No Money to Cultivate Immortality? - Chapter 803 (Patreon)

Chapter 803: Immortal Descendant Level 2, My Disciple

As Zhang Yu crossed layer after layer of Kunxu’s boundaries, he could feel the concentration of immortal qi in the air steadily rising.

When he reached Kunxu’s thirteenth layer, the immortal qi concentration had climbed to about 2% to 3%. In an environment that dense, even if he did absolutely nothing, his physical strength would naturally improve on its own.

And when Zhang Yu arrived at Kunxu’s fourteenth layer, the immortal qi rose further, reaching 3% to 4%.

He could sense all kinds of power within his body becoming more active in this environment, as if no matter what martial arts or Dao Techniques he used, their effects would be amplified again and again.

“In the environment of the fourteenth layer, just running my cultivation method as usual is already far more effective than in the lower layers.”

Zhang Yu sighed inwardly. “If I compare this to Kunxu’s first layer… then just lying here every day would probably make faster progress than students on the first layer grinding themselves to death.”

At the same time, Zhang Yu could also feel that under the fourteenth layer’s sunlight, his thinking speed increased again. Thoughts in his mind raced like thunder and lightning—any question, any contemplation… all of it felt easier, smoother, more effortless.

“About a threefold mental acceleration,” Zhang Yu thought. “If I keep climbing layer by layer, then even without using any Law Realm or Spiritual Realm functions, my thinking speed will still be many times that of the lower world.”

“It’s hard to imagine what it’s like up where the immortals stay.”

“So this is what people mean by ‘one day in heaven, one year on earth.’ One day of thinking up there is enough for those below to think for a year.”

Zhang Yu could feel that this massive difference in sheer thinking efficiency alone created a gulf that was almost impossible to cross. Cultivators below would struggle to catch up to cultivators above, and that was before even counting all the other advantages.

Fu Ji said, “The higher you go, the stronger this sun-and-moon radiance gets—and it’s actually free.”

Then she muttered in confusion, “How can it be free? Why don’t they charge money? Think how much they’re losing.”

Zhanxian explained, “Because this sun-and-moon radiance… comes from a god of the past.”

Fu Ji blinked. “Huh?”

Zhanxian continued, “Ancient gods once shone divine light upon the world. Humans worshiped and revered them, countless believers gathered faith for them, and they were once an important force that managed this world.”

“But later, when the gods demanded their followers donate their property to relieve the poor…”

Fu Ji couldn’t help blurting out, “That god was crazy.”

Zhanxian said, “Correct. The cultivators at the time determined the gods had fallen into demonic ways—gone mad—and were bringing disaster upon the world.”

“So the cultivators joined forces to campaign against the ‘mad god,’ and they agreed to sever the god’s radiance and hang it high above the Nine Heavens, so everyone could use it for free.”

“They succeeded. From then on, the divine light sat high in the ninth heaven, and everyone could bathe in it.”

“But what those below receive is just a tiny bit leaking through the cracks between fingers. Only at the very top can one enjoy the greatest benefits of that divine light.”

While Zhanxian spoke, Zhang Yu stepped through empty air and arrived in the high skies of the fourteenth layer.

He glanced at the magnificent palaces not far away and knew that was the Zhongji Heaven region of Kunxu’s fourteenth layer.

Zhongji Heaven was the central area of the sect layers.

From the eleventh to the twentieth layers, the Zhongji Heaven was like a supertall skyscraper stacked from countless cities—like a heavenly pillar that “grew” from Kunxu’s eleventh layer up to the twentieth.

And within the Zhongji Heaven of each layer, the Ten Major Sects each had their own territory—like vast national lands—interlocking in a jagged, dog-toothed pattern.

Zhang Yu knew that the rows of grand palaces he could see right now were one of Myriad Laws Sect’s territories in the fourteenth layer’s Zhongji Heaven.

Even from far away in midair, he could sense layer upon layer of protection in the Spiritual Realm and Law Realm. If he got even slightly closer, he would likely be subjected to repeated inspections.

But this time, Zhang Yu hadn’t come to the fourteenth layer to approach Myriad Laws Sect’s office area here.

His gaze swept out, already locking onto a patch of sky far from the offices.

In the next moment, Zhang Yu moved, accelerating toward the distant clouds.

“The legacy Lord Fuxian left behind should be somewhere around here…”

As Zhang Yu searched under Zhanxian’s guidance, his vision flickered. He felt heaven and earth shift, as though he had arrived in another space entirely.

This was a tiny space that glimmered with faint phosphorescence, like a small cavern.

Feeling the strangeness of it, Zhang Yu’s heart stirred. “An independent pocket space?”

At the same time, outside this pocket space in the sky, a “Zhang Yu” could be seen standing motionless—concealing the fact that the real Zhang Yu had entered.

“That is…”

The instant Zhang Yu entered, he saw a figure sitting not far ahead.

Zhang Yu’s mana spun up violently. His flesh tensed, blood and muscle drawn tight, space twisting in his palm—ready to fight at any time.

But in the next moment, he realized in shock that the seated figure had no aura at all.

It was a corpse. A completely dead body.

“A corpse?” Zhang Yu wondered. “Is this what Lord Fuxian left behind?”

Zhanxian knew Zhang Yu was asking him, and answered, “I don’t know what Master actually left behind. As for this corpse… I don’t recognize this person.”

Zhang Yu walked closer and examined the corpse sitting on the ground.

Its eyes were sunken; the eyeballs seemed to have been dug out. Its sleeves hung empty, and its hands and feet looked as if they had been severed.

There were also horrifying holes in the head and lower abdomen, as though someone had tried to dig something out from inside.

Wounds covered the rest of the body as well—too many to count. The original face was unrecognizable. It was obvious the person had suffered inhuman torment before death.

And as Zhang Yu observed the corpse, he felt the power of his [Immortal Descendant] stirring restlessly inside him.

The opening of the Immortal Space even expanded on its own in his palm, like a giant maw choosing its prey, trying to drag Zhang Yu’s hand forward to devour the corpse.

“Dao-ge’s Dao seed… the [Immortal Descendant] is being triggered?”

Zhang Yu flipped open the Feathered Tome’s Dao Seed Codex and saw that the upgrade prompt for [Immortal Descendant] had changed.

“Liberate the ancestor’s corpse, fuse the inheritance space?”

Zhang Yu looked at the body before him and cautiously reached out.

In the next instant, the corpse was fully absorbed into the Immortal Space. Immediately after, a surge of will exploded out of the corpse, as though this long-silent dead body were about to live again.

At the same time, Zhang Yu felt his consciousness being drawn toward it.

Light and shadow flickered—and Zhang Yu was stunned to find heaven and earth transformed. It was as if he had entered another world.

Bamboo groves, a stream, and distant rolling mountains.

Zhang Yu’s heart jolted. “Where is this now?”

“Zhanxian?”

“Fu Ji?”

Zhanxian said, “I’m here.”

Fu Ji said, “I’m here too.”

Zhang Yu gradually understood. “This feeling… it’s like when we watched Oxheart Sage’s memories before. Except this time, Zhanxian, Fu Ji, and I are watching together.”

“And I’m not being forced into someone’s first-person viewpoint. I’m watching as an observer.”

As he thought that, a soft laugh came from not far away.

With a thought, Zhang Yu drifted like an invisible ghost, flashing toward the sound.

On a raised platform, a group of people in Daoist robes were gathered, listening as a Daoist at the front gave a lecture.

The lecturer was tall, with handsome features and an effortless air of grace and vigor. One glance made it clear he was anything but ordinary. Just standing there, he seemed born to draw everyone’s eyes.

As Zhang Yu listened, the content sounded like ancient Dao scriptures—obscure and hard to grasp, far less clear than modern materials.

Zhanxian said, “Ancient Myriad Laws Dao texts. This should be an old scene of Myriad Laws Sect disciples attending a lecture.”

Zhang Yu’s mind moved. “Is this the memory of some Myriad Laws Sect disciple?”

Just then, the lecturer said, “Ying Xintian, come answer this question.”

Zhang Yu snapped his head around, looking at the one who stood to respond.

A small, plain-looking Daoist rose—so ordinary he looked like a passerby.

Zhang Yu said in surprise, “That’s Ying Xintian? He looks…”

He didn’t finish, but Fu Ji and Zhanxian both understood what he meant.

This Ying Xintian looked completely unremarkable—nothing like the future immortal who would seize Kunxu’s sixth layer by force.

If anything, the Daoist lecturer looked more like Myriad Laws Sect’s chosen genius.

And what followed only seemed to confirm Zhang Yu’s impression.

In the classroom, Ying Xintian always seemed quiet, unnoticed, plain, forgettable.

Meanwhile, the lecturer—named Ling Feng—shone brilliantly, displaying outstanding talent again and again.

From the disciples’ conversations, Zhang Yu gradually learned that Ling Feng was this generation’s senior brother of Myriad Laws Sect. He often taught on behalf of their master, half a teacher to the younger disciples, and held considerable prestige within the sect.

There was also a junior sister in the sect, named Qi Mengyun. Beautiful and refined, fresh and unworldly, she cultivated under Ling Feng’s guidance after joining, and the two slowly developed feelings for each other.

One day, the sect’s ancestor bestowed an opportunity—selecting a group of disciples to enter a small world behind the mountain for closed-door cultivation for twenty years, to comprehend profound Dao Techniques of the sect.

Ling Feng, as senior brother, was naturally chosen and placed under great expectations.

But facing the elders’ eager hopes, Ling Feng chose to refuse.

Hearing his refusal, Qi Mengyun sought him out and said sternly, “Why refuse?”

She spoke seriously. “Senior Brother, I respect you, and I love you, because your character is noble—and because you have the ambition to climb to the peak of the immortal path. Now a once-in-a-thousand-years chance lies before you, yet you give it up for momentary joy. How can you still claim you’ll reach the summit of the immortal Dao?”

Under the moonlight, the two made a vow: twenty years later… when Ling Feng emerged from seclusion, they would become Dao companions and comprehend the Great Dao together.

Watching the scene of them standing together under the moon, Zhang Yu sighed inwardly. “Kunxu has people like this? Even I feel kind of uncomfortable watching it.”

Time passed in a blink. Ling Feng remained in seclusion within the small world for twenty years.

But because his Dao Techniques went out of control, the small world sealed shut, trapping Ling Feng and the others inside.

Only a hundred years later, after Ling Feng fully took control of the small world, did they finally break free.

He rushed back into the sect, desperate to find the figure who had waited for him for a century.

But when he arrived at Qi Mengyun’s cave abode, full of joy, he found someone else already living there.

After asking around, he learned Qi Mengyun had gone down the mountain to travel thirty years ago. After that, she vanished without a trace—no news ever came again.

The moment he heard, it was like a heavenly thunderbolt struck Ling Feng. He searched the world in madness, hunting everywhere for any sign of Qi Mengyun. Only after five years did he finally find a clue.

It turned out that thirty years ago, when Qi Mengyun traveled down the mountain, the Heavenly Demon Crown Prince of the Heavenly Demon Sect had set his eyes on her and forcibly took her away.

So Ling Feng launched a thousand-mile pursuit, tracking the Heavenly Demon Crown Prince relentlessly, wanting only to force him to reveal Qi Mengyun’s whereabouts.

Fu Ji said, “What a crazy old era. Everywhere you look, it’s lovesick fools and idiots.”

Both sides were young elites of the righteous and demonic paths. They fought continuously, shifting battlefields over a thousand miles. In the end, Ling Feng was slightly superior and was about to suppress the Heavenly Demon Crown Prince.

At that moment, Qi Mengyun appeared—and the Heavenly Demon Crown Prince used her to block the attack.

Ling Feng forcibly halted his Dao Techniques and suffered internal injury, then was taken down by Qi Mengyun and the Heavenly Demon Crown Prince together.

Only then did he learn the truth: Qi Mengyun had not been abducted at all. She had willingly joined the Heavenly Demon Sect.

Ling Feng stared at her, unable to understand. “Junior Sister… why?”

Qi Mengyun said slowly, “Senior Brother, do you know how I lived through the hundred years after you went into seclusion?”

“For the first twenty years, I cultivated with painstaking effort every day, hoping that when you came out, I would be a little closer to you.”

“But for the next fifty years, my progress was limited. Some disciples who joined later even gradually caught up to me.”

“I grew anxious, and my cultivation slowed more and more. I could only watch my hair turn gray, wrinkles appear on my face, watch myself grow older day by day…”

Qi Mengyun looked at Ling Feng. “Senior Brother, I was unwilling. Why is it that after you went into seclusion, I cultivated bitterly for seventy years and still could not break through? In ambition, diligence, and resolve, I believe I lose to no one. So why can some people surpass me in ten or twenty years?”

“Because of talent?”

“Then why is it that we righteous cultivators work hard every day—yet even with high talent, we advance with difficulty—while demonic cultivators indulge themselves and still advance a thousand miles in a day?”

“Because… the demonic path is eating people.” Ling Feng glared at her. “So thirty years ago… you fell into the demonic path?”

Qi Mengyun stroked his cheek. “Senior Brother, I wanted to live. I didn’t want to see you again only to have become a white-haired old woman…”

Ling Feng stared into her eyes. It felt as though he could see countless wronged souls wailing within, countless commoners crying as they were devoured.

Qi Mengyun continued, “Senior Brother, come with me. Let’s enter the Heavenly Demon Sect together, alright?”

Silence.

What greeted Qi Mengyun was only Ling Feng’s endless silence.

As the air grew heavier and heavier, Ling Feng finally asked, “How many people… have you eaten?”

Qi Mengyun’s expression darkened. “Mortals are like grass. Instead of wasting away between heaven and earth, they should help us climb the immortal path…”

Ling Feng let out a faint sigh. “Righteous and demonic cannot coexist.”

“When you entered the sect, I told you this.”

“If a friend falls to the demonic path, then kill the friend. If kin fall to the demonic path, then destroy the kin. If the sect falls to the demonic path, then sever the sect.”

Seeing Ling Feng’s resolve, Qi Mengyun sighed, stepped back, and embraced the Heavenly Demon Crown Prince beside her. “Crown Prince, I can’t persuade him. You should do it yourself.”

The Heavenly Demon Crown Prince sneered. “Ling Feng, meeting you two senior siblings is my bad luck.”

“Thirty years ago, your junior sister knelt like a dog before me, begging me to take her in—so she could sacrifice the masses and extend her lifespan.”

“Thirty years later, you chase after me like a mad dog. When you people of Myriad Laws Sect cultivate the immortal path, do you have no sense of risk management at all? You’re all this reckless?”

Facing him, Ling Feng struggled to resist, but was still suppressed by the two of them and then imprisoned.

The world only knew Ling Feng vanished. No one knew that after the Heavenly Demon Crown Prince locked him up, Ling Feng was tortured every day. His body was torn open again and again, bones broken and shattered.

Beyond torture, the Heavenly Demon Crown Prince also used all kinds of demonic methods—temptation and coercion—trying to lure Ling Feng into the demonic path.

Later, the Heavenly Demon Crown Prince seemed to gradually lose interest, and it had been a long time since he came to see Ling Feng.

When Ling Feng finally saw daylight again, it was because Ying Xintian broke open the great prison and rescued him.

As the memory dissolved, Zhang Yu thought, “So that’s it. So this was Ling Feng’s memory? The once-glittering senior brother fell, and that’s why Ying Xintian had the chance to rise?”

Fu Ji said, “That Heavenly Demon Crown Prince calls himself demonic, but his torture skills are trash. Every time he just beats him once and calls it a day?”

At that moment, lines of text appeared before Zhang Yu’s eyes. A terrifyingly powerful will radiated from the words, stamping itself into Zhang Yu’s mind. Just seeing the lines made him feel the writer’s overbearing intent and supreme strength.

“Senior Brother Ling Feng—though dull in aptitude and unnoticed—was single-minded in seeking the Dao and carried righteousness in his heart. He was the senior brother I have always respected.”

“To bring Junior Sister Qi Mengyun back from the Heavenly Demon Crown Prince, he was pursued a thousand miles by the Heavenly Demon Crown Prince, yet fought to the death and refused to give up. Even I felt admiration. I leave this dream to commemorate Senior Brother Ling Feng.”

Zhang Yu froze. “Dull in aptitude? Unnoticed? Pursued a thousand miles by the Heavenly Demon Crown Prince? That’s completely different from what we just saw.”

Fu Ji said, “Who wrote these two lines? They wrote it wrong.”

Zhanxian said, “It probably isn’t wrong.”

“I actually felt something was strange earlier. As far as I know… Ancestor Ying was never an unnoticed disciple in ancient times. From the day he began cultivating the immortal path, his name spread across the world. He was universally recognized as Myriad Laws’s peerless genius.”

Fu Ji said, “Then what was that memory we saw?”

Zhanxian said, “Do a person’s memories truly represent reality?”

Zhang Yu blinked. “You mean… Ling Feng beautified himself in the memory?”

Zhanxian nodded. “Yes. And look at what was said at the end… this likely wasn’t a simple memory at all, but a dream formed from memory. If it’s a dream built from memory, then beautifying oneself is even more normal.”

Zhang Yu exhaled. “So the one who truly shone back then… was Ying Xintian. And Ling Feng was the one who was unnoticed.”

“And it wasn’t that he chased the Heavenly Demon Crown Prince a thousand miles. It was that he was chased a thousand miles.”

More lines appeared before Zhang Yu.

“When I found Senior Brother Ling Feng, his eyes had been dug out, his hands and feet severed, his Celestial Spirit Root taken, his Dao Base extracted, his Nascent Soul removed.”

“But I know that until the moment life went out, he still did not enter the demonic path.”

Zhang Yu was stunned again. “That corpse… was Ling Feng? But in the dream, he clearly didn’t suffer anything like that…”

In the next instant, Zhang Yu understood, and Zhanxian sighed softly. “That was a dream formed from Ling Feng’s memories.”

“It didn’t show the torture in detail, because it only needs to show one thing… he didn’t care.”

“Whether his body was ruined or his immortal foundation was severed, his will never wavered. It didn’t even register in his heart—so in his dream, the so-called torture became insignificant.”

“Instead, the temptations of the demonic path, the slaughter and evil of the demonic path, the people Qi Mengyun ate… he remembered them with perfect clarity, and they were reflected clearly in the dream.”

Zhang Yu said nothing, only continued reading the lines.

“Qi Mengyun—her heart is like a viper’s, her demonic root deeply planted. After transplanting Senior Brother Ling Feng’s Celestial Spirit Root and Dao Base, her cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds.”

“The moment I rescued Senior Brother Ling Feng, I made my decision: Qi Mengyun and the Heavenly Demon Crown Prince… these two, I will kill them.”

“But no one expected that I, who only wished to behead these two demons, would instead step by step ignite a righteous-demonic war, leaving endless calamity behind.”

At this point, Zhang Yu, Zhanxian, and Fu Ji had already guessed: these words were clearly left by Ying Xintian.

But Zhang Yu still hadn’t expected that the chain of conflict they’d just seen… was actually the fuse that ignited the righteous-demonic war.

Before Zhang Yu could think further, more lines appeared.

“Whoever sees these lines, I have left my sect’s inheritance secret realm to you. Whoever inherits this secret realm is a successor of the righteous path.”

“No matter the final outcome of the future struggle between righteous and demonic, I only hope you remember… righteous and demonic cannot coexist.”

Zhang Yu thought, “Final outcome? When Ying Xintian wrote this, had the righteous-demonic war not yet ended? Or did he believe… the ultimate result still hasn’t appeared, that nothing is truly finished?”

As the final lines faded, Zhang Yu sensed that inside the Immortal Space, Ling Feng’s corpse completely dissolved. At the same time… an invisible space burst out from the dissolving remains and merged into Zhang Yu’s Immortal Space.

In an instant, Zhang Yu’s Immortal Space expanded explosively, becoming a vast space one hundred meters tall, one hundred meters wide, and one hundred meters long.

At the same time, on the Feathered Tome’s Dao Seed Codex, [Immortal Descendant] had risen to Level 2.

After a brief contemplation, Zhang Yu understood that Level 2 [Immortal Descendant] not only had a far broader space, it could even store consciousness within.

“Consciousness?” Zhang Yu thought. “The Immortal Space used to store only dead things, but now it can store consciousness? If I keep upgrading… will it eventually be able to store living beings?”

“Then the method to keep upgrading…”

Zhang Yu looked at the Dao Seed Codex and sensed the information within. “Continue liberating ancestor bodies, fusing inheritance spaces?”

Combining this with what Ying Xintian said, Zhang Yu formed a growing guess.

“So-called inheritance spaces should be the inheritance secret realms of Ying Xintian’s line—independent spaces.”

“Ying Xintian hid that independent space together with the corpse.”

“As long as I find them and devour them into my Immortal Space, I can expand the space step by step and raise the level of Immortal Descendant.”

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