Chapter 359: Lord Chen's Demonic Transformation |
"Aside from this matter, there is another thing."
Chen Shi pondered for a moment before deciding to tell the truth. "When I broke through to the Unity Realm, I sensed myself becoming demonic."
Li Tianqing's mind shook slightly. "What's going on?"
Chen Shi recounted his bet with Yang Bi. "The path I walk is from the True King's Era, without realms like Divine Embryo, Divine Descent, or Emptiness Refining, preserving only Tribulation Crossing and Ascension. Yang Bi said I couldn't avoid demonic transformation, and when I merged my primordial spirit with my physical body, I did indeed notice this."
Li Tianqing asked, "What does it feel like?"
Chen Shi hesitated for a moment. "The Unity Realm requires a triple union: the primordial spirit merges with the body, the body merges with heaven and earth, and the primordial spirit merges with heaven and earth. This is what is called the unity of heaven and man, achieving the use of heaven and earth's power for oneself. When I merged, I sensed the righteous energy of heaven and earth connecting to me, but hidden within the righteous energy was demonic energy, entering my body alongside the heavenly-human union. It grows quietly within my body, my primordial spirit, and my soul, like a seed sprouting and taking root."
His tone turned strange. "I could feel something coiling and growing within my soul, burrowing deep into its core. This same sensation appeared in my primordial spirit as well, even within this skeleton. It felt like flesh sprouts were wriggling inside my bones..."
Li Tianqing stared at his ear.
Chen Shi's heart stirred. "What do you see?"
"Tap."
Chen Shi cupped his head with both hands, removed it, and felt around his ear canal. He indeed found the thread-like thing Li Tianqing mentioned. When he tugged gently, a piercing pain struck him!
His skeleton body actually felt pain!
The pain came not only from the skeleton but also from the primordial spirit and the soul!
This hair seemed to be rooted simultaneously in his primordial spirit and soul!
Chen Shi gritted his teeth and pulled hard, but the hair didn't break; instead, a large length was yanked out.
The pain nearly made him convulse, almost causing him to fall to the ground in spasms!
He clenched his jaw and continued pulling, drawing out another length!
Chen Shi kept pulling outward, and soon messy strands of hair covered the ground, while his ear canal still produced more hair endlessly, as if it were infinite!
"Little Ten!"
Li Tianqing raised his hand to stop him, his voice grave. "Demonic energy pervades heaven and earth. You've reached the Unity Realm, connected to the external world. Pull out one section, and heaven and earth's demonic energy will replenish it with another! You'll never finish pulling it all!"
Chen Shi stopped, and the thread-like strands actually retracted back into his ear, soon leaving only a tiny tip poking out of his ear canal, as if testing whether danger was outside.
It wasn't hair; it seemed alive. It was demonic energy attaching itself to Chen Shi, a bizarre life form born from his existence.
It was slowly developing, growing as Chen Shi's cultivation increased. It was a part of him, coexisting with him.
Li Tianqing had never seen anything like this either. He pondered for a long time. "Unless you abandon the Unity Realm... But abandoning the Unity Realm would also mean giving up the subsequent Three Corpses, Spirit Refining, Return to Emptiness, and Great Vehicle realms."
Chen Shi steadied himself, pulled out his little finger's bone, and stuffed it into his ear canal to block the hair. "The True King abolished Tribulation Crossing and Ascension, adding the four realms of Miniature Shrine, Divine Embryo, Divine Descent, and Emptiness Refining. There must be a trick within these four realms that can prevent or delay demonic transformation. Otherwise, every cultivator who breaks through to the Unity Realm would face the same situation as me."
Li Tianqing's eyes lit up. "That's right. If we can figure out the reason behind this, we might avoid demonic transformation. I'll return to the mortal world first and come find you when I break through. Maybe we can find a way to stop it!"
He departed excitedly.
Chen Shi tried using the First New Talisman to temper his body with lightning. Lightning is pure yang righteous energy that can refine all demonic energy.
He found that this hair could indeed be refined, but it would grow back after being refined.
He tried burning it with true fire. The hair could indeed be burned away, but it still grew back.
He tried various methods but could never truly eliminate this thing.
Chen Shi even noticed that the demonic energy was quietly influencing his consciousness, making him violent and irritable!
He shuddered. "If this continues, will my consciousness still be mine? Will my thoughts truly be my own?"
He was downcast. The white-clad fairy, as usual, clung to him affectionately, not distancing herself because he had become a skeleton.
Chen Shi lay on her knees. The fairy lowered her head, and her waterfall-like black hair cascaded down her chest. From this angle, Chen Shi could see her breathtaking face, but now that he was a skeleton, his connection with the Lower Corpses God Peng Qiao had been severed.
Chen Shi was now as devoid of desire as a Buddha, with all four elements empty.
The white-clad fairy gestured for him to turn on his side. Chen Shi did so, and the girl lowered her head to clean his ear canal.
His ear canal was now so large that a finger could be inserted directly.
The white-clad fairy dug around twice, and suddenly Chen Shi felt her tugging at that strange hair.
"Don't! Don't!"
Chen Shi cried out in alarm and was about to rise, but the white-clad fairy gave a hard yank. Chen Shi felt his soul shake violently, as if something deep within it had been brutally snapped!
He steadied himself and sat up, only to see the white-clad fairy holding that strange hair in her hand. It was rapidly withering and turning to ashes!
Chen Shi was stunned. He quickly checked himself and realized that the wisp of heaven-and-earth demonic energy he had drawn in through his connection with heaven and earth had been severed by an incomprehensible force!
He shouted with joy, leaped to his feet, and ran excitedly around the hall.
The white-clad fairy watched him with a smile, and only when he had tired himself out from his frolicking did she gently pat her own thighs, signaling him to lie down on them.
Chen Shi lay down, still very excited.
That bizarre hair of his had been yanked out!
This girl, by some unknown method, had severed the connection between heaven and earth's demonic energy and him!
He could sense that if he continued to cultivate, as his cultivation advanced, the demonic energy would still connect to him again.
This was unavoidable for the Unity Realm's unity of heaven and man!
But for now, he didn't have to worry about it.
"I can first cultivate the Blood Lake Sutra! Wait..."
Chen Shi looked at the beautiful girl who was fiddling with his skull. "What method did she use to sever the connection between heaven and earth's demonic energy and me? Was she really the female provincial graduate who traveled with me to the examinations?"
He scrambled up and studied the girl. Suddenly, he parted her hair, lifted her chin with his white bone finger, and stared into her eyes.
The white-clad fairy blushed shyly, turning her head away to avoid his gaze, then glanced back at him from the corner of her eye.
Chen Shi's heart stirred, feeling the power from the Lower Corpses God Peng Qiao. Just as he was about to further investigate the girl's origins, Interior Affairs Minister Sang Xixi ran in, laughing. "Your Majesty, there's a girl outside who claims her name is Wen Wuyu and requests an audience."
She saw the two of them and sighed inwardly, thinking of wolves and lambs.
Even after seeing the white-clad woman many times, she was still amazed by the girl's beauty, feeling she was the most beautiful girl she had ever seen, not like someone from the mortal world.
"No wonder they say scholars are sex-crazed wolves. His Majesty actually passed the top scholar exam and is indeed the apex of that breed. He's fallen to the underworld and still managed to hide a beauty in his temple," she thought to herself, also curious about Chen Shi's true form.
She had never seen his real body before.
Chen Shi straightened up. "Wen Wuyu is a trustworthy person. Invite her in."
Sang Xixi coughed to remind him. "Your Majesty, your clothes."
"Troublesome."
Chen Shi draped his cloak over himself and picked up the crown he had tossed aside.
Only then did Sang Xixi invite Wen Wuyu inside.
This time, Wen Wuyu wore a light blue long straight skirt embroidered with peacock tail feather patterns, with black trim, still flattering her figure as she walked gracefully into the hall.
Her makeup was exquisite, and a pair of long and short pearl earrings hung from her ears, clearly indicating she had dressed up carefully before meeting Chen Shi.
However, when her gaze fell on the white-clad fairy, she couldn't help her heart pounding fiercely twice. "What a beautiful person!"
Seeing a stranger arrive, the white-clad fairy was shy and quickly slipped into the small temple behind Chen Shi's head, disappearing from sight.
Wen Wuyu looked at the small temple behind Chen Shi's head. It slowly faded into the Blood Lake Hell, blocking her view.
Wen Wuyu was quite surprised and laughed. "Child Prodigy, what is this temple behind your head? It seems to function like a miniature shrine, yet it isn't one."
Chen Shi smiled slightly and invited her to sit down.
Wen Wuyu glanced at his throne and shook her head. "If I sit on the throne with you, wouldn't I become the queen? I won't sit. Child Prodigy, your royal palace is so stuffy. This is where your civil and military officials hold morning court, but I'm not your subject. Let's go outside for a walk."
Chen Shi stood up and laughed. "Where are my civil and military officials? When have I ever held morning court? Since becoming ruler, I haven't held a single day of court!"
Wen Wuyu couldn't help but laugh. "Heavenly Pool Kingdom is governed by tribal co-rule. The clan heads manage their own affairs and don't need to trouble the ruler. All you can do is levy taxes on the tribes, make them pay money, and cultivate your own power. The other thing is to lead them in attacking other kingdoms, plundering people and land."
Chen Shi walked out of the palace with her and strolled to the capital's streets.
Many little yakshas were lining up, as Red Mountain Hall was about to establish a branch in the underworld and start construction, so the little yakshas were looking for work.
Chen Shi glanced at Wen Wuyu and asked, "Did you really work in my Primordial Palace for three years?"
"I was lying!"
Wen Wuyu laughed. "I only worked for a few days. I didn't expect you to be so honest that you gave me most of your money."
She shook her head with a smile, feeling that Chen Shi, beneath his shrewdness, had the unique foolishness of a boy.
Chen Shi said, "I gave you the money to thank you for your guidance. After I took back those paper notes, I regretted it. I thought you were the one trying to take my Innate Dao Embryo, which is why I was harsh with you. If you want them, I'll return them."
Wen Wuyu walked ahead of him, turned back, and gave a brilliant smile. "What would I do with those things? I'm not a ghost or monster."
Her smile was very sweet, making it seem as if sunlight had broken through the underworld's sky and was shining directly on her.
Chen Shi caught up with her. The two of them, one a skeleton in a cloak and the other a carefree young girl, attracted the attention of many ghost gods.
Wen Wuyu said, "Chen Shi, we've already met many times. Once here, once in Immortal Capital, and another time in Xinxiang County."
Chen Shi's heart stirred. "I don't remember that time in Xinxiang County."
Wen Wuyu said, "I remember. Back then, I followed my master to Xinxiang. My master selected me from thousands of children as the disciple with the best talent and comprehension. Despair Slope is very strict about this. I was just over eight years old then, not yet nine. I heard from my master that a peerless genius had emerged from Xinxiang County, granted an Innate Dao Embryo by the True God, honored as the Child Prodigy, and ranked first in the fifty provinces. I became very curious about this Child Prodigy. When I saw you, I discovered you were just a snot-nosed little brat like me."
She recalled the past. "At that time, you were only nine years old, but you acted like a little adult, speaking eloquently. Many uncles and aunties brought various cultivation techniques and spells to test you, and you always learned them on the first try. Your techniques were breathtaking. You were so amazing that you earned the admiration of many."
Chen Shi said expressionlessly, "The people who brought many cultivation techniques and spells to test me were eyeing my Innate Dao Embryo. They were only testing me before digging out my embryo, like checking the mouths and teeth of livestock about to be slaughtered in the market."
Wen Wuyu was silent for a moment. "But I didn't know they saw you as livestock to be slaughtered. Back then, I admired you immensely and always followed you, running around with you. You always said I was stupid, and I did feel that way. Although I was smarter than other children, compared to you, I seemed very dumb."
Chen Shi's tone turned cold. "Miss Wen, you don't need to say these things to try to close the distance between us."
Wen Wuyu shook her head. "I was just over eight years old then. I had just passed Despair Slope's test and become a disciple. I didn't have a Divine Embryo yet; I was still in Qi Refining. Three years later, I started Foundation Establishment, and only then did I cultivate a Miniature Shrine and obtain a Divine Embryo..."
Chen Shi hesitated, then softened his tone slightly. "I thought you were also one of those who took my embryo back then."
Wen Wuyu said, "My master brought me there to witness the power of the Innate Dao Embryo, to make me understand the vastness of heaven and earth. At Despair Slope, it's one master, one disciple. Each master only takes one student. The other two uncles also brought a student each."
Chen Shi said, "One was Zhuang Wujiu. Who was the other person?"
Wen Wuyu said, "His name is Wu Wang. He's the senior disciple of our Despair Slope generation."
Chen Shi committed this name to memory.
Wen Wuyu hesitated for a moment. "Senior Brother Wu Wang is the one with the highest talent, the greatest comprehension, and the highest cultivation achievement among all of us. His cultivation is unfathomable, and his strength far exceeds mine by an unknown margin."
Chen Shi remained unmoved. "I was reborn from death and have only truly cultivated for two years. I'm confident I can catch up to him!"
Wen Wuyu didn't say much more and changed the subject. She laughed. "Your predecessor, Lord Xiang Fu, did discover some interesting things, and he died because of them. Do you want to go see?"
Chen Shi was intrigued. "Last time you said he went searching for immortals and died at the hands of an immortal. Is there really an immortal?"
"I came here for this very reason, ordered to investigate this matter."
Wen Wuyu's eyes sparkled. "In my opinion, there most likely really is an immortal. The light on Lord Xiang Fu's corpse was a type of immortal art, containing the power of the Great Dao. Child Prodigy, do you want to come along?"
"Sure!" Chen Shi laughed heartily.