One demon treasure crystal spent — no progress on the technique, but some useful knowledge gained.
Plus twenty years of lifespan added on the side. Not a terrible deal.
Shen Yi leafed through the miscellaneous books Perfected Master Changqing had been carrying.
Most of them were things that read like travel journals.
“This person had quite the leisurely life.”
Eyes drifting across the names of various factions that surfaced here and there through the pages.
Shen Yi fell into thought.
If only he could find some power that specialized in Mixed Origin cultivation and was as generous about sharing as the War Temple.
Of the two immortal sects he currently had any knowledge of, neither offered a clear path for making contact.
The one time he’d actually run into someone from Xuanguang Cave, they’d tried to have him killed.
Was it time to venture beyond Great Qian’s borders?
With that thought, Shen Yi called out Lady Qinghua, and waited quietly for her to emerge from her cloud of grievances.
A full half-hour passed.
Only then did the daze in Qinghua’s eyes begin to recede. “Qinghua greets her Master.”
“I’d like to know how Great Qian and the immortal sects hold their territory. Where exactly do they operate?” Shen Yi intended to get a clearer picture of things outside the borders before blundering into something that made him cannon fodder.
“Hold their territory?”
Qinghua shook her head, puzzled. “It’s always been the Thousand Demon Den holding territory — stopping the immortal sects and Great Qian from pushing in.”
At that, Shen Yi was faintly taken aback.
This didn’t quite match what he thought he knew about the War Temple.
“Within the Thousand Demon Den’s domain, cultivator cave estates tend to emerge from time to time. The immortal sect disciples are like flies spotting a cracked egg — always looking for an opening to move in closer.”
Lady Qinghua organized her thoughts carefully before continuing. “The War Temple’s cultivators are the most brazen of all — their three-zhang golden dharma forms make no effort to conceal their presence, striding through the territory openly, and drawing the Thousand Demon Den’s attention more readily than anyone.”
“…”
Shen Yi went quiet for a moment. It wasn’t that they didn’t conceal themselves — it was that they couldn’t. Once that brilliant golden body condensed from accumulated faith appeared, it lit up the sky, as though announcing themselves to anyone within eight hundred li.
“The War Temple cultivates the way of the golden body — why would they get involved in the business of cultivator cave estates?” Shen Yi looked puzzled.
It had even led to the deaths of so many Spirit-Transformation cultivators, and still they kept going. It didn’t make logical sense.
“Cave estates sometimes contain Golden Body methods — but that’s not the main reason.”
Lady Qinghua furrowed her brow in thought. “When the Blood-Transmuting Demon Emperor would talk idly with other demon emperors, Qinghua overheard some of this. Those cultivators all share the same lineage of training, and all have the habit of cultivating age-trees. The fruit of an age-tree can extend one’s lifespan by twenty years — they need to collect these fruits and send them to Wutong Mountain.”
“That’s it!”
Lady Qinghua looked up, finally placing it. “They’re extending the lifespan of Wutong Mountain’s Ancestor — and that is the reason for the three-faction alliance. As long as Wutong Mountain’s Ancestor doesn’t die, the Thousand Demon Den can be held in check.”
“And the War Temple is different from the immortal sects — their foundation is accumulated faith, which means their reach is vast and their obligations heavy. Of the three alliance members, they need Wutong Mountain’s support the most.”
“Once they break free from the alliance, the Spirit-Transformation cultivators and Martial Immortals can still protect themselves — in that sense they’re no different from immortal sect disciples. But if the Nine Provinces were overrun by demons, losing the accumulated faith that sustains them, they’d be no different from waiting to die.”
At that, Shen Yi shook his head inwardly.
He’d originally thought Xuanguang Cave was the aggressive party, and Wutong Mountain the more principled power presiding over things.
Turns out they were all just working for Wutong Mountain’s benefit.
And now it made sense why the War Temple had suffered the worst losses.
A group of golden-body cultivators who were completely unsuited to infiltrating demon territory — and yet they were the most dependent on this alliance of all…
With that thought, Shen Yi pressed on. “One more question — why do cultivator cave estates appear inside demon territory?”
“That… Qinghua isn’t entirely sure.” Lady Qinghua paused, then said, “There are cave estates outside as well, actually — just fewer, and without any age-trees.”
As she spoke, she glanced at the miscellaneous books in Shen Yi’s hand. “Those should be maps indicating where cave estates have been found.”
She extended a finger toward a line on one page.
“This here describes the strange phenomena observed in Yellow Mud Gorge, and the pattern with which they appear. Going by the text, roughly seventy years from now, Master could consider making an attempt.”
Shen Yi nodded thoughtfully, then pushed the whole stack of miscellaneous books toward her. “Help me sort out all the relevant information in these as quickly as you can.”
“Qinghua obeys.”
Lady Qinghua gathered the books in her arms, found paper and brush around the room, and settled at the writing desk to work through them carefully.
Shen Yi wasn’t idle either. Even without the ability to cultivate a Mixed Origin technique right now, and with no accumulated faith available for the golden body to grow further, the body-tempering methods could always be refined a little more.
The demon blood in his body had now reached two hundred and ninety-one drops — he wondered whether it was enough to nurture two more demon kings.
He poured demon lifespan into the Nine Demons Transmutation Method.
【Year 1 — You feed all the demon blood in your body to the jade-green toad…】
Flood dragon. Mountain lord. Poison toad. Peacock.
Almost every one of them had contributed significantly to him along the way, and now, growing again, their respective divine abilities would grow stronger too.
To say nothing of the others — the peacock’s red glow, at least, was already running slower than it used to when mending injuries.
【Year 7,072 — A hundred and thirty-six drops of demon blood fully consumed. Terrifying crimson patterns spread across the jade toad’s body. The lethal poison that made all living things tremble has gained a further layer of strangeness and unpredictability】
【Mixed Origin · Nine Demons Transmutation Method: Minor Mastery】
Shen Yi closed his eyes, and felt a sudden scorching dryness rise in his throat.
The same crimson patterns now spread across his own skin as well, a faint red mist drifting off him.
A dense, fine prickling sensation spread across his body as though it might crack his skin open from within.
“…”
As expected of a demon technique — something going slightly wrong was actually the normal state of things. Without it, Shen Yi would have found it strange.
He fed the remaining demon blood to the peacock next.
Until the very last drop vanished into his qi sea.
【Year 15,200 — The southern-traveler immortal has consumed the last of the remaining demon blood. It spreads its crimson wings wide, looking as though it still isn’t fully satisfied…】
【Remaining Demon Lifespan: 24,312 years】
The more they ate, the more they seemed to need.
Shen Yi felt a mixture of satisfaction and worry — the upside was that the physical improvements were real and tangible; the downside was that he couldn’t shake the feeling that even if he slaughtered every named demon in Great Qian, it might not be enough to keep all nine immortal-demon spirits fed.
With five demon kings inside him.
He had the sense that if he ran into Perfected Master Changqing again, he might be able to shatter the man’s path infant outright with a single bare-fisted punch.
“Master.”
Lady Qinghua turned suddenly, stole an admiring glance at the crimson patterns still not quite faded from Shen Yi’s skin, and immediately realized her presumption, hastily lowering her head again.
“Qinghua has worked out why that Xuanguang Cave cultivator came here.”
“Look at this — roughly two months from now, not far from the Eight-Direction Dining Hall, a cave estate may be opening.”
At that, Shen Yi glanced sideways. “A dining hall?”
“It’s a faction, actually.”
Qinghua explained. “Rather like Qingqiu — they have essentially no involvement in the affairs of either the immortal sects or the Thousand Demon Den. Qinghua received an invitation to attend a banquet there once. They served an upper-tier demon king… and Qinghua was only given a single bowl of it, but has never forgotten the taste.”
(End of Chapter 248)