Cultivating Immortality Begins with Rejuvenation.

Chapter 280 The Holy Teachings of All Beings
Faced with the real man's questioning, the group, aside from their initial fear, surprisingly displayed extraordinary resolve.

"Old thief, don't waste your efforts. We are all alone and helpless, bullied by your disciples. We had no choice but to fight back. Kill us if you want!"

Li Ji'an was slightly surprised, and without saying a word, he reached out and grabbed at the head of a person in front of him.

"Soul search!"

In theory, once a cultivator's soul condenses into divine consciousness, they have the ability to invade another's sea of ​​consciousness and read their memories. However, for a normal pseudo-core cultivator, whose divine consciousness is still in its early stages, it cannot be controlled very precisely. As long as they invade the other's sea of ​​consciousness, they will cause immeasurable damage, ranging from soul disorder to the collapse of the sea of ​​consciousness.

Ning Yutan's soul was searched by the Liu family patriarch, which directly caused her soul to collapse. If Ning Sujin had not nourished it with her own primordial spirit, she would have died and her soul would have disappeared long ago.

hum~
Li Ji'an's spiritual sense is now comparable to the peak of the early True Core stage, and has even reached the middle True Core stage. Furthermore, he has studied the Soul Forging Technique with Ning Sujin, giving him extraordinary control.

"Oh!"

However, as soon as his divine sense entered the other party's sea of ​​consciousness, he suddenly felt a sense of obscurity.

Immediately, the other party's sea of ​​consciousness exploded.

The incident happened suddenly, catching Li Ji'an completely off guard. If it weren't for his strong divine sense, which allowed him to accurately discard the intruding wisp of divine sense, he would have almost suffered a backlash.

"How dare you!" he roared, smashing the man into a bloody pulp with a single palm strike.

Still shaken, Li Ji'an's calm expression instantly turned serious.

The explosion of the opponent's sea of ​​consciousness just now was not a forbidden spell, but a secret technique of the soul.

There are no openly recognized soul cultivators in the entire Tiancang Domain, let alone such a secret soul cultivation technique. It must be a demonic cultivation method from the Boundless Domain.

Previously, he couldn't be completely certain about the methods of the Boundless Domain demonic cultivators based on the faint blood essence within Xu Xiaochun and Guo Wanzhi's bodies, since these were methods that body cultivators could use.

This kind of soul cultivation technique can only be mastered by those who specialize in cultivating their soul.

"No wonder he was able to face death without fear... his mind has probably been subtly influenced."

"Master!" The sudden turn of events startled Xu Xiaochun and the other person, who looked at Li Ji'an with concern.

"It's nothing, just a little despicable tactic." Li Ji'an waved his hand, then looked at the others.

At the same time, Yuan Ting's gaze narrowed slightly, revealing a hint of disappointment.

The opponent was merely a fake Core Formation cultivator, yet he managed to evade the Holy Envoy's methods?

Li Ji'an once again invaded another person's sea of ​​consciousness, but this time he was much more cautious. He quickly discovered a hidden technique within the person's sea of ​​consciousness. The divine soul power was not particularly strong, but it was extremely precise.

After a moment, he slowly withdrew his divine sense and made a certain judgment about the caster.

The ability to control one's soul is extremely strong, but one's own soul is similar to one's own.

"Excellent technique!" Ning Sujin possessed a powerful primordial spirit, but lacked powerful soul techniques, thus unable to unleash her full potential.

Ancient texts record that in ancient times, soul cultivators, though physically weak, used their divine soul techniques to make it impossible for magic cultivators and body cultivators of the same level to defend against them, causing them immense suffering.

Once a soul cultivator reaches the primordial spirit realm, their primordial spirit is like a blade, capable of slaying geniuses. Even the Myriad Laws True Monarch of the Myriad Laws Palace would not dare to underestimate them.

Li Ji'an was eager to meet this soul cultivator.

"You should return to your sect immediately. Your master needs to investigate this thoroughly."

"Master, let her go back. I'll go with you," Xu Xiaochun said hurriedly.

Li Ji'an glared at him: "What are you doing here with me? Are you just a burden?"

"..." Xu Xiaochun was speechless for a moment.

In the end, he could only reluctantly follow Guo Wanzhi back to the sect.

After sending his two disciples away, Li Ji'an used the Faceless Mask to absorb their essence and soul, then turned and returned to the cabin.

"A religion for all beings? Equality for all beings?"

Half an hour later, Li Ji'an had filtered out the key information.

This person was a rogue cultivator from the eastern part of Cangyun Prefecture, near the Fire Domain. He had once been a servant of the Beast Taming Liu family. Five years ago, he met a missionary from the Sect of All Beings on the outskirts of the Fire Domain and joined the Sect of All Beings.

The doctrine of the Sect of All Beings is the equality of all beings, to overthrow the evil sects of the Demon Palace, and to ensure that everyone in the Heavenly Azure Domain has equal access to cultivation resources.

However, this person held a low position within the church and knew very little.

Even this operation was carried out under Yuan Ting's instructions, and the true purpose and outcome are unknown.

After dispersing his essence and blood, Li Ji'an left the inner cabin and headed straight for Yuan Ting.

He tried to probe the sea of ​​consciousness with his divine sense, but still encountered a layer of divine soul secret technique. Without hesitation, Li Ji'an killed him and used the Formless Mask to absorb his essence, blood and soul.

"Ok?"

After reading his memories, Li Ji'an was slightly moved.

As the head of the Church of All Beings, he knew a great deal more.

The Sect of All Beings actually has a stronghold in Cangyun Prefecture, and it has been established for nine years with more than a thousand followers.

"The Ma family!"

That stronghold was actually located within the Ma family's territory.

The Ma family is where Xiao Changfeng was born. His parents joined the Ma family when they reached the Qi Refining stage.

Li Ji'an and Xiao Changfeng had traveled together on the way to capture the Little Fire Spirit back then.

Decades ago, when Xiao Changfeng's parents passed away peacefully, Xiao Changfeng went back to their hometown.

Unexpectedly, it has now become a stronghold of rebels.

Moreover, in Yuan Ting's fragmented memories, the Ma family was clearly already members of the Cult of All Beings, and even key members.

This stronghold is led by a helmsman, who has ten hall masters under him, and Yuan Ting is just one of them.

This mission came from the leader of the sect, who ordered Yuan Ting to lead a team to capture the sect's trial disciples alive.

Not only the Biyun Sect, but also the Dongli Sect.

The ultimate goal is to create conflict between the disciples of the two sects, and then provoke a war between them...

"How courageous!"

After reading the relevant information, Li Ji'an continued to the cliff where Guo Wanzhi had been trapped. There were still several Dongli Sect disciples whose magic powers were sealed below.

His thoughts raced all the way.

"Is it the Palace of Ten Thousand Laws or the Demonic Sect of Boundless Domain?" After learning of Yuan Ting's purpose, he was somewhat uncertain.

With Zou Yan's divination prediction, Li Ji'an foresaw the future changes of Wanfa Palace and thus had a certain prediction of Wanfa Palace's actions.

His previous act of destroying the Lieyang Sect out of hatred was by no means the personal will of Chunyang Zhenren.

If True Lord Wanfa were unharmed, at most the Lieyang Sect would apologize, True Person Chunyang would vent their anger, and they would eventually hunt down Fu Xiaochen together, rather than brutally annihilating the Lieyang Sect.

After all, the Myriad Laws Palace also needs sects as the backbone of its resistance against the Demon Realm.

Only when the Myriad Laws Palace loses some confidence in its rule will it disregard the threat from the Demon Realm and take swift and decisive action to intimidate the sects within the realm.

For the ruling class, internal strife is always more frightening than external threats.

External threats might result in the loss of territory, and at worst, it would only cause hardship for the lower-level cultivators within the domain, who would still remain the rulers.

However, internal strife could cause them to lose their ruling power.

Moreover, when it annihilated the Blazing Sun Sect, no Myriad Laws True Monarch took action; only the Core Formation True Person within the Holy Palace did. This was meant to make an example of them, letting the other six sects understand that even without a Nascent Soul True Monarch, the Myriad Laws Palace was still the overlord of the domain.

However, the Myriad Laws Palace may not be completely at ease just because it has only wiped out the Blazing Sun Sect.

Perhaps this so-called "Teach of All Beings" is something that the Myriad Dharma Palace has secretly cultivated or tacitly approved.

The goal was to instigate internal strife among the six major sects, preventing them from uniting and threatening the Holy Palace.

Upon considering this possibility, Li Ji'an's interest in the leader's soul cultivation techniques suddenly diminished. Only after rescuing and sending away the trapped disciples of the Dongli Sect did Li Ji'an turn his flying boat around and return to the sect with the remaining ten followers of the Soul Cult.

It's best to leave this kind of matter to the sect to decide.

"Hmm~" On the way, Li Ji'an was thinking about returning to the sect to report when a sudden inspiration struck him.

"Zhao Qi was in charge of that area, so why didn't he discover a church of this size?"

"Impossible! There must be something wrong with this guy!" Combining Yuan Ting's fragmented memories, Li Ji'an suddenly raised his eyebrows, and the returning flying boat stopped instantly.

"Could it be that the opportunity for the true elixir he so desperately longed for lies here?"

A moment later, Li Ji'an turned the flying boat around again and headed towards the Ma family's location.

As for the ten followers of the Zhong Sheng Sect who were originally intended to be taken back to the sect for interrogation, they were casually burned.

When he realized that Zhao Qi was in charge of that area, he suddenly understood that he was now the elder in charge of the Law Enforcement Hall.

Who should I report to when I return to my sect?
The sect leader and his group are busy seizing opportunities in the ancient tomb. Unless there is a disaster that destroys the sect, they might not send back a True Core cultivator.

Ultimately, I will have to investigate myself.

In short, given the current situation, he has no one above him anymore; he's already the one in charge, and if the sky falls, he'll have to hold it up himself.

In that case, the whole world would know that he was in charge of this matter. If he didn't discover the situation of the "All Beings Sect" or resolve it, he would inevitably have to take the blame in the future.

However, if this issue is resolved, it will likely become a thorn in the side of the Myriad Laws Palace, sowing the seeds of future troubles.

Rather than doing that, it's better to go secretly now, at least there's hope of shifting the blame.

Two months later, Li Ji'an landed thousands of miles away from the Ma family and activated Yuan Ting's essence blood.

From Yuan Ting's fragmented memories, Li Ji'an already understood that there were no soul lamps left in his stronghold, and that the secret technique that the leader left in the sea of ​​consciousness of the believers was to prevent the believers from being searched for souls, and also had the effect of bewitching, and could not monitor thousands of believers in real time.

Not long after, Li Ji'an revisited the place and entered the Ma family compound under the watchful eyes of some sentries outside the clan.

It has been exactly ninety years since he first stepped into the Ma family. He was thirty-four years old then, at the ninth level of Qi Refining, and came here to capture the Spirit Flame.

He is now 124 years old and a fake immortal.

"Young Master, you're back! The Patriarch has been talking about you." As soon as you stepped into the inner courtyard, a servant from the Ma family respectfully greeted you.

Li Ji'an frowned: "How many times have I told you, address me by my official title!"

"Yes, yes, Master." The servant hurriedly apologized.

It's no wonder Yuan Ting acted this way. His original surname was Ma, and his father was a cultivator who married into the family. He had always been averse to this identity until he joined the Sect of All Beings and successfully established his foundation. After that, he decisively changed his surname.

"Ting'er, you're back. Are you hurt?" Just then, an old woman walked over quickly.

Li Ji'an glanced at him, his face darkening.

The old woman was an acquaintance of Li Ji'an, and had even served him before.

When the Ma family came to the Ma family, the Ma family patriarch had the eldest daughter of the Ma family personally serve Li Ji'an, the alchemist.

She was Yuan Ting's biological mother, and it was in order to help Yuan Ting establish his foundation that she agreed to let the entire Ma family join the Sect of All Beings and set it up as a stronghold.

However, Yuan Ting harbored resentment towards her, resenting her harsh treatment of his biological father and blaming her for causing his death.

In truth, it was because she had witnessed the unparalleled charm of Xiao Changfeng and Li Ji'an when she was young and naive that she found it difficult to develop feelings for an ordinary rogue cultivator. She only reluctantly agreed to the marriage for the sake of her family.

"I'm going to see the leader!" Following Yuan Ting's nature, Li Ji'an brushed past the old woman, leaving her heartbroken.

Following his memory, Li Ji'an easily found his way to the secret chamber of the Ma family's ancestral home.

It has long been transformed into an underground hall, with several protective arrays set up inside, as well as a spirit-gathering array that uses spirit stones as its material.

This formation continuously provides spiritual energy to the hall by refining spirit stones.

Upon slight sensing, Li Ji'an discovered that it possessed a near-third-tier spiritual vein.

Although the main hall is not large, such consumption is not something that ordinary forces can afford.

Conservative estimates suggest that it will require hundreds of spirit stones per day.

However, the spiritual energy provided by this kind of spirit-gathering array can only sustain daily cultivation and cannot be used to break through to a higher realm. Otherwise, the array is prone to collapse, causing the spiritual energy refined from the spirit stones to dissipate into the sky.

There are three layers of sentry posts inside and outside the main hall.

"Your subordinate greets the leader!" Soon, Li Ji'an arrived at the leader's secret chamber deep within the main hall.

"How is it? Have you completed the task?" A hoarse, cold voice, accompanied by gritted teeth, asked from behind the curtain of the dark room.

"Please forgive us, Master, but our group encountered someone who appeared to be a fake Core Formation cultivator, so we had no choice but to abandon our mission!"

"Roar~" Another roar like that of a wild beast rang out, and at the same time, an inexplicable soul attack entered Li Ji'an's sea of ​​consciousness.

"Ah!" Li Ji'an pretended that his mind was shaken and immediately clutched his head and wailed.

Immediately, the leader of the helm stepped out from the dark room.

Li Ji'an finally saw her true face.

Even Yuan Ting, after all these years, was seeing the true face of the leader for the first time.

One of his legs, which had stepped out of the dark room, was covered in scratches and bleeding profusely.

The face that peeked out from under the blind was like that of a demon, with sunken cheeks, bloodshot eyes, and chunks of scalp falling off its head.

Upon seeing this, Li Ji'an was slightly startled.

"The ancients were right! If one does not have extremely high talent, forcing oneself to cultivate the soul will at least damage one's sea of ​​consciousness, and at worst, lead to death and the dissipation of one's soul. Even if one is lucky enough to achieve something, one will still need to use all sorts of terrifying methods to alleviate the torment suffered by one's sea of ​​consciousness."

In Yuan Ting's memory, this leader had never appeared, but he was extremely violent and would even eat people alive.

According to ancient records, Li Ji'an speculated that this person relieved the torment of his mind by self-harm and cannibalism.

Having witnessed such terrifying power firsthand, Li Ji'an felt somewhat relieved to define soul cultivation as a demonic art.

"Huh? You..." However, the person had just stepped out of the curtain when he stopped, as if he had noticed something.

"How dare you! You dare to deceive me! You are not Yuan Ting!" In the next moment, he shouted sharply, and at the same time, he was about to withdraw his foot from the dark room.

It's a pity it's too late.

Before a soul cultivator nourishes their body with their soul, their physical body is no different from that of an ordinary person, unless they also cultivate magical power. However, as soon as Li Ji'an entered the underground hall, he sensed that there was no trace of magical power in his physical body, clearly indicating that he was just a simple soul cultivator.

The only thing that was protected in the dark room was that Li Ji'an was unsure whether he could break through the barrier instantly, so he acted a little to lure him out.

"Whoosh~" Just as he was about to pull back his foot, a flash of light appeared in Li Ji'an's hand, and the Binding God Rope still bound his entire body.

The next moment, it was pulled out without any resistance.

At the same time, a protective barrier covers this area, preventing outside exploration.

"Buzz~" The soul cultivator, who was trapped by the Binding God Rope, was stunned for three breaths. He finally came to his senses after being pulled into the protective barrier. Immediately, a soul thorn came.

"Hmph!" Li Ji'an snorted coldly, withdrew from Yuan Ting's role, instantly activated Fu Xiaochen's essence blood, and at the same time, his divine sense, comparable to the peak of the early stage of True Core, erupted.

Soul cultivation techniques are very effective against those whose souls are weaker than one's own, especially if the opponent has not practiced soul cultivation techniques and has almost no means of defense.

However, if the opponent's soul is stronger than one's own, the secret technique will be greatly diminished.

This soul cultivator's spiritual sense is comparable to that of an ordinary early-stage True Core cultivator, but weaker than Li Ji'an's. In addition, Li Ji'an has been cultivating the "Divine Grinding Soul Forging Technique" to hone his soul, which not only makes his soul extremely resilient but also gives him a certain degree of soul protection.

"Thump~" The sea of ​​consciousness clashed with the opponent's soul piercing, but only trembled slightly.

With a "whoosh," the magic power in his hand condensed into a blade of energy, and with a gentle swing, he separated the opponent's corpse from his body.

However, once a soul cultivator reaches the level of divine consciousness, even if the physical body perishes, the divine consciousness will not perish immediately. If there is a suitable body or a vessel to which the soul resides, it can exist for hundreds or even thousands of years.

(End of this chapter)