Cultivation: When you take things to the extreme

At home, Xu Yang returned from an outing and, as usual, took inventory of his gains.

There wasn't actually much to inventory—aside from some common cultivation materials and some exotic items unique to the Black Sect, the most valuable thing was a bag of low-grade spirit stones.

Spirit Stone!

Even though they were only low-grade, they were still spirit stones, only producible in spirit lands.

This meant that in this world, there existed lands of the Yuan Spirit.

It was sufficient to show that it wasn't a world truly dormant in spiritual essence, an age at the end of the Dharma.

In a genuine era of spiritual dormancy, like the initial World of Dao and Law, it was the Five Turbidities Evil Age, with the Yuan Spirit nearly extinct.

There would be no such things as spirit stone veins, even the life source of beings would be deficient, lifespans extremely short, suffering immense, relying solely on the Divine Soul Skill created by the Ancient Immortal Gods, using faux cultivation to barely maintain their cultivation.

This world didn't belong to such a state; although the reasons for the sparse presence of Yuan Spirit were unknown, the life source of beings had not reached a deficit. It was only deprived of the nourishment from a vast amount of Yuan Spirit, within the bounds of normalcy.

Besides, the production of spirit stones and the existence of Yuan Spirit cultivators proved that it was not in a time of spiritual dormancy. It remained a mystery, however, why the power of the Yuan Spirit had vanished.

This brought to mind the War God's Atlas for Xu Yang.

In the Divine Martial World, the War God's Atlas was capable of locking away the Heavenly Earth Prime Spirit, creating existences akin to Cave Heaven Blessed Lands.

Could there be similar relics in this world, or some sort of special methods, that had locked the Heavenly Earth Prime Spirit in certain places, and that's why the spiritual power in the mundane world was so scarce?

Highly possible!

If this conjecture proved true, then there must exist deeper layers of power in this world, because no matter how powerful relics are, no matter how advanced the methods, they still need people to use them. Without sufficient strength, everything is just empty talk.

So where are these deeper layers of power hidden? Why have they locked away the Heavenly Earth Prime Spirit, creating such a situation? What's the relation between the Blue Star Federation and the existing major forces with them, and will they drag the latter into the fray, causing further changes in the situation?

All these questions are mysteries—for which he currently had no clues to provide an answer.

Since there were no leads, he would set it aside for now—Xu Yang was not someone to be stubbornly fixated on an issue.

Dismissing these problems, there were two other matters that required his consideration.

The first was the Black Sect!

Black Sect, Black Demon Gate, Black Lotus Demon Sect.

According to Xu Yang's investigations, this power had a long lineage, traceable back to the Ancient Song Period 1,300 years ago. It appeared after the ninth occurrence of the "Red Moon," developing under the name "Black Lotus Sect."

Although it was active only for a short time before being annihilated by the government, like a centipede that doesn't fall dead even when stepped on, it remained active throughout the dynasties until today. The followers within the sect practice the "Black Lotus Sutra," revering the Black Lotus Sutra Master... Black Buddha Mother?

Black Buddha Mother?

Xu Yang frowned deeply as he sifted through the spoils and drew out an item—it was an ancient bronze statue of a black Buddha.

Called a Buddha statue, it was more demonic in form, a Golden Buddha with a belly as large as a drum, covered in pitch-black scripture, boldly seated atop a black lotus, with many infants kneeling at its feet.

Its upper body had eight arms; six waving in the back, holding the Vajra Pestle and other magic artifacts, and two arms joined in front creating a lotus posture, exuding both sanctity and eeriness.

Looking at the face, it showed no compassion but only a deep red talisman, covering the visage like a turban.

Unphased, Xu Yang pointed and lifted the talisman.

With the talisman lifted, a head was revealed, a visage not compassionate or majestic.

Just... empty!

Empty eyes, an empty face!

The deity's face, the deity's head, turned out to be a vast hollow, within which was boundless darkness, faintly visible were crystalline rhombus-shaped tissues, densely packed, semi-visible, challenging the limits of physiology and psychology.

It was—the Bodhisattva of Flesh and Blood, Jealousy Demon Venerable!

Big Black Buddha Mother!

"..."

Gazing at the Big Black Buddha Mother statue in his hands, Xu Yang fell silent.

Was he really entwined with that Desire Realm Demon in some karmic tie?

Previously in the Demonic World, he had dealt with the Big Black Buddha Mother, and now within this Blue Star World, he encountered traces of her again.

This Bodhisattva of the Desire Realm, this Jealousy Demon Venerable—had she once come to this world, or was she currently influencing it?

Was the Black Lotus Demon Sect the work of her hands?

And what about the Desire Realm itself, Mara, Boxun?

The time of the Red Moon—is it really related to the Desire Realm, or was it plainly the Desire Realm Demon's doing?

Unknown!

But Xu Yang had sufficient reason to suspect that the Desire Realm Demon had its eyes covetously on this world.

The time of the Red Moon, along with the Black Lotus Demon Sect that worshipped the Big Black Buddha Mother, and other similar demonic forces, could all be their handiwork.

Therefore, Xu Yang took a second action.

He imparted teachings!

He officially integrated the Body Refining Techniques of the Martial Arts Scripture with the Overlord Non-urgent Strength, the Dragon Subduing Tiger Suppressing Qi, the Shattering Vajra Body, the Heavenly Tribulation Slaying the Wolf, and even the War God's Immortal Body sequence, passing on the Body Refinement chapter to the public.

By doing so, firstly, it was for his own benefit, to gain leverage and accelerate his cultivation.

Secondly, it was to go fishing—so to speak.

He intended to use this heavy-duty bomb to blast out the deeper forces of this world and the Desire Realm vanguards like the Black Lotus Demon Sect.

With the inclusion of the War God's Atlas, the significance of the Martial Arts Scripture was self-evident—it became a method aspiring to reach the Martial Path True Immortal. If there existed even more extraordinary forces in this world, then faced with the dissemination of such a Cultivation Technique, they couldn't possibly remain indifferent.

Similarly, for the Black Lotus Demon Sect—if they were truly a vanguard of the Desire Realm, they would undoubtedly not want to see such teachings become widespread, as it would forge a multitude of martial artists, boosting the world's transcendent strength, which would be highly disadvantageous for an invasion by the Desire Realm.

Therefore, they would definitely take action, trying their utmost to prevent the spread of the Martial Arts Scripture. Discover hidden tales at My Virtual Library Empire

At the very least, they would come to probe and see the true foundation behind this "Martial Frenzied Rascal."

That was Xu Yang's purpose.

This Black Lotus Demon Sect, evolving from its original "Black Lotus Sect" to the Black Demon Gate of today, has a long legacy and profound potentiality. It's resilient, despite the Blue Star Federation's relentless suppression, proving impossible to eradicate completely.

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Although Xu Yang had control of the network through Taiyi, what kind of secret organization would place core information online? Additionally, he currently only had Gang Qi cultivation, and had not yet achieved perfection in the body refinement realm, preventing him from practicing skills such as Heavenly Eye Mysterious Light and the technique of soul searching.

Therefore, even though he found a hidden stronghold of the Black Lotus Demon Sect through various means, it was just a secret base; he remained ignorant about the headquarters and main altar of the sect and did not have the time to search for it.

This transmission of the law was intended to flush them out for further investigation into the situation of the Desire Realm.

Now that the bomb had been thrown, it was a matter of seeing how the fish would react.

Besides that...

Looking at the spoils before him, Xu Yang shook his head and stood up, disrobed, and went outside.

Bomb-fishing requires strength; with it, one bombs fish, but without it, that's courting death!

As the minions of the Desire Realm, the powers of the Black Lotus Demon Sect were not weak; a single Elder possessed the cultivation of the tenth level of Qi Refinement, equivalent to a Martial Artist in the early stages of Divine Gang.

From this, one could infer that within the Black Lotus Sect, there might be Demon Cultivators with perfected Qi Refinement, or even those in the Foundation Establishment realm.

Xu Yang was now re-cultivating the Martial Path and had only reached the third gate of body refinement, the Gang Qi realm, not even achieving perfection in body refinement.

Although with his methods, fighting above his level was easy, and Foundation Establishment Demon Cultivators were nothing to worry about, if he wanted to control the situation and avoid unexpected incidents and innocent involvement, he needed to improve his cultivation as much as possible.

Therefore...

As soon as Xu Yang stepped outside, he saw an expansive body of water, like a vast mirror.

It was a reservoir that he had contracted.

There was nobody around the reservoir, and there seemed to be an inexplicable force keeping people away from this place.

Xu Yang took off his clothes, naked as the day he was born, and leapt into the water.

"Gurgling!"

With bubbling noises, shadows began to emerge from the depths of the water, and flashes of electricity interweaved—there were eels everywhere.

The Electric Eel Cultivation Method, Heavenly Thunder Tempering Body Skills—reemerging in the human world!

Modern society has its advantages: abundant materials and convenient transportation. As long as one is willing to spend money, gathering common items is effortless. Sure enough, Xu Yang had spent five to six million to fill a reservoir with electric eels for himself.

Next, he would use the power of lightning to refine his body, condense Divine Gang, perfect his realm, and then aim for the Martial Path Embracing Core or even Immortal Martial Dual Cultivation, to cultivate using the Heavenly Earth Thunder as Immortal Path Power.

All things in heaven and earth are made up of Prime Spirits, including lightning, which is a pivot of nature, and difficult to be blocked and controlled by people. Therefore, as long as one can draw upon the power of Heavenly Thunder, it can completely replace Prime Spirit cultivation.

In this regard, Xu Yang had an unparalleled advantage.

Even so, he couldn't just recklessly attract Heavenly Thunder from the start, which would be tantamount to suicide. He must have a solid foundation, at the very least Body Refinement Perfection, before attempting to cultivate with Heavenly Thunder.

For now, he would have to make do with electric eels or generators.

...

While Xu Yang was immersed in his arduous cultivation.

Elsewhere, within the seclusion of the Black Lotus Main Altar.

"Sect Hierarch!"

The five Elders, gathered together, waited silently for one to speak.

"The Third Elder has returned to his hometown, to serve the Black Buddha Mother," one cloaked figure concealed in black robes and whose face was hidden spoke in an ethereal voice.

The five of them, upon hearing these words, remained silent, engulfed in a somber mood.

The six Elders of the Black Sect, with the Third in the middle, inferior to those above yet superior to those below.

Now that he had died, one could imagine how deeply they were affected.

Especially after watching that live video broadcast...

"The strength of that man is no small matter!"

"The Temple of War God, the Martial Frenzied Rascal, who exactly is this divine being?"

"Could it be one of those from the Ancient Sects?"

"Impossible, the heavens and earth have not yet merged, the spiritual energy in the human world is sparse, how could those Ancient Sect disciples easily leave their Cave Heavens, without fearing damaging their own cultivation progress?"

"If not a disciple of an Ancient Sect, how could one, with the mere identity of a Martial Man, easily bring down the Third Elder?"

"His strength is far above the Third's, and for the few of us, he probably wouldn't need much effort either."

They were all discussing with concern.

The person in the black robe seemed unperturbed, and only after their conversation waned did he speak: "I have been enlightened by the Black Buddha Mother, this man is a great scourge, and his evil methods cannot be allowed to spread.

Therefore, we will all head to Longhai, set up the Black Lotus Great Formation, invite the Dharma Body of the Black Buddha Mother to descend, and we must eliminate this villain!"

"This..."

The group was taken aback upon hearing this.

Are you kidding?

The strength of these Black Lotus Demon Sect Elders was relatively even, with not much strength among them.

The Martial Frenzied Rascal had easily killed the Third Elder, and likewise, could easily dispose of them as well.

With such a fearsome opponent, heading to Longhai was like knowingly going to the Tiger Mountain. Why was the Sect Hierarch being so unwise...

Just as they were about to speak, they raised their eyes and looked at each other.

"Who dares defy the will of the Black Buddha Mother? Have you forgotten your responsibilities with this body?" one said, the words echoing eerily, with a compelling gaze that pierced to the core.

Taken aback, they stood frozen on the spot, but then their expressions changed and they began to sing praises in unison.

"Unceasing cycles, unending salvation, the Black Buddha Mother's compassionate heart, Cihang Pudu saves all beings..."

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