The crushing spiritual pressure in the damp cavern finally vanished. Young Hua Ke gasped for air, his knees hitting the cold stone floor.
The overwhelming mental projection of Senior Pu Zi had faded into the abyss of the cave.
"Was she not dead?" Hua Ke muttered to himself, violently wiping the cold sweat from his brow. "The clan elders always taught that demonic Immortal Pu Zi perished centuries ago. How in the world is she talking to me? Was that a remnant soul? Some kind of a spirit?"
He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts.
Trusting a demonic cultivator was usually a guaranteed ticket to the underworld. Yet, Hua Ke clenched his bruised fists.
Power was just power. People called it demonic when a cultivator sought power to destroy, but Hua Ke wanted power to protect. He needed strength for his mother. He needed strength for that girl who believed in him.
If a demonic path gave him the strength to shield them, then he would gladly become a demon.
A righteous demon that is.
Now that the oppressive aura was entirely gone, Hua Ke lifted his gaze.
In the center of the cavern stood a magnificent stone statue of what Hua Ke realized is Senior Pu Zi. The erotic stone figure perfectly captured what poets would call an ethereal beauty.
She possessed curves and buttocks that could make a devout monk sweat, with bountiful breasts and wide hips that promised a prosperous harvest to any farmer lucky enough to gaze upon them.
Hua Ke gulped, feeling an undeniable tug of lust just looking at the inanimate stone.
Resting on the cupping hands of the statue was a spirit. It was a Rank 1 spirit worm. It looked exactly like a withered brown stick, but it had tiny, twitching legs that proved it was a living entity.
Spirits came in endless bizarre shapes in this world. A cultivator might refine a spirit that looked like a cloud, a sharp rock, an autumn leaf, or even a human internal organ.
The Heavenly Dao was incredibly vast and mysterious. But this weird stick bug? Hua Ke had absolutely zero clue what to make of it.
"Lust path," Hua Ke whispered to the empty room. "Senior Pu Zi mentioned this. A lust path inheritance."
He glanced higher up the massive statue. Nestled right in the deep cleavage of the stone woman rested a brilliant red lotus.
An immortal spirit!
The sheer profound aura of it made his mortal soul tremble. Most master cultivators lived hundreds of years and never even caught a glimpse of an immortal spirit before their death.
Hua Ke reverently reached out and grabbed the Rank 1 stick bug. He closed his eyes and pushed his meager spirit essence into it, dragging the struggling worm into his empty soul.
Instantly, snippets of mystical information flooded his mind. He needed to refine it, to brand the spirit with his own will.
He forced his spirit essence against the wild will of the worm. Minutes ticked by. Sweat poured down his face like rain.
"Dammit!" Hua Ke cursed aloud, his eyes snapping open. "It is completely rejecting me!"
He desperately needed a catalyst. Refining a wild spirit with pure essence alone was like trying to smash a mountain with bare fists. Wealthy clan youths would simply crush expensive jade stones to speed up the process and bend the spirit to their will. Hua Ke patted his bare legs.
"Zero jade stones. I am quite literally a poor junior disciple."
He glared up at the stone face of the ethereal beauty. "Senior Pu Zi, you stingy Immortal! You left me a grand inheritance but absolutely no cultivation funds? Are you trying to kill your only heir before he even starts?"
Then, a sudden spark of inspiration hit his mind.
The liquid of vitality! He remembered the white heavenly milk basin he had fallen into earlier. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
It possessed boundless life force. When he was submerged in it, his spirit essence felt like it was replenishing endlessly, repairing his flesh and nourishing his soul void.
"That is it! The heavenly milk is the perfect catalyst!"
Hua Ke quickly stored the unrefined spirit inside his soul and turned around, sprinting back into the dark labyrinth of tunnels. Navigating the treacherous cave system was an absolute nightmare.
Every rocky wall looked identical. Shadows danced in the corners of his vision. Hours seemed to bleed into unknown amount of time as he searched for the magical basin.
Worse yet, he quickly realized he was not the only living thing down here.
"Squeak!"
Hua Ke dove behind a large stalagmite. A giant mole rat, roughly the size of a wild boar, lumbered past his hiding spot.
Its glowing red eyes scanned the darkness. Not far away, a swarm of poisonous ants the size of human fists marched along the cavern ceiling, dripping acidic venom onto the stone floor.
"Ancestors preserve my pathetic life," Hua Ke breathed quietly.
He crawled on his belly, using all his meager stealth to avoid combat. But he was only a Rank 1 first stage rookie without any battle experience. Complete evasion was impossible.
"Squeak!" A mole rat spotted his trailing ankle.
"Get off me you overgrown rodent!" Hua Ke kicked wildly in the dark.
The beast bit down hard. Searing pain exploded up his leg. He scrambled backward, throwing handfuls of sharp dirt at the creature’s eyes until it finally retreated.
For what felt like an eternity, he engaged in a pathetic, desperate game of hide and seek.
By the time he saw the softly glowing cavern ahead, his robes were completely shredded. Bloody bite marks covered his arms and legs. The venom from a stray poisonous ant made his vision blur rapidly. He was on the very brink of passing out entirely.
"Just a little further," he wheezed, dragging his bleeding leg.
He stumbled to the very edge of the milky basin. His legs gave out entirely beneath him. With a loud splash, Hua Ke fell face first into the thick white liquid.
Silence fell over the cavern.
Bubbles floated to the serene surface.
Beneath the thick white surface, Hua Ke was drowning. His lungs burned for air. Darkness threatened to consume his vision completely.
Was this the grand end of his path? Drowning in a pool of mysterious milk like a clumsy fool?
Suddenly, a hand shot out of the milk, grasping the rocky ledge with iron strength!
Hua Ke broke the surface, gasping wildly for precious air. He closed his eyes immediately, refusing to waste this perfect opportunity.
The heavenly milk surged into his wounds, and his depleted spirit essence roared back to life like an overflowing river. He sat up in the basin and focused his entire mind on the Rank 1 stick bug in his soul.
"Now! Submit to me!"
With the boundless energy of the heavenly milk acting as a bridge, his sheer willpower crushed the primal resistance of the wild worm. The stick bug dissolved into a glowing brand within his empty soul. New chapters come out on novelping.com first.
After what felt like another eternity of deep meditation, he opened his eyes. Time had lost all meaning down here, but he felt entirely reborn.
"It is a success," Hua Ke muttered with a triumphant laugh, pulling himself out of the basin.
At this point, it would not be entirely unfair to say his young body contained more heavenly milk than actual water or blood. He felt incredibly energized.
He needed to head back to the main chamber to proceed. But the moment he stepped back into the dark tunnel, a chorus of aggressive squeaks echoed from the shadows.
A swarm of giant mole rats noticed him. They charged at him in a frenzy, drool flying from their vicious fangs.
Before, Hua Ke would have run for his life. Now? He had a spirit. He possessed an actual weapon.
"Let us see exactly what this bizarre lust path spirit can do!" Hua Ke shouted boldly. He channeled his surging spirit essence directly into the newly refined brand.
He expected a blazing sword of light. He expected a massive shield of howling wind. He expected literally anything but what actually happened next.
A sudden, intense surge of energy rushed straight to his pubic region. His penis got stronger and aroused with a loud, tearing sound.
"Wait, what is happening?!" Hua Ke screamed in confusion.
His penis suddenly stretched forward, expanding and hardening with the ridiculous strength of a steel pillar. It shot outward like a massive coiled spring.
WHACK!
The elongated penis struck the lead mole rat squarely in the face. The sheer blunt force of the bizarre blow sent the massive beast flying backward through the air. It crashed into the cavern wall with a sickening crunch and slumped to the ground, completely knocked out.
Hua Ke stood frozen in place, his jaw completely unhinged. The biological weapon retracted just as incredibly fast as it had launched, returning to its normal state in an instant.
"Did I just..." Hua Ke blinked rapidly, staring down at himself. "Did I just slap a giant demonic beast to death with my..."
*SQUEAK!*
A second mole rat leaped directly at his throat, interrupting his absolute bewilderment.
Pure survival instinct took over. Hua Ke channeled his essence again without thinking. The bizarre weapon shot downward this time, slamming forcefully into the solid rock floor.
The massive kinetic energy launched Hua Ke high into the air, acting exactly like a flexible vaulting pole!
He flew gracefully over the snapping jaws of the confused mole rat, landing perfectly on his feet behind the creature.
Hua Ke burst into a fit of manic laughter. The entire situation was completely absurd, incredibly inappropriate, yet undeniably effective. This was the legendary lust path of Senior Pu Zi!
"Come at me you overgrown rats!" Hua Ke shouted, laughing like a madman. "Taste the divine wrath of my heavenly pillar!"
He swung his hips aggressively, channeling his essence once again. Another mole rat went flying into the darkness with a loud thud.
Hua Ke stood tall amidst the gloomy cave, a wide, confident smirk spreading across his face. He loved this strange spirit. The weak, endlessly bullied youth of the Hua clan would never have survived a single day in this place.
That pathetic boy was dead and buried in the dirt forever.
"Hua Ke that the clan knew is dead," he muttered to the echoing cavern, his eyes shining with newfound ambition. "The person who will leave this cave is going to shake the heavens and he will being that with his first Boner spirit."