Five Turbid Beings, The Utmost Evil World!

According to Pang Tong, among the Heavenly Demon Sect's ordinary disciples, if they were judged purely on their ability to retreat, Zhao Mingzhu could rank in the sect's top ten.

From the moment he became a formal disciple, the first gu Zhao Mingzhu had refined had been for running away.

And that was indeed the case. When Zhao Mingzhu produced a huge swarm of Gale Gu, Bai Yu's eye twitched.

But on second thought, it made sense. The old man had lived for so many years and had only just begun cultivating immortality. It was perfectly natural for him to value his life.

Once they returned to the Silver Moon Dynasty, the three of them were safe. At the very least, the Iron Sword Sect would not dare make a move openly here—that would be a provocation against the Heavenly Demon Sect.

No matter what, the Three Mountains and Four Sects were the overlords of the Heaven-Piercing River.

On the way back to the sect, Bai Yu voiced the doubts in his heart. Zhao Yunlan had seemed far too strange, and this was already the second time Bai Yu had encountered such a situation.

Hearing Bai Yu's question, Pang Tong and Zhao Mingzhu exchanged a glance, their expressions gaining a trace of amusement.

"As for Five Turbid Beings, what I'm about to tell you may overturn your understanding of most sects."

After considering it for a moment, Pang Tong spoke slowly.

"Everyone knows that most of the Heavenly Demon Sect's menial disciples are bought or abducted."

"They also know that if menial disciples cannot awaken spiritual roots, most of them will bear that status for the rest of their lives."

"Because of such rules, other sects call us a demonic sect."

"But have you ever learned how those so-called righteous sects recruit their disciples?"

Pang Tong explained.

Most sects in the lower reaches of the Heaven-Piercing River recruited disciples in much the same way. Every day, they searched the territory under their jurisdiction, bringing those with suitable aptitude into the immortal sects.

Or else they allowed people to climb the mountain themselves, examined their aptitude, and kept those who passed.

Just like the Heavenly Demon Sect, most of them began as menial disciples. Only after cultivating into the Qi Refining realm could they become formal disciples.

Those sects had no so-called coercion. Cultivation depended entirely on one's own efforts, so in the eyes of the world, they were exemplary righteous sects.

They protected the people in ordinary times, and even gave commoners the qualification to enter the immortal path.

But no matter how deep a sect's foundations were, menial disciples who had yet to contribute anything were nothing but rice-eating parasites.

What was more, breaking through to Qi Refining required the support of spiritual roots. Those without spiritual roots were destined to have no value.

Thus, in order to solve this problem, menial disciples who had broken through with spiritual roots began taking Great Medicine.

The origins of Great Medicine could no longer be traced. By now, every sect even had its own secret formula.

It could cause a certain degree of mutation in a person, allowing them to ultimately transcend themselves and gain formidable power.

But the process was extremely dangerous. If one could not withstand the erosion of the Great Medicine, they might become a malformed monster with no reason left.

Those who retained their sanity and successfully broke through were likewise counted as formal disciples. It was simply that their method of cultivation was different.

And the malformed forms they became were known as Five Turbid Beings.

"Taking Five Turbid Evil Qi as the foundation, abandoning oneself in pursuit of the path to heaven."

"That is the philosophy of Great Medicine."

"But the odds of successfully mutating through this method are minuscule. If one person out of a hundred succeeds, that is already heaven-blessed luck."

"That is why those sects constantly recruit disciples, yet their numbers do not increase substantially."

"The Heavenly Demon Sect believes that the human body itself is a perfect Innate Dao Body, so cultivating by consuming Great Medicine is absolutely forbidden."

Bai Yu's face was full of shock as he listened to Pang Tong. Those malformed monsters actually counted as immortal cultivators as well.

And most of them had actually come from the hands of those so-called righteous sects.

Earlier, from Zhao Yunlan, Bai Yu had sensed the dense evil aura borne by these Five Turbid Beings. Even a vicious criminal guilty of monstrous crimes likely possessed less baleful energy than they did.

Yet these people were the guardians of all living things in the eyes of commoners.

"I never expected that those who constantly speak of protecting all living things would have such filthy deeds behind the scenes."

Bai Yu shook his head and sighed.

Zhao Mingzhu laughed when he heard that.

"Protecting all living things? Junior Brother Bai, don't make me laugh."

"Across all the territories downstream, there are over eight hundred dynasties, and that number is still rising. Every one of them exists under the protection of various sects."

"But aside from the dynasties governed by the Heavenly Demon Sect, all other dynasties share two traits."

"First, the sects they rely on regularly distribute Pregnancy-Inducing Pills, which the dynasties then hand out to the people to keep the population growing."

"Second, nearly every dynasty goes to war at intervals. Some wars are even utterly baseless. Then sect disciples, under the pretense of delivering souls to salvation, use magical artifacts to collect the corpses of the fallen!"

"Members of the Heavenly Demon Sect have visited those battlefields. On battlefields where who knew how many had died, there was not a single soul in the surrounding area—not even a remnant soul!"

Zhao Mingzhu raised a finger and spoke slowly.

"There is nothing new under the sun, Junior Brother. Some things have already become an unspoken understanding, so everyone finds it inconvenient to say anything."

"Don't be fooled by the Heavenly Demon Sect's strict rules. At the very least, if you are fortunate enough to survive, those menial disciples may very well be taken in as attendants by formal disciples, changing their fates."

"Like that little beauty you're hiding."

"So, whether the Demon Sect is demonic or not isn't important. We're seeking the Dao and immortality. What do other people's opinions have to do with us?"

Zhao Mingzhu grinned as he spoke.

Hearing this, Bai Yu silently nodded. This world was far crueler than he had imagined.

Every sign proved just how thoroughly its order had collapsed. It could be called a textbook age of the Five Turbidities and Evil!

Humans and demons coexisted, with no fairness to speak of. If one wanted to live well, cultivation was the foundation of everything.

At that moment, Bai Yu's desire to grow stronger swelled to its peak. If he did not want to be swallowed by this wicked age, he had to work even harder.

After returning to Gu Refining Peak, the three went their separate ways.

Bai Yu stayed inside the grotto-heaven for three days, spending the time considering the road ahead.

Everything they had obtained in the Wu Shu Kingdom was taken away by Zhao Mingzhu. He would sort it out, exchange it for contribution points, and divide them equally among the three.

It was not until Yu Linglong entered the room carrying a storage pouch that Bai Yu finally came back to his senses.

"Young Master, Senior Brother Zhao asked me to give this to you."

Hearing Yu Linglong's words, Bai Yu nodded. After opening the storage pouch, he found 532 spirit stones inside, while his token had also gained 1,400 sect contribution points.

Recalling what Zhao Mingzhu had said—that massacring a city was an opportunity that could only be encountered by chance—Bai Yu finally understood the true meaning behind those words.

Damn, this was insanely fast money!

"You should keep these spirit stones. You can also use them for cultivation in ordinary times. Next, I'm going to make a trip to Blood Corpse Peak and Body Tempering Peak."

"Only after going out this time did I realize how many things I still lack."

Bai Yu took out fifty spirit stones, then tossed the storage pouch to Yu Linglong.

Hearing Bai Yu's words, Yu Linglong was stunned at first, before her eyes filled with emotion.

Young Master had said that she possessed potential for cultivation, but that potential had yet to erupt. Were these spirit stones his trust in her?

For a time, Yu Linglong's eyes brimmed with admiration. In her heart, she secretly swore that she would never disappoint Bai Yu's expectations!