Chapter 631 - 568: Desire

Chapter 631: Chapter 568: Desire

The bright moon shone resplendently, its faint silver glow illuminating a deep, secluded valley where a clear spring trickled gently over the stones.

The spring water flowed down the mountain slope, forming a small river about ten feet wide that meandered slowly out of the valley.

Within the valley stood several quaint and exquisite pavilions. A group of graceful young women in sheer, flowing skirts danced elegantly beneath the moonlight, their figures a vision of ethereal beauty.

Chu Mu leaned against the window, a hint of intoxication in his eyes. Behind him, several stunningly beautiful young women attended to his every need.

He downed a cup of Spirit Wine. The moment his cup was empty, another young woman stepped forward with a wine pot and refilled it.

Their every posture and expression was one of flawless deference.

In this valley, he, Chu Mu, was the sole master, yet he had a hundred Attendants. Without exception, all of them were Cultivators with considerable Spirit Root Talent. The weakest among them had reached Qi Cultivation Perfection, and a good number were even in the Foundation Establishment Realm.

And here, in this place, these Female Cultivators existed for him and him alone.

They were meticulously attentive, denying him nothing.

Even the Elixirs needed for Cultivation were supplied without limit. The Cultivation environment was so rich with Spiritual Qi that it surpassed even the East Lake Secret Realm he had once known.

This seemingly ordinary valley was situated directly atop a Tier Three Spirit Vein.

Human desires: wealth, beauty, power.

A Cultivator’s desires revolved around these things as well. Of course, for a Cultivator, the ultimate desire was none other than Immortal Dao Cultivation.

These hundred Attendants fulfilled only one kind of a Cultivator’s desires—arguably, the most insignificant one.

After all, in a world where ultimate power resided within the individual, a Cultivator had countless ways—unimaginable to mortals—to satisfy such a desire.

Thus, the primary purpose of these hundred Attendants was clearly not to satisfy such a trivial desire, but to produce... offspring.

Chu Mu, however, had no such intention. And even if he had, it would have been an impossible task to accomplish.

As for his other desires, even if this Purifying Soul Mountain could offer him endless satisfaction, it all felt meaningless.

After all, to him—and to all the Trial Takers who came from the current Cultivation Immortal Realm—everything here was just an elaborate, false dream.

But if one could not awaken from this dream, they would be trapped in it for all eternity...

Chu Mu took a deep breath, his eyes clouding with confusion.

More than half a year had passed since he left the Purification Soul Pavilion and chose this valley as his temporary residence.

Over the past six months, the foreign Trial Takers on Purifying Soul Mountain had held many gatherings.

But without fail, no useful information had ever been revealed at these meetings.

Not a single person had yet found this so-called "Spiritual Defilement."

The only useful piece of information, perhaps, was the confirmation that the vast majority of Cultivators among the foreign Trial Takers came from the Great Heng Immortal Cultivation Immortal World, organized and dispatched by the Great Heng Royal Family.

The other Cultivators and Demon Beasts had either arrived by a stroke of luck, like himself, or had monopolized the opportunity, much like the Xie Family had done in the past.

The specifics were difficult to pry into, and it was even less likely that anyone would be willing to reveal much.

They exchanged a few pleasantries, and that was it.

As for him, he had made no significant progress in the past six months, simply wasting his days away in this place.

He downed another cup of Spirit Wine, but this time, Chu Mu stopped the young woman who came to refill it. Setting the cup down, he patted Wangcai, who was lying beside him, and walked out of the room.

The valley spanned dozens of acres. The so-called spring water wasn’t even water in the true sense of the word. It was a Spiritual Spring formed from Spiritual Qi so dense that it had condensed to its absolute limit.

The Spiritual Spring gushed forth, forming a river that flowed and gurgled through the entire valley.

In an environment so rich with Spiritual Qi, even without any deliberate care, exotic flowers, rare herbs, and countless Spiritual Plants grew in vibrant profusion, each vying for attention.

If he had stumbled upon such a treasure trove in the outside world, his greed would have likely flared, and he would have plundered the place bare.

But now, he felt as if he were regarding priceless treasures as mere dirt, unable to muster the slightest emotional ripple.

He wandered aimlessly through the valley. The cycle of sunrise and sunset had returned to normal here on Purifying Soul Mountain, yet he still couldn’t feel any sense of reality from the Great Sun.

This Great Sun was no different from the one over the Desert Sea.

He stood at the mountain’s peak, shrouded in clouds and mist, a cool breeze washing over him.

He had climbed to the summit, yet he felt no desire to gaze into the distance.

Chu Mu closed his eyes and sat cross-legged. Under the effect of the Spiritual Radiance Blessing, his mind grew tranquil as he delved into the deepest recesses of his heart.

The first half of his life had been as bland as water, his days frittered away.

It was no different from any other mundane existence in the world.

He had lived half a life of mediocrity, seeking nothing more than an ordinary existence.

The second half of his life—or rather, his life since arriving in this world—took a sudden turn when that trace of Spiritual Radiance illuminated his mind. It set him on a path his former self would never have dared to even imagine.

Nanshan Town, Jade Emperor Valley...

Water Heaven Workshop, the East Lake Secret Realm...

Mortal and Immortal...

The Cultivation of the Immortal Dao...

Time flew by. The years he had spent here, compared to his previous life, were perhaps long enough to witness the rise and fall of a dynasty, to see a whole cycle of history unfold.

Yet for him, throughout these long years, his heart had seemingly been swept clean of all distracting thoughts. Everything he did was for a single purpose.

And that purpose was to walk more steadily and go further on the path of Immortal Dao Cultivation.

Any external factor that might have hindered this goal, he had discarded and left behind, piece by piece.

Strictly speaking, the person he was now and the person from his past life were two entirely different beings. His disposition and personality had undergone a world-altering transformation.

And this transformation, too, was a result of his Immortal Dao Cultivation.

This was the so-called principle... that for every gain, there must be a loss.

And to him, the things he had lost seemed to be of no great consequence.

Even looking back on it now, he felt little emotional turmoil.

His state of mind, while not perfect, certainly had no obvious flaws.

’If my heart has no flaws, then where would that trace of defilement even begin its corruption?’

Chu Mu’s thoughts surged like a tide, but just as with every attempt before, he could find no clear lead.

The Spiritual Radiance Blessing slowly faded. Chu Mu pondered for a moment, his gaze finally settling on Wangcai at his side.

His own Scorpion Egg had already fully matured. Wangcai’s, however—because its name had not appeared on the stone tablet and its Spiritual Wisdom was incomplete—remained in its primitive state, nothing more than a faint line of blood.

But without a doubt, even though one was still in its primitive state, their fundamental essence was clearly the same.

The only difference lay in the amount of Spiritual Defilement each contained.

"Defilement... a flaw... where can I possibly find it?"

Chu Mu shook his head and sighed, a wave of helplessness washing over him.

But at that very moment, he seemed to sense something. His pupils constricted. In the next instant, Spiritual Radiance Reappears flared, and he immediately sat down cross-legged again.

Simultaneously, a sliver of his Divine Sense delved deep into Wangcai’s Divine Soul, connecting with its still-incomplete Spiritual Wisdom.

Within the space of a few breaths, the cross-legged Chu Mu seemed to fall into a deep slumber, all signs of conscious emotion vanishing from him.

Beside him, Wangcai, who had been idly looking around, also fell into the same strange slumber as the mental link connected them...

...