Cultivation: I Have a Golden Talisman

A moment later, Fang Cheng removed his palm from the man’s head. The man’s life force vanished, and he fell dead on the spot.

He stood there in the void, a strange look on his face.

The situation in this world was quite different from what he had expected.

A thousand years ago, Outer Celestial Demons had broken through this world’s Boundary Membrane, corrupting the land and exterminating the native Feathered Mages.

According to the Vine Person he’d met, the last Feathered Mage in this world had fallen over three hundred years ago. After that, the Xuanyu Realm had been completely overrun by Outer Celestial Demons, with no other living beings left.

Perhaps because that Vine Person was a puppet, its knowledge was limited.

Only after performing a Soul Search just now did Fang Cheng piece together the full secret of the world-ending calamity from a millennium ago.

This world was called the Xuanyu Realm. A thousand years ago, Demon Cultivators from another world descended, luring Celestial Demons to this Lower Realm and raising the curtain on this World Heaven’s apocalypse.

The two people Fang Cheng had just killed were descendants of those Cultivators from the Mo Luo Realm.

Legend had it that the Mo Luo Realm had twenty-seven Ancestral Kings, all Tribulation Realm Great Powers who ruled over the Mo Luo Realm and several surrounding World Heavens.

A thousand years ago, the Xuanyu Realm’s cosmic coordinates had somehow fallen into the hands of one such Ancestral King. That Ancestral King then conspired with three others to plot against this world.

As early as nine hundred years ago, the Xuanyu Realm was on the brink of destruction, trampled by innumerable Outer Celestial Demons.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Cultivators from the Mo Luo Realm seized the opportunity to invade, hunting Celestial Demons and harvesting the World Heaven’s spiritual treasures to empower themselves.

The four Ancestral Kings’ scheme was simple: use this entire world as a Gu Pit and its tens of millions of Demon Cultivators as Gu Insects, all to cultivate a new Tribulation Realm Ancestral King.

Nine hundred years ago, the first wave of Cultivators from the Mo Luo Realm established a total of forty-nine Demon Cities in the Xuanyu Realm, each with a population of over half a million Cultivators.

According to the rules set by the Ancestral Kings, each Demon City was to be governed by a Dharma Realm Demon Marquis.

The Demon Marquises led numerous Life Soul Realm Demon Marshals, Life Talisman Realm Demon Generals, and Sensing Realm Demon Soldiers to colonize this world, taking root and beginning a war of slaughter that would last for over a thousand years.

Today, only thirty-six of the forty-nine Demon Cities remained. Many of the Demon Marquises who first arrived had long since fallen, while new ones had risen to stand at the pinnacle of this world.

Of course, the most numerous beings in this world were still the Outer Celestial Demons.

Hundreds of massive celestial rifts in the Boundary Membrane had turned this World Heaven into a coveted sanctuary for Outer Celestial Demons. A constant, massive influx of them poured into this world, treating it as a breeding nest in the Outer Void.

These Celestial Demons, ranging from ordinary Tier One to Tier Five, could be found in almost every corner of this World Heaven.

The Cultivators from the Mo Luo Realm were able to survive and take root here entirely thanks to the techniques and treasures bestowed by the Ancestral Kings.

The technique was a Demon Secret Technique called the Celestial Demon Possession Technique. Once mastered, a Cultivator could transform into a wisp of Demonic Qi and possess a Celestial Demon weaker than themselves, concealing their presence to escape being swarmed and killed.

As for the treasures, when the first generation of Mo Luo Realm Cultivators arrived, each of the forty-nine Demon Marquises was given a Demon Stele refined from the remains of a Tier Five Celestial Demon.

These Demon Steles suppressed any Celestial Demon below Tier Five. The steles’ innate pressure kept ordinary Celestial Demons at bay, which was how the forty-nine Demon Cities were established nine hundred years ago.

As time passed, many of the Demon Steles were lost to history.

Now, only thirty-six Demon Steles remained in the world, each housed in one of the thirty-six Demon Cities.

This was the first time Fang Cheng truly felt the terror of a Tribulation Realm Great Power.

Using a World Heaven as a chessboard and countless Cultivators as pieces.

The endless living beings of the Xuanyu Realm had all become sacrifices in the four Ancestral Kings’ grand design.

’The Xuanyu Realm probably didn’t have many Tribulation Realm Great Powers back then...’

Fang Cheng’s thoughts raced. If the Xuanyu Realm had possessed enough Tribulation Realm Great Powers, the subsequent invasion by the Celestial Demons might never have happened.

Weakness is the original sin.

As Fang Cheng contemplated the survival of a World Heaven and thought back to his own Red Profound Realm, a strange feeling began to stir in his heart.

He activated his Li Hen Demon Light, refining the corpse of the Demon Cultivator before him.

Suddenly, he turned his head, his gaze sharp and cold.

Several miles away, a massive, pitch-black, monstrous bird burst from the snow, trailing thick Demon Smoke as it took flight and sped away into the distant sky.

If not for the faint fluctuation in its aura when he had activated his Li Hen Demon Light, he wouldn’t have even noticed the strange bird’s approach.

Fang Cheng sneered. With a wave of his hand, the Immortal Binding Rope transformed into a streak of golden lightning. It flashed across the sky, bound the black bird tightly, and brought it back in an instant.

It was a Tier Two Celestial Demon, but there was something strange about its aura.

Fang Cheng flicked out a strand of Li Hen Demon Light. The strange bird’s potent Demonic Qi was instantly ignited, and its body erupted in black Demon Flames, turning to ash.

A wisp of Demonic Qi flew out from the bird’s back. It swirled in mid-air and transformed into a tall, stunningly beautiful woman, who knelt before Fang Cheng and pleaded in terror, "Senior, spare my life! I did not mean to pry!"

The woman wore a simple yet elegant purple dress that accentuated her graceful, curvaceous figure. She had a serene and noble air, and her fair, delicate face was flawlessly beautiful.

This woman actually had a Late-stage Life Talisman Cultivation. Sensing her vitality and aura, Fang Cheng determined that her true age was no more than thirty.

To reach the Late-stage Life Talisman Realm before the age of thirty, her talent had to be terrifyingly high.

He couldn’t help but study her for a few extra moments.

"Tell me, what did you see just now?" Fang Cheng asked calmly.

The beautiful woman replied respectfully, "I saw Senior kill two Demon Marshal-level Cultivators."

"And?"

"I also saw... Senior sneak into this world from the Mo Luo Realm..." The beautiful woman glanced at Fang Cheng, her long eyelashes trembling. She hesitated before continuing, "I never imagined Senior would be a master from the Li Hen Dojo. I have long heard of the profound and unpredictable Li Hen Demon Light. To witness it today, I can die with no regrets."

The Xuanyu Realm was a chessboard laid out by four Ancestral Kings of the Mo Luo Realm. For Cultivators from other factions to come here and "feed" was a taboo that violated the Ancestral Kings’ rules.

But now, more than nine hundred years had passed. The Ancestral Kings’ process of raising their Gu was in its final stages, so they naturally turned a blind eye to Mo Luo Realm Cultivators "sneaking in." The rules were no longer so strictly enforced.

In fact, such "stowaways" had become common over the past century. One of the current Demon Marquises was even a stowaway himself.

However, the one widely acknowledged as most likely to be the first to break through to the Tribulation Realm and become the twenty-eighth Ancestral King of the Mo Luo Realm was a figure known as Marquis Yan.

This man was a second-generation Mo Luo Cultivator whose Cultivation had reached the Peak of Dharma Form. He controlled eighteen Demon Cities in the Xuanyu Realm and had been undefeated for five hundred years. He was currently in seclusion, attempting to break through to the Tribulation Realm.

It was because of his presence that the slaughter in the Xuanyu Realm had diminished significantly over the last century, and incidents of "sneaking in" from the Mo Luo Realm had become more frequent.

The woman was only half right...

Fang Cheng decided to play along with her mistake. He nodded slowly and asked, "What is your name? Which Demon City are you from?"

The woman replied, "My name is Yan Shutong. My ancestor was the City Lord of Thundercloud Demon City."

A flash of surprise crossed Fang Cheng’s eyes. He said leisurely, "Thundercloud Demon City was destroyed by Marquis Yan two hundred years ago, wasn’t it?"

The woman nodded but didn’t reply.

Fang Cheng fell silent for a moment, then looked at the Demon Marquis’s granddaughter with interest. "I have just arrived in this world and lack a concubine. Are you willing to follow me?"

The woman bit her red lip. Understanding the situation, she gave Fang Cheng a graceful bow and said softly, "I am willing to serve by Senior’s side."

...