Ancestor Xuanyin

The cultivator called "Ancestor Xuanyin" was indeed fearsome. His form had not even appeared, yet a sinister, oppressive ferocity bore down from above like a collapsing mountain, like the Nine Netherworlds descending upon the mortal realm. Invisible waves of force ground down heavily, making the Qi and Blood throughout one's body sluggish and one's meridians stiffen. Even breathing and circulating true essence became immensely difficult.

Hu Mang locked down his Essence Blood and hid behind a lookout platform, silently watching the scene.

This "Ancestor Xuanyin" was at least a Golden Core cultivator. Moreover, that feeling of monstrous wickedness and openly displayed Sha Qi was far beyond what Heavenly Gate's Golden Core cultivators could match.

Hu Mang knew the feeling well. Without staining one's hands with thousands upon thousands of lives, one could not cultivate such Sha Qi.

Once such reckless, unrestrained killing intent fused with cultivation, an outsider who beheld it would inevitably tremble in spirit, their Dao heart teetering on the verge of collapse. Those with slightly weaker cultivation would feel their spiritual platform grow murky, their vision darken in waves, and their limbs and bones bound by countless threads of yin.

Hu Mang simply closed his eyes and relied solely on the intuition his Demon Beast bloodline gave him to perceive his surroundings.

He feared that if the other party discovered him, he would truly be done for. Besides-

What was with that essence, Qi, and spirit, hanging overhead like a blanket of dark clouds? Could a Golden Core cultivator produce something like that?

Though Hu Mang was not at the Golden Core realm, he was an earth and Wood Element genius who had reached Foundation Establishment Great Perfection through his own efforts.

He already had a faint understanding of the next realm.

But could the essence and Qi a Golden Core could replenish in a person really be so abundant?

If it really was that outrageous, would that blond guy he had seen at the hospital have needed to shatter his core?

That fellow was a textbook second-generation cultivator who had eaten no shortage of heavenly treasures.

Hu Mang kept his eyes tightly shut as red lines emerged from beneath his clothes and spread across his skin.

According to his mother's "lessons," a Crimson Moon Fox's fur could sense changes in Spiritual Qi, as well as the presence and essence Qi of people.

These "red lines" were his "fox fur."

And a demon fox's intuition was the most sensitive of all.

He even had a vague feeling that there were others nearby.

More than one person was silently enduring and waiting.

After what was probably a full hour, "Ancestor Xuanyin" finally absorbed enough corresponding Demonic Qi. His essence Qi swept south like beacon smoke, and he vanished with his two "bootlickers."

Hu Mang silently rose from his hiding place.

Just then, a voice sounded behind him.

"Fellow Daoist, did you also come to Demon-Subduing City because you heard that a 'Divine Dynasty treasure' had appeared?"

After flying a mere thirty-odd li, the dark cloud that "Ancestor Xuanyin" had become abruptly contracted and landed atop a building. An elderly man with hawk-like eyes and a strange staff then emerged with his two disciples.

"Ancestor!"

"Ancestor!"

The two disciples hurriedly bowed.

"While I was refining the Mysterious Yin Great Method just now, I vaguely sensed several presences hiding near this Devil Suppression Tower. I held back for the sake of refining the method. You Lin'er, go and catch those hunks of meat for me, lest 'Rewarding Good and Punishing Evil' activate and leave 'great do-gooders' like us without any 'evildoers' to sacrifice."

"Yes."

The disciple named You Lin'er nodded and turned into a wisp of black smoke, departing at once.

"Then, Ancestor, what are we going to do?" the other disciple asked.

The hawk-faced old man gave a sinister smile.

"Earlier, those two brats from the Thunder Sect forced me, their ancestor, into Demon-Subduing City as cannon fodder to find the 'thunder domain nodes' here for them. But they didn't expect that we weren't just sitting around eating for free. We had long since joined forces in secret, waiting for the brats to enter so we could strike back on the spot."

"This Thunder Commandery Domain was formerly the Divine Dynasty Devil-Slaying Thunder Domain. To enter it, one must first seal the three flowers and five Qi. Otherwise, no matter how heaven-defying your abilities, you will perish in this 'Heavenly Punishment Tribulation Lightning.'"

"Outside, those two brats are formidable figures who have 'left yin and entered yang,' but here, they're no different from the rest of us."

"But they didn't expect that I was no ordinary follower of the unorthodox paths. Years ago, I obtained a fragment of a Cultivation Method from the Yin Corpse Devil Kingdom, which lets me refine my method by absorbing Demonic Qi. Taking advantage of the two of them splitting up, I joined forces with the fake monk, Thousand Poisons, and Rotten Bones, and the four of us gravely wounded that brat Zhen'ezi."

As he came to the part that pleased him, a smile creased the old man's deeply furrowed, hawk-like face.

"Word just came that Rotten Bones seems to have found Zhen'ezi. We'll kill that brat first, then surround and kill the other one. Once we take over this 'Demon-Subduing City' and close the entrances and exits to the Thunder Commandery Domain, we might truly have a foundation on which to build."

Elsewhere, Hu Mang turned to look at a young cultivator behind and to his side.

The young cultivator had just let out a long breath upon the departure of that "Mysterious Yin Old Devil."

"I am Zhou Yu, a cultivator from Plum Blossom Mountain near the Heavenly Vault Plain. Greetings, fellow... Buddhist friend?"

Zhou Yu smiled and looked him over, then paused and said,

"Buddhist friend?"

Hu Mang looked down at himself. With his lightning-warding garment shaped like a white lab coat, his cropped hair, and his bare feet, he did look a little like a wandering monk.

But that was not the point. The point was, why could he understand what the other party was saying in another world?!

Though it had the feel of classical prose in translation, it really was not all that different from Heavenly Gate's official language.

So had he really come to the homeland of those "ten immortals of High Antiquity"?

Seeing that Hu Mang did not answer, Zhou Yu hurriedly added:

"Buddhist friend, hurry and leave this place for the nearest thunder shrine. Once Lord Thunder's 'Rewarding Good and Punishing Evil' activates, we'll both be in danger."

"Rewarding Good and Punishing Evil?" Hu Mang paused and asked in puzzlement, "Then why would it punish me?"

Zhou Yu took quite some time to give him a general explanation of the "Rewarding Good and Punishing Evil" mechanism in Demon-Subduing City.

Of course, the two had long since left their original location during this exchange. After all, the returning horse spear was not a move reserved for those skilled with spears.

That was especially true of Zhou Yu, who had evaded the "Rewarding Good and Punishing Evil" mechanism several times and naturally understood even better how treacherous people's hearts could be.

"...So you mean that 'Rewarding Good and Punishing Evil' originally targeted only those on unorthodox paths, as well as demons and Devil Creatures, who entered this place. Once someone was marked as an 'evildoer,' not only would Evil-Warding Divine Lightning be added to all kinds of Law Techniques, multiplying their damage against the devil path and demons, but the city's various demon-subduing facilities would also be activated to slay devils."

"But seven days ago, this demon-subduing mechanism left behind by the Jade Firmament Divine Dynasty suddenly changed. The 'good and evil mechanism' began attacking everyone indiscriminately. Ordinary cultivators would also be marked as 'evil,' while those who practiced unorthodox and demonic arts would be marked as 'good' instead."

"What's more, as long as one succeeded in 'slaying evil,' 'evil' would become 'good' as well."

At this, Zhou Yu still felt a lingering fear.

"So it went from maintaining order to a means of encouraging everyone to slaughter one another?"

Hu Mang mused.

"Precisely."

"Why, then?"

"According to our conjecture, it may have something to do with those on the devil path manipulating the city's Lord Thunder."

"Lord Thunder? Who is Lord Thunder?"

"Lord Thunder is the thunder god of this place."

"A deity-"

This world actually had deities!?

Zhou Yu stared at this strangely dressed "wandering monk" and hesitated for a moment before asking curiously:

"May I ask what your cultivation is, Master? Did you also come here to seek treasure?"

"Me? I'm at the Qi Refining Seventh Layer. I suppose I wandered into this place by mistake."

Zhou Yu was stunned.

"What kind of realm is the Qi Refining Seventh Layer?"

"Which of the three poisons does it counter, or which of the nine consciousnesses does it realize?"

"..."

Now it was Hu Mang's turn to be puzzled.

"You don't know the Qi Refining Seventh Layer?"

"I truly don't know much about Buddhist cultivation. I only know that the five Buddhist temples each possess Divine Abilities, and that the four vehicles and eight meridians contain every mystery."

"..." Hu Mang paused, then said, "What realm are you at, then?"

"I am foolish. After cultivating the Dao for more than twenty years, I have not realized the three flowers or attained the five Qi. I am merely circling the threshold of Refining Essence into Qi."

"And what is 'Refining Essence into Qi'?"

"You don't know what 'Refining Essence into Qi' is, Master?!" Now it was Zhou Yu's turn to gape.

Hu Mang thought, This is bad, and hurried to cover for himself without changing his expression.

"I only recently left my monastery, so naturally I don't know much about cultivation in the outside world. Could you enlighten me, fellow Daoist?"

"So Master is a monk of the realm of form."

Zhou Yu was only half convinced.

What was a monk of the realm of form? Weren't monks supposed to abstain from lust?

But Hu Mang had learned his lesson and kept his face impassive.

Seeing this, Zhou Yu explained:

"Ever since the Three Pure Ones passed down the Dao, cultivation in the Azure Mysterious Realm has had four stages: Refining Essence into Qi, Refining Qi into Spirit, Refining Spirit to Return to the Void, and Void Refinement to Merge with the Dao. If one attains Void Refinement to Merge with the Dao, one can ascend to the upper realm and obtain the immortal status."

One could even ascend in this world?!

Wasn't ascension an urban legend?

Moreover, why did those four realms bear such a deceptively similar resemblance to Heavenly Gate's realms of Qi Training, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Spirit Transformation, and Void Refinement?

Hu Mang blinked. Seeing the other man staring straight at him, seemingly waiting for an answer, he said:

"Then this humble monk's realm is much the same as yours, layman. I am also at Refining Essence into Qi, and have neither realized the three flowers nor attained the five Qi."

That answer was copy and paste, plain and simple.

Seeing this, Zhou Yu seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

"I thought so. Demon-Subduing City was originally a 'Divine Dynasty' prison. If a great cultivator who had realized the three flowers and five Qi ended up here, they would surely suffer endless thunder punishment. That happened to a senior cultivator before, and no one knows whether he is alive or dead now."

"Then what cultivation did that 'Ancestor Xuanyin' from earlier have?" Hu Mang pressed.

"That 'Mysterious Yin Old Daoist' was an old hand among the unorthodox Rogue Cultivators. His three flowers are complete, his 'essence,' 'Qi,' and 'spirit' perfected, and he has attained at least some of the five Qi. In the eyes of the true experts of the orthodox and devil paths, he isn't much, but here, he is a first-rate expert."

Zhou Yu said cautiously:

"What's more, for some reason, the old Daoist doesn't seem afraid to go all out here. Just now, for instance, he somehow obtained a devil-path Cultivation Method and recklessly absorbed the Demonic Qi remaining in the Devil Suppression Tower. He's extremely dangerous."

"That's naturally because where there are the Three Pure Ones, there are the three corpses; where there are the five Qi, there are the five turbidities; and where there are the nine consciousnesses, there are the nine worms!"

"This Divine Dynasty prison holds living demons and devils. What does that have to do with my ancestor, an inheritor of the yin corpse lineage?"

A sinister voice suddenly sounded beside the two men's ears.