Cultivation Online

Hearing Yuan’s question, Lev pondered for a moment before responding, “From what I’ve heard, all of the True Gods dwell within the Ninth Valley and the Final Valley. Unfortunately, I don’t know anything about the Eighth Valley.” He silently stared at Yuan for a moment before continuing, “You know… it’s not too late to turn around and go back…”

Yuan smiled and said, “If we do encounter a True God, I will have to get a little serious, but we will be fine.”

Lev’s jaw dropped as he asked, “Have you even fought seriously once since we started our journey?”

“What do you think?” “Uh… no?” Yuan silently smiled.

As they drew closer to the Eighth Valley, the Forsaken they encountered grew increasingly powerful. Eventually, the Lower Demons disappeared altogether, and only Elite Demons and Superior Demons would appear.

“I have never seen so many Black Cores in my life!” Lev swallowed nervously as Superior Demons showed up one after another.

In the Demonic Realm, the ranking system used to categorize demon ranks did not exist. Instead, demons were identified by their crystals. Superior Demons, who possessed black crystals, were known as Black Cores, while Lower Demons were referred to as Crimson Cores.

Of course, there was still a social hierarchy. Demons with red crystals were regarded as ordinary commoners, while those with black crystals were considered elites.

Demons whose appearance closely resembled that of ordinary humans were usually considered nobles, as many believed these forms reflected the original appearance of their ancestors. For this reason, some demons naturally assumed Yuan belonged to that class. Eventually, they arrived at the borders of the Eighth Valley. Although it had taken them nearly thirty years to reach this point, only a month had passed in the Nine Heavens.

Yuan and Lev halted at the edge of the Eighth Valley.

It appeared to be raining, but the rain was far from normal. Dark droplets of black liquid fell from the sky, each one carrying a familiar and unsettling aura.

‘This is… Chaotic Essence!’ Yuan suddenly extended his arm toward the rain, but when Lev saw this, he hastily pulled Yuan back and shouted, “Are you crazy?! Do you not know what that is?!”

“It’s just rain, though?”

“Of course not! This is not ordinary rain! It’s a Corruption Shower! And those who are contaminated by the liquid are more likely to turn into a Forsaken!” Yuan raised an eyebrow at this and said, “Isn’t this just another rumor? Like Forsaken being contagious.”

“No, it’s not just a rumor,” said Lev.

“In a certain experiment, they had a group of one thousand people drenched in a Corruption Shower, and not even a year later, more than half of them turned into Forsaken!” “Is that so? In any case, I’ll be fine.” Yuan said as he reached his arm into the rain, soaking it with the black liquid.

Lev watched with a nervous face, but Yuan remained as nonchalant as ever. If anything, he was quite excited inwardly. After all, he was able to absorb the Chaotic Essence from the Corruption Shower, and his second cultivation, which had stopped at the Chaotic Immortal Realm, was starting to show progress again.

“Does this rain go on forever?” Yuan turned to ask Lev, who quickly shook his head.

“No, they usually stop after a few years.”

“Then I cannot waste this opportunity.”

Without another word, Yuan entered the Corruption Shower, completely drenching himself in it.

“My lord!” Lev cried out loud.

“Wait for me. I’m going to cultivate for a bit,” said Yuan.

“Cultivate?! In the Corruption Shower?! That’s reckless!”

Lev tried to convince Yuan to come back out, but Yuan completely ignored him and spent the next seven years cultivating in the Corruption Shower.

Upon reaching the God Ascension Realm, Yuan gained the ability to perceive Celestial Qi with ease. And for the first time, he also sensed a familiar power within the Chaotic Essence.

While it wasn’t the same as Celestial Qi, the power it contained felt remarkably similar.

‘What is this? I never sensed anything like this, even when I was Tian Yi, the Immortal Monarch.’ Yuan thought to himself.

Even though he’d created multiple Chaotic Hearts as the Immortal Monarch, he’d never sensed this sort of energy in Chaotic Essence. ‘Now that I think about it, I think the Primal Monarch had mentioned something like this in the past…’

Yuan thought long and hard about what the Primal Monarch told him, but he was unable to recall such a memory for some reason.

In the end, he stopped thinking and focused on studying this new energy.

After spending five whole years studying the new energy, Yuan received a notification.

At the end of his seven-year cultivation, Yuan not only deepened his understanding of True Chaotic Qi, but his second cultivation also broke through Chaotic Immortal and entered Early Chaotic Supreme.

Despite that, he was unable to actually utilize True Chaotic Qi.

If he had more time, it might’ve been possible, but alas, the Corruption Shower ended.

“Hey… are you… okay?” Lev cautiously approached Yuan, fearing that he might have turned into a Forsaken.

Yuan looked at him and said, “I am fine.”

“Seriously? You don’t feel off? Even slightly?”

Yuan nodded.

Some time later, Lev followed Yuan into the Eighth Valley, and they immediately continued moving toward the Ninth Valley.

Even though Yuan assured him that everything was fine, Lev remained on edge. If someone as powerful as Yuan were to become a Forsaken, it wouldn’t just spell disaster for Lev—it would threaten every demon in existence.

“It’s been a while since we encountered a Forsaken,” Yuan remarked a few weeks into the Eighth Valley without any encounters.

“Why does it sound like you want to encounter them?” Lev shook his head and sighed. “There’s a good chance we might run into a True God, you know.”

Just as the words left his mouth, a crushing pressure suddenly descended upon them, suffocating the air around them.