Before the sun had even set, Qiantang County, already bustling with activity, and the areas around it where Guǐ Wǔ Cultivators gathered suddenly erupted into commotion over a single piece of news.
The leaders of the prominent sects involved were especially affected. Some flew into a rage, while others could only smile bitterly, all feeling they had lost face.
"Urgent report! An hour ago, the direct disciples of dozens of major sects—including the Beggar Sect, Emei Sect, Heavenly Dragon Temple, Qingcheng Sect, and Huashan Sect—were robbed. Among them were such outstanding young talents as Young Beggar Sect Leader Zhuang Hongshi, Immortal Qingyu of Emei, and the Heavenly Dragon Temple's Six-fingered Monk."
"Every last one of them was robbed."
"According to rumors, the culprit was an Evil Dragon at least at the Foundation Establishment Realm, with demonic arts such as Cloud Soaring, Thunder Fiend, and Poison Fiend."
"This Dragon Demon was utterly shameless, despicable, and vile. He was clearly a senior, yet he ambushed a group of juniors."
"The leaders of the various sects have begun using every means at their disposal to join forces and hunt it down, but so far they have nothing to show for it."
"What a disgrace. Dozens of outstanding young heroes were easily brought down by a Dragon Demon's poisonous miasma. They couldn't even struggle, and within ten breaths they'd been robbed clean."
"The latest rumor is that the Evil Dragon wasn't just passing through. It's a Dragon Demon that has recently risen around Qiantang, one that specifically hunts Demonic Creatures connected to the 'Dragon Race.' It has claimed many victims, including powerful dragon beasts on the verge of Foundation Establishment, which it slaughtered with ease."
"In that case, those dozens of young heroes were lucky. They were only robbed, not killed... Could it be a Dragon Demon that was once human? It may have only recently reached Foundation Establishment, and its Vicious Habit doesn't include eating people, just hoarding treasure. That might be why they were fortunate enough to survive."
"The worst part wasn't the robbery, but the Evil Dragon's methods. An ambush was bad enough, but afterward it even taunted the dozens of victims, saying things like, 'This Lord is robbing you for your own good,' 'How could you martial artists beat me, a cultivator?' and 'Go home and train some more before you come out to lord it over the martial world.' Most of the young heroes have suffered damage to their hearts and souls."
"If Eight-armed Buddha, Immortal Guye, and the Young Sect Master of the Ming Cult had been there, that Dragon Demon wouldn't have dared to act so arrogantly."
Ge Xian had some sense of the commotion outside, but he didn't care.
At that moment, he was in his own house, facing a bed piled high with spoils, rubbing his hands together in excitement.
He'd been particular about what he robbed.
Those "young heroes" all had powerful connections, and many of the treasures on them were trapped or could be used to track him.
But how could those things escape Ge Xian's senses? He'd easily avoided them all, taking only spirit pills and fruits containing Dragon Qi, such as the Myriad Snake Dragon Transformation Pill, along with some Guǐ Wǔ secret manuals.
As for tracking him personally?
Ge Xian had already confirmed through experiments that he was different from other Demon Cultivators. As long as he maintained his human form, he could keep even the slightest trace of Dao Qi from leaking out of his body. Even at close range, or with someone touching his body, they would find it difficult to discern the secret within.
Even if he revealed his Evil Dragon Body, he could still draw in his Dao Qi and remain perfectly still. No one would see through him, even from the other side of a door.
Without those advantages, Ge Huolang wouldn't have dared to rob such a group of disciples from major sects, not even if he'd had ten times the nerve.
Now, it was time to reap the rewards.
"The Myriad Snake Dragon Transformation Pill, Heavenly Dragon Bodhi, Red Carp Pill, Qingcheng Dragon Stone... The Dragon Qi contained in all of these together is even stronger than that in the Centipede Dragon Pearl I devoured before. They should help me take the final step and advance to Foundation Establishment."
"My Evil Dragon Demon Body was only missing a human face. Once I shed it, I'll reach Foundation Establishment."
"Mm, in a way, I guess this is what you'd call leveling up by popping pills. The protagonist's treatment, huh?"
Ge Huolang quipped to himself, then got started.
After all, these were pills and fruits. Who knew if they contained deadly poison as well as Dragon Qi?
He didn't swallow them whole. He began with the Myriad Snake Dragon Transformation Pill, placing it in his mouth.
It felt cold to the touch and melted as soon as it entered his mouth, like a tiny ice-cold snake slithering into his belly.
The moment the impatiently circulating Dragon Transformation Chapter caught it, the two seemed to be a perfect match, and the pill was refined in the blink of an eye.
Ge Xian's guess had been right.
The pill contained a kind of cold poison. Without the Beggar Sect's secret Primordial Chaos Art to counteract it, anyone who took the pill would freeze to death.
Of course, that was true of ordinary Guǐ Wǔ Cultivators.
Before the frost-like cold poison could cover Ge Xian's body, the vast Qi Blood within him had already steamed it away.
Seeing this, Ge Xian finally relaxed.
"Good!"
"Not bad."
"Next!"
After that, the fellow's belly seemed to turn into a Bottomless Pit, swallowing down large quantities of spirit pills and fruits without changing shape.
He even had excellent table manners, and found time to offer reviews of the stolen goods.
The highest-rated item was somewhat unexpected: the Heavenly Dragon Bodhi.
It tasted sweet and refreshing. Though said to contain Dragon Qi, it was actually no more than an unusual Dragon Aura. Refining it added not a trace of Dragon Qi to Ge Xian's body. It simply gave his Evil Dragon Demon Body a faint Buddhist aura, making it seem less ferocious and all the more mysterious.
He already had enough to make that final push, but Ge Xian had kept holding it back, silently waiting for the right moment.
And so he ate for dozens of breaths. When the last spirit pill, known as the Dragon Frost Pill, had been refined...
Ge Xian finally released his restraint. The Dragon Qi inside him, long suppressed and accumulated until it had reached its limit, erupted at once. Like a mountain flood bursting a dam, like a tsunami breaching a seawall, it surged wildly through his body, crushing every obstacle in its path.
As it did, his drastically transformed Evil Dragon Body began to appear bit by bit.
To keep his Dao Qi from leaking out, Ge Xian forced himself to endure the intense pain and itching, watching helplessly as a Dragon Demon unlike any ordinary member of the Dragon Race gradually appeared in his house—or, more accurately, an Evil Dragon.
Ge Xian was suspended in midair without even needing to use a demonic art.
His human face had been completely replaced by a cold, imposing Dragon Face. His ferocious horns had grown even more baleful, shimmering with an unknown light. Black claws slowly reached out from the cloud of poisonous mist and Thunder Fiend, followed by a Dragon Body of unknown length, covered in dark Dragon Scales.
By rights, his house was too small to hold much of a Dragon Body.
Yet Ge Xian's "Evil Dragon Demon Body" seemed to have gained some strange power. Its very presence disturbed the surrounding space.
No one could make out his full form. From any angle, all they could see was a pair of cold Dragon Eyes and that strange, inscrutable Dragon Body.
At that moment, Ge Xian sensed that he still possessed six demonic arts.
But they had now fused completely, without the slightest delay. As long as he was willing to expend the magical power in his body, his chances of using any of his abilities—such as Five Poisons Yin Thunder, Mysterious Yin Poison Fiend, Centipede Poison Cloud Miasma, or Formless Poison Qi—would be one hundred percent.
They might not be as powerful as the legendary Innate Divine Ability, but their might already far surpassed that of ordinary demonic arts.
Even more astonishing was the strength, speed, and dramatically increased defense of this Demon Body.
He was certain that if he revealed his Evil Dragon Demon Body, the young heroes from earlier that day could attack him all they liked, but even after dozens of breaths, they would still struggle to break through his Dragon Scale defenses.
"Just judging by appearances, this is clearly a Race Replacement. I'm not even human anymore!"
"Hm?"
As soon as the thought came to him, Ge Xian immediately changed back into his human form. It wasn't that he didn't want to take a longer look.
At the very moment his Foundation Establishment was complete, an utterly primitive urge had begun to rise within him. It was almost impossible to suppress, as if it were surging up from the depths of his bloodline and soul:
"My Demon Body has formed, my Dao Foundation is built. I should now undergo Dragon Transformation."
"Find a mountain torrent or a river at once, sense the heavens and earth, raise a storm, and head for the sea... If I succeed, I'll become a true Dragon and gain all manner of unimaginable benefits!"
As he sensed these things,
his naked body began to change again. Dragon Scales, Dragon Patterns, Dragon Claws, and other organs appeared one after another. His bloodline's impulse was trying to force him to undergo Dragon Transformation.
These organs fought with his human Skin Sac to control his body. Before long, he was covered in blood. Now and then, a piece of flesh or a Dragon Scale the size of a palm would drop to the ground with a wet plop.
Seeing this, Ge Xian didn't panic.
Instead, as if he'd thought of something, he furrowed his brow and began to speculate:
"Race Replacement... Foundation Establishment really is Race Replacement."
"If I give in to the urge and actually undergo Dragon Transformation, Dao Qi will flood into my heart and soul, turning 'me' into a 'Dragon.'"
"There are two possible outcomes."
"First, I accept it willingly and transform myself. That's what Demon Cultivators with a so-called Meditation Method do. They meditate on a Spirit God Ancestor God while shaping their own Demon Body. Once they succeed, they reach Foundation Establishment Perfection. If they're lucky, they might even touch upon an Innate Divine Ability at that point."
"Second, they give in to their bloodline against their will. But without a Meditation Method, they can only leave it to fate. Most have their hearts and souls destroyed by demonic Qi, becoming frenzied Demonic Creatures without reason."
"Either way, it means becoming a member of another race."
"The other members of that race will discover and accept them, granting them countless benefits."
"Looking at it this way, wouldn't that make the human race a kind of... breeding ground for races like Dragons and Myriad Laws Spirit Demons?"
The moment those thoughts arose and subsided,
Ge Xian shuddered, then began to forcefully suppress the changes within his body.
Other Demon Cultivators wouldn't have been able to do it.
Even powerful figures at the Mortal Transformation Realm like Lu Hualong and Yelü Yuyan had been tormented by the process of "Race Replacement" when they underwent Foundation Establishment.
But Ge Xian was different.
"Any Demon Dao Qi that enters my body must first be enthralled by me, then subjected to Cai Bu, plundered, and refined."
"It isn't demonic Qi contaminating me. I am the one controlling you."
"Those that wouldn't submit have already dispersed on their own."
"I'll wait until I find the Dragon Race Meditation Method before I undergo Dragon Transformation."
As he sneered inwardly and spoke each of these lines in a low voice, the Evil Dragon Qi rebelling within him was indeed forcefully suppressed by his supreme will.
The changes vanished, and once more he was nothing but a naked human.
Ge Xian himself didn't know that he'd just accomplished something extraordinary.
Throughout history, he was the first Dragon Cultivator to forcibly interrupt the process of Dragon Transformation without suffering any consequences.
If he could resume the process in the future, it would practically be a miracle.
Of course, he knew nothing of these secrets at the time and remained absorbed in his own conjectures.
As he pulled on his clothes, one alarming thought after another continued to spring up in his mind:
"If my guess is true..."
"That would explain why Dragons, Foxes, Myriad Laws Spirit Demons, Evil God Dao Lineages... all these things are targeting and plundering the human race. They clearly see us as a field of leeks, a pig farm."
"If so, then after each round of harvesting and plundering, they must maintain it so the roots aren't completely destroyed."
"Could this Chaotic World mean it's time for another round of harvesting?"
"When did the human race start falling into this state... Hm?"
Just as the question arose, Ge Xian suddenly remembered something.
Not long ago, he'd stolen a page from White Jade Old Daoist.
"The Myriad Laws History Book records: In the ancient Xia Dynasty, the human race worshipped the Myriad Gods, and the whole race embarked on the Cultivation Path."
"It started that early?"
The more Ge Huolang thought about it, the more he felt that he'd touched on some kind of truth hidden beneath the mists of history. He grew increasingly alarmed.
Because things were many times worse than the bleak world he'd imagined.
He hadn't been thinking of joining them. Once he'd calmed down a little, he realized the truth couldn't be that simple.
The human race numbered in the hundreds of millions, with geniuses appearing throughout the ages.
Could he really be the only nameless nobody in all of history to figure this out? How could that be?
And what of the matter of joining the Dao and ascending? What truth lay behind that?
Ge Xian couldn't figure it out for now. He only knew that from then on, he would have to be even more cautious and hide himself even better, without revealing the slightest trace.
At the same time, intense curiosity surged in his heart.
"Myriad Gods, Myriad Laws... the Myriad Laws History Book... joining the Dao and ascending..."
As Ge Xian mulled over those words and resolved to gather more pages of history books when he had the chance,
a familiar sensation suddenly appeared, much like the one he'd felt when the three groups of visitors came the night before.
"Sister Bai, we have uninvited guests. Hurry and tidy up."
Ge Xian hurriedly called for the Broom Spirit to clean up the mess left by his forcible interruption of the Race Replacement process.
The pretty young widow was indeed very good at this. In two or three breaths, she had swept the room clean.
By now, Ge Huolang had made a habit of opening the door halfway and sending out a timely message.
The next moment!
As the Qi mechanism before him stirred almost imperceptibly, two figures appeared once again.
The usual arrangement!
One undercover operative, and one important figure who'd come along for the excitement.
Ge Xian glanced at the operative, who looked like an old farmer, then turned his attention to the other man. He was a handsome young man in the garb of a scholar, with delicate features, fair skin, and a long beard.
He sensed that the Qi mechanism in this man's body was no weaker than that of Faxian and Shi Er, the two who'd come before.
After sizing Ge Xian up, the man opened his mouth. His words nearly stopped Ge Huolang's heart. For a moment, he thought he'd somehow given himself away.
The fellow fixed Ge Xian with a half-smile and said:
"Young man, you have excellent talent, and you've made a name for yourself lately."
"Unless something unexpected happened, other factions must have already sought you out. You look like a clever fellow, so I wouldn't be surprised if you'd already taken a fair number of their benefits."
"Young man, am I right?"
At his words, Ge Xian's heart tightened, and he immediately thought, At last, someone troublesome has arrived.
His acting skills, honed long ago, came right back into play. He first put on a look of surprise, then gazed at the young man in astonishment.
He gave a slight bow and admitted:
"My lord is quite right. Someone did come to see this humble one first."
"He was a clerk from the Political Investigation Department named Fei Zhong. He forced me to work as a spy. Last night, I gave him some information in exchange for a strange jade pot he gave me, one that can be used to escape. He also promised to write me a letter of introduction once the job was done, and direct me to enter the Dao and cultivate under the Kaiming Spirit God."
As he spoke, Ge Xian even turned around and fetched the jade pot.
At the same time, he volunteered to reveal half of the information he'd given Fei Zhong the night before.
After finishing, he spoke frankly:
"My two lords!"
"I may be young, but I know we're gradually entering a Chaotic World, and the Dayuan Dynasty is about to fall apart. The day of a change in dynasty is near. I would never choose to board a ship that's about to sink."
"If you can point me toward a way forward, I'm willing to join you and work diligently."
His performance made both men smile.
The young man even nodded in satisfaction. He looked at Ge Xian as if he were seeing a younger version of himself.
Then he glanced at the jade pot with disdain and said:
"You understand the state of the world and can foresee fortune and misfortune. You're a clever man."
"My name is Yang Bi. I can tell you plainly that my lord has the best chance of taking the realm. Never mind the other Dao Lineages—even within the Myriad Laws Sect, many Spirit Gods have already sent their Spirit Demons to join us."
"The Kaiming Spirit God isn't all that powerful. If you're truly willing to pledge your loyalty, you can serve under me and leave with me in a few days. From the Myriad Gods and Myriad Laws, you'll be free to choose whoever best suits your talents."
"Even if you want to enter the Dao under the Myriad Laws Celestial Pivot Prime Minister, I have a way to make it happen."
Hearing this, Ge Xian felt as if a huge flatbread were flying straight toward him.
He couldn't help thinking:
"So it's Lord Yang from Zhu Hongwu's household."
"No wonder he paints such a fine picture. Too bad you won't be able to protect yourself in the future. If I followed you, I'd probably get dragged down with you."
"Wait, no. If I joined Old Zhu's side, I could get dragged down with anyone!"
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