Immortality Begins With Internal Breathing

Deep within the woman’s sea of consciousness, the golden Heavenly Eye radiated brilliant light. With her sea of consciousness laid utterly bare for Lin Zheyu to examine, she felt as though she were standing naked before him, every part of her exposed inside and out. Suppressing her discomfort, she endured the strange sensation and allowed the mysterious senior to continue his examination.

Seeing Lin Zheyu frown and remain silent after observing her for such a long time, the sinister woman could not help but ask, ”Senior... is it possible?”

Her heart was filled with anxiety. Lin Zheyu had been observing her for a long time. She never sensed Senior Xiao Zhe’s spiritual sense entering her sea of consciousness. All she saw was him staring at her with a slight frown, watching her in silence for what felt like an eternity. It left her deeply uneasy. The yao will had already deeply infiltrated her soul. If even this failed, it would be no different from sentencing her to death.

”It’s rather troublesome. Let me try first,” Lin Zheyu said calmly.

The concentration and purity of the yao will within the woman’s sea of consciousness had reached an astonishing level. The spiritual energy that had once filled her entire sea of consciousness had been completely replaced by yao will. Under its corruption, her soul form had begun to undergo demonization as well. Her entire soul form had turned pitch black, exuding a faint aura of filth, evil, and decay.

Her entire sea of consciousness has already been demonized. If the process is completed, will the sea of consciousness disappear altogether? Will the soul merge into the demonic body like a yao’s? Lin Zheyu pondered silently.

The reason he had remained silent for so long was that he had been using the golden Heavenly Eye to study the differences between the sea of consciousness of a demonic cultivator, that of a human, and that of a yao. Lin Zheyu had dissected countless yao over the years and understood them exceptionally well. Yao possessed no sea of consciousness. Their consciousness existed in the form of yao will, fused directly into their flesh and energy.

This was also why yao possessed a form of pseudo-immortality. Even if they were blasted into a pulp, as long as sufficient demonic qi and energy remained, they could regenerate. As for demonic cultivators, the golden Heavenly Eye saw something rather interesting through the woman’s soul form, which radiated an evil aura.

From the perspective of the golden Heavenly Eye, the woman’s soul form was gradually changing from a unified, orderly, and solid state into a chaotic and disordered one under the erosion of the yao will. However, she had managed to halt this process through a special soul secret art.

”You’ve cultivated a special soul secret art?” Lin Zheyu asked.

”Yes, Senior.” The woman nodded. It was precisely because of this secret art that she had managed to hold on until now.

”That secret art is quite remarkable, but it can only slow the process. I originally wanted to see whether the yao will that had invaded your soul form could be separated from it, but it seems that won’t be possible. The corruption has gone too deep. The yao will has already become part of your soul. If I forcibly strip it away, the only outcome will be the complete destruction of your soul,” Lin Zheyu said softly.

Under the gaze of the golden Heavenly Eye, he quickly identified the root of the problem within the woman’s soul. Unfortunately, he had no way to resolve it. The yao will was simply too bizarre. It could directly erode and devour portions of a cultivator’s soul, replacing everything it consumed. Given enough time, even if the cultivator stopped practicing demonic arts altogether, their soul would eventually be completely consumed by the yao will, transforming them into one of the yao.

”S... Senior... is there... truly no other way?” the sinister woman asked, her voice trembling with unwillingness to accept it. She did not want to die!

”I can try to help alleviate it and slow the rate at which your soul is being consumed by the yao will. However, that only treats the symptoms, not the root of the problem. If you truly want to stop the process altogether...” Lin Zheyu paused slightly.

The sinister woman’s eyes trembled as a glimmer of hope flickered within them.

”Perhaps, once I join the Heavenly Derivation Sect and attain sufficient mastery in formations, I may be able to find a solution,” Lin Zheyu said after a brief moment of thought.

His attainments in formations were still too shallow. They were nowhere near enough for him to create powerful formations using divine patterns. However, if he could join the Heavenly Derivation Sect and deepen his understanding of the Dao of formations, he might one day be able to develop a special formation based on divine patterns that could isolate and suppress the yao will. His divine patterns differed fundamentally from the formation restriction runes of the Immortal Dao.

Martial Divine Patterns incorporated the characteristics of demonic patterns, allowing them to draw upon demonic qi as their energy source. As a result, the stronger a demonic cultivator became, the more energy the divine pattern formation within their sea of consciousness would have at its disposal, enabling it to unleash even greater power.

Of course, this was merely Lin Zheyu’s vision for the future. Turning it into reality would be extraordinarily difficult. He still had an incredibly long road ahead of him and countless obstacles to overcome.

A surge of hope welled up within the sinister woman’s heart. ”Please save me, Senior! If you’re willing to help, then from this day forward, I will gladly become your servant and obey your every command!”

As a fellow demonic cultivator, this senior felt far too normal to her, so normal that he seemed nothing like someone who cultivated demonic arts. Had she not fought Lin Zheyu before and personally sensed the pure demonic qi emanating from him, she would have doubted that he was a demonic cultivator at all.

In reality, he wasn’t. But as far as the woman was concerned, he was, and that was enough. For someone with such terrifying strength to remain as composed and rational as an ordinary person was astonishing. This senior had to possess some secret art or dharma treasure capable of suppressing the yao will.

”Very well. Whatever happens next, do not resist. Otherwise, you’ll bear the consequences yourself,” Lin Zheyu replied calmly.

His thoughts stirred. He had once considered establishing a force of his own, but his strength had advanced far too quickly for any organization he built to keep pace, so he eventually abandoned the idea. Now, however, the sinister woman’s offer rekindled that thought.

Even ants struggled to survive, let alone demonic cultivators who had reached such heights of power. No one wanted to die. If there was even the slightest chance of living, those who had long since fallen into demonic cultivation would make choices without any regard for principle. The sinister woman before him was the perfect example.

At the first glimpse of hope, she clung to it as though it were her lifeline. If he could master a way to help demonic cultivators suppress the yao will and preserve their sanity, then he could use that method to keep them under his control and have them work for him.

Demonic cultivators are a formidable force. If I could command a group of powerful demonic cultivators... Lin Zheyu murmured inwardly.

With a thought, the mysterious energy cultivated through the Heaven-Deceiving Art enveloped the golden energy and flowed into the woman’s sea of consciousness. Even though she had fully opened her sea of consciousness, transferring the golden energy into it was no easy task.

Fortunately, years of erosion by the yao will and demonic qi had already left her sea of consciousness riddled with countless cracks. That greatly reduced the difficulty of guiding the golden energy inside.

Suddenly, the sinister woman let out a piercing scream. ”Ahhh! Mmph...”

An excruciating pain erupted within her sea of consciousness. It felt as though her entire sea of consciousness had been placed over a blazing fire and was being slowly roasted, twisting her features in agony. Remembering the senior’s warning, however, she gritted her teeth and endured the soul-rending pain, allowing only faint, muffled moans to escape her lips.

She had no other choice. All she could do was place her hopes in the senior before her and pray that he truly had a way to deal with the yao will. Of course, entrusting her life to a complete stranger, and a demonic cultivator at that, was nothing more than treating a dead horse as though it were still alive.

This won’t do. The golden energy isn’t just opposed to demonic qi. It also inflicts tremendous damage on any energy that isn’t my own. If I don’t control it precisely, her soul will give out long before all the yao in her sea of consciousness is eradicated.

Lin Zheyu frowned slightly, finally encountering a genuinely tricky problem.

Even so, it was only a minor challenge. Pushing the golden Heavenly Eye to its limit, Lin Zheyu carefully manipulated the golden energy under its gaze, gradually purging the yao will from the woman’s sea of consciousness bit by bit. Wisps of transparent, twisted black smoke rose from her body and slowly spread throughout the hall.

Sensing that aura, both Wu Di and Xu Chi instinctively frowned, their faces showing unconcealed disgust. Then Xu Chi suddenly realized what he was seeing, and his eyes lit up with excitement and anticipation. ”Did... did it work?!”

Xu Chi’s heart was filled with apprehension. Listening to the woman’s suppressed moans of agony and seeing her contorted face, he could scarcely imagine how cruel and horrifying the process must be. The willpower of demonic cultivators was exceptionally strong. Anyone who could survive, retain their sanity, and cultivate all the way to the False Core realm possessed mental fortitude far beyond that of ordinary cultivators.

Moreover, after enduring the corruption of the yao will, the minds of these demonic cultivators had all become unstable, making them even more deranged. For pain severe enough to make such lunatics scream and groan uncontrollably, the mere thought of it was enough to send chills down one’s spine.