Entry: I Secretly Cultivate Immortality in the Martial Arts World

177: Chapter 177 Master! Save me!The gates of the great hall opened on time one year later.

Figures of demon Cultivators stood outside the door, led by a Mahayana Late Stage demon Cultivator.

His gaze swept across the ash-faced Righteous Path Cultivators in the hall, his voice cold and hard as iron:

”The time has come. Escort them to the Blood Sacrifice Formation Platform. Anyone who dares to resist shall be executed on the spot without exception.”

As his voice fell, the hall immediately erupted into an uproar.

Tens of thousands of Cultivators were already listless, and now they were even more panicked.

But soon, someone stood out.

They were several Body Integration Loose Cultivators who had been trapped here for over two years. Their Divine Souls and Physical Bodies had long been riddled with holes by the torture of this cage, and less than ten percent of their spiritual power remained.

Yet they still stood out, summoned their Magical Artifacts, and charged toward that Mahayana Late Stage demon Cultivator.

The outcome held no suspense.

The demon Cultivator didn’t even make a move, and those few individuals fell in a pool of blood.

It was a futile gesture.

But in this world, whether they are Cultivators or Mortals, sometimes they are actually the same.

Knowing there is a tiger in the mountain, yet heading toward it anyway; knowing something is impossible, yet persisting in doing it.

Clearly, surrendering would mean they wouldn’t die, and kneeling would mean they could live, yet many Cultivators still couldn’t persuade themselves to lower their heads.

Some Cultivators themselves couldn’t explain why.

Perhaps it was because of that inexplicable pride deep in their bones.

Perhaps it was because after a thousand years of cultivation, if they couldn’t even keep this bit of backbone in the end, then what had they been practicing for all those years?

If the end of the Dao is kneeling, then this Dao is not worth cultivating.

Or perhaps, there was no reason at all.

They were simply unwilling.

Even with a blade at their throats, even if their Divine Souls were completely destroyed, they were still unwilling.

At this moment, another Void Refining Loose Cultivator suddenly stood out.

He looked only middle-aged, dressed in rags, sallow and emaciated, but his eyes were startlingly bright.

This man’s surname was Xie, given name Chang. He called himself the Lingxiao Sword Madman and was a famous Loose Cultivator in the Middle Lands of the Spirit Realm.

He never bowed to any Sect or joined any School in his life. Relying entirely on his own strength and a stroke of luck, he obtained half a manual of the Remnant Sword Art and forced his way to the Void Refining Realm.

In his youth, he traveled the world with his sword, intervening in injustices. He offended countless people and made just as many enemies.

Some called him a madman, others praised him as a hero; he cared for neither.

He once told people, ”In this life, I only seek to live freely and happily.”

Now, standing among the crowd and looking at the wide-open gates, he laughed loudly and recited:

”In this life, I shall not bow to demons; even in death, the fragrance of heroic bones remains!”

Having finished, the spiritual power around him surged wildly, and he detonated himself with a boom.

Boom!

A loud explosion occurred, and flesh and blood flew everywhere.

Caught off guard, the Mahayana Late Stage demon Cultivator was blown backward, crashing into the wall and spitting out a mouthful of black blood.

Several of his subordinates beside him were directly blown into fragments.

And the Cultivators within dozens of feet of Xie Chang were not spared either.

Several Righteous Path Cultivators didn’t even have time to react before they were swallowed by the aftershocks of the self-detonation, turning into a mist of blood.

Before they died, only one thought remained in their minds.

Xie, you could have at least given us a heads-up!

If you explode, we explode with you. Wouldn’t it be better to blow everything to smithereens together?

Now you’ve exploded on your own, and we’ve been killed by your blast. Isn’t this dying for nothing?

But they could no longer say these words.

The hall fell into silence.

However, in the next moment, a surge of hot blood rushed into everyone’s chests.

Of those who could hold out until now without surrendering, which one wasn’t the toughest?

Which one hadn’t already looked past life and death?

Having endured year after year in this cage, suffering the torment of the Divine Soul day and night, they were no longer people who feared death.

Those afraid of death had already, like that feminine man last year, obediently swallowed the Gu and crawled to Fentian Demon Venerable’s feet.

For those who remained, only one thought was left.

If they must die, they die. If they could take a few Devil Heads down with them, it would be a gain.

Immediately, dozens of people simultaneously surged their spiritual power, preparing to self-detonate.

However, at that moment, a cold snort exploded like thunder, suppressing all the sounds in the hall.

The figure of Fentian Demon Venerable appeared out of thin air on the high platform, his Face as dark as water.

He raised his hand and waved; a majestic pressure descended overwhelmingly. The spiritual power just activated by those dozens of people was instantly suppressed, leaving them unable to move.

”Want to die?” Fentian Demon Venerable swept a cold glance over them. ”If I haven’t allowed you to die, you won’t be able to.”

He waved his hand, signaling the demon Cultivators under his command to act.

Hundreds of demon Cultivators flooded into the hall, taking the Righteous Path Cultivators into custody one by one, lining them up to walk out of the hall.

Outside the hall was a massive Blood Sacrifice Formation Platform.

The platform spanned a hundred miles and was built entirely of massive black stones.

The stones were covered with dense, blood-colored formation patterns that wound and twisted like living things, slowly wriggling.

In the very center of the platform was a bottomless giant pit.

Around the platform stood twelve massive stone pillars, each a hundred zhang high.

Fentian Demon Venerable watched coldly as the Righteous Path Cultivators were pushed into the pit, his heart showing no emotion.

In truth, he didn’t know what this Blood Sacrifice Formation Platform was actually for.

After all, his master had ordered him to do all of this.

The Grand Demon Venerable of Primordial Beginning, Limitless, World-Ending, Heavenly Punishment had ordered him to build this platform and collect Cultivators for blood sacrifice, so he built it.

Whatever his master said, he did.

He didn’t dare ask why, nor did he dare to be even slightly negligent.

Because the consequence of disobedience was more painful than death.

Just as he was thinking this, suddenly! A sharp pain exploded from the depths of his Divine Soul without warning.

Fentian Demon Venerable’s expression changed drastically, and his body suddenly stiffened.

Following that, his Divine Soul began to run wild, as if gripped by an invisible palm and frantically kneaded.

His Physical Body also began to tremble.

The spiritual power in his body was like boiling water, crashing and surging everywhere.

Black lines appeared on his skin, a sign that the spiritual power within was gradually spiraling out of control.

He let out a muffled groan and knelt on one knee, drenched in sweat, his Face distorted beyond recognition.

The Righteous Path Cultivators on the platform were stunned.

What kind of madness was this Demon Venerable having now?

Just a moment ago he was so majestic, and in the blink of an eye, he’s kneeling?

On the contrary, the demon Cultivators looked perfectly normal, continuing with their tasks.

Some even stole a glance and then turned away as if nothing had happened.

They were used to it.

Their Demon Venerable would have an episode like this every few days.

Sometimes it was in the discussion hall, sometimes during a banquet, and sometimes even in bed.

It would strike whenever it felt like it, without any warning.

And when it did, it looked like this—in agony, rolling on the ground.

At first, they were panicked, thinking the Demon Venerable had been ambushed.

After seeing it so many times, they became numb to it.

Anyway, he’d be fine after a while.

Fentian Demon Venerable could no longer care about his Face.

He knelt on the ground, trembling all over, letting out a low growl, and then screamed frantically in his heart.

Master! Save me! Master, save me!

This situation of his was not a punishment from his master.

The Grand Demon Venerable of Primordial Beginning, Limitless, World-Ending, Heavenly Punishment usually only inflicted a demon curse when he was disobedient or messed things up; normally, he didn’t interfere.

And this power torturing him was something else.

It was a curse.

Ever since that spirit nurturing heavenly sound stone ascended to the Immortal Realm, he had begun to suffer from the torment of this curse power from time to time.

There was no warning and no pattern; it just came whenever it wanted.

His master, the Grand Demon Venerable of Primordial Beginning, Limitless, World-Ending, Heavenly Punishment, had personally investigated this matter but could not find out whose hand the curse came from.

And the Grand Demon Venerable of Primordial Beginning, Limitless, World-Ending, Heavenly Punishment had suspected that this matter was related to that spirit nurturing heavenly sound stone.

After all, the curse only started acting up after the other party’s Ascension; the timing was far too coincidental.

But after that spirit nurturing heavenly sound stone ascended to the Immortal Realm, its figure vanished without a trace, as if it had evaporated from the Immortal Realm.

Even with his Divine Thought at the Immortal King Peak searching the entire Immortal Realm, he couldn’t find even a trace of its aura.

This made the Grand Demon Venerable of Primordial Beginning, Limitless, World-Ending, Heavenly Punishment curse inwardly at the time, thinking the world was truly becoming more and more outrageous.

A Human Immortal Realm junior who had just ascended could actually vanish without a trace right under his nose.

A curse that appeared out of nowhere was something even he couldn’t trace back to its source.

He, a dignified Immortal King Peak and the sole pillar of the Demon Race, was now being driven to distraction by these trivial matters.

He now had the idea of abandoning Fentian Demon Venerable as a pawn.

After all, in his eyes, this pawn was useless again.

But since Fentian Demon Venerable had pleaded for help, he couldn’t just watch his pawn be tortured to death.

The Grand Demon Venerable of Primordial Beginning, Limitless, World-Ending, Heavenly Punishment sighed and struck out a streak of black light that vanished into the Void Realm, crossing countless spaces to land directly in the depths of Fentian Demon Venerable’s Divine Soul.

That black light turned into a thin barrier, temporarily isolating that curse power.