"Cultivation is a cruel joke for those without talent and resources," Hua Ke muttered to the damp cave walls, reminiscing about his life.
He thought about the rigid structure of the cultivation world to keep his mind busy.
Rank 1 meant you were just a beginner.
Mostly, it was a realm for lowly disciples or really weak spirit masters who saw absolutely no growth in their cultivation. They would remain in this stage until they died of old age.
"Advancement depends vastly on talent and effort," Hua Ke whispered, his voice echoing in the silence. "But the resources one can gather play a huge part. Without enough soul refining stones, catalysts for spirits, Jade stones, talent means nothing."
If a spirit master were to remain in Rank 1 forever, they would still be far more respected than a common mortal.
Their lives simply had more value in the eyes of society. They were the basic common spirit masters of any clan.
But the difference between Rank 1 and Rank 2 was like night and day. It was the exact same massive gap for every increasing rank.
Rank 2 spirit masters were the truly talented ones. Most of the young masters, especially the First Young Master and the Second Young Master of the Hua clan, proudly stood in this rank. Reaching Rank 2 meant you were officially considered an elite clan member.
"And Rank 3..." Hua Ke sighed in awe.
A Rank 3 spirit master would be considered an elder in a large organization like his Hua clan. Rank was not the only thing considered when appointing an elder, but a mere Rank 2 spirit master would never be given that prestigious title.
By the time most cultivators achieved Rank 3, they were in their elderly years. This meant they had much more experience in life and were far more mature to take the best decisions needed.
Beyond that, Rank 4 and Rank 5 were essentially the same in their core structure, but with a terrifying, huge difference in raw power between these cultivation realms.
As for Rank 6...
Hua Ke shook his head in disbelief. Upon reaching Rank 6, spirit masters were considered Immortals. It was a whole realm that Hua Ke had absolutely no knowledge about.
They were walking legends. He knew there were even Immortals above Rank 6, supreme beings he had only ever heard fairy tales about.
Right now, he was witnessing one of those mythical moments in person. It truly felt like he was living inside a fairy tale, but definitely not in a good way.
It would not be unfair to call what he was witnessing a living nightmare.
He stood paralyzed before an ancient, beautiful statue of a woman. The statue was cupping her hand, releasing a huge spiritual pressure that pinned him in place.
Suddenly, a bizarre physical reaction occurred. A strange white liquid flew directly from his lower body, escaping his penis, and shot straight into the cupped palm of the statue.
"What in the heavens is happening to me!" Hua Ke screamed.
Before he could process the sheer absurdity of the moment, the huge spiritual pressure violently dragged his consciousness entirely out of his physical body.
He was pulled into something terrifying. It was a mind projection spirit of an unknown rank.
He knew what this was from his academy days. It was an expendable type of spirit used to securely store the memories of a spirit master.
Cultivators often used them to leave recipes needed for pill refinement and refining processes for future generations.
But this specific projection contained no recipes. It contained pure horror.
Shouts and screams of women and men alike echoed violently through his head.
He saw a demonic male spirit master tearing a crying woman away from her family. The monster ripped her clothing and forcefully raped her while laughing at her total despair with her hymen bleeding all over his cock, but that wasn’t the end, he choked her to death after.
"Stop this!" Hua Ke yelled, but he had no physical voice in this memory.
On the other hand, he saw another spirit master using his powers to cast a deep hypnosis on a large group of females. He completely enslaved their minds to forcefully impregnate them and build his demonic harem.
It was not just male spirit masters committing these atrocities.
He also saw a female spirit master wrapped tightly around several men. She was draining the men to their tragic deaths, stealing their vitality until they were nothing but dust and brittle bones.
Soon, Hua Ke realized exactly why he was being shown these vile images.
These were the devoted followers of a specific path.
A path is the specific method, philosophy, or specialization a character chooses to gain supernatural power and seek true immortality.
This specific path that Hua Ke was witnessing was none other than the Lust Path, also widely known as the Pleasure Path by several spirit masters.
"Then why am I being shown all these horrible things about this path?" Hua Ke asked the empty void, feeling sick to his stomach.
A soft, ancient voice finally answered him. "There is one special reason, child."
Information flowed directly into the mind projection, revealing her grand identity. This Lustful Inheritance belonged to none other than a legendary female spirit Rank 6 Immortal named Pu Zi.
"My intention with this inheritance is strict," the voice of Pu Zi echoed clearly in his mind. "If you possessed a dark demonic nature, if you felt joy watching those horrors, I would have flushed you out from this cave like a dead egg of a woman going through a period."
Hua Ke shivered at the incredibly blunt comparison. "I felt nothing but total disgust! I am no demon!"
"I know," Pu Zi replied gently. "Because of your pure nature, the inheritance has deemed you suitable. It has decided to make you the inheritor."
Hua Ke was completely shocked. "But you are Pu Zi! A Rank 6 Demonic Spirit Master! You are the female spirit master that preyed on young males in villages and clans in southern border 1000 years ago! Why would a demonic immortal care about my pure nature?"
"I was only demonic because of the path I had chosen," Pu Zi said, her voice filled with ancient sorrow. "I was actually born to a righteous clan. But because I chose the lust path, I was violently driven out. The righteous factions hunted me, forcing me to use such methods just to survive."
"The lust path is pure evil," Hua Ke argued back without thinking. "Look at what those evil cultivators did to innocent people!"
"Lust is a natural human emotion," Pu Zi corrected him firmly. "But it has been terribly corrupted. I spent my life finding a real solution to this problem, to stop the lust path from always being conceived as a demonic path."
"A solution? What kind of solution?"
"My plan was to build a sect around the lust path," Pu Zi declared proudly. "To nurture it to be truly righteous, making the lust path righteous in the grand process. We shall focus on mutual love, respect, and consensual cultivation. To achieve this impossible task, I refined the Red Lotus."
A brilliant crimson light blinded Hua Ke. A breathtaking lotus flower materialized in the center of the void, which was the same lotus that statue was holding inbetween her breasts.
Hua Ke felt his eyes roll to the back of his head upon realizing what he was looking at.
It was a Rank 6 Immortal Spirit. Immortal spirits were things of legends, supreme spirits that could casually destroy entire mountains and rivers.
"Before I could achieve my dream, I was slain by the righteous faction, already far too deep in the abyss. I had committed too many atrocities to seek redemption. Yet the Red Lotus shall endure through my successor," Pu Zi’s projection muttered, his spectral gaze clouded with sorrow.
"How could this single red lotus fulfill that grand dream?" Hua Ke asked in absolute awe.
"You shall find the answers to that question soon," Pu Zi chuckled softly. "But upon deeming that you are a suitable inheritor, you are given your first Rank 1 test by me, a Spirit Immortal. Prove yourself suitable to be the inheritor with your actions in the real world. Prove my judgment is right, and you shall receive the blessing for a Rank 1 advancement."
Hua Ke looked down at his spectral hands in shame. "Senior Pu Zi, my previous cultivation was around the middle stage of Rank 1. It was incredibly weak for a person of my age. But now, it has fallen even further."
He remembered the terrifying beasts in the dark forest. "It dropped to the first stage of Rank 1 after I was brutally attacked by the wild hounds. I was badly injured. The spirit that I had, my wind arrow spirit, has already died because of the severe exertion of my physical body. Although my soul damage was earlier healed by the heavenly milk I was in, I have no combat power left."
"I am fully aware of your pitiful state," Pu Zi said, her beautiful voice beginning to fade into the endless white void. "Thus, my inheritor, you are given the Rank 1 resources and a brand new spirit for your immediate advancement...but this is just the tip."
Hua Ke felt himself being gently pushed out of the mind projection, despite wanting to comment about that last thing she muttered.
"Use them wisely," Pu Zi whispered, her final words echoing deep in his soul. "And make the lustful path great again."