Yunxiao Peak.
After leaving Tianmen Peak, Liu Muyu quietly found a corner, set down several layers of formations, and then took out a pearl.
Before long, a figure appeared on the pearl's surface.
Upon seeing the figure within, Liu Muyu immediately greeted him and reported what he had done.
"Elder Ding, the task is complete. I have poured the Corrupting Grudge Qi from within the Wuhun Banner into Li Tianwei's cave residence."
"I watched him cultivate with my own eyes before I left."
Hearing Liu Muyu's words, Elder Ding within the pearl nodded in satisfaction.
"Muyu! You have done well. In a few days, the Fortune Pill will be in your hands."
At the mention of the Fortune Pill, Liu Muyu swallowed, a trace of excitement appearing on his face. Clearly, this reward was no ordinary thing.
"Many thanks, Elder Ding. I will certainly go through fire and water for Baiyuan Sacred Land."
Liu Muyu looked deeply moved and grateful.
"Before long, Baiyuan Sacred Land will visit Lingxu Sacred Land to exchange cultivation insights. To ensure nothing goes wrong, we will arrange for someone to fight Li Tianwei. Affected by the Corrupting Grudge Qi, he will surely be defeated, allowing Baiyuan Sacred Land's chosen prodigy to step on him and rise to prominence."
Ding Moxian stroked his beard as he spoke.
"Elder Ding, I will certainly cooperate in this matter."
"With that, nothing can possibly go wrong."
Liu Muyu nodded vigorously upon hearing this.
"Alright, go attend to your business."
Very soon, Ding Moxian's figure vanished from the pearl.
Watching Ding Moxian disappear, Liu Muyu was already calculating how, after obtaining the Fortune Pill and consuming it, he would rise from the early Golden Core stage to the middle stage.
"Hahaha, the risk may be a little greater, but the resources are plentiful too!"
Tianmen Peak.
Outside the cultivation cave residence, a figure floated half-suspended in the air as spiritual qi continuously surged toward him.
Soon, an aura of decay and the end of all things emerged from his body.
With a light wave of his hand, a surge of spiritual power emerged. He then formed a hand seal and pointed.
"Heavenly Cataclysm Technique."
As his movements ended and his words fell—
Rumble—
The spiritual qi of heaven and earth stirred. Violent power, carrying threads of destructive energy, appeared out of thin air.
A streak of light flashed past, twisting heaven and earth. Ripples spread outward, and a vortex undulated.
Where the man in midair pointed, black ruin twisted. An aura of withering decay wrapped around it. Soon, the earth cracked, vegetation wilted, and the entire area seemed to have been erased by something in an instant, as though a corner of it had been cut away.
"Not bad power."
Li Tianwei looked at the area on the ground that had been annihilated, radiating dense Death Intent, and nodded in satisfaction.
After comprehending two strands of Dao Intent these past days, Li Tianwei had fused them into spiritual qi and cultivated several techniques suited to Death Intent and Grudge Intent.
He had now thoroughly stabilized his Foundation Establishment realm. With those spells at his disposal, Li Tianwei was no longer someone with cultivation but no means to wield it.
Furthermore, he possessed the Sacrificial Dao Undying Body. If he wished, with the effects of this Dao Body, he could directly activate more than a dozen burst techniques and raise his spiritual power by more than tenfold without issue.
By Li Tianwei's own reckoning, a more than tenfold increase from burst techniques, added to spiritual power that had generated two strands of Dao Intent through the Three Thousand Condensing Heaven Intent, already made him several times stronger than cultivators of the same realm. Rounding it up, he should have twenty times the combat power.
Naturally, he could not possibly trumpet such matters everywhere. He had to hide his strength.
Thinking this, Li Tianwei withdrew his power.
The Three Thousand Condensing Heaven Intent had now cultivated two intents. With the aid of Dao Intent, the cultivation art operated on its own, strengthening him at every moment.
These past days, Li Tianwei had also considered comprehending several more Dao Intents, only to find that he seemed to have no feeling for it at all.
It was as though his previous enlightenment of two Dao Intents had merely been an illusion.
He wanted to recapture that feeling of sudden enlightenment, but it never had the same flavor. It was as though those sorrowful, resentful remnants had all been false.
Still, this seemed normal. Something like sudden enlightenment could not possibly last forever.
However, Li Tianwei also knew that he might have been too impatient. Haste made waste.
When he had comprehended Death Intent and Grudge Intent, it had been through sensing the residual scenes formed from the tangled convictions of all beings beneath heaven and earth.
Having completed his own improvement, Li Tianwei now had other plans.
Since he had already cultivated successfully, shouldn't he give this useless system a hand?
"System, system, please respond if received."
Only now did Li Tianwei finally, and rarely, remember the system nestled within his mind.
The system, curled up within Li Tianwei's consciousness, had not expected him to take the initiative to contact it.
At that moment, it even wondered whether, as a system, it had developed auditory hallucinations. Or perhaps Li Tianwei had finally come to his senses and turned over a new leaf.
Host, host, the system is here. What do you need...
The moment it said this, the system was disgusted by its own bootlicking behavior and cursed itself repeatedly in its heart.
Pah, pah, pah. I'm not like that Book Spirit.
I'm a system. I need to be aloof. I cannot be PUAed.
Thinking this, the system completely woke up. It had no choice but to wake up, since the two hosts it had previously bound to had been far too reckless.
As a result, they had been killed by all sorts of strange things in those worlds. This was now its third time, and it had only this one chance remaining. Yet Li Tianwei turned out to be even more reckless than its previous two hosts.
After suffering two failures and watching two worlds fall, the system had no choice but to choose stability and caution.
Has the host thought it through? A Pseudo-Spirit Root is not something that cannot be changed.
Thus, the system re-edited a transmission and sent it out.
Li Tianwei finally heard the system's reply. It still had that familiar flavor.
"No, that isn't what I mean. I only want to tell you that the opportunity is right before you. Didn't you want me to help you soar? I have already reached Foundation Establishment. It is time for you to show something too. Your host is this strong, yet you are so useless. It makes me lose face."
Li Tianwei immediately spoke these words.
Insulted once again, the system could not help growing angry even though it was formed from data.
Useless? I am not useless! You are the useless one! You are just a Pseudo-Spirit Root!
The system raged and cursed, but hearing it in Li Tianwei's ears gave him no feeling whatsoever.
What Pseudo-Spirit Root? He had never believed in it. Now that he had achieved Foundation Establishment in a Hundred Days, what Pseudo-Spirit Root could there be? Who had ever seen a Pseudo-Spirit Root achieve Foundation Establishment in a Hundred Days?
Clearly, the system's words were not very harmful.
Seeing Li Tianwei's indifferent expression, the system immediately understood what he was thinking.
That was right. It currently had nothing that could prove Li Tianwei possessed a Pseudo-Spirit Root.
As long as it could verify it, Li Tianwei would surely accept its proposal of stability in the future.
Since Li Tianwei wanted to help it soar, it would arrange an impossible task for him. Once he failed, he would surely begin to doubt himself.
As for Li Tianwei actually completing it, the system did not think the odds were high. The situation in this world was not so easily resolved.
In truth, the system's demands were not high. It only hoped Li Tianwei could be a little steadier. It was already luck that his Pseudo-Spirit Root had fooled others. He had blindly stumbled into Foundation Establishment in a Hundred Days, and he had even successfully comprehended Dao Intent.
But luck was always something illusory and intangible. Once luck ran out, the one who would lose his life would still be himself.
Therefore, in the system's view, Li Tianwei had to be properly corrected. He absolutely could not be allowed to act willfully.
The system made up its mind once more to issue him a task beyond his ability, giving him a proper blow.
It would make him realize his own problems: he needed to act steadily and cautiously, rather than pulling those so-called protagonist maneuvers.
Since the host wants to help me soar, then let me properly introduce this world's circumstances to you.
Very soon, the system transmitted all of this world's crises and circumstances into Li Tianwei's mind.
After receiving this information, Li Tianwei's brows furrowed slightly.
"Outer Realm Demons?"
Li Tianwei had not expected this world to be in such a state.
On the surface, it was a cultivation world, but in the shadows lurked certain bizarre existences that continuously eroded the laws of heaven and earth. They even used this to seize countless cultivators' bodies and control them.
By now, much of the Cultivation World had already been corrupted. These evil demons were waiting for an opportunity to incite chaos and devour every living being.