Are There Only Demonesses Left in the Cultivation Realm?

Lu Changyuan sent several black Spirits wielding sabers and axes flying with a single strike.

’The Spirits are rioting. Is the Nether River about to emerge?’

’No.’

’None of this is right.’

’First, it was the Three-Life Tree, then the Nether River. Something is accelerating the entire Netherworld’s progression.’

Lu Changyuan hooked his sword back, the movement so fast Mei Zhaozhao couldn’t see it clearly. He frowned at the Celestial Vault, but his sword never paused. With a backhanded hook and flick, the tip of his blade was already striking at three ghostly figures that had silently materialized behind Mei Zhaozhao.

In the corner of her eye, Mei Zhaozhao saw a dark figure suddenly rise from the young man’s shadow. It held a round hammer, poised to smash it down on Lu Changyuan’s back.

"Watch out!"

she cried out involuntarily.

The dim light of a lantern shone on the hammer, reflecting the side of Lu Changyuan’s face.

It was perfectly calm.

Lu Changyuan sidestepped the hammer, his whip kick breaking the sound barrier as it sent the hammer-wielding Spirit and its armor flying.

He shouted, "That Xiao Qingfeng—what Dao does he cultivate?"

Mei Zhaozhao hesitated for only a moment. "The Transformation Dao."

"The Transformation Dao?"

Lu Changyuan’s eyes widened. He beheaded the Spirit before him with a single slash. ’This is big trouble.’

Xiao Hai charged again, his maw of sharp teeth aiming to pierce Lu Changyuan’s skin and crush his very bones.

CLANG.

Broken Thought met its fangs, striking a shower of terrifying sparks.

Relying purely on physical strength, Xiao Hai already possessed the Power of a Fifth Realm cultivator.

A rift suddenly tore open in the Netherworld’s illusory sky, unleashing a heaven-and-earth-shaking blast of Nether Qi.

A river descended from the heavens.

The Ghost Gate opened, and the Nether River emerged.

"These monsters aren’t Spirits! They’re abominations fabricated by Xiao Qingfeng with his Transformation Technique!"

Lu Changyuan dodged past the endlessly spawning black-armored Spirits and knocked Xiao Hai back once more before looking to the sky. "The Sun and Moon Gnomon is shrouding the secrets of heaven? Is he using the Nether River’s power to trace back into the past? What in the world is Xiao Qingfeng trying to do!?"

Mei Zhaozhao said hurriedly, "I don’t know either! The sect just told me to find Xiao Qingfeng."

Xiao Hai suddenly froze, his face contorting in extreme agony. Blood burst from his skin again, staining the ground beneath him into a pool.

Holding Broken Thought, Lu Changyuan murmured, ’The Nether River... it stopped!?’

’Based on past experience, after the Ghost Gate opens, the Nether River should pour down from the sky and flow into the Void outside the Royal Palace. At that point, all one has to do is row a boat into the Void to use the river to reflect upon their Dao.’

’But now, the Nether River hasn’t fallen. It seems to be stuck in the sky. Yet the river’s retrospective power has already taken effect; the surrounding buildings are gradually solidifying.’

Mei Zhaozhao said in disbelief, "What is that?"

An unidentifiable melody suddenly drifted between heaven and earth.

A Golden Skull flew out of the dense fog, coming to a stop before the rift created by the Nether River. From a distance, it pointed a finger at Xiao Hai, who promptly exploded.

Xiao Hai’s blood soaked the memorial tablet in his stomach. The tablet, already shattered into fragments after he’d swallowed it, now scattered as his torso exploded. The pieces drifted out, floating slowly in the Void.

In the air, the blood-stained fragments slowly coalesced to form the name "Xiao Qingfeng." Then, they abruptly transformed into a single drop of golden blood that shot toward the heavens in an instant.

The Golden Skull stretched out a hand, caught the drop of blood, and placed it on the spot between its brows.

A weary, ancient sigh echoed.

"After languishing in the Netherworld for three hundred seventy-two years, the day has finally come."

Lu Changyuan stared, stunned.

He murmured,

"Turning death into life... to achieve the Yao Guang Realm?!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

「One thousand five hundred years ago.」

The Chang’an Daoist burst onto the scene, killing or defeating every publicly known Yao Guang cultivator in the world.

And so, the world knew peace.

Because of the Chang’an Daoist’s indiscriminate justice, it didn’t matter if one was tainted by the Desire Demon or not; anyone who committed an evil act would be annihilated, body and soul, by a sword from the heavens.

The age of chaos was forcefully suppressed by the Chang’an Daoist’s harsh penalties.

The Demon Dao could only go into hiding. As a result, only the Righteous Dao, practitioners of the Desire Destruction Method, could be seen in the open.

Over a thousand years, many powerful members of the Demon Dao were simply outlasted and died off.

But ultimately, a group of old relics went into hibernation. The Chang’an Daoist couldn’t possibly scour every corner of the world, and some were inevitably missed.

Under these circumstances,

「Five hundred years ago, the Chang’an Daoist disappeared.」

The Demon Dao, which had been suppressed by the Chang’an Daoist for a millennium, finally bared its fangs and launched an all-out counterattack.

Not only that, but for that millennium, the Chang’an Daoist had used his own being to suppress the Demon. The Desire Demon was held fast in the heavens; if even a single Scale or claw fell to the Mortal World, his Supreme Pure Spirit Forget Immortal Technique would detect it.

Suppressed for a thousand years, the famished Desire Demon also began to stir.

The Daoist Sect Master had the will but not the strength. Moreover, at the time, she had not yet comprehended the ultimate technique of the Profound Sword. In other words, while she was powerful, she had not yet reached the level of being able to decapitate someone from thousands of miles away. Thus, she could only follow her master’s example and begin purging the demons.

But this horde of demons was not so easily purged.

This time, countless practitioners of the Demon Dao emerged from the woodwork, throwing the world into turmoil.

It was under these circumstances that

a young boy in Huangshi Town was born.

The boy’s name was Xiao Qingfeng. He was quite talented and was soon accepted into a minor sect called the Changchun Sect. By the age of thirty-five, he had already cultivated to the Third Realm.

Unfortunately, the Changchun Sect’s Sect Leader later Fallen into Demon, and the entire Sect shattered overnight. Xiao Qingfeng once again found himself without a sect or faction.

In such a chaotic era, one could live longer by staying reclusive and not competing for resources. But Xiao Qingfeng was not the type to be content with that. He wanted to climb to the very top, step by step, so he desperately fought for every opportunity. On one occasion, while being hunted, he stumbled into a small mountain village.

When his pursuers arrived, they exchanged glances and promptly left.

The village was filled with peach blossoms, the air thick with birdsong and the fragrance of flowers. It was a rare paradise, hidden from the world.

Xiao Qingfeng was no fool. He knew that for such a peaceful place to exist in this chaotic world, an extraordinary Great Power must be watching over it.

Soon, Xiao Qingfeng discovered the Great Power was the hunched old man who sat at the village entrance all year round, watching the plumes of cooking smoke.

He immediately went forward and pleaded to become his disciple.

At first, the old man was unwilling, as his own days were numbered. But Xiao Qingfeng steeled his resolve and knelt before the old man’s house for a full month, until he grew pale and collapsed from exhaustion.

When he woke up again,

Xiao Qingfeng found himself in the old man’s room. He knew he had succeeded.

The old man was a Kai Yang Great Power.

From that day on, the old man began to teach Xiao Qingfeng with great care. Soon, Xiao Qingfeng entered the Fourth Realm and was on the verge of comprehending his Dao.

The old man asked him, "Why do you pursue Cultivation?"

Xiao Qingfeng answered, "To survive."

"For immortality?"

"Just to survive."

’Immortality? He didn’t have the luxury of thinking that far ahead. He just wanted to survive this chaotic era, to live long enough to see peace return to the world.’

The old man nodded and patted Xiao Qingfeng’s shoulder.

And so, on the second day, Xiao Qingfeng comprehended the Transformation Dao.

When cultivated to its peak, this Dao allowed for rebirth from a single drop of blood. As long as the blood was not exhausted, the person could not be destroyed.

It perfectly corresponded with his desire to survive.

Just as Xiao Qingfeng was about to share the news with the old man, he found him on his last breath. Only then did he realize that the old man, who already had little time left, had expended his own life force the day before to help him break through his Dao-related bottleneck.

As he was about to pass away,

the old man told him, "My name is Chen An. I was once a Hall Master of the Sun and Moon Palace."

Only then did Xiao Qingfeng learn a secret that had been buried for many years.

The Sun and Moon Palace Master had shattered the supreme treasure, the Sun and Moon Gnomon, and had sent Chen An to return it to the Netherworld. Chen An had tampered with the Gnomon, and by using his Jade Bracelet, one could pinpoint its exact location within the Netherworld.

The Sun and Moon Palace had already been destroyed. The Sun and Moon Palace Master, along with the Left and Right Guardians, had all vanished from the Mortal World. Therefore, there was little to fear in retrieving the Sun and Moon Gnomon.

However, the time for the Netherworld to open was still far off, so it was better to seek other opportunities for now.

Thus, at that time, Xiao Qingfeng didn’t give much thought to this secret treasure.

「Another fifty years passed.」

Xiao Qingfeng became Dao companions with a woman from the Hehuan Sect. His life was considered fulfilled, and he even broke through to the Sixth Realm.

But he was still not satisfied; he even felt a little desperate. Xiao Qingfeng knew he would never have a chance to break through to the Yao Guang Realm in this lifetime. Years ago, in his rush to reach the Kai Yang Realm, he had exhausted his potential. His path of cultivation had reached its end, and he could not advance another step.

Lacking talent was simply lacking talent; it was the cruelest fact in the world.

’Chen An died before reaching the Yao Guang Realm. Am I to suffer the same fate?’

Amid his struggles and frustration, he heard a piece of news.

"The Netherworld is about to appear."

~~~~~~~~~

Flesh and blood began to sprout from the Golden Skull, growing back piece by piece. Soon, it had reformed into a rather handsome man.

"Finally..."

He sighed faintly. With a wave of his hand, Nether Qi embroidered itself into a set of clothes on his body.

Xiao Qingfeng recalled many things.

He had entered the Netherworld, and when it closed, he had vanished into the Void along with it.

At the Kai Yang Realm, the Transformation Dao was already endlessly profound.

To obtain the Sun and Moon Gnomon, Xiao Qingfeng had dissected dozens of Spirits. Then, he had struck himself down, transforming his physical body into a skeleton to resist the scouring of the Nether Qi.

Meanwhile, he used the Transformation Technique to turn his consciousness into a Spirit.

A Spirit is the last wisp of a dead person’s Thought. By transforming his own Thought, he seamlessly blended into the Netherworld.

Day and night, he followed the other Spirits, chanting, "The Nether Monarch will return. Her Yu will one day illuminate the entire Netherworld. The subjects of the Netherworld will sacrifice everything for their Monarch."

He chanted day and night, wandering through the Netherworld, oblivious to the passing of seasons.

This continued until his descendant entered the Netherworld carrying his memorial tablet. Within that tablet, he had hidden a drop of his own blood, which could serve as a final retreat or as a catalyst to awaken him.

Thus, Xiao Hai’s arrival was the final piece of his puzzle.

"Nearly four hundred years... truly an eternity."

Xiao Qingfeng stood suspended in mid-air, his voice spreading throughout the entire Netherworld.

As his voice fell, countless black Spirits rose from the ground.

His body, his Thought, his very being—it had all become a part of the Netherworld.

Xiao Qingfeng murmured, "I can achieve the Dao."

He spoke with absolute conviction.

Transformed Life, turning death into life... The Netherworld was a place on the very line between life and death, perfectly aligned with his Dao.

He held the Sun and Moon Gnomon high. The waters of the Nether River washed over him continuously as the authority over the Netherworld shifted bit by bit. The entire city would soon fall under his control.

The newly generated black Spirits bowed their heads to him, chanting a new name: "Nether Monarch."

These were his Spirits, and they were his subjects.

’Is he Xiao Qingfeng?’

No.

He is the Nether Monarch! The newborn Nether Monarch!

Xiao Qingfeng commanded, "Purge the old king’s servants."

Having received their orders, the black Spirits raised their spears and charged, ready to slaughter the vacant, mindless Spirits of the former Nether Monarch.