A Short-Lived Cultivation Technique / The Xuanhui Realm Needs a New Master

"Having entered the realm of the Enlightenment Realm?"

Zhao Zuoyi was even more confused, completely unable to tell whether this Spirit Manifestation Cultivator was telling the truth or lying.

"Really?"

...(divider)...

In the Profound Sky Sect, the Supreme Elder silently sipped his tea, trying to calm himself down after the shock he had just received.

It was already extraordinary to see the Demon Prison Hall Master rescuing someone, but the person he rescued actually looked exactly like the Demon Prison Hall Master.

Later, after overhearing their conversation, he finally understood the connection between them and learned that the Demon Prison Hall Master was originally a creation of a magical technique, while the person she saved was her true self.

By this time, he felt that his knowledge was no longer sufficient.

Heaven have mercy! He had never seen anything so strange and bizarre in all his years of life. The original being was a being with spiritual cultivation, while the creation was a being with cultivation beyond the Enlightenment Realm. The two were in harmony, and there was no situation where the creation turned against the original being.

He was already numb by this point, and learning that the two actually shared a single True Spirit only made him more numb. After all, while the Xuanhui Realm had techniques for creating clones, there were none that involved sharing True Spirit. Techniques related to True Spirit were rare, and in the Xuanhui Realm, he had only ever seen Zhang Qiudao research True Spirit; he knew of no other cultivators who had studied them.

This peculiar sharing of True Spirit, this peculiar technique, is to the Xuanhui Realm what a two-dimensional foil is to modern society—a complete dimensional reduction attack.

If it had come to this point, he could at least regard the two people in front of him as rare beings in the world, like Zhang Qiudao. However, their conversation afterwards was something he simply couldn't accept.

"The Way of Heaven, the Way of Humanity, the Way of Earth."

He muttered to himself, and even his originally pure and inactive state of mind began to falter.

He felt powerless about the real disaster that followed, but his feelings about what he learned from the two Yotsuya Miko were completely complex, so complex that he couldn't understand or fully comprehend it, and could only silently try to calm himself down.

The old man's gaze fell upon the tea in the pavilion, and on the pavilion sat a set of black and white chess pieces.

He had no particular hobbies in his life, except for a fondness for playing chess. Now, however, he felt an inexplicable fear of this game.

Because he knew someone was playing chess.

Chapter 341 The Short-Lived Cultivation Technique

Entering the Netherworld is not difficult.

After receiving the orders from the Demon Prison Hall Master, Zhao Zuoyi brought Yotsuya Miko to this desolate place without stopping.

"The underworld should be just like this."

Looking at the gray expanse before her, where many Ghosts drifted by, Yotsuya Miko suddenly thought of the descriptions of the world of the dead in her own world.

However, that small world was even worse than the Xuanhui Realm, with the living and the dead mixed together, and no designated area for storing Ghosts.

Although the Xuanhui Realm has Netherworld, there is no concept of reincarnation in this Netherworld; instead, things accumulate and then dissipate.

In the Xuanhui Realm, any living being may become Ghosts after death, but this Ghosts is not itself. The moment it becomes Ghosts, its True Spirit dissipates, so there is no such thing as reincarnation.

Therefore, there is no such thing as a ghost cultivator in the Xuanhui Realm, since becoming Ghosts is not something one can control.

To establish the order of reincarnation, the first step is to find a way to preserve the True Spirit of the deceased, allowing them to be reborn. Even Zhang Qiudao, who has studied True Spirit most extensively in the Xuanhui Realm, doesn't dare claim to know everything about them, let alone anyone else.

This world lacks reincarnation because True Spirit cannot exist forever; it only has Netherworld, which is merely an exceptionally large Ghost Domain.

"In that case, the Xuanhui Realm is just like a small world."

Her eyes swept over the numerous Ghosts that sensed her and Zhao Zuoyi's presence beside her, and she used her hand to stop Zhao Zuoyi from making a move.

"Indigestion."

She spoke softly, and the Ghosts before her suddenly transformed into a cloud of gray mist, surging towards her.

Within the Xuanhui Realm reside countless living beings, beings that the Xuanhui Realm sustains. This sustaining requires the Xuanhui Realm to draw energy from the outside world and from the dissipation of energy after the death of these beings. In this way, a balance is achieved between heaven and earth, allowing the realm to continue developing in a healthy cycle. To better maintain this balance, the Xuanhui Realm defines the life and death limits of its beings using True Spirit.

The shattering of the True Spirit means the death of a living being. The continued existence of the True Spirit means that the living being continues to live in its own form.

But during this process, an unexpected event occurred: the appearance of Ghosts.

Many beings, though their True Spirit dissipate after death, possess extremely powerful physical forms, naturally giving rise to a peculiar life form not belonging to their original bodies— Ghosts. These Ghosts do not have their own True Spirit, for their existence is like cancer cells, unacknowledged by heaven and earth. However, these cancer cells are not external, like celestial demons, so the Heavenly Dao has no way to deal with these Ghosts, only able to place them in the Netherworld, waiting for them to either fight each other or naturally dissipate, thus allowing their energy to return to the world itself.

But this process was so lengthy that the Ghosts in the Netherworld increased, while the Xuanhui Realm's energy deficit grew ever greater. When this happened, it had no choice but to find ways to maintain the world's balance. Taking action against the Ghosts was impractical, as Ghosts were not its own offspring but rather accidental creations. Therefore, all it could do was lower the lifespan of living beings and limit the world's upper limits, thus barely maintaining a balance.

"The Way of Heaven is without emotion, and because it is without emotion, it follows reason without knowing how to adapt. The Way of Humanity is without knowledge, and because it is without knowledge, it seeks knowledge, becoming greedy for the Way and forgetting the world."

These two sentences suddenly popped into her mind, and she couldn't help but sigh.

"We are all just pawns, yet we are forced to act because of our status as pawns. After all, we are both pawns and interests at stake; how can we escape?"

After speaking for a while and sensing that the Ghosts had been completely drained and used as her own cultivation, she walked forward.

"Sect Leader Zhao, it's time for us to move forward a bit more."

Upon hearing these words, Zhao Zuoyi seemed to wake from a dream and followed behind Yotsuya Miko.

He initially didn't think much of the girl in front of him. Even though she was received by the Demon Prison Hall Master Palace, he only regarded her as a female relative of the Demon Prison Hall Master, and perhaps even the Daoist partner of someone like "him". After all, the girl in front of him was beautiful, and who knows if she was his daughter.

Therefore, when he heard the girl boast that she would advance to the Enlightenment Realm in the Netherworld, he regarded it as a joke and thought it was unlikely.

It should be understood that after Zhang Qiudao, this world completely locked down the realm of the Enlightenment Realm. Even Enlightenment Cultivator like him was forcibly promoted due to the favor of the Heavenly Dao, and was not considered a true Enlightenment Cultivator. He can be regarded as a "pseudo" Enlightenment Realm.

Even a powerful figure like the Demon Prison Hall Master, who truly possesses the power of the Enlightenment Realm, is only at the Nascent Soul stage, not at the Enlightenment Realm stage. This is the immense power of the Heaven and Earth's seal. When Zhang Qiudao tried to resist the Heaven and Earth's seal, wasn't he still destroyed by it?

Naturally, he found Yotsuya Miko's talk of advancing to the Enlightenment Realm amusing.

But seeing how strangely Miko absorbed the Ghosts's abilities, he suddenly became somewhat convinced.

With his cultivation at the Enlightenment Realm, it was easy for him to perceive the changes in the Spirit Manifestation Cultivator before him. Moreover, Yotsuya Miko did not hide anything, so he clearly witnessed the girl's cultivation suddenly surge, and she was about to reach the Nascent Soul Realm.

This was merely the absorption of a small number of low-level Ghosts, at most those with a Nascent Soul stage, in front of her. How numerous are the Ghosts in this Netherworld? What would it be like if Yotsuya Miko were to absorb them all?

Zhao Zuoyi hesitated to think further, but still harbored some disbelief, believing that such an ability must have limitations; otherwise, how could the world tolerate such a power?

"Fellow Daoist's abilities are truly astounding. May I ask if you could reveal a bit about them?"

That's what he was thinking, but his actions betrayed him. If he hadn't known the power of the Demon Prison Hall Master and that the Demon Prison Hall Master had also placed restrictions on him, he probably wouldn't have been able to resist interrogating the girl in front of him about how she had managed to do it.

After all, he was a member of the Demonic Path, so he wouldn't care about anything when he acted.

"This skill?"

Yotsuya Miko glanced at him, but wasn't surprised by his question.

"It's just the power of the technique. If Sect Leader Zhao wants to learn it, that's fine, but there's one thing he needs to endure."

"What is it?"

Zhao Zuoyi's breath hitched, but what Miko next made him lose all hope for this skill.

"Short lifespan; those who cultivate this technique will not live past twenty years. This price is due to the technique's depletion of one's True Spirit. Moreover, the progress of cultivation depends entirely on the number of Ghosts one encounters; without Ghosts, there will be no advancement."

Miko was smiling, he pointed to his own appearance.

"What does Sect Leader Zhao think of my lifespan?"

Zhao Zuoyi was unable to answer, but upon hearing the price, he realized that the girl before him was no ordinary person.

Chapter 342 The Xuanhui Realm Needs a New Master

About three days after Yotsuya Miko awoke, and half a month after the end of the Heavenly Demon War, the once desolate Xuanhui Realm finally began to regain some vitality.

After all, the dead are gone, and others have already sung their praises.

Thus, the lingering sorrow disappeared with the passage of time, leaving only the Xuanhui Realm's relief at surviving such a calamity.

Amidst this relief, several major sects remained unscathed, maintaining their extraordinary status, and their authority even grew stronger due to the Heavenly Devil Battlefield.

Therefore, at the agreement of several sects, the Jade Pure Sect took the lead in planning a banquet to celebrate the victory in the war against the Heavenly Demons.

This banquet had been planned for some time, and quite a few people had been invited, including both Demonic Path and righteous individuals—all prominent figures. For example, the Supreme Elder of the Profound Sky Sect and the former Master of the Demon Prison Hall had also been invited to attend.

"Is the elder willing to go?"

After awakening her true form, the Demon Prison Hall Master had no other matters to attend to, and simply spent her days idly. Therefore, she was quite interested in receiving this invitation and looked at the old man beside her.

"It would be quite inappropriate not to go."

"... That's just how it is."

The old man sighed and shook his head.

"The Sect Master of the Profound Sky Sect can go; as for this old man... it's not a good time for me to see anyone right now."

In stark contrast to the Demon Prison Hall Master, he was increasingly unsettled by Yotsuya Miko's awakening. His mind was currently filled with scheming, so how could he possibly be interested in participating in the banquet?

In just a few days, his aura weakened considerably, and his appearance aged considerably.

That's a pity.

The Demon Prison Hall Master chuckled, finding the old man's current appearance amusing.

"It's just some nonsense, how could it disturb your peace of mind, Elder?"

"..."

The Supreme Elder did not speak, but glanced at the sky and suddenly remembered the words of the Demon Prison Hall Master.

"Seeking the Dao, yet the Dao is already determined. Not striving, yet death is inevitable. Your words, Lord Palace Master, are truly unacceptable to the human race of the Xuanhui Realm. But..."

"But it is also the absolute truth, which inevitably makes you feel powerless and exhausted?"

The Demon Prison Hall Master carefully put away the invitation in his hand and then looked up at the sky.

"The cultivation methods I practice are not those of the Xuanhui Realm, so even if I leave the Xuanhui Realm, I can make my own way. My true self is the same; I have family in a small world. Elder, do you know why we two insist on staying in the Xuanhui Realm to resist this calamity of the Xuanhui Realm?"

"... I was unaware of this."

The Supreme Elder shook his head, and after a slight hesitation, spoke his conjecture.

"Is it for this predetermined opportunity to attain enlightenment?"

"I don't really want this opportunity."

The Demon Prison Hall Master removed his mask.

"Think about it again?"

"... But do you have pity on the humans of the Xuanhui Realm?"

"We are both demonic cultivators. While we wouldn't harm others without cause, we wouldn't be willing to sacrifice ourselves to save someone."

"... I really can't think of anything."

The Supreme Elder before slowly shaking his head, hoping that the Demon Prison Hall Master could give him an answer.

After Yotsuya Miko awoke, he felt increasingly unfamiliar with the Demon Prison Hall Master before him.

He originally thought that the Palace Master's actions were because she was a human cultivator from the Xuanhui Realm, and therefore it was natural for her to participate in the Heavenly Demon War. However, after meeting Yotsuya Miko, this idea was completely overturned.

What reasons could two outsiders from the Xuanhui Realm for helping them?

Unlike cultivators in the Xuanhui Realm who are unable to escape the Xuanhui Realm due to the laws of heaven, they are also highly skilled cultivators, so escaping the Xuanhui Realm would not be difficult for them.

Through their conversation, he also learned about their connection to the Xuanhui Realm, a connection that stemmed from the demon Zhang Qiudao.

The girl named Yotsuya Miko was part of Zhang Qiudao's scheme in the small world. For this purpose, he passed on all his knowledge to Yotsuya Miko. The Demon Prison Hall Master was also a manifestation of one of Zhang Qiudao's demonic arts.

One sought to escape Zhang Qiudao's gaze and distanced himself from his original form, secretly developing in the Xuanhui Realm, thus growing to such a powerful state. The other suffered many schemes from Zhang Qiudao and, due to his demonic transformation, was forced to go to the Xuanhui Realm to avoid harming his own world.

Now, Yotsuya Miko has long since recovered from her transformation, and the Demon Prison Hall Master Palace has reached the pinnacle that the Xuanhui Realm can accommodate. Neither of them needs to worry about Zhang Qiudao's threat. After all, although this demon is ruthless, he doesn't do everything. Right now, he only cares about achieving enlightenment and hasn't paid much attention to these two.

While the two men harbored some resentment towards Zhang Qiudao, it wasn't to that extent. At least in their view, their experiences hadn't been particularly challenging; considering Zhang Qiudao's usual behavior, it was already a minor scheming. There was no need to risk their lives to confront Zhang Qiudao, especially since they couldn't possibly know just how powerful he had become.

However, the Supreme Elder speculated that Zhang Qiudao's current cultivation level was at least no weaker than his previous Enlightenment Realm level, and might have already reached a level he could not even imagine.

"The answer is, for the implementation of an idea."

The Demon Prison Hall Master picked up a teacup from the pavilion, which now seemed rather empty because the chessboard on it had been cleared away.

"An experiment, it can be considered part of the Dao. The original body truly has no intention of transforming into the Dao, because she doesn't like it, but the more she comes into contact with the cultivation affairs of the Xuanhui Realm these days, the more she understands, and there are bound to be places where she needs to try things out."

I took a sip of the tea, and because the owner of the tea was restless, the tea had lost much of its flavor and tasted quite bitter.

"We are indeed pawns of Heaven and Earth, but not of the Xuanhui Realm, but of a much broader world. Though pawns, our will is our own. The so-called game is nothing more than a game played by those high above. How could He care about the movements of the pawns? On the contrary, He would be eager to see the changes in the pawns. Thus, the opportunity to attain Dao fell upon the original body, not Zhang Qiudao."

"Therefore, the Way began to pursue humanity, thus creating the situation where humanity is trapped by the Way. But if humanity is trapped by the Way, can the Way be broken?"

When the Demon Prison Hall Master spoke of this, his voice rose a notch.

"The Way of Heaven can be broken. Why don't we see people like Zhang Qiudao, who have no hope of finding the Way, striving to break through Heaven and Earth and force Heaven and Earth to seek the Way? The Way of Heaven is ruthless but follows reason. It cannot be conquered without strength. Zhang Qiudao's words about fearing the strong and the weak are precisely the truth that humanity can overcome Heaven in the dark. Non-Dao, he can still break through the Way of Heaven to seek a glimmer of hope."

"Although I am a being who responds to the Dao, I am not a mere puppet."

She finally breathed a sigh of relief after finishing her cup of tea and looked at the Supreme Elder before her.

"I've extracted the dragon's tendons and bones, stripped it of its sharp teeth and claws. Now, it's time to strip it of its essence, blood, and magical power. Elder, this Xuanhui Realm should have a new master."