I Cheated While Cultivating

The night sky was dimly lit by stars.

Outside of Huangtong Mansion City, in the mountain paths, Yang Zhengguang was fleeing with all his might, desperate to put as much distance as possible between himself and the prefectural city.

This was not actually his own volition, but rather the advice of the “senior” in his mind.

According to the senior, if he didn’t quickly get away from Huangtong Mansion City, he would certainly be captured and subjected to relentless torture, forever losing his freedom.

As for the reason, it naturally had to do with that “senior” residing in his mind.

In this regard, the senior did not conceal anything.

Trusting this senior, Yang Zhengguang hardly hesitated before deciding to leave Huangtong Mansion City.

To escape with his life!

However, Yang Zhengguang, after all, was merely a Ninth Rank Warrior with limited stamina.

After such a long time of fleeing, he was bound to become exhausted. After running for about fifty li, he was completely drained and had no choice but to rest in a dense forest temporarily.

“Senior, when I left the prefectural city, I heard some news. The person the Pure Yang Martial Arts Hall is focusing on, the younger brother of the head of Pure Yang Palace, Zhou Heng has returned. He’s a newly promoted Grandmaster, probably the person who came looking for me before,” Yang Zhengguang whispered.

“A Grandmaster?” The senior inside his mind exclaimed incredulously, “That’s impossible. If he were only a Grandmaster, his Divine Soul Power couldn’t possibly be strong enough to penetrate through the barrier of your body and let even someone in my weakened state sense his pressure.”

“But if not him, I can’t think of who else it could be. I’ve seen almost all of the powerful figures in Huangtong Mansion City,” said Yang Zhengguang, puzzled.

“It’s also possible it was a senior from Zhou Heng’s sect. After all, Pure Yang Palace has deep roots,” the senior pondered for a moment before saying, “However, it’s also possible that it’s Zhou Heng himself.

“This could also explain why he didn’t take direct action because as a Sect Fifth Rank, he is powerless to take me down. After leaving, he probably went to seek reinforcements.”

“But I heard Zhou Heng didn’t leave Huangtong Mansion City, and even went to the Yu Family to drink,” Yang Zhengguang said with a frown.

“A Grandmaster is not necessarily without other means of sending messages.” The senior continued to speculate, “The Taoist formulas he left behind were probably used to mark your location; fortunately, you discarded them.”

“Yes, senior, rest assured, I have discarded them,” replied Yang Zhengguang, nodding.

He was not lying; indeed he had discarded the gold leaf inscribed with the Golden Book of the Five Thunder Righteous Methods, but he had already memorized the content of the entire formula by heart.

Yang Zhengguang found the situation strange even for himself. Though he was talented, he did not possess a photographic memory, and he had never exhibited such signs before.

Yet, when he laid eyes on the content of the Golden Book of the Five Thunder Righteous Methods, he strangely felt his memory greatly enhanced, able to recall the full text after just one glance.

Moreover, he had this pervasive feeling that by practicing these Taoist formulas, he could truly change his destiny and ascend to unparalleled heights, becoming a person above others.

This made Yang Zhengguang yearn for the formula.

But with the presence of the senior in his mind, he didn’t dare to rashly start cultivating it.

Besides, the formula was extremely profound, and there were many aspects he didn’t understand, meaning that even if he wanted to cultivate, he couldn’t comprehend it fully. Ŗã₦ǒBЁ§

It was precisely because of this desire that he had even thought about returning to ask Zhou Heng for guidance on practicing the formula while escaping.

Yang Zhengguang was startled by his own thoughts, afraid that the senior in his mind would discover them, bringing him fatal harm.

Although he was not clear about the “senior’s” true identity, he had a vivid understanding that since the other party could reside in his own mind, killing him would be an easy task.

Fortunately, the senior seemed not to have discovered anything.

This allowed Yang Zhengguang to relax slightly.

“How is your rest going?” the senior asked in a deep voice.

“I’ve recovered some strength, enough to continue on the road,” responded Yang Zhengguang.

“Are there any villages or towns ahead?” asked the senior.

“There appears to be a village,” answered Yang Zhengguang after a moment’s contemplation.

“Good, go and kill twelve people, I need to regain some vital energy, just in case,” the senior instructed.

“Understood,” Yang Zhengguang nodded.

…

After concluding his conversation with Yu He, Zhou Heng returned to the Pure Yang Martial Arts Hall.

Here, he encountered the recently rising star of Huangtong Mansion City, Jiang Hong, the same genius who was rumored to compete in martial arts with Yang Zhengguang previously.

Jiang Hong had come to him proactively.

This youth was eager to learn, and he had remarkable talent; having only stepped into the Ninth Rank not long ago, he managed to cultivate another Ninth Grade technique to perfection. By the age of twenty, reaching the Eighth Rank was hopeful.

Hearing of Zhou Heng’s return, Jiang Hong immediately came over to seek advice on martial arts cultivation.

Zhou Heng could clearly feel that with the current teaching level at Huangtong Mansion City’s Pure Yang Palace Martial Arts Hall, they would soon have nothing left to teach Jiang Hong.

“Pure Yang Palace has recently taken in a batch of external disciples; it would be good to let him join them,” Zhou Heng said, glancing at Jiang Hong who was not far off organizing practice equipment, and smiled, “Jiang Hong, come here.”

“Sure, Headmaster, what’s the matter?” Jiang Hong immediately set down his pen and paper, jogged over to Zhou Heng, and waited respectfully.

“You are talented and studious, so I plan to recruit you directly into Pure Yang Palace’s external sect disciples.” Zhou Heng said with a smile, “What do you think?”

“Wh-what?!” Jiang Hong was initially stunned, his cheeks flushed with excitement as he widened his eyes, taking a deep breath, “Really, you want to recruit me directly into Pure Yang Palace’s external sect?”

This was the practice hall of the martial arts academy.

Once Zhou Heng’s words were spoken, the other apprentices and many trainers who had been practicing martial arts also stopped their activities and looked over.

Being selected for Pure Yang Palace was the dream of every Pure Yang Martial Arts Hall apprentice.

And training an apprentice who was chosen for the Pure Yang Palace, even just to be selected for the external sect, was the goal that many trainers strove for.

Once one entered Pure Yang Palace, it meant that their life’s destiny would undergo fundamental changes.

Although Jiang Hong indeed had excellent talent and was likely to be chosen for Pure Yang Palace in the future, such a selection was unexpectedly fast.

And all this was merely due to a word from the headmaster!

“That’s right.”

Zhou Heng nodded, observing everyone’s reaction but paying it no mind.

His direct recruitment of Jiang Hong into the external sect was for two reasons.

One was out of admiration for talent, and the other was to conduct an experiment.

The path of Qi destiny is extremely enigmatic. It’s the most elusive among the Five Fortunes and also the one most prone to change.

Zhou Heng planned to see what kind of impact a decision he made could have on a person’s Qi destiny, and what factors could influence someone’s Qi destiny.

This decision was to select Jiang Hong as an outer disciple of the Pure Yang Palace.

From the perspective of Celestial Man’s Qi sight, Jiang Hong’s Qi destiny pillar was originally an ordinary pure white but now had a hint of light blue to it.

It was a noticeable difference from before.

“This touch of blue must be my promise, the status of an outer disciple of Pure Yang Palace which I offered him. Once he truly joins, the blue should become even deeper. Indeed, even an external, additional identity can have an impact on Qi destiny.”

Zhou Heng pondered to himself, guessing, “If it were an extremely prestigious position, would it directly bring a vast amount of Qi destiny? And could a vast amount of Qi destiny coalesce into some extremely prestigious position?”

His exploration in the way of Qi destiny were efforts towards becoming fully equipped with the Five Virtues and Five Fortunes. This was his path of Dharma Body, so naturally, he couldn’t miss any opportunity for experimentation.

Just then, Zhou Heng suddenly noticed that Jiang Hong’s Qi destiny pillar seemed brighter. It appeared to be influenced by something else, rendering his Qi destiny denser than before.

At the same time, he sensed something amiss with Yang Zhengguang through his Divine Soul. There seemed to be some connection between the two.

It was precisely the anomaly with Yang Zhengguang that had intensified Jiang Hong’s Qi destiny.

“Could this be because of their previous agreement to battle?” Zhou Heng mused to himself. “Now that Yang Zhengguang is no longer fit to meet the challenge, has this caused Jiang Hong’s Qi destiny to thicken?

“To think that even a link of this degree could cause changes in Qi destiny. It seems that this path is indeed mysterious, full of depths that I have yet to comprehend.”

Shortly thereafter, he told Jiang Hong and the others, “I have some matters to attend to and must leave. You all continue with your training.”

With that, Zhou Heng left the Martial Arts Hall. His feet touched the cloud light, ascending swiftly. He flew through the air, disappearing in the blink of an eye from the place.

With Zhou Heng gone, Jiang Hong was immediately surrounded by many people.

Questions flew from all directions.

There were praises, congratulations, envies, and resentments… Jiang Hong truly experienced the complexity of human nature.

…

Boom!

The peace and tranquility of Changyu Village were shattered by a thunderous roar.

Countless villagers, just lulled into slumber, were startled awake. A villager, who was just trembling with fear, stared dumbfounded at the scene before him.

A youth, who was previously fierce and brutal, ready to kill him at a moment’s notice, was suddenly struck by a bolt of lightning from nowhere just as he was about to strike, turning into charred remains on the spot.

“Heaven’s will, is this heaven’s will? Is this the heavens saving me?” Overjoyed, the villager scrambled to his feet and fled as if on wings.

However, the thunderous sound had already awakened almost all the villagers, but no one came out of their homes.

Their life experience told them that in such unusual circumstances, the best course of action was to stay inside. It was better not to be curious; the more curious one was, the faster they might meet their end.

The humanoid charred figure stood motionless at the entrance of Changyu Village, but it did not fall, seemingly stuck in a peculiar state.

“Worthless, what a worthless creature, to die like this!”

The charred human figure suddenly spoke, and at the same time lifted its hand, forcefully ripping off the carbonized skin on its own face and arm to reveal blood-drenched flesh.

This conversing human figure was none other than Yang Zhengguang, who had earlier come here to attack and had been turned into charcoal by a bolt of lightning.

Now Yang Zhengguang’s Divine Soul had been obliterated, replaced by that “predecessor” who had previously been residing in his mind.

“What a piece of trash! To actually covet a Sect Fifth Rank Taoist Formula! Damn it!” The bloody body cursed incessantly, utterly dissatisfied with Yang Zhengguang.

The power of the lightning bolt that had just struck was immense, capable of reducing Yang Zhengguang, a Ninth Rank Warrior, to ashes in an instant.

Had he not made a split-second decision at the last moment to use the vital energy he had been accumulating for a long time, he wouldn’t have been able to preserve even this broken state of a body.

The entity that had been parasitizing Yang Zhengguang’s mind could perceive some of his scattered thoughts and was already aware of his extreme desire for the Five Thunder Righteous Method.

But what he didn’t expect was that behind this desire hid a Divine Thunder, whose might far exceeded the pinnacle of Sect Fifth Rank power.

It caught him completely off guard and severely damaged his vital energy.

“Zhou Heng, I shall avenge today’s enmity in the future!” The bloody body gritted its teeth with intense hatred for Zhou Heng.

“Why wait for the future? Why not settle it today?” Zhou Heng’s mocking voice drifted from afar, and then a streak of cloud light flew from the sky, landing instantly in front of him and revealing the form of a young Taoist, “How should I address you?”

“You actually managed to evade my tracking method?!” The bloody body looked at Zhou Heng with shock and uncertainty, saying, “A Grandmaster shouldn’t possess such a level of Divine Soul perception. Is this what the martial artists of today’s era are like?”

“I’m not interested in your reflections.” Zhou Heng shook his head lightly, speaking in a deep voice, “How should I address you, where do you come from, what is your purpose, what was your former cultivation level, what identity…”

He enumerated nearly everything that could confirm the identity and purpose of the person before him.

“Heh, you think you’re guaranteed to win?” The bloody body laughed coldly, showing no intention whatsoever of answering Zhou Heng’s questions.

“Is that not the case?” Zhou Heng’s eyes narrowed slightly, and he smiled, “Do you think that because you’re not here with your true Divine Soul, I can’t do anything to you, and that even if this strand of Divine Soul is destroyed, your loss won’t be great, is that it?”

This time, perhaps because the “remnant soul” that had been residing in Yang Zhengguang’s body had truly taken possession, he noticed some details he had missed before.

As it turned out, this “remnant soul” wasn’t a true remnant soul at all, but merely a strand of Divine Soul thoughts that had split off from the complete Divine Soul, disguising itself as a remnant.

Moreover, there was a trace of demonic energy on it.

This inevitably made Zhou Heng think of the Fox Demon that had married Yu He.

“Is that not the case?” The bloody body still looked disdainful, asking, “Or do you think you, a mere Grandmaster, have means to deal with me?”

Seeing that some of his circumstances had been exposed, he simply changed the way he referred to himself.

“Why not try and find out?” Zhou Heng smiled, waved his right hand, and a green bronze bell appeared in his palm, which he lightly swung.

Dong!

The sound of the bell resonated with the might to scatter Divine Souls!

The Soul Shattering Bell!

This was a Celestial Man-level Divine Weapon and magic item, fashioned after a legendary treasure. It once belonged to the Qing Emperor Palace, but was later confiscated by Zhou Heng, possessing immense power and specializing in countering Divine Souls.

In an instant, the might of the scattered Divine Souls not only affected the strand of Divine Soul thought residing in Yang Zhengguang’s body, but also tracked back to its origin, transmitting the bell’s resonating power all the way there.

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