Wanfa Daojun, starting from the Little Cloud and Rain Technique

Chapter 688 Cooperation
The Heavenly Demon City lies in a valley near the inner layer of the Ten Thousand Mountains.

Huge city walls were built at both ends of the valley to separate the inside from the outside, and towering watchtowers were built on the high mountains on both sides. Scattered throughout the valley were simple towns.

There is a third-grade low-level spiritual vein here. It took the demon cultivators twenty years of bloody battles to drive out the several demon beast clans that originally occupied the spiritual vein.

Using the spiritual vein nodes as a reference, the demon cultivators built a protective array that covered the two mountains and valley.

There are no large monster forces within a thousand miles of this place, making it an excellent place for recuperation.

Most of the dense forest in the valley had already been cut down to create spiritual fields.

The demon cultivators cultivated spirit rice, which nourished a large number of ordinary people.

Don't mistake this for their good intentions. Ordinary people are their foundation, and also the foundation of the entire human cultivation world.

Without a continuous stream of ordinary people embarking on the path of cultivation, the number of cultivators simply cannot be sustained.

Ordinary people in the valley will be trained in a concentrated manner after reaching a certain age, and those who are selected will be given the Meridian Opening Pill.

Once a cultivator successfully opens their meridians and reaches the mid-stage of Qi Refining, they must refine the essence and blood of demonic beasts into their bodies. If they can withstand this, they will embark on the path of demonic cultivation; if they cannot, they will become food for the tamed demonic beasts.

The process was bloody and cruel, but it must be said that this policy greatly increased the number of demon cultivators.

The number of demon cultivators here has now exceeded 100,000, and they also raise demon beasts of the same bloodline, making them a force to be reckoned with.

Under the nourishment of the spiritual rice, mortals became qualified reproductive machines, fully capable of supporting the enormous population loss.

On this day, several guests riding on black clouds flew in from outside Tianyao City.

Yun Nianrong and her group landed at the agreed location and met the leader of the demon cultivators.

She said with a half-smile:

"You are so cautious, Master. We only have three people, but you have five Golden Core cultivators."

After several months of searching, eight or nine hundred cultivators were dispatched and finally discovered this city of demon cultivators, and made contact with them.

"It's better to be cautious when making direct contact for the first time."

Chen Sheng narrowed his brownish-yellow eyes, his turquoise vertical pupils radiating a coldness that kept people at a distance.

The identity of a demonic cultivator naturally arouses suspicion. Since the death of Qinglong Zhenren, he has been running the Heavenly Demon Alliance for over a hundred years and doesn't want to get involved with demonic cultivators.

Although Tianyao City is hidden deep within the Hundred Thousand Mountains, it is not isolated from information.

Every few years, a group of demon cultivators with very slight signs of bestiality and no bloodlust would infiltrate the small and medium-sized markets of the Western Continent.

If he hadn't discovered that Yuanhe Mountain had become the territory of the demonic Xuan Yin Sect, and that demonic cultivators at the Nascent Soul level had appeared, he would have definitely chosen to hunt down these demonic cultivators.

Yun Nianrong's smile remained unchanged as she looked down at him and said:

"I have brought the leader's goodwill to discuss cooperation with you."

"Cooperation? Your esteemed leader is a True Lord, and we, a humble family, cannot possibly be worthy of such an honor."

Chen Sheng's refusal was clear: equality is the foundation for cooperation, and he was only at the eighth level of the Golden Core stage, so he was not qualified to cooperate with the other party at all.

Besides, demonic cultivators have always used the flesh, blood, and soul of cultivators as their cultivation resources. He doesn't believe that the demonic cultivators of Yuanhe Mountain claim to use demonic energy and demon heads as their cultivation materials.

Where do demonic energy and demons come from in the cultivation world?

Even if what the other party said is true, the demonic cultivators might want to change their tastes sometime, and the Heavenly Demon Alliance would suffer a huge price.

There is a clear disparity in strength between the two forces. As the weaker party, the Heavenly Demon Alliance should avoid getting involved with Yuanhe Mountain.

However, with the support of the entire Heavenly Demon Alliance, he will quickly advance to the Golden Core Perfection realm.

Only if we can go further can we have a basis for cooperation.

"Is the True Man unaware of the current global situation? Have you ever heard of the Calamity of the True Demon?"

Yun Nianrong caught the confusion in the other person's eyes, a mocking smile flashing across her lips, thinking to herself:
'You know nothing and yet you're so confident? Who gave you the nerve!'

However, remembering the cult leader's instructions, she suppressed her disdain and continued:

"The Tribulation of the True Demon is a catastrophe for the entire cultivation world. Our world is connected to the dark side of the world, which we call the True Demon Realm. The cultivation world and the True Demon Realm are like the yin and yang sides of a leaf."

Our world is the sunny side, while the True Demon Realm is the dark side.

Demonic energy will enter us through the cracks and gaps created by the collision of the two worlds, and some spiritual energy will also flow into the True Demon Realm.

In the war between the two worlds, the True Demon Tribulation always held the upper hand.

When the last True Demonic Calamity broke out, the True Monarchs of the cultivation world created demonic cultivation techniques to cope with the unfavorable situation.

The earliest demonic cultivators actively absorbed demonic energy into their bodies, using demons as nourishment for their souls.
As the Tribulation of the True Demons ended, those channels of demonic energy were gradually sealed off and became known as the Demon Cave.

The demonic cultivators who made great contributions in the war lost their supply of demonic energy, just like cultivators entering a land devoid of spirits.

In order to prolong their lives, the demonic cultivators had no choice but to resort to extreme measures. I don't need to elaborate on what happened next; the real person naturally knows.

News of the True Demon Calamity is still under wraps. The sect leader deduced from the transactions of other forces that the Golden Spirit Sect should know some inside information.

Because most of the resources they acquire through trade are related to purifying demonic energy pollution.

Cooperation is a win-win situation; our Xuan Yin Sect can provide our allies with similar methods to purify pollution.

Yun Nianrong stopped. The amount of information she was conveying was enormous, and she needed to allow the demon cultivators opposite her ample time to digest it.

Chen Sheng and the others communicated telepathically, and the message from the other party indeed shocked them greatly.

Before this, they had never known about the Tribulation of the True Demon.

However, we can't believe everything others say; that would be foolish, Chen Sheng said.

"Since the True Demon Calamity is about to erupt, the Demon Cave must have reopened."

Your clan relies on demonic energy and demons for sustenance; surely you possess a demonic lair?

He will only believe the other party if he presents concrete evidence.

Yun Nianrong nodded lightly, "That's right, there is a small demon cave sealed at the foot of Yuanhe Mountain."

Our leader's lineage contains information about this demonic cave, which is why we are based at Yuanhe Mountain.

"The true demonic calamity is about to erupt. You use demonic energy and demons as resources for cultivation, so you should be able to grow stronger during the calamity."

Frankly, I don't understand why you want to cooperate with us.

Chen Sheng voiced his doubts; he dared not agree to become an ally without understanding the other party's intentions.

"The True Demonic Calamity will not last long, at most a few hundred years, and the time when the entire world is shrouded in demonic energy will be even shorter, only a dozen years."

After the catastrophe, we will have to face the problem of coexistence with human cultivators.

Both of us are viewed with suspicion by the cultivators, but cooperation would allow us to support and help each other.

"The power of the Western Continent is not to be feared; what is to be feared is the interference of Nascent Soul cultivators from other continents," Yun Nianrong explained. "The sect leader said that the demon cultivators' techniques are special, possessing not only magical power but also physiques comparable to demonic beasts."

If these demon cultivators were to dissipate their powers and switch to demonic arts, the effects would be even better. What is called cooperation is actually an attempt to use the demon cultivators as a resource pool.

In addition, there was the consideration of using demonic cultivators as a distraction for cultivators.

Chen Sheng fell into thought. What the other party said made some sense, but there must be a deeper reason, which he did not know at the moment.

"If we become allies, what will we have to give up, and what will we get in return?"

To gain something, you must give something in return. There's no such thing as a free lunch; if there is, it's just bait.

"Good question. The Heavenly Demon Alliance has a demand for various formations, spiritual herbs, spiritual artifacts, and magic treasures from cultivators."

Previously, you could only obtain it from the cultivators' territory by sneaking around.

By becoming our ally, you can entrust us with large-scale procurement from the Immortal City, which will greatly benefit your development.

You traded monster bones and essence blood for these things, but we have a use for them.

You can obtain information about the True Demonic Calamity, but of course, this information will require resources in exchange.

Yun Nianrong patiently explained that the Holy Sect has a method for refining white bone demonic weapons, using animal bones as materials to create magical artifacts.

The demon has no physical form, and although the bones of the true demon are of excellent quality, their quantity is too small to meet the needs of the followers.

The essence blood of demonic beasts can be used to draw magic arrays and to refine various elixirs to nourish demonic souls and demonic beasts; these are rare items within the Holy Sect.

Even if negotiations with the cultivator forces are successful in the future, the beast bones and demon beast blood essence will still be secretly controlled by the other two major forces.

Chen Sheng felt slightly relieved. The exchange of benefits demonstrated their usefulness. After thinking for a moment, he asked his last question:

"The scope of the True Demonic Calamity is so vast, and its devastation to the cultivation world is so immense, that we may very well perish in the catastrophe."

Even with such risks, your church is still willing to cooperate with us, which I don't quite understand.

He felt that the Heavenly Demon Alliance was not indispensable, and asked this question to test the other party's true thoughts.

"The Central Continent is the region that suffered the most from the conflict of the True Demon Tribulation. By the time the demonic energy spread to the entire Western Continent, the concentration had already decreased significantly. The damage we suffered here was far less than that suffered by the Central Continent and other regions."

Barring exceptionally bad luck, most major powers in the Western Continent survived the great calamity.

"Could we send someone to visit the Demon's Lair?"

To determine whether the True Demon Tribulation is real or not, you can get a pretty good idea of ​​the truth by checking if the Demon Cave the other party mentioned actually exists.

"Of course, will you all go in person or send your disciples?"

Chen Sheng exchanged words with several elders of the Heavenly Demon Alliance for a moment, and then said:
“We have appointed Elder Chen Xingzhou to go there.”

Chen Xingzhou stepped forward and said in a deep voice:
"I am willing to go, but when shall we depart?"

After becoming a demon cultivator, he discovered that he possessed considerable talent in this area, which was very compatible with the Heavenly Demon Transformation Scripture.

Now, his cultivation has reached the third level of the Golden Core stage, and he is facing the bottleneck of the mid-stage of the Golden Core stage. He is the most promising elder of the Heavenly Demon Alliance, and his strength is second only to the alliance leader Chen Sheng and the vice alliance leader Wu Long.

He was willing to risk going to Yuanhe Mountain because after breaking through to the Golden Core stage, he gained an additional talent: he could distinguish the truth or falsehood of others' words and sense their malice.

The vice leader harbored ill will towards him because his presence threatened the other party's position.

Chen Xingzhou could sense the arrogance hidden in Yun Nianrong's words, but he didn't realize that she was lying.

Since the other party is sincere in cooperating, he can gain more favor from the leader of the alliance by taking the opportunity to visit the Demon Cave.

With the alliance leader's appreciation, one can offset the deputy alliance leader's subtle targeting, and might even be able to curry favor with a Nascent Soul level demonic cultivator.

His cultivation level improved by leaps and bounds after switching to the Heavenly Demon Transformation Scripture, so he was not resistant to changing his cultivation method.

If demonic cultivators can offer more, then cultivating demonic cultivation might not be so bad.

Yun Nianrong smiled slightly, "We can set off now. The sooner you feel our sincerity, the sooner we can reach a cooperation agreement."

Chen Sheng transmitted a few words of advice and then spoke:
"Elder Chen, everyone will remember your contributions to the alliance."

Although it was called a visit, there were considerable risks involved, and he was very satisfied with the other party's initiative to volunteer.

"It is my duty to share the burdens of the alliance leader."

Chen Sheng praised:
"Haha, good. With a cultivator like Elder Chen in the alliance, how can we not grow stronger?"

Wu Long had a smile on his face, but displeasure flashed in his eyes.

After saying goodbye, Chen Xingzhou, Yun Nianrong, and the others departed on their magical artifacts.

Chen Xingzhou's magic weapon is a fiery red staff, neither gold nor iron, capable of changing size at will. His fire ape bloodline grants him immense strength, making this magic weapon extremely convenient for him.

They can either use their magical weapons for close-quarters combat or control them with hand seals to smash enemies.

Neither of them spoke. To ease the awkwardness, Chen Xingzhou cupped his hands and said:
"I don't know how you gentlemen are addressed. My name is Chen Xingzhou. Before joining the Heavenly Demon Alliance, I was a disciple of the Chen family of Puyun Mountain under the jurisdiction of the Golden Spirit Sect."

He was forced to join the Heavenly Demon Alliance back then, so he felt that these people were also forced to become demonic cultivators of Yuanhe Mountain.

Yun Nianrong's gaze became distant. "Back then, I was just a rogue cultivator, not comparable to a family disciple like Elder Chen. Later, I was valued by the sect leader and was able to join the Holy Sect."

“Our Chen family was just a small family that depended on the Jinling Sect. Later, the whole clan fled, and the Jinling Sect occupied our spiritual veins.”

Remembering that she had an enemy who was a cultivator from the Golden Spirit Sect, Yun Nianrong took the initiative to strike up a conversation.

Chen Xingzhou said, "Back then, our family served the Jinling Sect as our master, but we ended up in a state of exile, with heavy casualties among our clansmen."

"If I achieve success in my cultivation in the future, I will definitely seek revenge against the Golden Spirit Sect for the blood debt."

Yun Nianrong's face broke into a wider smile. "These sects have reaped countless benefits from us. I support your decision, fellow Daoist."

If the other party had a higher cultivation level, she felt they would be a good ally.

She wanted to take revenge on the enemy with whom she had a long-standing feud, but one person alone was not enough.

It's not good to tell the cult leader about the whole thing, lest he be labeled as incompetent.

For a cultivator at the eighth level of the Golden Core stage to be defeated and forced to flee in disarray by an enemy at the middle level of the Golden Core stage, even burning his essence blood, is an utter disgrace.

If given the chance, she would bring more people to ambush the target in order to vent her frustration.

Chen Xingzhou asked, "Master, I have received news that the Golden Spirit Sect has grown rapidly in recent years, with many Golden Core cultivators emerging. Is this true?"

Yun Nianrong's expression turned serious. "Indeed, this sect has grown very rapidly in recent years."

It has been confirmed that they currently possess at least seven Golden Core cultivators, something unimaginable in the past.

There are more Golden Core cultivators in the Holy Sect, but that's due to the characteristics of their cultivation techniques and the opening of the Demon Cave's seal.

In her memory, the Golden Spirit Sect only had two Golden Core cultivators, but now that one of them had passed away, there were still so many Golden Core cultivators, which she found unbelievable.

(End of this chapter)