A Loose Cultivator's Path to Longevity

Lü Zhong had begun Breaking his Core.

Breaking the Core was not a simple, crude shattering of the Golden Core, but rather a slow, guided process.

A small depression appeared on his Flawless Golden Core. The depression then began to expand, and the once-solid surface of the Golden Core started to liquefy, transforming back into pure Pill Liquid.

The speed of this liquefaction had to be carefully controlled.

Otherwise, it could very well end in self-detonation.

Consuming the Jade Delay Fruit from the Nascent Soul Immortal Guide at this moment would slow the liquefaction process and also produce a small amount of pure Pill Liquid.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Lü Zhong consumed it.

The once-uncontrollable process of Breaking the Core instantly became far more manageable.

He didn’t dare to relax in the slightest.

Purifying Spirit Liquid, Infant Essence Lingzhi, Pure Yang Grass...

As he consumed one Spiritual Object after another, the process of Nascent Soul Formation steadily advanced. Correspondingly, the celestial phenomena outside began to change dramatically.

Drawn by the phenomenon, countless streams of Five-Colored Spiritual Qi converged into a massive vortex, its scale already far exceeding a thousand miles.

At the same time, combat erupted in and around the Bihai Sect.

Shuini hovered in the air, facing off against Qingding.

"Fellow Daoist Shui, you really refuse to back down?" Qingding asked, his face like ice.

"What do you think?" Shuini replied with a faint smile.

She was currently on the back foot in their fight, but that was only temporary. The moment Qingding’s Secret Medicine wore off would be the moment of his defeat.

As for killing him?

At the Nascent Soul Stage, cultivators had an endless array of Life-saving Techniques. Killing an opponent of the same stage was incredibly difficult; even just destroying their physical body was a vain hope.

Shuini was in no hurry. She had a premonition that Qingding would eventually die at Lü Zhong’s hands.

If not today, then someday in the future.

"Fine," Qingding said, his expression unreadable.

In truth, however, he was already filled with deep regret for his actions after his own Nascent Soul Formation.

It wasn’t that he regretted coveting the Bihai Sect, but that he regretted not using his side’s superior strength to crush Lü Zhong at the very beginning of the conflict, while he was still in the Core Formation Stage.

In principle, his strategy had been sound.

Gradually encroaching on and squeezing the Bihai Sect and the Chengde Commerce Association—the "boiling the frog" approach—had always been the method that incurred the fewest losses.

Unfortunately, Central Earth suddenly intervened in the affairs of the Ten Thousand Witches Hall.

Afterward, a proxy war had even broken out between the Daoist Sects and Changchun Valley.

A mere contract had led to his utter humiliation.

He had thought he could turn the tables by striking while Lü Zhong was undergoing Nascent Soul Formation.

But unexpectedly, his plan had still fallen short at the final hurdle.

’Can anyone tell me why a Mountain Shaking Ship is here!’

Gazing at the mountain-like Flying Ship in the distance, despite having cultivated for several hundred years, he couldn’t stop himself from cursing Spiritual Crane’s incompetence. A mighty Nascent Soul Cultivator, yet he couldn’t even break through the blockade of a single Mountain Shaking Ship.

But he had no choice. Qingding could only continue his stalemate with Shuini and pin all his hopes on Spiritual Crane. That was his only possible path to victory now.

However, Qingding had no idea that Spiritual Crane was in a terrible predicament of his own.

Despite hailing from Central Earth, he was not all-powerful.

Spiritual Crane’s specialty was Divination Skills; in terms of combat prowess, he was only on par with an ordinary Early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator. It was no surprise that he couldn’t break through against a Mountain Shaking Ship with such ferocious firepower.

’Why? Why would a Mountain Shaking Ship appear here!’

In all his years of cultivation, he had rarely felt so baffled and uncertain.

But now, he was starting to question his very existence.

If he hadn’t noticed the absence of the Gui Miao Immortal Sect’s insignia on the Mountain Shaking Ship’s hull, he would have suspected that Lü Zhong was backed by some major figure from an Immortal Sect.

He had no time to ponder why a Mountain Shaking Ship, something incredibly rare even in Central Earth, would appear in the Southern Barbarian Land.

He pulled out a handful of divination rods and tossed them into the air.

Spirit Crane Divination Technique.

He was divining the outcome of remaining here.

As he used the technique, Spiritual Crane visibly aged. The reason was that this art consumed Primordial Qi; even if he did his utmost to replenish it later, he would still lose several years of his lifespan.

But right now, he couldn’t be bothered with such things.

"Grave Danger!"

Seeing the result, Spiritual Crane could hardly believe his eyes.

Grave Danger. It meant death.

In all his years of performing divination, this was only the second time he had encountered such a result. The first was during his own Nascent Soul Formation, a near-death experience he had barely survived.

He tossed another handful of divination rods.

This time, he divined what would happen if he retreated from the Southern Barbarian Land.

"Unfavorable!"

Seeing this result, Spiritual Crane’s expression was conflicted.

A divination’s result wasn’t set in stone; the actual outcome could be better, or it could be worse.

He was once again faced with a difficult choice.

’My fate is my own to... Ah, forget it. I’ll retreat!’

Just as Spiritual Crane made his decision, he looked toward the center of the distant vortex. A figure was slowly rising from within it. He couldn’t help but sigh.

The Thunder Tribulation was imminent.

He was out of time.

...

「Sometime earlier.」

After consuming the six Spiritual Objects of the Immortal Guide in succession, and with the aid of the Yue Spirit Unification Technique, Lü Zhong successfully condensed his Nascent Soul.

As the Nascent Soul formed, he came into resonance with heaven and earth.

A Heart Demon instantly arose!

Lü Zhong barely had time to activate the Evergreen Seal before the world went blurry before his eyes.

When he came to, he found himself in the all-too-familiar bedroom of Lintao Pavilion.

It was his wedding night.

Across from him sat a bride in a red veil. Her quickened breaths perfectly conveyed the mixture of apprehension, anticipation, and nervousness of a virgin on her wedding night.

"M-My lord..."

At the sound of her voice, the killing intent that had surged in Lü Zhong’s heart instantly dissipated like smoke.

With a trembling hand, he gently lifted the red veil, revealing a familiar face.

Li Hejun.

After staring blankly for a moment, Lü Zhong’s expression suddenly turned cold, and a purple Spirit Flame ignited in his hand.

"M-My lord, what are you—"

Before she could finish, the flame landed on her. She let out a piercing shriek, but when it elicited no reaction, "Li Hejun’s" form twisted and changed, revealing a monster with a long, lolling tongue and an impossibly seductive figure.

To be precise, it was a Desire Celestial Demon.

Every inch of its skin, every single movement, existed solely to ignite the desires in a person’s heart.

Nothing was superfluous.

Lü Zhong had never expected that the Heart Demon he would encounter would be of this type.

It was simply outrageous!

’A tyrannical, bloodthirsty one would have been fine. So would a sinister and cunning one, or any other Celestial Demon for that matter. But why did it have to be a Desire Celestial Demon?’

Before he could dwell on it, a coquettish voice drifted to his ears.

"You reacted so quickly. Your Divine Soul must be powerful—uncommonly so! But by doing that, weren’t you afraid of accidentally killing the fair lady from your memories?" the Desire Celestial Demon cackled viciously.

"What do you mean by that?" Lü Zhong asked with a frown.

He had only acted after using the Gray Mist Space to verify if "Li Hejun" was real.

But now, it was clear the Celestial Demon’s words held a hidden meaning.

"SLURP— It’s simple. I’ll tell you... The Soul Sea! Something’s wrong with the Soul Sea! Do you know what that means?" The Desire Celestial Demon paused, licking its own chest as if trying to stoke the fires of Lü Zhong’s desire.

However, it failed.

Lü Zhong remained unmoved and pressed on, "What is the Soul Sea? And what did you mean before?"

"SLURP— I... I want a body! Agree to this deal, and I’ll tell you!" the Desire Celestial Demon eagerly stated its terms.

"Agreed."

To the Celestial Demon’s surprise, Lü Zhong agreed without hesitation.

Lü Zhong only dared to agree because he had read in ancient texts that not all Celestial Demons were tyrannical and bloodthirsty; some could be communicated and even bargained with.

The one before him was clearly one of the latter.

As for the body to be traded, Lü Zhong already had a plan: he would use a blank Incarnation Body.

That way, even if the Celestial Demon was lying, it wouldn’t matter. At worst, he could just refine a new one.

After a round of haggling.

The Celestial Demon ended up with the right to use the body for one hundred years.

After signing the Spirit Contract, the deal was done.

"Now, talk."

"SLURP— Cultivator, I like you. You’re so reasonable, n-not like those brainless ones who only know how to fight and kill... The Soul Sea, just as its name implies, is the wellspring of your world, the source from which all living things emerge. I saw it clearly... I saw that it’s become still. As for the consequences... I, I don’t know either," the Desire Celestial Demon said haltingly.

From its words, Lü Zhong now understood the concept of the Soul Sea.

’It must be referring to the Yellow Springs.’

The final destination for all living beings.

’No wonder... you haven’t been able to reincarnate...’ At last, Lü Zhong understood why Li Hejun had never reincarnated.

It was all because something had changed in the Soul Sea!

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