Heavenly Dao.
No cultivator did not know of the Heavenly Dao, but for Shen Zong, apart from the Wen Zhihan in his memories, the Leaving-Man Tree was the second to bring up the Heavenly Dao with such a tone and phrasing.
Others always spoke of the Heavenly Dao as unfeeling, saying that cultivation required compliance with the Heavenly Dao, but only at times like this did the Heavenly Dao sound remarkably like an unreasonable person.
And being a person, it possessed selfish desires.
Wen Zhihan had once smiled as he told him that the selfish desire of the Heavenly Dao was to make him suffer a fate worse than death.
Yet…
Shen Zong raised his head, the red light lingering faintly in the depths of his eyes, the sign that his inner demon was on the verge of awakening.
Yet this time, merely a fleeting second later, the inner demon subsided once more.
He suddenly chuckled softly, “The Heavenly Dao?”
For an instant, the Leaving-Man Tree genuinely believed he had finally gone completely mad.
“Ha…”
Shen Zong seemed to laugh bitterly, kneeling in defeat beside Wen Zhihan. His shoulders trembled slightly, though no sound escaped his lips. Under the faint, dim glow of the everlasting lamps, his eyes shone with a startling brilliance.
“What on earth is the Heavenly Dao worth?”
The moment the words fell, a sharp thunderclap startled the skies above the precipice, rumbling menacingly.
Startled, the Leaving-Man Tree scurried over to the entrance of the mountain cave, terrified of being implicated by him.
Watch your words! Watch your words!
In his previous life, Shen Zong had nearly lost his life at the bottom of the cliff, and the opportunity he encountered had informed him that the Cliff of Returning to Heaven was the Heavenly Dao’s dumping ground, where only living beings abandoned by fate ended up. The sole method to defy the heavens was to cultivate in demonic arts.
Yet later he came to understand that the Heavenly Dao intended precisely for him to cultivate demonic arts, specifically aiming to sever his immortal path.
The resistance he thought he was mounting had been a script arranged for him by the Heavenly Dao all along.
Now, the Leaving-Man Tree was telling him once again that he must cultivate demonic arts, because that was the will of the Heavenly Dao.
Then what on earth was his rebirth?
What was the return of his master, and what was he himself, who had pushed his master to the brink of death with his own hands?
Shen Zong let out a few cold laughs, suddenly drawing a short blade and fiercely driving it into his abdomen.
Blood spattered forth. Screaming in alarm, the Leaving-Man Tree attempted to approach, but was repelled by an invisible barrier.
Don’t do anything rash!
Without a word, Shen Zong endured the agonizing pain, using his blood to trace a taboo formation drop by drop upon the ground.
He served as the eye of the formation, and the formation lines linked to Wen Zhihan, utilizing the meager spiritual energy flowing between them to temporarily connect the two.
A blinding golden light poured from his wound, plating the blood-woven formation in a layer of gold.
“Master…”
In that instant, Shen Zong seemed to perceive his master’s sea of consciousness.
It was a boundless expanse of starry sky, beneath which stretched a tranquil, waveless body of azure water, completely devoid of anything else.
His master stood upon the water’s surface, gazing up at the river of stars. His hair fluttered in the breeze, as if it might be blown away at any moment.
That was truly his master.
As the formation connecting them took effect, Shen Zong caught only a brief, transient glimpse of a corner of his master’s sea of consciousness before quickly regaining lucidity.
He had only ever witnessed this formation once, and that had been prior to his rebirth, relying on his extraordinary talent and exceptional fortune, he had flawlessly replicated it now.
Stop it! Are you planning to sacrifice yourself?!
Terrified out of its wits, the Leaving-Man Tree had already begun babbling incoherently.
Aren’t you afraid your master will be furious with you?! He went through all that trouble to save your life! Is this how you repay him?!
In his past life, it was a forbidden array utilized when a senior expert passed on their lifelong lifespan and millennia of cultivation to him, known as the Returning to Origin array.
In this life, however, it had become an array to extend his master’s life.
Following the use of that array, that senior expert had breathed his final breath.
Watching the golden blood continuously flow from his body into his master’s meridians, Shen Zong experienced a surge of morbid curiosity amidst his agony, wondering if he too would perish after this.
The Heavenly Dao wanted him to live and Wen Zhihan to die, what if he deliberately chose to do the exact opposite?
Rumble—
Outside the mountain cave, muffled thunder rumbled once more.
While the Leaving-Man Tree burrowed underground in terror, Shen Zong stubbornly refused to halt the array.
His lifespan was finite, and with his Golden Core newly formed, the spiritual energy remaining within his body was nearly exhausted.
Should this continue, he would die.
With his physical form collapsing, Shen Zong gradually lost even the strength to remain seated upright. Raising his head with sheer force of will, he watched as his master’s battered physical body finally healed rapidly under his sacrifice. The fractured bones emitted clicking sounds as they fused back together, and the deathly pale complexion gradually regained a hint of color.
However, right before his consciousness slipped into unconsciousness, Wen Zhihan’s fingers twitched once.
With a snap, the formation shattered.
Backlashed by the array, Shen Zong was blasted backward, crashing heavily onto the ground. His cultivation plummeted rapidly due to the sacrifice, leaving him completely devoid of any remaining strength to fight back.
Caring nothing for his own state, he raised his head in panic to look at his master, terrified that the other man might suddenly wake up and witness this exact scene as his first sight.
Fortunately, he had not woken up.
This was a sacrificial array, which fundamentally could not be interrupted, yet it had been broken unconsciously by Wen Zhihan while unconscious.
The ringing hum of a long sword sounded. Only then did Shen Zong realize that the Fuyue Sword had sensed its master’s intent, forcibly hacking through the formation lines.
Dazed for a moment, Shen Zong found himself unable to determine whether the Heavenly Dao was preventing him from dying, or if his master was simply unwilling to watch him do so.
Yet he was indeed still alive…
Resting in place for a long time until he recovered a modicum of strength, Shen Zong tidied himself up, bandaged his wounds, knelt before his master, and kowtowed three times.
The first bow was in gratitude for his master’s life-saving grace of self-sacrifice.
The second was in remorse for failing his master’s nurturing grace, knowing himself deeply guilty.
The third was to apologize in advance to his master for his own willful stubbornness.
Upon finishing, he stood up, carefully wiping away the blood-drawn formation on the ground. Confirming that his master faced no immediate danger to his life, he picked up his sword and walked step by step out of the mountain cave.
Where are you going?
The Leaving-Man Tree peeked out a single leaf to question him.
“To see just how stubborn my life truly is.”
Shen Zong was not joking.
Outside the cave, malignant entities ran rampant. Spurning all living creatures without reason or thought, they retained only the primal instinct to devour everything.
Yet originally, they were ordinary ghosts as well.
Shen Zong recalled that when he tumbled into this place in his past life, he had suffered considerable terror, not out of fear of ghosts, but out of dread that he too would transform into such a monstrosity.
Moreover, in order to deal with these malignant entities and escape this place, he had embraced that hidden fortuitous encounter, plunging into the demonic path.
The very instant he turned demonic, Shen Zong had cleared out the vast majority of these malignant entities.
This time, however, he chose a different path.
Dark, thick, and oppressive shadows closed in around him. Countless wandering spirits indiscriminately joined forces to devour his power, greedily sucking away the spiritual energy and vitality residing within Shen Zong. The blood flowing from his abdomen vaporized into red mist amidst the gloomy, deathly aura hanging in the air, rendering every single step he took an agonizing struggle.
Even breathing grew arduous, though he gradually ceased to feel much pain.
Until, stepping forward step by step, he finally arrived at the location where the hidden opportunity was concealed.
Just as in his past life, the ancient cultivator resting here had sealed away their own consciousness and lifelong ultimate techniques, awaiting only him, the fated successor, to inherit them.
Unsteady on his feet, Shen Zong dropped to one knee. The myriad malignant entities wrapped around his body weighed down like mountain ranges, making even raising his head a grueling task.
“There is no need…”
He rasped out with difficulty, “I do not want it.”
What?!
The consciousness of that senior expert was utterly astonished.
I am offering you a chance to leave this place, granting you my lifelong supreme arts to elevate you above all others, and you aren’t even tempted?!
“No.”
Shen Zong denied it once more. Despite being drenched in cold sweat, his speech remained crisp and clear,
“Senior’s power is so formidable. Why waste it on me, seeing as I am not going to die anyway.”
You… have you gone mad? Do you not wish to survive? You are still so young—
“The premise for Senior granting me these benefits was surely for me to abandon the orthodox path and take you as my master, was it not?”
Shen Zong smiled faintly, “Yet I already have a master, and cannot take another as master.”
Speak then. Since you refuse to cultivate demonic arts, and refuse to take me as your master.
Why, then, did you awaken me from my seal?
“This junior has a favor to ask.”
Using his long sword to prop up his body and prevent a complete collapse, Shen Zong spoke with immense difficulty,
“I must ask Senior, to lend me your body, sacrifice your path, offer your body to avert calamity, and trade it for peace across this realm.”
…What did you say?
Shen Zong slowly lifted his eyelids. His dark, pitch-black eyes resembled stars amidst the night sky, staring straight into the hazy illusion within the thick fog, and repeated his request once more,
“Please, Senior, venture forth once again a millennium later, employing demonic cultivation while utilizing this junior’s physical body as a medium, to sacrifice your path and deliver salvation unto the countless grievance-ridden souls lingering at the base of this Cliff of Returning to Heaven.”
Rumble—
The thunder grew even louder.
Yet right as the heavenly lightning prepared to strike down and thwart Shen Zong’s action, a beam of golden light broke through the clouds, precisely piercing the layers of mist to cloak Shen Zong in a sacred radiance.
That was the light of merit cultivated solely by a saint who voluntarily chose martyrdom.
The sealed consciousness of the senior expert offered no further refutation. Cooperating with Shen Zong, it poured its lifelong cultivation and power outward.
His meridians were violently battered at that instant, accompanied by the sound of thousands chanting scriptures ringing in his ears, echoing near and far. The techniques designed to deliver salvation unto malignant entities transformed into countless golden runes suspended in mid-air, weaving into a colossal golden lotus that hoisted Shen Zong to float in mid-air.
As the lotus descended, the myriad ghosts wept, the gates of hell swung wide open, and the waters of the River Styx surged forth to welcome the countless malicious entities and aggrieved souls trapped here for who knew how long.
With each lost, unidentifiable, and misshapen aggrieved soul ferried across the river, a fraction of Shen Zong’s vitality was stripped away, promptly replenished by the senior’s power.
His meridians proved gradually incapable of bearing such a burden, snapping inch by inch. His mortal flesh and blood gradually became saturated with deathly aura, turning his entire body freezing cold, yet he refused to stop.
He would not die, yet he felt as though he might perish at any moment.
For millennia, no one had ever performed such a foolish act, no one had ever chosen to abandon the hope of survival, casting away supreme benefits and the chance of escape, only to trade it instead for the liberation of countless malignant entities bearing no relation to themselves.
Countless individuals had plunged into the Cliff of Returning to Heaven, but people merely sought a way to flee this place.
Only Shen Zong chose to transform it.
Time stretched on, until Shen Zong felt as though he had been hauled straight out of water, rendering every finger immobile and even breathing an excruciating agony. Finally, the gates of hell closed once more, and the shadow of the Styx gradually faded.
Retaining only a final sliver of strength, that senior expert roused Shen Zong.
Young man, even if you deliver salvation unto every single malignant entity at the bottom of this cliff, this place remains a parched land devoid of spiritual energy, and you are still going to die.
Closing his eyes, drawing in far more breath than he expelled, Shen Zong twitched the corner of his mouth. When he opened his eyes once more, they were stark scarlet.
The inner demon feared no pain, easily rising to a sitting position. “Who said I am going to die?”
You…! You have actually birthed an inner demon?!
“Did you truly believe that without taking you as my master, I would have no way to cultivate demonic arts?”
Shen Zong’s inner demon reached out toward the senior’s hazy figure, grasping the lingering demonic cultivation remaining within the apparition, swallowing it down in a single gulp before licking its lips,
“Better than nothing.”
The sealed consciousness of the senior expert finally dissipated entirely.
Simultaneously, within Shen Zong’s dantian, ice and fire clashed violently as surging demonic qi collided head-on with the Dao heart of an immortal cultivator.
The inner demon stepped upon a lotus and burst into loud laughter.
Having sacrificed himself and delivered salvation unto malignant entities, his selfless Dao heart drew praise even from immortals, showering him with boundless merit and placing him merely a step away from achieving sagehood in the flesh. Bathed in golden light, his merit was fulfilled.
Yet by relying on demonic cultivation to turn danger into safety, escaping death through martyrdom, his inner demon seized power and drove him into stubborn obsession, overflowing with delusion and malicious desires, plunging willingly into degradation without remorse, the absolute image of a heinously evil demonic cultivator.
With demonic qi at its peak, Shen Zong’s injuries healed automatically upon falling into demonic cultivation. In the span of a mere stick of incense, his cultivation soared to the half-step Transcending Tribulation stage.
Had it been anyone else, they would have long since become a full-fledged demonic cultivator, yet the merit he earned was a genuine good deed of the current age, achieved through unregretful martyrdom. His Dao heart remained lucid and unshakeable, and his immortal cultivation actually increased rather than diminished.
The lotus manifesting beneath Shen Zong’s feet trembled unceasingly as a result, as if unaccustomed to such a phenomenon. The lotus throne symbolizing immortals and saints quivered for a long time, flickering in and out of existence before finally transforming into a black lotus and fading away in resignation.
Returning to the mountain cave, the inner demon strode straight toward Wen Zhihan.
Though his bones had knitted together, the man’s injuries remained far too severe, curable solely through the power of a demonic cultivator.
Operating as an inner demon, he lacked such complex thoughts.
Sensing that Shen Zong’s original consciousness had not yet fallen asleep, the inner demon chuckled softly, “So what if he is my master? Wen Zhihan remains my master, but I am no longer the Shen Zong of yesteryear.”
With a crash, the formations and everlasting lamps arrayed around Wen Zhihan were swept aside by the inner demon, scattering haphazardly across the ground.
Having fallen into demonic cultivation, the Dao heart was naturally rendered the redundant element within this physical vessel, at least, that had been true in his past life.
The inner demon had awaited this day for a very long time, eager to live unrestrained, hating and retaliating without reservation.
Yet when this day finally arrived, it discovered that the Dao heart within his body remained very much alive. Not only was it alive, but it appeared sturdier and brighter than ever before.
This left the inner demon immensely displeased and deeply unsatisfied, yet powerless to change it.
A cultivator could not possess dual hearts, dual cultivation of Dao and magic was unheard of, and this state was undoubtedly temporary.
Sooner or later, Shen Zong would revert to his past life’s appearance, embracing the inner demon, no longer resisting the evil and malicious thoughts deep within his heart, and ceasing to curb his own desires. At that juncture, the distinction between Shen Zong and the inner demon would cease to exist.
Sooner or later… Shen Zong would come to understand.
Cultivating immortality or demonic arts, escaping the life at the bottom of the cliff, none of it mattered.