Chapter 512: Joyous Nuo Mask, Origin of the Demonic Path
"This item... could it be the Joyous Nuo Mask passed down from the Hehuan Sect?"
At that moment, the remnant soul of Ancestor Chìlóng floated out from the Dragon Glaze Pearl. He carefully examined the thin human-skin mask in Wei Tu’s hand, his voice filled with surprise.
"Joyous Nuo Mask?"
Wei Tu raised his brows slightly, motioning for Ancestor Chìlóng to explain further.
He didn’t know what the "Joyous Nuo Mask" was, but judging from the elder’s expression alone, it was clearly no ordinary treasure.
It likely had uses far beyond simple disguise.
Sure enough, Ancestor Chìlóng’s next words confirmed Wei Tu’s guess.
"A dual cultivation artifact?" Wei Tu was momentarily stunned. No matter how he looked at it, he couldn’t see how this disguise item could be used for dual cultivation.
"Exactly! The primary function of the Joyous Nuo Mask isn’t to change one’s appearance—it’s to facilitate dual cultivation."
As he said this, Ancestor Chìlóng turned the question around, asking Wei Tu, "Fellow Daoist Wei, do you know why the Hehuan Sect became one of the five major demonic sects? Was it just because of their dual cultivation techniques?"
"It can’t be just the dual cultivation techniques."
Wei Tu paused for a second, thinking deeply before replying in a low voice.
Though dual cultivation methods involving essence extraction were rare at the lower levels of the cultivation world, among high-level cultivators, who didn’t have a few cruel essence-stealing secret arts as part of their knowledge base?
A small Nascent Soul sect could survive on a couple of unique techniques.
But for a major Nascent Soul sect to remain strong and unshaken for thousands of years, it needed deep reserves of high-grade cultivation methods.
In short, a major demonic sect like the Hehuan Sect must possess something beyond common dual cultivation arts—perhaps some unique environment, or some rare cultivation treasures passed down within the sect.
Wei Tu quickly understood what Ancestor Chìlóng was hinting at—most likely the latter.
—The Joyous Nuo Mask greatly enhanced the effectiveness of the Hehuan Sect’s essence-stealing arts.
Seeing that Wei Tu had caught on, Ancestor Chìlóng nodded and began explaining the true function of the Joyous Nuo Mask.
"This Joyous Nuo Mask not only allows a cultivator to disguise themselves as someone else. Its main function is that, for a short time, the wearer truly becomes 'that person' they’re imitating."
"In dual cultivation—whether orthodox or heretical—the choice of partner is extremely important. If the partner is far stronger than the cultivator, and is willing to share the benefits of dual cultivation, the cultivator can improve their realm at a much faster pace."
Ancestor Chìlóng spoke slowly and clearly.
Wei Tu nodded slightly to himself.
There were plenty of examples in the cultivation world where low-level cultivators shot up through the ranks after being chosen as cultivation partners by powerful experts.
Of course, part of that was because the stronger party invested resources into the weaker partner. But much of it came from the benefits of dual cultivation itself.
"In the Hehuan Sect’s history, there was once a cultivator who accidentally obtained the blood of a Divine Transformation expert. Then, by using the Joyous Nuo Mask to imitate that expert, they dual cultivated and rapidly broke through their own realm..."
Ancestor Chìlóng continued.
As his words ended, Wei Tu finally understood what the Joyous Nuo Mask was really for.
—It was a method to absorb the origin energy left behind by a powerful cultivator through dual cultivation, in order to quickly increase one’s own strength.
"No wonder the Hehuan Sect became one of the five great demonic sects."
A look of realization crossed Wei Tu’s face.
Normally, the standard way for cultivators to advance was to breathe in and refine the ambient spiritual energy around them.
Wealthy cultivators often enhanced their cultivation with spirit stones, pills, and spiritual materials.
But in the end, resources in this world were limited.
Where there are rich people, there are poor people.
Compared to the wealthy, the poor often struggled to cultivate. They couldn’t easily find suitable spiritual items.
However, while proper spiritual materials were scarce, "human pills" were everywhere.
Among items of the same tier, few were as rich in spiritual power as a human cultivator.
Still, very few people ever thought about devouring others to absorb their spiritual power and advance their realm.
Not because these cultivators were saints unwilling to kill, but because cultivating by consuming others wasn't easy.
—Though cultivators were full of spiritual power, it often came mixed with fragments of their divine soul.
But some clever people weren’t troubled by this.
These “clever” cultivators specialized in one particular path—like a butcher dissecting an ox—separating flesh, essence, skin, and bone, and dividing it for consumption.
With techniques tailored to this, they could easily dissolve impurities from devouring their own kind.
This… was one explanation for the origin of demonic cultivators in the cultivation world.
Still, cultivating demonic techniques didn’t mean that consuming other cultivators would always go smoothly.
The stronger the cultivator, the harder their body was to digest. This was a natural law of cultivation.
And now, the Joyous Nuo Mask in Wei Tu’s hand clearly broke this natural law.
It let one "imitate" a powerful being through dual cultivation, then safely absorb their essence and origin through that process.
How many sects in the cultivation world could possibly possess such a rare treasure for rapid advancement?
With this kind of artifact, it was no wonder the Hehuan Sect rose to dominate as one of the five great demonic sects.
...
"This Joyous Nuo Mask..."
Now that he knew its true function, Wei Tu couldn’t hide the excitement on his face.
Even though he wasn’t comfortable with the idea of using it to perform a fake dual cultivation with a strong figure—and the mixed origin energy it brought might even reduce his chances of reaching Divine Transformation in the future...
It was still undeniably a treasure. One that could be a real path to strength.
How could he not be thrilled?
"Old Demon Zhu, how many Joyous Nuo Masks does the Hehuan Sect actually have?" Wei Tu suddenly thought of this and asked quickly.
After all, the Hehuan Sect wasn’t just made up of that one mid-stage Nascent Soul elder, Liu Yu Daoist. For them to dominate among the demonic sects, they had to have at least one late-stage Nascent Soul powerhouse in their ranks.
If there was only one Joyous Nuo Mask...
Wouldn’t that mean he just killed the weak one and provoked the strong one?
"There should be three or four."
Ancestor Chìlóng estimated the number and replied.
"Three or four?" Wei Tu breathed a bit easier when he heard that, clearly relieved.
Having three or four Joyous Nuo Masks wasn’t a lot for an entire sect, but just losing this one mask likely wouldn’t make the Hehuan Sect go all-out to hunt him down.
After all, his current strength had already reached the point where the Hehuan Sect, as a whole, would need to think twice before acting.
A mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator might not beat a late-stage one, but it didn’t mean he would definitely die in a fight.
Besides, he was in Kāng Kingdom—territory ruled by the righteous path, not some demonic domain.
If the Hehuan Sect wanted to make a move on him, their other Nascent Soul cultivators had better be prepared... to end up like Liu Yu Daoist today, surrounded and beaten down.