To Deceive One's Master and Destroy One's Ancestors Is Our Sacred Sect's Tradition

When master and disciple met, it should naturally have been a joyous scene.

There was no one around, only the lush, verdant woods and the tranquil atmosphere they brought.

In such a setting, master and disciple ought to have had much to say. Yet amid this great reunion, Tan Shuchang chose to strike first.

Everything Tan Shuchang had learned came from Blackheart Elder.

There was the Sevenfold Demon Body Scripture, which Blackheart Elder had cultivated for a hundred years, as well as the orthodox demonic sect transmission, the Blood-Refined Lotus Art, which Blackheart Elder had acquired from a direct descendant of a demonic sect through a "fortunate coincidence."

The former was something every disciple of Blackheart Mountain could learn, because the deeper one's cultivation years, the greater its power. Of course, it was also possible that the disciples on Blackheart Mountain were all expendable materials, and having them cultivate this technique made them easier for Blackheart Elder to absorb.

The latter could only be taught to those qualified for "Fasting Demon Ascension." So far, only three people had received Blackheart Elder's instruction.

Those three were precisely Blackheart Mountain's three great expendable materials: Eldest Senior Sister, Second Senior Brother, and Tan Shuchang.

At this moment, Blackheart Elder had not expected this disciple of his to launch a sneak attack. But he was, after all, an Old Devil who had cultivated for a century, and he reacted at once.

"Rebellious disciple, how dare you!" Blackheart Elder flew into a rage after blocking the attack.

"Master, you jest."

Tan Shuchang was not surprised that his strike had failed. After all, everything he had learned was something the other man knew as well. The instant he made his move, Blackheart Elder would undoubtedly have sensed it through their auras.

"Good, good, good! You think that after cultivating for a few years, you are a match for this old man?" Blackheart Elder was a slightly plump old man with a kindly appearance. Now, in his fury, a faint green gleam began to rise in his eyes.

A bone-chilling cold swept in from every direction.

The temperature in the area visibly plummeted. Though the emerald leaves did not immediately wither and yellow, they were already coated in thick frost. The frost was poisonous. Several insects that had happened to freeze to death instantly turned into flickering shadows and lunged at Tan Shuchang.

This was Self-Devouring Shadow. Once it collided with someone, it would refine their shadow and turn them into a puppet in the caster's hands.

At that moment, black light began to shimmer around Tan Shuchang's body, and a phantom condensed behind him.

This was the Sevenfold Demon Body Scripture.

When activated, it manifested black light and formed a single phantom of a demon body.

The phantom possessed the law's life-command might and force's suppressive might, but those could only be obtained upon reaching at least the fifth realm. The most basic demon body phantom merely made a demonic cultivator impervious to blades and spears, immune to water and fire, and unharmed by a hundred poisons.

Even after cultivating for a century, Blackheart Elder had only brought his demon body to the sixth realm.

Yet although the demon body Tan Shuchang displayed was merely a first-layer phantom, black runes trailing black smoke appeared out of thin air in the surrounding void because of its emergence, directly shattering those Self-Devouring Shadows.

This was the phenomenon marking the might of an art.

In the Jia Five Realm, any cultivation method—whether it initially possessed only an art's prohibitive might, only a law's life-command might, or, like the Sevenfold Demon Body Scripture, two of them—could attain all three mights of art, law, and force so long as it was cultivated to its utmost limit.

This was also where the Jia Five Realm's classification of cultivation methods came from. After all, although any cultivation method could be cultivated to the realm where it possessed all three mights of art, law, and force, the more it possessed from the start, the less difficult it was to cultivate to the limit. Accordingly, the divine abilities and power gained from it would also be greater.

A cultivation method possessing only one of the three mights of art, law, and force was considered a superior method.

One possessing two was a superior canonical method.

It was said that methods possessing all three existed, but Tan Shuchang did not know the details. He had only heard it through hearsay.

As for cultivation methods that possessed not even one kind of might, they were naturally all classified as inferior. Such methods could be cultivated, but after cultivating them, one would never hear the true way of immortality. Even after a hundred years of cultivation, it would be nothing but flowers in a mirror and the moon in water.

When Blackheart Elder saw Tan Shuchang reveal the phenomenon of the Sevenfold Demon Body Scripture at its utmost limit, he was greatly startled. This was a realm of the technique that he himself had failed to reach before his demon body was severed!

"You truly have obtained an extraordinary fortune!" Blackheart Elder said through gritted teeth. He had discovered the strange power that Tan Shuchang produced during cultivation two months ago.

When he first discovered it, it had truly shocked him.

That was because even he could not break through the barrier formed by that strange power!

At that time, Blackheart Elder had considered acting directly, capturing this disciple, and seizing his fortune. However, he feared that Sword Disciple Mountain still wanted him dead, so he had never dared show himself.

After all, he had repeatedly discovered traces of Sword Disciple Mountain disciples within Clear River City.

Who could have imagined that in such a short time, this disciple had already grown into a force to be reckoned with!

"Then I need not trouble Master to concern yourself with it. Please be on your way, Master." Tan Shuchang's edge was fully bared as he locked down the auras in every direction, preventing Blackheart Elder from escaping.

Yet when he spoke, not only was his tone gentle, but he did not omit a single honorific.

As Tan Shuchang's words fell, several lotus flowers, white as jade, instantly overlapped with Blackheart Elder's figure.

Blackheart Elder had originally been slightly plump, but once those lotus flowers merged with his figure, he immediately became incomparably shriveled. His entire body also darkened for no reason.

As though he had been dyed in a vat of sauce.

"The Blood-Refined Lotus Art?" Though heavily injured, Blackheart Elder recognized the demonic art Tan Shuchang had used.

"Master has sharp eyes!"

Tan Shuchang smiled and nodded. Naturally, his smile came from the fact that the enhancement he had received after refining that malicious ghost had exceeded his expectations somewhat.

He took a step forward, and a trickle of blood began to seep from the ground.

The blood quickly gathered into a single expanse, making this corner of the courtyard resemble a small pond. Within that blood-colored pond, lotus flowers began to bloom soundlessly.

Every one of those lotuses was white as jade, with layers of golden halos accompanying them, making them appear rather sacred.

Yet within those halos were blood-red runes emitting a crimson glow.

As the lotuses bloomed, the art's prohibitive might, the law's life-command might, and the force's suppressive might appeared at once. A blood-refining grand formation was thereby completely formed.

Now that he saw Tan Shuchang display the phenomenon of the Blood-Refined Lotus Art, Blackheart Elder was frightened out of his wits.

Under normal circumstances, using this lotus art would merely cause phantoms of blood-colored lotuses to appear around one's body. Each lotus phantom could possess some of the might of art and law.

"Shuchang, I am your master! If you kill me, there will no longer be a place for you in this cultivation world!" Blackheart Elder hurriedly tried to play on their feelings.

Tan Shuchang smiled and said calmly, "Master, what nonsense are you talking about? To deceive one's master and destroy one's ancestors—is that not the fine tradition passed down through generations of our Sacred Sect?"