The Six Realms of Dao Transformation

After successfully looting the corpse, Ge Xian did not immediately return home. He deliberately slowed his pace, silently waiting for something.

In fact, every ordinary person in Qiantang County was waiting too.

The only difference was that Ge Xian possessed a little more strength than the average civilian, and now knew a little more as well. Naturally, he had one or two more choices.

Of course, compared to the two sides locked in battle, they were all no more than ants.

And the dust settled sooner than expected.

Ge Xian sensed it first and gazed toward the temple district. The next moment, the [Spirit Meat Song], which had resounded for nearly an hour, abruptly stopped. Then a voice rang out, at once old and young, and brimming with abandon:

"Among the Four Spirit Gods of the Myriad Laws Sect, the Gu-Eating Spirit God is the most cunning. Fellow Daoist Lu is very much like that god—crafty as a ghost. We chose the wrong person."

"Now that this is a fight to the death, we shall bestow a great boon upon County Magistrate Lu. This is the Flesh Desire Fire and the Spirit Thought Snake. If you cannot overcome this tribulation, then your Dharma Body, whose spirit embryo has nearly solidified, will be ours to divide and devour..."

"If you overcome it, we will all become Spirit Grain, allowing you to fully stabilize your Mortal Transformation Realm. You need not worry about your Vicious Habit flaring up, splitting your mind and soul, and killing you."

The speech sounded long-winded, but in truth, it was over in the blink of an eye.

As the last word fell, the area changed at once:

All the Evil Cultivators of the Eternal Life Cult cast their spells together, summoning clusters of bewitchingly beautiful flames. The remaining beggars, Corpse Herders, and all the zombies were caught completely off guard and used as fuel. They burned to ashes in an instant, making the flames leap "whoosh" to a height of over a dozen zhang and engulf Lu Hualong's Demonic Body.

Within this so-called Flesh Desire Fire, a full ten "monsters" appeared. They had human heads and snake bodies, and their entire forms were slick and scarlet. They were the Evil Cultivators themselves, transformed.

They coiled around Lu Hualong, trying to burrow into his body through every opening.

Ge Xian watched from afar, but after just one glance, he hurriedly looked away.

That fire!

Those snakes!

One stirred his flesh and blood; the other stirred his desires. He knew that if he kept watching, disaster would surely befall him.

It was hard to imagine the degree of corruption Lu Hualong was facing inside that fiery prison. But clearly, he still had the upper hand.

The Demon County Magistrate did not even bother to respond. He only laughed wildly as a Gu-Eating Storm, many times fiercer than before, surged forth. Wind and fire clashed, making it impossible to see clearly.

About ten breaths later, thunder exploded. A Tiger Demon could be seen laughing as it shot skyward, straight into the clouds.

At the same time, the county magistrate announced an almost unimaginable new policy of benevolence to the entire county:

"From today onward, this county is abolishing the [Thigh-Cutting Order]. Taisui Grains will be replaced with ordinary rice, and households with young children may claim an extra portion."

"This county will no longer forbid travel, letters, or worship."

The new policy was announced. The people in the city endured it for only a moment before cheers soon erupted in every neighborhood and alley.

Earlier, families with children had seen them faint as "Taisui Gu Worms" crawled out of their bodies. They could not help resenting Lu Hualong, the Demon County Magistrate.

Now, not only had all their resentment vanished, they had begun praising Lu Hualong's benevolence instead.

For a time, Qiantang County was like a festival, all jubilation and delight.

Ge Xian alone could not bring himself to smile.

He stood in a dark alley, gazing up at the enormous shadow patrolling among the clouds. As he chewed over what his heightened senses had revealed, he murmured:

"So this is the Mortal Transformation Realm?"

"Casting off the Mortal Coil completely, severing one's humanity, transcending the mundane, and becoming a spirit monster."

"From today onward, there will be no more human county magistrate Lu Hualong. There will only be a true Gu-Eating Spirit Monster."

"Was it worth it?"

The moment he asked himself that, Ge Xian found the question amusing.

Anyone could hear the unrestrained delight in Lu Hualong's laughter. In his eyes, it must have been more than worth it.

Of course, for Ge Xian, there was good news too: he no longer had to flee.

He was new here. Tonight, by sheer luck, he had gained some benefits, and he urgently needed a peaceful place to grow stronger. From Old Dog Hong Buyi's own account, there was nowhere nearby more suitable than Qiantang County.

It had already been an excellent place. Now that Lu Hualong had announced new policies of benevolence, it was even more exceptional.

As for why Lu Hualong, who had completely "cast off the mortal," would do this—

Ge Xian now knew many cultivation basics and secrets. After considering it, a horrifying yet entirely reasonable guess surfaced in his mind:

"Before, Lu Hualong needed to satisfy his Vicious Habit and cultivate Taisui Gu Worms. That's why he imposed the Thigh-Cutting Order and supplied Taisui Grains."

"Now that he has completely cast off the mortal and is no longer human, yet possesses transcendent power, I fear he has begun raising the people of the entire county as actual 'pigs.'"

"Good food, good drink, and even a desire to keep the county's people in good spirits..."

Ge Xian did not dwell on what came next.

He felt little anger at the moment. After one more glance, he picked up his load-bearing pole and ambled home.

On the way, he also gradually digested the cultivation basics, the state of the world, and other things he had learned from Hong Buyi.

First, there were the changes in the Dayuan Dynasty and the shape of its government.

Ge Xian had already heard a lot beforehand. Hong Buyi had only added some gossip from a higher level.

For example, though the Dayuan Dynasty's territory was vast, it was divided beneath the throne into the [Four Great Khanates]. Their four rulers had many conflicts with the sovereign on the mainland, no longer recognized his authority, and were locked in one civil war after another.

As for the cultivation powers of this world, the [Myriad Laws Sect] was indeed supreme, but many other Dao lineages could stand against it.

The Eternal Life Cult and the Bliss Gate, for instance, were powers suspected of having Outer Realm Evil Gods behind them.

Or there were bloodline Holy Lands such as the Dragon Nest, Dragon Palace, Qingqiu, Flower Fruit Mountain, and Yin Mountain.

Of course, cultivation itself was most important.

"Cultivation, for humanity, means obtaining supernatural powers through all kinds of methods, such as swallowing, imitating, transplanting, copulating, and tricking."

"From this, countless Dao lineages and schools of practice have arisen, each different from the others."

"But over the long years, they gradually converged on a system of realms accepted by all Dao lineages, collectively known as the Six Realms of Dao Transformation."

"It begins with the [Dao Entry Realm], followed by Foundation Establishment, Mortal Transformation, Spirit Unification, Manifestation, and Dao Harmony."

"The Dao Entry Realm usually means taking something or some flesh and blood containing supernatural Dao Qi into the body, then surviving the rejection. Only then does one enter the Dao... If one cannot survive it, death is certain. Countless people in this world who yearn for cultivation have died at this seemingly insignificant first hurdle."

"The Foundation Establishment Realm refers to the process of 'Dao Transformation' within the body. The Skin Sac, flesh and blood, organs, bone marrow, and everything else will undergo Dao Transformation. This allows cultivators to wield many powerful spells, but the process is fraught with countless dangers. Fail in even one place, and a cultivator may become a monster, never to return to normal—and more likely than not, die on the spot."

"The Mortal Transformation Realm is even more dangerous. The transformed power of the Dao will fuse into every corner of the body. Cultivators will cast off the Mortal Coil and refine a spirit embryo. At this point, most cultivators will undergo changes in temperament and develop one uncontrollable [Vicious Habit] after another. In severe cases, their minds and souls will simply split apart. They will fall into madness, become deranged monsters, and run rampant through the world."

"As for the three realms after that, they are far beyond the likes of Hong Buyi, a mere cultivator of the Beggar Sect. He knows nothing about their details, so Ge Xian does not know them either."

As he digested all this, he also thought of the cultivators he had encountered so far.

"The Demon County Magistrate Lu Hualong, the Evil Cultivators of the Eternal Life Cult, Hong Buyi, the Corpse Herders..."

Ge Xian murmured the names, then realized something.

His brow furrowed slightly, and his expression grew somewhat grim.

"Cultivators in this world!"

"It seems that whether they are high-level mainstream practitioners, people at the bottom, or those who follow more sinister paths... they all end up becoming inhuman?"

"Or perhaps the so-called Six Realms of Dao Transformation are simply a process of turning from human into something nonhuman."

As he muttered this, Hong Buyi's corpse came to mind.

He had been human when alive, and even after death he had more or less retained a human shape. But his head had stretched and twisted, somewhat like an old dog's; his nails were thick and long, and his body hair abundant. He had clearly undergone Demonic Transformation.

According to Hong Buyi's own account, he had entered the Dao by cultivating the Evil Skill Primordial Chaos Art. But the technique had only been an aid. What had truly advanced him into the "Dao Entry Realm" was a piece of Demon Dog Flesh and Blood the size of a fingernail. The rejection that night had been terrifying. If he had not endured it, he would have turned directly into a Demon Mad Dog, to be taken by other Beggar Sect cultivators and used to cultivate Evil Skills.

This involved a great secret of the Beggar Sect: this low-level Dao lineage had in fact been raising Demon Dogs for generations. Every strange martial art, weapon, and treasure in the sect was connected to the Demon Dog clan.

"So everything in the Beggar Sect's low-level lineage was bestowed by the Demon Dogs."

"Just as with a powerful being like [Lu Hualong], if you trace things back to their source, they lead to the Gu-Eating Spirit God, and further still, to the Myriad Laws Sect, which claims to have Myriad Gods within it."

"I imagine the Eternal Life Cult, which seems capable of putting up some resistance against the Myriad Laws Sect, must be much the same."

"If I set foot on the Path of Cultivation, will I be unable to escape becoming an inhuman monster too?"

With that thought churning in his mind, Ge Xian arrived at his own small courtyard.

The joy on his face from successfully looting the corpse and discovering cultivation had long since vanished.

After all, he was a soul from Earth in his previous life. The imprint of humanity could not be erased.

He was willing to cultivate and obtain supernatural power.

Ascending to become an Immortal God and live forever would be even better.

But becoming a monster?

That was another matter entirely.

Especially after Ge Xian had closely observed "Lu Hualong." He had keenly sensed that Dao Transformation into a nonhuman being changed more than the body—it brought complete transformation deep within the mind and soul.

It could even be called a change in the very nature of one's bloodline and species.

"County Magistrate Lu was originally human, born to human parents and raised among humans."

"After cultivating, his body underwent Dao Transformation into a Tiger Demon. He ate people and raised phantom servants, and even developed the Vicious Habit of eating human thigh flesh... After making great progress in the Dao and fully transforming, he was delighted to begin keeping tens of thousands of people in Qiantang County penned up like pigs and dogs..."

"If his parents were brought before him now, I'm afraid they wouldn't fare well either. He has already crossed into a realm where he is no longer one of us."

"If the Mortal Transformation Realm of the Six Realms of Dao Transformation is already like this, what terrifying spectacle must the subsequent Spirit Unification, Manifestation, and Dao Harmony be?"

"The Myriad Laws Sect is the mainstream of the Mortal World, the greatest cultivation lineage, and it is already like this. The other lineages are likely even worse."

At this moment, Ge Xian no longer felt any of the delight he had first experienced when he saw a chance to cultivate. It was as if basins of icy water had been poured over his head, leaving him chilled to the bone.