Chapter 89: First Steps on the Demonic Path (1) |
Darkness. Absolute blackness.
Su Chen returned once more to the Reverse Fate Space. He opened the Reverse Fate Scripture.
[Eighth Life: You were an ordinary cowherd in the Dragon Firmament Dynasty. Hidden beneath that humble exterior was the last surviving descendant of a fallen clan from the Central Continent. Unwilling to accept an ordinary fate, you resolutely chose to embark on the path of cultivation.]
[You studied alchemy under the grandfather who raised you and found the art fascinating. After achieving proficiency, you severed all worldly ties, left the village, and rose to prominence. At the Dragon Firmament Dynasty's Alchemy Assembly, you claimed first place and became the youngest sixth-grade alchemist in history. You then joined the Prison-Suppressing Sacred Land, seized a Heavenly Fire, and journeyed to the Central Continent. There, your mastery of the Eight Desolations Alchemy Method stunned the entire gathering, outshining every genius of your generation. In your youth, the alchemy world of an entire domain marveled because of you.]
[Despite the Pill God Hall's earnest pleas to stay, you decisively returned to the Prison-Suppressing Sacred Land to further your studies.]
[You narrowly escaped death and annihilated your greatest enemy, yet you sensed the Heavenly Fire's nether qi growing stronger within you. Given enough time, it would devour your cultivation completely. Unwilling to let this life end so pathetically, you aspired to reach ninth-grade alchemy and witness even greater heights. While helping the sacred land build its alchemical foundation, you searched tirelessly for a way to neutralize the nether qi ravaging your body.]
[After passing all your knowledge to your disciples, heaven finally rewarded your persistence. You uncovered a method to resolve the nether qi. Leading a group into the extraterritorial void, you fought for the opportunity. Had you succeeded, the sacred land would have gained a ninth-grade Alchemy Saint, a figure who could dominate the Eastern Desolation for ten thousand years!]
[Alas… fate did not fully favor you this time. You succeeded in seizing the Heavenly Fire, but a spatial turbulence flung you into a minor world. Your injuries refused to heal. In a desperate final attempt to refine the Nine Yang True Flame, you failed and suffered a devastating backlash. Such was destiny. You left behind final words, hoping to leave one last favor for the Prison-Suppressing Sacred Land, before perishing with regret inside that isolated minor world.]
[In this life, you were the darling of your era—yet ultimately its abandoned child. You shone brilliantly for a moment, but you never altered the great tide of the age.]
[Reverse Fate Points: 9000]
Su Chen gave a bitter laugh. How utterly ridiculous. A Nirvana Realm cultivator and eighth-grade alchemist, yet unable to find the medicinal ingredients to refine a pill that could heal his wounds—dying alone in some forgotten minor world.
There was no changing it now. He had to accept reality.
[Talent: 0 (+)]
[Comprehension: 0 (+)]
[Family Background: 0 (+)]
[Dao Heart: 400]
After a moment's thought, Su Chen made his decision.
Talent +5000
Comprehension +3500
Family Background +500
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All in.
He turned to the ninth page. His consciousness vanished.
…
In a blood-red world, Su Chen opened his eyes to a crimson haze. His head throbbed as though it would split open; every inch of his body felt torn apart, the pain relentless. His robes hung in tatters, reduced to ragged strips. Around him rose mountains of bones. Broken weapons and shattered blades littered the ground.
Memories of this life flooded in.
In this incarnation, he bore the surname Zhou—Zhou Chen—an outer disciple of the Sun-Devouring Sacred Land. Both his parents had been elders of the sect, but they had perished in battle.
The Sun-Devouring Sacred Land… the name sounded vaguely familiar to Su Chen. His expression turned strange.
"Holy shit!"
It hit him. He had reincarnated into the Western Regions. Back when the Western Regions invaded the Southern Barbarian Lands, one of the leading holy lands had been none other than the Sun-Devouring Sacred Land!
This place was no righteous sect. Its ways were indistinguishable from those of demonic cultivators—an otherworldly version of a demonic cult. Right now, he was participating in the outer sect trial. Only those who survived could enter the inner sect.
Sixteen years old in this life, he possessed seventh-layer Spirit Vein cultivation—enough to have a chance at the inner sect… if not for the fact that Zhou Chen had offended an inner disciple. Inside the secret realm, that disciple's lackeys had hunted him down.
Fortunately, Zhou Chen had mastered a profound Turtle Breath Technique and possessed an extraordinary talent. Even after taking several heavy stabs, he had stubbornly refused to die and somehow clung to life. Otherwise, Su Chen would have respawned immediately.
He tried to move. Fresh agony surged through him, accompanied by the sickly stench of rot.
"The stat allocation for this life… truly a catastrophic start."
Su Chen gave a wry smile. Staggering to his feet, he began searching for hemostatic grass. Fortunately, memories from his previous life as an eighth-grade alchemist remained sharp. Within moments, he located a first-grade spirit herb that matched the plant's habits. He swallowed it whole without hesitation. Only then did the pain ease slightly.
At least his life was no longer hanging by a thread. Full recovery would take time. The current conditions were far too poor for him to refine any proper pills.
"Hm…?"
Su Chen's expression turned odd. He realized this body held something unusual. It lacked any obvious special constitution or bloodline. Five thousand points in Talent could not possibly have vanished without effect. Unwilling to give up, he continued probing his physical condition.
Two days later, he finally discovered it: an extremely subtle seal hidden deep within his body. Locked inside was a tremendous power, brimming with a primal, barbaric aura—as though it hailed from a distant, forgotten epoch.
"Primordial Relic Body… I never expected that in this life I would turn out to be a descendant of the Primordial Remnant Clan!"
Su Chen was genuinely shocked. The Primordial Era lay so far in the past that only fragments remained in legend: an age when countless dazzling physiques were born, myriad races vied for supremacy, intermarried freely, and gave rise to an endless array of extraordinary constitutions.
Because there were simply too many, later generations lumped them together under one name: Primordial Relic Bodies.
The Primordial Remnant Clans were the descendants of those supreme beings from that era. Yet as epochs turned and eras passed, one mighty lineage after another had declined. Only a pitiful few still retained any trace of their former glory.
Su Chen frowned. He had no idea who had placed this seal, or why. Still, he chose to break it. The restriction had been set by someone at the Void Refining realm—child's play for a man who had reached Nirvana twice and now enjoyed extraordinarily high Comprehension. In less than a day, he had unraveled nearly all of its secrets.
"Whoever set this seal… they clearly had no intention of harming me."
The process of removing the seal went unexpectedly smoothly. Primal power surged through his limbs and bones. His cultivation soared in an instant, reaching the threshold of the Spirit Sea realm. The originally blue-grade Spirit Vein shimmered with faint gold before transforming into the phantom of a ferocious beast.
"Taotie… one of the Four Evils, the Taotie bloodline!"
When Su Chen beheld that terrifying colossal creature—its every breath drawing in vast tides of spiritual Qi that roared like the cries of an infant—he felt a profound tremor run through him. With the sound of shattering glass, his cultivation officially stepped into the Spirit Sea realm. Under the surging tidal wave of qi, the wounds in his body healed almost completely.
The massive disturbance inevitably drew attention. Su Chen sensed several powerful auras swiftly approaching from different directions within the secret realm. He immediately restrained his aura. The commotion gradually subsided. His pitch-black pupils resembled bottomless abysses as he gazed into the distance, devoid of any emotion.
"In this life… what a pity it would be not to walk the demonic path. Ye Wushang… rest assured. It won't be long before I personally take your head. For now, I'll start by collecting a little interest."
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