New concept of the mysterious way to ascend to immortality

Chapter 83 [Seal Casting], Refining the Haunted House
When the Tiger Demon regained full health in human form, Yuan Zhu immediately switched back and couldn't wait to build the [Shelter] to resist the external pollution. Then, he raced against time to burn the pollution, refine the ashes, and forge the Holy Seal.

He didn't know how much longer he could keep the garden to himself, so he had to hurry and get as much as he could.

He raised his hand and clenched it. Six holy light fields transformed into a cubic barrier, severing the roots of a diseased plant and sealing it. Then, a burst of holy light from within refined it into ash. The entire process was smooth and effortless.

Yuan Zhu suddenly realized that with the repeated overdraft of Holy Light, not only had his control over it been greatly improved, but the Holy Light was also becoming more and more to his liking and handy.

Each time the Holy Light is released, though I cannot retain it, I ignite myself again and again, merging into it and transforming its properties. This fully demonstrates the concept of "Human and Light are one, I will become the Light."

Looking at the dazzling array of flammable materials in the Disease Garden, his attention suddenly focused on the pool of "coughing black mud" left behind by No. 5 (the ghost) after his self-destruction.

This thing looks a bit annoying. If left alone and allowed to grow naturally, it will expand into more shadow-prefabricated black mud.

If the Tiger Demon didn't actively eat and digest it, then this mass of coughing black mud would eventually be occupied by [Disease Contamination], and might even breed extraordinary infectious diseases targeting the [Shadow System].

By then, even the Tiger Demon would be at risk of infection. Therefore, we must not allow it to grow unchecked; we must simply refine it with Holy Light to eliminate this problem once and for all!
He did it as soon as he thought of it. He released six walls of light again, forming the Holy Prisoner, and sealed the coughing black mud on the ground.

The scorching holy light erupted in the cage, and the black mud, like the venom of the symbiote stimulated by the noise, surged and crashed wildly in the cage, hitting the barrier again and again, trying to escape, but was unable to shake the increasingly solid holy light force field.

As Yuan Zhu clenched his five fingers together, the originally huge 'Cube Holy Prisoner' compressed its volume further, the holy light inside became even hotter, and the pressure became higher and higher, like a pressure cooker or alchemy furnace, severely tempering the source of pollution inside.

When the black mud was completely burned to ashes, he removed the cage, and the [Sacred Mark] greedily absorbed the soul ashes. Yuan Zhu was suddenly struck by lightning, and he froze in place, with an incredible expression on his face, blurting out:

"Fuck!"

Sensing the violent fluctuations in his boss's spirit, Xiao La Tiao hurriedly asked nervously: "Boss, what's wrong with you? I just detected an abnormal fluctuation in your soul."

"Fuck! Fuck!!"

Yuan Zhu remained silent, only saying "Fuck!" This frightened Xiao La Tiao. No matter how she called out to him, Yuan Zhu didn't come back to his senses. Instead, he was deeply surprised and unable to extricate himself.

What a great boss! He absolutely couldn't be allowed to malfunction. He was still waiting to replace [Dahuang Laodeng]. "Boss, don't scare me. What's wrong with you? Did you overuse your energy and the Holy Light burn your brain?"

"No! I'm just simply shocked. I just discovered a huge loophole and found the wealth code of Holy Light!" Yuan Zhu came back to his senses and looked at the gradually cooling [Holy Mark] on his wrist, still feeling incredible.

Xiao La Tiao: "What on earth did you discover? What's the secret to wealth?"

"You understand the cultivation and advancement of Holy Light. Initially, it burns physical energy, then life and lifespan, and later on, it burns the soul. The conditions become increasingly demanding. Just now, I burned the black mud left by the ghost's self-destruction. Guess what happened?"

The elf was puzzled: "What's wrong?"

"I was clearly burning pollutants, but the resulting ashes contained elements very similar to those from burning my own life force. This suggests that within this mass of pollutants, my life force still lingers. But I'm certain that, aside from the Holy Light, I didn't burn even a single bit of my own life force. It must be a ghost!"

Yuan Zhu suddenly understood everything, as if divinely inspired. He analyzed, "After being tempered by the Tiger Demon, the [Hidden Ghost] no longer belongs to itself, but is instead a part of the Tiger Demon's magical powers. More accurately, it is an extension of the Tiger Demon. Therefore, burning the [Hidden Ghost]'s alienated and polluted products with Holy Light is equivalent to burning a part of the Tiger Demon. The Tiger Demon is myself, and burning the Hell Ghost with Holy Light is like using my life to ignite the Holy Light and purify and burn the polluted parts of myself. Here, the proportion of external pollution decreases, while my own proportion increases. Therefore, the controllability and stability of the refined 'Soul Ashes' are greatly improved. This is a disguised form of asceticism!"

In the Holy Light system, if one uses oneself as a candle to ignite the Holy Light, the resulting ash will have a greater weight, enhancing the controllability and stability of the cast Holy Seal. However, if one borrows a large amount of the battery's vitality to burn external objects, the weight of the ash will decrease, and the seal will be damaged if one cannot control the polluted ash.

But now, a new path lies before him: burn the minions with holy light, with himself at both ends. The ashes produced will be much more controllable, closer to those ascetics who burn themselves purely to refine the holy light seal.

"...?"

Xiao Latiao was confused. Is it possible to play like this? There is a bug!

"and many more!"

Yuan Zhu suddenly remembered something and quickly retracted his Holy Light, switching to Tiger Demon form. Before he could fully transform, he pulled out a ball of "wriggling black mud" from the shadows and threw it on the ground.

This is the [Digital Soul Pollution Property] he recovered by summoning the soul after No. 5's self-destruction (death).

【Sanctuary.Holy Prisoner】

The holy light force field shone once more, trapping the black mud before it could reenter his shadow. He then repeated his old trick, refining it with holy light on the spot.

When the third furnace of 'pollutants' was completely purified, Yuan Zhu closed his eyes and savored the quality of the soul ashes, feeling very excited.

Become!

This time, he really burned out a small amount of high-quality 'soul ash' from the soul pollution characteristics of the ghost, which was very similar to the fluctuations of his own soul.

The soul of a ghost can, to a certain extent, replace one's own soul and act as a high-level fuel to enhance the stability of the [Holy Seal], while also containing other contaminated characteristic information.

He stared at the stigmata on his wrist and muttered to himself, "The code of wealth! This is the real code of wealth! I understand!"

Yuan Zhu was incredibly excited. Tiger Demon = Himself, so 'Hidden Ghost' was a secondary derivative of Himself. Burning the Hidden Ghost with Holy Light = I burn myself, and the utilization rate far exceeds using Living Battery to burn unfamiliar pollutants to produce Soul Ashes.

"There's no comparison. There's absolutely no comparison between the two. The cost-effectiveness is simply too high. Cultivate! We must expand the scale of the minions. First, use them to eat garbage (pollution) to strengthen themselves. Then, burn the minions to forge the Holy Seal and gather Soul Crystals. With the Holy Light here, the road ahead will be smooth!"

The elf now understood Yuan Zhu's logic behind the bug, and after careful consideration, he realized that it did make some sense, so he replied:
"Perhaps this is the true way to practice the [Holy Light System]? How much can a Holy Light cultivator produce simply by burning themselves? If one wants to reach the Eighth Seal or the Ninth Seal, one must find a similar path and burn a large amount of one's own soul."

Yuan Zhu: "Oh? After hearing what you said, do you have any unique insights?"

"Yes!" the elf nodded seriously. "[Anti-Law]! The Anti-Law Demon God signs a contract with his followers. Lending or renting power always requires payment. If he's even more ruthless and requires followers to pay with their 'souls', then wouldn't the 'souls' harvested by the Anti-Law become his personal property, just like his minions? The rewards the Anti-Law earns from lending money belong 100% to him, but he can't use them directly. So what if he gives them to the [Holy Light] to burn? Would the soul ashes also belong 100% to him? Could it strengthen his control over the [Holy Seal]?"

The elf didn't start from the perspective of the Tiger Demon, but instead took a more universal approach (anti-law). Upon hearing this, Yuan Zhu froze on the spot.

Yup!

He simply thought that his [Tiger Demon] had a bug, but after the elf pointed it out, he suddenly realized that there were similar bug relationships between the various systems of the Duling spirits.

No! The Holy Light system is far from a simple matter of self-destruction. It must conceal secrets like [Anti-Law, Accomplice]. A foolish amateur will only destroy himself; an expert will naturally devise countless methods to circumvent and achieve their goals.

He was just a beginner, and he didn't have a famous teacher or a close friend. Naturally, he lacked relevant inheritance and could only explore and summarize step by step on his own.

Yuan Zhu: "Anti-Law? Anti-Law! Anti-Law is a good thing!"

Yuan Zhu, who had successfully connected the [Tiger Demon, Minion, Disease Garden, and Holy Light], was inspired again after hearing the word [Anti-Law], and had newer and bolder ideas.

Simply refining and cultivating [Ghosts] is too inefficient, and the potential of Ghosts is also limited.

Only by devouring powerful monsters could he refine minions with enormous potential, but his Tiger Demon couldn't eat them. The monsters the Tiger Demon could digest only produced small pieces of trash.

Furthermore, the number of ghost minions the Tiger Demon could control was inherently limited. The initial 5-1 eggplant-headed ghosts he had refined were simply not enough to reach his limit. If he refined more, he might reach his limit, and there would be no limit to his number.

But the emergence of [Anti-Law] brought a new turn of events. [Tiger Demon] only needed to continuously create garbage minions, and then use [Anti-Law] to lend (reward) these minions as power.

These rented minions no longer occupied the Tiger Demon's share, but were instead borne by the tenants. As long as [Anti-Law] continued to sign people, it could continue to lend money, allowing outsiders to raise minions for it, and grow stronger together.

These minions, freed from the Tiger Demon, are now controlled by a new [Anti-Law Contract]. Specific ownership can be determined based on the contract's terms. However, regardless of the contract, the minions, once increased in value, will return to the Tiger Demon. After a round of purification by [Holy Light], the "digitalized soul pollution" will be returned to the Tiger Demon, and the soul ashes will be forged into holy seals and soul crystals.

"[Anti-Law] is not only a polluting system, but also an extraordinary financial tool, capable of leveraging the hidden power levels of the 'Tiger Demon and its Henchmen' many times over! The henchmen may be ill-informed, but the Anti-Law borrowers are. I simply package the henchmen into something resembling the [Mao Mao Wang] uniforms and lower the interest rate on the contract to that of a good god (50% annual interest rate), and there will be no shortage of users taking the bait. I'll have them train their henchmen for me, and then harvest them regularly. There are even some who have killed themselves in this game, sending their souls back..."

Yuan Zhu asked Xiao La Tiao to do a simple calculation for him, and found that under ideal conditions, with the blessing of [Anti-Law], whether it is shadow or holy light, the benefits and efficiency of practice can be increased several times or even dozens of times.

He found that if he took a long-term view, the long-term benefits brought by the tool [Anti-Law] would even far exceed the garden itself.

...

On this day, Yuan Zhulong was enlightened, and under the guidance of Yu Jingzi, he suddenly realized the true meaning of [The Way of Lending (Anti-Law)]!

He didn't know how much money [Pale Law] actually made, but [Anti-Law Demon] was really good at making money! This was simply the avenue of capital! A true path to the devil!

Mortals who come into contact with [Anti-Law] can only be lenders, playing games with the Anti-Law Demon, and have no future at all.

But the [Tiger Demon] is different, having already begun to acquire the qualifications to lend money. The Henchmen are even more naturally lenders, so this [Anti-Law] avenue deserves a place for me!
From now on, we will launch the high-quality [Ghost Loan] with an annualized interest rate of only 50% to the Duling society, and all the ghosts will be accomplices of the evil.

"Boss, are you going to do [Anti-Law] again? Are you still going to burn the garbage? Are you just going to give up on so many distorted plants?" Xiao Latiao asked.

"Burn! How can I not? For now, I'll put [Anti-Law] on the agenda. I need to gather more intelligence. But I can't let [Holy Light] down either. I'm filled with passion and fighting spirit, and I feel the future is bright! I've suddenly realized the ultimate wisdom of [Tiger Demon + Holy Light + Anti-Law]. Who else in this world can match me?!"

Yuan Zhu was extremely excited at the moment. Just thinking about the three-hit combo of [Shadow, Anti-Law, Holy Light] made his blood boil.

In the Garden of Disease, holy light flashed and exploded continuously, burning piece after piece of deformed plants into ashes, which were then melted into the holy seal.

For a whole afternoon, Yuan Zhu neither ate nor drank. With his extraordinary mobility, he frantically and selflessly purified batch after batch of diseased plants, harvested the "diseased fruits", and reduced them all to ashes to forge the holy seal.

When his human form was completely exhausted, he switched to the Tiger Demon to slowly recover his health, and drew shadow pollution to forcefully feed the four minions, forcing them to devour the distorted flowers and plants to evolve forcefully.

The ghost choked and couldn't eat, then switched back to human form and continued to release holy light to purify the garden world. He continued to toss and turn until evening, when he finally paused due to extreme mental exhaustion.

The harvest of this day allowed him to cast [Sanctuary] to 4 ticks. At the same time, the massive amount of polluted ashes also caused a qualitative change in his Holy Light, and [Seal] also gave birth to a brand new skill.

A ball of holy light rose from Yuan Zhu's palm. Compared to its initial state, the color of the holy light was softer, no longer as blazing and bright, but still showing a holy white color. It was just weaker and softer.

At the same time, his holy light no longer remained loose and loose like light particles, but instead became thicker and more resilient, exhibiting the properties of a gel and adhesion. It even extended, as his mind shifted, into slender, glowing tentacles, like a small, milky-white sun, radiating outward with twisted rays of light.

All of this was due to the Holy Seal absorbing a large amount of 'Disease Ashes'. His Holy Light now also carried a small amount of disease characteristics.

When his holy light shines on a target, even if the light source output is cut off, the generated 'holy light' will not disappear immediately. Instead, it will shrink into a ball, with the characteristics of adhesion, penetration, and parasitism. It invades the target's upper respiratory tract like a sacred 'diseased tissue', parasitizes in the body, slowly burns the life of the prey, and maintains the continued existence of this 'parasitic holy light'.

The new skill born from the [Holy Seal] is called [Holy Cough], which is closely related to his activated parasitic holy light.

When the activated Holy Light penetrates the target's body, it can lie dormant and spread like a disease within the target's body, accumulating [Holy Cough Particles].

When [Holy Cough] is not in effect, it simply overdraws life and releases warm holy light radiation, making the target more excited, energetic, repelling other pollution, and feeling good about themselves.

Once the [Holy Cough] erupts, the victim will cough violently, transforming into a "Holy Light Battery," continuously burning life and creating more Holy Light. Its utilization and conversion rate of vitality far surpasses that of the initial Holy Light. It can more meticulously excavate and burn every inch of the biological battery, without the need for direct contact with the [Stigmata] to ignite it.

Finally, the new Holy Light's resistance, targeting, and confinement to 'Disease Pollution' have been greatly improved.

Initially, Yuan Zhu had to keep his [Shelter] open to guard against the polluted air from the Disease Garden. Now, he had completely eliminated the Holy Light and breathed in the polluted air. Any disease pollution that entered his body was immediately absorbed (refined) by his 'Active Parasitic Holy Light'.

In the garden, a large amount of holy white light emanated from Yuan Zhu's body, wrapping him into a 'white sun', and countless flexible holy light ribbons (tentacles) spread out radially.

With a casual gesture, a ribbon of light shot out, entangling the deformed fruit of a fleshy tree. Then, a force field of holy light erupted, severing the surrounding branches and beginning to refine it.

When the pollutants were efficiently burned by the holy light, the belt of light (tentacle) greedily devoured the ashes and passed them back into Yuan Zhu's body.

"The efficiency of casting is getting slower and slower. Let's stop here for now."

As the blood-red light above the garden grew dimmer, and this blessed place was about to enter night, Yuan Zhu, exhausted, lost all enthusiasm and motivation to purify the pollution.

He had worked hard all day and now that he had been handsomely rewarded, it was time to treat himself to a nice meal.

He revoked the Holy Sun, leaving only a tough film of light on his head, and returned to the position he had entered the garden. Using the spatial sense provided by [Shelter], he quickly located an invisible exit.

The protective force field wrapped around his arm, and he slowly stretched out his hand, and then disappeared.

The next moment, he walked out of the fitting mirror, and what he saw was a dilapidated scene eroded and distorted by the "shadow pollution".

Yuan Zhu hesitated for a moment, then reopened the [Boss Template], transformed into a tiger demon, and used his claws to pull out four minions from the shadows. He ordered them to take root in the four directions of the attic, and their limbs continued to stretch and lengthen, growing a large number of black roots that intertwined with each other.

At the same time, it said to the skeleton snake tail: "Are you sure you can do it?"

"Of course! Master Lao is becoming more and more powerful, and I'm collecting more and more data. Especially with the emergence of the [Sanctuary], I've taken my first steps in the space realm! I've also gained a better understanding of the [Tiger Demon Realm]."

[Tiger Demon Realm] As the ultimate talent of the Tiger Demon, it can use "human pillars" to arrange a large formation, connect the Yin and Yang worlds, and create an absolute home field.

Now, Yuan Zhu only borrowed this talent in small amounts, using the four minions as a wedge to nail himself into the 'attic' space at the core of the haunted house, connecting with the ubiquitous 'shadow', and reconnecting the 'space maze' that was previously blasted by it.

Though it had damaged the haunted house, its foundation remained intact. Considering the haunted house as hardware, it now intended to use its four bloated [ghosts + shadow power] to replace the human-faced clock, acting as new software to protect, monitor, and operate the haunted house, preventing it from being discovered or disturbed by the outside world.

Under the command of the elf, the tiger demon tossed around and barely managed to establish a connection between the [haunted house] and the shadows inside the house, as well as the [shadow layer] in the disease garden.

The four minions also took root in the floor and transformed into four dark tomato vines, clinging to the four corners of the attic, forming a formation and spreading out countless black blood vessels, connecting with every wall, floor, and ceiling of the haunted house, becoming the new 'evil spirits of the haunted house'.

When Yuan Zhu released his Tiger Demon form, the four ghosts never vanished or returned, but were completely locked away in the haunted house. He transformed this place into his temporary lair. From now on, this haunted house temporarily belonged to him.

"This ghost is quite useful. We should hurry up and refine another batch."

The elf said, "That also requires good raw materials. The minions trained by other monsters have different attributes and may not be as good as Crazy Eggplant."

Yuan Zhu nodded in agreement. These eggplant-headed ghosts possess plant properties, capable of expanding, taking root, and drawing nutrients from the shadows. That's a plus. I wonder if they can undergo mitosis? Perhaps we could try cultivating them.

(End of this chapter)