Chapter 4: 4. Only one realm?
The legendary path of immortality beyond the realm of true cultivation!
All he needed was to restore his own cultivation, and then he could attempt to break through.
"Master should depart on his journey soon, these time-delaying tactics are useless against me," Tan Shuchang said before his voice fell, and those jade-white lotus flowers were about to merge with the Heartless Old Man’s figure once again.
One merger, half the blood refined.
If there were a second merger, the Heartless Old Man would undoubtedly perish.
Therefore, at such a critical juncture, the Heartless Old Man couldn’t care about anything else. He fiercely slapped his own chest and spat out a blood-colored Dan pill.
The moment this blood-colored Dan pill appeared, a bone-chilling coldness spread in an instant, like frosty blasts breaking through the lotuses and evaporating the pool of blood on the ground in a flash.
This meant the Blood Refinement Great Array was broken, and Tan Shuchang stood there, unmoving.
Seeing this, the Heartless Old Man couldn’t help but laugh hoarsely, "You treacherous disciple, do you think I don’t have a trick up my sleeve just because you have a stroke of great fortune?"
However, after saying this, a resentful expression appeared on the Heartless Old Man’s face, "Damn it, I can only use this Chaotic Life Dharma Bead three times, and this is the last time. After this, the Dharma Bead will be gone!"
This Chaotic Life Dharma Bead was a treasure he had obtained with great difficulty.
Then, looking at the still and unmoving figure of Tan Shuchang, anger rose in his heart, "Disperse!"
His voice boomed like thunder, and with that command, the figure shattered into pieces on the ground. Whatever was affected by the power of the Chaotic Life Dharma Bead, living beings would die, and corpses would become strange.
"Master, please calm your anger, no need to be so irate." However, even though that figure was shattered, Tan Shuchang’s voice echoed once more.
The Heartless Old Man was startled, only to see a pale-faced young girl’s figure suddenly appear before him. Then, everything went dark, and he lost consciousness entirely.
And that excessively pale figure of the young girl also stepped out from inside the Heartless Old Man’s body and subsequently dissolved into a suddenly appearing pool of blood.
The figure of Tan Shuchang then emerged from that blood, his face filled with regret.
Because he had wanted to keep that Chaotic Life Dharma Bead, but unfortunately, he hadn’t succeeded in doing so. Such a spiritually aware treasure indeed required fate to obtain.
"A hundred years of cultivation is truly impressive. If that old demon still had his demon body and hadn’t used his Heartless power, based on my few years of cultivation, I would undoubtedly die..."
Tan Shuchang eyed the corpse of the Heartless Old Man, whose last vital signs had vanished and which had begun to show signs of livor mortis because it was killed by a ghost, and he started to sum up the situation.
From the moment he struck, he showed no mercy.
He put forth his full strength.
Yet, the difficulty in dealing with this old demon was far beyond his imagination.
If not for his unique nature and the ability to amplify his cultivation technique through the absorption of fierce ghosts, allowing him to temporarily merge with the ghost and undergo Reality Conversion, his chances of defeating this old demon would not just be less than fifty percent, he would have no chance of victory at all.
After all, with only a few years of practice, in the Jiawu Realm, he was merely at the bottom of the younger generation.
The differentiation of cultivators in the Jiawu Realm is not based on their realm.
To be precise, there aren’t different cultivation realms, but because the cultivators in Jiawu all reside within the same realm—the True Cultivation Realm!
Therefore, they simply classify based on the years spent in cultivation.
Those under the age of twenty, regardless of how many years they’ve practiced cultivation, be it one year or ten years, are considered the junior youth.
Those above the age of twenty, including twenty, but not yet thirty, are regarded as the young generation!
Moving on, those between thirty and fifty years old are considered the prime-age generation!
Those above fifty, up to the age of rarely reached longevity, are all deemed the elder generation!
Those above seventy are all categorized as ancestors.
Generally speaking, if one has cultivated the truth till the age of seventy without dying, they’re likely to have profound powers and have cultivated at least one cultivation technique to Great Achievement Realm. Although they haven’t reached the pinnacle, with the might of a Great Achievement Realm level cultivation technique, they can establish a foothold in Jiawu Realm.
If someone, like the Heartless Old Man, cultivated for a hundred years, needless to say, their strength would be exceptional.
Tan Shuchang searched the residence and found the Sect Leader’s token of Black Heart Mountain, then he left. It wasn’t that he looked down on Heartless Old Man’s collection, but he didn’t find it.
The only treasure on that old demon was the now-spirited-away Chaotic Life Dharma Bead.
When Tan Shuchang walked out of the residence, he encountered the two women who had brought him here. He then realized that these two "Junior Sisters" had been dead for quite some time, devoid of any breath.
This was not because they were affected by the might of the Chaotic Life Dharma Bead but because their master, the Heartless Old Man, had been killed.
"Indeed, living puppets..."
Tan Shuchang sighed softly. It’s an extremely malicious method, but regardless of whether it’s the demonic path or the righteous path, many people use it.
When the righteous sects use it, they give it a different name, calling them "strength warriors" or "celestial maidens," but essentially, it’s the same.
Tan Shuchang left quickly, because if anyone discovered that he killed the Heartless Old Man, people from the Jiange Sect would definitely demand an explanation.
After all, this was the city they were responsible for managing.
It didn’t matter whether Heartless Old Man lived or died, but such an incident was equivalent to slapping the Jiange Sect in the face.
However, it wasn’t long after Tan Shuchang left that some people quietly arrived at Heartless Old Man’s hiding place. This group comprised several youngsters, led by a man around thirty years old.
The group quickly found the Heartless Old Man’s body, which by now was not only shriveled but also beginning to show signs of being scorched.
"Uncle-Master, the Heartless Devil has died. How shall we explain this to the sect?" The young disciples were first startled upon seeing Heartless Old Man’s body, but then their faces turned to panic.
They were disciples of the Sword Disciple Mountain, coming to Qinghe City to ensure that Heartless Old Man remained within their control.
Who would have thought that in such a short time, the Heartless Old Man, known throughout Jiawu Realm, would just die like that!
"My fellow disciples, there’s no need for panic. The Sect Leader ordered us here not to protect this Heartless Devil but because he had acquired a sentient treasure that could play a key role in our righteous plan. Plus, this devil already feared our Sword Disciple Mountain.
With a bit more deterrence, we could have tamed this old devil and made him obediently serve Sword Disciple Mountain," said the calm man of about thirty.