Chapter 297: Becoming a Disciple of a Human Immortal_2
"As it should be!"
Gu Xiao and the others showed smiles on their faces, growing increasingly fond of their junior brother Zhou Yi.
Wu Ming was skilled in alchemical techniques, and his accumulation of hundreds of years was no small feat, to say nothing of the Hundred-Eyes Divine Light, which was a superior divine skill.
This time, without exerting much effort, yet he reaped many benefits and would even receive attention from the ancient ancestors in the sect. For a time, the brothers were in high spirits, enjoying wine for several days before parting ways.
Afterward, Zhou Yi announced he was going into seclusion to start dealing with the Hundred-Eyes Demon Lord.
The spirit, energy, and soul of a Nascent Soul cultivator coalesced into one, making soul searching a hundred times more difficult than with a Golden Core, but Zhou Yi had plenty of time.
Among the Daoist treasures left in the Nine Continents, there were tens of thousands of torture methods. He would first use each of them on Wu Ming until his soul neared collapse, making soul searching much easier thereafter.
Zhou Yi's coveting of Wu Ming's divine skills and relics was the apparent reason, but in reality, he was not yet willing to meet with the ancient ancestors in the sect.
"The Bone Transforming Technique has yet to fully mature, it's better to be safe than sorry. Besides, my reputation for being greedy has already spread far and wide!"
He was also cultivating multiple techniques simultaneously, including the second of the True Dragon Nine Transformations, the Gold and Wood escape of the Great Five Elements Escaping Technique, and the daily routine practices of the Tai Xuan Jing and the Green Emperor's Visualization Technique. Experience exclusive tales on empire
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One year later.
Wu Ming's spirit had stabilized. He truly lived up to his reputation as a great demon, enduring hundreds of execution secret techniques.
Two years later.
Zhou Yi received a message from Bai Suixin that the Mount Qi Wu deity had been slain, and he was invited to take up the position as the new Mountain God.
After discussing with Gu Xiao and Danxia Zi, Zhou Yi transformed into the appearance of "Sun Xing" and went to Mount Qi Wu for secluded cultivation, sorting out the people under his rule and recruiting loose cultivators and spirits and monsters to serve as attendant deities.
Mount Qi Wu did not belong to any Imperial Court, and the people directly obeyed the Mountain God. The sudden change in their "emperor" of several hundred years caused some upheaval for a time.
Zhou Yi abolished the incense tax and also reduced tribute taxes, and the people immediately abandoned the old god.
Ten years later.
In the year 122 of the Yuan Ding era, Zhou Yi had been in the Dongsheng Divine Continent for nearly a hundred years.
Qingyun Mountain Temple.
Yongshou Hall.
The Divine Fire soared, and the temperature was scorching.
The Pill Furnace was not refining medicine, but a Nascent Soul five inches in length. Its originally lively eyes were now dull, like a meticulously carved doll, almost completely void of life.
Zhou Yi was seated cross-legged in front of the Pill Furnace, waving the Divine Fire Fan, spewing out multicolored Spiritual Fires.
"The Danding Sect is a well-known and upright faction, yet these torture methods used by the Law Enforcement Hall are comparable to the soul-igniting techniques of the demonic path!"
A moment later.
He waved his hand and extracted Wu Ming's Nascent Soul, his Divine Sense probing within, and as the last bit of resistance disappeared, Zhou Yi's face immediately showed delight.
"Fellow Daoist, you've finally given up resisting. Rest assured, the ancient ancestors of the sect will surely rescue you, and then you'll be tortured all over again!"
His Divine Sense swept through the Nascent Soul, looking through Wu Ming's memories.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, this guy is truly an inspirational example…"
Wu Ming was originally an ordinary mortal who, upon learning of the cultivation world, robbed homes to amass silver and joined a Daoist temple, where he learned simple Qi Refinement techniques. Limited by talent and resources, to break through bottlenecks, he offered himself as a consort to the head of the temple.
He only managed to establish his Foundation close to the age of one hundred, slaughtered the temple clean, and swept up the spiritual objects before joining the demonic True Yang Sect.
After hundreds of years of arduous cultivation, he finally condensed his Nascent Soul and then wiped out the True Yang Sect, becoming a powerful loose cultivator of the demonic path.
"Ruthless!"
Zhou Yi shook his head repeatedly, feeling inferior.
Wu Ming's memories were long and complicated, with many scenes too cruel to look at directly. After a cursory overview, he extracted the cultivation techniques.
"The Hundred-Eyes Golden Light Divine Skill, originating from the 'Heavenly Centipede Secret Manual', indeed shares similarities with the True Dragon Nine Transformations, tempering the blood essence of the thousand-eyed centipede, using secret techniques to etch it into the meridians and internal organs of cultivators, merging it with their bloodline!"
"Upon minor achievement, a hundred eyes grow on the flanks, transforming the user into half-human, half-demon when used."
"On the day of major achievement, a thousand eyes grow on the flanks, and during combat, one can manifest the true form of a Heavenly Centipede!"
Zhou Yi recorded the entire process of Wu Ming's cultivation of the Heavenly Centipede Secret Manual and the tricks and experiences he had summarized into a jade slip.
The other techniques were sort of glanced through. The True Yang Sect was a minor Golden Core sect with over a thousand years of history and had only produced Wu Ming as a Nascent Soul. The sect's techniques were rudimentary and patchy, mostly comprised of demonic life-draining arts.
"Yet, the relics of this Demon Head are unexpectedly plentiful."
From Wu Ming's memories, it was clear that after entering multiple sects and then destroying them, the accumulation of several sects' worth of resources made him notoriously infamous in the demonic path.
Additionally, with his superior alchemy skills, he accumulated a large amount of Spiritual Objects over hundreds of years, comparable to Qingyun Mountain's hundred-year output. Now, it was all cheaply acquired by Zhou Yi and others.
Zhou Yi's Divine Sense scanned his own muscles and bones, showing he was already over five hundred years old. Calculating the time of Nascent Soul formation, he was just about within the lifespan of a Golden Core when he broke through the barrier.
"This individual's talent is ordinary, not likely to attract the attention of Immortals."
He took out a divination container from his sleeve and consecutively cast more than ten divinations.
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In recent days, recent months, recent half a year, recent years…
All has been smooth and stable, without any ominous signs occurring.
"It's time to take a master!"
Zhou Yi pondered for a moment before sending a message to Gu Xiao and Danxia Zi.
The former went to retrieve Wu Ming's relics, while the latter took Zhou Yi to join the Severing Heaven Sect to pay respects to the old ancestors of the sect.
...
Severing Heaven Sect.
First among the twelve great sects of the Dongsheng Divine Continent, also known as the leader of the four great Immortal Sects.
The main gate of the sect is located on Heavenly Mountain, rumored to have been a pillar supporting heaven and earth, where cultivators could ascend to the Immortal Realm.
Later, immortals severed it, henceforth cutting off the direct access to heaven.
At the site where the Heavenly Pillar fractured, the void shattered is known as the Heavenly Leak, and the Severing Heaven Sect's founding master spared no effort with his own body to mend it, thereby saving the lives of countless beings—a great and virtuous deed indeed.
Zhou Yi followed the guide of the disciple's token and had just flown near Heavenly Mountain when he was met by sect disciples waiting to lead the way.
Listening to the disciple recount the origins of the Severing Heaven Sect, taking pride in the words, as if he would throw himself to seal another leak if the sky were to break once more.
"This sounds quite different from what I heard from the Severing Heaven Sect."
Zhou Yi couldn't help but mutter to himself, having spent time in seclusion on Qi Wu Mountain and frequently conversing with Bai Suixin, there was no shortage of disdain and curses for the Severing Heaven Sect.
According to the Severing Heaven Sect, the Heavenly Leak was not a disaster, but a channel opened by the immortals to bridge the two realms, allowing the leakage of immortal essence into the mortal world. This would not only enhance the spiritual energy concentration of the Dongsheng Divine Continent but also facilitate exchange between the immortal and mortal realms.
If the Heavenly Leak were to expand, even True Immortals might descend to the mortal world!
The cultivators of the Dongsheng Divine Continent could also follow the Heavenly Leak, avoiding the need for the arduous ascension process to sneak into the Immortal Realm for cultivation.
What was a difficult situation for the common beings was a sight of hope for cultivators, yet it was sealed by the founding master of Severing Heaven and furthermore he established a sect to guard Heavenly Mountain, blocking the shortcut for cultivators to ascend!
With the Two Sects each sticking to their own words, Zhou Yi found it hard to judge who spoke the truth.
Looking into the distance.
Heavenly Mountain soared into the sky, with clouds gently floating midway up the mountain, its height unknown.
A moment later.
The disciple pointed ahead and said, "Uncle Zhu, Iron Crown immortal often lives in seclusion on East Mountain. Juniors like me cannot approach without an edict."
"You have my thanks, nephew," Zhou Yi said, waving his hand, and a bottle of spirit pills fell into the disciple's hands. He transmitted his voice, asking, "What temperament does the master have? What are his likes and dislikes?"
The disciple's expression twisted with conflict, unwilling to discuss the master secretly.
Suddenly.
A voice reached Zhou Yi's ears: "The old Taoist has a fierce temper, loathes evil as his enemy, and takes pleasure in slaying spirits and monsters. Did you get that clear?"
At first startled, Zhou Yi then bowed deeply towards East Mountain.
"Disciple pays respects to Master!"
After a moment of silence, another voice was heard.
"What are you dawdling for? Get over here!"
Zhou Yi followed the direction of the voice to the east side of Heavenly Mountain. His Nascent Soul divine sense enveloped an area of hundreds of miles, quickly locating a small Taoist temple nestled within the mountain.
The small Taoist temple occupied no more than thirty or fifty yards, constructed entirely from black iron, with the name "Mystic Iron Temple" etched into the wooden signboard in seal script.
His light landing at the gate, Zhou Yi entered the temple with respect and saw a thin old man sitting inside. He immediately performed three sets of three bows, his head knocking on the floor with 'thump thump thump' sounds, as he shouted.
"Disciple pays respects to Master, wishing Master eternal celestial fortune and life as enduring as the heavens!"
The Iron Crown immortal observed him for a while, imperceptibly shaking his head and spoke coldly, "It's truly as the sixth said, you've got no shame."
The "sixth" referred to Danxia Zi, the sixth disciple under the Iron Crown immortal of the Severing Heaven Sect.
Zhou Yi's heart was tense. He felt the divine sense sweeping back and forth, almost thoroughly inspecting everything inside and out. Fortunately, he had mastered the Bone Transforming Technique; otherwise, he'd face a soul search in the next instant.
The Iron Crown immortal said, "Hand over that Demon Head to your master."
Upon hearing the words "your master," Zhou Yi immediately showed an expression of joy. This relationship was thus firmly established.
As for not having a formal ceremony to take on a master, nor notifying fellow brethren and friends, it was probably due to his poor aptitude. If he hadn't captured Wu Ming or taken on secret missions for the Severing Heaven Sect, he would never have caught the eye of the Iron Crown immortal.
Zhou Yi respectfully presented Wu Ming's Nascent Soul, adding, "This Demon Head insulted our sect. After being captured, the disciple has inflicted upon him three thousand seven hundred kinds of cruel tortures, to comfort the spirit of my mentor in heaven!"
"Not bad."
The Iron Crown immortal received the Nascent Soul, and after a scan with his divine sense, nodded slightly, showing some satisfaction with the new disciple.
"Tell me, what do you wish for as a gift for becoming an apprentice?"