Transcending two realms to become an earth immortal

The surroundings were dim and silent. Only the ghostly fires burned eerily in the fields, casting a cold, pale green light that seeped into the bones and chilled one's very soul.

The remaining elders and disciples of the Daoist temple felt as if an invisible hand was gripping their throats, making it hard to breathe. They felt a chill run down their spines and their faces turned ashen. Could it be that the lineage of the Zhengyang Dao is truly going to end here today?

The three newcomers stood like statues, but their gazes swept over the inherited magical artifacts in the hands of the three True Immortals, then swept over their three heads, and then silently met for a moment.

It seems... we can't gain any advantage.

The next instant, Wuchang spoke first, his voice seemingly seeping from the underworld, chilling to the bone:

"Hehehe... Fellow Daoist, you are overthinking it. We have no such intention."

"Oh?" The three heads slowly turned, and six gazes fell upon the three of them simultaneously. Their voices overlapped and echoed, "In this place that appears to be a Dao City but is actually a Demon Cave, could it be that the three of you... have truly come to congratulate this humble Daoist on reaching the Realm of Day Travel?"

"Indeed, I have important business to attend to, but I have not come to devour you." The voice of the witch doctor clan chief was like the hissing of a thousand insects. "Fellow Daoist, you have not long since escaped from the light and shadow of the old world and have not yet understood the turbid world. The Dao City where we live is truly worthy of the name 'Dao City' among the thousands of [Cave Heaven Dao Realms].

"Hmm?" The three True Immortals frowned slightly, their expressions solemn, devoid of joy or sorrow. "To raise and slaughter mortals like pigs and sheep, to dissect cultivators' dantian and eat their organs raw, to extract their souls and refine them into celestial lanterns... How dare you call this a Dao City?"

"With the collapse of this world, the spiritual energy has faded, and the heavens and earth have been tainted by demons. It has become a consensus among all parties to take action against mortals in order to seize a sliver of opportunity to achieve enlightenment. It is not that we are bloodthirsty." Wuchang's voice was cold and eerie. "Moreover, the powerful beings on the floating islands of this Dao City still have a sliver of conscience. They use blood taxes as shackles to restrain high-level cultivators from wantonly slaughtering low-level cultivators and mortals."

"Otherwise, with your pure soul and plump flesh, you would have been devoured by powerful demons and fierce monsters of the Xuanmen the moment you entered the city. How could you have survived until today?"

Upon hearing this, the three immortals frowned.

That statement... actually makes some sense.

This place must harbor a great evil spirit, or even a legendary primordial demon, whose ferocity is unpredictable. For those of us who escaped from the shadows of the old world and have not yet been corrupted by this turbid world, such demons would be an excellent feast.

But in the past five years, apart from attacks by demons of the same level, there has never been a higher level being to make a move... When did those demons start to follow the rules like this?

"Do you mean, fellow Daoists, that this Dao City has merely taken the law of the jungle to its extreme, but it hasn't cut off the path for cultivators to ascend, and it has also prevented those at higher realms from slaughtering those below?" the Three-Headed True Man asked in a deep voice.

"That's exactly right." The White Lotus Sect Leader's ethereal voice echoed faintly in the deathly silence. "Does the Third Fellow Daoist perhaps think that those high-level experts look down on our inferior resources, and that's why they spared our lives? What a joke!"

She paused briefly, a mocking expression on her face:

"I, your younger sister, once came from another celestial realm. That place was a pure land personally created by the 'Kinnara Bodhisattva,' a protector of Buddhism in the old world, who fell into this turbid world and whose Buddhist heart was tainted by demons. He was born from this 'Wutian Demon Lord.'"

"It is called a pure land, but in reality it is a meal plate. Millions of believers must all practice the [Sutra of the Descent of the Buddha of No Heaven to Preach the Dharma]. This sutra seems to be Buddhist teachings, but in reality it hides demonic seeds. Silently and imperceptibly, it will erode the essence of the physical body, refine the soul into the incarnation of the demon lord, until the true spirit is annihilated and all resources are converted into food... No matter if it is human, demon, ghost, monster, Buddha, demon, or Taoist, none can escape it."

"The Demon Lord was still not satisfied. Sometimes he would transform into a celestial demon and enter the Pure Land to reveal the truth to those believers who were exceptionally talented or had profound wisdom, destroying their faith and causing them to turn from Buddhism into demonism."

"Furthermore, various calamities are inflicted, causing his wife and children to be separated, his family to be destroyed, and his family to die. He is made to experience the eight sufferings of life, such as birth, old age, sickness, death, being with those he hates, and being separated from those he loves. This causes his five aggregates to become intensely agitated, driving him mad with hatred in his desperate situation. He is also tempted to eat the flesh of his lover and devour the souls of his children and grandchildren... In this extreme despair, he finds a sliver of obsession, transforming all his desires into an unshakable attachment to external demons, nurturing supreme demonic nature, which is then devoured by the demon lord..."

"If one is a mortal, one's flesh and soul will be devoured; if one is a cultivator, one will suffer boundless calamities until all those connected to one's being are dead. One's own hatred, anger, obsession, and resentment will transform into demonic nature, becoming food for the Demon Lord. The true self, future, and past of billions of living beings will be completely ravaged, and all resistance will ultimately become sustenance... This is the true demon's lair!"

The White Lotus Cult Leader spoke in a calm tone, yet the content he said sent chills down the spines of the three True Immortals.

"Hehehe... Now that you, fellow Daoist Three, have heard what the White Lotus Sect Leader said, do you know that in this turbid world, this so-called Dao Realm is more like a den of billions of demons!" The voice of the Witchcraft Clan Chief was hoarse, like the rubbing of wings of a Gu insect. "In my past years, when I traveled through the light and shadow of the old world, I once broke into a strange Dao Realm... Its exterior appeared ethereal and otherworldly, but its interior was no different from the lair of demonic beasts."

A gray mist swirled around him, as if he were recalling something:

"The Lord of that Dao Realm is called the [True Monarch of Myriad Transformations]. Within the Dao City, there are no mortals or cultivators, only hybrids born from the crossbreeding of humans and demons."

"Human face and beast body, beast head and human body, strange and indescribable shapes. Cultivators mate with demons, with ghosts, with evil spirits... until they give birth to those monstrous creatures that are neither human nor ghost, neither demon nor monster."

"These wicked children are instilled with distorted and inverted moral values ​​from childhood, who say that eating human flesh is a good deed, extracting souls and refining spirits is benevolence, and that killing each other and murderous behavior is regarded as the ultimate bliss... All human ethics, morality and shame have been distorted and reversed."

A low, mournful chirping of insects came from the fog:

"The True Lord of Myriad Transformations intends to use these new rites to completely cover up civilization, making all living beings take pride in cruelty, take depravity as their nature, make sons kill their fathers as filial piety, make disciples eat their teachers as respect, and make husbands and wives kill each other as love... The various perversions are countless."

"I once saw a child, born with a human body and a snake's head, who had to devour three of his own kind alive every day before his mother would approve of his benevolence. I also saw a female cultivator who, to prove her chastity, plunged her head into her partner's heart and ate it raw; all the onlookers praised her for her unwavering chastity..."

The Gu mist suddenly churned, its sound turning cold:

"This realm is no longer of the mortal world. Etiquette, morality, the light of humanity, and ethical norms... have all been trampled and destroyed. The civilized customs and etiquette that we cultivators and mortals have formed over thousands of years have all been erased. That Myriad Transformations True Lord intends to turn us cultivators back into beasts driven by animalistic instincts from ancient times..."

The witch doctor clan chief spoke in a low voice:

"In this Dao City, killing still needs a reason, whether it's to increase cultivation or to refine magical artifacts... ultimately, it has a use! Unlike that Dao Realm, where bestiality completely overrides humanity, reducing the foundation of civilization to nothingness. That world is truly chaotic and disordered, a cancer of civilization..."

The three immortals narrowed their six eyes slightly. They knew that the reason they hadn't made a move was simply because they were still in good condition. If they were to actually fight, they would be able to take one of their own with them before they died, which was why they were hesitant.

So right now—

"If that's the case... what brings you three fellow Daoists here?"

The Underworld Impermanence, the White Lotus Cult Leader, and the Witchcraft Clan Chief exchanged glances for a moment, before the Impermanence spoke in a low voice:

"I wonder if you, fellow Daoists, have ever heard of... the [Dao Realm Demonic Tribulation]?"