The Entire Federation Was a Cult

After repeatedly pressing Zhang Fusheng for information about "Zhong Shan" and getting nowhere, Huang Qiuxian left in a hurry.

"You may wear this jade talisman. It contains an inch of this old man's Spiritual Realm. Should you encounter an attack you cannot withstand, crush the jade pendant. It may save your life."

Zhang Fusheng accepted it, solemnly thanked him, and watched as Huang Qiuxian's figure blurred, faded, and vanished from where he stood.

Ten minutes later.

"Old Huang has shown me no small kindness." Zhang Fusheng stroked the jade talisman and sighed softly. "I wonder what exactly happened between him and Master. What kind of grudge lies between them?"

"Why would Master become enemies with someone like Senior Huang? Could they possibly be reconciled?"

He frowned slightly, turning it over and over in his mind, before finally shaking his head and sighing again.

"Master must have done something wrong."

A moment passed after those words fell.

Zhang Fusheng rolled his eyes.

"That old fox has finally left."

After Huang Qiuxian twisted the light and shadows to "turn invisible," he had not left at all. He had simply stood two meters away, staring at him!

He had watched for more than ten whole minutes!

If Zhang Fusheng had not already stepped into the True Spiritual Realm himself, he might not have noticed that old fox.

"He looks so honest, so why does he have so many tricks up his sleeve?" Zhang Fusheng muttered to himself. Leaving everything else aside,

when he had left the Martial Arts Academy earlier, Huang Qiuxian had used his mind to interfere with reality, draping him in a gauzy veil of light and shadow to conceal his tracks.

Yet after he had gone three kilometers from the Martial Arts Academy, that cloak of light and shadow had dispersed as if it could no longer hold, as though Old Huang's Mental Intent could only reach three kilometers at most.

Only after Zhang Fusheng personally entered this spiritual level did he realize that ten years of Mental Accumulation could strengthen one's mind enough to extend roughly one kilometer outward.

Old Huang was nearly one hundred and fifty years old. With nearly one hundred and fifty years of Mental Accumulation, his divine sense could reach more than ten kilometers away!

Luckily, he had been cautious. Only after moving twenty kilometers away from the Martial Arts Academy had he changed into Zhong Shan's face.

For all he knew, that old fellow had been secretly watching him throughout the first ten or so kilometers!

"The True Spiritual Realm, using thought to interfere with reality—it truly is a sharp weapon." Zhang Fusheng muttered. "Unfortunately, I can't maintain the state of extending my thoughts outward for long. The consumption is simply too great."

He found it somewhat regrettable. Even if he did not maintain it at all times, he still could not spread his Mental Intent in every direction to cover a full thirty kilometers.

At most... three hundred meters?

Only Mental Intent projected in a straight line could fully extend thirty kilometers away.

"That doesn't seem quite reasonable, does it?" Zhang Fusheng rubbed his chin and muttered. "You can refine falsehood into truth to a certain degree and make the spiritual world descend upon reality, yet divine sense can only reach such a tiny distance?"

"Something's wrong."

He shook his head. If he could not figure something out, he would put it aside for now.

Only after examining the jade talisman again and again and confirming there was nothing wrong with it did he put it away.

This thing was of no use to him.

But to "Zhang Fusheng," it truly was a life-saving weapon.

That evening.

As usual, the three sat cross-legged around the small low table and ate dinner together. The small television beside them played the daily news.

It said that an intercity train in Jiangzhou had suffered a terrorist attack and exploded.

"You cut off the surveillance feeds and skipped a cultivation class?" Eldest Senior Brother chewed slowly and asked without even raising his head.

"Junior Disciple Brother, what was that about today?"

"I was worried that the attacks might be far from over."

Zhang Fusheng explained with a smile.

"If that was the case, the surveillance system might be hacked, and there might be their people among the students. I was cultivating the Eight Forms of Body and Spirit this afternoon and made great progress with the [Newly Dead Form]. I wanted to keep it as a trump card and not let outsiders discover it, so..."

Niu Dali and Chen Yuque exchanged a glance.

Newly Dead Form??

A sense of helplessness rose in both their hearts. People truly could not be compared to one another.

Zhang Fusheng poked at his rice with his chopsticks.

"Speaking of which, where is Junior Senior Sister?"

"Her?" Eldest Senior Brother said placidly. "A little something happened. Someone broke her cervical vertebra."

Zhang Fusheng said, "Huh??"

He was dumbfounded.

Yet Eldest Senior Brother looked completely unconcerned.

"She isn't dead. Her cervical vertebra is merely fractured, and she was injected with a high concentration of blood-suppressing toxin, so she fell unconscious. She's receiving treatment at the hospital. She'll probably need ten days to half a month before she wakes up."

After a pause, he added,

"Our 'business' makes it easy to offend people. Retaliation is commonplace. Besides, they didn't dare kill her, did they?"

Zhang Fusheng was speechless.

Chen Yuque smiled beside him.

"These kinds of attacks happen from time to time. They generally don't dare target us personally. Even when they occasionally do, they won't endanger our lives. As for why? Just look at Master's reaction after you were assassinated."

Zhang Fusheng looked thoughtful.

"So that's how it is. I haven't dared leave the Martial Arts Academy these past few days, but things have been peaceful lately. I suppose whoever was behind the assassination has lowered their banners and muffled their drums."

Without showing it, he revealed that he intended to leave the Martial Arts Academy.

Eldest Senior Brother showed no reaction, still wearing that simple, honest expression.

Second Senior Sister looked thoughtful, but she said nothing. Instead, she changed the subject.

"By the way, Junior Disciple Brother, of the two accounts I gave you, Chen Nuanyu's payment is due today. Did you collect it? I found out she bought a ticket to Longzhou City, so I had the rail company cancel it for her."

Zhang Fusheng shook his head.

"Not yet. I planned to extend her deadline and waive some of the interest."

"Oh?"

Chen Yuque's expression did not change as she teased him.

"What, have you really taken a fancy to her?"

"A little." Zhang Fusheng put on a shy look and nodded bashfully.

He could not truly throw Chen Nuanyu into Purgatory. He was determined to obtain that Unquenchable Heart.

At that thought, Zhang Fusheng's heart stirred.

"By the way, what is Chen Nuanyu going to Longzhou City for? Also, I asked her before. She said overdue debtors would be punished in Sinking Purgatory, while those overdue a second time would sink there forever. Is that Master's Mental Spiritual Realm?"

"Her mother is hospitalized at the special hospital in Longzhou City." Chen Yuque said calmly. "And yes, it is Master's Mental Spiritual Realm."

Zhang Fusheng looked thoughtful. He had heard of Longzhou City Special Hospital. It was extremely famous, one of the few top-tier major hospitals located in a small city.

His uncle's family lived in Longzhou City.

He then asked curiously,

"Master couldn't be doing something like this for no reason, could he?"

Chen Yuque smiled and explained.

"Master has cultivated the Visualization Method to Minor Perfection and already possesses his own [Spiritual Realm]. But Spiritual Realms are extremely unstable and can easily backlash against their owner."

After a brief pause, she continued.

"I heard Master say that a Spiritual Realm needs to be anchored to a 'fixed scene,' and living beings must fill it to help stabilize it. The skeletons you saw in Purgatory were all real people."

Though Zhang Fusheng had known already, a look of horror still appeared on his face.

"They were all real people??"

"Mm."

Chen Yuque patiently continued her explanation.

"The Federation does not permit people to casually strip living people's Soul Spirits to fill a Spiritual Realm, so we all sign formal contracts clearly stating that once someone defaults, their soul will be stripped away. Of course, few people who sign the contracts believe it."

She shrugged and continued.

"Master said that living souls can not only become one's subordinates, but can also help stabilize a Spiritual Realm. Most importantly, they share the burden. At least a thousand Living Souls must be stored up before one can cultivate the Visualization Method to Perfection."

Zhang Fusheng: ???

A thousand Living Souls were needed for Visualization Perfection?

Wait, then what about him?

Without revealing anything, he asked,

"Why is that? And what exactly is the burden shared by Living Souls?"

This time, Eldest Senior Brother spoke.

"Mental Spiritual Realms are mysterious beyond mystery. Cultivating this path places immense spiritual pressure upon a person. If there are not enough Living Souls dwelling in the Spiritual Realm, becoming [Subordinate Souls] to share the pressure, then one is very likely to fall into demonic deviation."

Zhang Fusheng fell silent.

Oh, demonic deviation.

He knew that well. Over the past century or so, he had fallen into it countless times.

Eldest Senior Brother continued on his own.

"Of course, when many people reach their limit and stand only one step away from Perfection, they choose to disperse their Subordinate Souls and deliberately fall into demonic deviation. Junior Disciple Brother, you have hope of reaching Perfection. A few decades from now, you can use this as your final measure."

Zhang Fusheng was dumbfounded.

"Deliberately fall into demonic deviation? Eldest Senior Brother, I don't really understand."

Chen Yuque brushed the hair at her temple aside and teased,

"Junior Disciple Brother, haven't you heard that 'going dark makes you ten times stronger'? Those who fall into demonic deviation often achieve enlightenment in Spiritual Realm cultivation overnight. At worst, they still make some progress."

"So long as they use that little bit of progress to successfully step into Perfection, there is a high chance they will awaken from demonic deviation. Unfortunately, this 'shortcut' can only be used once in a lifetime, because breaking through to Perfection is the only opportunity to awaken."

Listening to Second Senior Sister, Zhang Fusheng remained speechless for a long while.

No wonder. No wonder he had broken from Minor Perfection to Perfection in just two hundred years.

Others treated demonic deviation as a last resort, while for him it had been as commonplace as daily meals.

Thinking about it now, every time he fell into demonic deviation, he truly gained some understanding of the Visualization Method and Spiritual Realm.

But—

Zhang Fusheng let out a breath.

"After one's own spiritual world is cultivated into a Spiritual Realm, it still needs vast numbers of Living Souls to 'suppress' it."

He felt that "suppress" was the most fitting word and continued,

"Why is Spiritual Cultivation so sinister?"

"Sinister?"

Eldest Senior Brother and Second Senior Sister both laughed.

"This is already sinister to you?"

Chen Yuque said casually,

"It isn't just Spiritual Cultivation. Physical cultivation is the same. The farther you go, the more sinister it becomes. It cannot be separated from things like Living Souls, and it isn't just us. Every sect and school is the same. If you really want to name exceptions..."

She thought for a moment.

"I've heard that aside from the Myriad Gods Cult, the other three cults—the Daoists, Buddhists, and Confucians—are each divided into two factions. The Daoists' [East Cult], the Buddhists' [Spirit Mountain System], and the Confucians' [Ancient Sage Faction] do not need Living Souls for cultivation."

Zhang Fusheng's eyelids twitched. And they still called those cults??

Then what were the thousand people in Huang Qiuxian's Spiritual Realm?

Chen Yuque sighed softly.

"For example, Junior Disciple Brother, haven't you cultivated the Visualization Method to Great Accomplishment? The Luminous Form that comes with Great Accomplishment can gestate [Dead Man's Bones]. That process is very slow, but fusing Living Souls into the bones can accelerate it."

Zhang Fusheng stood stunned for a long while before he could not help asking,

"In that case, wouldn't powerful people have to kill people to cultivate? Kill many, many people?"

"No." Chen Yuque shook her head. "The Federation has quite a few breeding planets in the stars. They raise vast numbers of 'biochemical humans' with no memories, emotions, or subjective consciousness, yet they possess souls."

Zhang Fusheng fell completely silent.

He suddenly felt that the Federation itself was the true great cult.