Speaking of Distant Worries and the Dharma Lineage at Hand

Even after the flying boat Jiang Xiuyong piloted had flown far, far beyond the mountain gate of the Innate Sacred Sect, Liu Dongqing still turned back from time to time, peering through the crack in the window at the majestic mountain ranges dwindling into the distance.

A dazed look inevitably appeared in his eyes.

Only after quite some time did he gather his thoughts again.

Then, Liu Dongqing's gaze returned to Jiang Xiuyong beside him.

At that moment, Jiang Xiuyong was staring at the half-open furnace nearby. This furnace, half the height of a man, was fused with the entire flying boat, and its interior was burning red with flames.

From time to time, Jiang Xiuyong took an irregular fragment of sky-blue spirit stone from a box at his side and tossed it into the furnace.

As the spiritual light within the furnace flared brightly,

the speed of the flying boat, which had been declining, would rise once more.

From merely this tip of the iceberg, this glimpse of a leopard through a tube, Liu Dongqing clearly recognized the fundamental difference between himself, a true beast of burden from Sunward Dao Academy, and Jiang Xiuyong, a young nobleman from an aristocratic family fallen on hard times.

After all, a starved camel was still bigger than a horse.

This flying boat alone was something Liu Dongqing could not afford even if he sold Jade Cloud Fruit for another ten years without eating or drinking!

This also means Jiang Xiuyong has even more cards up his sleeve than I imagined.

If, when we act later, we come face-to-face with the inheritance and must fight over it, neither yielding an inch...

"Should it become necessary..."

"Should it become necessary, I must strike first!"

Just as he was thinking this,

perhaps because his thoughts had grown so fierce, Liu Dongqing's fixed gaze was noticed by the equally sharp Jiang Xiuyong.

Jiang Xiuyong looked over in confusion.

"Senior Brother, what is it?"

At those words, Liu Dongqing instantly came back to himself. He first revealed a faint smile that gave away neither his true expression nor his thoughts.

Then, after his mind turned slightly, Liu Dongqing slowly spoke.

"Nothing. There is simply something troubling me, and I have not yet decided how to ask you about it, Junior Brother."

The puzzled look in Jiang Xiuyong's eyes gradually faded. His gaze returned to the furnace at his side, though he still replied,

"Oh? What is troubling Senior Brother? Now that you and I are true Dao companions walking the Great Dao together, wherever this little brother can clear up your doubts, I will certainly... tell you all I know!"

The words sounded forthright.

But when people of the Holy Cult spoke, one generally had to listen to them backwards.

Liu Dongqing said, "I was thinking of that night when you spoke of the Demon Refining Mystic Sect's inheritance. You said it had been branded as a wicked heretical art because of the Demon Race's influence, and that among the Five Regions, the Demon Race's influence was weakest only in our Southern Region.

"Could Junior Brother tell me more about the causes and details behind this?

"After all... we are about to become 'wicked cultivators' who obtain the Demon Refining Mystic Sect's inheritance. The karmic ties of the Demon Race must ultimately fall upon you and me as well.

"I have thought about this matter for several days now, and I have never felt quite at ease. After all, as the old saying goes, if a man has no distant worries, he will surely have troubles at hand. That is probably exactly the situation we are in now.

"If Junior Brother could explain it in greater detail, I could set my mind at ease. Then, when we act shortly, I could also put forth more wholehearted effort."

It was not that Liu had doubts he absolutely had to ask about.

Rather, Jiang Xiuyong had to answer properly, to put Liu at ease and make what followed more secure.

Hearing this, Jiang Xiuyong seemed to laugh in irritation. Only after snorting did he speak.

"Senior Brother need not use such words to manipulate me. Matters like this are recorded plainly in ancient histories and classics. It is not particularly important, and there is no harm in telling Senior Brother—

"When the Demon Race breached Two Realms Mountain and slaughtered its way into the Five Regions, it was the greatest calamity the human race had faced in over a thousand years.

"The destruction of the Demon Refining Mystic Sect was one matter.

"But from that point onward, the pattern of humans and demons coexisting in the Five Regions was already set.

"And just as we human cultivators once set our sights on the Demon Race's fleshly shells and even their true spirits, treating them as cultivation materials,

"the Demon Race also set their sights on the Dharma lineages and inheritances of our human race's many mystic sects and Daoist schools, hoping to use profound and lofty wondrous arts, one volume after another, to further stimulate and temper their own demon bloodlines.

"Perhaps there were deeper causes behind this, but this little brother has never liked reading history, nor did I investigate further into more distant ages.

"But that is how things stand now.

"Heh, the great sacred lands and grand sects of old were the human race's great sacred lands and grand sects. But now... that is harder to say.

"And when all this happened, our Southern Border naturally could not remain untouched.

"Moreover, when the Demon Race moved south, the first to bear the brunt were naturally our Holy Cult, the foremost sect of the Southern Border.

"But unlike the other regions, where the sacred lands and grand sects originally held their mountain gates against the Demon Race, battling them at first, with bloody incidents occurring time and again and unspeakable horrors taking place,

"back then, our Holy Cult's old Cult Master led the Supreme Origin Immortal Sect, the South Flower Dao Sect, and the other sacred lands and grand sects of the Southern Border in doing the very opposite. They threw their mountain gates wide open and gave the Demon Race an exceedingly warm welcome as they moved south.

"They even took the initiative to offer several Dharma lineages, 'presenting' them to the Demon Race.

"Heh—

"But were the Dharma lineages of the Southern Border's sacred lands and grand sects, those cultivation methods and arts, truly so benevolent?

"There were Blood Essence Path techniques that slaughtered one's own kind, kindled spirits into blood, strengthened one's own bloodline, and transformed demon bodies into devilish bodies.

"There were Yin Spirit Path spells that beheaded the five fowls, refined true spirits into yin souls, and commanded the five yin ghosts as gods within one's body, sweeping all before them with arrogant disdain.

"Think about it, Senior Brother. What consequences would arise if such spells and formulas entered a race like the Demon Race—beings who ate raw flesh and drank blood, born from dampness and hatched from eggs, ignorant of morality, ritual, integrity, and shame, without any civilizing teaching?

"Kin slaughtering kin, close relatives turning against one another, a vast tide of slaughter rising...

"Several demon tribes that had moved south nearly collapsed because of those techniques.

"They even produced several 'demonic aberrations' not tolerated by the Demon Race. In the end, it was only when powerful demons from Central Province moved south—and paid twice as many lives in the process—that they managed to destroy those aberrations who had cultivated our devil sect techniques.

"But from then on, the major tribes of the Demon Race never again entertained thoughts of moving south.

"To this day, within the hundred thousand wild mountains of the Southern Border, there are only the 'scattered demon remnants' left after those southern-moving tribes fell apart, along with some small demon tribes that had a harder time surviving in the other regions and migrated here.

"In the Southern Border, even saying the Demon Race amounts to nothing is putting it kindly!

"So beneath the Holy Cult's shelter, you and I need only cultivate the Demon Refining Mystic Sect's supreme mystic arts without worry.

"At least for the foreseeable long future, the karmic ties of the Demon Race will not reach the heads of us Southern Border cultivators!"

Hearing this,

Liu Dongqing, whose mind had greatly settled, nodded repeatedly.

If that was the case, then cultivating the Demon Refining Mystic Sect's supreme mystic arts within the Southern Border should be perfectly safe.

Still, the Holy Cult's Cult Master was truly ruthless. He had crippled several major demon tribes just like that, yet left the Demon Race unable to find any fault with him. From beginning to end, they had no intention of pursuing the matter and could only swallow this silent loss.

And this also proved another fact from the side—

the foul miasma of the Southern Border's devil sects was something even the damp-born, egg-hatched Demon Race avoided as though it were a plague!

Whenever Liu Dongqing thought of how he had thrown himself into such a sect and was already "a Holy Cult man for life," it was difficult for him to feel happy.

Just then,

the flying boat suddenly jolted.

Immediately afterward, Jiang Xiuyong's voice burst out, suddenly filled with excitement.

"We're here! Senior Brother, at the very end of the distant sky lies Autumn Water Plateau!"