Immortality and cultivation begin at age forty, starting with Foundation Establishment.

The commotion at Qianchongfeng alerted Yu Mochou, who was secretly observing.

She dared not venture into the mountains, but if anyone from Thousand Peaks dared to come out, none of them would be able to return.

Regardless of whether Chen An wins or loses.

Yu Mochou was confident she could kill this group of people.

Moreover, Chen An might not necessarily lose. He displayed some strength and quickly killed a Foundation Establishment Peak demonic cultivator who was far beyond his own realm.

For Yu Mochou, Chen An had already met the required standard.

Such strength is comparable to that of the top geniuses in the sect.

Ye Hongyi has good taste.

In battles among cultivators, there's no such thing as sneak attacks; any method that can kill is a good method.

If a Foundation Establishment cultivator can ambush and kill a Golden Core cultivator every time, then this Foundation Establishment cultivator possesses the combat strength of a Golden Core cultivator. Even if a Golden Core cultivator is right in front of him, he must address him as an equal.

As for direct combat? Only sect cultivators would have such competitions within their sects.

In the world of rogue cultivators, during battles between cultivators, there are many who resort to sneak attacks, poisoning, ranged attacks, or even simply run away when they can't win.

Life is the most important thing.

The strange activity at Thousand Peaks ended and returned to silence.

The battle situation of the Netherworld Sect in Qian Kingdom is in a downward trend. Even Golden Core cultivators are fleeing for their lives. No matter how confident they are, the Foundation Establishment demonic cultivators in Thousand Peaks do not dare to leave Thousand Peaks easily.

So they could only watch helplessly as Chen An tidied up the belongings left behind by the fat monk on the other side of the rift.

Even the broken alms bowl, a magical artifact, was collected by Chen An.

The fat monk's storage bag didn't contain many resources, but it did contain many Buddhist scriptures, including those for praying for the souls of the dead, for blessings, for rain, and even for children.

There were no demonic cultivation techniques among them, making it seem as if this fat monk was truly a monk dedicated to saving all living beings.

Unfortunately he is not.

The fat monk is a native evil cultivator of the Netherworld Sect. He has cultivated to the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage and has killed countless lives to date.

So much so that when the bowl broke, it released a great deal of resentment.

After the first battle ended.

Yu Mochou was looking forward to Chen An's next battle.

Chen An picked up the Ten Thousand Souls Banner from the ground.

Not far from the Banner of Ten Thousand Souls stood a Foundation Establishment level vengeful ghost with golden light flashing on its chest.

After devouring the fat monk's soul, the Foundation Establishment Fiend stopped near the Ten Thousand Souls Banner without moving.

Chen An activated the Myriad Souls Banner to collect the Foundation Establishment Ghost once again.

He dropped a ball of fire on the ground.

They cleaned up all the traces he left behind.

After that, he left with Ye Hongyi.

On the way away on the flying sword, Ye Hongyi was preoccupied with her thoughts. As a cultivator with a Heavenly Spirit Root, she had a deep understanding of the world and nature.

Especially when the alms bowl was destroyed, the whole world seemed to be wailing.

Mortals are not ants, mortals are not consumables; mortals are the foundation of heaven and earth. Demonic cultivators who consume mortals will eventually perish.

For a fleeting moment, Ye Hongyi was also infected by this emotion.

She suddenly realized something: the fact that so many sects were besieging the Netherworld Sect together might not be solely for the sect's resources.

It's also for this special feeling.

After killing the extremely evil demonic cultivator, heaven and earth bestow a reward.

This reward bestowed by heaven and earth is invisible and intangible, yet it exists mysteriously between heaven and earth.

Ye Hongyi had a feeling that as long as she kept killing demonic cultivators and evil demonic cultivators, heaven and earth would continue to reward her with this kind of reward.

This reward is the recognition of heaven and earth, which can make her cultivation path smoother and allow her to explore higher realms in the future.

Perhaps the reason why all the sects around Qian Kingdom agreed to unite against the Netherworld Cult was because of this mysterious reward.

When a sect defeats a demonic cultivator, the world will reward the sect.

When the empire defeats the demonic cultivators, the rewards of heaven and earth will be bestowed upon the empire.

In short, such rewards are of great benefit to the cultivator's faction and empire.

Ye Hongyi did not hide anything; she told Chen An about her feelings and asked if these feelings were real.

Upon hearing Ye Hongyi's words, Chen An paused for a moment, then shook his head and said, "I don't have this feeling, and I've never heard of it before. Perhaps the Golden Core seniors know something about it."

"However, I don't think we need to worry too much about this kind of thing for now."

"This feeling won't allow you to break through your current level immediately, nor will it allow you to quickly improve your strength, and it certainly won't allow you to survive longer on the battlefield."

"On the contrary, this particular emotion can affect your judgment of the situation."

"We came here not just to kill demonic cultivators."

"We are here to improve our combat strength, gain experience, showcase our talents, and let our master see us so that he will value us more."

Ye Hongyi nodded. After hearing Chen An's explanation, she didn't dwell too much on the feeling she had just experienced, just as Chen An had said.

Any benefit is something you are entitled to only if you survive.

If one dies, even obtaining the Innate Supreme Bone will be meaningless.

The fat monk died because he fell victim to Chen An's scheme.

The alms bowl was also destroyed because of Chen An.

Chen An lacked a sense of the universe and nature.

On the contrary, it was Ye Hongyi, who possessed the Heavenly Spiritual Root, who experienced this feeling.

This suggests that this is most likely a benefit unique to those with Heavenly Spiritual Roots.

Ye Hongyi's feelings made Chen An suddenly understand why the Golden Core cultivator Chen Ying had acted so impulsively to kill a third-tier canine beast.

After the dog died, it is estimated that similar experiences were transferred to Chen Ying, which is her greatest gain.

Cultivators with celestial spiritual roots are people favored by heaven and earth.

Heaven and earth place high hopes on cultivators with celestial spiritual roots.

They were guided to cleanse humanity of its sins.

But Chen An did not believe in the will of heaven and earth.

It is not only righteous cultivators who achieve the Nascent Soul stage.

There are many demonic cultivators in the world who rise from humble beginnings, kill countless people, and eventually succeed in forming their nascent souls.

The chaos created by humankind—why would Heaven and Earth easily bestow blessings upon humanity? Ye Hongyi's feelings might be the result of a powerful being deliberately misleading cultivators, leading them down the wrong path.

A good hunter is not led by the nose by his prey.

Chen An aspires to be the hunter, but he is not afraid of becoming the prey.

One cannot stay in one place for too long. To deal with the cultivators on Thousand Peaks, one must strike by surprise.

Yu Mochou once said that the closer the cultivators are to the interior of the Qian Kingdom, the more ruthless they are; the cultivators on the outskirts are all those who have been eliminated.

Chen An needed to leave temporarily and go to the outer areas to pick some easy targets.

He will definitely return to Qianzhongfeng within six months.

If he could lure all the demonic cultivators out of Thousand Peaks, Chen An would not hesitate to use his one-time-use magic treasures.

At worst, we'll fight to the death and wait for Yu Mochou to turn the tide.

If more Foundation Establishment experts on Thousand Peaks were to die, Chen An would even be willing to call upon the Demon Wolf Legion to forcibly attack this demonic mountain.

half a month later.

Five thousand miles away.

Chen An casually attacked a demonic sect stronghold, then pretended to be defeated and fled, hoping to lure out the Foundation Establishment demonic cultivators inside.

Unfortunately, the Foundation Establishment demonic cultivator did not choose to pursue him. He left all the Qi Refining cultivators in the stronghold to cover his retreat, giving him a chance to escape.

The Foundation Establishment demonic cultivator then fled alone in the opposite direction.

Fortunately, Chen An and Ye Hongyi are two different people.

On his escape, the Foundation Establishment demonic cultivator was ambushed and killed by Ye Hongyi, who then stole his storage bag.

Along the way, the two used the same tactics to attack and kill five demon mountains.

Among them were at least one Foundation Establishment cultivator, and at most three or five, but none of them were a match for Chen An and Ye Hongyi.

Some Foundation Establishment demonic cultivators successfully escaped, while others remained forever within Chen An's Myriad Soul Banner.

As Chen An and Ye Hongyi became more and more familiar with each other, they each possessed a one-time-use life-saving magic weapon, and with a Golden Core cultivator following behind them, they acted with almost no scruples.

Murder and plunder are even more heinous than the demonic path itself.

The black aura on the Ten Thousand Souls Banner in Chen An's hand was incredibly dense.

However, Chen An was almost unaffected by the Ten Thousand Souls Banner.

It wasn't a secret technique that suppressed it; rather, a powerful ghost at the Foundation Establishment stage helped Chen An resist all the influence.

That was the same vengeful ghost that devoured the fat monk's soul back then.

As time went by, the golden light on the chest of the Foundation Establishment Demon gradually dissipated, and strange expressions appeared on the Demon's face.

Over the past two weeks, the expressions of the Foundation Establishment Ghost have been constantly switching between horror, crying, anger, and smiling.

Finally, he stopped only when he had a calm expression similar to Chen An's.

The Foundation Establishment stage ghost stared at Chen An, as if waiting for something.

Chen An casually took a piece of ore from his storage bag and tossed it into the distance, ordering, "Retrieve it."

The Foundation Establishment ghost swiftly pounced on the ore, then grabbed it with its ghostly claws, brought it to Chen An, and handed it to him.

Ye Hongyi exclaimed in surprise, "This vengeful ghost has become a spirit!"

"It seems to have gained sentience. The vengeful ghosts that cultivators become after death can actually be reborn with sentience."

Chen An did not cultivate the path of ghosts and was not very clear about the situation of vengeful ghosts, but the vengeful ghost in front of him was clearly developing in a positive direction.

A vengeful ghost with intelligence can do too many things.

One of the main reasons why the Ten Thousand Souls Banner is criticized in the cultivation world is that once the fierce ghosts inside are released, they sometimes indiscriminately slaughter enemies and allies.

If even one of these ghosts is intelligent, it can control the horde and elevate the level of the Myriad Souls Banner to a higher tier.

If properly nurtured, the Myriad Soul Banner in Chen An's hands will surpass the level of a magic weapon.