Witch Wind

Chapter 396 Acting as an Accomplice to a Tiger (Part 1)

Chaos reigned, and the years were unknown.

Everything was in chaos, the Great Dao was not revealed, everything was in disarray, and even the concept of 'time' had not been clearly defined.

The Tower of Creation drifted along with the vast and boundless torrents of chaos, enjoying itself immensely.

Along the way, we also encountered some small worlds.

Some worlds are still in a primitive state, and their origins are not very strong. The creatures that conceive are still in a state of ignorance. The 'protagonists' of many worlds are still eating raw meat and drinking blood, and even writing and language have not yet been developed.

Xing Tianli then casually melted down the Heavenly Dao of these worlds and sowed the seeds of civilization in them.

Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Mohism, the School of Military Strategists... all the major sects in the cultivation world, as well as the various schools of thought in the mortal world, Xing Tianli passed on everything he knew and understood.

Including the civilization of the ancient land of Kyushu.

Words, languages, classics, especially for a classic humanities student, those exquisite and invaluable Tang and Song poems, etc., were all engraved, printed, and transformed into countless books stored in those worlds.

In each world, Xing Tianli collected materials and crafted one small 'Tower of Creation' after another, unlocking the presence of countless bewildered spirits to guard that world.

Countless half-mechanical, half-flesh combat puppets quietly lurk behind the scenes of these worlds' history, nurturing the native inhabitants of these worlds as they grow, develop, and multiply according to the rules set forth by Xing Tian Li...

Who knows, years later, when three or five mayflies emerged from among the natives of these small worlds, mustered their courage to leave their homeland, and ventured into the chaos to explore the vast and boundless world, they bumped into their next-door neighbor—Oh dear, what a coincidence, in your ancient primordial era, a sage also descended from the heavens and started civilization?

Oh dear, what a coincidence! The sage in your family who imparts knowledge and spreads the seeds of civilization is also called 'Carp Taoist'?
Oh my, what a coincidence! Your Taoist practice also worships the Three Pure Ones?
Oh dear, what a coincidence! Your Buddhist practice also involves displaying images of Buddha and Guanyin?

Oh my goodness, what a coincidence! Your scholar is reading the Four Books and Five Classics, and those liberal arts students are also worshipping Confucius and Wang Yangming.
Hehe, hehe, hehehe... Xing Tianli secretly chuckled all the way, like a weasel that had successfully stolen a little hen, unable to suppress the smirk on his face the entire way.

That's really interesting!
Many years later, perhaps Xing Tianli's bones could be used to make drums, or perhaps his bones would no longer exist, having turned to ashes or a wisp of smoke. But the civilizations he left behind in these worlds will flourish and thrive, traversing the chaos... His name and his deeds will be passed down almost eternally as these civilizations develop.

"I want to walk from south to north... I want to walk from day to night... I want everyone to see me... but not know who I am..."

Sitting opposite Ran Min at the top of the Tower of Creation, Xing Tianli sipped his wine from a small wine jug, taking small sips. He then sang a song he loved to hum during his most destitute days in his past life.

He was involved in the history of these worlds.

He created the history of these worlds.

He did not interfere with these natives' own choices... He enlightened them and ignited the flame of civilization, but how they develop in the future depends on their own choices...

His name will be passed down as those worlds develop.

Many years later, perhaps he will encounter the natives of those worlds in the chaos... He, Xing Tianli, will know their origins, but these natives will not know that the Taoist before them is the sage who descended from heaven and ignited the flame of their civilization, whom they have worshipped for generations.

Xing Tianli's state of mind is undergoing a transformation.

That profound sense of vicissitude refined his Dao heart. Each cleansing made his Dao heart more solid, more resolute, more able to withstand the torment of the seven emotions and six desires, and more able to endure the friction of many emotions.

The Dao heart was thus gradually stabilized.

Unmoved by external things, undisturbed by internal demons, so constant, so stable, just like the 'Great Dao' itself, permeating all things, yet unknown to all things; high above, yet perfectly integrated with all things.

The essence and blood within the body are surging, and the vital energy is flowing.

Along the way, Xing Tianli had refined and enlightened at least a hundred of these uncivilized little worlds. The secret technique of "The Furnace of Heaven and Earth" caused the transformation of the Dao in these worlds, which in turn triggered responses from the sages of the Nine Provinces.

Xing Tianli's cultivation level increased endlessly through these repeated acts of spreading the Dao.

Furthermore, with the help of the precious pearl given to him by the Sage Tongtian in the world previously tainted by the Feathered Poison Clan, which fused the essence of countless demons and monsters... Along the way, Xing Tianli's cultivation level soared, and his physical strength directly increased to one hundred Lesser Heavenly Power.

In his mind, the Great Luo Immortal Soul sat cross-legged.

As the Universal Salvation Sutra was recited again and again, the sky was filled with shimmering crystal flowers.

Xing Tianli's immortal soul grows stronger with each recitation of the "Universal Salvation Sutra"... Every time the sutra is recited 108 times, the surging immortal soul is forcibly refined and purified by a strange power, becoming twice as pure.

As he journeyed along, not to mention Xing Tianli's physical strength and magical cultivation, the total amount and quality of his immortal soul had been raised to the quasi-saint level thanks to the unreasonable enhancement of the "Universal Salvation Bodhi Sutra" and the dozens of blessings from the two Buddhist saints.

That crystal-clear light even shone through his immortal soul into his spiritual palace, transforming into boundless light that illuminated his entire body. It emanated from every pore of Xing Tianli's body, making him shine brightly and adding an incomparably mysterious and wondrous layer to his physical form.

In short, it was a very rewarding experience.

The progress is immeasurable.

In those worlds, the Heavenly Dao is forged, civilization is initiated, and the world's feedback includes the merits of heaven and earth, rare treasures, and even extremely rare innate materials.

Not only Xing Tianli himself, but also his personal treasures, as well as the three women of Liujing, Hei Lie, Zhong Nu, and Ran Min, all benefited greatly from it.

Ahead, a rainbow of colors surged, and tens of light-years away, a nebula stood majestically like the Five Finger Mountain.

It was a vast and dense nebula stretching over a thousand light-years, containing countless stars of all sizes, and even more stars of all sizes orbiting these stars in strange trajectories.

A chaotic gust of wind swept in, ruffling the long hair of Xing Tianli and Ran Min. With a hissing sound, the two felt a slight pressure on their bodies, while the wine jars and pots in their hands seemed to weather away in mid-air, instantly becoming like ordinary objects that had been refined by time for tens of thousands of years, their luster dimmed, and countless cracks appeared on their surfaces.

Ran Min snorted coldly: "How boring."

His cultivation lay entirely in head-on clashes and brutal battles. Faced with this chaotic tide imbued with strange Daoist principles, he himself remained unharmed, but he was unable to protect the external objects he held.

Xing Tianli waved his hand, and within a small area, the laws of time were activated, and time instantly reversed. These wine pots, wine jars, and wine cups quickly became shiny and returned to their brand-new appearance when they came out of the kiln.

Ran Min squinted, glancing sideways at the strangely flowing time around Xing Tianli, and curled his lip in dissatisfaction: "Fancy tricks... tsk!"

Xing Tianli shook his head with a smile: "Those Gu worms are just fancy tricks."

Ran Min shut his mouth, his old face slightly flushed.

He took a deep breath and gently grabbed a handful of the chaotic wind that was rushing towards him: "Hmm, there's a bloody smell, tsk, resentment soaring to the heavens... This isn't the carnage of a battlefield, but..."

Ran Min, who was proficient in battlefield killing techniques, cultivated the most ferocious Blood Sea Divine Power.

He was intimately familiar with the various stench of blood. He could easily sense the different emotional fluctuations within the stench—the current stench in the wind had nothing to do with war, but rather with a pure 'massacre' of the strong bullying the weak.

The Tower of Creation accelerated, transforming into a streak of dark light and hurtling forward.

With a gentle sway, the Tongtian Yuling Banner released a mesmerizing divine light that enveloped the surroundings. The group, along with the Tongtian Creation Tower, vanished into the surrounding chaos, becoming one with it. Unless one possessed cultivation several times greater than Xing Tianli and commanded a special innate spiritual treasure for searching, it would be difficult to detect their presence.

Xing Tianli sat cross-legged atop the tower, dropped the wine jug in his hand, formed a hand seal, and gently waved it forward.

Suddenly, a round ray of light appeared before everyone.

The Immortal Soul had already broken through to the Quasi-Saint realm. Even though he had just entered the Quasi-Saint level, time and space had largely lost their meaning for Xing Tianli. Even across a distance of tens of light-years, Xing Tianli directly activated the Round Light Technique by using the wisp of bloody evil energy in the Chaos Tide Seed as the 'causal catalyst'.

Within the circular light, which was a hundred feet in diameter, a cluster of ruined city buildings appeared.

Xing Tianli's Dao heart trembled slightly.

The city's appearance, its skyscrapers, its glass curtain walls, its towering overpasses, and even its winding underground subway tunnels all reminded him of his hometown from his previous life.

This is clearly a highly developed urban cluster that follows a 'technology-driven' development path.

Moreover, the level of urbanization is very high. The city seen through Xing Tianli's Round Light Technique is a large-scale city, with a length and width of around a thousand miles. Such a cluster of cities, with towering buildings and extremely high population density, can be concentrated in such a small area, which shows that there is a highly developed logistics and transportation system behind this world.

However, these tall buildings, bridges, and vehicles on the streets are all more delicate and exquisite.

The camera pans, and a deep roar sounds.

Strange creatures, resembling mantises that had come to life, appeared in the circular light. These large mantis spirits, seven or eight feet tall and entirely black, wore matte black armor and wielded various weapons such as swords, spears, and halberds. They patrolled the streets in groups of three or five.

The style of the armor and weapons these guys were wearing looked quite familiar.

Ran Min, along with the three women of Liujing, all exclaimed in surprise—the style of these armors and weapons was clearly the style of the court equipment in certain dynasties of their previous homeland!

Suddenly, a loud roar erupted, and a mantis demon soared into the sky. With a swift swing of its six-foot-long sword, a sharp blade flashed, splitting open the wall of a six-story building by the roadside. Several tiny figures, around three feet tall, with features identical to Xing Tianli and the others, but only a little over three feet tall and with well-proportioned bodies, cried out as they tumbled out from behind the cracked wall.

A group of mantis spirits swarmed forward and easily captured the little people. With a wave of their hands, magical ropes made of animal sinews snaked out and bound the little people tightly.

With a whoosh, several giant beetle-drawn four-wheeled carts sped by. The mantis demons tossed the bound little figures onto the carts. On the carts, several mantis demons, dressed in long robes and wearing gauze hats, with bronze tokens hanging from their waists, spoke in an ancient language, angrily scolding, "Damn it, hurry up! When are you going to gather all the offerings that Prince Jin needs?"

A group of armored mantis demons were so humiliated by the insults that they stood rooted to the spot, too afraid to move.

Several long-robed mantis demons cursed angrily, still feeling unsatisfied, and then slapped one of the leading mantis warriors across the face several times before driving their chariots along the street.

Once the long-robed mantis demons were far away, these mantis warriors, as if injected with adrenaline, roared furiously and charged into the tall buildings along the roadside, searching upwards floor by floor. Some even lifted the covers of the roadside sewers and plunged directly into the deep but spacious sewer system.

Xing Tianli and the others looked at each other, speechless.

The language spoken by these mantis spirits was none other than the ancient language of the Nine Provinces. Although it had a slight regional accent, everyone's cultivation was high enough and their divine souls were strong enough that the slight accent was not a problem at all.

Using the Circular Light Technique, the light and shadow shifted, and we arrived at the very center of the city, in a square surrounded by greenery.

Armored figures stand tall, banners flutter in the wind.

Tens of thousands of mantis demons, clad in full armor and helmets, stood in formation on a plaza nearly forty miles long and wide, while mounted riders on giant beetles patrolled the area. Banners fluttered in the wind, their black backgrounds emblazoned with blood-red characters, exuding an overwhelming aura of killing intent.

Surprisingly, among these tens of thousands of mantis demons, there was a group of human cultivators numbering around a thousand.

They wore long gowns, official boots, gauze hats, and swords at their waists. Various ornaments and other items shimmered and gleamed. Their robes were made of the finest silks and satins, with colorful animal and bird patterns on the sleeves.

Xing Tianli frowned. The robes these guys were wearing seemed somewhat familiar.

Within the Radiant Light Technique, a faint light surged. Xing Tianli calculated with his fingers because he had seen the true forms of these guys. Therefore, relying on his overwhelming superiority in cultivation and power, Xing Tianli easily calculated their origins.

Among them, the most powerful was a handsome young man with a hint of malevolence. Although he was the most powerful among everyone present, he had only just stepped into the Taiyi realm. As for his surname... the light screen formed by the Round Light Technique flickered, and wisps of gray, malevolent light condensed around him to form the characters 'Sima'.

"The Sima family?" Xing Tianli's eyes twitched.

Everyone looked towards the scene within the circular light spell and saw banners billowing and floating above the heads of dozens of human cultivators. Each banner floated in the air, bearing the characters 'Jin' and 'Sima'.

Behind the young man stood a dozen or so boys in blue robes. Beside them floated plaques with black backgrounds, gold frames, and gilded characters, bearing official titles such as "Duke of Xunyang of the Great Jin Dynasty," "General of the Special Guard," "Commander of the Vanguard Army with Imperial Insignia," and "Acting Minister of the Five Armies."

"A Jin Dynasty official position! Sima dog!" Ran Min grinned cruelly. He raised his head, took a deep breath, and an intense killing intent surged around him: "Heh, heh heh, I never thought that in this life, at this time, I would actually encounter a dog of the Sima family!"

A deep horn sounded.

Squads of mantis warriors escorted large carts as they drove by, carrying hordes of tiny children, bound by animal sinew magic weapons, crying and screaming as they were brought in. A mantis demon in a long robe cast a spell, creating a whirlwind that lifted the children from the carts and carried them directly to the center of the square.

Large groups of naked, unarmored mantis demons stood in the square, wielding large axes. They grabbed the little figures swept in by the whirlwind and, with a series of sharp, slicing cuts, beheaded them as easily as chopping melons and vegetables.

Blood splattered, and in the center of the square, a twisted crimson magic circle emitted a sinister light.

An old man, about nine feet tall, with a gaunt figure, white beard, and blood-red eyes, with his body bare, hovered in the center of the magic array. Every time the essence blood from a thousand decapitated figures flew into the array, the array would release an extremely intense blood-red divine light, which would then flow into the old man's body.

The old man was covered in blood and evil energy, and his aura was terrifying.

According to Xing Tianli's divination, his aura, marked by the condensation of gray evil energy within the Round Light Technique, indicated that his cultivation was on the threshold of breaking through from the Taiyi Realm to the Daluo Realm!
Just one step away, this old man could rely on the evil blood sacrifice technique to break through the Taiyi bottleneck and reach the immortal and indestructible Daluo realm.

Xing Tianli's face was gloomy.

The Sima clan members are brazenly using evil magic to sacrifice these little people, using their life essence as resources for this old man's breakthrough—Xing Tianli finds this kind of evil magic somewhat unacceptable…

However, if he were to act rashly, Xing Tianli would not know the grudges and entanglements between the Sima clan, these mantis spirits, and these little people, or who was good and who was bad.

He took a deep breath, and countless small cauldrons within his body vibrated, with golden light rapidly burning.

Activating his magical power, Xing Tianli chanted a secret incantation and began to calculate the source of the grudges between these mantis spirits, the Sima clan members, and these little people—if these little people were evil and vicious, then killing them was just killing them.

However, even before activating the secret technique, Xing Tianli had a vague feeling that these Sima family guys probably didn't have much of a reason to be in the right.
The next instant, a black python descended from the sky, roaring as it hurtled towards the old man who was breaking through his limits.

(End of this chapter)