I am grinding experience in another world

Deep night, Thousand Lanterns City.

Eight or nine huge white lanterns floated in midair, their warm yellow light illuminating the ground below with dazzling clarity.

Chen Mu stood on the open ground and slightly raised his hand. Before him, in the air, a Candle Dragon Dharma Body as tall as a twenty-story building silently appeared.

Compared to before, its size had more than doubled. Shrouded in swirling black and silver mist, it loomed large, blotting out the sky and sun.

“Divine Embryo Completion, significant power increase. The Candle Dragon Transformation has truly undergone a massive enhancement.” Chen Mu couldn’t help but smile.

The Cloud Mirage Heavenly Demon Body bore a remarkable resemblance to the Yin Spirits of the Earthly Netherworld. According to their cultivation methodology, the first milestone was engraving Ghost Patterns, also known as Enlightened Mind or Divine Skills.

Eighty percent of Earthly Netherworld Yin Spirits lingered at this stage.

The second milestone involved nurturing the Ghost Patterns with the Lethe Weak Water, allowing them to return to their roots and become whole, then condensing the Divine Embryo.

For a typical Yin Spirit, reaching this stage would require no less than a century or two of effort.

But Chen Mu’s Heavenly Demon Body belonged partly to the Heavenly Demon Heretical Method. Beyond the orthodox Yin Spirit techniques, he could also cultivate using the Heavenly Demon Heretical Method.

With the assistance of the Root Device Magic Treasure, Yin-Cuo-Yang-Cha, his Heavenly Demon Body underwent rapid transformation. Although he hadn’t fully achieved the True Form of Heavenly Demon, the significant progress allowed him to preemptively perfect the Yin Spirit Divine Embryo.

Compared to the centuries of rigorous cultivation normally required by other Yin Spirits, it took Chen Mu a little over a decade to complete the Yin Spirit Divine Embryo.

Innate talent?

External assistance?

“Bullshit!”

“It’s all because I’ve been grinding tirelessly all these years!”

Chen Mu glanced at the gray wall that had appeared automatically before his eyes and forcibly pushed it back into the depths of his mind.

Then, looking at the imposing and majestic Candle Dragon Dharma Body, he nodded with satisfaction.

He raised his right hand and gently stroked the gigantic dragon’s chin.

Swish!

Flashes of black and silver light compressed rapidly. The massive dragon that spanned the skies shrank in an instant, transforming into a tiny dragon the length of a chopstick and as thick as a pinky finger.

It slid along Chen Mu’s hand, coiling around his wrist and locking its head to its tail, morphing into a black bracelet speckled faintly with silver starlight.

“Able to expand or shrink at will?”

“Ha!”

The Candle Dragon Transformation was a composite technique formed from the Mountain-Carrying Scripture, Five Ghosts Possession, and the Five Dragons Scripture. Its seamless execution made it seem like a single Secret Technique, though in essence, it was a fusion of the three.

Yet now, with the perfection of his Divine Embryo, this technique had been elevated, taking on a hint of true integration and gaining a touch of transformative power.

“A perfected Divine Embryo—its utilities are infinite!”

Chen Mu chuckled, flipping his right hand. A luminous, radiant orb instantly appeared in his palm.

A halo of colorless flames burned quietly around its periphery.

“Just the surge in divine power has already elevated the Candle Dragon Transformation to a whole new level,” he mused.

“I wonder what kind of wonders this Delusion Seven Emotions Flame might hold.”

From the moment he first saw the colorless flame, Chen Mu instinctively knew its name. This information seemed to be ingrained within the legacy of the Ghost Pattern Divine Embryo.

This kind of phenomenon wasn’t unfamiliar to him. Long ago, Chen Mu had once gleaned the Heavenly Demon Curse from the Ghost Patterns within. That Cursing Method enabled symbiosis with the Heavenly Demon Spirit Seed.

“Does it relate to the Heavenly Demon Seven Emotions Curse?” Chen Mu thought.

Back in Yunzhou Da Qian, he had obtained a Heavenly Demon Daoist text titled the Yan Yue Scripture, which outlined the Heavenly Demon Curse and Seven Emotions Curse.

The Heavenly Demon Curse facilitated seeding and possessing those who carried the Demonic Seed, while the Seven Emotions Curse allowed the Spirit Seed’s host to refine others’ emotional essences, delving into demonic transformation.

When the Divine Embryo had just been completed, the Delusion Seven Emotions Flame had indeed flickered with a myriad of light and shadow, accompanied by a tumult of emotions. This naturally reminded him of the Seven Emotions Curse.

“While the Cloud Mirage Heavenly Demon Body is flawed, it ultimately shares roots with the Heavenly Demon.”

“The pity, though, is that my Dao attainment hasn’t reached the mark, leaving the inheritance of the Seven Emotions Flame incomplete.”

He turned his perception inward to the Secret Acupoint at his brow, where Yin-Cuo-Yang-Cha lurked on the edge, evading him.

Since fusing with the Dragon Ball Spirit Mechanism, Yin-Cuo-Yang-Cha had grown significantly more sentient, sometimes even behaving like a petulant creature with a personality of its own.

In the past, it would domineeringly occupy the center of his brow’s Secret Acupoint, acting as if it were the unrivaled king of the world.

Now, however, it actively avoided the Delusion Seven Emotions Flame…

“Interesting,” Chen Mu murmured.

…

Several days later, at dawn.

To the south of Peach Blossom Valley, at the foot of the mountain, lay the encampment of the Hundred Illusion Division.

On an open field, over a hundred former disciples of the Hundred Illusion Sect gathered.

Under the guidance of Yang Fu, Lu Han, and others, they practiced the Sealing Demon Curse relentlessly.

Vivid green Demon Dispel Power floated into the air. At times, it coalesced into clusters, forming protective Spirit Light Shields for the group. Other times, it dispersed like raindrops, accurately striking the hundreds of terracotta figures piled to one side of the field.

Such exercises were among the many training routines designated by the Thousand Mechanisms Sect Elders stationed at Taoshan Temple.

For the past half-month, these drills had become routine.

Practice, rest, and repeat. The morning passed swiftly.

At noon, training concluded, and the crowd dispersed in small groups.

Chen Mu, however, didn’t rush to leave. Instead, he sought out Yang Fu.

Before he could speak, Yang Fu handed him a bamboo cage about the size of a human head. “Here, your five-colored pheasants.”

“Two of them, twenty-two pieces of White Jade. Pay up.”

Twenty-two?

Wasn’t the price set at twenty by Taoshan Temple for the Hundred Illusion Division?

“What? I spent all morning on this. Can’t I earn a mere two pieces of White Jade?” Yang Fu glared at him indignantly with his beady little eyes.

“Fine, why not.” Chen Mu shook his head with an amused smile.

“Then hurry up, pay me, and take your things already,” Yang Fu grumbled impatiently, eager to send him off.

“Senior Brother doesn’t seem too fond of me,” Chen Mu quipped as he dug out the White Jade, grinning slyly.

[Senior Brother:] “If you won’t let me farm Daoist Cultivation Points off you, why should I like you?”

Yang Fu shot Chen Mu a disdainful glare.

“Then why help me procure the five-colored pheasants?” Chen Mu chuckled, eyes narrowing.

[Do I dare not help you?]

Yang Fu’s expression darkened.

Earlier, in attempting to persuade Chen Mu to undertake tasks to earn Daoist Cultivation Points, he may have been a bit too persistent. What followed for him was a string of misfortunes.

He stumbled so often that his knees were nearly worn bare! He wanted no part of that again.

Snatching the White Jade offered by Chen Mu, Yang Fu snorted dismissively and made his retreat.

Chen Mu, in contrast, hefted the bamboo cage with a pleased, mischievous grin.

Ha!

The Nightmare Victory Spell worked wonders.

“Senior Brother, wait for me. Let’s head back together,” he teased.

At these words, Yang Fu’s stubby legs scurried faster than ever, as though fleeing from a plague god.

…

In the end, Yang Fu failed to ditch Chen Mu.

“Senior Brother, could you procure two pig-rabbits for me as well?”

“If you can find a deer-antlered horse, that’d be even better—but it has to be alive.”

“We’re the Hundred Illusion Division, not the Hundred Illusion Sect,” Yang Fu retorted, rolling his eyes.

So?

Chen Mu replied with puzzled eyes.

“The Mist Forest’s situation has changed,” Yang Fu sighed wistfully.

“The Sect Master’s disappeared, a majority of the sect’s disciples are dead or injured, and the Hundred Illusion Sect is no longer what it once was.”

“Taoshan Temple’s ambition for Qingqiu Mountain wasn’t new.”

“Now, the only reason they even sell us scraps of low-grade Exotic Beast Meat is because of the Thousand Mechanisms Sect’s influence.”

“Procuring these two pheasants was difficult enough. As for anything else I might want to fetch for you? They wouldn’t even consider it,” Yang Fu lamented bitterly.

After all, this was Taoshan Temple’s territory.

And soon enough, they could very well claim Qingqiu Mountain as their own.

Chen Mu nodded in understanding.

Seeing Yang Fu’s somber expression, Chen Mu shook his head lightly and refrained from saying anything to console him.

To Chen Mu, the Hundred Illusion Sect was merely a stepping stone; he felt no attachment to it.

For Yang Fu, it was different. Having grown up within the sect, facing its impending dissolution and sensing the predatory gazes of external forces was a complex and sorrowful experience.

Such matters could only truly be resolved by Yang Fu himself.

The two continued walking in silence toward the base camp at the mountain’s foot until a commotion caught their attention.

A group of poorly dressed yet rosy-faced individuals was being herded into Peach Blossom Valley by the Daoist Soldiers of Taoshan Temple.

Their presence stirred up a flurry of whispers among the onlookers.

“Mortals?” Yang Fu asked, perplexed. “The nearest large city to the Mist Forest is at least five to six hundred miles away. With such treacherous terrain, how did this group of ordinary mortals end up here?”

Something indeed seemed amiss.

Chen Mu squinted his eyes, a flicker of suspicion flashing across his face.

Was it an illusion? Somehow, these mortals—entirely devoid of Mana, not even Martial Artists—gave him an inexplicable sense of familiarity.

It was as though he had seen them somewhere before.

…

Deep into the night, Chen Mu slipped into Thousand Lanterns City.

He glanced at the foolishly floating giant orb in the sky and immediately looked away.

Over the past two months, the Grotto Heaven had expanded more than threefold, and the sky had gained a new Orb-Eyed Pupil. This rendered opening the Grotto Heaven portals faster and more convenient.

Yet by now, having reached its current form, Thousand Lanterns City had completely ceased changing.

“If only another Black Shadow Monster would show up,” Chen Mu thought idly.

Reaching his private three-story wooden building, he waved his hand, summoning the bamboo cage from the eaves of the corridor.

Inside were two five-colored pheasants clucking softly. Chen Mu stretched out his right hand, conjuring two tiny, colorless flames no larger than the size of fingernails upon his index finger.

With a mere thought, the flames flew into the bamboo cage.

The two lively five-colored pheasants were struck by the flames without any reaction. In the next moment, like wind-up mechanisms that had abruptly stopped, they collapsed onto the cage floor, motionless.

The vibrant lifeforce they had exuded vanished in the blink of an eye.

Raising an eyebrow, Chen Mu activated his Truthful Listening ability.

After meticulously examining every aspect, he discovered that both the internal and external forms of the five-colored pheasants were entirely intact, with no signs of damage.

“Just as I thought…” A knowing glint appeared in Chen Mu’s eyes. “The Delusion Seven Emotions Flame can incinerate the essence of Spiritual Deities!”

The Seven Emotions Flame wasn’t notably hot—less so even than the Fire Cloud Gourd, which could at least grill some meat strips.

Yet the normally domineering Yin-Cuo-Yang-Cha actively avoided it. Chen Mu had immediately suspected that the entity wary of the Seven Emotions Flame wasn’t necessarily Yin-Cuo-Yang-Cha’s main body but the Dragon Ball Spirit Mechanism within it.

Further testing on a Ghost Monster confirmed his theory. Even the typically reckless Ghost Monster exhibited avoidance behavior.

This cemented Chen Mu’s belief that the colorless flame targeted the consciousness—or to be even more precise, the core essence of entities’ Spiritual Deities.

Thus, he had sought out Yang Fu to procure the five-colored pheasants for experimentation.

“Thinking it over, the emergence of the Seven Emotions Flame isn’t entirely unexpected,” Chen Mu mused.

The first innate divine ability of Chen Mu’s Heavenly Demon Body, Qi Forbidden Hundred Miles, originated from the Upper Fetus Spiritual Secret Method.

After being replicated and integrated by the Heavenly Demon Armor, it could even shield against attacks specifically targeting Spiritual Deities.

Now that his Heavenly Demon Body had evolved and his Divine Embryo had reached perfection, awakening a flame that specialized in devastating Spiritual Deities, like the Seven Emotions Flame, did seem reasonable.

“Tsk!”

“At least this counts as a natural progression of the lineage.” Chen Mu chuckled, nodding with satisfaction.