New concept of the mysterious way to ascend to immortality

Chapter 81: Ascension? Spirit World? [Holy Light Demon Refining Celestial Lord]!
Having made up his mind, Yuan Zhu immediately got rid of all distractions and re-examined this [Garden of Disease] from the perspective of a carnivore to see where he should start.

As a result, after this observation, I suddenly gained some new insights.

The spatial sensation the Disease Garden gave him was completely different from the maze of the haunted house. It felt like a real world here? The underlying principles were completely different from reality. In contrast, the haunted house existed entirely within the real world.

So, that [haunted house] actually serves as a "false cover + buffer zone + space bridge"?

The purpose is to allow people to smoothly enter this alien space from Duling, and to plant "disease crops" with strong pollution properties on a large scale to secretly promote a certain conspiracy plan?
Detective Yuan Zhu pushed his nonexistent glasses, as if he saw through everything. This was the rhythm of being silenced, so he couldn't let him succeed!
Xiao Latiao suddenly spoke up, "Boss, don't you think this place is very similar to something else? This space has significantly weakened the constraints on extraordinary power. You consume less Holy Light, but it's more powerful. This isn't because you've become stronger, but because the external environment's suppression of Holy Light has weakened."

Yuan Zhu looked around, taking in the illogical blood-red sky and the pulsing earth. Everything was drastically different from the spirit's presence in the world. A flash of inspiration flashed through his mind, and he suddenly realized, "[Spiritual Realm]!"

First, let’s eliminate a wrong answer: [Nightmare Foam Layer].

While equally illogical, the foam layer remains far removed from the spirit world. This alien dimension is firmly connected to the spirit world through the [Haunted House]. Therefore, it functions more like a "recycling station and firewall" for the spirits, housing the [Spiritual Realm], a place of ascension that carries extraordinary disasters.

"Heroes think alike, and I think so too."

Yuan Zhu: "But shouldn't the spiritual realm be another abstract version of the inner world where demons run rampant? How come it's so small that you can see the edge at a glance? It's not even as good as the bubble world."

In his imagination, the Spirit Realm was a 1:1 replica of the mortal world of the Duling spirits, a deeply polluted, fantasy-like mirror version of a calamity-filled spacetime. After all, it was a gathering place for ascended Duling spirits, so the style had to be something of a fairy tale.

This disease garden looked about the size of a large city park. It covered a few hundred acres at most. It was more than enough for a farm. But compared to the [otherworld], it was pitifully small.

Xiao La Tiao speculated, "Could it be that the bus is being used for personal purposes? Someone has seized a piece of the Spiritual Realm, torn it off, packed it up, and sealed it, transforming it into a private paradise for agricultural cultivation?"

"Huh? Like [Huang Tian]?"

He suddenly thought of the "Huangtian" Immortals of Fortune and Blessings. Didn't they first become landowners, gradually eroding the land of the real world, and then carving out a piece of land to create their own "Blessed Land"?

Obviously, it would be easier to achieve the goal by starting from the [Spiritual Realm] where the ‘spiritual energy of heaven and earth (pollution concentration)’ is higher.

"Forget it, there's no point in overthinking it. Let's just think about how to utilize the resources here and become stronger little by little!"

Clearing his mind of distracting thoughts, Yuan Zhu continued to observe this 'blessed place'. He walked forward, strolling through the garden, examining everything.

He would occasionally bend down and pull up the flowers and plants from the ground, each of which had its petals wrapped around its eyeballs to prevent being burned by the holy light. He would raise his hand and open a pocket-sized holy light force field cage, trapping the distorted flowers and plants within. Then, the holy light exploded, and began to refine them.

A master of alchemy, calmly refining medicine with his bare hands.

The deformed flowers and plants that were tragically imprisoned were burned by the holy light barrier and instantly jumped up, using their branches and leaves to slap and cut the light barrier, and tried to take root and penetrate the light wall. As a result, the cage showed waves of octagonal ripples, which bounced it back.

Seeing its weak attack ineffective, it began spewing black spores, attempting to corrode the wall of light, but was instead burned and vaporized by the blazing holy light. The holy light burned more and more fiercely, concentrating inside the cage, emitting infinitely high temperatures, but not a single ray of heat escaped.

The distorted flowers and plants curled up in agony, unable to resist the holy light's purification. They screamed in agony, their eyeballs exploding and emitting wisps of black smoke. They gradually melted and vaporized, eventually leaving behind a handful of gray crystal sand in the cage, completely dead.

Listening to the desperate screams of the filthy plants at the soul level, which gradually weakened and disappeared, he smiled with joy and satisfaction.

The feeling of purifying evil pollution into ashes with one's own hands is like a person with obsessive-compulsive disorder wiping a stained window until it becomes crystal clear. It is a comfort and joy that comes from the heart, and the satisfaction of a sacred sense of mission.

"Perfect!"

Remove the Holy Light Cage, merge a small amount of Soul Ashes into the [Stigmata], and put the remaining crystal sand into the bottle.

The feeling that refining the distorted flowers and plants gave him was similar to purifying the brain of a puppet doll; both were the same 'source of disease pollution'.

"Cough cough..."

As he gradually melted these soul ashes into the illusory [Sacred Seal], the Seal read a little residual information from the ashes. As a result, his throat suddenly felt itchy and he couldn't feel comfortable unless he coughed twice.

Am I infected with a disease?
With this thought in mind, he quickly told Xiao La Tiao to fully increase the power of his Soul Firewall. After repeated confirmation with the Immortal Scripture, he confirmed that he had not been contaminated by disease and that everything was normal.

Perhaps this cough is related to the 'pollution attribute' represented by the ashes?
From the moment you enter the [Haunted House], no matter which evil spirit, puppet doll, or deformed plant in the garden is burned, they all originate from the same disease pollution, so the information of the soul ashes is highly consistent.

He remembered the Holy Light Manual's record that when a Holy Seal ingested large quantities of the same type of ash, it would trigger the Holy Light Seal's evolutionary function. Many Holy Light monks lacked a legacy, possessing only a Holy Seal. How could they grow? They hunted and refined monsters one after another, naturally acquiring various skills through battle. They could establish their own schools without needing a legacy. Now, he seemed to understand.

The [Holy Seal] can be enhanced or mutated by melting ash. The higher the quality of the ash, the more pronounced this effect. So, has my [Sanctuary] also triggered the evolutionary conditions? Is this cough a sign?
Xiao La Tiao: "How are they? Are these disease plants useful?"

"Yes! And I have a hunch that if I can purify a large amount of the same pollution and absorb enough ash, it will indeed help the [Sacred Seal] evolve. After burning that evil spirit, my [Sacred Seal] was vaguely nurturing something, but it's not yet obvious. This garden may help me complete my cultivation!" Yuan Zhu's eyes brightened as he spoke. From today on, please call me [Holy Light Demon Refining Heavenly Venerable]!
"Then why are you still standing there? Keep burning it. Go! Go! Go!"

Yuan Zhu shook his head: "Not very good. The Holy Light of my body has been consumed quite a bit, and it has been drained out."

His current physical health had been overdrawn since he began hunting the evil spirits. First, he hammered down the evil spirits with a series of critical hits, then, after entering the attic, he kept the [Shelter] activated throughout the entire process to isolate the disease contamination. Since entering this garden, the [Shelter] had not rested at all.

If it were any other Holy Light monk, they would have already exhausted their vitality and fallen into a weak state, corroded by the ubiquitous pollution in the air, and completely turned into a new human petri dish, being parasitized and exploited by the local diseased plants.

[Shadow Tiger Demon], activated.

Yuan Zhu once again seamlessly switched to the tiger demon form, relying on the thick shadow pollution to fight against the erosion of the disease.

"call……"

A thick, dark, and deadly aura spewed out of the tiger demon's mouth and nose, corroding the flesh, flowers, and plants around him. They withered and decayed one after another, drooping on the ground and losing their color.

"Sure enough, the world has changed. The outside world's suppression of the shadow power has weakened a lot, and the tiger demon's strength has more than tripled!"

Sensing the change in his own strength, the Shadow Tiger Demon attempted to connect with the shadow layer within the "garden." The difficulty was much lower than in the haunted house, and he was even able to draw an endless supply of "shadow aura" from the garden's shadows. Unfortunately, he couldn't yet escape into the garden's "shadow dimension."

The rules here are much stricter than those in the bubble world.

Soon, he released five eggplant-headed ghosts from the shadows to act as his eyes and ears. They quickly rushed through the diseased flowers around them and observed the layout and structure of the garden.

The elf summarized and analyzed the information continuously sent back by the ghosts and came to a conclusion:
It can be seen that this garden has been neglected, and various diseased plants have been allowed to grow wildly, almost turning into a small forest of disease. However, the purpose of the "garden owner" can still be judged.

The other party deliberately cultivated these deformed plants, allowing them to evolve freely, giving rise to highly contaminated "disease fruits." For example, the heart fruit that cracked and caused a violent cough.

Although Yuan Zhu was very resistant to rejecting these disgusting diseased plants, it was undeniable that these fruits were to the garden like the [Blood Bodhi] nurtured by the Little Red World, they were natural treasures and elixirs in another pollution system.

This garden cultivates a large number of 'disease-related' resources.

The tumor-shaped clouds in the sky continuously ooze contaminated pus and blood 24 hours a day to nourish these diseased plants, provide nutrients, and allow them to mutate and develop diseases.

Yuan Zhu's first reaction at this moment was that he had broken into a special cave used by a certain cultivation sect to cultivate spiritual medicines. Everywhere he looked was filled with rare treasures that made him want to vomit.

Due to the incompatibility (disease contamination) of the operating system (holy light), it is impossible to enjoy it or comprehend its profoundness (pollution). All I can do is use the most inefficient method of purification and incineration, extracting a small amount of ash as a solace.

"I won't go into a mountain of treasure and return empty-handed. I must find a way to squeeze out all the value here!"

Just when Yuan Zhu was racking his brains over how to maximize his profits, Xiao Latiao made another new discovery.

"Boss, I've made a new discovery! This garden seems to be ownerless, and there are no exotic beasts guarding it. In my opinion, either the other party is deliberately keeping a low profile and doesn't want to reveal too much information, so they remain anonymous and let the garden run independently. Or, this garden is of very low quality and was just a casual move made without any real attention."

Natural resources and treasures are always guarded by exotic beasts. But her boss had been using his "Shelter" like a human-shaped holy light bulb, wantonly illuminating the garden and destroying the crops for a long time, yet no monsters had come to attack. This was enough to prove that there was no defense in the alien space.

Yuan Zhu: "Is it possible that the mountain-guarding beast has been killed by me?"

"Those two security guards at the door? Boss is so domineering! My boss is invincible!"

Yuan Zhu: "Heavenly materials and earthly treasures belong to those with virtue! Since this place is ownerless, it should be mine. It is truly destiny!"

“Kya ka ka!”, “Buddha Buddha Buddha!”

Catching a glimpse of the eggplant-headed ghost leaping and groveling beside him, Tiger Demon's mind shifted. "Holy Light" can burn pollution, absorbing the ashes to become stronger. Then, wouldn't my foundation, Great Shadow, be able to absorb 'disease pollution' and use it for my own benefit?"
He himself despised the distorted plants because they were too disgusting and he didn't want to touch them, let alone devour them and turn them into ghosts. But these little fools didn't mind!

(End of this chapter)