He ran through the wilds without stopping, covering well over a hundred li in one stretch. Only when the sky began to brighten did he enter the grounds of the Primordial Yang Sect.
Only then did Liu Yu finally relax completely.
After some thought, he reached into his Storage Bag and took out the Cold Light Sword.
This standard-issue magical artifact from the sect had seven or eight notches of varying sizes along its blade, a shocking sight.
Its spiritual glow had dimmed, and its power was greatly diminished. It was no longer fit for combat.
"."
This should be its last flight.
At the thought, Liu Yu felt an inexplicable pang of sadness.
He poured magical power into it and tossed it before him. The Cold Light Sword swiftly enlarged, and he leaped lightly onto it.
He urged the flying sword that had accompanied him for two years into its final flight, heading toward Greenwood Peak.
Several dozen zhang above the ground, cold wind blew against his face.
As he gazed at the scenery, some familiar and some unfamiliar, Liu Yu's mind gradually settled.
The battle just now had lasted less than half the time it took to drink a cup of tea, from beginning to end.
But for him, that had been more than enough to set his heart pounding!
Although he had forced himself to stay calm while fighting, fear still gripped him afterward.
Across both his lives, this was the first time Liu Yu had killed anyone.
In the law-governed society of his previous life, he had been an ordinary office worker. Usually, the most he did was "attack with his keyboard."
In this life, he was an unremarkable outer disciple who spent most of his time cultivating and studying.
He had never expected his first battle between cultivators to come so suddenly!
Liu Yu had believed himself cautious enough, yet someone had still set their sights on him.
This gave him a deeper understanding of the perils of the cultivation world.
It also stirred an urgent desire in Liu Yu to improve his strength.
Only with sufficient strength could he protect himself and keep his life from being threatened!
Three hours later, Liu Yu returned to Greenwood Peak.
Seeing a Voice-Transmitting Talisman floating outside his cave abode, blocked by the restrictions, he reached out and took it down.
A sweep of his Divine Sense revealed that it was a Voice-Transmitting Talisman from "Senior Brother Shang."
The message was essentially an invitation to go to Preaching Peak together on the fifteenth of this month and listen to a Foundation Establishment Realm martial uncle's lecture.
Senior Brother Shang's full name was Shang Chuanjiang. They had met during a sect mission and frequently arranged to attend lectures together afterward, making him one of the fellow disciples Liu Yu knew best.
Liu Yu casually took out a Voice-Transmitting Talisman and moved his lips slightly to accept the invitation. With a gentle toss of both hands, the talisman became a streak of light and flew into the distance.
He took out his token to open the restrictions, stepped into his cave abode, and sat beside a stone table. First, he picked up a kettle and swallowed several mouthfuls of water.
Only then was he in the mood to examine his "spoils."
He opened the Pockmarked Cultivator's Storage Bag and tipped it over the table, spilling several items onto its surface.
Among them was an old black-bound book about two inches thick.
There were several low-grade magical artifacts of different designs, a small, exquisite compass, three jade bottles, and a few pieces of women's clothing.
Lastly, there were several dozen spirit stones, one of which stood out from the rest.
It was a Fire-Attributed Spirit Stone. Not only were the fluctuations of spiritual energy it emitted far stronger than those of a low-grade spirit stone, but its surface was also much darker.
Its surface was deep red, and the material was somewhat translucent, just like the Mid-Grade Spirit Stones described in the texts.
A Mid-Grade Spirit Stone.
Looking at the items on the table, Liu Yu could not help marveling at the Pockmarked Cultivator's wealth. Murder and arson truly did earn one a golden belt!
He suspected that the Pockmarked Cultivator had obtained those Lower-grade Magical Artifacts by killing others and seizing their treasures.
Their owners had most likely already perished.
Now, he could be considered to have avenged those who had died so miserably. With that thought, he claimed the magical artifacts and pills without a guilty conscience.
The black-bound book intrigued Liu Yu most.
He wondered whether it might contain the cultivation method the Pockmarked Cultivator practiced, so he picked it up and began leafing through it.
The black-bound book was quite old, and there was no writing on its cover.
On opening the first page, he saw four large, blood-red characters: "Essentials of Demonic Cultivation."
Without a doubt, this was a "guide" to becoming a demonic cultivator.
The Pockmarked Cultivator's business of killing people and stealing their treasures might have had a great deal to do with this book.
The thought flashed through Liu Yu's mind.
Starting in the Outer Courtyard, the Primordial Yang Sect taught ideas about cultivation that set the righteous and demonic paths against each other, with black and white clearly divided.
But he was different from the other children. Thirty years of experience in his previous life, struggling through society, had long since taught him that nothing in the world was ever simply black or white.
Liu Yu understood deeply that the relationship between black and white was often one of "a little of me within you, and a little of you within me."
Light could emerge from darkness, and darkness could hide within light!
Thus, rather than destroying the black-bound book, he began reading it carefully.
Liu Yu turned to the second page of Essentials of Demonic Cultivation and saw three lines of large, twisted black characters.
An evil aura seemed to spread from them!
"Strength is justice, and cultivation realm is truth!"
"In the cultivation world, strength reigns supreme. The weak are meat for the strong, and only the fittest survive!"
"Rather than let the strong control your fate, devour the flesh and blood of the weak, turn them into nourishment, and become strong yourself!"
Liu Yu's expression grew solemn.
For some reason, he felt an inexplicable shock, as though he were seeing an entirely different world.
Only after a long while did he continue reading.
Essentials of Demonic Cultivation had been written by a Golden Core Stage Old Devil.
Speaking in the voice of a demonic "senior," the book explained all manner of methods and essential points for a cultivator of the Demonic Path. It truly advocated stopping at nothing and committing every evil imaginable.
For instance, it explained how to judge other cultivators' strength and wealth from their words and behavior, then select a "fat sheep."
It then described how to follow a target without anyone noticing, lay an ambush, launch a surprise attack, set traps, and deal with the aftermath.
There was even a dedicated chapter explaining in detail how to sell stolen goods!
The more Liu Yu read, the more alarmed he became, cold sweat breaking out down his back.
The methods mentioned in Essentials of Demonic Cultivation are utterly sinister and ruthless. There's simply no guarding against them all!
Luckily, that Pockmarked Cultivator had only learned the barest surface of it. He was nowhere near mastering it.
Otherwise, this trip would probably have brought me far more danger than hope of survival!
At this point, he could not help feeling fortunate.
Back in the Outer Courtyard's school, Liu Yu had read and heard plenty of accounts of demonic cultivators.
But all of them had been presented from the standpoint that "however high the demon rises, the righteous path rises ten times higher."
In any case, no matter what towering figure of the Demonic Path was involved or what evil he committed, the ending always had evil failing to overcome righteousness.
Yet there had been no descriptions of how demonic cultivators actually operated.
After reading only the first few pages of Essentials of Demonic Cultivation, Liu Yu was already shaken by lingering fear. He had truly come to recognize the danger and darkness of the cultivation world.
Over the past two or three years, he had traveled to and from the Market Ward several times and returned alive. Perhaps that was merely because he had not been "fat" enough!
More precisely, his wealth had not yet been enough to make those harboring sinister intentions take action.
Keeping my wealth hidden really was the right decision.
He thought this to himself and resolved to keep doing so.
"Hm?"
When Liu Yu turned to a certain page, he discovered a tracking method-an account of "soul-tracking powder."
Looking at the small compass, he immediately understood how he had been tracked.
I wonder how the Pockmarked Cultivator got this book.
Did he only start this business that needed no capital after obtaining it?
Liu Yu speculated.
But with the Pockmarked Cultivator dead, that question was destined to remain unanswered.
Essentials of Demonic Cultivation had given him a genuine glimpse into one corner of this world of immortal cultivation.
With somewhat complicated feelings, Liu Yu placed Essentials of Demonic Cultivation in his Storage Bag, intending to study it carefully later.
Although he currently had no desire to become a demonic cultivator who killed others for their treasures, it was still necessary to learn more about their methods.
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