Yinshan Record

Chapter 162 Down to Earth
In a corner of the Xuan Yuan Nine True Gods Forbidden Zone.

Yan Bixing lay prostrate beneath the yellow sand, the scorching sand rolling over him, making him feel increasingly irritated.

But there is no other way.

He was hunting.

In order to hunt those troublesome ancient species in this desert, Yan Bixing could only find an opportunity to capture his prey by burying his body in the scorching yellow sand.

These guys have an alarmingly sharp intuition.

As a cultivator who has reached the fifth rank, Yan Bixing no longer needs any food to make a living; he can absorb the spiritual energy between heaven and earth to replenish his own needs.

Even in this desolate desert, Yan Bixing is still able to harmonize and utilize the violent spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

But besides the vital energy of heaven and earth that sustains life, keeping one's word requires much more.

The methods of the Demonic Sect have many incomprehensible and unreasonable rules during cultivation.

For example, the body-refining demonic art that Yan Bixing practices requires him to consume blood food once every seven days, otherwise he will suffer the torment of being devoured by the Yin demon.

This evil spirit arises from the thought that one must always keep one's word, secretly tempting his mind, attacking his foundation, and corrupting his spiritual base.

To avoid the problem of insufficient blood and food leading to the breeding of evil spirits, Yan Bixing always carried a large number of insect eggs in his bag.

If they really couldn't find any blood food, they took out a few insect eggs to eat as a substitute.

When they first entered the Azure Emperor's Treasure Garden, things were fine. As long as Yan Bixing was careful with his money, he could still replenish the insect eggs in his bag.

But this was a matter of living off one's savings. Before long, the insect eggs that Yan Bixing had brought were all wiped out by him, and Yan Bixing could only search for some wild game to eat in the rolling yellow sand.

The pain of being devoured by demonic forces might not be much for cultivators of other schools, as each has its own methods for exorcising demons. However, for disciples of demonic sects, it implicitly signifies a form of punishment.

This is how the Primordial Demon Lord dealt with the laziness of the demonic cultivators.

On the yellow sand, a beast the size of a calf was moving forward on the soft and hot sand. This strange beast looked quite similar to fierce beasts such as the Suanni and tiger, except that it had a crystal-clear jade horn on its back.

Its paws landed perfectly on the soft sand.

One hundred steps, fifty steps.

This beast is getting closer and closer to fulfilling its promise.

Yellow sand surged into the sky, forming a pillar of sand. Yan Bixing, who was hiding under the scorching yellow sand, was surrounded by a layer of gold as he pounced on the beast.

The two sides quickly engaged in battle.

Yan Bixing uses the Demonic Sect's body-refining method. Once he starts practicing, a layer of gold rises around his body, vibrating imperceptibly at a mysterious frequency.

But the beast was born with boundless strength, and the two shook each other, as if they had returned to the ancient times.

They were originally silhouettes from the ancient times.

The battle raged on for an unknown duration, until Yan Bixing's qi and blood became weak and his skin was covered with countless fine black runes resembling spider webs. Only then did he finally defeat his opponent in this fierce battle.

Yan Bixing let out a howl, bent down, and transformed his Vajra-like fingers into claws, snatching flesh and blood from the strange beast and swallowing it whole.

"What a pity. This is a Yellow-headed beast, which is said to grant a thousand years of lifespan when ridden. It is a virtuous beast from ancient times. It is a shame to eat it like this."

Huang Kou floated behind Yan Bixing, with an apricot-colored oil-paper umbrella above his head. This ghost cultivator, who was proficient in swordsmanship, was no better than Yan Bixing. His face was pale and his breathing was disordered.

It looks like the end is approaching.

If Yan Bixing suffers the torment of being devoured by demonic forces, the situation of the Sword Burial Man of Beiman is even worse.

This is the Xuan Yuan Nine True Divine Forbidden Zone, where nine great suns hang high.

The surging heat and the almost endless Great Sun True Fire made Huang Kou's pure Yin Ghost Body, which he had painstakingly cultivated for many years, seem like a piece of ice dropped in the desert.

Although he didn't have to worry about food like Yan Bixing, Huang Kou's every day felt like being fried in oil.

"Unfortunately, that's because you haven't fought it."

Yan Bixing tore off a piece of flesh and put it in his mouth to chew. "How long have we been in here?"

"Three years and four months."

Huang Kou slowly inhaled and exhaled, and with the help of the Northern Mang treasure above his head, he was still able to find a trace of pure Yin energy in this endless heat, which he used to replenish his true form and body that had been disturbed by the Great Sun True Fire.

"Is that accurate? It feels like a hundred years have passed."

It's better than nothing, though.

"Time has no meaning here."

Huang Kou looked at Yan Bixing and said, "The Ghost Ancestor once told us that there are seven divine restrictions in the Azure Emperor's Treasure Garden, each with its own mysteries. The flow of time here is different from that outside. Ten thousand years may have passed inside, but only a moment outside."

"Wouldn't that be the number one sacred place for cultivation in the world?"

"Holy land my foot! It's the number one forbidden place for cultivation in the world. This is an illusion. Even if you cultivate to become an Earth Immortal here, you'll still be cultivating the same way when you leave. What's more, there are no Heavenly Tribulations here. The laws of heaven and earth are all distorted, which will only pollute your original Dao heart and cause 'viewpoint obstacles' when you leave. Cultivate, cultivate, what are you going to use to cultivate?"

Looking at the swirling yellow sand around him, Huang Kou couldn't help but curse inwardly.

If Huang Kou were in any other divine confinement, he would be better off. Why is he trapped in this Xuan Yuan Nine True Divine Confinement, which is filled with the boundless true fire of the Great Sun?

"Sigh, it's still possible to cultivate one's mind."

Yan Bixing laughed heartily: "Try to think positively."

“Cultivating the mind? Why not find a Buddhist scripture to copy?” Huang Kou looked at Yan Bixing and said, “This divine restriction is all about the manifestation of magical power. If you and I can’t find even the slightest flaw, then we’ll be completely trapped here.”

"flaw?"

Yan Bixing looked at the seemingly endless rolling yellow sand in front of him.

"I'll live one day at a time, as long as I can."

Huang Kou deeply resented that he had reached the fifth rank in cultivation.

This means he will have to endure this torment for much longer.

About a hundred miles away from the two of them, Su Che and Chang Sheng were watching them from afar.

"The space between heaven and earth and the four directions is called the universe, and the past and present are called the cosmos."

Su Che walked on the rolling yellow sand.

"I've finally come to some realization today."

The flow of time within the Xuan Yuan Nine True Divine Restriction is different from that outside.

Time passes faster here than it does outside.

Within this divine confinement, Su Che increasingly felt that space and time were originally one, and could transform into each other.

In simple terms, once the space within the divine realm is separated from the outside world, time will inevitably follow suit.

The spacetime within the divine forbidden zone is isolated from the spacetime outside the divine forbidden zone, or rather, this artificial isolation is the fundamental reason for the existence of this layer of time within the divine forbidden zone.

If true spacetime is like a long river flowing eastward and never returning, then the spacetime that has evolved within this divine forbidden zone is a lake formed by artificially damming and blocking the flow of this river.

Or, to put it another way, the outside spacetime is a ray extending to infinity, while the spacetime within the divine forbidden zone is a carefully cut line segment that can be manipulated according to one's whims.

Of course, with Su Che's current cultivation level, he cannot arbitrarily adjust the time in the Azure Emperor's Treasure Garden.

"The way of the universe is the most fundamental thread in this world, and the more fundamental it is, the less clearly it is seen."

"If the Little Sage is a True Immortal of Longevity, perhaps he can use the Azure Emperor's Treasure Garden to verify the most fundamental mystery of this universe."

Chang Le's implication was that, given Su Che's current cultivation level, it was best to forget about the wonders of the universe.

Being down-to-earth is the best approach.

(End of this chapter)