I Seriously Didn't Want to Be the Martial Alliance Leader

Chapter 58: Chapter 57: Dual Cultivation of Demon and Buddha

In an inn in Ancient Tree Town, on the border of Ning Province.

Chen Yuan had already been recuperating here for seven days, recovering from the injuries caused by the eruption of Blood Fiend Power in the Sealed Demon Valley.

The truth of what happened in the Sealed Demon Valley had long since spread throughout the surrounding hundreds of miles, carried by Wei Guangming and the other survivors who escaped.

No one could have imagined that the famous Jianghu elder, who they thought had sacrificed himself to suppress a demon, was actually an old demon from the Evil Dao.

Many Martial Artists who, for various reasons, had been unable to attend the Demon Sealing Conference now secretly rejoiced, feeling they had dodged a bullet.

At the same time, many people were discussing ’Chen Tian,’ the Loose Cultivator from You Province, and Luo the Thirteenth Lang of the Sun-Swapping Alliance.

Wei Guangming and the others didn’t know that even without Chen Yuan, the Demon Spear Corpse Tower Forest would have broken its seal anyway.

They only believed that Chen Yuan had deliberately entrapped them, waiting until they were all caught in the snare before he acted to break the Demon Soldier’s seal and turn the situation to his advantage.

Thus, in the rumors, Chen Yuan and Luo the Thirteenth Lang were painted as villains of the worst kind, who had watched idly as over a thousand Martial Artists fell into a deathtrap, only to profit from the chaos.

Chen Yuan was genuinely surprised to learn that Wei Guangming hadn’t died. ’That bastard’s luck is really something else.’

However, Wei Guangming had been gravely injured this time, and the Iron Armor Sect had also suffered heavy losses. He likely had neither the courage nor the inclination to come looking for trouble with him anymore.

Once his injuries were healed, Chen Yuan took out the Spiritual Jade he had obtained from the Three Extremes Evil Venerable, eager to see what kind of Cultivation Technique was hidden inside.

The Three Extremes Evil Venerable had cultivated Daoist, Buddhist, and Demon arts. Chen Yuan wasn’t picky about Martial Arts; a Cultivation Technique from any of the three schools would be useful to him.

Chen Yuan pressed the Spiritual Jade to the center of his brow, focused his mind, and calmed his breath. He slowly sent his Inner Strength probing into it. The next moment, a brilliant light shot into his mind.

At the same time, the Spiritual Jade shattered, its luster completely gone, turning into a dull, stone-like object.

After absorbing the information within, Chen Yuan repeated the process, reading the Cultivation Technique from the other Spiritual Jade.

After a long moment, Chen Yuan opened his eyes, a look of delight on his face.

The two Cultivation Techniques in the Spiritual Jades were one Buddhist and one Demonic, but they were unexpectedly related. Cultivating them simultaneously would multiply their power.

The Buddhist Sect’s Cultivation Technique was the Earth Level Upper Grade *Sutra of the Pure Glazed Vajra*.

This technique was a most orthodox Buddhist Inner Power, but it also counted as a Body Refining Technique.

However, unlike a low-level Body Refining Technique like the Iron Armor Sect’s Iron Chain Cross River Skill, the *Sutra of the Pure Glazed Vajra* cultivated both the inside and the outside.

It involved cultivating pure Buddhist Inner Power internally, then using that power for Body Refining, tempering the physical form until it became as translucent as a Pure Glaze. Only then was it considered to have reached Great Success.

A body tempered in this way possessed incomparably strong defense and extremely powerful explosive force, imbued with Vajra Power.

One could say it was a Cultivation Technique with almost no flaws. If it had one weakness, it was that it was too stable and methodical, resulting in slow cultivation progress.

The process of tempering the Purity Glaze Body, in particular, required patient, grinding effort, making it suitable for Buddhist Ascetics.

The Buddhist Sect technique was good, but the one from the Demon Sect was the real surprise.

It was actually a Celestial Level Lower Grade technique, called the *Other-Transformed Self-Free Celestial Demon Secret Manual*.

In Buddhist scriptures, "Other-Transformed Self-Free Heaven" is the highest of the six heavens in the Desire Realm, said to be the abode of the Demon King Boshun.

The reason this Cultivation Technique was ranked at the Celestial Level was its ability to freely convert between Demonic and Buddha Power.

When cultivating both Demonic and Buddhist techniques, not only would they not conflict, but they would actually complement each other.

The *Sutra of the Pure Glazed Vajra* progressed slowly, but when cultivated alongside the *Other-Transformed Self-Free Celestial Demon Secret Manual*, one could transform Demonic power into Buddhist power, accelerating its progress. When facing an enemy, the power unleashed while switching between Demon and Buddha was both unpredictable and tyrannical.

Furthermore, this technique had an effect called Celestial Demon Myriad Phenomena.

A Celestial Demon is formless, capable of countless transformations.

The Power of Celestial Demon Myriad Phenomena could fuse with the power of any other Cultivation Technique one practiced, evolving into thousands of different effects.

Of course, their strength varied, depending entirely on the Martial Artist’s own power and comprehension.

And upon reaching Great Success, all phenomena would return to one, condensing into the Free Celestial Demon Aspect, a form of even more terrifying might.

However, not even the Three Extremes Evil Venerable knew what this Free Celestial Demon Aspect truly was.

The Three Extremes Evil Venerable had first cultivated Daoism, then Buddhism, and finally entered a Demon Sect.

Therefore, his cultivation in Demonic Cultivation Techniques was the lowest. The Three Extremes Evil Venerable himself had not even cultivated the *Other-Transformed Self-Free Celestial Demon Secret Manual* to Great Success.

The Three Extremes Evil Venerable, an expert of the Evil Dao from a thousand years ago, had actually taken the wrong path.

In terms of talent, his ability to cultivate Daoist, Buddhist, and Demon arts without any hindrance made him an absolutely top-tier Grandmaster in the Jianghu.

Moreover, with his cold-hearted nature and unscrupulous methods, he could have plundered numerous opportunities and Secret Treasures from the Jianghu without any scruples.

If he had continued to focus on the Martial Dao, completely fusing the three types of Daoist, Buddhist, and Demon techniques, he might have even forged a path uniquely his own.

Instead, he was enticed by a Divine Artifact Demon Soldier, which ignited his greed. He even risked his life to control the Corpse Tower Forest, only to end up with nothing.

Divine Artifact Demon Soldiers were powerful, but not so powerful as to be invincible.

At least, in the original story, Chen Yuan knew of several astoundingly brilliant experts who could look down upon the Jianghu and dominate the world even without a Divine Artifact Demon Soldier in their possession.

For experts of that level, a Divine Artifact Demon Soldier was merely the icing on the cake, not the foundation of their life and power.

After absorbing the Cultivation Techniques, Chen Yuan first went to find the inn’s Shopkeeper and paid for another month’s stay.

He planned to cultivate these two techniques to the entry level before setting off for Ning Province.

Besides these two Cultivation Techniques, Chen Yuan also had over three hundred Spirit Pills that he had brought out from the Sealed Demon Valley.

When Luo the Thirteenth Lang left, he had given all the Spirit Pills he obtained to Chen Yuan as well.

These pills were a good thing for other low-level Martial Artists, but for Chen Yuan, they were somewhat of a mixed blessing.

These Spirit Pills were merely born from the Demonic Qi overflowing from the Demon Soldier Corpse Tower Forest, which had interacted with the corpses in the ancient battlefield. The power contained within them wasn’t particularly strong.

However, many small amounts add up. If all three hundred-plus Spirit Pills were refined, their combined strength would be equivalent to more than a dozen bottles of Low Grade Elixirs.

The difference was that Elixirs could be consumed directly, whereas these Spirit Pills had to be cleansed of the Demonic Qi on their surface, a time-consuming and laborious process.

Chen Yuan planned to wait until he reached the entry level of the *Other-Transformed Self-Free Celestial Demon Secret Manual*. He wanted to see if he could then control Demonic Qi and cleanse these Spirit Pills in batches, which would save him some time.

......

「Pan Yang City, Ning Province.」

The Iron Armor Sect.

Pan Yang City was a city on the Youning Border, the one closest to Ning Province proper.

Ever since Wei Guangming took control of the Iron Armor Sect, its power and influence had steadily grown, to the point where it now practically dominated Pan Yang City.

Recently, however, the Iron Armor Sect had suffered a major blow. Even Wei Guangming himself was severely injured, causing the sect’s prestige to plummet.

Because the Iron Armor Sect had acted so tyrannically in the past, many of the Jianghu People in the city were secretly gloating over their misfortune, and the sect was powerless to stop them.

Wei Guangming had even recalled all the sect’s disciples from outside and temporarily sealed the gates to focus on cultivation.

Inside the Iron Armor Sect at this moment, Wei Guangming’s face was pale, and the room was filled with the thick scent of medicine.

A young disciple in his early twenties was reporting the situation outside to him.

Finally, the young disciple said, his face filled with indignation, "Master, all those Jianghu People in Pan Yang City are gossiping about our Iron Armor Sect. Some are even saying you’ve been crippled.

If you hadn’t sealed the Sect, I would have already taken some men and knocked the teeth out of those bastards’ mouths!"

"If you can’t even endure a few rumors and slanders, how will you ever amount to anything!"

Wei Guangming scolded, "This time in the Sealed Demon Valley, not only was I gravely injured, but the sect’s disciples also suffered disastrous losses.

If we don’t recall our disciples, seal the Sect, and take this time to recuperate and recover our strength, I’m afraid the Iron Armor Sect won’t even be able to hold on to Pan Yang City!"

Just then, an Iron Armor Sect disciple came in and announced, "Sect Leader, Elder Qi’s Dao of the Yin Mountain Five Ghosts is here. He brought a young man with him."

A flash of fury appeared in Wei Guangming’s eyes. "That old scoundrel actually dares to show his face!"

After leaving the Sealed Demon Valley, Wei Guangming had a falling out with Elder Qi’s Dao over the matter of payment.

He had originally hired the Yin Mountain Five Ghosts to help him seize the Spirit Pills so that he could win first place in the Demon Sealing Conference and marry Bai Xuewei.

For this, he had paid the Yin Mountain Five Ghosts a handsome reward, emptying several years of the Iron Armor Sect’s savings.

Wei Guangming had given fifty percent of this reward to Elder Qi’s Dao in advance, with the remaining fifty percent to be paid after the job was done.

And if the Yin Mountain Five Ghosts failed to help him, the advance was to be returned.

In Elder Qi’s Dao’s view, the Sealed Demon Valley was a trap. Wei Guangming was definitely not going to be able to marry Bai Xuewei, and that wasn’t his fault.

He had even lost four of his brothers because of it. He could forgo the remaining payment, but Wei Guangming shouldn’t even think about getting the advance back.

But from Wei Guangming’s perspective, even though the Sealed Demon Valley was a trap, the Yin Mountain Five Ghosts hadn’t helped his Iron Armor Sect one bit.

’We didn’t get the Spirit Pills, and what’s more, I sent you to kill one person, and he killed four of you instead. How do you have the nerve to ask for payment from my Iron Armor Sect?’

Because of this, the two had a falling out and parted on bad terms.

They hadn’t come to blows only because both were seriously injured at the time and didn’t dare to linger.

And now, Elder Qi’s Dao actually dared to come to the Iron Armor Sect of his own accord. ’He’s serving himself up on a platter!’