Chapter 655 - 518: Secrets of Demon Cultivators

Master Yuxiao doesn’t remember how many times he has said "this is the sign of the sect’s prosperity," but he feels that each time he says it, his belief becomes more steadfast because he truly sees the hope of strength.

In a few years, when Lin Jiuxiao and Lin Qiubai return, if they can add another Golden Core Daoist Master, it won’t just be a sign of prosperity but a true indication of thriving.

Daoist Master Zhengyang handed him the Spirit Disc, "Fulfill your promise."

Master Yuxiao took the Spirit Disc, took out his Identity Jade Token, and began to operate it.

Ji An interjected, "Senior Brother deduct six thousand Great Merit, consider it repaying some debt.

Hehe, and there are two Top-Grade Spirit Woods waiting to be cultivated to Tier Three; will the senior brothers reward me with Great Merit?"

Cultivating Spirit Plants for rewards, plus additional incentives, repaying the sect’s debt is easy.

Daoist Master Zhengyang shook his head, smiling and scolding:

"You guy really don’t know how to be content, but there will be rewards, of course!

Cultivating a second Tier Three Treasure Plant rewards eight hundred Great Merit, the third rewards five hundred Great Merit.

From now on, cultivating any Tier Three Spirit Plant rewards three hundred Great Merit."

He has plenty of Great Merit, not much use keeping it.

"Senior Brother is generous!"

Ji An praised, looking at Master Yuxiao, and smiled:

"Senior Brother, it’s your turn to express yourself?"

"I have never seen anyone chasing after rewards, you are the first.

I’m poorer than Senior Brother; in the future, cultivating each Tier Three Spirit Plant rewards two hundred Great Merit, not more."

Ji An nodded earnestly, "I don’t mind it being little."

"Get out of here!"

"Haha!"

The scene was full of a happy atmosphere.

After chatting for a while, Ji An said:

"Completely transforming Purple Gold Phoenix Wood is estimated to take several years; next, we can wait slowly.

The double hour is late; Senior Brothers, I take my leave."

"Junior Brother, walk slowly!"

Ji An rode on auspicious clouds to a nearby mountain cave; that’s where the teleportation array is located.

Taking Ningcui Cliff as the center, the sect has built three teleportation arrays, leading to Sunrise Peak, Red Copper Mountain, and Yunhe Mountain.

Ningcui Cliff is the center because the distance to each destination is not far.

The closer the journey, the less Spirit Stone the teleportation consumes. The sect is big, but in places where we should save, we must save.

Daoist Master Zhengyang retracted his gaze, and sighed softly:

"I wonder how long such a magnificent scene can last; hopefully as long as possible."

Master Yuxiao was puzzled, "Senior Brother, what do you mean by this?"

Daoist Master Zhengyang didn’t answer directly, he asked back:

"When I broke through to the Golden Core, I was four hundred years old; how old was Junior Brother when he broke through?"

"Four hundred and twenty years old."

"How old is Junior Brother Ji this year?"

"Just turned two hundred."

"A two-hundred-year-old Golden Core Daoist Master, even in such prosperous places like Central Continent, is a very potential cultivator.

In a Nascent Soul Grand Sect, such cultivators are eligible to compete for the sect’s core disciple slots. In the future, they are candidates for Nascent Soul Daoist Monarch."

Daoist Master Zhengyang paused, then sighed again, "If it were me, I would not want to stay in the sect for hard cultivation.

Without cultivation techniques, without enough resources, it’s impossible to become a Nascent Soul Cultivator. Currently, he has the potential to achieve Nascent Soul.

He will choose to venture out no matter what, and Central Continent may be the first choice.

However, during my trip to Central Continent, I heard news that a seal of a Demon Cave is loosening, and True Demon Qi is leaking out."

Master Yuxiao frowned, "True Demon Qi? Senior Brother, what are you talking about? I don’t understand."

Demon Cave, he had never heard of such a term.

Daoist Master Zhengyang beckoned, "This matter is confidential; I was shocked when I first heard it too. Let’s talk about it back in the grotto mansion."

...

The two rode on auspicious clouds back to the grotto mansion, Daoist Master Zhengyang formed a seal to open the Dharma Prohibition.

After sitting down, he pondered for a moment, then slowly spoke:

"Once during my travels in Central Continent, by chance, I saved a cultivator from the Void Sect.

She and I were of similar age, and gradually formed a friendship. Later, when I returned to the sect, we lost contact.

It’s quite a coincidence; this time at an auction in Central Continent, we met by chance, and now she is already a Nascent Soul Daoist Monarch.

Ah..."

A long sigh, unknown how many stories were skipped.

"From her mouth, I learned about this secret.

Everything in the world has yin and yang, and the world we live in is divided into yin and yang sides.

The Demon Cave is equivalent to the Yin side of the world, while the Cultivation Realm corresponds to the Yang side, representing the opposition of Yin and Yang.

However, between Yin and Yang, there is not only opposition but also transformation, a balance where one rises as the other falls."

"When the Yang side dominates, the True Demon Qi in the Demon Cave is scarce, unable to nurture powerful demon lords and True Demons, which are comparable to cultivators.

Cultivators come from the Human Race, but True Demons are born naturally.

When the Yin side prevails, Demonic Qi becomes abundant, giving rise to various demon lords and True Demons. When the Demonic Qi becomes dense enough, it will break the seal outside of the Demon Cave."

"According to ancient records, each outbreak of the True Demon Tribulation brought devastation to the surface, with cultivators and Transformed Great Demons always at a disadvantage.

To counteract the True Demon Tribulation, the Demon Cultivation Technique was created, and gradually, the surface powers gained the upper hand in the war.

This Cultivation Technique is unconventional, using demon lords as resources for cultivation."

"However, this inevitably gave rise to a new problem. When the Yin side is subdued, the Demon Cave is completely sealed, depriving demon cultivators of their cultivation resources.

There were talented cultivators who reached the Nascent Soul Level among the demon cultivators, as the original demon cultivators were created by the most talented individuals among cultivators.

Those demon cultivators who possessed power naturally refused to face extinction and successively created various techniques that use the blood and flesh, Spirit Soul of living creatures as resources.

It became uncontrollable, and inevitably, battles broke out between traditional Daoist cultivators and demon cultivators, with no retreat for the path of the Dao.

The number of demon cultivators is relatively few, and coupled with the instinctual revulsion all living beings feel towards techniques that pillage blood and Spirit Soul, they were subdued by Daoist cultivators, eventually becoming outcasts."

"The demon cultivators we see now are violent and insane but still belong to the Human Race cultivators. The demon lords nurtured in the Demon Cave are completely different creatures."

"According to a friend from the past, our world undergoes a transformation of Yin Yang Power every several millennia.

The seal of the Demon Cave is weakening, indicating a new cycle of Yin Yang transformation."

Daoist Master Zhengyang spoke a lot, and when he first heard this information, he was very shocked.

Because this information overturned his previous understanding, he could never have imagined the true origins of demon cultivation were like this.

Master Yuxiao was stunned for a long time, finally saying with difficulty:

"Is the information accurate? This kind of information should be highly confidential, given the nature of those Major Sects; it’s impossible for them to let us know this early."

If there really is a great tribulation, the Nascent Soul Sects would secretly prepare items for crossing the tribulation while using other forces as cannon fodder to avoid facing the great tribulation directly.

Daoist Master Zhengyang seemed not to have heard, and after a while, he spoke:

"The information should be accurate. She said that all the Nascent Soul Grand Sects in the Central Continent are already aware and have started making plans for the future.

When she left, she even made me swear a Daoist Oath not to disclose it to anyone other than our Golden Core cultivators."

He and she once had mutual affection, but alas, due to differing statuses, all emotions were swept away with the wind, slowly fading into the dreams of each other.

"When do you plan to inform Junior Brother Ji?"

"When he is ready to leave, as there are Demon Caves in every continent. It’s said that the Demon Cave in the Western Continent lies deep within the Ten Thousand Mountains."

Master Yuxiao pursued, "Is there a confirmed time for the outbreak of the True Demon Tribulation?"

Daoist Master Zhengyang shook his head, with a rather peculiar expression:

"Only one Demon Cave’s seal has shown signs of loosening, which means it’s just a sign; it’s still far from the outbreak of the True Demon Tribulation. You and I probably won’t have the fortune to witness what a True Demon Tribulation is."

The True Demon Tribulation cycle is measured in tens of thousands of years, and hundreds of years can easily pass from the appearance of signs to the formal outbreak.

Master Yuxiao smiled bitterly, "Having a limited lifespan indeed has its benefits... Forget it, let the future disciples worry about it. All we can do is what we’re capable of."

What can they do about a tribulation that even Nascent Soul Sects must cautiously confront? All they can do is go with the flow.

Daoist Master Zhengyang changed the topic. "Is the celebration preparation complete?"

"Yes, this morning, Zhang Zizhao from the Diligence Hall came to report that everything is ready."

"That’s good."

...

At Red Flame Peak, the light twisted on the Teleportation Array. When everything returned to stillness, Ji An appeared atop it.

He walked out of the stone house, rode on a cloud back to his grotto mansion, and upon returning to the Quiet Chamber, he summoned the Wuji Xinghuang Banner and took out Transforming Essence Divine Mud for Refinement using his Pill Fire.

Repairing a Lifebound Magical Treasure is a long and slow process, but after half a year of persistence, the damage to the treasure has been mostly repaired.

The main reason is that the Primordial Life Fire is not yet vigorous enough, limiting the speed of refining Tier Three Spiritual Objects.

There’s no help for it, as he’s just a newcomer who broke through to the Golden Core a few years ago; it’s normal for his Primordial Life Fire to be weak.

In truth, the vigor of his Primordial Life Fire is comparable to cultivators who broke through to the Golden Core decades ago, yet it’s still not easy to refine Tier Three Spiritual Objects.

After refining a drop of Transforming Essence Divine Mud Spiritual Liquid, he refined another drop of Wuhua Treasure Soil Spiritual Liquid.

Only about a third of these two Earth-elemental Spiritual Objects remain, and in a few months, they will be completely refined.

From the current progress, Ji An believes it’s not necessary to refine all the Spiritual Objects to repair all the damage to the treasure.

However, since these Spiritual Objects can enhance the power of his Lifebound Magical Treasure, he chooses to refine them all.

He took the Gourd Stone Pendant off his neck, and his Divine Sense entered the Little World.

The Wuji Xinghuang Banner in his hand transformed into a fist-sized Qilin, which grew Auspicious Clouds under its feet and flew to the Gathering Essence Tree.

It burrowed into the dense branches and leaves, like a playful squirrel darting around.

Ji An paid it no mind and began his routine inspection of the Spirit Plants’ growth conditions.

The Dark Night Tree and Soul Nourishing Wood are still at Tier Two Lower Grade, but on the Earth Spirit Fruit Tree and Profound Leaf Sword Bamboo, there are plants that have reached Tier Two Middle Grade.

In the Spirit Devouring Insect colony, more and more Spiritual Insects have completed their evolution, and the number of Jade Cocoons Ji An has collected could fill three or four baskets.

He once secretly sent someone to inquire what these Jade Cocoons actually were, what value they had, but no one recognized them.