Transcending two realms to become an earth immortal

Inside the dojo, the air was thick with the stench of blood, and severed limbs and fragments were scattered everywhere. Thick blood plasma pooled in the craters, forming dark red puddles.

A foul wind swept by, carrying lingering resentment and the fear of impending death, transforming into a curse of vengeful spirits that echoed eerily among the ruins, like the howling of a vengeful ghost.

Fang Chen stood calmly in the center of the pool of blood, his expression serene.

He raised his finger and gestured, and a faint light emanated from his body.

Amidst the blood and filth, wisps of black and red malevolent energy and twisted resentment were quietly extracted, not purified, but simply expelled from the execution ground.

In a short while, most of the intense ferocity, madness, and malice were extracted, leaving only relatively pure crimson essence blood and scattered fragments of soul light that flickered like fireflies.

He was about to gather the supplies when he paused slightly.

As far as the eye could see, within the essence and soul light that had been cleansed of resentment and malevolent energy, faint, almost imperceptible spiritual light appeared, like the first glimmer of starlight. Though weak, it was clear and distinct from the yin and malevolent energy that filled this world.

This is... spiritual energy!

Fang Chen narrowed his eyes slightly.

It was true.

Even though it is clearly the end of the Dharma era, with spiritual energy waning and nearly extinct, cultivators in this world can still embark on the path of cultivation, even pursuing the path of corpse liberation to immortality. In the shadows of the old world, there is also the saying that resolving resentment and settling karma can yield spiritual energy... The root of this lies here.

The so-called spiritual energy in this world is actually formed from the soul and spirit of living beings!

The essence of cultivation is... cannibalism!

As soon as this thought arose, Fang Chen's brows furrowed slightly.

It wasn't unexpected or out of mercy; after all, directly devouring souls and flesh would be the act of a demon.

But if the soul returns to heaven and earth, and through some kind of transformation, gives birth to spiritual energy that can be absorbed, then that is another matter.

Just like a human corpse, if one were to eat it directly, that would naturally be a demon.

But if the corpses are buried in the soil, decomposed and nourish the earth, and the rice that grows there the following year is harvested and eaten, what crime is there?

The former are demons, while the latter are integrated into the cycle of heaven and earth. Perhaps this is the subtle yet essential difference between the righteous and demonic paths. Fang Chen would not waver in his Dao heart because of this.

However, what truly confused him was another crucial factor:

If spiritual energy originates from the soul and spirit of a living being, then where does the soul and spirit itself come from? Could it be generated out of thin air?

Furthermore, besides the spiritual energy transformed from the soul, there are other energies in the world, such as the Great Sun True Flame, the Moon's Essence, the Profound Yellow Earth Energy, and the Nine Nether Yin Fiends... Could these also be transformed from the soul of a living being?

But now, even the spiritual energy transformed from souls is nearly exhausted, forcing cultivators to consume all kinds of spirits.

Why is it that in this turbid and evil world, the yin and evil energy, the filth and demonic thoughts not only failed to disappear, but instead are everywhere and keep churning?

"The soul is the source of spiritual energy, and so are all the energies of heaven and earth? But why is spiritual energy depleted, while turbid energy flourishes..."

Fang Chen shook his head, feeling that the key to understanding was difficult to grasp and shrouded in mystery. With his current level of cultivation and knowledge, it would be futile to try to explore it.

"That's enough."

He let out a soft breath and stopped investigating.

With a flick of his sleeve, he gathered the refined essence, blood, and soul light that had been refined in the arena, along with the spontaneously generated clear spiritual light, into his pocket.

After a moment's hesitation, Fang Chen headed deeper into the temple grounds.

Deep within the temple grounds, animal pens stood in rows, crammed with pigs, sheep, cattle, and dogs, the stench of which was overwhelming, and excrement and filth were everywhere.

A single glance was enough for him to tell that they were not real beasts. The pigs, dogs, cattle, and sheep in the pen, regardless of their size or age, all possessed a deep-seated fear and numbness unique to humankind in their eyes... These were refugees who had been subjected to an evil animal-creating spell and were being turned into livestock.

The clouds spread out as he wished, brushing over the living people who had been turned into livestock by evil magic and imprisoned in pens.

Wherever its energy passes, evil spells melt away like snow.

In the hazy light, the pigs, sheep, cattle, and dogs twisted and stretched, transforming back into human forms. There were men, women, young and old, all emaciated, with numb expressions and eyes filled with unfathomable despair.

Once she saw the changes in herself and then saw Fang Chen's figure, a faint glimmer of hope finally appeared in her lifeless eyes.

Silent tears streamed down her cheeks, her grief indescribable, as if she had been a beast for too long and had lost the ability to speak.

Before long, someone fell to the ground and kowtowed heavily in Fang Chen's direction. Their forehead hit the dirty ground with a loud thud, and blood was visible on their forehead.

More and more people are waking up, crying silently, tears streaming down their faces, banging their heads on the ground, looking like madmen, as if they want to release all the fear and pain that has accumulated over the past few months, or even years.

Fang Chen remained silent for a moment, accepted the bow, and his voice clearly reached everyone's ears:

"I am Fang Chen of the Zhengyang Dao. You may go to the Zhengyang Dao Temple in the south of the city, give my name, and someone will meet and take care of you."

The temple suffered significant losses and urgently needs to replenish its ranks. As for whether there were any cult spies among them... he had just scanned the area with his spiritual eyes, and all those shrouded in blood-red resentment had already been annihilated.

Those who survived were the relatively clean-cut victims of suffering. Besides, Zhengyang Dao had its own methods of discernment, so there was no need for him to worry.

The refugees were moved to tears upon hearing this, but a small, thin girl squeezed through the crowd, her face still showing fear, and whispered:

"Immortal... Immortal... The journey is long, what if... what if we encounter monsters again..."

Fang Chen glanced at him and said calmly:

"It's alright. If demons do come again, tell them that if even one of you is missing on the way, someone will make them pay with their lives."

His tone was ordinary, yet it seemed to chill the surrounding temperature.

The refugees were taken aback by what they heard and felt a chill run down their spines, but they quickly kowtowed in thanks, helped each other, and hurriedly fled out of the temple.

After everyone had gone, Fang Chen went to the Soul-Seizing Sect and the Yin Bone Workshop.

Among them were demons and evil spirits plundering, which he dealt with casually, and after a thorough search, he amassed a considerable fortune.

The blood-stained spirit money was piled up like a small mountain, and there were also many kinds of evil magical artifacts and human materials (such as bone artifacts, soul amber, infant energy, etc.) that were made by cruel means... enough to pay the blood tax of the underworld.

Fang Chen could naturally take a portion as payment during this process.

He first copied down the fundamental techniques of each of the three major demonic paths.

Then, his gaze fell on two objects with the most obscure aura: a strange object that looked like it had been burned by a raging fire and was shaped like a charred branch, and a bizarre scroll with human skin as the base and blood ink as the outline.

Fang Chen picked up the scroll, its surface icy cold to the touch. Upon closer inspection, he noticed the blood-red patterns on it, with a faint, eerie spiritual light swirling around them, making it quite bizarre.

He observed for a moment, his brows furrowing slightly, his tone carrying a rare hint of surprise and doubt:

"This is a magical artifact?!"

But upon closer inspection, he couldn't help but frown:

"Wait a minute, this isn't a magical artifact; it looks more like a fake... These days, even magical artifacts are counterfeited?"

After a moment of contemplation, Fang Chen cast the Dao Qing Xin Mantra and then slowly unfurled the scroll.

The first thing that catches the eye is the large characters engraved with dark red bloodstains. The characters are messy and disordered, as if they were frantically scribbled by a dying person in despair, exuding an eeriness and foreboding.

And its five characters are—

【Heishan Fujun Festival】!