Starting from the Tiger Demon Yaksha, the demon immortality

Chapter 214-213 The Power of Deduction, The Time for Reckoning (Tonight won't work)
"Is this the power of the True Form Realm?"

Li Cunxiao closed his eyes and felt the changes in his body.

The biggest difference is that in the past, there was a distinction between the demon and self-awareness.

This state was intentionally created at the time of the founding of the Demonic Martial Arts, so that martial artists could separate their evil desires from their original intentions and avoid being corrupted.

However, in the realm of true form, the two minds contend, and the purpose is to eliminate separation, not to eliminate inner demons, because inner demons cannot be destroyed, but can only be overcome.

The true self merges with the true self, becoming one, the good and the evil combine, just like yin and yang;

Yin and Yang differentiate into the five internal organs and the five elements, which are connected to the six Yin and six Yang meridians and the twelve regular meridians, circulating through the elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.

From this moment on, the human body is small, the universe has a master, and all the power in the body returns to a single thought.

To give an example, when Li Cunxiao used martial arts in the past, he was actually using the power of the demon within his body, with an extra step in between.

If the demon becomes agitated and acts erratically, it will greatly affect the effectiveness of each move.

But now it's different. With the help of the Vajra, Li Cunxiao skipped the three minor stages of entering samadhi, dwelling in samadhi, and emerging from samadhi in one go, directly approaching perfection.

He didn't just merge with Nezha himself, but also merged with the other five demons under his command.

It can be said that Li Cunxiao is now the Dragon Flower Tree, the Fire Serpent Mahoraga, and the Asura. The power and innate supernatural abilities of the demon have become part of him, as if they were innate.

Any martial art can be used with ease, and the consumption of true energy is greatly reduced.

While he used to only be able to unleash three moves with the Wind and Fire Wheels, he can now unleash at least ten.

This is partly due to the increase in his true energy, but it is also because the consumption of other martial arts has decreased, allowing him to free up more true energy to activate the divine weapon.

To wield a divine weapon with the true form of the fifth realm is almost unimaginable for ordinary martial artists.

"Whoo~"

Li Cunxiao opened his eyes, his golden pupils like amber, not dazzling, but radiating a crystal-clear brilliance.

With each breath, three pairs of six arms grew from his armpits and shoulders, and two heads emerged from his shoulders.

At first, it was the fiery red color of the Flame Demon True Qi, but it quickly turned into a flesh color close to that of human flesh, just like the color that was originally on his body, like a flame that had been extinguished.

"Good good!"

Qici looked at Li Cunxiao's Nezha form with a broad smile, circled around it to examine it, and finally couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"Yang Lingjun, this humble monk has already defeated you far too much!"

He couldn't help but be happy. A twenty-year-old achieving perfect true form, and in one fell swoop at that, would astound anyone in any sect or holy land.

Yang Lingjun's disciple, Deng Xuanjing, was already an outstanding young man in the Deng Tianshi lineage of Magu Mountain, but now at twenty-five or twenty-six, he was still struggling with the six extraordinary meridians.
"Cunxiao, how are you feeling? Is there anything unusual about the Seven-Jeweled Lotus?"

Compared to the ecstatic monk, Taiyi was inevitably more cautious.

Li Cunxiao has successfully cultivated his Buddhist true form, but his Taoist true form is still in its infancy. He has never encountered such a precious treasure as the Seven Treasures Lotus before, so he can't help but feel a little nervous.

"Master, don't worry, I can sense it. Even if I first become the true form of Buddhism, I can switch back to the true form of Taoism at will later."

Li Cunxiao smiled, and with a thought, his three heads and eight arms disappeared again.

Correspondingly, countless emerald green roots emerged in the dantian, and the lotus incarnation appeared in the center.

Five true forms surround Nezha in the center, amidst the golden lotus atop his head, evoking a sense of harmony and naturalness.

Between the lotus seedpod and the lotus root, three tiny lotus root figures were immersed in a sea of ​​true energy.

In the month and a half since they obtained the Seven Treasures Lotus, the three lotus root figures seem to have grown a little. Without external help, it's hard to say how long it would take for them to condense a second inner body.

However, now that his true Buddhist form is in his incarnation, his original physical body is idle and can also cultivate his Taoist true form.

Qibaolian is like his own external hard drive, capable of storing four different programs.

"Simultaneously cultivating four or five true forms, along with accompanying retinue true forms."

Li Cunxiao wasn't particularly looking forward to it; he just felt a toothache.

Currently, the martial arts practiced only by the Buddhist lineage are not even enough to generate enough malevolent energy, let alone the need to cultivate the true form of the Daoist sect before breaking through the Heavenly Ladder.

"That's fine, that's fine."

Taiyi was relieved upon hearing this, and a smile appeared on his face.

Li Cunxiao passed through the Three Realms of True Form with ease, as easily as eating and drinking.

It's astonishing and also fills us with anticipation. What kind of power will our disciples possess when they become the two main deities and subdue hundreds and thousands of demons?

"Grandmaster is probably too low; the minimum requirement is at least a Great Grandmaster."

The old Taoist priest returned to the Vajra staff with a broad smile and checked the seal.

The senior monk, having calmed down from his joy, gave the following instructions:

"The Dragon Flower Great Handprint is a unique skill of our Pure Land lineage, which is related to the cultivation method of the primordial spirit in the future, and should not be taken lightly."

"Before you master this martial art, I will not teach you any other martial arts. Study it carefully and ask me if you have any questions."

Li Cunxiao naturally nodded in agreement, and was about to ask about the cultivation of the primordial spirit when a familiar voice suddenly came from outside the cave:

"Senior Qi, this junior Bai Xiangshan requests an audience!"

"Here we go again," Taiyi joked with a smile.

"This person is the kind of person who likes to be turned away."

"He is speaking out for the people, not making a personal request. In this day and age, that's rare."

A rare look of appreciation appeared in Qi Ci's eyes. He waved his sleeve, touched his belly, and went out.

Seeing that Taiyi didn't stop them, Li Cunxiao knew that the two must have already made their plans.

'Once the secret realm opens, it will both draw the attention of grandmasters and relieve the siege of the state city.'

Some speculations emerged, then faded away.

Li Cunxiao put aside his distracting thoughts and focused on carefully comprehending the changes after the Vajra Pestle was upgraded.

A stream of information flowed naturally, and after a moment, the corners of his mouth slowly turned up.

The vajra changed from three prongs to five prongs. The most basic benefit is that it can hold more evil energy and can store the power to break through barriers ten times, which is three times more than before.

In this way, Li Cunxiao will not have to worry about the "warehouse" not having enough space when he has a bumper harvest in the future.

Secondly, they gained more freedom by acquiring malevolent energy from demons.

In the past, when he killed demons, he would automatically absorb all the evil energy from their flesh and blood, leaving behind pure flesh and blood.

This was originally a good thing, as his status improved and the risks behind it gradually decreased, but they still existed.

After all, even if Taiyi taught him the method of alchemy, he could not guarantee that not a trace of evil energy would remain, and there would still be several months of tedious procedures such as drying and baking.

Now that's good, he can completely control the absorption process of the evil energy within the demon's body.

He can consume it whenever he wants, and he won't consume it if he doesn't want to be discovered; and he can consume the flesh of demons that he didn't kill himself, but rather the demon flesh sold in the market.

"Why didn't this ability come sooner? If it had come earlier, I could have collected enough Vajra Pestle by just browsing the black market once, and I wouldn't have needed to spend money."

Li Cunxiao chuckled to himself. In any case, with such abilities, it would be much easier for him to cultivate his own power in the future.

At least he wouldn't have to worry about raising a bunch of beastly soldiers. He knew that the reason why there were so many vicious soldiers and bandits in the military governorships was largely due to the governors' indiscriminate distribution of unprocessed demon flesh.

Both of these functions are improvements on the effects of the previous vajra, making them practical and easy to use, but not particularly groundbreaking.

What surprised Li Cunxiao the most was the third one, which was also what he had been longing for for a long time—

Deduction!

Just as the word literally means, as long as there is enough killing intent, one can use the martial arts he has mastered as a foundation to deduce a more profound advanced version, or even a completely new martial art!
In other words, from now on, Li Cunxiao has become a genius capable of creating his own martial arts techniques. Whether it's a unique skill or a divine skill, he can deduce and gradually progress from low-grade martial arts to high-grade ones.

From then on, his martial arts, apart from resources, would no longer be subject to others in terms of inheritance!

However, such a useful function naturally comes with an enormous consumption. Each deduction requires five breakthroughs, meaning it takes five full Vajra Pestle sessions to deduce a martial arts technique.

"This is a real menacing household."

Li Cunxiao's teeth ached from watching this. After all, a martial art, from beginner to master, and even if there is a grand mastery above the mastery, can be achieved in just five breakthroughs.

But for deduction, this is just the threshold.

Moreover, since the martial arts techniques derived from this study are tailor-made, they are not difficult to understand. However, Li Cunxiao still needs to cultivate them step by step on his own—or use his demonic energy to break through the barriers.

At the same time, the more martial arts techniques used for deduction and the higher their level, the stronger the new martial arts techniques will be, even with the same consumption of evil energy.

"Fortunately, I still have two grandmaster masters, so I don't have to worry about the cultivation methods and martial arts for the time being. The matter of deduction is not urgent. I need to perfect the Dragon Flower Great Handprint first."

"As my cultivation level increases, the shortage of malevolent energy will only grow larger. If I had to name an ideal place to harvest malevolent energy, it would probably be the secret realm within the dragon boat."

"The weaker ones are guards at the Yellow Court Realm, the stronger ones are captains at the fifth or sixth realm, and there are even lieutenant generals at the seventh realm. That's more than enough for me to use up to the Grandmaster level."

At this moment, Li Cunxiao desperately hoped that his two masters would accept this spiritual treasure, so that he would no longer have to go around fetching weapons, but could easily recharge the Vajra Pestle directly by his masters' side.

After my master passes away and ascends to eternal bliss, I, as his disciple, will be able to inherit his legacy...

Putting his unrealistic thoughts aside, Li Cunxiao finished tidying up his loot and headed out of the cave.

The winter snowstorm did not slow down or ease because of the people's suffering on the ground. The heavy snow fell thick and fast, adorning the peak of Pingdingshan with white hair, like an old man whose hair was turning white as the sun was setting.

Amidst the vast expanse of white, Qi Ci's tall figure still stood out, not because of his broad and fat frame, but because of a special aura he possessed.

It's a feeling of being integrated with heaven and earth, yet also of being a self-contained entity.

One person here is like a towering peak, majestic and imposing, whose presence cannot be ignored.

Bai Xiangshan was still wearing the robes of a fourth-rank governor, the crimson of which resembled a winter plum blossom.

Withered and slender, yet strong and resilient, it possesses a unique fragrance that defies snow and frost.

"Qin Fengquan is cruel, but not stupid. In the past half month, he has broken into smaller groups and swept through villages and fortified villages everywhere."

"According to the scouts, Qin Fengquan has already captured four or five thousand defeated soldiers and seized a considerable amount of grain and supplies. He is very likely building siege equipment."

"And many women and children were slaughtered by this madman and turned into military rations to feed the demon army."

Bai Xiangshan clenched his fists involuntarily, speaking slowly and deliberately, staring directly into Qi Ci's eyes:
"Senior, we can't wait any longer."

Surprisingly, Qi Ci, who should have been filled with murderous intent upon hearing this, appeared calm at this moment. After listening to Bai Xiangshan's analysis, he even nodded in agreement.

“That’s right. This man’s intention is probably not to attack the city, or rather, to take Songzhou is just a side effect.”

"But no matter how treacherous his intentions may be, the state capital is now at peace."

At this point, Qi Ci suddenly uttered a seemingly unrelated statement:
"So you were turned away by someone else?"

Bai Xiangshan, of course, understood what the other party meant, and smiled wryly while cupping his hands in clasped:

“My deputy, Chief Clerk Zheng Yanchang, has been neglecting his duties at the yamen lately. Instead, he spends his days visiting the Zheng family. When asked about it, he simply reminisces about kinship and expresses his affection for his relatives.”

"I have nothing to say about human ethics and natural law."

"Master Magu and his disciple, the Mountain Goat Taoist, are in seclusion cultivating the Tao and do not receive outsiders. But they are not from Songzhou, and even their fellow villagers cannot be relied upon, let alone two outsiders."

"People often say that one should harm one's neighbors, but now that the world is falling apart, it is already the case that one should harm one's own towns and cities."

"I have nothing to say."

"Then what do you have to say to me?"

As he spoke, Qi turned around, making a move to leave.

Bai Juyi was silent for a moment upon hearing this, a look of reminiscence flashing in his eyes, and slowly recited:
"The charcoal seller cuts firewood and burns charcoal in the southern mountains."

His face was covered in dust and soot, his temples were gray and his ten fingers were black.

What do you do with the money from selling charcoal? You buy clothes and food.

"Pitifully, his clothes are thin; he worries that charcoal is cheap and wishes for colder weather."

Qi Ci finally smiled, but said:

"This is an old work; what are your thoughts on it now?"

"My commitment to serving the people remains unchanged."

Bai Xiangshan took a few steps forward, turned his head to look west, and seemed to see the distant Eastern Capital and Western Capital. His voice was lower, more powerful, and more resolute, as if he wanted to cut off something binding him.

The wind and snow raged fiercely, and Li Cunxiao could not immediately spot the two figures. But then came the stirring sound of a pipa, like the sharpening of swords and spears, highlighting the resounding clang of iron and stone.

"Arrogant and proud, they rode and their saddles gleaming in the dust. Those in crimson robes were all high-ranking officials, and those in purple ribbons were all generals."

He boasted of attending a banquet in the army camp, riding away like clouds. The wine vessels overflowed with the finest wines, and delicacies from land and sea were laid out.

I peel oranges from Dongting Lake and slice fish from Tianchi Lake. With a full stomach, I feel at ease; with a few drinks, my spirits soar even higher.

That year, there was a drought in Jiangnan, and people in Quzhou resorted to cannibalism!

"Good! Good! Good!"

The three "good"s, each louder than the last, filled Li Cunxiao's heart with an overwhelming killing intent, yet at the same time, a joy of meeting a kindred spirit over wine arose spontaneously.

He was drunk without drinking any alcohol, but this was not due to his own emotions. Rather, it was because Qi Ci's primordial spirit was too powerful, and he could infect others without any effort.

But all of this came and went quickly. By the time the snowstorm had subsided, Bai Xiangshan was nowhere to be seen.

Only the senior monk stood atop the mountain, overlooking the barren fields and the distant city of Songzhou.

"how?"

Taiyi appeared beside him without him even noticing.

"Winter Solstice in five days, retrieve the treasure, and vanquish the demon!"

(End of this chapter)