Humanity Versus Beasts

Chen Ye spent several days crudely refining his master's remains, then stowed them in his storage pouch.

The art of refining zombies was nothing unusual in the demonic sects. There were countless schools of it, and even the choice of materials had its own rules.

But what room did Chen Ye have to be particular?

Mo Ci hadn't been a body-cultivating cultivator in life, and his birth date and time weren't suitable, either. There was no specially chosen geomantic burial site to help turn him into a zombie. Fortunately, Mo Ci had still possessed some cultivation before he died, and a little spiritual energy remained in his corpse. Even so, he was hardly top-grade material.

Chen Ye didn't complain. Compared to when he'd first arrived in this world, things were already much better.

When he'd first transmigrated, he'd had nothing but the body he was in.

He'd arrived stark naked, with no cheat to help him, and had nearly been castrated after being mistaken for a rapist.

He'd scraped by for two months through petty theft, nearly starving to death on the street.

Luckily, that was when he'd met his master, Mo Ci.

Chen Ye had seen the old beggar sleeping soundly and meant to steal a few coppers to buy a bun. Little had he known he'd end up crossing a cultivator.

He'd nearly been dragged off by Mo Ci to have his soul refined. Thankfully, he'd been quick-witted, immediately bowing down and shamelessly begging to become his disciple.

Mo Ci had found him interesting and invited him to a meal. The food had been bloody raw meat, though, and Chen Ye had nearly thrown up. Still, he had a heart of stone. He'd been on the verge of starving to death—what other choice did he have? Whatever it was, he'd stuffed those bloody chunks into his mouth and eaten his fill.

Seeing that the boy was ruthless, hard-hearted, and thick-skinned—a promising talent—and knowing his own end was near, Mo Ci had taken him in as a disciple.

That was how Chen Ye had stumbled his way into cultivation. He hadn't expected his master to die just as he'd gotten started.

He'd collected his master's soul and refined his remains. From then on, he'd have to walk the path of cultivation alone.

As soon as he stepped outside, his master's voice came from beside his ear. "Disciple, where are you going?"

Oh, right. His master wasn't completely dead yet.

After the Ten Thousand Soul Banner had taken in Mo Ci's soul, it couldn't be put back in the storage pouch. Both were cheap goods, after all; their magical power would seep into each other and clash, and before long they'd be damaged.

Chen Ye had no choice but to wrap the Ten Thousand Soul Banner in hemp cloth and scrawl a few words across it to disguise it. But the cheap thing did have one advantage: as long as Mo Ci didn't reveal himself, even if Chen Ye set the banner right in front of orthodox cultivators, they'd have to puzzle over it for quite a while before figuring out whether it was a magical treasure or just a piece of junk.

Hearing Mo Ci speak, Chen Ye said, "I've reached the Qiling Realm, so naturally I need to find a way to form a Qi Sea. You don't have any Qi Condensation Pills, Master, so I can only look for another way."

Qiling referred to the ability to sense the flow of spiritual energy.

Spiritual energy was everywhere beneath heaven and earth; ordinary people simply couldn't detect it. If one could tame the monkey mind and settle into meditation, one could usually sense it. But when the mind grew scattered, that awareness would disappear.

At the Qiling stage, however, one could sense spiritual energy's flow at all times, even without sitting in meditation.

Chen Ye had reached Qiling on the third day of cultivation. His talent was truly impressive.

After reaching Qiling, a cultivator had to absorb spiritual energy from heaven and earth to strengthen the body and nourish the soul. But this, too, required focused meditation and the deliberate drawing-in of spiritual energy.

Only after opening the dantian and forming a spiritual-energy vortex within could one absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth automatically, at every moment. Cultivation would then proceed much faster.

Whether it was Qiling or the Qi Sea Realm, both meant going from the deliberate to the automatic, from action to nonaction. That was the Immortal Dao.

There was no great threshold to the Qi Sea Realm. If someone devoted themselves to hard cultivation, meditating day and night, a cultivator with decent aptitude could reach it in forty or fifty years. Disciples of great sects, on the other hand, could take a Qi Gathering Pill and form a dantian Qi Sea in just a few hours of practice.

That was how stark the resource gap was. Chen Ye had no such backing, so he could only rely on himself.

Mo Ci pondered. "Qi Condensation Pills aren't particularly difficult to refine. The other ingredients can be bought at an apothecary, though they'll cost you some money. But the main ingredient has to be Xuanji Dew, and you can only find a drop in a century-old stalactite formation. If you go into the mountains to gather herbs, with good luck you might find some in three to five years. With bad luck, you might search for more than a decade without finding any. That's far too long."

Cultivators could live for hundreds of years, so why did most still complain about not having enough time? Because resources were scarce, and they wasted years for nothing.

Chen Ye shook his head. "Don't worry, Master. I may still be young, but I have no intention of spending more than a decade refining a single Qi Gathering Pill."

Mo Ci pondered when he heard that. "You're going to use the Blood Refining Method? If you kill too many people, the resentment will reach the heavens. Aren't you afraid of attracting orthodox cultivators?"

The orthodox had their orthodox methods; the demonic sects had their own means.

The reason the orthodox called the demonic sects heretical and evil had a lot to do with their cultivation methods.

Orthodox cultivation usually emphasized clearing the mind and focusing the spirit, abstaining from desire and keeping the precepts. At the early stages, cultivators relied on self-discipline to restrain their desires, supplemented by pills.

They generally established their temples deep in the mountains, away from the disturbances of ordinary people. Their cultivation arts came with countless taboos, and the slightest slip could break a precept and ruin all their progress. The advantage, however, was that if one followed the proper steps, there were relatively few bottlenecks along the path, and breakthroughs at each stage were less dangerous.

The demonic sects were completely different. Their creed was simple: If I don't have it, I'll take it. Nine out of ten demonic cultivators ate, drank, chased women, and gambled to their hearts' content. If cultivation was difficult, they refined other people's souls and essence-blood to replenish themselves. It was far more satisfying than sitting in meditation and cultivating qi!

Why cultivate for yourself when you could steal it? Once they'd tasted that sweetness, few cultivators could resist the temptation.

Forming a Qi Sea wasn't difficult, either. Weren't Qi Gathering Pills just a way to use natural treasures to save countless years of cultivation? Refine the essence-blood and souls of one or two thousand people and swallow them, and the effect wouldn't be much different. At most, you'd accumulate more pill toxins than you would from Qi Gathering Pills.

But killing people was far easier than gathering herbs.

That was why demonic cultivators were hunted by everyone.

Slaughtering countless people for one's own selfish desires could sometimes make even members of the demonic sects feel a pang of conscience.

Mo Ci wasn't concerned with whether such slaughter was moral. He was concerned that if Chen Ye kept killing, he'd easily attract the attention of orthodox cultivators.

Slaughtering more than a thousand people would create resentment that reached the heavens. After reaching Qiling, cultivators were especially sensitive to changes in spiritual energy, so such a disturbance could easily draw attention.

Once orthodox cultivators set their sights on him, Chen Ye's current cultivation meant certain death. There was no other possibility.

Orthodox cultivators had spent most of their lives repressing their desires, and it was hard for them to find a way to indulge without side effects. Killing a demonic cultivator was the perfect solution. It was like a man who'd endured years of hardship suddenly being given a day off. Just as demonic cultivators could hardly resist the thrill of plunder, few orthodox cultivators could resist the temptation of slaying demons and exorcising evil.

Chen Ye smiled. "Blood refinement is a good method, but I'm not planning to slaughter ordinary people."

Mo Ci asked in confusion, "If you don't kill people, how will you blood-refine?"

"Master, what's the difference between humans and beasts?"

Mo Ci was taken aback. "You want to use the flesh and blood of beasts to cultivate? Foolish! When I taught you the Blood Refining Method, I told you that wild beasts' blood couldn't be used. It would damage your soul and turn you into something neither human nor ghost. Before you formed a Qi Sea, you'd become a madman with no reason, no different from a beast!"

Why did demonic cultivators insist on killing people?

It wasn't that they were truly cruel and wicked. The truth was, refining other kinds of creatures caused all sorts of severe side effects, far worse than the pill toxins accumulated from taking pills. Human flesh had the best effects and the fewest side effects, so demonic cultivators chose to kill people. Otherwise, why not just open a ranch and have an endless supply of blood food?

Chen Ye said, "That's why I'm asking, Master: What exactly is the difference between humans and beasts? Slaughter a thousand people, and the resentment reaches the heavens; but a butcher can slaughter a thousand sheep and cattle without a problem. Why is that? Does the Heavenly Dao really favor one over the other?"

Mo Ci fell silent for a long time, realizing he couldn't answer this seemingly simple question.

"Master, the books only record the taboos of blood refinement, but never explain why they exist. I want to understand what it is in the blood of beasts that drives cultivators mad. If I can identify the root of the problem, perhaps I can solve it."

Mo Ci said helplessly, "No one has solved that problem in a thousand years. What makes you think you can uncover the secret?"

Chen Ye replied, "And how do you know it's a problem no one can solve? Maybe someone found a solution long ago and has been keeping it to themselves. Haven't you held things back from your disciples before, Master? Besides, if all I do is follow the old paths laid down by my predecessors, how could I ever become an immortal?"

Mo Ci was silent. Chen Ye hurriedly said, "Don't misunderstand, Master. I'm not saying you've held anything back. We've only been master and disciple for a few months, but I believe you've already taught me everything you know."

Mo Ci: ...

How did that sound... like an insult?