On a mountain ridge not far from the Myriad Spirits Sect, endless yin qi was gathering into a hollow along the earth veins.
The earth veins were like the blood vessels of the land, channels through which spiritual qi and foul qi flowed. The power hidden within heaven and earth continuously circulated along these paths. Cultivators could use them to refine the energy they needed and, through different methods, forge their own mana.
This was the beginning of cultivation: the struggle between man and heaven.
For any cultivation sect aspiring to expand, grow bigger, and become stronger, regulating the earth veins, combing some of them into "spirit veins," then guiding them toward its own mountain gate to create the wondrous realm of a Grotto-Heaven Paradise—
This was a step that had to be taken.
Back when civil strife broke out within the Longevity Sect and every side fought until blood floated pestles, the spirit veins guided into the sect had been damaged. Repairs had continued all the way to the present.
At that moment, No-Loss planted twenty-four palm-sized banners around the great pit. Each bore the image of a beautiful, big-bellied woman. Though the designs were rather obscene, a closer look revealed the concealed venom and resentment in their eyes.
Meanwhile, a barefoot Void Step expert from the Earth Origin Devil Palace, his hair hanging loose, was conducting a sacrifice around the pit.
Drops of vital essence scattered onto the banners, linking them to some place in the immeasurably distant Void. A deep Demonic Thought spread through the pit formed from yin qi, giving rise to countless ghostly shadows. They laughed freely, then melted into the earth veins.
Following the ritual procedures of the Primordial Sacred Dao, they summoned Demonic Thoughts from beyond the heavens. Transformed by another, they came