cultivation was bound to advance greatly.
Two days later, Yu Tiancheng finally awoke. When the two elders looked at him again, they sensed an otherworldly aura about him, and his cultivation had risen substantially once more!
"Master, where's Instructor Chen?"
Yu Tiancheng asked.
Cold Mountain Loose Cultivator smiled.
"He left three days ago."
Yu Tiancheng felt a pang of regret.
"I didn't even get a chance to thank him. The True God from beyond... too powerful."
Chen Shi returned to Huangpo Village, still savoring the moment when he had used the True God from beyond as his primordial spirit to comprehend heaven and earth.
It was stronger than the white-clothed female immortal, stronger than Matron Shiji, stronger than any god he had ever encountered. The instant he sacrificed the True God from beyond as his primordial spirit, he had felt like the sovereign of the cosmos.
Yu Tiancheng had gained tremendously, but so had he. Though he lacked a Divine Embryo and couldn't obtain the True God's power, the insights he comprehended were even greater.
However, during his comprehension, he had still sensed something off. The True God from beyond didn't seem to possess a physical body.
His expression grew strange. Using the True God as his primordial spirit to sense heaven and earth, he couldn't detect any physical body for it.
He even felt that the True God from beyond wasn't a living being! This sensation was too bizarre.
"Though the True God from beyond is powerful, I could only comprehend it for that brief moment. Pity—a single Divine Embryo can only trigger one Divine Descent. If I could keep comprehending... Wait!"
Chen Shi's eyes widened as a bold idea sprouted like wildfire.
"The one who triggered the Divine Descent wasn't me! It was Big Jade City who attempted it, not me! I don't have a Divine Embryo! Doesn't that mean another person can sacrifice to the True God, trigger another Divine Descent, and I can mooch off it again?"
He immediately returned to the Lesser Chiliocosm and contacted talisman masters from Red Mountain Hall everywhere. Any who had reached the Divine Descent Realm would receive Seven Treasures from Red Mountain Hall to set up an altar!
Before long, over a dozen cultivators at the peak of the Incarnation Realm, preparing to break through, arrived at the Lesser Chiliocosm. Among them were Chen Shi's old acquaintances: Zhuge Jian, Luban Master Situ Wen, and Hu Feifei.
The others were also frequent visitors to the Lesser Chiliocosm.
Chen Shi immediately had Shao Jing gather heavenly materials and earthly treasures for Situ Wen to set up the altar.
He placed it in Qianyang Mountain. Once the first set of Seven Treasures was assembled, Chen Shi had Situ Wen sit on the altar and asked Chen Tang to make contact with heaven and earth.
Situ Wen sacrificed the Seven Treasures, reaching the great beyond. Chen Shi once again borrowed the opportunity of his Divine Embryo ascending to sense the True God from beyond.
A divine light like a long rainbow descended from the heavens, enveloping the altar. The light blazed fiercely, shocking all of Qianyang Mountain. This time, the Seven Treasures procured by Shao Jing were of slightly inferior quality to Yu Tiancheng's, so the Divine Descent lasted a bit shorter.
But the Divine Descent was still a resounding success. When Situ Wen's Divine Embryo returned to his body, it propelled him involuntarily into the Void Refining Realm!
Situ Wen floated in the air, immersed in enlightenment for several days. It happened to be a rainy, overcast time, with lightning flashing and thunder rumbling in the sky—yet amid the thunderbolts, majestic buildings emerged, grand and magnificent, rendering him immune to the strikes.
On the third day, Situ Wen slowly descended from the air.
Yu Tiancheng and Situ Wen's experiences set all of Red Mountain Hall abuzz, everyone eager to cultivate to the Incarnation Realm at once and, with Chen Shi's help, undergo Divine Descent to skip years of苦修!
Divine lights piercing the sky shot forth from Qianyang Mountain from time to time.
Zhuge Jian, Hu Feifei, and the others successively achieved the Void Refining Realm. Even those who didn't quite reach it advanced to the consummate Divine Descent Realm—they only needed to polish their insights from the True God's descent for a few months, and breaking through to Void Refining would come naturally.
Yang Bi had been busy these days integrating the Thirteen Families' forces in the underworld, building a Yin Cao system as responsive as an arm's fingers for the Ten Palace Yama Kings. That day, he finally finished and found a Yang family disciple to ask,
"What has Top Scholar Chen been up to lately?"
The Yang clansman recounted how Chen Shi had helped them break through to the Divine Descent Realm.
Yang Bi's heart shook violently. He murmured,
"It can work like that?"
An intense urgency welled up in him. He thought,
"I can't afford any more distractions! Otherwise, Chen Shi might beat me to the Body Fusion Realm!"
He calmed his mind, returned to the World Upon Worlds, and focused on cultivation, determined to break through in one go.
Chen Shi used the True God from beyond as his primordial spirit to comprehend heaven and earth, gaining ever-deeper understanding of Dao methods.
That day, after helping the tenth cultivator break through to Void Refining, he borrowed the insights from this session and involuntarily fell into enlightenment. This was his first time in such a state, sitting quietly on the altar.
His comprehension proceeded without issue until the fifth day, when Chen Shi suddenly sensed his body become boundless like a golden core.
The barrier between his body and heaven and earth had vanished! This was shattering the void.
He sensed this heaven and earth, feeling as if they were extensions of his own body—this was the harbinger of peak Void Refining Realm!
He had no Divine Embryo, so he couldn't cultivate to Divine Descent Realm or enter Void Refining. Yet he had somehow manifested the signs of peak Void Refining Realm!
"I don't need a Divine Embryo to break through!"
Chen Shi's heart rejoiced. Suddenly, a supremely阴 and evil qi surged toward him from heaven and earth!
This baleful evil qi was part of heaven and earth. Before, he could resist it with his Body Hell's evil qi invasion, but now that he had opened the barrier between body and heaven and earth—shattering the void—even that protective veil was gone!
"Yang Bi was right. Walking the old cultivation path really does carry calamity!"
He awoke from enlightenment, forehead slick with cold sweat, and tried refining this supremely阴 and evil qi.
His small temple held righteous qi from Huaxia Divine Continent, and the temple itself could refine evil qi. But after refining this batch, more evil qi from heaven and earth surged into his body!
He continued refining, but new evil qi kept coming!
This evil qi wasn't overwhelmingly powerful and didn't affect him much yet, but accumulated over time, it would eventually turn him into an evil spirit like those祟!
If he continued cultivating now, he would be walking the path to becoming one of those evils!
"The True Lord might be right,"
Chen Shi thought silently.
"There really is a massive problem with this heaven and earth!"
Qianyang Mountain, Round Tower Village.
In the early morning, villagers rose with the dawn. Some headed to the fields for work, a few hunters prepared to head into the mountains together, and others bundled beast pelts to sell in Xixiang County Town while the sky was still light.
If they hurried, they could make it back before nightfall.
Xixiang County had a new magistrate named Hu—a woman, far better than the last one. She had replaced a bunch of officials, reducing the exploitation. Selling mountain goods in the county now fetched forty to fifty percent more than before.
At that moment, the villagers suddenly noticed a stone house had appeared outside the village, no one knew when. The stone house wasn't large—only two or three rooms—and its roof was covered in thick snow. But Qianyang Mountain had spring-to-summer weather year-round—how could there be snow?
The door opened, and a young man emerged, brimming with vigor. He strode straight through the village.
He arrived before the village's godmother—an ancient tree with a canopy spanning several mu, lush and verdant.
"Azure Sheep!"
The young man called.
"Come out!"
From the tree hollow, Azure Sheep ambled out lazily and sized up the young man. It exclaimed in shock,
"Old Du, is that really you? How did you get so young?"
The young man was none other than Du Yiran. He smiled smugly at the words.
"I wasn't that old to begin with, and after taking the ginseng spirit fruit Little Ten gave me, I got even younger. You should put on some clothes!"
Azure Sheep snorted.
"I'm a beast by nature—what clothes? Now that you're young again, I can't call you big brother. Yiran, from now on, you call me uncle."
It entered the tree hollow and came back out draped in a fur coat.
But in the other villagers' eyes, a coat of azure sheepskin floated out from the tree hollow.
Azure Sheep had long passed away, transformed into an evil祟. Normally, they couldn't see it—only when it wanted to be seen.
And they usually spotted it late at night, when the evil祟 Azure Sheep was out haunting about.
"Is this your own tanned hide?"
Du Yiran touched the sheepskin coat curiously.
"Nicely done—make me one too."
"Sure, wait till I die, then skin me and make you a suit!"
"It's my skin!"
Azure Sheep said irritably, punching him twice in the chest.
"I heard from Old Chen Tou that he went looking for you once. You had a bad temper and threw him out.
Old Chen Tou came back saying you were probably dying soon. I grieved over it for a long time. How are you back?"
Du Yiran walked toward the village outskirts.
"Sand Autumn Bough called me back.
When Old Chen Tou found me, my injuries were flaring up—I really didn't have many years left. I didn't want him sad, so I chased him off."
He left the stone house in Round Tower Village and headed to Gangzi Village with Azure Sheep.
A flock of human-headed bees flew silently overhead. Azure Sheep looked up and sneered,
"They see their elders and don't even call out a greeting!"
No sooner had it spoken than A Zhuo descended from the sky, landing ahead of them. He bowed.
"Uncle Du, Uncle Azure Sheep."
Du Yiran sized up A Zhuo and sighed in admiration.
"Qiao Zhuo, what realm has your cultivation reached?"
"I achieved Great Ascension Realm a few days ago."
A Zhuo said.
Du Yiran nodded slightly.
"You haven't wasted Chen Yindu's tutelage. Chen Yindu, Sand Autumn Bough, Hu Xiaoliang, Azure Sheep, plus you—you truly live up to the name of the Five Great Evils!"
Azure Sheep and A Zhuo both sneered coldly at the words.
The group exited Qianyang Mountain, only to see the burly giant Hu Xiaoliang waiting outside Gangzi Village. He said,
"Hurry—the Sand Autumn Bough has been waiting for us a long time."
Just as he spoke, a young woman leading a child by the hand emerged from the village, accompanied by a twelve- or thirteen-year-old maidservant who had blossomed into quite the beauty.
Granny Sha glanced at them and laughed.
"Today the Five Great Evils gather in full—only missing Chen Yindu!"
The others smiled without replying, greeting the other four.
Du Yiran asked,
"Autumn Bough, why did you summon us?"
Granny Sha said,
"Isn't it Old Chen Tou's orders? He wants us to look after his grandson and remove every last demon from the boy's body.
We've tried before—pulling out even one or two was incredibly difficult, nearly killing us.
Now I'm young again, Little Bright's come back to life, A Zhuo's a Yin Marshal and has reached Great Ascension Realm, and with Old Du restored to youth, our strength has surged.
I figure we can make one push and yank out every demon in Little Ten's body!"
Azure Sheep snorted.
Among the Five Great Evils, everyone else had either regained youth or returned from death—except it, which had truly died.
"At least Old Chen Tou keeps me company..."
It felt a bit comforted. Du Yiran asked,
"How do we pull them out?"
Granny Sha said,
"Those demon heads hide in the abyss of his sea of consciousness. While he's alive, the abyss is sealed—they can't emerge.
To exorcise them, we'd have to send our primordial spirits in—suicide.
When he dies, they scramble out of the abyss to seize his body.
That's when it's safest to pull them."
A Zhuo frowned.
"We have to kill him first?"
Granny Sha laughed.
"Not really kill him—just temporarily. He's an earthly immortal with the Water-Fire Tempering body; dead, it doesn't rot.
Rest easy—I have experience. He hasn't died just once or twice."
Hu Xiaoliang frowned.
"His death triggers demon transformation, blanketing a hundred li in his demon domain. All of Qianyang Mountain would be engulfed—countless deaths!"
Granny Sha laughed.
"I've prepared for that. We'll do the exorcism in the underworld!"
Everyone's expressions shifted slightly upon hearing this.
They knew all too well about Sand Autumn Bough's "preparations."
Sand Autumn Bough had astonishing talent in soul arts, inventing all sorts of soul-related techniques, but her preparations were never foolproof—always some oversight.
The techniques she created were usable and effective, but prone to mishaps.
Azure Sheep said,
"Little Ten had those demons inside, so the Thirteen Families thought twice before touching him. If we remove them all, won't he lose that shield?"
Du Yiran clasped his hands behind his back.
"With me and the four great evils here, what do we fear from the Thirteen Families?"
"That's true."
Azure Sheep nodded, excited.
"No time like the present—let's do it. Where's Little Ten? I'll go kill him!"