No Money to Cultivate Immortality? - Chapter 820 (Patreon)

Chapter 820: Taizhen’s Choice, Immortal Descendant Level 5

A revolutionary Immortal Dao technology known as artificial flesh and artificial soul essence was born in the hands of Myriad Laws Sect.

Through mass-produced artificial flesh and artificial soul essence, every kind of casting material required by demonic-path cultivation techniques and demonic-path artifacts could now be replaced with harmless, mass-produced materials.

This creative measure and technology was first applied to the front lines of the Righteous-Demon War, allowing Myriad Laws Sect to win several major victories in succession and advance triumphantly all the way.

The various righteous sects were all greatly encouraged by this. One after another, they purchased artificial flesh and artificial soul essence from Myriad Laws Sect in large quantities to deal with the pressure from the demonic path.

For a time, the flames of the righteous path blazed high. They began to gain one advantage after another in the Righteous-Demon War, thoroughly suppressing the demonic sects that had once seemed overwhelmingly powerful.

Against this backdrop, the number of cases handled by Myriad Laws Sect’s Demon-Monitoring Hall also plummeted, because all righteous cultivators could use artificial materials as components and no longer needed to consume mortals.

But just as Li Feng also felt relieved, feeling as if he had seen a glimmer of victory, one case completely changed his life.

At first, Li Feng only thought it was an ordinary case of missing mortals. But after the case became connected to another case involving a missing cultivator, he realized something was wrong.

“Why would the disappearance of mortals cause a cultivator to disappear too?”

“Did that cultivator discover something? Was he silenced?”

Li Feng continued investigating, only to find that the case behind it was growing more and more complex. It was even connected to many previous cases in which mortals had been used in blood sacrifices, had their souls extracted, had been abducted, or had gone missing.

It was not until he arrived at an underground factory and saw batch after batch of mortals being sent onto the production line like livestock.

Amid cries, sobs, and struggles, they were hung up and processed in a scene thick with blood.

Flesh, organs, bones, sinews… all manner of things extracted from human bodies were treated like raw materials and made into all kinds of Immortal Dao materials.

Only at this moment did Li Feng understand that there had never been any breakthrough in artificial flesh or artificial soul essence.

The only breakthrough was some kind of rapid-breeding technology, one that made humans be born and raised as quickly as livestock, turning them into raw materials for the Immortal Dao.

Watching living people be reduced into materials, Li Feng roared and was about to stop everything. But then goosebumps rose all over his body, and arcs of electricity were already flickering around him.

That familiar sensation startled Li Feng. He turned around, looked at the newcomer, and said, “Senior Sister? You found this place too? Listen to me…”

But as Li Feng explained the case, he discovered that Yun Taizhen’s expression remained calm from beginning to end. Not the slightest emotional fluctuation could be seen in her eyes.

Li Feng’s heart sank. In a hoarse voice, he said, “Senior Sister, you knew about this long ago?”

A flash of realization crossed his mind, and all the past cases surfaced in his heart. “Those people who went missing before, those mortals who were used in blood sacrifices and abducted… they were all penned up here, becoming the source of the rapid-breeding process.”

“Senior Sister, you were covering all of this up. And only you, as the hall master of the Demon-Monitoring Hall, could have done it!”

Faced with Li Feng’s accusation, Yun Taizhen did not speak. She merely formed a Dao gesture with her hand. Accompanied by a burst of lightning, the factory before them unfolded further, revealing the scene even deeper within.

There were countless human bodies that resembled Yun Taizhen, being divided into different parts amid waves of anguished cries and made into different products.

Yun Taizhen said calmly, “I was among the first batch of experimental subjects. But my own breeding speed was too slow, and the variety was too limited. That was why more people had to be sacrificed.”

Looking at those familiar figures being processed amid despair and sobs, Li Feng felt a chill surge into his heart.

He turned to look at Yun Taizhen beside him, feeling that at this moment, she looked so steeped in demonic power, so strange and uncanny.

Yun Taizhen merely said calmly, “Junior Brother Feng, right now, all the righteous sects are using the artificial flesh and artificial soul essence I produce.”

“Whether it is medicine, resources for cultivation, materials for refining treasures, blood offerings for spellcasting… even the food consumed daily has already had these things introduced into it.”

“Everyone in the entire sect is eating my flesh and drinking my blood.”

Li Feng said angrily, “You’ve gone mad!”

Yun Taizhen smiled and said, “Junior Brother Feng, do you still remember what I once said? Whether something is demonic or not exists within a single thought.”

“As long as the people of the world do not know what happened here, as long as they do not know where the flesh they eat, drink, and use came from, and do not know of the existence of these rapidly bred people, then they are still the righteous path.”

“Conversely, if they learn everything, then all the righteous sects will become the demonic path.”

Li Feng trembled when he heard this. “What exactly are you trying to do? Did you fall into the demonic path long ago? Are you trying to drag Myriad Laws Sect, and all the righteous sects, into the demonic path?”

Yun Taizhen shook her head. With a flash of lightning, she had already appeared before Li Feng.

Like the senior sister she had once been, she gently patted Li Feng’s head and slowly said, “The demonic path… comes from the heart and follows the heart. As long as no one knows everything that happened here, as long as I alone bear all of this, the righteous path will always remain the righteous path.”

Li Feng stared fixedly at this gentle senior sister before him and said word by word, “It’s impossible to hide this forever. Sooner or later, it will be exposed. You will drag all the sects into the abyss.”

“There is no need to hide it forever.”

Yun Taizhen looked at him with a smile and said, “It only needs to be hidden through this period of time… When the technology improves further, when true artificial flesh and artificial spirit essence appear, and when the demonic path is defeated, everything I have done will no longer need to be concealed.”

“During this period, all of this conduct… this demonic heart… will be borne by me alone.”

“In the future, when everything has settled and it is made public… it will all have been my personal doing. I alone will have fallen into the demonic path.”

Yun Taizhen said word by word, “This is my decision. The demonic path beneath heaven will be suppressed by me.”

Li Feng listened blankly to Yun Taizhen’s words and, for a moment, did not know what he should do.

After she finished speaking, Yun Taizhen reached out and slowly handed a faint light to Li Feng.

“This is my natal soul flame. If you discover that I can no longer suppress it, if I go astray… then kill me.”

“Li Feng, from now on, you will be the one to supervise me.”

Li Feng gripped the natal soul flame she handed over, and intense struggle appeared in his eyes.

“If everything is made public, who knows how many righteous cultivators’ Dao hearts will collapse? Countless people will simply continue down the wrong path and fall straight into the demonic path.”

“If it is not made public, then that is allowing Yun Taizhen to carry out the reality of the demonic path. It means watching the righteous sects do things no different from the demon sects.”

Looking at batch after batch of people being killed beneath the production line, listening to the endless cries by his ears, smelling the blood in the air that would not disperse, Li Feng’s eyes gradually became lost.

“If I make it public, the righteous path loses to the demon sects. If I do not, then the righteous path becomes the demon sects…”

“What should I do? How should I choose? How should I choose?!”

News of the underground factory, in the end, did not spread.

Li Feng watched the righteous path win victory after victory. He watched the world change step by step. He watched Yun Taizhen walk step by step toward the peak, until she finally became utterly unrecognizable. In his heart, only regret remained.

“The secret became a weapon in Yun Taizhen’s hands.”

“Relying on this secret, she climbed higher step by step, dragging more and more people down with her, becoming a demon among immortals, a demon among demons…”

“The righteous and the demonic cannot coexist. Once one is tainted by the demonic path, even by the slightest bit… one can never turn back.”

“If I had another chance, if I had another chance… I would never…”

In the very next moment, a trace of clarity flashed through “Li Feng’s” eyes.

He remembered. He was not Li Feng. He was Zhang Yu.

At the same time, Li Feng’s voice echoed by his ears.

“Remember the regret you feel at this moment. Remember the remorse you feel now. Remember… never tolerate the demonic path. Eradicate all demonic paths beneath heaven.”

…

Watching the dream gradually dissipate, Fu Ji commented, “In the end, the difference between the demonic path and the righteous path… on the surface, it looks like a difference in Immortal Dao technology, but in truth, it is a difference in ideals and cognition. The righteous path’s ideals could not keep up with the times, so it was only normal for them to be eliminated by the more efficient demonic path.”

Desolate Ox said, “Ideals cannot overcome reality. Whether righteous path or demonic path, if they want victory, they need strength.”

Zhanxian did not speak. He seemed to be thinking about what he would do if he were in Li Feng’s position.

Just then, the dream reversed, and it unexpectedly began running again from the beginning.

Zhanxian was slightly startled and said, “The dream is repeating?”

Fu Ji frowned and said, “That guy Li Feng… wants Zhang Yu to experience the dream again and again, to pickle his own flavor completely into Zhang Yu’s brain.”

Desolate Ox said, “It’s not just that… If Zhang Yu repeats Li Feng’s choice again and again, perhaps he will sink into it completely in the end and never wake again. This must be the trial Li Feng gave him.”

The dream cycled again and again, repeating the final choice again and again.

At the side, lines of text also appeared.

Fu Ji said, “A message from Ying Xintian? Hm? So this guy…”

Zhanxian said, “His true choice was completely different from the dream.”

What Ying Xintian’s message described was precisely Li Feng’s true experience.

…

At the same time, Zhang Yu’s mind in the dream grew dazed, then suddenly recovered a few traces of clarity.

It was precisely because the avatars had seen Ying Xintian’s message that Zhang Yu also received this trace of information.

In truth, because of the effects of Heart (Inner Incarnate Body and Myriad Transformations Freedom Profound Art, Zhang Yu remained connected to his avatars at all times.

And because there were such completely different wills as Desolate Ox, Zhanxian, and the Exam Sect avatar, Zhang Yu always had a kind of third-party perspective, which ultimately prevented him from sinking completely into the dream.

At this moment, Zhang Yu, having recovered a trace of clarity, suddenly said, “Senior, in the end… you actually did not submit to Yun Taizhen.”

Li Feng snorted coldly and said, “If you want to pass by flattering me, then you are far too foolish.”

Zhang Yu shook his head, looked at him, and said, “Senior, I personally experienced your dream and your memories… I can feel that your dream and your true memories are not the same.”

“Senior, you blame yourself too much. You regret too much… so much so that you severely magnified your own mistakes in the dream.”

At this moment, Ying Xintian’s message surfaced in Zhang Yu’s mind.

…

At that moment, his master’s voice seemed to echo once more in Li Feng’s mind.

“The righteous and the demonic cannot coexist.”

Li Feng looked at Yun Taizhen before him and said, “One wrong step leads to every step being wrong. From the moment the righteous path began using demonic methods, it was already a mistake. I cannot continue making mistakes.”

After saying this, he had already stood up.

“Even if we have already been abandoned by the times, even if this era no longer needs people like us, I will never stand with the demonic path.”

Looking at Yun Taizhen, who stood in front of him, Li Feng said, “Senior Sister, I am going to report everything here to the sect master. Are you still going to stop me?”

“I know I am no match for you. If you want to stop me, then kill me.”

“If you do not kill me, I will definitely announce what happened here to the world.”

Amid a sigh, Yun Taizhen gently placed her palm against Li Feng’s face.

“Sleep, Junior Brother.”

“Sleep until the arrival of the new era. Sleep until an era where people like you can live in peace, without suffering this torment anymore. When that time comes, I will wake you myself.”

…

Zhang Yu continued, “Senior, you were unwilling to compromise, yet you were also unwilling to become enemies with the Yun Taizhen of that time. You were unwilling for the righteous path’s great momentum of victory to be interrupted, and even more unwilling to watch the righteous sects be completely destroyed by a single action of yours.”

“So you chose to die. You wanted to use the public disclosure of the factory to force Yun Taizhen to kill you.”

“After you awakened and saw the light of day again… after you saw the Kunxu of the future and the Yun Taizhen of today… you regretted in your heart that you had been too cowardly back then and had not resisted Yun Taizhen to the end.”

Listening to Zhang Yu’s account, a trace of realization flashed through Fu Ji’s eyes. “So that’s how it is… This guy wasn’t beautifying himself in the dream. Because he blamed himself and felt too guilty, he vilified himself in the dream instead? He pushed too much responsibility onto himself?”

Listening to Zhang Yu’s narration, Li Feng’s true spirit seemed to ripple for a moment, but immediately afterward, it returned to calm.

Li Feng merely said calmly, “My cowardice led the situation to deteriorate further. The choice I made back then was no different from directly helping Yun Taizhen conceal it.”

“Or rather… I was afraid to see the sect change. I was afraid that the era had abandoned me. In the end, I chose self-destruction and abandoned the responsibility I should have borne.”

After saying this, Li Feng looked at Zhang Yu and was about to continue operating the dream. “Now, let me see your choice.”

Zhang Yu said, “Senior, my choice… I can tell you right now.”

After hearing Zhang Yu’s answer, Li Feng was silent for a long time before sighing. “So this is your choice?”

“You, Yun Taizhen, Ying Xintian, the sect master, my master… and those traitors. Every one of you thinks your choice is the right one. Every one of you wants the world to move forward according to your choice.”

“But in the end…”

He shook his head, looked at Zhang Yu, and continued, “Although I do not agree with your choice.”

“I also do not want to stop it.”

Hearing Li Feng speak, Fu Ji said in surprise, “Hm? Did Zhang Yu say something? Why didn’t I hear it?”

Zhanxian said, “Zhang Yu’s final answer was communicated through thought. What he said… only the two of them know.”

The next moment, Li Feng’s true spirit took one step forward, and a surging force of cave-heaven power was fiercely poured into Zhang Yu’s body.

“Remember what you said today. It wasn’t just me. Those traitors in the heavens and those surrenderists all heard it too.”

“Since you have chosen this path, do not become a second Yun Taizhen.”

After he finished speaking, Li Feng’s true spirit shattered inch by inch. Under the infusion of surging cave-heaven power, Zhang Yu’s immortal cave-heaven also began expanding rapidly, swelling from its original length, width, and height of five hundred meters all the way to six hundred meters… eight hundred meters… one thousand meters!

At the same time, lines of text left by Ying Xintian continued to appear before Zhang Yu.

Looking at the information the other party had left behind, a trace of understanding also flashed through Zhang Yu’s eyes.

“Inherit… the legacy Ying Xintian left behind?”

“Not inherit it secretly, but inherit it openly and honorably, announcing it far and wide.”

“Openly and honorably… let everyone know that I have obtained Ying Xintian’s legacy, and then my immortal cave-heaven and the power of Immortal Descendant will also be completely legitimized.”

“Contact his connections, legitimize my power and legacy… This is the greatest purpose of this Labyrinth Realm.”

Hearing Zhang Yu’s explanation, Fu Ji was also startled. “Openly accept Ying Xintian’s legacy? Won’t we get arrested?”

Zhang Yu said, “Judging by the message, even if one becomes Ying Xintian’s successor, one might not necessarily be suppressed. As long as there is backing, and as long as one is loyal to the sect, one can still be given important use.”

Fu Ji’s eyes lit up. “So Great Immortal Ying wants to help us find his old connections as backing? Help us legitimize this immortal cave-heaven? Frenzied corpse components?”

“Great, legitimization plus immortal connections. So this is the true immortal legacy after all. It’s way more amazing than any artifact or cultivation technique.”

Hearing this, Zhanxian also sighed slightly. He understood the greed of the sect and the immortals far too well, and at this moment, he could not help saying, “As long as someone vouches for it, as long as someone is willing to take responsibility, then whether it is the sect or the immortals, none of them will reject a disciple who has inherited Ying Xintian’s legacy. Even if there are risks, as long as the risks can be controlled and the profits are high enough, they will accept it…”

Zhang Yu nodded. Although he had long known that in this Kunxu… almost anything could be bought and sold, and as long as it could earn money, obtain Immortal Dao resources, and broaden Immortal Dao potential, even rebelling against Kunxu could be seen as a money-making opportunity.

But now that he knew he might appear as the successor of a Kunxu rebel like Ying Xintian, he still felt a strange sense of pressure.

While Zhang Yu and the others were thinking and talking, Zhang Yu’s Immortal Descendant power was also rising, reaching the standard of level five.

Aside from causing Zhang Yu’s immortal cave-heaven to swell to one thousand meters in length, width, and height, level five Immortal Descendant also granted him a special ability.

“The maximum number of cave-heaven bridges has reached eight.”

“And…”

Sensing the power of Immortal Descendant, Zhang Yu was a little surprised. “The cave-heaven bridge can be opened on someone else?”

This feeling… if Zhang Yu had to describe it, was like directly opening a teleportation gate on someone else.

Almost the instant he grasped this ability, countless novel ideas surged through Zhang Yu’s mind.

“With this ability, I can use the immortal cave-heaven as a transfer point at any time and reach other people’s sides.”

“And the other party… can also enter the immortal cave-heaven through the cave-heaven bridge at any time and come to my side…”

Zhang Yu could already imagine that in the future, after he set cave-heaven bridges on Bai Zhenzhen, Yu Xinghan, and Le Mulan, the four of them would be able to enter the immortal cave-heaven at any time and study together.

If anything happened, any three of them could also descend beside the remaining person at any time and work together.

“Even the materials we have on hand could be sent from one person’s side to another person’s side at any time.”

The more Zhang Yu thought about it, the more he felt this ability had endless uses.

Immediately afterward, he sensed a summons from the depths of the Labyrinth Realm.

Zhang Yu’s figure flashed, and he had already stepped through the cave-heaven bridge and returned to the Labyrinth Realm.

Within his senses, some intense change was erupting in the experimental zone of the Labyrinth Realm, and the final ancestor corpse in the Labyrinth Realm was sending him a powerful summons.

“I wonder what background this final ancestor corpse has.”

“I also wonder what effects level six Immortal Descendant will have…”

“And as for the matter of legitimization, I wonder exactly how it will work…”

Just then, a voice came from the deepest depths of the Labyrinth Realm. In an instant, it swept across the entire experimental zone, Factory Zone, and office zone, exploding through the disordered dimensional structure and entering everyone’s ears from all directions.

“I am Ying Xintian.”

“I have already left my legacy in the deepest part of the Labyrinth Realm, on the corpse of a former sect master of Heavenly Demon Sect.”

“My descendant… come and receive this legacy.”

…

Ying Aikun listened to the voice reverberating through the Labyrinth Realm. First he was startled, then delighted. He laughed loudly and said, “Isn’t this old thing’s descendant in this secret realm right now only me?”

Then, thinking of his current identity in Heavenly Demon Sect, he nodded and said, “A descendant, and the corpse of a Heavenly Demon Sect master… Could this old thing have calculated today long ago and prepared this legacy specially for me?”

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