Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 297 Demon Cultivator's Subordinates
The affairs of the "underworld" were hastily established, and more and more souls were attracted to it.

In fact, things are becoming increasingly unsettled around Baishi Mountain.

Besides the fact that the concentration of spiritual energy is much higher than in other places, forcing many newly awakened spirits and demons to gather, it is also because the entrance to the "underworld" is located in that deep pit at the foot of White Stone Mountain.

That deep pit was truly eerie and located at the bottom, making it difficult for ordinary people to reach. Therefore, it was called the "Black Abyss" by the local people.

In the area radiated by the Black Abyss, wandering spirits often appear and disappear due to the strong yin energy, frightening many passing merchants. Fortunately, most ghosts nowadays have incomplete souls, lacking self-awareness and being very fragile. Even martial artists with strong yang energy can disperse them with their yang and intense true energy, so they have never caused any trouble.

However, He Yu was extremely busy.

Besides setting up formations and compiling various laws and regulations of the underworld, he also had to constantly divert his primordial spirit to "catch ghosts," because in the villages and towns near Baishi Mountain, it had reached the point where ghosts would inevitably be born whenever someone died.

Under these circumstances, neither He Yu nor Zhang Chengdao could sit idly by; they had no choice but to trouble themselves to bring these new ghosts back to the "underworld."

Fortunately, these ghosts were all in a dazed state, so there was no need for magical artifacts like the Soul-Binding Rope. He Yu could simply flick his sleeve and take them away, which allowed him to manage his time.

"But this can't go on forever!"

He Yu's face was full of worry.

If it were just a few villages and towns, he could still manage to take care of them, but as the concentration of spiritual energy increased and the area affected by Xunmu expanded, he simply couldn't handle all the Yin Messengers on his own!

Even so, this is because the new ghosts at present will only live for a month or so before dissipating, so there is no need for judgment, which reduces the duties of the "judge".

In other worlds, most of the ghost messengers and immortals who handle affairs of the underworld are ghost cultivators, but right now there isn't even a normal ghost, let alone a ghost cultivator!
Since we can't count on ghosts, then...

"Why don't we find some living people to help first?"

Zhang Chengdao pondered, "Ordinary living people can't withstand the ghost energy, but cultivators are fine. I can issue some requests within the sect to find disciples to help you, but this isn't a long-term solution. These disciples still need to cultivate in White Stone Mountain."

He Yu was not going to be picky at this point and hurriedly said, "It's good if it can hold out for a while, at least it will give me time to slowly look for suitable candidates."

"Then I'll speak with the sect leader and arrange for disciples above the Foundation Establishment stage to take turns helping you here..."

As he spoke, Zhang Chengdao suddenly paused, thinking of a brilliant candidate: "Fellow Daoist He, since you are short-handed here, I wonder if, besides humans, other creatures... uh, I mean, demons are not good at cultivation?"

The weasel demon that Murong Ruyan and Chang Pingan brought back from Pingding County has been living on Spirit Beast Peak and has been assigned to guard Immortal Trace Garden - the most important precious timber industrial park in the sect, where the timber produced is all spiritual material and is very valuable!
The reason it was assigned to guard the Fairy Garden was not only to allow it to "atone for its sins," but also to provide it with a quiet environment for cultivation. In fact, the Fairy Garden itself did not really need to be guarded. After all, there was a mountain-protecting array outside White Stone Mountain (disguised by the Bamboo Fence), and the entire mountain was supported so high by the Seeking Wood that it would be difficult for even martial artists with considerable cultivation to climb up, let alone ordinary people. There was no need to worry about anyone trespassing into the Fairy Garden to steal wood.

As for those disciples...

What genius would risk being expelled from the White Stone Immortal Sect, which had gone through countless hardships to earn the opportunity to cultivate immortality, just to steal a little bit of spiritual material?
You can earn enough spirit stones to buy spirit materials by taking on more commissions and doing odd jobs!
Therefore, Zhang Chengdao could easily find a good place for the weasel demon. He himself didn't understand the cultivation path of demons, but He Yu, who had lived for thousands of years, certainly knew a thing or two. Letting the weasel follow He Yu would not only allow it to cultivate better, but it might even one day become a terrestrial immortal.

Investing now would make you an angel investor. Even without capital, just contributing a person... cough, I should say just contributing a Weasel, would make you a veteran of the entire "underworld".

It's like joining Alibaba before it even started; even if you're just a security guard, you could eventually rise through the ranks.

Of course, another reason for introducing the weasel demon to He Yu was that although the weasel demon was the second demon cultivator card besides Sandy, it was only a green card, and he was not keen on taking it as a disciple.

Although not accepting weasel demons will temporarily reduce the number of non-existent demon species in the demon cultivation encyclopedia, the sect's principle of only accepting disciples with aptitudes of blue card or higher is something Zhang Chengdao set for himself in private.

Besides being influenced by the "strength-oriented" mentality, it's also because his resources and energy are indeed limited, making it impossible for him to train all talents. He can only choose to recruit those with higher aptitude first.

He Yu didn't discriminate against demon cultivators. The longer the history of a cultivation civilization, the more tolerant its attitude towards various races must be (even if it's just a facade), because this is an inevitable result of pursuing social stability.

But what he was more curious about was...

"Fellow Daoist, are you perhaps considering relinquishing your beloved Sandy to help me?"

He Yu had met two demon cultivators from the White Stone Immortal Sect, Xiao Li and Sandy.

Little Li is still in the early stages of developing intelligence. However, because she is playful, her cultivation progress has been very slow. To be honest, if Fellow Daoist Zhang were to hand Little Li over, not only would he not be able to help her, but he would also have to take care of her himself.

Fellow Daoist Zhang is clearly not the kind of person who doesn't know his place, so the only one left is Sandy.

Sandy, the squirrel demon, is of excellent talent and works hard. It is only a matter of time before she can condense her demon core. If it weren't for the fact that she was born a squirrel, her cultivation level would be even higher than it is now.

Zhang Chengdao shook his head and said, "No, there is another demon cultivator in my sect. It is a weasel spirit. It was tempted by the local officials in Anding County to do some wrong things because it was greedy for pleasure. After my disciple brought it back, he ordered it to guard the garden and not to go in or out easily. This was partly to reflect on its mistakes and partly to cultivate in peace. So you probably haven't seen it yet."

He Yu was a little curious: "Did it also develop sentience?"

Animals such as weasels, foxes, cows, cats, and dogs are inherently intelligent and their habitats often intersect with those of humans, making them more prone to developing spiritual intelligence.

However, while it is easy to gain spiritual intelligence, it is difficult to cultivate oneself.

Once these animals develop sentience, they often become different from their former species. To put it bluntly, the difference is even greater than the difference between humans and dogs.

In the spiritless modern society before Zhang Chengdao's time travel, there were often endless dilemmas in fantasy works, such as whether a pig that becomes a pig demon should eat pork or whether a cow that becomes a cow demon should still eat grass. These questions are not really worth discussing.

Another way to describe the awakening of spiritual intelligence is to understand it as "rebirth".

The most significant difference between the two lies in the difference in the soul.

According to the various books Zhang Chengdao read in the library, it is generally believed that humans are uniquely endowed with three souls and seven spirits, making them the most complete beings in the world. Therefore, even if the seven spirits are scattered after death, they will still transform into "ghosts" with all three souls intact.

Of course, because spiritual energy is scarce, when people die in this world, not only do their seven souls dissipate, but their three spirits also have difficulty absorbing energy (spiritual energy) to take shape. Therefore, there were no ghosts before (He Yu was an outsider and is not included).

As for "immortals," they do not have the so-called three souls and seven spirits, but only the primordial spirit (or divine soul) exists—this involves the many realms in the cultivation system.

For example, "foundation building" means to solidify the physical body's foundation and "build" the spiritual root in order to prepare for subsequent cultivation.

Upon reaching the "Out-of-Body" stage, all seven souls are refined, allowing one to completely break free from the shackles of the physical body. Therefore, under normal circumstances, cultivators above the Out-of-Body stage will not die completely due to damage to their physical body.

As for "transformation into spirit," it means condensing the "three souls" into a "primordial spirit." At this point, the cultivator will complete the "sublimation" from soul to body, completely break free from the limitations of mortals, and officially step into the realm of "immortal."

Of course, before that, for example, in the Nascent Soul stage, cultivators have already completed a certain degree of primordial spirit condensation. However, the "primordial spirit" in the Nascent Soul stage is not condensed from the three souls, but is similar to divine consciousness. It can be regarded as a "reserve" for the primordial spirit condensed from the three souls. It only has the function of the primordial spirit, but cannot get rid of the influence of the three souls. If a cultivator in this stage is injured in spirit or soul, he will still die like an ordinary person.

Cultivators above the Nascent Soul stage, or immortals and gods, have no souls, but their primordial spirit is condensed from the three souls, so they are generally referred to as "divine souls." This is another system, which we will not discuss for now.

Let's go back to animals.

The so-called awakening of intelligence in animals is actually the natural birth of a final soul in animals whose souls are not as complete as those of humans: the Shuangling.

Generally, animals only have two souls and seven spirits. The missing one is the "shuang soul," which governs wisdom and spiritual awareness. Once the shuang soul is born, the three souls will be complete, thus providing the basic conditions for cultivation.

Upon closer examination, once a "soul of pleasure" is born, the animal has in fact become another "species." It will develop a true "self" and possess a sound "main personality," that is, a complete soul—although in the early stages of the birth of a "soul of pleasure," it may not look much different from its counterparts before it gained sentience.

However, there are significant differences between those who have attained spiritual intelligence.

For example, Xiao Li, although it has also developed intelligence, seems to be much smarter than ordinary foxes, even equivalent to the intelligence of a small child. But in essence, it does not realize that it is different from other foxes. It still follows its nature, likes to dig holes, likes to play and frolic with other foxes in the mountains, and even feels smug when other foxes can't beat it...

From a certain perspective, it's actually quite stupid.

Sandy was different. She knew clearly that she no longer belonged to the "squirrel" group, so she never had any special feelings for other squirrels. In her daily life, she tried her best to imitate humans, which made her cultivation level increase by leaps and bounds. She no longer cared about getting entangled with Little Fox.

Hmm... Anyway, Little Fox's little brain can't remember grudges.

In short, He Yu guessed that if this weasel demon could be as proactive and intelligent as Sandy, then it would be a pretty good helper. As long as he taught it a few spells and supernatural abilities and gave it some pointers on cultivation methods, it would be quite useful as a minor official.

Since He Yu is willing, he can't say anything by just talking.

Therefore, Zhang Chengdao immediately returned to Baishi Mountain, captured the weasel demon who was sleeping soundly in Xianzong Garden, and brought it to the "Ghost City".

As soon as they entered the "underworld," the weasel demon's fur stood on end.

The heavy yin energy and the sudden drop in spiritual energy concentration made it somewhat apprehensive.

Although that "Master Zhang" had told me on the way that he had found me a "good place," but...

What “good place” could be better than the White Stone Immortal Sect, where one has no worries about food or lodging?
Besides, the yin energy here is so heavy that even its thick fur is shivering uncontrollably. It's hardly a "good place"!
Upon seeing the weasel that Zhang Chengdao had brought over, which was as big as a yellow dog, He Yu couldn't help but whistle: "Wow, it seems to be quite skilled, with good potential!"

Demon cultivators, especially those who are animals that have gained sentience, are easy to compare in terms of their cultivation level. Generally, the larger their true physical size, the higher their cultivation level.

While this criterion may not be accurate, demon cultivators whose size is much larger than their counterparts before they gained sentience must have considerable cultivation.

It's like if you see a Guangzhou-style pigtail as big as a cat, your first reaction, besides screaming, is definitely thinking, "This thing has come to life."

Therefore, in a world with such low spiritual energy concentration and where spiritual energy has only recently revived, the fact that this weasel demon could cultivate such a large physical body shows that it is indeed quite talented.

As for why it was shown as a green card on Zhang Chengdao's end, it's probably because he was too clever and therefore lacked a certain level of composure.

Otherwise, it wouldn't have caused the incident in Anping County in the first place.

"What is your name?"

Just as the weasel demon was still nervously thinking about this and that, He Yu asked again, but he lowered his head and looked at the weasel demon when he asked.

The weasel demon didn't realize it was being asked a question. It stared blankly with its two beady eyes and its little paws held out in front of it.

Zhang Chengdao smiled and answered on its behalf: "It doesn't seem to have a name yet. It's a little demon that has just gained sentience, so it probably can't read yet."

After hearing Zhang Chengdao's words, the weasel demon finally understood—

Although it's unclear who this strangely dressed person is, he must be no ordinary person to be treated with such courtesy by "Immortal Zhang"!

Therefore, the weasel demon immediately imitated the way the disciples in the White Stone Immortal Sect greeted each other, clasping its fists and bowing repeatedly to He Yu, its eyes filled with longing, and its mouth squeaking incessantly.

Zhang Chengdao didn't understand "weasel language," but he could barely understand the weasel demon's meaning based on his own cultivation. He Yu, on the other hand, came from a large immortal sect and had a good understanding of animal language. Hearing the weasel demon's cry, he asked in surprise, "You mean you want me to give you a name?"

The weasel demon nodded repeatedly, grasped the two furry little paws again, and bowed repeatedly.

He Yu was even more surprised.

Such a clever little demon is truly rare!

However, he quickly thought about it and refused, saying, "The name of a demon cultivator is a big deal. I will not give it to you. It is better for you to decide for yourself when you study calligraphy and literature in the future."

Upon hearing this, the weasel demon looked immediately disappointed.

It thought that He Yu disliked its origins and was unwilling to give it a name!
(End of this chapter)