Longevity by Grinding Skills

Chapter 400: Chapter 400: This is a Demon, True Martial Demon Devouring

She shrieked, wanting to pull away but unable to move.

Dark gold patterns appeared beneath Xu Yunfan’s skin. His large hands pinned down Hua Xiangrong’s shoulders as she tried to get up, his fingers clamping down on her like chains.

"What’s wrong, Senior Sister? Didn’t you enjoy this? Why are you trying to leave so soon?"

"Didn’t you say... it was fine as long as no one found out? That we’re all just ’talent’ anyway, so it doesn’t matter who dies?"

Xu Yunfan’s voice turned grim. A vertical, blood-red line split open between his brows, revealing a crimson-gold Celestial Eye.

Hua Xiangrong was horrified to discover that the Primordial Yin Qi she had painstakingly cultivated for decades was being violently drained away, madly absorbed by that "Celestial Pillar."

Then, Xu Yunfan flipped Hua Xiangrong over, pinning her down and resuming his rhythmic movements.

「For two whole days.」

"No! Stop!"

Her sharp nails scraped against Xu Yunfan’s chest, creating sparks, yet they couldn’t leave so much as a white mark. No matter how she struggled, she couldn’t stop her Cultivation from draining away.

Her voluptuous body withered at a visible rate, her black hair turning gray inch by inch. "If you kill me, it will be murder between sect members! If you stop now, I can let this go! You..."

Xu Yunfan grabbed her by the throat, cutting her off.

If they were outside, with a third party present, Xu Yunfan naturally wouldn’t have been so reckless. But on his own territory, where he had even gone so far as to crudely set up a Concealing Array, he didn’t hesitate for a moment.

If he actually let Hua Xiangrong go halfway through, things would likely never be settled peacefully. She had come to him with malicious intent in the first place, so he naturally wouldn’t let her off the hook.

"What a coincidence. Fratricide is my favorite pastime."

The speed of the absorption suddenly increased. Hua Xiangrong’s skin cracked and peeled like dried tree bark, her eyes bulged, and she finally turned into a hideous, desiccated corpse.

BANG!

The violent force of Xu Yunfan’s movements caused the dried corpse to explode into dust. He activated the True Martial Demon Devouring technique, swallowing the last wisp of escaping Essence Qi.

Xu Yunfan spread his fingers, and a wisp of dark gold True Essence flowed from his fingertips, circling the room like a roaming dragon.

Wherever the True Essence passed, it didn’t spare a single drop of the True Essence Qi contained within the bone dust that was once Hua Xiangrong. Everything was swept up, coalescing in the air into a grayish-white vortex.

"Refine!"

He let out a low shout. The crimson-gold Celestial Eye between his brows snapped open, and the True Martial Grinding Disc inside him began to turn with a ROAR.

The impure True Essence he had devoured was crushed within the grinding disc, emitting a piercing GRINDING sound, as if millions of vengeful ghosts were wailing.

Impurities seeped out from the seams of the grinding disc like black blood but were incinerated into green smoke by the Pure Yang True Flame before they could even touch the ground.

"The True Martial Dao: Slay demons for fuel."

Hua Xiangrong was a demon. Using the True Martial Demon Devouring Scripture to perform Demon Slaying and Swallowing Essence was its intended purpose.

Xu Yunfan felt the increasingly pure True Essence flowing through his meridians, and a brilliant golden light flared in his eyes. "Using your nearly sixty years of Cultivation to consolidate my own and elevate my Dao Foundation... you could say it’s your good fortune."

When the last trace of Demon Qi was crushed by the grinding disc, the entire Quiet Chamber suddenly felt clear and purified.

The night wind blowing in from the window swept up the remaining ashes. They swirled in the air for a moment before being blown out of the room, vanishing in an instant.

*You have successfully performed a True Martial Demon Subduing. Your Skill Level in the True Martial Demon Devouring Scripture has increased.*

According to the Attribute Panel, when he first learned the True Martial Demon Devouring Scripture, the cultivation memories it contained spanned nearly a century. Only after all that time was the cultivator able to condense their True Qi to its absolute limit, take the next step, and form the first wisp of True Essence within their body.

Furthermore, the True Martial Grinding Disc, which formed in the Dantian Qi Sea, only took shape when the cultivator in the memories was near the end of their lifespan.

With that, the shackles of heaven and earth were cast off.

He walked slowly to the window and looked outside.

As dusk settled, thousands of palace lanterns on Hundred Desires Peak lit up one after another.

Glazed lamps spiraled up the winding mountain path, casting amber halos between vermilion pillars.

Gilded wind chimes hanging from the upturned eaves and bracket sets chimed softly in the wind, making the exquisitely carved Rain Listening Pavilion and Liushang Pavilion look like celestial palaces.

At the very peak, Hundred Flowers Hall, the sanctum of Daoist Master Bai Hua, was translucent with light. Its railings, carved from single blocks of Kunlun Jade, shimmered under the lamps with the colors of a rosy mist.

Halfway down the mountain, steam rose from a hot spring pool. Its white jade edges were inlaid with Luminous Beads, which complemented the Jiao Xiao gauze curtains hanging by the shore.

Farther away, thirty-six exquisite residences were nestled artfully deep within a peach grove. Whenever the night breeze blew, it would carry the sweet, cloying scent of incense mixed with pink petals.

But beneath this scenery, which resembled a palace in the heavens, lay buried unspeakable filth.

The floor of the nearby Rain Listening Pavilion, perched on the cliff’s edge, was made of sound-absorbing Sinking Yin Wood to muffle the screams of Human Cauldrons as they were cultivated to death.

The channel beneath Liushang Pavilion was perpetually tinged with a faint red—the lingering traces of washed-away bloodstains.

Even at the bottom of the seemingly ethereal hot spring pool rested the skeletons of seven Female Cultivators, their Primordial Yin Qi drained dry.

They were frozen in their final moments, their hands reaching upward in a desperate struggle, finger bones dug deep into the seams of the Warm Jade Bricks at the bottom of the pool. They had then been turned to stone by a Foundation Establishment Daoist Master. One could only wonder what grievous sins that Daoist Master believed they had committed in life to deserve such a fate.

What was most chilling was that the soil deep in the peach grove was exceptionally fertile. The peach blossoms that bloomed there each spring were an unsettlingly vibrant shade of red.

New disciples assumed it was due to being irrigated by the Spiritual Spring, unaware that three or four corpses were buried beneath every single peach tree.

They were all the "discarded" Human Cauldrons from Hundred Desires Peak over the past century.

When the night wind blew, it wasn’t just the flower-laden branches that rustled, but also the silent, grim white bones beneath them.

「Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, several months had passed.」

Hua Xiangrong’s disappearance was like a pebble tossed into a deep pond. It created a few ripples at first, but the surface soon returned to calm.

Occasionally, a disciple who knew her would bring her up, only to find that no one knew her whereabouts. They would all just exchange a knowing, meaningful glance and tacitly change the subject.

On Hundred Desires Peak, the disappearance of a fellow disciple was a common occurrence.

Everyone here was at the Qi Cultivation stage, where using others as Human Cauldrons and being used as one were common affairs. As long as it wasn’t done in public and the deed was clean, what could anyone do if no one knew?

What?

A Foundation Establishment Daoist Master could use their Dao Foundation to trace the threads of karma and find clues.

But you’re not a Daoist Master’s direct lineage disciple. You’re just an ordinary Primordial Sect disciple on Hundred Desires Peak, a mere piece of "talent." Why would a Daoist Master waste their energy on you?

Xu Yunfan observed in secret for several days. After confirming that no one was investigating the matter, he was finally able to put his worries to rest.

He threw his entire heart and spirit into his Cultivation. By day, he circulated the *True Martial Demon Suppressing Scripture* to refine his True Essence. By night, he used the *Hundred Bone Profundity Technique* to open up the smaller pathways of his meridians. Although the main channels were complete, he wouldn’t achieve Great Success until the energy reached every extremity and saturated every bit of his flesh and blood.

Outside his tiled-roof house, the peach trees bloomed and withered, then bloomed again, but he remained in seclusion, immersed in his Cultivation like a Stubborn Stone.

「The seasons changed, and in a flash, winter had passed and spring had arrived.」

*(Another Chapter coming soon, still writing...)*