A Loose Cultivator's Path to Longevity

Upon seeing the newcomer, the withered-skin old Daoist was not startled but enraged. He bellowed:

“You wretched creature! How dare you ruin your master’s plans!”

*WHAM!* Lü Zhong sent him flying to a broken wall with a single kick.

It was impossible to know how many of the old Daoist’s bones that kick had broken, but he couldn’t get up for the longest time. All he could do was groan as black, viscous blood pooled on the ground.

“Why don’t you take a look at the ‘good deed’ you’ve done?” Lü Zhong said coldly.

Ever since the Bihai Sect had grown and his sources of information had expanded, he had read about no fewer than eight hundred, if not a thousand, such incidents in the sect’s records—entire villages sacrificed to satisfy one person’s selfish desires. He had long since grown accustomed to it.

Take the current situation, for instance. Although Lü Zhong hadn’t followed procedure to look for clues, he was already intimately familiar with how such an event would have started and developed.

The old Daoist must have been stuck at the Qi Refining Third Layer. Lacking sufficient Spirit Medicine to support his breakthrough, he had been unable to advance for a long time. Thus, he came up with the idea of using Yin Qi to assault his body and shatter his cultivation bottleneck.

Unfortunately for him, his “disciple” had succeeded in his own cultivation and brutally shattered the old Daoist’s grand plan.

It was a perfect illustration of the principle:

The Celestial Dao is clear, and retribution is certain!

Realizing this, Lü Zhong actually started to laugh. ‘The trials of this Daoist Palace are truly interesting. They even teach you a lesson on how to be a decent person.’

‘Its original purpose must have been for moral edification.’

‘This simple principle seems self-evident now, but perhaps before ancient times, it was a sliver of clarity in a world mired in filth.’

After all, the ancient texts recorded that before the Immortal Dao was widely spread, this realm was plagued by Evil Spirits, with Demon Fiends and monsters running rampant.

Only after the Immortal Dao arrived and spread did the world become the clear and bright place it is today.

‘Besides spreading the Dao and providing moral guidance, it should also resolve doubts.’

‘So where is the one who will resolve them?’

Having passed the trial, Lü Zhong turned his gaze toward the Central District.

Without hesitation, he stepped into the sixth Daoist Palace.

…

In the Void, a great battle had just concluded.

Countless corpses drifted through this region of purple light, among them the figures of Great Demons. And right in the center of the pile of bodies, a Demon God lay fallen.

Even its blazing demonic flames had been extinguished.

Its eyes were wide with fury, its face etched with unwillingness.

Besieged by three Divinity Transformation cultivators, even a being as Immortal and Undying as it was had the source of its fire extinguished.

Perhaps tens of thousands of years from now, after accumulating enough negative emotions like hatred and slaughter, it could make a comeback and rule this corner of the Void once more. But by then, it would no longer be itself. What meaning would there be in returning?

“It took so much effort just for a single Pseudo-God. I can’t imagine what kind of power those mysterious beings who call themselves True Gods possess. Thankfully, we’ve finally dealt with it!”

Cangmingzi breathed a sigh of relief, put away his Spirit Treasure Fire Dragon Spirit Banner, and turned his gaze to his two companions.

He pondered for a moment before speaking:

“Fellow Daoists Profound Robe and Luoying, according to our prior agreement, this Guiding Jade Tree should be split evenly among the three of us. However, if we split it, its efficacy will be greatly diminished, and it’s likely none of us will benefit… How about this: Fellow Daoist Profound Robe, I am willing to trade you my refined Heaven-Attracting Talisman. As for you, Fellow Daoist Luoying, your Spirit Descent Plan is progressing slowly. I can have the Celestial Origin Immortal Palace assist you.”

“Hmph, you’ve certainly done your calculations,” Profound Robe snorted.

It was true that a Heaven-Attracting Talisman was more effective than a third of the Guiding Jade Tree, but that didn’t mean it was an equivalent exchange.

“Give me at least two Heaven-Attracting Talismans!” Profound Robe haggled.

As a member of the Talisman Sect, no one understood how to use talismans better than he did. Furthermore, the Northern Talisman Sect possessed a Secret Skill that could greatly enhance the effects of Spirit Talismans. If he really had two Heaven-Attracting Talismans in hand, he, Profound Robe, might truly be able to achieve Ascension and leave the soon-to-be-destroyed Qinghe Realm as soon as possible.

As for a fragment of the Guiding Jade Tree, he was fine with trading it away.

In his hands, the item’s effectiveness was far less than it would be in Cangmingzi’s. Without the latter’s special Cultivation Technique, the chances of achieving Ascension with it were greatly reduced, bordering on nil.

“Impossible!” Cangmingzi cried out.

A single Heaven-Attracting Talisman had cost him a full three thousand years of painstaking effort.

The spiritual materials consumed in the process were countless, but that was nothing. The most important—and most difficult—part was refining a Demon Saint’s Primordial Spirit into it.

How could he possibly trade away two such precious items at once?

Even a complete Guiding Jade Tree came with a significant chance of failure; it might not even be able to attract the Ascension Tribulation. If ascending to the Upper Realm were truly that easy, the Qinghe Realm wouldn’t have gone hundreds of thousands of years without a single cultivator ascending, forcing Divinity Transformation cultivators to venture into the Void.

Keeping one Heaven-Attracting Talisman was Cangmingzi’s backup plan for himself.

On the other side, Profound Robe also knew Cangmingzi would never agree to his terms, so he immediately changed his condition, saying slowly, “One Heaven-Attracting Talisman is also acceptable. However, the Ascension Tribulation is incredibly dangerous. Old ghost Cangming, even if you successfully assemble the Guiding Jade Tree and manage to attract the tribulation, you might not survive it…”

He didn’t even glance at Cangmingzi’s grim expression as he continued, “This is a fact. The three of us are not as astonishingly powerful as Hei Ming. Just because he could do it doesn’t mean we can. Otherwise, the Mysterious Dao Sect wouldn’t have reigned supreme for ten thousand years in the past.”

“Therefore, I want to make a contract with you. As long as you can use the Guiding Jade Tree to trigger the Celestial Tribulation, the remaining Heaven-Attracting Talisman will belong to me, regardless of whether you succeed in Crossing Tribulation. If you fail to trigger the Celestial Tribulation, then afterward, you will return the former lands of the Talisman Sect as payment in Spiritual Objects. How about it?”

“Done!” Cangmingzi agreed without hesitation.

For the sake of Ascension, he didn’t mind taking a slight loss on the deal.

He then turned to Luoying Fairy and asked, “Fellow Daoist Profound Robe has agreed to the exchange. I wonder what Fellow Daoist Luoying thinks? It’s true that your Spirit Descent Plan has a high chance of success, but with Central Earth in turmoil, all kinds of Spiritual Objects are incredibly scarce. If you want to continue, I’m afraid it will take thousands of years, and the Qinghe Realm can’t hold out that long!”

“But with the help of the Celestial Origin Immortal Palace, the time needed for the Spirit Descent can be shortened to less than a thousand years.”

Hearing this, Luoying Fairy fell into silent contemplation.

In terms of personal strength, she was the weakest of the three. After all, she had only reached the Divinity Transformation realm less than five thousand years ago. How could she contend with the other two?

Not to mention Cangmingzi, who wielded the Fire Dragon Spirit Banner and was only a sliver weaker than the Hei Ming Daoist of the past.

After weighing the pros and cons, Luoying Fairy finally nodded.

“I agree!”

Then, she added in a cold voice, “However, I have an additional condition. It’s about the Southern Barbarian Land. You must help me eliminate the Lü Zhong who is there. If he is not eliminated, my supply of Spiritual Objects from the Southern Barbarian Land will be cut off. Even with the help of your Celestial Origin Immortal Palace, the Spirit Descent Plan’s progress will be greatly reduced, pushing it back until after the realm collapses.”

“Lü Zhong?” Cangmingzi recalled where he had heard the name and agreed at once without hesitation.

“He’s merely an Early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator. Once I cross the Void and return to the Qinghe Realm, I’ll directly dispatch two of my sect’s Great Cultivators. No matter how monstrous his abilities, he won’t have a chance to turn the tables. That will be more than enough to take care of him.”

“If that’s still not enough, I will act personally. I will surely be able to erase him.”

“I hope so,” Luoying Fairy sneered.

She had only discovered later that although this Lü Zhong’s cultivation was low, he possessed a Heaven-Covering Secret Technique that made him completely untraceable. As long as he didn’t show himself voluntarily, there was simply no opportunity to strike.

That said, even with the Heaven-Covering Secret Technique, Luoying Fairy still didn’t believe Lü Zhong had any chance of survival.

After all, a Divinity Transformation cultivator would be taking action.

…

Meanwhile, Lü Zhong, having passed through the sixth Daoist Palace, had already rendezvoused with Feng Rui.

“Looks like I really picked the right person this time!” Feng Rui said, shaking his head smugly. He originally thought it would take Lü Zhong more than a decade to pass the trials.

He then handed over a Spirit Communication Jade Contract and said, “This is an Equal Spirit Contract. Please sign it, Fellow Daoist Lü. Without my assistance in the previous stages, the chances of you passing on your own would have been minuscule, unless you were truly the reincarnation of an Immortal.”

Lü Zhong took it and saw that it was a Spirit Beast Contract.

His expression almost broke.

“This…”

“Just sign it! This Land of Immortal Arrival is the territory of you Immortal Cultivators to begin with. If I don’t use this clever trick to temporarily become an Immortal Cultivator’s Spiritual Beast, how am I supposed to gain any opportunities from it? The terms are already listed, and they are all standard for the Qinghe Realm. As for what I’m offering in exchange, that’s listed too.”

Feng Rui appeared expressionless, but inwardly he was cursing Lü Zhong’s cultivation for advancing so quickly that their roles had now been forced to reverse.

Not looking at Feng Rui’s expression, Lü Zhong glanced at the Spirit Contract and found the condition to be quite simple: he just needed to help Feng Rui redeem a Technique.

Just as doubt began to form in his mind, his gaze fell upon the annotation clause below. It turned out that passing the Daoist Palace’s trials granted three opportunities for redemption.

Excluding the consultation on how to save this realm, it was fair and reasonable for them to each get one of the remaining opportunities.