Walking alone with a sword, slaying ghosts and gods

Chapter 539 The Daoist Arts Subdue the Calamity Waters, the Demonic Disciple's Scheme Exhausted, the Path of the Dao Revealed (Seeking Rewards and Subscriptions!)

Jumang Realm, Qingping Continent, Demon Valley.

The Xuanhuang Demon-Suppressing Treasure Talisman emitted rays of golden light that suppressed all evil, and the churning demonic energy around the Hundred Bones Sect's primordial spirit demon suddenly solidified.

"Lock!" The Netherworld Daoist's eyes were icy cold, and his words were like an imperial edict.

The talismans, as fine as a net, followed the golden patterns of the Demon-Suppressing Talisman, layer upon layer, wrapping around the old demon's body, and finally condensing into a black chain engraved with profound runes, which then tightened suddenly!
The chains pierced his flesh and eroded his soul. The old demon's shrill, inhuman screams came to an abrupt halt. His demonic powers were completely sealed, and like a venomous snake with its bones removed, he collapsed to the ground, unable to stir up the slightest trouble.

This Hundred Bones Old Demon is actually one of the most powerful figures in the current demonic path. Although he is not well-known, the magic he cultivates is extremely profound and wondrous. He can refine himself into a zombie-like existence, hiding in the Yin Aperture of the Earth's Lungs, neither dead nor alive, and prolonging his life for ten thousand years.

If it weren't for the descent of the banished demon, which made the Hundred Bones Demon feel that he had finally found the opportunity to ascend, he would not have been willing to leave the mountain.

If this old demon were to hide in the Yin Aperture of the Earth's Lungs, even a righteous primordial spirit with far greater magical power than him would find it very difficult to locate him. He could be described as an extremely difficult demonic giant to eliminate. Yet, he was now slain by the combined efforts of Miao Chuyun, Youming, and Shisheng.

Therefore, it can be said that he has made a great contribution to this land.

Otherwise, if the Hundred Bones Demon had remained hidden in the earth's aperture, suffering the pain of the Yin Fire burning his body, he wouldn't have stayed there obediently. Instead, he would have spread his demonic power, causing the earth dragon to rise up and take the opportunity to emerge and devour blood and food. This could be considered a minor ailment, not fatal but still harmful.

"The Xuanhuang Demon-Suppressing Treasure Talisman is truly miraculous. It was bestowed upon us by Master Lu and has always helped us overcome dangers." Miao Chuyun breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing that the current demon had been completely suppressed.

The Netherworld Taoist carefully retrieved the ancient jade talisman that shimmered with a warm light and put it into his sleeve, his eyes filled with awe.

These magical treasures and talismans bestowed by our masters are arguably the key to our courage in frequently fighting against demonic cultivators.

Otherwise, relying solely on their own magical power and swordsmanship, even if the three of them survived several battles against the demonic cultivators, they would certainly suffer severe injuries, with their physical bodies damaged and their vital energy greatly depleted.

"This old demon is a giant in the demonic path of the Jumang Realm, with countless wronged souls in his hands. Today, he has fallen into the hands of our Heaven and Earth Dao Palace, which is a great opportunity to show our power!" With that, the Netherworld Daoist stepped forward, and the Soul-Suppressing Banner moved without wind. Countless illusory images of suffering souls on the banner roared silently at the locked old demon.

He activated his magic power, and with a flick of the Soul-Suppressing Banner, he absorbed the Myriad Bones Demon, who was doubly imprisoned by the Xuanhuang Chains and the Netherworld Seal, and prepared to take him back to the Dao Palace for Master Lu to deal with.

After this battle, the eerie winds and malevolent energy in the deep valley seemed to have weakened somewhat.

Those souls that were imprisoned and prepared to be refined into the demonic sword, after losing the control of the formation, were either liberated by the pure yang energy of Miao Chuyun's Tai Ri Lie Mang Shen Zhen and turned into wisps of smoke, or temporarily taken in by the Netherworld Daoist with the Soul-Suppressing Banner and prepared to be brought back for reincarnation.

The remaining demonic cultivators of the Hundred Bones Sect within the valley had already been slaughtered by Shi Sheng as easily as cutting melons and vegetables. Only those with truly shallow cultivation were spared, even though it might allow the demonic poison to spread. If they committed any further evil deeds, younger cultivators would surely come to their aid.

"Clean this place up, search for evidence of crimes and clues to demonic practices. Make sure all the factions in the Jumang Realm know what the consequences are for those who submit to Jialuo!" Miao Chuyun gave this final order, completing the task.

Wars like this are not only being experienced by Miao Chuyun, Youming, and Shisheng.

Many cultivators from the Heaven and Earth Dao Palace, including Huang Longzi, Chi Shenzi, and Mie Hongzi, were also experiencing the same thing. Cultivators from the righteous sects of the Seven Realms were also pursuing and eliminating a group of demonic cultivators led by the demon god Jialuo from the Yin-Yang Demon Realm.

Because if you don't attack them, they will attack you.

To remain neutral, one must possess sufficient strength; otherwise, those in the demonic path will not easily let go of any easy piece of meat.

However, demonic cultivators are often selfish and self-serving. They are fine when they have an absolute advantage and are winning, but once the righteous sects react and gather to attack, they often only have one path: defeat and death.

The realm of profound mystery, the palace of heaven and earth.

Deep within the main hall, all was quiet and still.

Lu Cheng sat cross-legged on the Yin-Yang Dharma Platform, his body spotless and free of dust, his aura as deep as the sea, as if he were wandering in the void, cultivating his own path.

For over two thousand years in the human realm, the Xuan Tian Twenty-Four Transformations, which was extremely difficult and obscure and gave people the feeling that it was impossible to cultivate successfully, has finally been worn down by Lu Cheng over these two thousand years of hardship, and has become easy to master, with man and skill becoming one.

A Golden Core cultivator lives for 800 years, a Nascent Soul cultivator for 2,000 years, and a Transcendent Cultivator for 4,000 years. A Divine Spirit cultivator lives for 3,000 years, and a Transcendent Cultivator for 6,000 years.

This is the normal lifespan of a cultivator. Those like the Hundred Bones Demon, who are trapped in the Yin Meridians and burned by Yin Fire every day, in a state between death and life in exchange for immortality, are considered anomalies in the demonic path.

Even among demonic cultivators, few could bring themselves to be so ruthless.

Normally, Lu Cheng's lifespan should have ended by now, but he is an anomaly in the righteous path. He cultivates the Taoist Transformation and Ascension Technique, reaching the Twenty-Four Transformations level. This first-class Taoist divine skill gradually changes his physical constitution and innate aptitude. Not only does Lu Cheng feel that his spiritual sense and magical power are improving faster and faster, but he also gradually senses that he will not die even if he lives for more than three thousand years.

He has cultivated for so long and has truly not died.

This is a quantitative change that has finally led to a qualitative change. By subduing the bloodline of the primordial true spirit with his own true spirit, the essence of his own true spirit has been enhanced, and he has begun to be equal to the essence of those primordial true spirits. And those primordial true spirits, how could they die after only a few thousand years?

Kong Ji Dao Ren and Sheng Yang Dao Ren lived for tens of thousands of years in the mortal realm by devouring innate Qi. Lu Cheng dared not say that he could be like them now, but it seemed that living for at least 18,000 to 10,000 years was no problem.

'So, I've tricked Fellow Daoist Jialuo again. He's been waiting for me to die of old age for a long time, hasn't he? Now it seems that even if he dies of old age, I won't.'

In the Immortal Realm, as long as one cultivates to the Primordial Spirit Realm, one is already immortal in terms of lifespan. As long as one overcomes the Tribulation of the Heart and the Tribulation of Heaven, one can enjoy endless carefree immortal bliss.

Of course, this is in theory. Cultivators with sufficient mental strength will continue to cultivate towards the Void Returning Realm or even higher realms, while cultivators with insufficient mental strength will enjoy carefree immortal bliss for thousands or tens of thousands of years, after which they will often suffer from mental exhaustion and the Five Signs of Decay.

The Primordial Spirit realm already possesses the foundation for immortality, but the spiritual energy in the mortal realm, in terms of both quality and quantity, is insufficient to support the immortality of Primordial Spirit cultivators. Therefore, their lifespan is limited to a maximum of three thousand years in one lifetime and six thousand years through reincarnation.

The demon god Jialuo is a banished demon from the upper realm. His lifespan is calculated from the moment he was banished to the mortal world, which is two three-thousand-year periods, totaling six thousand years.

No matter how you calculate it, he could outlive Lu Cheng, the Daoist of the Heavenly Dao Palace, so Jialuo was unwilling to fight Lu Cheng to the death. However, he did not expect that Lu Cheng had gradually mastered the Daoist Transformation Ascension Technique to a high level, which triggered a qualitative change in his innate aptitude and made his lifespan abnormal.

At this moment, the seemingly young Taoist priest had his eyes slightly closed, but his fingertips were unconsciously drawing mysterious trajectories in front of him. Strands of almost invisible causal lines seemed to appear, entwine, and dissipate in the void with his movements.

Three objects floated in front of him:

On the left is a dark and deep pearl, with the shadows of seven hells rising and falling within it. It is the Seven Cultivation Primordial Spirit Pearl, a demonic treasure forged over a thousand years by fusing the souls of four Primordial Spirit Ancestors and the essence of nine Primordial Desolate Beasts at the Void Returning Level!

The surface of the bead was constantly twisted and struggled with subtle magical patterns, emanating a terrifying pressure at the Void Returning level, but it was suppressed by Lu Cheng with his vast magical power.

At the center is a small and exquisite pagoda, yet it exudes a powerful and imposing aura that dominates the world. The pagoda's body shimmers with a blend of bright yellow and dark light, suppressing all things and establishing its dominance over the world.

To the right was an invisible flying sword, its form shifting between reality and illusion, seemingly capable of piercing the heavens and vanishing into the netherworld at any moment. The sword's blade was hazy, only flashing a cold light, even more hollow than the void itself, when the Dao patterns traced across Lu Cheng's fingertips.

Suddenly, Lu Cheng sensed something and stopped. His divine sense instantly traversed endless space, projecting itself onto the Jumang Realm.

"The body has been subdued, the demon has been suppressed and the authority established... Hmm, Shi Sheng's sword strike was quite good." Lu Cheng's lips curled into a very faint smile, with a hint of satisfaction as a teacher witnessing his disciple's progress.

"The Dao of the Hundred Bones involves seizing the earth's spirit, appearing as a human, but gradually transforming into a demon. After Chu Yun and the others return, let's put this demon under the Demon-Suppressing Golden Pagoda. It will also be a kind of training for Yu Hong and Yu Xue."

During his last millennium in this world, Lu Cheng's focus was not on the demon god Jialuo, but on his own cultivation of the Taoist Transformation and Ascension Technique and the alteration of his innate aptitude.

Two generations of dedication, cultivating this art until now, have finally allowed us to truly enter the realm of this skill. When people do the same thing, some can make great progress in a day, while others make mistakes and even regress. This is due to the difference in individual aptitude.

Some people are born with a Daoist body, while others are just mortals. The most exquisite aspect of the Daoist transformation and ascension technique is probably that when one cultivates their physical body to its limit, quantitative change leads to qualitative change, resulting in a change in innate aptitude. This is the true meaning of defying fate.

Compared to this orthodox and esoteric method, the demon god Jialuo's attempt to unleash a world-destroying flood at the source of the rivers of the seven great worlds—Dingzhang, Tongtian, Liehuo, Xuankong, Jumang, Yuqing, and Yinyang—to destroy the seven realms, reopen the world, and change the heavenly order, is nothing more than the hysterical, death-defying struggle of a minor demonic cultivator.

He had been secretly plotting this, intending it as a final, deadly move, so that even if he couldn't defeat the righteous path, he could perish together with them.

Unexpectedly, Lu Cheng had known about this all along.

Lu Cheng had always wanted to use the power of the Seven Realms Heavenly Dao to further improve his Merit Xuanhuang Pagoda, but he never had the opportunity until now.

However, such a cunning way of exploiting the natural order, acting as both a human and a demon, is acceptable once or twice, but if done too often, it will inevitably be exposed, and in the end, one will probably die a miserable death.

Lu Cheng is now cultivating the Taoist Transformation and Ascension Technique and is gradually reaching a wonderful state. Even if the world is destroyed, he can rise from the ground and ascend to become an immortal. Only then can he be considered to have the equivalent capital.

Moreover, he only intends to do this once and will not pass on this method, so both parties should be able to accept it.

The demon god Jialuo always regarded Lu Cheng, the Taoist of the Heaven and Earth Palace, as his greatest enemy in this life, but he never thought that Lu Cheng's opponent was never him.

...

Time flows on and space changes.

The war between good and evil has been raging for hundreds, even thousands of years.

Tempted by the allure of ascending to the upper realm, one after another reclusive demonic elders emerged to assist the banished demon Jialuo in their attempt to rebuild the demonic kingdom on earth and promote the demonic path.

But because of this, over the course of a thousand years, they were killed one after another by righteous cultivators. These demonic cultivators not only did not emerge into the world, but they also hid in remote and desolate places, making them difficult for anyone to deal with.

However, once caught up in this great calamity, one's own life force is rapidly depleted, making it difficult to escape.

Although righteous cultivators also suffered losses, the emergence of new righteous cultivators, like flowing water that never stagnates, continuously increased the power of the righteous path. The Seventh Realm, Qinghe County.

Above the sky, the sky, which should have been azure, was now filthy, as if it had been splashed with thick ink and blood.

A chilling stillness and malice seeped down from the sky, permeating the mountains, rivers, plants, and all living things.

The source lies at the upper reaches of the ancestral river where water converges and nourishes countless civilizations.

At this moment, this place has become a chaotic demonic realm.

The towering, pitch-black demonic water, imbued with despair and corrosive power, roared and surged forth from the shattered cracks like a ferocious beast breaking free of its cage!

Those weren't even ordinary waters, but rather "filthy water calamities" created by the demon god Gara using supreme magic to manipulate another dimension, reverse the origin, and combine it with his own demonic nature.

Wherever it passed, rivers overflowed, mountains collapsed, fertile fields turned into marshes, and life was forcibly stripped away, turning into resources to nourish evil spirits!

The demon god Galo originally did not want to launch this water calamity so quickly and recreate the world, but who knew that his plan, which he had been planning for thousands of years, would be suddenly leaked. As a result, the righteous cultivators almost went crazy, and many sects that were originally in seclusion mobilized to fight the Yin-Yang Demon Path to the death.

In the end, the righteous immortals attacked the main altar, and even the demon god Galo had to avoid their sharp edge when many primordial spirit cultivators joined forces.

Although we are not fully prepared now, if we don't act now, we won't need to act at all.

The magic was in motion, and the sound of the rushing river was no longer a hymn to life, but a desperate cry of billions of living beings on the verge of death!
The turbid waves swept across the land, swallowing up villages and towns along the way.

The people who managed to climb to higher ground watched helplessly as their homes were swallowed up by the yellow and black demonic water, and their loved ones were instantly swept away and disappeared by the turbid current, leaving only heart-wrenching cries that echoed in the world gradually shrouded in mist and demonic energy.

The river was littered with the bloated carcasses of livestock and people, and trees and house beams floated downstream, creating a scene of utter devastation.

Under the corrosive influence of demonic energy, even the surviving creatures undergo terrifying mutations.

Fish in the water grew ferocious bone spurs, birds on land had bloodshot eyes and were violent, and even plants began to emit a fishy stench, their branches twisted like ghost claws.

In a dilapidated village still perched on high ground, a ragged old woman, cradling her infant grandson, desperately bows before the raging, turbid floodwaters at a small, long-abandoned river god temple.

"Lord River God, have mercy... please take this wicked water away... have pity on my little grandson..."

Tears streamed down her face, mingling with the cold mud at her feet. Behind her, shivering villagers huddled together, their eyes filled with numbness and terror.

The floodwaters were rising at a visible rate, relentlessly devouring this last refuge. The shadow of death, even faster than the filthy torrent, gripped the throats of all the survivors.

The main hall of the Heaven and Earth Palace.

Lu Cheng withdrew his gaze from the tragedies in the mortal world, his face expressionless, but a storm seemed to be brewing deep within his eyes.

In the final stage of Taoist cultivation, one must transcend all emotions.

It refers to a sage who is unmoved by emotions and undisturbed by feelings. It's not that they lack feelings, but rather that they have feelings, yet seem to have forgotten…

Paying these deaths and injuries in exchange for the decline and stagnation of demonic energy in the mortal realm for hundreds of thousands of years is certainly a gain overall. However, given Lu Cheng's current state of mind, even though he knows that this choice is right, he still finds it difficult to suppress his emotions and experiences some turmoil.

"The time has come."

Lu Cheng Daoist slowly rose to his feet. There was no earth-shattering fluctuation of magical power spreading out, but the entire Heaven and Earth Dao Palace seemed to instantly synchronize with his heartbeat.

The radiance of the Jade Palace suddenly intensified a hundredfold, as if all the brilliance of the Mysterious Dharma Realm had converged here!
He extended his right index finger and gently tapped the air.

Om-!
The Xuanhuang Pagoda suspended above emitted an ancient hum, as if from the beginning of time, and then vanished from the hall.

In the next instant, in the seventh realm of the mortal world, above the source of the raging ancestral river, space silently cracked open with a huge gap.

A massive, majestic, and heavy earthen-yellow radiance, beyond description, descended from the gap!

The light receded, revealing a towering, dark yellow pagoda, which was more than ten thousand feet tall.
The tower exudes a tangible, primordial aura, cascading down countless thick rays of light, like the ridge of Mount Buzhou supporting the world. On the tower walls, images of mountains and rivers, the sun, moon, stars, flowers, birds, insects, fish, and the rituals of the ancients appear and disappear, radiating supreme majesty and compassionate Taoist charm that suppresses eternity and nurtures all living beings.

As soon as the pagoda appeared, the foul and calamistic waters surging from the void rifts seemed to have encountered the Lord of Heaven and Earth, the source of all waters!

The surging momentum was suddenly stopped by an invisible, thick wall, producing a deafening crash.

The pitch-black demonic water crashed into the Xuanhuang treasure light, like mud flowing into the sea. Not only could it not break through even a little, the filthy demonic energy contained within it was also rapidly purified and eliminated by the radiant light!
"Suppress!" A calm voice, seemingly containing the laws of all realms, resounded in the hearts of every being in the Seven Realms.

This sound did not travel through the air, but was directly imprinted deep within the soul!
Lu Cheng's divine sense, like an invisible giant hand, spread out from the Xuanhuang Pagoda, enveloping endless mountains and rivers.

As the word "town" fell.

The base of the Xuanhuang Pagoda burst forth with a dazzling halo!

Countless golden rays of faith, formed from the prayers of all living beings, tiny yet incredibly resilient, rose from the suffering earth below and surged wildly into the base of the pagoda like rivers flowing into the sea.

That was a glimmer of hope in despair, the purest will to survive when living beings face natural disasters!
The pagoda received the blessing of boundless faith, and its humming sound transformed into the divine voice of the Dao! The primordial yellow energy within the pagoda surged wildly, like molten lava melting into solid ice.

scoff!

Centered on the base of the pagoda, a massive barrier resembling a crystal wall instantly opened up and spread to both ends at a speed exceeding that of light!
In an instant, this colossal, yellow celestial wall that stretched across the sky forcefully sealed off the enormous void rift that pierced the heavens! The source of the filthy calamity water was forcibly cut off.

At the same time, the primordial energy hanging from the tower transformed into countless chains of order, falling into the raging torrent of filth below.

Wherever it passed, the demonized river water was thrown into a purification furnace, boiling and roaring, with thick demonic black smoke rising up, which was quickly refined by the rosy light.

The murky yellowish-black color quickly faded, revealing the surging, roaring water that had also regained its original clear color!
The earth trembled. Not the tremors of a calamity, but a tremor as if a deep-seated illness had been cured and an immense burden had been lifted.

In those submerged areas, the water level dropped and receded at an illogical speed, revealing waterlogged, dilapidated houses and wet, muddy land.

"A miracle! It's the Heavenly Venerable manifesting his power!"

"The supreme immortal who saves us from suffering!"

"We're alive! We're all alive!"

The cries of survivors, the gasps of shock, and the devout chants of praise converged into a tidal wave that swept across the remaining land.

The torrent of golden faith surged once again into the Xuanhuang Pagoda!
Driven by Lu Cheng's will, the pagoda slowly rotated. With each rotation, the light on the pagoda became more solid, and the Daoist aura became more profound.

Under its vast and boundless shadow, the remaining floodwaters seemed to have been tamed, flowing along the riverbed combed by the rosy light.

Although their homes are shattered, life is stubbornly sprouting from the dead.

Lu Cheng watched all this from across the boundary, sensing the changes as the Xuanhuang Pagoda absorbed the faith of all living beings, cleansed its own Dao essence, and resonated more deeply with the Heavenly Dao of all realms. A slight smile appeared on his lips.

"Aaaaaah, Lu Cheng... Lu Cheng, you cunning old Taoist priest!"

"What a fine 'Stop my flood, save all people'! How dare you... how dare you use the calamity I triggered to achieve your so-called treasure of merit? Cleansing the mountains and rivers, sorting out the earth's veins, so it turns out, it was you who was secretly manipulating things all along?!"

At this moment, even the most foolish Galo knew what was going on. Overwhelmed by shame, anger, bitterness, and demonic fire, Galo harnessed all sorts of magical treasures and soared into the sky, attacking the Heaven and Earth Profound Yellow Merit Pagoda that was absorbing the Heavenly Dao's energy from all realms.

If it truly succeeds, even if I were to recover to my peak magical power, I would still be unable to break it.

However, at this moment, a young Taoist appeared almost out of thin air and swung his palm. The demon god Jialuo reacted quickly and had a wealth of combat experience, so he immediately met the attack with his own palm.

The demon and the Taoist clashed in the void, their palms facing each other in a contest.

The vast, powerful, and boundless orthodox magical power of the Xuanmen sect clashed head-on with the blazing, overwhelming demonic power that could burn mountains and boil seas.

Click, click, click...

"Ahhhhh..."

With a bang, the next moment, the demon god Gara crashed to the ground like a falling meteor, the huge impact almost altering the terrain of a mountain behind him.

"Fellow Daoist's demonic arts are exquisite, but your physical techniques are ultimately not as refined as mine. Instead, resentment and anger are corrupting your spirit and throwing you into disarray."

Lu Cheng Daoist crossed over from another realm and said this.

(End of this chapter)