Demon Emperor Skin

"Hello, sir. This is Treasure Forest Immortal Goods, City Seven branch. You previously inquired at our store about the treasure Purple Jade Branch. We've confirmed that one of our stores in the main district does have one in stock. However, it has already been designated as one of the lots for Treasure Forest's auction, which will be held in a week. We're very sorry, but we can't transfer it to you directly."

"Our annual Double Eleven auction, a regular event, will be held at our City Seven branch this year. If you're still interested in purchasing the Purple Jade Branch, we look forward to welcoming you then."

"We're sorry this may disappoint you. As an apology, if you win the Purple Jade Branch, we'll give you a ten percent discount on the auction price."

"Have a pleasant day, and thank you."

"..."

Early in the morning, a call from Treasure Forest shattered Yue Wen's peaceful mood.

He'd previously asked about the Purple Jade Branch at that immortal goods store, and it turned out the main district branch really did have one in stock. But according to the call, they couldn't sell it to him directly.

An auction?

Yue Wen worriedly scratched his head.

He'd heard that Treasure Forest held auctions at its various Jiang City branches in rotation every Double Eleven. It was a regular celebratory event. But just hearing the word "auction" made it sound high-end. When had a poor independent cultivator like him ever been to one?

Apparently, even the admission tickets cost a fortune.

The treasures selected for auction were all top-quality items Treasure Forest had gathered throughout the year. Then, once they went under the hammer, something that had originally been worth a hundred thousand could end up costing several hundred thousand.

The Purple Jade Branch would be no different.

If they'd just given him a fixed price, he could have saved up for a while and might have managed it. But once it went to auction, there was no telling how much it would cost.

For most people, there was no need for such a top-grade fire-attracting spiritual item. But for those cultivating top-tier Cultivation Methods, it was an indispensable material for breaking through to the Gang Realm.

If someone else started bidding against him, he'd be in trouble.

After all, there probably weren't many people like him, cultivating a top-tier Cultivation Method while being flat broke. Most people who inherited top-tier Cultivation Methods had powerful backers and abundant resources. Being loaded was practically part of the package.

He couldn't match their background or their wealth...

Was he supposed to stand up at the auction and flip the table, saying that if it was too much trouble, they should just cancel the whole thing?

Money.

The word circled endlessly through Yue Wen's mind, and he felt the hardship poverty brought.

Not only had he kept his prices low to get a chance to exorcise evil, leaving him with little savings, but even if he'd charged the same high rates as other cultivators, he'd have earned far fewer Demon Suppressing Coins. And even then, what he saved would still be nowhere near enough for the Refining Gang materials.

The Blazing Flame Powder alone cost five hundred thousand, and it was already the cheapest Refining Gang material. According to his earlier search, the Purple Jade Branch cost at least a million. That was the normal market price, not the auction price.

He'd need at least several million to gather all four Refining Gang materials—enough to buy an apartment in the main district. For many people, that was the dream of a lifetime.

And that was just for one breakthrough. If he failed, he'd have to start all over again.

In the end, the real problem was that the materials required by the True Dragon Dao Method were all top-quality, and outrageously expensive. Other independent cultivators used ordinary materials for their breakthroughs, which could cost at least ten times less.

Of course, the quality of the gang qi they refined and the strength of their true qi after breaking through would be different too.

You win some, you lose some.

Once you gained money, you lost your misery...

The auction was next week. To earn enough for the Purple Jade Branch in just seven days, Yue Wen couldn't think of anything realistic beyond getting hit by a luxury car every day or donating sperm five hundred times at two thousand yuan a pop.

Even if he sold all the immortal goods he owned, they wouldn't add up to that much. The most valuable thing he had was probably the first three chapters of the True Dragon Dao Method. But although the Visualization Diagram was in his mind, he couldn't reproduce it. He could only cultivate it himself; there was no way to sell it.

After thinking it over, he decided to ask Qi Dian about it later. Qi Dian was a disciple of the Immortal Gate and might know of some lucrative jobs. Maybe he could bring Yue Wen along.

But even that was a long shot.

If he really couldn't scrape the money together, he could only hope the Purple Jade Branch went unsold—or save up enough later and look for another one.

"Sigh."

Yue Wen let out a deep sigh, mourning his lack of any path to sudden riches.

Rich or poor, life still had to go on.

After pondering for a moment, Yue Wen closed his eyes again and began to study the Visualization Diagram in his mind.

His Spiritual Sense sank, and he found himself in a purple ocean filled with layers of demonic shadows. All around him was a viscous, foul-smelling liquid. He sensed the strange purple sea, its churning waves steeped in darkness and evil.

Yue Wen had never encountered a demon before. They were said to be even more difficult to deal with than yaoguai and Nightmares.

The yaoguai were dim-witted. Even after cultivating for hundreds or thousands of years, they rarely grasped the subtleties of the Dao. The crafty monsters lurking in the mountains and forests seemed rather guileless in comparison to the Human Race. Nightmares, meanwhile, were incomplete beings that usually followed the rules of some lingering obsession. Once you found the pattern, they were easy to handle.

But demons were highly intelligent, and far more skilled at disguising themselves as humans. Pure-blooded demons were said to have snow-white skin, but they could change it to match human skin at will. Their appearance alone made them impossible to identify.

They also cultivated followers in the human world, infusing humans with demonic blood and turning them into minions of the Demon Race. After their large-scale invasions between realms failed, these demons and their followers shifted to spreading plagues in secret, inciting civil unrest, and manipulating people. They ensured that the human world never knew peace.

By now, who knew how many demons had infiltrated the major cities of the human world? Some of them even held positions of power.

Calling them the Human Race's most terrifying enemy was no exaggeration.

Even a single skin contained countless mysteries. This alone gave some idea of what they were capable of.

After two days of studying the diagram, Yue Wen had gradually begun to see the Daoist charm hidden in the purple sea. It was a kind of madness concealed beneath the order.

Put simply, a Visualization Diagram was a world built upon Daoist charm—the visible surface.

The process of understanding it meant working backward from that surface to uncover the underlying code that built the world, then mastering it. That was what it meant to succeed in cultivation.

The reason reproducing a Visualization Diagram was so difficult was that mastering it alone wasn't enough. You also had to be able to recreate the world using that Daoist charm. That required not only an understanding of the underlying code, but also a sufficient foundation of true essence.

As Yue Wen gradually immersed himself in the Daoist charm of the Visualization Diagram, the thoughts in his mind grew increasingly violent and evil.

He wanted to rob banks—eighteen of them—and dump all the money he stole into the slums for people to pick up. He wanted to kill all the unscrupulous capitalists and hang them from lampposts. He wanted to indulge his desires, find twenty beautiful female cultivators, and force them to join him for an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet...

How awful.

Even he was shocked by his own wicked thoughts.

These weren't things he normally thought about. Maybe an evil impulse would sprout, only to be suppressed by his conscience. But immersed in this sea of demonic Dao, those impulses had burst forth in full force.

The more evil he became, the clearer the demonic shadows before him grew. At last, bridges of purple and gold rose from the surface of the sea.

"I found it."

Yue Wen murmured. He had finally found the secrets of the Daoist charm that built this world.

Everything suddenly became clear!

When he opened his eyes, his mind had returned to peace. He was free of the Visualization Diagram's influence, and his emotions had settled again.

His heart stirred with excitement.

He'd done it.

He'd mastered the Method of Breaking Curses Big Dragon had given him. The information on the Demon Emperor Skin was no longer a secret. It had taken him two extra days, but he'd still managed it.

He took out the purple skin and spread it open in his hands again. Then he performed the newly mastered spell, drawing several obscure symbols in the air with his right hand.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—

Like an unlocked seal, the symbols landed on the blank purple skin, and golden words abruptly appeared across it. The characters weren't written down; they floated above the skin amid dancing flames, like living things.

[Purple Throne, this Demon Emperor Skin and the Snake Mountain Bronze Cauldron represent our sincerity. Please accept them.]

[The Demon Emperor Skin can be used to contact us. The cauldron contains the greatest gift we can offer—and the key to leading you into Tiger Tomb.]

[I know it won't be easy to accomplish all this, but you can trust that we won't let you down.]