Chapter 421: Chapter 139: All Are Loyal and Devoted
"Whew—"
The pitch-black Five Vile Qi expelled from his acupoints, streaming to the ground like mercury, contaminating the surface, and forming black waves.
Jiang Li gently exhaled a breath of turbid Qi, circulated his Innate Qi, converging it with the newly formed Pure Yang Qi within him. It was harmonious and round, bringing a relaxation and satisfaction akin to soaking in a hot spring.
The so-called Pure Yang, explained through the principles of Yi Dao, is where all six lines are yang, the Yin Qi is exhausted, representing the symbol of Qian Yuan.
Jiang Li had slain the You Mountain Lord, and his Dao Fruit further merged; with the rebirth of Pure Yang, it eased his Unity of Heaven and Man spirit. From this Pure Yang Qi, he vaguely understood and touched the threshold of Heavenly Qi.
’If I reach Sixth Grade Perfection, the Dao Fruit could possibly grant me direct insight into the principles of Heavenly Qi, leaving only three Qi remaining.’
Jiang Li thought to himself while sensing the Divine Farmer’s Cauldron in his sleeve, deeply comprehending the transformations of the Primordial Qi.
The Earth Qi, he was also constantly studying, sensing the impurities of the earth with his utmost pure senses, thus understanding the secrets of Earth Qi. Using the Rain Master Token as a medium and sensing the nurturing of water, combined with the Divine Farmer’s Cauldron, his progress was significant.
Thus, only Mountain Qi was left.
Jiang Li speculated that by the time he reached Sixth Grade Perfection, his Mountain Qi should also be nearly complete, given that he always had the Divine Farmer’s Cauldron by his side.
Before reaching the fifth rank, Jiang Li’s path was already quite clear.
Estimating this, he slowly lifted his feet off the ground, not flying, but steadily walking forward.
There, a massive Black Water Mysterious Snake was falling.
Its huge body was split from front to back by a black line, ash spreading around, splitting it into two sections.
The physical body, carrying a strong bloody scent, slowly slid down, but even before hitting the ground, it rapidly shrank, turning into chunks of human body by the time it landed.
It is said that before the End of Dharma, demon kind, when slain, would reveal their original forms, appearing like ordinary human bodies but capable of becoming immensely massive. However, currently, Devil Cultivators, no matter how bizarrely shaped, would revert to human form upon death.
And the power belonging to demon kind was completely extracted, transforming into one Dao Fruit after another.
Five serpent shadows detached from You Mountain Lord’s corpse, roaming midair, the most fierce naturally being the Black Water Mysterious Snake—even with its size reduced, its ferocity was still visible.
Judging by the Dao Fruit alone, it seemed no different from others in its category, who would have thought it could bring such a massive transformation to a Cultivator once assimilated.
Speaking of its impact on the physical body, Devil Cultivators were considered the most influenced.
’It’s unknown how the Demonic Attribute Dao Fruit is refined, to allow one to revert to their original form upon separation from the body...’ Jiang Li marveled.
This ensures that the essence of Devil Cultivators remains of the Human Race, also avoiding the situation where a demon is born from a human.
This technical content is much higher than that of the Dao Fruits of humans and gods.
Moreover, since the establishment of Great Zhou, forces have been eliminating demon, ghost, and monster Cultivators, collecting Dao Fruits, but over the years, these beings seem inexhaustable, and since the establishment of the Devil God Sect, their numbers even seem to increase.
Even if mixed motives from various forces were involved, there shouldn’t be an increase.
Clearly, the Demon Clan had long perished, and Demonic Attribute Dao Fruits lacked raw materials, yet Devil Cultivators still frequently appeared everywhere.
This undoubtedly indicated that some people still mastered the method of refining these Dao Fruits and possessed raw materials.
’The Devil God Sect seems leaky everywhere, but its mysteries are hardly diminishing at all.’
Jiang Li lamented in his heart, moved forward, and with one sword stroke decapitated You Mountain Lord, then promptly left.
Jiangyang County.
The Devil Cultivator attempting to slaughter the city was nowhere to be seen, even the wave big enough to cover the city walls had disappeared.
The ground in front of the city was full of scars, and a Daoist Nun stood quietly.
On the city walls, monks looked solemn, vigilantly on guard.
After a short while, the Rashamon slightly shifted her gaze as a fiery red shadow streaked across the sky, landed on the ground, revealing the Holy Infant King with a tense face.
"It seems Da Feng has run away," said the Rashamon with a light laugh.
Da Feng, a creature of Wind Control, moved freely in the sky, and if not for the Rashamon utilizing her Palm Leaf Fan, even she would have struggled to deal with him.
If he wanted to escape, even with the Holy Infant King possessing the Divine Skill of Samadhi True Fire, he could not be stopped.
"Da Feng and Zaochi are inseparable; if he’s run, Zaochi definitely has too," the Holy Infant King grimly said.
Indeed, no more than a moment after his words, a burly figure hurried over, it was Ashuren, also wearing a displeased expression.
"Da Feng, that flat-haired beast, grabbed Zaochi and ran off."
Ashuren said as he glanced at Holy Infant King and snorted coldly, "Useless! To think Da Feng escaped from under your watch."
"Idiot! Da Feng managed to escape with someone right under your nose," Holy Infant King fired back without backing down.
The two glared at each other, filled with disgust, and the tension suggested they might soon come to blows.
But at that moment, Rashamon chuckled lightly, "It seems there is someone of the Righteous Path among you two, for I cannot believe you’d fail to control your tempers with such a great enemy before us."
Should they start fighting amongst themselves, there would undoubtedly be no need to massacre the town anymore.
Although it was You Mountain Lord who had originally proposed this plan, having since fallen out with him, it was unclear what the remaining people were thinking.
For members of the Devil God Sect, not living was an option, but not causing trouble was not; stirring drama every few days was standard procedure.
Massacring a town was nothing, after all, Heluo God had devoured more than ten thousand people to achieve promotion.
And for the Nine Provinces Sect World, where Mystic Sect was mainstream, most cultivators were quite wary of mass slaughter.
It wasn’t that they couldn’t, nor that they were worried about their reputation—after all, who could be sure if the current appearance was truly their own—but rather because they feared it would affect their future promotion in Dao Fruit.
After all, the Dao Fruits of humans, gods, immortals, and buddhas were mostly of a positive nature, not derived from slaughter and eating humans like those of the demon, ghost, and monster.
Naturally, neither Ashuren nor Holy Infant King would admit to this.
"I, myself, have origins that you’ve all guessed at, haven’t you?" Ashuren snorted coldly and stared at Holy Infant King with ill intent, "I believe this little fire-playing ghost has likely something to do with the Righteous Path, maybe even the bald monks on the city wall could be your accomplices."
It was possible that the people from Buddha Country were notified to come here, which Ashuren now brought up for discussion.
"It’s just speculation," Holy Infant King scoffed coldly, "Who knows how many faces you truly have? And Rashamon, you acted without hesitation just now, you might not be so innocent either."
Although they all talked about dealing with traitors, having undercover loyalists was part of the Devil God Sect’s culture. If they actually eliminated all traitors, the sect’s numbers would halve at least, preferring individual merits over purging traitors.
That is to say, everyone was suspect.
The three looked at each other, and for a moment, all fell silent, even Holy Infant King, who had initiated this topic, stopped speaking.
You Mountain Lord had summoned everyone, maybe... he suspected everyone had other identities...
This thought flashed through the minds of the three.
That being said, it seemed inappropriate to dig into the root of the matter, to unearth the underlying secrets.
Because it appeared no one was clean.
"It seems I misjudged," Rashamon laughed, "All of you are loyal followers fervently removing traitors, why would you have any other identities?"
"You know your place," Holy Infant King floated mid-air, arms crossed.
Ashuren’s muscles twitched, seemingly withdrawing his multiple arms, "Fine, I’ll trust you all this once."
As they spoke, the Qi around them subdued, apparently all leaning towards a more peaceful coexistence.
However, just when the Qi was about to completely subside, Ashuren suddenly burst out, his four arms forming twisted and bizarre handprints, striking out in two directions.
Holy Infant King, seemingly caught off guard, was hit and his small body exploded like fireworks, flesh disappearing to reveal blood-streaked bones.
But Rashamon, having been on guard, had a rune in her hand which she crushed fiercely, causing Ashuren’s head to throb and stars to burst in his eyes, crying out in pain, his handprint towards Rashamon also fell apart.
At the same time, another Holy Infant King silently appeared behind Ashuren, flames bursting simultaneously from his eyes, mouth, and nose, engulfing Ashuren in Samadhi True Fire.
But suddenly, Ashuren shifted his shape, moving like a specter, swiftly and eerily sidestepping the engulfing True Fire, moving several meters away, his head behind fixedly staring at Holy Infant King.
Clearly, a rear attack was futile against him.
"Substitution Technique? No, it must be Dao Fruit Divine Power," Ashuren said with bloodshot eyes, looking towards Holy Infant King.
"Asura Eight Steps, that must be the martial arts of Fire House Buddha Hell," Holy Infant King replied with a murderous look, watching Ashuren.
Anyone blasted by a punch wouldn’t be in a good mood, even if it was only a substitute that got killed.
Speaking of which, Holy Infant King turned to Rashamon and asked, "Taiyin General-cutting Spell, are you with Mystic Sect?"
"Given that I dress as a Daoist Nun, naturally, I have some connections with Mystic Sect," Rashamon, still smiling, looked back at Holy Infant King, "But you, Holy Infant, with such insights, must come from some powerful force, right?"
All three had their own trump cards, not yet fully exerted, each wary of the other two, a stalemate ensued once more.
And as time passed, the standoff seemed to relax, as if they were all inclined to momentarily cease hostilities.
However—
A Sword Qi suddenly emerged, and just as the three were about to cease hostilities, it shot towards the city wall.