Walking alone with a sword, slaying ghosts and gods

Chapter 535 Seven Cultivations Return to Origin to Refine the Demon Seed; A Banished Demon Descends to Earth, and Calamity Arrives (I was still recovering yesterday, so I'll update another 5,000 words tonight).

Time flies, and life changes like clouds drifting by; in the blink of an eye, another thousand years have passed in this world.

Throughout this thousand-year period, Lu Cheng's mind and attention were mostly focused on the reincarnations of the Xiao sisters.

After the calamity of the corpse demon in Anping County, he waited for the right opportunity to turn around. He then secretly and skillfully arranged for Lin Qingyi and Han Ningshuang to encounter the Demon Refining Golden Pagoda, their natal treasure from their previous lives, in an ancient ruin. They also comprehended the secret "Demon Refining Heart Sutra" and the divine incantation for controlling demons inscribed on the pagoda.

However, Lu Cheng did not allow the two women to actually take the treasure. Although the spirit of the Demon Refining Golden Pagoda itself was jubilant and eager to try, given the two women's current level, taking this sixth-order magic treasure would be like a child carrying gold through a bustling market, which would likely attract endless calamities.

Therefore, after the two women comprehended the "Demon Refining Heart Sutra", the ancient cave collapsed. The two women could only see the golden pagoda that had captivated their minds being sealed within endless rocks. They kept this matter in their hearts, hoping to retrieve the treasure in the future.

From then on, Lin Qingyi and Han Ningshuang possessed profound Taoist skills, carrying the healing of the common people on one hand and wielding the sword to vanquish demons and suppress evil spirits on the other, truly cultivating both inner and outer virtues.

The "Demon Refining Heart Sutra" is profound in its conception and possesses boundless power. When combined with divine incantations and methods of exorcising demons, it can suppress ghosts and evil spirits with Taoist magic, and then continuously convert them with Taoist scriptures and make them work for one's own purposes.

It can be said that the longer one cultivates, the more ghosts and evil spirits one subdues and converts, and the more powerful one becomes.

After hundreds of years of slaying demons and doing good deeds, the wisdom accumulated over lifetimes gradually awakens. Lin Qingyi and Han Ningshuang, the two women, have successively broken through the wondrous realm of the Golden Elixir and finally remembered their past lives.

They then returned to the Heaven and Earth Palace and re-entered Lu Cheng's seat.

With their foundations from their past lives intact and their resolve in this life unwavering, the two women made rapid progress, returning to the Nascent Soul stage in just over a hundred years.

By the end of a thousand years in this world, the Nascent Soul True Qi has undergone nine cycles, the Qi is full and the spirit is abundant. Gazing at the threshold of the Primordial Spirit, one waits for that one chance to break through.

However, ninety percent of the Taoist magic of the sisters Xiao Yuhong and Xiao Yuxue is applied to that Demon Refining Golden Pagoda, which is dedicated to subduing demons and suppressing evil. The two of them have been refining this natal magic treasure together. In their previous life, they had exhausted all their efforts and spiritual resources. In this life, they continue to refine it together. The Demon Refining Golden Pagoda is already shining brightly with spiritual light, and it is almost on the verge of being promoted to a spiritual treasure.

When the two join forces and use their natal magic treasures, even with the peak Nascent Soul stage magic power, they can fight against demons in the early Nascent Soul stage. Their offensive and suppressive power is especially terrifying!
However, the power of the Demon Refining Heart Sutra is greatly reduced when facing the primordial spirit of the human race, and it is probably even inferior to ordinary primordial spirit cultivation techniques.

Of course, this shortcoming can be made up for by subduing and converting demons and guardians through thousands of years of cultivation. In this respect, it is almost a perfect Taoist manual.

In the realm of mortal immortals, cause and effect are also predetermined.

With his own character, talent, and profound background, Lu Cheng finally won the approval of the Supreme Elder of the Golden Cicada Clan and took his beloved daughter, Han Qiongzhi, as a concubine.

However, Daoist Lu Cheng acted according to his own principles. His relationship with Princess Jin Chan, Han Qiongzhi, was one of propriety and honoring his promises; it was not out of romantic affection, but rather out of a sense of duty to protect the Dao.

Entrusted by his father, he used his family's vast wealth to protect him throughout his life.

Lu Cheng did accept gifts and money from Elder Jin Chan, but Han Qiongzhi was only nominally a concubine to him, not in reality.

At the same time, Lu Cheng stepped in to protect Han Qiongzhi's safety, ensuring she wouldn't follow in her father's footsteps until she cultivated enough magical power to protect herself.

This is a very fair transaction.

With the substantial profits from trade between the two realms, coupled with the gifts from Elder Jin Chan, Lu Cheng accumulated a wealth of resources, which he then poured entirely into the giant spirit flying ship.

He was able to follow his heart's desires and exhaust his ingenious ideas to repeatedly refine and enhance this sacred artifact.

The improvements to every rune array on the ship's hull and the completion and upgrading of every restriction have allowed Lu Cheng to gain a deeper understanding and stronger control over this war artifact that integrates the essence of Taiqing and the wonders of the heavens, to the point that he is almost inextricably linked to it and his mind is in perfect harmony with it.

Time flows like the sands of the Ganges, silently and without warning. Thus, two thousand years have passed since the Great Calamity of the Demon Gods.

During these two thousand years, Miao Chuyun and Youming Daoren, both disciples of the Heaven and Earth Dao Palace, successively advanced to the Yuan Shen realm. Both of them cultivated the Yuan Shen realm in their first life and had a profound foundation.

In the mortal realm, deep within the Heavenly Palace.

On a solitary peak, towering ten thousand feet high, shrouded in the oppressive power of twenty-four ancient gods and demons and the swirling vortex of earthly and heavenly spirits, within its core stone chamber, a chilling demonic aura that would terrify even ordinary Nascent Soul cultivators is currently permeating the air.

In the center of the stone chamber, the altar, carved from millennia-old Yin-Yang jade, shimmered with light. Daoist Lu Cheng sat upright and composed upon it.

His face was calm and composed, without a trace of emotion, except for a faint hint of fierceness that occasionally flashed in the depths of his deep eyes.

In the void before Lu Cheng, a precious pearl the size of an infant's fist floated.

This bead is blackish-red in color, neither gold nor jade. At first glance, it seems unremarkable, but upon closer inspection, it appears to contain an endless abyss of hell, where demons devour each other, life after life without end.

On the surface of the bead, intricate and complex dark red magic patterns, exuding a sense of primordial desolation, slowly wriggled and intertwined, as if breathing like a living creature.

What's even more chilling is that the inner depths of the pearl are not solid entities, but rather thirteen extremely condensed, blood-red spiritual lights that radiate piercing resentment and boundless malevolence, flying and colliding.

They were like active volcanoes sealed in ancient ice, rushing wildly left and right. With each impact, the bead hummed and trembled, emitting a silent but piercing scream that could penetrate the cultivator's primordial spirit!
This is the Seven Cultivation Primordial Spirit Pearl, a demonic treasure that Lu Cheng has finally forged after a thousand years of painstaking effort, countless schemes and killings!

Once refined, it possesses immense power and endless wonders.

Like the previous Myriad Spirit Blood Bead, the method for refining this Seven Cultivation Primordial Spirit Bead also comes from the Shangqing Sect's "Shangqing Dharma Record," one of the nine sects of the human race in the Earth Immortal Realm.

Taiqing Mountain is the first in Taoist lineage, Yuqing Mountain is the first in Taoist purity, and Shangqing Mountain is the first in Taoist prestige. The Shangqing lineage is not bound by the distinction between good and evil, and is involved in the righteous and evil Taoist arts of various schools and sects. It especially likes to modify demonic magic, so that all evils devour each other and use calamity to control calamity.

Of course, there have been times when things went wrong, and some of them have become vicious and difficult to control. However, the Shangqing Sect has a deep foundation and has not yet been able to truly resolve such a problem.

To cultivate the Seven Cultivation Primordial Spirit Pearl, one first needs thirteen spiritual souls at least at the Primordial Spirit level. The higher the spiritual soul's realm, the stronger the magic weapon will be after it is refined. This alone can be said to have offended the public and easily brought disaster upon oneself.

The original Seven-Cultivation Primordial Spirit Bead of the Demonic Path required capturing thirteen primordial spirit cultivators, preferably alive, and torturing them for a thousand years to fill their souls with resentment and hatred before refining them into a magic weapon. The greater the resentment, the greater the power of the magic weapon.

After this magic fell into the hands of the Shangqing cultivators, they modified it by adding the Way of the End of Fortune. The more evil a cultivator committed, the more desperate they were, the more their fate declined, and the more resentful they were when they died, the greater the power of the magic would be when their soul was refined into it.

Among the seven Yuan Shen beads in front of Lu Cheng, four of them had a different aura from the others. Although they were also bound by demonic patterns, the pure Daoist energy, sword intent, eerie ghost energy, and savage evil intent emanating from their souls could still be vaguely discerned.

These are four of the seven Primordial God Ancestors who besieged the Tongxuan Realm back then!

At that time, Lu Cheng made an exception, not out of fear of cause and effect, but because he had already planned ahead. He waited for a thousand years to calculate and select, and when the fortunes of some of them declined and their resentment deepened, he sent his disciples to follow the trail and kill them, taking their souls into his possession. Their resentment and karma were also within a controllable range.

They were the ones who attacked Tongxuan Realm and Daoist Lucheng first. Lucheng didn't retaliate when their fate was still intact, but he retained the right to retaliate.

If a cultivator in the mortal realm cannot ascend to the upper realm, they only have a lifespan of three thousand years in one lifetime. Most mortals in the seven realms cannot cultivate into a mortal spirit in their first lifetime. They often need to reach the Nascent Soul stage in their first lifetime and then undergo a second lifetime of reincarnation and cultivation, and only then can they refine their mortal spirit through other opportunities.

So, after a thousand years of waiting, many Nascent Soul cultivators were dragged to the brink of their lifespans and their fortunes were at their lowest point by Lu Cheng. At this time, he would send his disciples to take action. If they succeeded, they succeeded; if they failed, the karmic debt between the two parties would be settled, and they would no longer be entangled.

However, Lu Cheng's cultivation is now extremely high. Although he lives in seclusion in the Heaven and Earth Dao Palace and does not come out, his calculations are almost flawless, and he is sure to hit the target whenever he makes a move.

Over the course of these two thousand years, Lu Cheng's remarkable progress was not in magical power after cultivating the Xuan Tian Divine Skill to the twenty-fourth transformation, but rather in his cultivation of Dao.

With the profound foundation and environment of a sect like the Taiqing Sect, and Lu Cheng's ambition to achieve this, he copied and studied countless Taoist classics every day. Although it was a clumsy method, it was a condition that mortal cultivators could not possess, so his rate of cultivation growth was astonishing.

At the same time, this was also a last resort for Lu Cheng. The power of the Xuan Tian Divine Art was immense, and so was its backlash. If one did not have sufficient Dao heart and cultivation to support them and cultivate to such a profound level, even Lu Cheng knew that he would inevitably be harmed by it, and he could not afford to take any chances.

At this moment, within the Seven Cultivation Primordial Spirit Beads before Lu Cheng, these four souls, burdened with the heaviest resentment and at the end of their lifespan, all originated from cultivators of the Seven Realms who had once coveted the fortune of the Profound Realm. Their entangled karma and the fact that the other party was no benevolent entity perfectly matched the extremely demanding requirements of the "Seven Cultivation Primordial Spirit" refinement process, minimizing the backlash on their own destiny.

As for the other nine soul lights, which were somewhat chaotic and violent, and varied in form, they were the souls of ancient beasts of the Void Return level that Lu Cheng's avatar had obtained in the desolate wilderness of the Earthly Immortal Realm over a thousand years.

These wild beasts were born from the most primitive and savage evil energy in the Earthly Immortal Realm. Their soul strength far surpassed that of Nascent Soul cultivators, and they were full of destructive and chaotic instincts. Although their spirituality was slightly inferior, their vast and boundless soul power and evil energy from the savage wilderness were the best materials to replenish the main soul and enhance the foundation of the magic treasure!
At this moment, the thirteen soul shadows were tearing at each other, devouring and refining each other within the demonic pearl. Finally, under Lu Cheng's guidance with Daoist techniques, they were forcibly balanced and merged into a single, ferocious demonic embryo.

In the mortal realm, seventh-tier primordial spirit magic treasures can still be crafted. After the treasure is crafted, it can be nurtured with perseverance. After ascending to the Earthly Immortal Realm and undergoing a blood sacrifice, it will become a powerful trump card after advancing to the Void Returning Realm.

After a thousand years of sitting in meditation, reading scriptures and refining treasures, Lu Cheng used his vast and boundless magical power as a furnace, forged its form with the Samadhi True Fire, and further used the general principles and mental cultivation methods of the Shangqing Sect in the upper realm as a guide. Amidst boundless resentment and malevolent energy, he forcibly refined a demonic pearl of immense power.

Countless pure demonic essences and precious spiritual materials were crushed into the most fundamental particles, merging into this Chaos Demon Orb like rivers flowing into the sea.

The magical patterns on the bead became increasingly complete and profound, vaguely forming the prototype of a miniature world that was all-encompassing yet utterly bizarre.

Within the core of the pearl, a dormant demonic power, capable of causing even ordinary cultivators at the Void Return stage to tremble, is quietly accumulating.

'Only through demonic arts and sorcery, opportunism and cunning, can cultivators in the mortal realm and at the Nascent Soul stage refine Void Returning Demonic Treasures and even have their weapon-refining skills not restricted. No wonder the demonic path has never ceased in any era.'

If I hadn't mastered the Taoist transformation and ascension techniques, I would be inherently immune to all evil. I would never dare to refine such a demonic treasure, lest I be corrupted by demons and all the Taoist cultivation and power I've painstakingly built up over a thousand years be wasted.

On this day.

Before the altar, the last stream of pitch-black demonic liquid, forged from the fusion of Nine Nether Profound Iron and extraterrestrial meteorite essence, flowed and dripped down. The moment it touched the surface of the bead, it was instantly swallowed up by an invisible suction force.

"Om-!"

An indescribable, magnificent demonic sound suddenly erupted from within the Seven Cultivation Primordial Spirit Pearl!
The stone chamber suddenly twisted and collapsed, and time seemed to freeze for a moment.

The Chaos Demon Pearl instantly emitted boundless light, no longer a mournful blood-red light, but a profound and unfathomable dark radiance that seemed capable of devouring all light and heat.

All the demonic runes on the bead lit up and flowed at the same time, outlining a series of painful, twisted, and resentful faces that also exuded a certain sacred and demonic quality. The thirteen main souls briefly merged into one, transforming into a blurry demonic core!

After a thousand years of arduous cultivation, success has finally been achieved!
The Seven Cultivation Primordial Spirit Pearl, a magical artifact of the Void Return level, has been officially refined!
It no longer needed Lu Cheng's magic power to maintain its form, but spontaneously floated in the void, breathing in and out the rich earthly and heavenly energy in the stone chamber, and a series of pulsating sounds, like a heartbeat or thunder, came from inside the bead.

A "Return to Emptiness" pressure, surpassing even the Nascent Soul stage and belonging to a higher life form and the rules of the Great Dao, was slowly released, like a slumbering ancient ferocious beast.

As soon as this demonic orb took shape, it became full of spirit and wanted to fly away to devour blood and food, and complete the final step of the ritual.

However, Lu Cheng used his immense magical power to unleash a beam of light that blocked and blocked it.

The demonic pearl struggled left and right but couldn't break free. Finally, it fell down in a pitiful state, touching Daoist Lu Cheng and pleading coquettishly.

"Now is not the time. You are already at the seventh level. If you advance to the eighth level, the heavens and earth will not tolerate it. You will either ascend to heaven or be destroyed by heavenly punishment."

After offering a word of advice, Lu Cheng put it away. In the future, once the main body advances to the Void Returning Realm and performs a final blood sacrifice with sufficient living beings' essence and souls, this magic weapon will truly be upgraded to a Void Returning Demonic Treasure; now is not the time.

After retrieving the Demon Pearl, a faint hint of satisfaction finally appeared on Lu Cheng's previously calm face. A thousand years of planning and countless schemes had finally yielded this precious embryo.

The protective light of the quiet room dimmed slightly, and the chaotic airflow within the stone chamber gradually calmed down.

Just in time!

Without warning, the entire Tongxuan Realm... no, the spatial rift connecting the entire mortal realm and the Earthly Immortal Realm simultaneously trembled violently!
It was neither a surge of primordial energy nor an earthquake. It was a fall from a higher, more distant existence!
"Boom, boom, boom!"

Thunder rumbled and the sky and earth changed color. It wasn't that dark clouds were gathering, but rather that the boundless blue sky above suddenly became filthy, murky, and lifeless!
The once endless flow of starlight now seemed to be blocked and polluted by a layer of invisible, formless, yet ubiquitous, viscous gray mist.

The gray mist carried a strong aura of decay, corrosion, and assimilation, like miasma spreading from the depths of a rotten swamp that had not been disturbed for millions of years, instantly filling the entire horizon as far as the eye could see!
Lu Cheng first transformed into a beam of light and went out to observe the celestial phenomena and survey the terrain. Then, he repeatedly deduced and calculated using the Heavenly Demon Algorithm, and gradually began to frown.

"Evils devour each other, and demons fight demons... It seems that I was the one who summoned this old demon. The cause and effect between us are deeply intertwined."

Ordinary people are afraid of effects, but Bodhisattvas are afraid of causes.

Ordinary people only fear the bad consequences, but wise practitioners understand that you reap what you sow.

On this day, the Jade Bell of the Heaven and Earth Palace, which had not sounded for a thousand years, rang out.

Each streak of light, unless it was a matter of life and death, almost disregarded what they were doing and rode back.

On this day, Lu Cheng, the Divine Lord of the Heavenly Dao Palace, once again appeared and preached to his disciples:
Daoist partners: Xiao Yuhong and Xiao Yuxue, sisters; concubines: Xue Yuzhen and Yun Ling'er, two girls.

And the true disciples, who are now in the primordial spirit stage, Miao Chuyun and Youming Daoren, as well as Shisheng Daoren and Yun Huang'er, who have already undergone one tribulation and recovered their magical power.

In addition, there are spirit beasts, nine dragons, and registered and inner disciples of the Heaven and Earth Dao Palace, all of whom can listen to the teachers' lectures and teachings here.

"A great calamity is about to befall the world. The cycle of heaven turns, and cause and effect become intertwined. There is a demon god from beyond the realm, named Gara!"
This demon was originally a powerful figure in the demonic path of a thousand worlds in the upper realm. At the height of his cultivation, he had reached the Void Returning Realm, able to summon wind and rain, move mountains and overturn seas, and possess overwhelming ferocity. However, his actions were too extreme and cruel, which angered a righteous Taoist hermit.

The two sides fought for thousands of years, with each side winning and losing. In the end, Gara was no match for Gara. His demonic body nearly collapsed, his foundation was severely damaged, and his cultivation level was also reduced. He fled in a sorry state.

To evade the pursuit of the righteous Taoist priest, he followed a faint sense of direction and entered a weaker lower realm node within the spatial rift. Using his remaining demonic energy, he tore through the barrier and forcibly smuggled himself into this world.

This is the descent of a demon into the world; a calamity of slaughter is about to begin between heaven and earth…

Lu Cheng Daoist's almost prophetic words caused a great uproar among the disciples below the altar. However, he paid little attention to them and instead stared straight ahead, as if his divine eyes had already seen through the void and were meeting the gaze of the demon who had descended to earth.

Not only could Lu Cheng calculate the other party's identity with his cultivation and magical power, but because the two parties were deeply entangled in karma, the Demon God Jialuo could also sense Lu Cheng and the demonic treasure he had refined.

If I could obtain this treasure and then corrupt the lower realms, I might be able to fight my adversary again after returning to the Immortal Realm.

In fact, if Lu Cheng hadn't refined the Seven-Cultivation Primordial Spirit Pearl in the lower realm, causing a surge in the demonic energy of the lower realm, then the chances of someone smuggling themselves back to the mortal realm from the Earthly Immortal Realm would be slim to none, and the Demon God Jialuo could be said to have been brought to justice.

"Master, a great calamity is imminent in the world. How should we deal with it?"

As the eldest disciple among the true disciples, Miao Chuyun stepped forward from among the many disciples, bowed, and asked the question.

"The fortunes of heaven and earth fluctuate, the Tao declines and the demons rise, there are natural laws, calamities and fortunes are intertwined, there is the principle that fortune and misfortune are intertwined. A great calamity is also a great fortune, we should uphold the Tao and be in it, if we can take advantage of the situation, perhaps we can seize the opportunity and rise to the top."

As he answered, Lu Cheng thought that the reason he was able to become the chosen one of the Tongxuan Realm was because of the calamities brought about by Sheng Yang, Kong Ji, and the Twenty-Four Demon Gods. Originally, he had no way to deal with the Heavenly Dao of the seven worlds: Ding Zhang, Tong Tian, ​​Lie Huo, Xuan Kong, Ju Mang, Yu Qing, and Yin Yang. It's not that you can manipulate the Heavenly Dao at will just because you have high magical power, or that there are no cultivators in the mortal world with such magical power.

But now, things seem to be a little different.

Normally, the descent of a demon into the world is an extremely terrifying calamity, especially since the power of a Void Returning Demon cultivator has fallen to the current Nascent Soul realm, but his mental state and vision remain, making him far stronger than ordinary Nascent Soul cultivators.

However, Lu Cheng's cultivation in the mortal realm over the past two thousand years has greatly improved his cultivation and magical power, making him incomparable to ordinary primordial spirit cultivators.

(End of this chapter)