The Quest for Immortality

Inside the cave sealed by the Formation.

The void was permeated with a familiar yet icy, eerie chill.

Mo Hua held his breath, not daring to draw even a full lungful of air, and forcibly cut off his own thoughts, severing all circulation of mental activity, keeping his mind blank, so as to avoid stirring certain karma and inviting the descent of Wily Minds.

Time flowed by bit by bit.

The eerie chill in the void slowly flowed along.

Mo Hua was like a quiet mouse, lurking underground.

No one knew how long had passed before the strange aura in the air gradually thinned and then slowly vanished.

Mo Hua still did not dare to be careless; even his breathing was cautious, quietly and steadily lying low, not daring to relax in the slightest.

In this way, sun rose and moon set and rose again; three full days passed.

The oppressive feeling in the air was gone.

Within karma, there was no longer that hardtograsp, unfathomable sense of eeriness.

Only then did Mo Hua finally let out a long breath of relief.

But even so, he still did not dare to relax; he did not dare to mention it aloud, nor even dare, in his heart, to think upon that threecharacter title.

Mo Hua could only address him as ”Uncle”.

”Gui Tao’s people” was an exclusive title.

In this world, whenever one mentioned Gui Tao’s people, the karma it pointed toward led only to that Taoist who walked the Heavenly secret Tricky Path, and with merely Feather Transformation Cultivation ascended to the highest demonic title on the Demon Path.

But there were many ”Uncles”.

Many people had an ”Uncle”, and many people would become ”Uncle”.

In this world, there were far too many people denoted by ”Uncle”; the weight of karma was far too tangled and vast.

Tangled meant chaotic and obscure.

Therefore, when Mo Hua silently recited these two words in his heart, almost no one would know that the ”Uncle” he spoke of referred to that terrifying Taoist whose very name made people blanch.

The two words ”Uncle” were relatively safe.

At the very least, far safer than the three characters ”Gui Tao’s people”.

”So, this matter...” Mo Hua carefully reviewed the causes and consequences, his expression incomparably grave:

”Was it a scheme Uncle set up in secret?”

”The Evil Qi on my body—was it in fact Uncle who... tampered with it?”

”What is it that Uncle... wants to do?”

”And what means, exactly... did Uncle employ?”

Mo Hua’s brows knitted tightly; he could only start thinking from the most basic point of ”Evil Qi”.

Righteous Cultivators generally would not study Evil Qi; that belonged to the domain of the Demon Path.

Except for the Water Prison Sect.

But what the Water Prison Sect studied was ”righteous evilness”—only, although it was called ”righteous” evilness, within Righteous inheritances it still carried something of a ”crooked, Evil Path” flavor, otherwise the Water Prison Sect would not have fallen to its present fate.

And even the Water Prison Sect’s research into Evil Qi could not be called authoritative. Those who truly studied Evil Qi were still the Demon Sects.

Many Demon Sect inheritances were themselves founded upon ”Evil Qi”.

Evil Qi was a kind of ”Evil Qi” with the nature of slaughter; it could cow the soul, inspire terror, and when blended into various Demon Skills, could also increase their power.

When one human kills another, one becomes tainted with Evil Qi.

Many Demon Cultivators would wantonly massacre the innocent, accumulating Evil Qi to Cultivate Demon Skill.

Thus, in the eyes of Demon Cultivators, naturally the heavier the Evil Qi, the better; the stronger, the better.

The heavier the Evil Qi, the deeper the Demon Path Cultivation Technique, and the stronger the Power of Killing.

But these things applied only to ”Demon Cultivators”.

For Righteous Cultivators, it was entirely different.

Evil Qi, born of killing, had extremely severe side effects for Cultivators.

Once one kills too many, one will naturally grow numb to the very concept of ”human”.

One will increasingly cease to regard people as people, and instead treat them as ”consumables”, as ”slaves”, as ”livestock”, to be butchered at will.

One will also increasingly cease to regard oneself as human; one’s temperament will grow ever more numb, more selfish, more indifferent, and more cruel.

Reason will step by step sink into madness, and basic human nature will gradually be extinguished.

This side effect, for the Demon Path, is of no consequence at all.

Because Demon Cultivators are, by and large, ”beasts”. Those who still retain humanity are very few.

Even if they have a conscience, once they cultivate Demon Skill, sooner or later it will be utterly obliterated.

Thus, there is a saying in the Cultivation World.

There may be beasts wrongly killed, but no Demon Cultivator wrongly slain. Any and all Demon Cultivators deserve death.

The distinction between Righteous and Demonic is, by and large, as clear as rivers and lakes.

The basic dividing line here is ”human nature”: whether one regards others as human, and whether one regards oneself as human.

Demon Cultivators do not regard themselves as human, nor others; thus the way ”Evil Qi” extinguishes human nature is of no consequence to them.

But for Righteous Cultivators, this is a major taboo.

Even though ”slaying demons and exterminating devils” is a Righteous act, once one slaughters too many Demon Cultivators and grows numb from killing, one’s own human nature will face an enormous trial.

For the Taoist Heart, it is all the more a kind of tempering and torment.

Many Righteous Cultivators who soak in Corpse Mountains and seas of blood, steeped deep in killing, keep a taut string in their hearts.

So long as the string is there, humanity remains.

But if one day, provoked by something, that inner string suddenly snaps, reason will be entirely replaced by bloodlust, and the Taoist Heart will collapse in an instant.

From a highly respected, decisive Righteous expert, one will in a heartbeat fall into a bloodaddicted Demon Head.

Such lamentable events occur from time to time.

Therefore, Righteous Cultivators stress selfcultivation and nurturing the temperament, and will not overindulge in the desire to kill.

Unless absolutely necessary, they will not slaughter a large number of Demon Cultivators all at once, thereby increasing the pressure on their own Taoist Heart.

Indeed, the Taoist Court and Taoist Law advocate that, when conditions permit, Demon Cultivators should be captured as far as possible, escorted to the Taoist Prison, and then subjected to capital punishment.

Let the Taoist Court’s lifeanddeath guillotine and Killing Formation bear this Evil Qi.

< Chapter 2550 - 37: Cunning Scheme

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