Young man, cultivating demonic arts has no future

Tan Shuchang had not expected that a letter he wrote would actually bring him an official position.

"Did they want everyone to know that thunder and rain alike were the sovereign's grace?"

Tan Shuchang fell into thought.

The Tan family had been immensely powerful back then. Especially after learning that the Zixuan Dynasty ruled only seventeen provinces, while the Tan family he belonged to had already dominated thirteen, Tan Shuchang understood that one day, the Tan family would either don the yellow robe or leave not even chickens and dogs alive.

Taking history as a mirror—even if the history Tan Shuchang drew from was not that of the Jia Five Realm—the affairs of dynasties were largely the same everywhere.

Thus, in Tan Shuchang's eyes, Emperor Diyi of the Zixuan Dynasty had rather casually granted him such a high-ranking office as a warning to the world.

After all, the Tan family was not the only one. There could be a Tan family today, and a Zhang family, Yu family, Huo family, Li Family, Liu family, and so on tomorrow.

Any surname, so long as fortune stood with it, had a chance to achieve the same grandeur the Tan family once possessed.

But that had nothing to do with Tan Shuchang.

What Tan Shuchang was considering now was how he could cultivate more effectively, while preserving himself, if he entered the whirlpool of the imperial court.

Joining Heavenly Wonder Pavilion was not necessarily something worth celebrating for disciples of immortal sects. They could cultivate within their own immortal cultivation sects just as well, and would not lack the resources needed for cultivation.

The magical implements Heavenly Wonder Pavilion could provide were things their own immortal cultivation sects could provide as well, with better quality and greater quantity.

Even if they truly lacked something, they could capture a few wandering souls and wait quietly for underworld envoys to come knocking. As long as they had enough wandering souls, any reasonable request could be negotiated with the underworld envoys.

But for Rogue Cultivators, joining Heavenly Wonder Pavilion was much like receiving an iron rice bowl.

Even a low-grade magical implement was exceedingly difficult for a Rogue Cultivator to obtain. Either they had to save for most of their lives, or empty their household coffers and then incur a massive debt.

Yet this sort of low-grade magical implement was granted on the very day one entered the pavilion, so long as one was an active member of Heavenly Wonder Pavilion.

Although Tan Shuchang already possessed a magical implement—and an upper-grade one at that—he did not feel the slightest resistance toward joining Heavenly Wonder Pavilion.

"The Principal Third Rank position at the Sword Inspection Directorate—so long as I do nothing but collect my salary and cultivation resources, nobody should have anything to say, right?"

What Tan was all about was freeloading.

So he happily prepared to take up his post. After all, this was no different from someone delivering money to his door.

However, Tan Shuchang had only just finished packing when he heard a cold sneer. "Idiot. Diyi is using you as a chess piece to test the immortal cultivation sects' intentions. Your death is at hand, yet you are still this happy?"

Shock immediately appeared in Tan Shuchang's eyes, because until that voice emerged, he had not sensed the other party's slightest trace.

One had to know that Blackheart Mountain had been planted with lotus marks through the Blood-Refined Lotus Art.

Even old-timers who had cultivated for decades could not escape his senses! The old man who had secretly guarded Qiu Junlin before had been discovered by Tan Shuchang in precisely this manner.

Unless... the other party had not yet come up the mountain?

But if that were the case, the other party was even more terrifying. Tan Shuchang was on Blackheart Mountain, and even in a straight line, there were still ten li between his position and the outside of the mountain.

Senses extending beyond a radius of ten li?

What kind of terrestrial immortal was this?

Even Blackheart Elder, after cultivating for a hundred years, had not possessed such ability in his prime!

But in the next instant, Tan Shuchang dismissed the guess that the other party had not come up the mountain, because a stone stele crashed down before him.

"Kid, I see great potential in you for the demonic path. If you can master this cultivation art within three days, not only will I pass on its remaining three volumes to you, I will also help you reforge that Wu Family magical implement on you. You probably do not know this, but Martial Gate magical implements can all use a secret method to seek out their original owners."

"But if you fail to cultivate it..."

The voice stopped abruptly there, but the killing intent hidden within it was incomparably clear.

Tan Shuchang had already calmed down. He said nothing more, stepped forward two paces, and carefully examined the stone stele.

The moment he did, a flicker of uncertainty could not help appearing in his eyes.

For merely looking at the cultivation art inscribed upon the stele caused the special abilities throughout his body to become lively.

Fortunately, Tan Shuchang had long mastered this inborn ability of his with perfect ease. So no matter how much his abilities were affected by the cultivation art on the stele, not the slightest abnormality showed itself.

And because the cultivation art constantly echoed with his own abilities from afar, Tan Shuchang grasped the trick to cultivating it after only a short while and began attempting to enter the gate.

"Could this kid be a heavenly demon descended into the world?"

Inside a guest room at an inn in Clear River City, the kind-faced old man was already dumbstruck.

Even though he had once been the master of the Demon Sect, he could not help but feel shocked at this moment.

One had to know that the Black Shadow Immortal-Saving Manual differed from the cultivation formulas of this world. It was a Heavenly Merit Canon capable of allowing cultivators to break through the True Cultivation Realm and attain the Immortal Cultivation Realm.

Once one entered its gates, one could command three kinds of power: arts, dharmas, and force.

It was precisely that legendary kind of cultivation art.

Although the Black Shadow Immortal-Saving Manual was not the only Heavenly Merit Canon in the Jia Five Realm, the Sword Canon of Severing Immortals of Sword Disciple Mountain, the Heavenly Heart Sword Realm of Heavenly Sword Manor, the Sixteen-Foot Golden Body Manifestation of Western Tuo Mountain, the Upper Clarity Lotus Scripture of Upper Clarity Temple, and others could all stand alongside the Black Shadow Immortal-Saving Manual.

In certain respects, they could even completely restrain the Black Shadow Immortal-Saving Manual.

But there was no denying that the Black Shadow Immortal-Saving Manual was already one of the most supreme cultivation arts within the demonic path.

Legend had it that three hundred years ago, before myths and immortal traces vanished, the Jia Five Realm had possessed other demonic cultivation arts on the level of Heavenly Merit Canons, such as the Nine-Sons Mother Heavenly Ghost Art, the Blood-Transforming Divine Saber Exposition, and the Myriad Souls Banner Demonic Art.

Yet the old man had searched for most of his life without finding any of these legendary demonic cultivation arts, not even the faintest trace connected to them.

"Good, good, good!"

The old man in the inn room could not help but smile again.

The faster Tan Shuchang entered the gates of cultivation, the more suited he was to cultivate the Black Shadow Immortal-Saving Manual, and the fewer worries the old man would have.

"Cultivating demonic arts has no future. By passing down this cultivation art, I have fulfilled the last responsibility I bore as the former master of the Demon Sect. From this day forth, the Demon Sect and I will have no further entanglement."

As the old man spoke, a thought stirred in his heart. A black shadow then carried three stone steles toward Blackheart Mountain.

At the same time, the old man departed the inn and hurried toward Sword Disciple Mountain.

The Righteous Path Grand Plan was underway, and the child of destiny would emerge.

Though it was still hard to say whether this so-called "grand plan" would ultimately succeed, seeking refuge with Sword Disciple Mountain when the Righteous Path Grand Plan began was undoubtedly a chance to gain tremendous benefits.

Originally, the old man had intended to use his plan of fostering a young dragon to add weight to his surrender. But now that he could pass down the Black Shadow Immortal-Saving Manual, everything could proceed as before. So what if Sword Disciple Mountain did not value him? It did not matter. So long as he could seize the chance to obtain benefits, that was enough.