Chapter 295 – Demons in Chaotic Times, Corrupted Heavenly Dao

Lu Chen stared at the black heart in his hand, immediately falling into deep thought.

Though it was called a heart, it was essentially a special type of Spirit Stone.

Apart from its appearance differing from normal Spirit Stones, the Forbidden power contained within its core also set it apart from ordinary Spirit Stones.

“The Forbidden Stone… I never expected these madmen could actually bring this thing into the Immortal Alliance.”

Lu Chen turned his head and noticed Jiang Yuanshan and the others had arrived by his side.

“Uncle Jiang, do you recognize this object?”

Jiang Yuanshan nodded, then began explaining the origin of the Forbidden Stone to Lu Chen.

It turned out that the so-called Forbidden Stone had existed even before the establishment of the Immortal Alliance.

The core purpose behind the Immortal Alliance’s establishment of Forbidden Zones and the division of the Nine Provinces Ten Lands regions was precisely to prevent the Forbidden Stone from polluting the Immortal Alliance.

Currently, the Immortal Alliance’s greatest enemies mostly originated from several major Forbidden Zones outside its territory.

What many people didn’t know was that the alien races, the Immortal Alliance’s greatest enemies, actually largely came from Forbidden Zones outside the Immortal Alliance.

The Immortal Alliance currently used boundary monuments and the Spiritual Qi Great Wall to separate the Forbidden Zones from the Immortal Alliance Nine Provinces.

This served both as protection for the Immortal Alliance and as its confinement.

It trapped all the Cultivators within the Immortal Alliance inside the Nine Provinces Ten Lands.

The Immortal Alliance had considered venturing beyond the Nine Provinces to see what lay outside.

But the Nine Provinces were surrounded on all sides by Forbidden Zones, and the Forbidden Zones and the Immortal Alliance were two completely different worlds.

Saying that normal Cultivators would retain less than one-tenth of their strength in Forbidden Zones might be an exaggeration.

But it was indeed true that they would be greatly suppressed.

Only a small number of Cultivators with special Dao traditions or talents could maximize their strength within Forbidden Zones.

However, by the same token, while Immortal Alliance Cultivators would have their cultivation suppressed when entering Forbidden Lands,

Creatures from Forbidden Zones would similarly be suppressed when entering the Immortal Alliance.

The two sides were like the relationship between water and fire, fundamentally incompatible.

Fortunately, this Forbidden Stone was currently within Lu Chen’s Mountains and Seas Scroll.

If it were outside in those Spiritual Power-rich environments,

The Forbidden power within would likely be gradually assimilated by the Spiritual Power and eventually dissipate before long.

After considering all this, Mu Xiaoye nearby keenly noticed a problem.

“Uncle Jiang, since this Forbidden power and the Immortal Alliance’s Spiritual Power are incompatible like fire and water, how have those people infected with Forbidden power outside managed to survive until now?”

“Or rather, why can’t they expel the Forbidden power from their bodies by absorbing Spiritual Power?”

Before Jiang Yuanshan could answer this question, Lu Chen beside him provided the answer first.

“That’s because this Forbidden power has strong devouring properties. Once this Forbidden power enters the bodies of ordinary people or Cultivators, it continuously devours the life force within the Cultivators to strengthen itself.”

“Whether they’re Cultivators or ordinary people, those who live year-round in Spiritual Power environments can absorb some amount of Spiritual Power to varying degrees.”

“This way, the Forbidden power indirectly converts Spiritual Power into its own strength through parasitic means, continuously growing stronger.”

Jiang Yuanshan was taken aback, never expecting Lu Chen’s understanding of this Forbidden power to be so profound.

After all, he himself had only recently learned about these secrets.If not for clearly knowing that Lu Chen was only a freshman this year and had just joined the Shanhai Bureau in the past year,

Jiang Yuanshan would have even suspected that Lu Chen had long been exposed to the power of the Forbidden Stone.

“Exactly, everything is just as Brother Lu said. This is precisely the situation encountered by those infected by the power of the Forbidden Stone.”

“And most critically, this power can also affect a cultivator’s Divine Soul, gnawing at their very essence, making it difficult for outsiders to handle.”

“It is only those Great Divine Power practitioners who have reached the Transformation Soul Stage, having achieved the state of Embodying Dao, who can ignore the contamination of this forbidden power.”

“This is the fundamental reason why the Immortal Alliance strictly forbids cultivators below the Transformation Soul Stage from casually entering the major Forbidden Lands.”

At this point, Jiang Yuanshan immediately looked at Lu Chen’s white palm, enveloped in Primordial Qi.

Resting on his palm was the mysterious Forbidden Stone.

If an ordinary cultivator were to do this, it might be fine for a short while.

But if prolonged, it could very likely lead to the forbidden power infecting their own body, with endless consequences.

Yet, looking at Lu Chen’s calm and composed demeanor, it was clear he didn’t care about the effects of the forbidden power on himself.

It was even possible that Lu Chen had a way to resolve the power of the Forbidden Stone.

Thinking this, Jiang Yuanshan wisely refrained from asking Lu Chen how he planned to handle the Forbidden Stone.

He merely waved his hand and collected the Divine Soul of the Great Thousand Mountains’ yellow-robed cultivator whom Lu Chen had just slain.

For cultivators, the death of the Physical Body was never the end.

Now that the yellow-robed cultivator had been captured,

the Shanhai Bureau had ten thousand ways to extract the secrets they wanted from him.

“Brother Lu, without a doubt, there are still many Forbidden Zone cultivators involved behind the scenes of Secret Drug: Illusion.”

“To prevent these guys from getting wind of it in advance, we need to speed up a bit.”

“Mm.”

Lu Chen stored the Forbidden Stone separately in a Storage Bag, then dispersed his Mountains-Seas Realm.

In an instant, the entire space shattered like a mirror.

The workers of the Moon White Laundry Factory stared blankly at the sudden appearance of the Shanhai Bureau cultivators in the factory.

Without saying much, Lu Chen and the others immediately notified other Shanhai Bureau personnel to handle the aftermath.

After all, Lu Chen had only drawn everyone he sensed in the underground factory into the Mountains-Seas Realm.

The massive factory beneath the Moon White Laundry Factory remained completely intact.

After notifying the Shanhai Bureau’s logistics team, Lu Chen and the others split into two groups

to pursue the remaining underground factories.

However, when they arrived at the locations indicated by their intelligence,

they unexpectedly found every one of them already abandoned without exception.

Even though only about half an hour had passed from their operation at the Moon White Laundry Factory to their arrival at the other underground factories,

these guys seemed to have received advance notice,

each and every one vanishing without a trace.

Moreover, judging by the scene, their escape wasn’t rushed but rather well-prepared.

Without a doubt, the Moon White Laundry Factory was a gift from the Great Thousand Mountains,

intended to stall them.

With no other options, Lu Chen and the others ultimately had no choice but to give up.

Given the complex environment of District 17, it was truly difficult for them to make any overt moves.Otherwise, it could easily cause unnecessary misunderstandings among the alien races in District 17, which would be detrimental to the Immortal Alliance’s subsequent exploration of the Forbidden Zones.

After all, without these alien races guiding the way within the Forbidden Zones, relying solely on the Immortal Alliance to explore the areas independently would likely result in significant unnecessary casualties.

Game World, Central Province, Azure Cloud Sect.

“Even after activating the Nine Realms Token, it still can’t be used in the real world.”

“Is it because the Ancient Fiends in reality have already perished, or is the relationship between the Nine Realms and the real world’s Nine Provinces fundamentally different from that between the game’s Central Province and the Nine Realms?”

Lu Chen looked at the Nine Realms Token in his hand with a serious expression.

The more one knows, the more one realizes how much remains unknown.

As his understanding of both worlds deepened,

Lu Chen found that the number of things he didn’t understand only increased.

Moreover, he had begun to form some bold conjectures about the Ancient Fiend Nine Realms in his mind.

Could there be some connection between the real world’s Forbidden Zones and the game world’s Nine Realms?

This could only be verified after he explored the Ancient Fiend Nine Realms to some extent and compared it with the real world’s Forbidden Zones.

“Although I’ve met the conditions to open the Nine Realms Gate, I’d better make more preparations before entering.”

Lu Chen left his cave residence and went directly to the herb garden of Danyang Peak.

Although Lu Chen was still nominally a True Disciple of Danyang Peak,

his actual status was now comparable to that of a Golden Core Stage elder like Jing Gong.

In fact, the authority Lu Chen could wield within Danyang Peak, and even throughout the entire Azure Cloud Sect,

surpassed that of Jing Gong, who had been with the sect for much longer.

His purpose today was to prepare more elixirs for himself before entering the Ancient Fiend Nine Realms.

Although his innate divine ability, Fairy Lotus Womb, could convert Ancient Fiend Power into his own Primordial Qi,

and even his Heretical Avatar could utilize this innate divine ability,

the Ancient Fiend Nine Realms was ultimately not his territory, so it was always better to be overprepared.

Furthermore, the path of alchemy was equally important to Lu Chen.

It concerned his second Dharma Body, the Great Pure Moral Heavenly Respect.

To condense this Dharma Body,

he must reach the Transformation Dao Realm in alchemy

and advance his cultivation to the Nascent Soul Stage.

Only then would he meet the conditions to condense his second Dharma Body.

At this point, Lu Chen’s path forward was quite clear.

Transform One Qi into Three Purities, then merge the Three Purities into one during the Deity Transformation Stage, using his body to embody the Dao.

This was Lu Chen’s plan for his Deity Transformation Stage.

If he could achieve this, he might reach a level comparable to an Earthly Immortal even at the Deity Transformation Stage.

Moreover, once he cultivated to the Mahayana Stage and successfully transcended the tribulation,

his starting point would likely be significantly higher than that of ordinary Immortals.

For this goal, he didn’t mind making extra preparations during his cultivator stage.

As for entering the Ancient Fiend Nine Realms,

he would naturally do so once he was fully prepared.

Ancient Fiend Nine Realms, Xia Dynasty, Caihua County.

As a border town of the Xia Dynasty, Caihua County was not prosperous.

The only thing the entire county could boast of was its barely sufficient fields of cauliflowers.

If that were all, although Caihua County would be poor, its residents wouldn’t be unable to survive.

Unfortunately, the Xia Dynasty now faced external threats from surrounding dynasties watching like tigers eyeing their prey, surrounded by enemies on all sides,

while internally, demons ran rampant, preying upon and oppressing the common people.The entire Caihua County was living in a state of fear.

During this period, Caihua County faced an unprecedented crisis.

A Demon of unknown origin had arrived within the county town…

“At the time of the incident, what did you hear or see?”

An old constable in Caihua County looked grimly at the slaughtered family of three before him, questioning the tenant farmers who had first reported the case.

The victims were a tenant farmer family from Caihua County.

Since they lived far from the county town, in the suburban outskirts,

few had initially noticed the family’s situation.

It was only when the family’s landlord realized they hadn’t shown up in the fields for several days that he sent someone to check on them.

Unexpectedly, the investigation revealed a scene straight out of hell.

Not only were all three members of the family dead,

but their bodies were also torn apart as if mauled by wild beasts.

Coupled with the sweltering summer heat,

the thatched cottage was now filled with the overwhelming stench of Corpse Qi and swarming flies.

“Ugh!”

Several younger constables, who had never encountered such a scene, immediately ran out of the room and vomited outside.

Seeing this, the old constable did not blame them.

Instead, he looked intently at the tenant farmers beside him.

Faced with the old constable’s stern expression, the tenant farmers struggled to recall the events of that day.

Finally, a younger tenant farmer, his face pale with fear, spoke up: “Sir, I… I think I might know something.”

“Speak.”

The young tenant farmer stepped forward, his eyes filled with terror, as if still haunted by the memory.

“Sir, three days ago, on my way back from the pleasure quarters in town, I happened to pass by Old Chen’s family.”

“It was getting dark, and I had drunk a bit too much, so I ended up falling asleep in the rice field outside Old Chen’s house.”

“In the middle of the night, I was suddenly awakened by screams.”

“I followed the direction of the screams and vaguely saw a huge black shadow running out of Old Chen’s house.”

“Could you see what it was?”

The young tenant farmer trembled and shook his head. “N-No, I couldn’t.”

Hearing this, the old constable frowned and scolded, “If this happened three days ago, why did you only report it now?”

The young tenant farmer shuddered and stammered, “S-Sir, I… I was too scared.”

Seeing how terrified the young man was, the old constable sighed and did not press further.

He knew all too well that even if he managed to extract more information,

the timid county magistrate would likely let the matter drop.

After all, Demons were beings that only immortals could deal with.

And if Caihua County wanted to hire an immortal, it would require a substantial amount of silver.

Given the county magistrate’s miserly nature, he probably hoped the Demon would leave on its own once it had its fill.

After all, those who had died recently were just lowly peasants living in the outskirts of Caihua County.

Rather than spending silver to protect their lives,

the county magistrate cared more about his own coffers.

Thinking of this, the old constable, who had a strong sense of justice, couldn’t help but spit to the side in disgust.

“Damn this wretched world.”After speaking, the old constable instructed the others to clean up the corpses in the room and prepared to report the situation to the county magistrate.

He would also try to persuade the magistrate to approve the formation of a Demon-hunting team, aiming to resolve the mysterious Demon that had been active around their county for nearly half a month.

However, he knew all too well that his report would likely be ignored once again.

As expected, the county magistrate rejected the old constable’s request yet again, for he cared little about the lives of ordinary commoners.

After leaving the magistrate’s office, the frustrated old constable couldn’t help but look up at the sky.

“When people fall ill, they take medicine. But when the heavens fall ill… why must they devour people?”

“Can’t someone come and cure this heaven of its ailment?”

With these words, the old constable headed toward his home.

Since the county magistrate refused to seek help from the Cultivator Families around the county, he would try to persuade the local landowners to take action instead.

After all, the matter had to be resolved one way or another.

No one could say for sure whether the vile beast would leave on its own.

If it realized that Caihua County could do nothing to stop it, it might very well turn the place into its own playground, taking whatever it pleased.

(End of Chapter)