The First Immortal of Destiny

With Shen Mo’s decree, the entire Red Flame Sect, like a massive and sophisticated machine, began to operate with intense fervor.

Apart from the disciples on the verge of a breakthrough and those in closed-door cultivation, everyone from Deputy Sect Master Yuan Heming and other Golden Core Realm experts down to the Body Tempering Realm disciples who had just succeeded in Pulling Qi into the Body, was immersed in a flurry of activity. They all contributed their strength to execute the will of Shen Mo, their Sect Master, and the entire Red Flame Sect!

Among these tasks, the mission to ”venture out of Green Cloud Cave and gather resources from various parts of the Cancering Realm” fell to the Qi Gathering Realm and Spirit Sea Realm cultivators of the Red Flame Sect.

When a forbidden land descends upon an entirely new world, the stronger one’s power, the greater the restrictions they faced.

Individuals like Shen Mo, as the master of the Fairyland and Protector of the forbidden land, needed to constantly resist the assimilating power of the ”Cancering Realm’s” natural laws. If he were to venture out at this time, both he himself and Green Cloud Cave would be directly assimilated by the Dao.

The Red Flame Sect’s more than twenty Golden Core Realm cultivators and Class IV Demon Kings were in the same predicament; they too had to wait for a period before they could leave the Fairyland.

Otherwise, though they might not be assimilated by the Dao, they would suffer the combined onset of inner and outer tribulations. In a mild case, they would be severely injured, and their cultivation level would be greatly diminished. In a severe case, their souls would scatter, and they would perish!

Only those below the Golden Core Realm could adapt more quickly to the new world’s environment and avoid a tragic death immediately upon stepping out of Green Cloud Cave.

However, the extent of decay and corruption in the Cancering Realm was even worse than in the Primordial Realm!

The world was filled with various horrors like hurricanes, blizzards, raging thunderstorms, volcanic eruptions, landslides, and cataclysmic tsunamis. Even the native creatures of this world had all transformed into ”Gu Cancers” to resist the increasingly harsh environment.

Cultivators below the middle-stage of the Qi Gathering Realm lacked sufficient self-protection and could not resist the terrifying natural disasters and evil monsters of the Outer Realm.

Therefore, the Red Flame Sect dispatched disciples above Layer IV of the Qi Gathering Realm but below the Golden Core Realm to venture out and search for various resources.

The primary objective was still to gather the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures and top-grade medicinal ingredients Shen Mo required, enabling him to maintain his peak state during the process of Immortal Descending.

Secondly, they were to collect as many common cultivation resources as possible.

After all, for the million cultivators of the Red Flame Sect, there was never a ”surplus” of common Spirit Stones, spirit gold deposits, medicinal herbs, and so forth!

The two objectives did not conflict. For instance, an ”extremely rare Nine Holes Stone might be found deep within Spirit Stone Veins,” or ”a few thousand-year-old medicinal kings might grow in vast fields of spiritual grass.” They usually found treasured level spiritual items while collecting regular resources!

More than two months passed, and Qian Xiaofeng and several thousand other Red Flame Sect cultivators had already expanded their resource collection range to a distance of three to four thousand miles.

A vast amount of cultivation resources from the Cancering Realm flowed steadily toward Green Cloud Cave like a trickling stream. Since this world was already on the brink of decay, the Red Flame Sect cultivators had no qualms when plundering resources, even stripping away three feet of topsoil!

It was worth noting that even if the Golden Core Realm cultivators of the Red Flame Sect adapted to the environment of the Cancering Realm and could venture out freely, Shen Mo would still not allow them to transport entire mountains, rivers, spiritual items, or ore veins. He would still insist on a method of refinement, taking only the essentials.

Unlike the Primordial Realm, the Cancering Realm was excessively ”decayed” and heavily contaminated by the Death Ghost Realm.

Except for spiritual items, which still retained their vitality, everything else was permeated with an aura of death and decay!

If Green Cloud Cave absorbed too many things from this world and became further permeated by the Death Ghost Realm’s atmosphere, it would likely begin to decay prematurely, potentially even affecting Shen Mo in turn.

Collecting spiritual item resources was less problematic. After all, this Fairyland was also influenced by Shen Mo’s Skills like [Flawless] and [Immunity], which could block most of the Filthy Qi, Turbid Qi, and other aberrant energies.

...

Qian Xiaofeng and more than a hundred other Red Flame Sect members were still mining Spirit Stone ore in an underground tunnel.

Just then, a disciple guarding the entrance of the mine tunnel hastily flew in, exclaiming loudly, ”Thousands of evil monsters are heading this way! There are several Class IV Gu Cancers and about four to five hundred Class III ones!”

The next moment, Qian Xiaofeng flew out from the depths of the ore vein, her eyebrows knitted, and she snapped, ”What are you panicking about? With the Heaven Patrolling Boat House as our great treasure, a few Class IV Gu Cancers can’t cause any significant trouble.”

Then, she used her sense to issue orders, instructing the Red Flame Sect members in the mine tunnel to exit one by one and gather outside.

In the Cancering Realm, communication methods like message talismans had, unsurprisingly, once again become ineffective.

Cultivators could only communicate by speaking aloud or by using their sense to transmit messages!

The Red Flame Sect had already gathered all its cultivators proficient in the Talisman Path and forging arts to research a more stable communication method suitable for this new world, but so far, there had been no significant progress.

Before long, the hundred or so Red Flame Sect members emerged from the mine tunnel and gathered at its entrance.

They saw a group of bizarrely-shaped creatures, borne aloft by a swirling, multicolored mist, rapidly encircling them. These creatures resembled human men and women, flying birds and running beasts, or even plants and trees—some were outright amalgamations of several forms!

What was even more revolting and frightening was that these grotesque creatures were covered in multicolored pustules. These pustules would occasionally burst, spraying out a colored powder, each particle of which contained countless microscopic Gu insects!

These evil monsters were, in essence, peculiar living organisms composed of innumerable Gu Cancers, each with different properties. Some Gu Cancers were filled with deadly toxins, some contained vigorous life force, some possessed powerful digestive abilities, and some could corrupt the soul…

Once these Gu Cancers infested a living being, regardless of its original form, its Flesh and Blood, soul—everything—would be replaced by billions of Gu insects, ultimately transforming it into a monstrous creature that was neither human nor ghost.

This parasitic and corrupting power was even several times stronger than that of a Heavenly Demon!

However, in a certain sense, this bizarre form of existence ensured that the creatures of the Cancering Realm could ”survive” in its extremely harsh environment.

Creatures that were parasitized and corrupted in this way did not actually lose their lives, even though their flesh, soul, and everything else had been replaced.

In a chamber on the sixth level of the Demon-Suppressing Tower, located in the Demon Zone, several Red Flame Sect members who had turned into ”evil monsters” were imprisoned. According to Shen Mo’s research, they had not truly ”died”; rather, their bodies and souls had been replaced by Gu insects, leading to a twisted and abnormal mental state!

Regardless, cultivators who were parasitized, whether or not they had perished, had their three souls and seven spirits corrupted and replaced. Like Demon-corrupted cultivators, they were also classified as Demons.

Hence, when Qian Xiaofeng and the other Red Flame Sect members went out to gather resources, they would consume special Elixirs and circulate their Mana to manifest a protective layer of spirit energy and a magic barrier around their bodies. This was to avoid contact with the microscopic Gu Cancers prevalent in the environment.

But if this protective spirit energy or magic barrier were breached, they would immediately be parasitized by the tiny Gu insects that filled the air. If not treated promptly, they would transform into new evil monsters!

BUZZ!

The Universe Bag at Qian Xiaofeng’s waist flickered with spirit light.

A palm-sized Boat House magic treasure appeared in her hand. She channeled her Mana into it, activating it.

The Boat House rapidly expanded with the wind, and in the blink of an eye, transformed into a colossal vessel over a hundred feet long and more than forty feet wide. It was precisely the Heaven Patrolling Boat House meticulously crafted by Shen Mo.

”Board!”

”Kill the enemy!”