Building a sect from scratch.

Chapter 497 Secrets of Ancient Times

“There are some things that cannot be known before one attains enlightenment, and even speaking of them is taboo. That thing easily revealed the so-called ‘truth’ to you, so how come you didn’t receive the slightest warning from the Heavenly Dao?”

Du Guangwang's words were like a piece of driftwood to drowning people. The surrounding demon cultivators breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing them, as if they had come back to life.

That's right. If what that "Iron Man" said were true, he would have been struck by lightning long ago—revealing heavenly secrets comes at a great price!

In other words, those were all lies!

While the other demon cultivators recovered, Lu Zhidong's feathers bristled, and she spoke with great indignation: "The gaps and cracks in the Five-Colored Array are increasing, and the Guixu Pass is becoming more and more unstable. If the Guixu Realm is not doomed, why have all those innate gods disappeared?!"

"They have indeed all left."

Surprisingly, King Du Guang spoke frankly about it.

Then, accompanied by a deafening roar, dark clouds began to gather in the sky, and bolts of lightning rolled and flashed within the clouds, as if warning something.

"Look, this is what it means to reveal the secrets of heaven."

Du Guangwang didn't seem to care about the appearance of the heavenly lightning. She continued, "But it's not about abandoning the Guixu Realm, but about saving it."

"As for the matter of the Guixu Pass and the Five-Colored Array you mentioned, it is not actually a great calamity of the Guixu Realm, but just a small oversight in the world. Even if the Five-Colored Array is broken, there will be new ways to block the Guixu Pass."

Lu Zhidong was still unwilling to accept it: "So, the so-called 'Way of Heaven' is actually their doing, isn't it?"

King Du Guang gave an ambiguous answer: "Yes and no."

As they were talking, a flash of white light appeared from the teleportation array next to the iron coffin. Several Taiyin Sect disciples appeared carrying two tightly bound demon cultivators, one dead and one wounded. They were taken aback by the serious occasion in the square, but quickly assumed it was some kind of game plot. They not only casually threw the demon cultivators to the ground, but also gathered together and carefully found several angles to pose in strange ways not far from King Du Guang.

General Huang opened his mouth, but held back and didn't say anything impolite. The other great demons also looked impatient and confused.

Even King Duguang coughed a few times and asked Lu Zhidong sternly, "No matter what, you manipulated demons to build the 'human sacrifice workshop' and lured them to eat people to enrich their cultivation. The evidence is conclusive. You—can—plead guilty!"

Lu Zhidong was not about to accept this. She retorted loudly, "In ancient times, how many immortals and gods killed and ate demons? Why should we demon cultivators be forbidden from using such methods to improve our cultivation just because they escaped?"

Everything has a price.

King Du Guang shook his head regretfully and sighed, "Lu Zhidong, you were once my most outstanding disciple. We both cultivated as birds, and you were both intelligent and diligent. It's a pity you went astray, and now it's too late."

As she spoke, she raised her hand and grabbed a demon cultivator who was still alive and was bound by the players, pulling his soul out of his body.

The intense pain caused the demon cultivator to roar, but the roar from his soul was not as solid as the roar from his physical vocal cords. Instead, it was a faint, sharp whistle that was not loud, but it made one's hair stand on end and one's back go numb.

The demon cultivators trembled at the sight, and even the stunned players clicked their tongues in amazement. But then they noticed that the demon cultivator's soul was extremely strange, with many dark gray spots of varying shades appearing on it. The entire soul looked as if it had been pieced together or contaminated, appearing very eerie.

"This is the evil consequence of cannibalism. The cultivation that grows out of thin air is not a blessing, but the price for eroding your soul. As you become more and more dependent on eating beings that have been enlightened and awakened to improve your cultivation and cultivation, your soul will gradually be attached to those remnant souls that you have absorbed, until it completely erodes you."

The demon cultivators were all so shocked that they couldn't speak—they only knew that eating people or demons could increase their cultivation and also subject them to heavenly tribulations, but they really didn't know that their souls could be corrupted!
Before anyone could react, several onlookers shouted out loud—

"Holy crap! This premise is terrifying!"

"This is way too Cthulhu-esque! Isn't this a cultivation world?!"

These shouts immediately broke the serious and solemn atmosphere.

Du Guangwang glanced at the players indifferently, and for some reason, they were all startled and stopped talking, instead quietly chirping in their own team's chat channel.

"Ugh! This NPC is terrifying!"

"It's a warning, isn't it?! It must be a warning, right?!"

"Hey, hey, hey, let's focus on the story! All our loot has been taken by the NPCs! They'll have to explain this when the battlefield scores are tallied later, right? Let's just keep going through the story and see what happens! Maybe it's some kind of hidden quest!"

After seeing that the Taiyin Sect disciples stopped talking, King Du Guang picked up the still howling soul and continued, "When he has eaten enough, those remnant souls will gradually replace his own soul. At that time, he will probably not be himself, but a monster pieced together from countless remnant souls."

"In ancient times, the battles and killings among the gods often arose from this. The rule they set that creatures with enlightened minds and spiritual awakenings should not be eaten was not simply to protect the weak, but also to protect cultivators."

These things didn't seem to be taboo at all; the thunderclouds in the sky just kept rolling and didn't strike down.

But the feeling of being shrouded in tribulation clouds was not pleasant. King Du Guang narrowed his eyes and finally ended the topic: "Alright, let's leave it at that regarding these secret matters. When you one day cultivate to become immortals, or even attain godhood, you will naturally know the mysteries of this world."

As soon as she finished speaking, the thunderclouds in the sky seemed to sense the meaning of King Du Guang and gradually dispersed. The oppressive feeling that made it hard to breathe, and the feeling that one might be struck by lightning at any moment, finally disappeared.

King Du Guang looked up at the sky before giving his order: "I'm taking Lu Zhidong with me. You take turns keeping an eye on the human sacrifice workshop. Once the Taiyin Sect disciples have finished dealing with it, destroy it."

All the demon cultivators bowed their heads and said, "We will obey your command!"

Seeing that the NPC who had used their team's hard-earned "battlefield points items" was about to leave, the players panicked and shouted, "Boss! Boss! Our points! Our items! Those are the items we worked so hard to get to exchange for points!"

King Du Guang calmly looked at the disciples of the Taiyin Sect, initially puzzled, then suddenly realizing what he was talking about, he waved the soul in his hand and asked, "You mean this?"

The boldest player swallowed hard and nodded like a chicken pecking at rice, saying, "That's right! This thing... uh, there's a difference in points between the dead and the living. Um, you, you are the dignified Prince Du Guang! You shouldn't be getting it for free... right?"