I Outworked the Entire Cultivation World

The first leaf, as Jiang Yuebai’s spiritual energy emerged from her fingertips, the leaf shattered into pieces.

The second leaf, Jiang Yuebai reduced the amount of Wood Spirit Qi, carefully channeling it through the stalk bit by bit, yet it hadn’t reached the first bifurcation point.

Poof! The leaf got pierced with a big hole.

Lii Jiuchuan reminded, "The veins of the leaf get finer towards the tip, so you must continually adjust your control."

Jiang Yuebai nodded, plucking another leaf from the cabin door. Once more she lessened her spiritual energy, staring at the leaf with furrowed brows.

This time, several breaths passed, and the leaf remained intact. A thin layer of sweat formed on Jiang Yuebai’s forehead.

"Ahem, you really didn’t release any spiritual energy," Lii Jiuchuan said awkwardly.

Jiang Yuebai paused, "Didn’t I? I’m sure I did."

Seeing Lii Jiuchuan’s earnest expression, Jiang Yuebai’s eyelids drooped, "Let me try again!"

Poof!

The leaf broke!

Try again!

Poof!

The leaf broke again!

Try again!

Seeing her persistence didn’t wear off easily, Lii Jiuchuan simply sat cross-legged atop the mast, closed his eyes in meditation, sensing the flow of spiritual energy in the world, experiencing the feeling of the Natural Daoist Technique.

The sun set, the moon rose, stars twinkled in the sky, a lonely sail voyaging into the sea, with the world wrapped in silence.

"Who stripped my silver jujube tree bare!!"

Master Lingjun’s furious voice shattered the midnight quiet, Lii Jiuchuan awoke from meditation, catching a glimpse of a finger pointing at him, then swiftly retracting.

Lii Jiuchuan looked down, meeting eyes with Master Lingjun.

Unexpectedly, Master Lingjun chuckled, "Sorry to disturb True Monarch Jiuchuan’s meditation, it’s no big deal, just a couple of ornamental silver jujube trees, nothing to fret over, nothing to fret over."

"Apologies, I’ll find a few better ones to compensate you when we return to the sect."

"It’s a minor issue, truly."

Master Lingjun glanced once more at the bare silver jujube tree, his eye twitching as he cupped his hands and bowed before returning to the cabin.

Lii Jiuchuan sighed, "If you want to practice, you shouldn’t just target a single tree."

"I didn’t just target one tree, I stripped both of them."

Lii Jiuchuan lowered his eyes, spotting another silver jujube tree on the other side of the cabin — a spot he couldn’t usually see — now also bare of its leaves.

Lii Jiuchuan: .....

"Master, haste makes waste, I won’t practice anymore right now. I still have a second question to ask you."

"Is it really ’haste makes waste,’ or because there are no leaves left?"

Jiang Yuebai pretended not to hear, "Master, when I went back to the sect this time, I looked at the cultivation technique that my ancestor gave me, and I also browsed many techniques in the library. You know I’m cultivating the Demon Clan technique, recently I saw something that could barely be considered a Demon Clan technique, and after reading it, I started wondering, what are the fundamental differences in cultivation among the Three Races of Human, Demon, and Devil."

Lii Jiuchuan was momentarily stunned, not because the question was difficult, but because it’s so broad, he didn’t know where to start.

In fact, back then when his lifebound magic treasure shattered and he couldn’t continue his cultivation, he too considered demon cultivation techniques and demon Dao cultivation techniques.

It’s just that authentic demon cultivation and demon Dao techniques are too scarce to find, with what circulates in the Cultivation Realm being modified versions, degraded more with each alteration, so his understanding was quite limited.

Lii Jiuchuan pondered for a moment, then said, "Simply put, the Human Clan focuses on Qi Cultivation, the Demon Clan on divine cultivation, and the Demon Clan on body refining."

"Can you elaborate on the Demon Clan? I roughly understand the Human Clan and Demon Clan, but not the Demon Clan," Jiang Yuebai asked.

Lii Jiuchuan didn’t give it much thought, "The Demon Clan focuses on body refining because they are formed from the muddy Qi of heaven and earth, inherently formless and intangible. Maybe it’s because they don’t have a body, after reaching a certain level in cultivation, demons prefer to forge a robust body for themselves."

"The body can protect against harm and can also stabilize the core destabilized by excessive energy absorption. Hence, many cultivation techniques that emerged from the Demon Clan are divided into two schools: one focused on body refining, the other on devouring."

While contemplating, Jiang Yuebai asked, "Then how does the Demon Clan assimilate and absorb the energy different from itself after devouring so much?"

"What happens when ink drops into water?" Lii Jiuchuan retorted.

Jiang Yuebai mused, "So is it because the demonic Qi is dark and dirty enough that any energy it touches turns dark and dirty?"

"Not exactly, think of it another way, like big fish eating small fish, and small fish eating shrimp, it’s higher entities devouring the lower ones. The demon’s origin is the muddy Qi at the birth of the world, the purer this muddy Qi, the more advanced it is."

"Higher suppresses lower, what can be assimilated is absorbed, what cannot is expelled. That’s how I understand the demon clan’s devouring techniques."

Jiang Yuebai scratched her head, what she heard was much like how if consumed something and could digest, then it is digested; if not, it turns into waste. So demons do produce waste, surprisingly.

"So do human cultivators also cultivate like this? How do they ensure they don’t actually fall into becoming true demons?"

Lii Jiuchuan believed Jiang Yuebai was still worried about Lu Nanzhi, sighed deeply, "Although most demon cultivators don’t end well, either being killed by enemies or dying from heavenly tribulation punishments, a few with strong wills use a Great Dao aspiration to safeguard their hearts."

"Great Dao aspiration?"

"This actually is a Buddhist Sect method, making a great aspiration in the beginning of the cultivation, constantly deepening one’s obsession with the aspiration, if the obsession is deep enough, demons find it hard to disturb."

"Isn’t that like drinking poison to quench thirst?"

For a cultivator, obsession is a terrifying thing.

Lii Jiuchuan laughed, "The great aspirations of Buddhists are no more than delivering all beings, as an example. Fundamentally, this aspiration is impossible to complete, but delivering even one being counts as fulfilling a portion."

Jiang Yuebai suddenly realized, "It’s about fooling oneself, making a wish that can be fulfilled yet never completely, thus keeping one alert and not losing to demonic Qi, but what if, what if the aspiration is fulfilled?"

Lii Jiuchuan glanced into the distance, "If it’s delivering all beings’ great aspiration, one might become a Buddha, if it’s a similar aspiration for a demon, perhaps one would become a supreme true demon. Specifically, it depends on the aspiration, Buddhists naturally lean towards Buddha, demons towards demon."

"What about the Daoists, can’t they do this too?"

"The Buddhist Sect emphasizes merits and reincarnation, self-sacrifice for others, giving up this life to cultivate for the next, while the Daoists cultivate the present and self, seeking ultimate boundlessness, maintaining tranquility and inaction, how would they bind themselves with obsession?"

Jiang Yuebai rested her chin on her hand in contemplation, her master’s words deepened her understanding of demon cultivation, although she wasn’t interested in pursuing demon cultivation herself, nor did she need to make any great aspirations.

It’s just more useless knowledge gained!

"Master, let’s not delve into this, actually I’m curious, after the ink drops into the water, is there a way to make the water clear again."

Lii Jiuchuan looked at Jiang Yuebai, thinking if she had already thought this far for Lu Nanzhi, alas, once fallen into demonic ways, returning is extremely difficult.

Yet he couldn’t dampen her spirit, that sentiment is indeed valuable.

"Do you have an idea?" Lii Jiuchuan retorted.

Jiang Yuebai took out a demon core, "Take this demon core as an example, demon cultivation also uses spiritual energy, which by principle belongs to pure Qi, but the ferociousness in the demon bloodline, can it be viewed as muddy Qi?"

"Then according to the laws of the world’s beginning, where pure Qi elevates, muddy Qi descends, they should be separable, as long as external force can be introduced to the demon core center, like a vortex, that is, rapid rotation..."

Lii Jiuchuan furrowed his brows, he had seen similar concepts in several demon Dao cultivation techniques before, it seemed he had thought similarly once, just never took it to heart, therefore it was never verified.

Lii Jiuchuan sucked the demon core into his palm, a thought spurred it to spin rapidly in his hand.

"Eh, eh, eh? Master, be careful, that’s my..."

Before finishing, the demon core exploded into powder in Lii Jiuchuan’s palm, the fierce airflow blowing Jiang Yuebai off the mast.

Climbing back, Jiang Yuebai saw her master extending a hand again, "Give me another demon core."

Seeing her master’s thoughtful expression, Jiang Yuebai gritted her teeth and handed over another demon core.

Once again, the demon core started spinning rapidly in Lii Jiuchuan’s hand, heating and smoking as if scorched, gradually releasing faint red airstreams from within.

Jiang Yuebai held her breath in anticipation, but in the next moment, the demon core suddenly exploded without warning.

The airstream hit her face, feeling like not the demon core, but her bloody heart had exploded.

Lii Jiuchuan’s eyes gleamed, his hand reached out to Jiang Yuebai once more.

Jiang Yuebai snapped, "You, a dignified Nascent Soul cultivator, don’t even have a demon core with you?"

"Nope."

Jiang Yuebai: (▼ヘ▼#)

Slamming her last demon core into her master’s hand, Jiang Yuebai vowed, if it exploded once more, she’d definitely kick him off the mast!