Seven Sages Heaven-Misting Illusion Art, the First Evil Cultivator in Ages

"This kid is really petty. Didn't I just ask how many times Grandfather hit him?"

Xiang Feng was chased out and wandered into the ship's cabin.

Hengshou was adjusting the route, focused on steering the ship.

Xiang Feng sat beside him and examined the Water Chart Compass.

Most islands in the Dragonreach Waters were rootless duckweed, constantly shifting position. Thus, there was no fixed water chart for the Dragonreach Waters. They relied on the compass's magnetic field to sense the Spirit Veins of Immovable Reefs, then selected suitable routes among the various Spirit Veins.

When Hengshou saw Xiang Feng enter, he gave a slight nod in greeting.

Knowing Hengshou's taciturn nature, Xiang Feng did not take offense and instead struck up a conversation.

"You've been with Little Six for so long. You know him well, right?"

So?

Hengshou answered with a look.

"Do you know what secret arts he's learned from books?"

Hengshou looked at Xiang Feng without saying a word.

And then?

"It's nothing. I'm mainly worried he's learned something bad from those books and gone down the wrong path. You and Xiaoyu need to keep a closer eye on him."

"No need. The old master is watching him. If the young master goes astray, he gets the ruler."

Rarely, Hengshou uttered such a long sentence.

He inwardly sighed. Cultivators throughout the Dragonreach Waters should thank the old master! If not for the old master keeping him in check, with the young master's utterly unrestrained temperament, the Fu Family of Coiling Dragon Island might have produced the first evil cultivator in a thousand years.

Evil cultivators were even more terrifying than demonic-path cultivators.

Behind every renowned evil cultivator lay countless bloody massacres.

Every cultivation art or spell branded as an "evil art forbidden method" was a taboo acknowledged by both the immortal and demonic lineages, defying human ethics and turning its back on all common sense.

Black Artifacts intended primarily to enslave cultivators were among the lowest and gentlest varieties of evil arts.

By skinning the faces off five hundred living people, then soaking them in the blood from their hearts, one could finally fuse and refine the five hundred faces into a Shape-Shifting Blood Mask. Even Golden Core cultivators would struggle to see through its disguise.

By burying alive nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine infants born in yin years, yin months, and yin days, all less than a month old; then burning their corpses after death and using the ashes to make figurines, one could perform the Nine-Spirit Evil Yin Curse-Killing Art and remotely curse a Golden Core cultivator to death.

By soaking ancestral bones in the blood of twelve kinds of beasts, then secretly refining them with evil arts, one could use demon blood to remotely contaminate descendant cultivators. More ruthlessly, one could control them with blood curses, turning the descendants of those bones into slaves. If one lowered the bottom line further still, beast organs could be fused into that bloodline, turning living people into half-human, half-beast monsters...

Hengshou knew that Fu Henghua had learned many strange and bizarre evil arts involving taboos of humanity from the books in Langhuan Hall. When it came to evil cultivator inheritances, Heng Hua understood them more comprehensively than either immortal arts or demonic cultivation methods.

It could not be helped. The immortal and demonic factions could maintain normal master-disciple inheritances, so hidden inheritances embedded in books were few and far between. Evil cultivators, however, had been suppressed by both paths for years. Their inheritances could not be left in the cave abodes of past masters, so they could only be hidden within mortal texts.

Ordinary people reading those books could not discover the secret arts and incantations concealed within. Only those who were intelligent, deeply perceptive, or keenly intuitive could comprehend the cultivation arts and spells left behind by predecessors between the lines. Or they might see through the formations hidden in the books and find the secret arts that had been left behind.

People with strong spiritual awareness, great intelligence, and excellent comprehension were precisely the successors evil cultivators sought.

Heng Hua had spent his years immersed in Langhuan Hall, never letting books leave his hands. Combined with his cultivation, intelligence, and comprehension, he had naturally acquired many evil cultivator inheritances.

He had even figured out the Golden Core methods of evil demons and Outer Dao practitioners. If he had not disdained their poor Golden Core quality, the Donglai Waters might have produced a mighty evil cultivator who formed a Golden Core in sixty years and became a Grandmaster within a century.

There was also Heng Hua's mother. When she married into the family, she brought a large redwood book chest as part of her dowry. It contained eight hundred books, most of them ancient mortal-world texts from ages past. When Heng Hua was young, his mother used those books as his childhood teaching materials. After reaching adulthood, Heng Hua forcibly translated three hundred evil art inheritances from those eight hundred books.

"Come to think of it, where did Madam truly come from? Why did her dowry contain so many evil arts?"

Thinking of this, Hengshou secretly regretted it.

Had he known that chest was so sinister, he should have told the old master back then and had it burned outright. That chest could be called a supreme treasure of evil cultivators. If not for Coiling Dragon Island's upright family traditions and Fu Danwei keeping a close watch, his young master would surely have set foot upon the forbidden path.

After driving Fu Xiangfeng away, Heng Hua began inscribing runes onto the surface of the Puppet Gold.

"Young Master, what mechanism puppet are you making?"

"Golden Crab Armored Soldier."

With a casual gesture, a mechanism blueprint bound in chains and forged from red copper flew out of the book chest he carried.

Bang!

The heavy mechanism blueprint slammed onto the table with a dull thud.

Golden Dragons were carved into both sides of the cover, while the spine bore the marking "Three."

Crack—

The chains opened, and the pages turned on their own.

Every page of the mechanism book depicted blueprints for a kind of mechanism puppet along with its uses. Water-Draining Bow Shrimp Soldier, Crimson Carp Fire-Swallowing Soldier, Nine-Bend Earth Dragon Soldier...

Soon, the blueprint turned to the page for the Golden Crab Armored Soldier.

It was a golden crab-shaped puppet soldier three zhang in size. Its two claws and eight legs could all serve as weapons, whirling like spinning sword wheels against enemies.

Xiaoyu said, "Th-this looks similar to that crab demon we encountered?"

"Yes. I suspect that puppeteer remodeled it according to the Golden Crab Armored Soldier template."

"So Young Master expected that man would refuse to let the matter rest, and deliberately made a Golden Crab Armored Soldier to deal with him?"

"What could be more interesting than shattering his confidence in the field he prides himself on most?" Heng Hua raised his head. "But according to my divination, that puppet master no longer seems capable of causing me any trouble."

A hundred li beyond Coiling Dragon Island.

Yan Qianyu followed the people of the Profound Heart Altar as they set up a demonic formation.

As he silently adapted to his puppet body, he cursed Fu Liuhui a thousand times over in his heart.

If not for that little bitch, how could he have ended up in such a state?

Not long ago, the master of the Profound Heart Altar had arrived in person. He was a genuine Golden Core demonic cultivator. Putting on an act before him left Yan Qianyu trembling with fear, terrified of revealing even the slightest flaw. If he did, the man might seize control of his puppet insects and turn him into a demonic slave of the Profound Heart Altar.

"But as long as I destroy Coiling Dragon Island and seize the body of a Fu Family descendant, I can recoup my losses."

In terms of aptitude and physique, these Cypress Sovereign Hall disciples who had undergone the cleansing of the Dragon-Transformation Pool were far superior to his original body.

On Skyhanging Isle, Wei Lingzheng led a group of clansmen down from the clouds and hurried toward the Divine Void Jade Manor at the center of the spirit isle.

After they announced themselves, the gatekeeping boy led the group to a pear grove.

Clear snow hung thick upon the branches, like clusters of exploding glaciers.

Within the grove stood a lofty Taiji platform, where a middle-aged cultivator in a black-and-clear Daoist robe was regulating his breath and circulating his cultivation.

After Wei Lingzheng and the others paid their respects, he said respectfully, "Clan Uncle, your nephew discovered Fu Family members operating in the White River Reef Zone. I ask for your assistance."

"The Fu Family? Who is there? Which branch?"

Wei Chongwei opened his eyes. Two flashes of brilliance gleamed within them, and a gale swept through the grove, raising wave after wave of white petals.

"Cypress Sovereign Hall. Fu Xiangfeng."

"Fu Yinggu's son? That old ghost Fu's grandson?"

Wei Chongwei made a grasping motion, drawing the fly-whisk hanging from a treetop into his hand.

With a casual sweep, all the petals dancing through the forest were drawn before him.

The densely packed petals continuously gathered, first forming a disk, then turning square, then becoming a five-pointed star...

The Floral Divination Art.

Wei Lingzheng patiently awaited the result.

Boom—

After a thunderous blast, the petals ignited in flame.

"Interesting. You want to interfere with this Daoist's calculations?" With a sweep of his fly-whisk, the flower ash scattered away on the wind.

Wei Chongwei rose to his feet and performed another divination method.

Xiaoyu sat nearby, reading the construction method for the Golden Crab Armored Soldier.

A Golden Crab Soldier could possess combat power up to the Foundation Establishment Realm. Yet above it was an upgraded model that could be further refined from the original body and transformed into a Golden Crab Dragon-Scale General.

"Young Master, aren't the materials you prepared somewhat insufficient? The book says a Golden Crab Armored Soldier requires ten jin of Divine Iron, eight taels of Mystic Gold, three taels of Spirit Silver, and one jin of Puppet Gold."

"Which is why I'll simplify the blueprint."

The Puppet Gold Xiang Feng had refined was only palm-sized, nowhere near heavy enough. Heng Hua carefully engraved minute seal-script upon it, inscribing one tiny spiritual glyph after another, each invisible to the naked eye.

"Later, ask Third Brother whether he has any jade. And bring me those eight crab-leg jades and claw pincers—"

Suddenly, an icy wind poured in through the window.

Heng Hua's heart stirred with a sudden premonition, and he casually beckoned toward the book chest.

"Come."

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—

Three copper coins flew out from a lacquered box. Heng Hua muttered two incantations, scooped up the coins, and tossed them onto the table.

Clink—

The divination coins collided, then under the guidance of unseen spiritual currents, fell into a hexagram.

After calculating silently, Heng Hua sneered. "Hmph—I was wondering who it was. So it's the Wei Family."

He picked up a brush and wrote three lightning talismans, then quickly flung them out the window.

"Go!"

Pressing his index and middle fingers together, he fiercely pointed at the lightning talismans.

Rumble—

The three lightning talismans exploded, stirring changes in the water vapor between heaven and earth.

Taking advantage of the moment, Heng Hua used the scattered water vapor to draw a talisman, writing a Conceal Divinity Talisman into the heavens and earth.

"Conceal!"

The talisman formed from water vapor vanished into heaven and earth, breaking Wei Chongwei's initial Floral Divination Art.

Yet soon after, Heng Hua sensed that the probing force had grown stronger.

Heng Hua rose and walked to the window, activating the Spirit-Sensing Communion Mystic Method.

At some unknown moment, a dark cloud had drifted into the sky.

"Wei Lingzheng, was it? He doesn't have that cultivation. Among the Wei Family, the people capable of divination—

"They fled at dawn, and now they've found someone to cast a spell. It must be someone from the Wei Family nearby. Wei Chongwei of Skyhanging Isle, or Wei Chongkong of Scarlet Radiance Isle?"

Those two were both elders of Wei Lingzheng's generation, having cultivated for seven or eight hundred years and entered the Mysterious Embryo Realm.

Heng Hua performed the Nine Mysterious Heavenly One Divination Art. This deduction method was profoundly intricate, and when paired with the Spirit-Sensing Communion Mystic Method, its effects were miraculous, as though the two came from the same source.

"That force is coming from Skyhanging Isle? So it's Wei Chongwei!"

Heng Hua laughed. "If it were a Golden Core or False Core cultivator of the Wei Family, I might be wary. But a mere Mysterious Embryo Realm divination art thinks it deserves to contend with me?"

He returned from the window to the room, swept the pearl powder from the table into his sleeve, then flipped onto the ship's roof.

"Little Six, what's happening?"

Xiang Feng stood at the bow and called out.

"It's nothing. Someone is trying to calculate you and me—well, calculate you, Third Brother."

Heng Hua saw wisps of strange airflow above Xiang Feng's head.

Clearly, the diviner had taken Fu Xiangfeng as the target in order to sense the Colorful-Luan Spirit Ship.

Heng Hua forcefully scattered the pearl powder from his sleeve. Forming hand seals with both hands, he drew strange glyphs in the air that attracted the powder, transforming it into twisted seal-script characters.

Xiang Feng stared at those seal-script characters, and suddenly his head grew dizzy. He did not dare keep looking.

His expression darkened as he thought, The orthodox Dao is upright and grand. How could it possess such a technique? Could this be some evil art?

"It isn't an evil art."

Hengshou, who had suddenly emerged, said this to Fu Xiangfeng.

He remembered the origin of this cultivation method. It had come from an ancient text brought back from outside by a Fu Family clansman twenty years ago.

After Fu Henghua translated it, he extracted a Heavenly Demon mental cultivation method from between the lines of that Yellow Grade cultivation art—the Myriad Transformations Unfettered Heavenly Demon Scripture.

It was the palace-suppressing mental cultivation method of the Demon Palace, famed throughout the Thirteen Waters. The Seven Sages Heaven-Misting Illusion Art was its accompanying spell.

Heng Hua had once speculated that during the turmoil in the Demon Palace years ago, a senior demonic cultivator might have hidden it within an immortal cultivation art in hopes of finding a successor to the Heavenly Demon.

Watching Heng Hua manipulate demonic curses at will, Hengshou sighed.

Sure enough, he was a natural seed of the demonic path, a genius among evil cultivators. Back then, with only a single thought of entering demonhood, he had become a monster who formed a demonic Golden Core.

Then he called Xiaoyu and Xiang Feng back into the cabin.

Heng Hua circulated the Seven Sages Heaven-Misting Illusion Art at full force, strands of yin wind circling around him.

Driven by the demonic art, the spiritual seal-script formed seven groups of demonic patterns brimming with the alien aura of the Heavenly Demon.

Clap—

As Heng Hua brought his hands together, the seven groups of demonic patterns stirred seven whirlpools upon the water, raising mist that blotted out the sky and covered the earth.

"Done."

Heng Hua could sense that as he performed the rite, the force targeting Fu Xiangfeng lost its target and could only drift about, hovering above this stretch of water.

Letting out a breath of relief, Heng Hua flicked his sleeve. The mist drifted down like hazy gauze, covering the entire waterway and concealing the Colorful-Luan Spirit Ship's tracks.