Immortal Refiner

After the ninth insect completed its metamorphosis, Li Qing settled into his cave abode on Hundred Refinements Peak to incubate the three golden silkworm eggs.

Though he lacked experience in hatching spirit insect eggs, his extensive knowledge of ancient manuals told him that continuously infusing them with his true essence would accelerate the process.

Seated cross-legged before the three golden eggs, Li Qing stilled his mind. With a single hand, he condensed gentle streams of true essence, enveloping the eggs in a warm, nurturing glow.

The pure true essence slowly seeped into the eggs, vanishing without a trace like a mud ox sinking into the sea.

The process was destined to be tedious. Even Li Qing, known for his extraordinary patience, couldn’t resist pulling out a storage pouch to review daoist arts during the wait.

”Now that I think about it, I’ve never really examined the daoist arts practiced by demonic path cultivators. This is a good opportunity for a basic understanding.”

The pitch-black storage pouch had been obtained from the ugly man Li Qing had slain in the Great Wilderness Southern Region. Its contents were meager: a few spirit stones and a handful of unremarkable jade slips.

Without a second thought, Li Qing knew these jade slips contained demonic path cultivation manuals.

He casually picked up one of the slips and extended his spiritual sense to browse the demonic cultivator’s daoist arts recorded within.

[Extreme Malevolence Finger]

This technique involved channeling one’s malevolent energy to the fingertips, condensing it into a malevolent energy finger. Its power was considerable; even ordinary magic artifacts that could withstand it would suffer damage to their spirituality.

Moreover, the stronger one’s malevolent energy, the greater the power this divine ability could unleash.

Yes, this was undoubtedly a demonic path divine ability!

”Truly worthy of being a demonic path evil art—using one’s own malevolent energy as the foundation for cultivating divine abilities.”

Li Qing narrowed his eyes. He found that cultivating this technique wasn’t particularly difficult. As long as one’s malevolent energy was sufficiently dense, success would come easily.

What exactly was malevolent energy?

It was an intangible force, undetectable and invisible. Yet, every act of slaughter left a trace of it clinging to one’s being.

If this malevolent energy accumulated to excessive levels, it could potentially create significant obstacles on one’s future cultivation path.

Upon reaching the core formation realm, cultivators would inevitably face tribulations such as the heart demon tribulation or karmic fire tribulation with each subsequent breakthrough.

This was undoubtedly a classic demonic path divine ability, sacrificing everything for immediate combat power. Cultivators who practiced such techniques were notoriously formidable, possessing extraordinary combat prowess.

”To unleash the true power of this divine ability, it seems slaughter is unavoidable,” Li Qing murmured, shaking his head slowly. He had no interest in this technique.

After reviewing the Extreme Malevolence Finger, Li Qing stored the jade slip and resumed channeling pure true essence into the golden silkworm egg.

As he continued this process, he picked up the second jade slip and began to examine it.

Nine Sons Demonic Child!

Wulong had gathered a hundred young boys and girls from mortal towns to cultivate this utterly cruel demonic art!

Even a cursory glance made Li Qing’s brow furrow.

Cultivating this demonic art required condensing nine demonic seals, followed by the human sacrifice of at least a hundred young boys and girls—the more, the better.

During the human sacrifice ritual, the young boys and girls would die in agony, while the nine demonic seals grew increasingly powerful.

The final nine survivors would become complete puppets, their bodies and souls permanently bound to the demonic seals, controlled by the one who had refined them.

These nine demonic children, once initially refined, would possess strength comparable to foundation establishment cultivators!

They could even continue to grow stronger, though at that point, the sacrifices required would be the lives of cultivators themselves.

The more lives taken, the more nourishment the nine demonic seals absorbed, and the greater the demonic children’s power became.

”Hah... what a truly heaven-defying demonic art,” Li Qing murmured, his gaze turning slightly cold. ”It’s utterly cruel.” He finally understood what it meant to be a demonic cultivator.

Such cultivators invariably had their hands stained with vast amounts of blood and countless lives.

To master this art, one would likely have to slaughter until the heavens and earth were overturned.

Snap!

Li Qing slowly shook his head and stored the jade slip away, vowing never to let it see the light of day again.

This demonic art clashed with his cultivation philosophy. He had no desire to become a demonic cultivator feared by all.

Having resolved not to cultivate demonic arts, Li Qing continued browsing the remaining daoist arts, hoping to broaden his horizons.

Unsurprisingly, the other jade slips contained similar daoist arts—mostly inhumane demonic arts.

To be honest, Li Qing was astonished by the demonic path cultivators who had created these arts. It was truly remarkable how they had devised so many methods to harm others for their own benefit.

Driven by their pursuit of combat power, they disregarded all moral boundaries, even their own lives.

In his storage pouch, only a dark green iron tome remained. If his intuition was correct, it too would likely be a demonic art.

Li Qing casually retrieved it and scanned it with his divine sense.

But the next moment, he felt a wave of dizziness and disorientation.

The dark green iron tome was densely inscribed with an overwhelming amount of textual information!

Even Li Qing’s divine soul struggled to process it all at once. He had to examine it slowly, unable to absorb the entire contents into his Sea of Consciousness in a single sweep.

”What kind of technique is this? How could so much information be recorded in such a small space?”

”This seems like a technique from the Primordial Era, before jade scrolls were even invented,” Li Qing murmured, his curiosity piqued. He was eager to see what secrets this green iron tome from the Primordial Era might contain.

”Myriad Lives Demonic Art, middle Chapter. This section is called Transformation of Life,” Li Qing muttered, continuing to read.

The next moment, his pupils constricted sharply.

The Transformation of Life technique could convert the Lifespan stolen by the preceding Life Devouring Art into a unique vital essence. This vital essence could amplify the potency of plant and wood spirits, and even revive dormant entities like withered Spirit Seeds.

Furthermore, this vital essence could enhance the power of magical artifacts and divine abilities, making it incredibly versatile!

Remember: Once the Lifespan stolen by the Life Devouring Art is exhausted, you can only consume your own Lifespan!

It took Li Qing two full days and nights to finish reading the middle Chapter of the Myriad Lives Demonic Art.

His breathing grew rapid, and even the hand holding the dark green iron tome began to tremble.

”Could such a miraculous art truly exist in the world? It’s utterly unbelievable.”

This demonic art was divided into three sections: front, middle, and rear. Li Qing had only obtained the middle section and learned that the front section was called the Life Devouring Art, a technique capable of plundering others’ lifespans!

Such an overwhelmingly domineering and exaggerated demonic art would be considered an unimaginable marvel even among demonic path cultivation manuals.

Though he didn’t yet know the contents of the rear section, the combination of the front and middle sections alone already constituted a forbidden art, intolerable to the immortal cultivation world.

”Inconceivable... utterly unbelievable... I dare not imagine what level someone who could gather all three sections of this demonic art might reach.”

Li Qing’s heart surged with wild elation. If an outsider were to obtain this middle section, the Transformation of Life Art, it might prove rather useless.

Without mastering the Life Devouring Art first, relying solely on one’s own lifespan to condense vital essence would likely lead to the embarrassing situation of facing one’s great limit after only a few attempts.

Li Qing was different. He might lack many things, but he certainly had an abundance of lifespan!

”Without the Life Devouring Art to plunder lifespan from others, I can create it myself.”

With those words, Li Qing made his decision. He would have to cultivate this demonic art.

His eyes suddenly lit up.

If he could successfully cultivate it and transform his lifespan into vital essence, it would be an immensely powerful asset.

Using vital essence to amplify his divine abilities and magical artifacts would likely unleash unimaginable power.

Moreover, the art’s ability to enhance the essence of plants and revive dormant objects made him envious.

If he could revive withered, lifeless spirit herb seeds, could he also revive the source fire seed of his Spirit Devouring Demon Flame?

”It seems the greatest reward from this journey isn’t the three golden silkworm eggs, but this demonic art!”

(End of the Chapter)

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