Chapter 335: Chapter 86: Secrets of Ancient Times
Demon Lion Peak, Canglan Cave.
After returning from the Southern Mang, Fang Cheng went alone into the Quiet Chamber of his Cave Mansion.
After devouring Ren Yan’s soul, he had learned many secrets of the Demon Buddha Lineage.
He had long been wondering why Ren Yan and his senior martial sister had laid a death trap for the Yinluo Sect.
Now, he finally knew. The pair of disciples, senior sister and junior brother, had come to the Yinluo Sect on their master’s orders to seize an item.
That "treasure" had been sealed in the depths of the Earth Abyss by the Yinluo Sect’s founding ancestor. It was tied to the safety of the Yun Country and even the entire Cultivation Realm of the East Cyan Domain.
Although Ren Yan was a Demon Buddha Inheritor, his branch of the sect had only received a portion of the Demon Buddha’s legacy. Their founder had another title and was revered as the Night Queen. Like the Demon Buddha, she was also a Tribulation Realm Great Power.
Rumor had it that the Demon Buddha and the Night Queen were both master-and-disciple and lovers. The Demon Buddha’s whereabouts were mythical, and he had long since ceased to walk the mortal world. In Ren Yan’s memories, it seemed this Night Queen had never mastered the Demon Buddha’s Supreme Divine Techniques for converting Celestial Demons.
Three thousand years ago, the Night Queen founded a sect called the Hidden Demon Sect. Ren Yan and the nun were third-generation disciples of this sect.
The sect was extremely strict in accepting disciples, prioritizing quality over quantity.
The first-generation disciples were the three apprentices under the Night Queen. It was said that after many years of her tutelage, all of them had reached the Dharma Realm.
Furthermore, the Night Queen had set a rule for these three first-generation disciples: each could accept no more than three apprentices.
Ren Yan and the nun’s master was the most outstanding among the Hidden Demon Sect’s second-generation disciples. He had cultivated a Dharma Aspect five hundred years ago and was now cultivating somewhere in the Mingxiao Domain.
The two of them had come to the Abyssal Marsh on their master’s orders for a trial. One of their objectives was to annihilate the Yinluo Sect, retrieve the "treasure" sealed in the Earth Abyss, and thereby greatly increase their strength.
The so-called "treasure" of Ren Yan’s sect was connected to an ancient secret of this world.
In Ancient Times, an incomparably tyrannical Outer Celestial Demon corrupted a Spirit Immortal great power from the Upper Realm, turning him into a peerless Demon Fiend who called himself the "Demon Lord."
The "Demon Lord" carved out a Demon Realm in the Outer Void, gathered Celestial Demons to indoctrinate, established a Supreme Demon Country, and invaded the various World Heavens to plunder their original spiritual mechanisms.
This act drew the attention of the great powers in the Upper Realm, and several of them descended to the Lower Realm to encircle and destroy the Demon Lord.
The Demon Lord was gravely injured and fled to the Red Profound Realm—this very World Heaven.
The Demon Lord had intended to corrupt the entire world, turning all the endless living beings and cultivators of the Red Profound Realm into Demon Fiends to replenish his own power and restore his cultivation. However, the great powers from the Upper Realm pursued him relentlessly, and the two sides engaged in another earth-shattering battle.
Left with no choice, the Demon Lord unleashed his Demon Path Divine Techniques and directly corrupted the World Heaven Origin of the Red Profound Realm.
The great powers from the Upper Realm captured the Demon Lord, but they were unable to slay him.
As long as the Red Profound Realm existed, the Demon Lord would regenerate endlessly.
Unless... the entire Red Profound Realm was destroyed!
But if that happened, the billions upon trillions of lives in the Red Profound Realm would also perish.
The Demon Lord saw this and was prepared to drag all the living beings of the World Heaven down with him, which was how he managed to save his own life.
Later, the great powers from the Upper Realm devised a solution: they dismembered the Demon Lord into five pieces, suppressed each part in five widely separated locations, and left behind legacies to have the cultivators of the Red Profound Realm guard the seals.
This was the prototype for the Red Profound Realm’s original five domains.
Later, with the arrival of a golden age of cultivation, hundreds of millions of cultivators continuously expanded into the Wilderness, adding two more domains.
The Red Profound Realm now has a total of seven great domains.
The East Cyan Domain is one of the New Domains and does not have any of the Demon Lord’s dismembered body sealed within it.
But the neighboring Mingxiao Domain is one of the Old Five Domains!
The Heaven and Earth Origin of the Red Profound Realm was corrupted, affecting the Celestial Dao as well. After cultivators reach the Tribulation Realm, they must pass through the Ninth Celestial Tribulation to ascend to the Upper Realm.
However, this world’s Celestial Dao is demonic. The power of its Celestial Tribulations is immense and treacherously corrupted, causing countless Tribulation Realm Great Powers to perish.
Even the most powerful cultivators in legend only managed to endure up to the Sixth Celestial Tribulation.
There is no one in this world with a cultivation beyond Seven Tribulations!
Some have tried traveling to other World Heavens to undergo their tribulations, only to discover that they could not trigger a Celestial Tribulation there at all. Their cultivation would be stuck at its current level for life, unable to advance another inch.
Whether Human Race or Demon Race, the very first breath one takes after birth contains this world’s Celestial Dao Spiritual Mechanism.
The amount of this Celestial Dao Spiritual Mechanism is the reason for the different fates among the world’s countless living beings.
Some are born into wealth and nobility, their lives smooth sailing.
Some are born with extraordinary talent and enjoy great fortune.
Some are born ordinary and plain, foolish and slow.
Some are born to a life of misfortune, full of hardships and setbacks.
There are those with firm wills and those who are weak and lazy; those who achieve great enlightenment and those who remain obstinately lost.
A person’s appearance, physique, and birth alone are enough to divide people into various ranks and classes.
As for the possession of cultivation talent and aptitude, that further divides people into immortals and mortals.
None of this can be decided by the individual.
Wealth or poverty, success or failure—it is all a matter of fate!
To be touched by the Celestial Dao Spiritual Mechanism of the Red Profound Realm is to be branded by this world.
Cultivating the Dao to become an immortal is an act of defying the heavens and changing one’s fate. Each Celestial Tribulation of the Tribulation Realm is a test of that defiance.
If one leaves this world, changing one’s fate becomes impossible, like water without a source or a tree without roots.
Without a foundation, how can one even speak of cultivation?
Throughout history, many great powers have naturally tried to break this curse, but it seems that to this day, none have succeeded.
According to the records of Ren Yan’s sect, the Demon Buddha once used his supreme wisdom and courage to break one of the five peerless seals left by the Upper Realm’s great powers, releasing the Demon Lord’s left arm.
He intended to convert the Demon Lord’s left arm, attempting to use it to enhance his strength and resist the Celestial Tribulations, but he ultimately failed.
What ultimately happened is unknown; the Hidden Demon Sect only recorded one thing.
The Demon Buddha had entrusted someone to bring the Demon Lord’s left hand to the Abyssal Marsh. Using his Supreme Divine Techniques, he sealed it within the Boundary Membrane of the Red Profound Realm, subjecting it to the constant scouring of the Outer Void’s turbulence to wear away its demonic nature.
This demonic hand was the very thing Ren Yan and his senior martial sister were scheming to obtain!
To them, it was an object that could defy the heavens and change their fate.
If not for the appearance of Fang Cheng in the Yinluo Sect, their years of scheming might have actually succeeded!
First, they released the Third-stage Nightmare Demon in the Xiao Family Valley to create chaos and weaken the Yinluo Sect’s strength.
Then, they ambushed Su Miao’s favored disciple to provoke a battle between Su Miao and the Southern Mang Demon King, using the opportunity to gravely injure Su Miao.
After that, they escalated the conflict between the Flame God Palace and the Yinluo Sect, inciting a great war.
At that time, Su Miao was severely injured, the Earth Abyss was in turmoil, a Celestial Demon had descended upon Ao Mountain Island, the Flame God Palace was launching a full-scale invasion, and if the Southern Mang Demon King had also attacked, the Yinluo Sect would have been impossible to defend.
But all of this was thwarted by Fang Cheng and his two Dream Spirit Incarnations.
Until the moment of his death, Ren Yan could not understand how that unremarkable Outer Disciple from the Yinluo Sect had come so far.
Fang Cheng sat motionless on the Jade Couch, several things becoming clear in his mind.
First, this world was far from peaceful. Even though he now had numerous methods at his disposal and could kill Life Soul Cultivators, in the Red Profound Realm, he was still just one among the countless masses.
If the Demon Lord broke free from his seal, the entire World Heaven would suffer. And who knew if those great powers from the Upper Realm would appear again?
Therefore, he couldn’t get arrogant. The key was to increase his strength as quickly as possible!
Second, there was a problem with this world’s Celestial Dao. The upper limit was the Tribulation Realm Sixth Layer. Even an existence like the Demon Buddha couldn’t break through it. He wondered if he could reach the end by relying on his Creation Golden Talisman.
The Creation Golden Talisman gave him infinite possibilities in life. This was especially true for the *Grand Void-Sensing True Understanding of the Golden Wheel of Destiny* he had obtained in the Void Marketplace, which had the heaven-defying ability to resist Celestial Tribulations and overturn the fate dictated by the Celestial Dao.
Perhaps there was hope to break the deadlock.
Third, there were surely many other factions like the Hidden Demon Sect who wanted to use the Demon Lord’s remains to cultivate and change their fate. He had to be on guard against them breaking the Demon Lord’s seals and corrupting the world.
His eyes glinted, and a rare, vicious sneer appeared on his handsome, placid face.
’Then I’ll start with the Hidden Demon Sect. Anyone who stands in my way of attaining the Dao deserves to die!’
From Ren Yan’s soul, he learned that the nun was actually hidden in an Earth Palace at the bottom of Daze Lake in the Abyssal Marsh. For all these years, no one had discovered her.
Now, he would eliminate her first.
At this thought, he took two foot-tall paper effigies from his storage pouch and said in a low voice, "I’ll have to trouble you two Daoist Brothers to make a trip."
The two Dream Spirit Incarnations had calm expressions. One of them spoke unhurriedly, "Main Body, the path is long and arduous, but by walking it, one will arrive. One day, you will stand at the pinnacle of this world and look down upon all living beings."
Fang Cheng cupped his fist and said, "I thank you for your auspicious words, Daoist Brother."
The Dream Spirit smiled, transformed into a ball of starlight, and departed with a flourish.
The other Dream Spirit said nothing, simply dropping to the floor and vanishing without a trace.
Fang Cheng sat quietly for a moment before the sound of a Jade Chime rang out from outside the door.
He waved his sleeve, and the door to the Quiet Chamber opened. A beautiful young maid in a pale yellow dress walked in and said softly, "My Lord, eight Inner Sect Elders from Celestial City Peak have arrived. They say they’ve brought Talisman Decrees from two Supreme Elders and wish to hold the succession ceremony for you to become the new Peak Master of Demon Lion Peak."
This woman was Liu Miaoyin.
Fang Cheng looked up and asked, "Where are they now?"
Liu Miaoyin replied respectfully, "They are waiting outside the cave."
"Please let them in."
Fang Cheng said, standing up.
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