The Cesspit Cultivation World

"The Purple Mansion Golden Core Dao was clearly a cesspit!"

"This cultivation world was a filthy quagmire too!"

Two hours later, Wentesi had drawn these two shocking conclusions from the books he had brought back from the cultivation world.

"What did it mean that, within a Dao lineage, higher cultivators had absolute control over lower cultivators? That at a word from a higher cultivator, no lower cultivator dared disobey?"

"And what did it mean to feed on those of the same path, seize others' immortal foundations, and use fellow cultivators as pills and medicine to nourish one's own Dao?"

As Wentesi read the warnings to later generations in these cultivators' biographies, his dragon skin prickled.

He carefully opened each book again, and the more he read, the more the words on the pages seemed to turn crooked and blurry, unlike any earthly writing.

Yet every page plainly bore the words "seek immortality and pursue the Dao"!

The more Wentesi read, the stranger it seemed. After studying them for a long while, he suddenly saw the truth. How was this seeking immortality and pursuing the Dao?

It plainly said: "Eat people! Eat demons!"

The two Buddhist cultivation methods were even more terrifying.

The first sentence of every Buddhist scripture and cultivation method was:

"Our Buddha is merciful. All who enter our Buddhist school are disciples of the World-Honored One."

At first, Wentesi had thought nothing of it. But after reading the rest and mulling it over, he found it terrifying.

These disciples of the World-Honored One were less disciples than nourishment and sacrifices.

Anyone who cultivated a Buddhist method would refine themselves into a part of the World-Honored One and would also have to offer up their cultivation to the World-Honored One at regular intervals. The longer they cultivated, the more they offered.

If it were only their cultivation, that would be one thing. They could treat it like paying protection money.

But the World-Honored One was merciful enough to take their bodies and souls as well, giving it the fine name of "perfecting one's merit."

In other words, every cultivator who practiced a Buddhist method would eventually become part of the World-Honored One.

"Cesspit! Cesspit! Cesspit!! This is clearly a cesspit!"

Wentesi cursed. What the hell kind of cultivation world was this?

In the cultivation novels he had read as a human in his previous life, the worst it got was underworld-style cultivation: a bunch of cultivators deceiving and scheming against one another, fighting for power and profit.

How could they compare to the darkness of this cultivation world? By comparison, that world was truly a paradise.

"Good thing there's no one above me on the Hairy Head Sun path. Otherwise, I'd definitely have been controlled to death."

Wentesi breathed a sigh of relief, feeling rather fortunate.

But things were going to get a little troublesome from here. Now that he understood how sinister that world was, he hesitated, unsure whether he should cultivate this Buddhist method.

"I'll find a few kobolds to test it first. The World-Honored One most likely won't be able to control them in this world, but it's best to be careful."

Wentesi was cautious. After all, he had no cheat, no two-world pearl, system, or other golden finger.

If he were to be tainted by Buddhism's sinister nature, he really would end up as a bald donkey's mount.

Wentesi acted at once. He flew out of the cave, found the kobold Kru, and ordered him to teach the Formless Muscle-Changing Sutra to some of the stronger kobolds.

The Formless Muscle-Changing Sutra was an external cultivation method. It was easy to start and had no aptitude requirements, making it well suited to these strong-bodied kobolds.

The Great Sun Ward Earth Buddha Sutra was different. It demanded exceptional aptitude for immortal cultivation and a constitution attuned to Greater Yang.

In Wentesi's view, that was equivalent to requiring the talent of a light mage in his original world. Ordinary kobolds rarely possessed such a gift.

Wentesi thought there was still hope of cultivating the Great Sun Earth Buddha Sutra. After all, according to the azure ox demon Niu Er, no one in the Buddhist school still cultivated this method.

He had given Wentesi the book only so that he could experience the True Intention of Buddhist teachings and read about the high-grade Buddha nature within.

Under Wentesi's close watch, the results came in three days later.

Both of the strong kobolds had successfully cultivated it, and neither showed any mental problems.

The kobolds who had succeeded now had a brassy sheen all over their bodies, and their strength had more than doubled. Even more surprisingly, their skin had become exceptionally hard.

Wentesi ordered Kru to slash lightly at the two kobolds with a blade, but found that it could not cut into them at all, leaving only white marks on their scaled skin.

It was as tough as mystic iron tempered for decades, difficult to tear or pierce.

"So this is the Formless Muscle-Changing Sutra?"

Wentesi examined the kobolds who had cultivated it, found nothing out of the ordinary, and dismissed them.

"Looks like this Formless Muscle-Changing Sutra can be cultivated!"

"Hmm, I can give it a try!"

Wentesi read the Formless Muscle-Changing Sutra from beginning to end. A short while later, he understood its principles and began cultivating step by step, following the poses of the arhat's mount shown in the book's illustrations.

An hour passed, and Wentesi's crimson scales began to take on a faint brassy sheen, though it was impossible to see without looking closely.

"Hmm, I've finally reached the first level."

Wentesi carefully sensed the changes in his body after cultivating the Formless Muscle-Changing Sutra.

He could clearly feel that the scales covering him had become much harder, increasing his defense.

"Just as Niu Er said, this Formless Muscle-Changing Sutra is for body refinement. It can temper and transform all the muscles, bones, and skin, as well as the internal organs.

"Unfortunately, it only goes up to the sixth level, which should correspond to the Embryonic Breathing Sixth Layer. It can't go any higher."

Wentesi felt it was a pity, but then he remembered that he had gotten it for free. It was already quite good.

"In that case, there's no need to hesitate!"

Wentesi hesitated no longer. He picked up the other sixth-grade Buddhist cultivation method, the Great Sun Earth Buddha Sutra, opened it, and began to cultivate.

The first few pages explained the origins of the method and introduced it.

The Great Sun Earth Buddha Sutra had been written by the Unsurpassed Great Sun Acala Wisdom King Bodhisattva.

The Dharma Aspect this Bodhisattva had attained was Room Sun. A Dharma Aspect formed when Buddhist merit was perfected and was equivalent to the Golden Core realm of the Purple Mansion Golden Core Dao.

In his early years, he had been a secular Confucian scholar. A fortuitous opportunity had led him to enter the Dao and cultivate, but in the end, he had chosen to take refuge in Buddhism.

It was said that over his lifetime, he had cultivated every major Dao lineage of the Greater Yang path, becoming a master who brought them all together.

He had studied Room Sun, Hairy Head Sun, Star Sun, and Emptiness Sun, but in the end, he had decided to cultivate the Room Sun path.

According to his own words in the book, this method was the culmination of his work: the Earth Buddha Method, established in imitation of the Earth Immortal Method created by Daoist cultivators.

It could be considered a work that founded a whole school, and any monk or cultivator of a Greater Yang Dao lineage could cultivate it.

After reading the introduction and its account of the method's origins, Wentesi carefully read through the book once.

He found every word a gem, its wonders beyond description. It set forth the essence of the Greater Yang Dao at a measured pace and was rich in Buddhist principles.

He read it over several more times and committed its contents to memory before putting it down.

"That Niu Er didn't lie to me. This sixth-grade Buddhist method really is extraordinary.

"Of course, it still falls a little short of that eighth-grade Immortal Method, the Hairy Head Sun Method."

Wentesi began to cultivate according to the method.

But he got stuck at the very first step.

Cultivating the Great Sun Earth Buddha Sutra required an eminent monk of the Buddhist Greater Yang path to guide him into the Buddhist Golden Land described in the book.

Only after entering the Buddhist Golden Land could he cultivate it.

Without an eminent monk, he could not enter the Buddhist Golden Land, and without the Buddhist Golden Land, he could not cultivate.

Wentesi's dragon brows knitted tightly as he sank into thought. It seemed he really could not cultivate it.

But Wentesi was unwilling to give up. Fixing his eyes on the method, he leafed through it, hoping to find some solution.

A short while later, he thought of a line at the end of the Embryonic Breathing section of the Hairy Head Sun Method.

"Brilliant great sun, I shall awaken it myself!"

At the thought of those words, understanding suddenly dawned on Wentesi. He said to himself:

"Why can't I be my own eminent monk? I'll open up a Golden Land myself! Then I'll cultivate!"

"No! I don't even need to open up a Golden Land..."

Wentesi realized he had a brilliant idea. His molten-gold vertical pupils gleamed, and he immediately left the dragon's nest.

He spread his dragon wings, rose several hundred meters into the air, and circled above his territory, looking at everything below.

"There's one ready-made!"