All Heavens: Dual Cultivation of Magic and Martial Arts Starting from the Republic of China

Chapter 62 The Truth and the Root of Everything [Part 2] (First Update)

At this moment, among the black and red evil energy surging out from the collapsed body of the Hedgehog Evil God, there were strands of broken divinity and evil energy mixed with a strange dark red aura—all of which were forcibly drawn out and absorbed into the Heavenly Decree!

A purple halo that only he could see instantly appeared before Fu Ze's eyes.

Lines of ancient characters quickly emerged from it.

[The deity in charge of the incense offerings has been destroyed: a spirit that had been corrupted by extraterrestrial evil.]

[Target identified: Non-human spirit, a deity worshipped by incense, whose spirituality has been corrupted and contaminated by extraterrestrial evil.]

[Materials obtained: Fragmented incense offerings, divine essence; boundless unclean earth and malevolent energy; aura of extraterrestrial evil entities. Can be converted into Heavenly Dao Points]

[Should we convert immediately?]

The information before him gave Fu Ze a slight jolt.

Is the incense-burning ground contaminated by evil spirits from outer space?

really!

The reason why this hedgehog-like earth god fell into evil is not simply because he went astray in his cultivation, nor because he suddenly went mad, but because he was corrupted and polluted by some kind of foreign evil thing!

But at this moment, he didn't care about any of that, because Li Junfeng next to him was in a very bad situation!

The earth-shattering attack of "Borrowing Blood to Burn Life" just now, although it finally severed the connection between the dark red metal and flesh on the Hedgehog Evil God's head and completely killed him, came at a huge cost.

Fu Ze's vast spiritual energy in the Niwan Palace was completely depleted, leaving him with numerous wounds all over his body.

As for Li Junfeng, his face was as pale as paper, and his lips were blue. Originally, as a Grandmaster of Internal Energy, his vital energy was vigorous, and he stood there like a furnace. But at this moment, that blazing, furnace-like aura of vital energy had suddenly weakened by more than half.

Fresh blood was also flowing from between his mouth and nose.

Fu Ze's heart tightened.

"Brother Li!"

He was about to go over and help Li Junfeng up.

But at that moment, the Heavenly Decree on his chest trembled once more.

next moment.

A massive, indescribable fragment of consciousness, accompanied by a multitude of chaotic images, crashed into Fu Ze's mind.

boom!

Fu Ze's vision went black.

All sounds around me faded away in that instant.

Zhao Rui's exclamation, Li Junfeng's heavy breathing, the sound of the wind in the mountains and forests—all seemed to be seen through a thick curtain of water.

He felt as if he had been dragged into the depths of darkness. Then, the first image appeared in the darkness—

That was a mountain.

Layer upon layer of verdant mountains, lush and verdant.

At the foot of the mountain lies a village, with wisps of smoke rising from its chimneys and the sounds of chickens and dogs filling the air. Beside the village, a river flows gently, and fields stretch out one after another. In spring, the paddy fields reflect the sky; in autumn, golden waves of rice ripple across the water.

"It looks like—it's River Bend Village!"

Fu Ze immediately realized that this must have been what Hewan Village looked like a long time ago.

Back then, Hewan Village didn't have the oppressive and lifeless atmosphere it has today. Although the villagers lived a simple life, their faces still had the warmth and vitality of human life.

The screen rotates.

Deep in the mountains and forests, an ordinary little hedgehog peeked its head out from the grass.

It's not big, and its thorns aren't particularly sharp. When it encounters a person, it instinctively curls up into a ball. Only when it encounters snakes, insects, or rodents will it cautiously pounce.

It was originally just an ordinary little animal in the mountains.

It's unclear which day it was, perhaps because I ate an old herb, or perhaps because I slept in a place where the earth's spiritual energy converged. Or perhaps it was simply that all living things in the world have their own destiny.

Suddenly, the hedgehog gained sentience and became a little demon.

Of course, it didn't suddenly become as intelligent as a human. Rather, it vaguely and unconsciously came to know the concept of "I" for the first time.

It knows it is itself, knows that plants flourish and wither, knows that the wind blows from the other side of the mountain and the rain falls from the clouds, and also knows that the two-legged humans below the mountain will build houses, cultivate the land, and worship the gods of heaven and earth in their villages.

Later, it grew bolder and began to secretly observe the lives of these "two-legged creatures" from a closer distance.

Watch them plow in spring and harvest in autumn, watch them have weddings and funerals, watch them kneel in front of the local temple during droughts, praying for rain.

At that time, the Earth God enshrined in the Earth God Temple in Hewan Village was just a clay statue without any spirit. Incense smoke swirled around, but no real deity responded.

After observing the hedgehog for a while, a strange thought gradually arose in its mind.

It wanted to help the clay statue respond.

The thought was simple: these "two-legged creatures" offer incense and kowtow every year, bringing rice, noodles, and fruits, and murmuring prayers for good weather and peace for their homes. Since no one else hears them, if it does, shouldn't it be able to help?

So it began to try to communicate with the earth's veins.

It was originally a small mountain animal, naturally close to the soil and fond of digging burrows underground. Over time, it actually managed to find the shallow ley line beneath the river bend village.

The earth's energy is thick and gentle, like the earth's breath.

The hedgehog poured its spirituality into the earthen statue in the temple, little by little. Then, it channeled its spirituality into the statue.

That day, a timely rain fell on Hewan Village.

The almost cracked soil in the rice paddies was moistened again.

The villagers were overjoyed, saying that the local earth god had appeared to them.

The incense offerings flourished ever since.

The hedgehog has truly become the land god of Hewan Village.

It doesn't have any grand principles or understand any divine system; it simply guards this land.

If someone loses a cow, it will drive away the wild dogs in the mountains and force the cow back to the village entrance.

In years when there is too little rain, it draws in a little moisture from the earth's energy.

If a child in a household is possessed by an evil spirit at night, it imbues the incense ash in the local temple with a certain spirituality, enabling it to quell those insignificant wandering ghosts.

A century has passed slowly.

The local earth god of Hewan Village, though just one of the most common and weakest rural deities, is still quite diligent.

Because it became a god earlier, its strength and experience are much greater than those of the local earth gods in the surrounding villages.

Huai Shu Village, Shuang Jing Village, Liu Gou Village, Bai Tian Village, Shi Qiao Village — the local earth gods in these villages are sometimes spirits of plants and trees, sometimes mountain spirits, and sometimes just a bit of divine consciousness slowly condensed from the earth's veins and incense offerings.

They usually listen to the hedgehog-like local deity of Hewan Village.

This is not a hierarchical system of divine authority, but rather more like the respect that is naturally shown to a virtuous and powerful person in the countryside.

The hedgehog-like Earth God in the picture occasionally communicates with the smaller Earth Gods deep in the earth's veins.

Sometimes it's a reminder not to be too greedy for incense offerings, sometimes it's helping them regulate their earth energy, and sometimes it's a grumbling, almost old-fashioned, comment about which local temple has received too much incense, with a hint of pride.

Upon seeing this, Fu Ze was filled with emotion.

From this perspective, the original Hedgehog Earth God was kind-hearted and truly a benevolent deity who protected the land.

Although it has become a local deity, the hedgehog still retains some animal instincts. For example, it enjoys the damp, quiet, and heavy feeling of deep underground. When it has nothing to do, it will use its body to dig deeper and deeper into the ground.

This is both a hobby and a form of spiritual practice.

The earth's energy seeps out from the soil, nourishing its flesh and blood, and also its spirit.

And so it went, until about twenty years ago when I was still feeling reserved—

Hedgehog Land dug up a stone deep underground in the mountains behind Hewan Village.

That's no ordinary stone.

In my memory, that thing was quietly embedded between the rock layers deep within the earth's veins. Its edges were irregular, and its entire body was dark red, like metal, or like some kind of dried blood, as if it had been sleeping there for thousands of years! The surrounding rocks were all stained dark red by it.

When the hedgehog-like Earth God first saw that thing, he was immediately filled with fear.

That fear wasn't because it knew the other person was dangerous.

It was a spiritual instinct screaming.

"Get away from it! Get away from it! Run!"

At the same time, another intense, almost irresistible desire also arose from the depths of the Hedgehog Earth God's soul.

That dark red meteorite contained a vast and strange power.

Madness, distortion, chaos—yet also incredibly powerful!

For a minor rural deity, that power is like an ordinary person seeing a room full of gold and silver, or a hungry ghost smelling the aroma of flesh and blood. Fear and addiction coexist.

The first time, the hedgehog earth god resisted the temptation and quickly ran away.

After returning to the land temple in Hewan Village, it remained in seclusion for a long time and never went deep underground again.

But the shadow and aura of that dark red meteorite seemed to remain deep within its spiritual essence.

Hedgehog Land would inexplicably think.

If I could refine that power, could I take it a step further?

It doesn't want to be a small local deity forever.

A hundred years of cultivation, a hundred years of incense offerings.

It protected the area, and gradually developed bigger ideas.

What if I could become a mountain god?

It shelters not only River Bend Village, but the entire surrounding mountain range.

Its "territory" extends for tens or even hundreds of miles.

In that case, wind and rain, mountains and rivers, grass and trees, and the earth's veins will all obey its commands.

Once this thought arises, it can no longer be suppressed!

Finally, the hedgehog-like Earth God returned to the depths of the earth, to the location of the dark red, eerie meteorite.

At first, it just watched from afar.

Later, it stretched out its claw and touched the dark red meteorite. Then, it began to try to absorb the power emanating from it.

The scene begins to become chaotic and fragmented here.

Fu Ze saw the Hedgehog Earth God's soul twisting in the dark red light. The bluish-yellow divine light on the Earth God's image was gradually eroded by black and red patterns. Its originally clear eyes gradually turned blood red. Countless strange voices even echoed in its mind.

It was neither human speech nor the whispers of demons and evil spirits, but more like some chaotic will from beyond the heavens, completely outside this world!

Incomplete, lacking even a clear intention. It's merely an instinctive urge to erode, pollute, devour, and assimilate everything!

The hedgehog-like Earth God struggled.

It knew something was wrong, and it knew this thing was extremely dangerous!

But after more than a decade, it was eventually completely eroded.

When the hedgehog opened its eyes again, it was no longer the local earth god of River Bend Village. Instead, it was a [Divine Being] possessing corrupt powers.

The intelligence of this hedgehog [Other God] is much lower than before.

Often, all that remains is instinct—hunger, erosion, pollution, and devouring—

It began to crave the innate energy of an infant!

Newborn human infants still retain the innate energy they brought from the womb. This is an extremely precious and nourishing substance for certain supernatural beings.

Therefore, it is only suitable for infants under one year old. Because as they get older, their "innate energy" gradually dissipates, making it less useful to them.

As for three per year, that number wasn't set arbitrarily.

Even in the chaotic and confused state of mind after it was contaminated, a kind of mysterious rule always remained.

One begets two, two begets three, and three begets all things!

Third, it is expansion, growth, and also the starting point for the spread of pollution.

The hedgehog-like Earth God wanted three infants to devour their "innate energy" to cultivate themselves.

After it completely fell into corruption, it finally obtained an extremely terrifying ability from that piece of extraterrestrial meteorite iron—Boundless Impure Land!

Upon seeing this, Fu Ze's heart tightened suddenly.

That's it!

The so-called "Boundless Filthy Land" is not simply about creating evil land.

Rather, it was a portion of the soil that the Hedgehog Evil God infected with by combining its own divinity, the energy of the earth's veins, the power of incense, and the corrupting power of meteorite iron from outer space.

This soil is its true "extension of its essence." One could even say that as the area of ​​the polluted soil grows larger, its "body" grows larger as well.

As long as the unclean soil is carried to other villages and falls into the soil, it will gradually pollute the local earth veins.

They steal incense offerings, distort feng shui, and suppress the local earth god's spirit! Finally, they assimilate it into a clone of the hedgehog evil god.

It's somewhat like a giant magic array used by some powerful evil cultivator, but not quite the same.

Because it doesn't require flags, talismans, array points, or sorcerers to operate it.

It is alive; it can expand on its own, infiltrate on its own, and even hide and evade!

That's why when Fu Ze attacked the unclean soil with talismans under the old locust tree in Huai Shu Village, the soil twisted and fled as if it were alive. Because it wasn't ordinary soil to begin with.

However, although the [Boundless Impure Land] is powerful, it has a limitation—it cannot be actively spread too far.

After being corrupted, the Hedgehog Evil God's intelligence declined, and it could only act on instinct. It could pollute the soil around the land temple in River Bend Village, but it found it difficult to maintain rationality in planning routes and arranging overall strategies.

So, it chose Crazy He.

The scene changes—

Fu Ze saw He Fengzi in his youth, and even earlier. Back then, He Fengzi's ancestors were hunters in Hewan Village.

Many years ago, when He the Hunter went hunting in the mountains, he once saved an injured little hedgehog from the jaws of a snake.

That little hedgehog was the hedgehog Earth God before he became a god!

And so, cause and effect came together.

Later, He Fengzi became insane and lived in a dilapidated shack behind the Earth God Temple for a long time. He also became tainted by the aura of the Earth God Temple and the land veins of Hewan Village.

In fact, in the already chaotic mind of the Hedgehog Evil God, sending Crazy He to spread the filth was not meant to harm him.

It is truly a blessing!

It believed that making the surrounding earth a part of its body was the path to a higher divine position.

As He Fengzi's proxy, he could help spread divine soil, become a divine servant, and ascend the ranks alongside it in the future. This was certainly an honor.

That's why the Hedgehog Earth God said to Crazy He: "For the sake of our ancestral friendship, I'll grant you a great fortune."

From a normal person's perspective, this is not a blessing at all, but a vicious and most twisted form of erosion and pollution!

After He Fengzi ingested the filth, his body became an unconscious, mobile source of infection.

He wandered around.

Sometimes I'm near Hewan Village, sometimes I go to Shuangjing Village, sometimes to Huaishu Village, and sometimes I walk to Liugou Village, Baitian Village, and Shiqiao Village.

A madman's wandering routes are naturally random. When he excretes his filth is also random. The Hedgehog God cannot truly control him.

This is why different villages start their sacrificial rites at different times. The closer a village is to the river bend, the higher the likelihood of contamination, and the sooner problems begin to occur.

In more distant places, it might have taken half a year, a year, or even longer before He Fengzi unconsciously took them to the filthy land.

However, the impure soil does not erupt immediately after it falls into the soil.

It requires gradually eroding the local earth's veins, slowly expanding its reach, and gradually distorting the spirituality of the local earth god. Only when the village's earth god is assimilated, and the earth temple truly becomes a projection of the hedgehog-like evil spirit, will the infant sacrifice begin.

Fu Ze saw images flashing by rapidly.

The Yellow Vitex Tree Earth God of Shuangjing Village initially sensed something was wrong and tried to resist. But the [impure soil] had already seeped into its roots. The bluish-green spiritual light was gradually swallowed by the black and red veins—

This connects to the experience of the Yellow Vitex Tree Earth God that [The Decree of All Heavens] once showed Fu Ze!

Huai Shu Village, Liu Gou Village, Bai Tian Village, Shi Qiao Village—each with its own earth god temple, each once a weak but still relatively normal earth god. All of them were corrupted, distorted, and swallowed up in this filthy soil!

Finally, he became an alter ego of the Hedgehog God.

Fu Ze even saw the Hedgehog Evil God hiding deep underground, uttering chaotic and greedy whispers.

"699

"More! I want more!"

The more impure soil it contains, the stronger it becomes.

The more polluted the ley lines, the harder it is to kill their true form and spirit.

As long as all the nearby villages are infected by the filth, and as long as incense and primordial energy continue to nourish it, it can be promoted from a local earth god to a mountain god!

When that time comes, the entire surrounding mountain range, spanning hundreds of miles, will become its divine domain.

Mountains, rivers, villages, fields, vegetation, and even the living and the dead will all become part of its body.

Its strength will also surge to a level that Fu Ze can hardly imagine now.

That was not the ascension of a true god, but a wicked expansion that took the earth as its body!

The scene speeds up until the very end—

In the depths of darkness, a clear, vast, and bright divine thought, so intense that it aroused the Hedgehog God's instinctive greed, suddenly shone into its chaotic consciousness.

"It's Mr. Liao's innate divine sense!"

Fu Ze understood.

In that instant, the Hedgehog God, who had been sleeping deep underground, was also awakened.

It didn't know who it was, but it sensed that it was something more fragrant and precious than the innate energy of an infant.

The Hedgehog God instinctively decided that if it swallowed it, it would be able to advance even further!

Then, Fu Ze and the others arrived.

My memories shattered at this point.

Fu Ze suddenly opened his eyes.

The mountain wind blew by, carrying the smells of blood, burnt stench, and the putrid odor of collapsed soil.

The scene before him became clear again.

In the fragments of his memory, he seemed to have witnessed the entire process of the Hedgehog Land God's century-long ascension to godhood, twenty years of decline, and several years of scheming. But in reality, it seemed that only two or three seconds had passed.

Fu Ze was still somewhat dazed.

"This is a lot of information!"

He finally understood that the real culprit was actually that dark red meteorite from outer space!

This thing contains some kind of insane, filthy, and evil power that doesn't belong to this world at all.

The hedgehog-shaped Earth God was just the first unfortunate thing to be corrupted, devoured, and transformed into an alien god.

Of course, the evil it later committed was also very real.

At the same time, Zhao Rui had already caught Li Junfeng, who was about to fall.

Li Junfeng's weight was half on Zhao Rui's body, his face was frighteningly pale, and blood was still flowing from his mouth and nose.

Zhao Rui himself was also in a terrible state, covered in mud, his face was covered in cold sweat, and his arms were still trembling slightly.

But he still gritted his teeth and supported Li Junfeng, while looking at Fu Ze with a worried expression.

"Brother Fu! Are you alright? You suddenly froze for two seconds just now, and your eyes were a bit vacant. That was really scary—"

I'm dying!

Li Junfeng also reluctantly raised his eyes to look at Fu Ze.

The master of internal energy was so weak that he could barely stand, and his voice was full of worry.

"What happened? Did something go wrong when you killed the evil god? Are you alright?"

Fu Ze took a deep breath, suppressing the chaotic images lingering in his mind.

He first glanced at Li Junfeng's condition.

"Fortunately, although my blood and qi have been severely depleted and my internal organs and bones have been seriously damaged, I am not in any danger of losing my life."

Fu Ze breathed a slight sigh of relief.

"Brother Li, I'm fine."

Then he just started talking.

"It's probably because it ultimately died at my hands. Before that hedgehog evil god died, some fragments of its remaining consciousness rushed into my mind."

Zhao Rui was taken aback.

"Another fragment of divine thought?"

His expression was somewhat strange.

The meaning is quite clear: How come you've run into this kind of thing again?

Li Junfeng also frowned.

"Wasn't the same thing the Yellow Wisteria Earth God in Shuangjing Village?"

Fu Ze nodded.

"Pretty much. But this time there's more, and it's more chaotic."

Zhao Rui looked at him and couldn't help but say.

"Brother Fu, are all you sorcerers like this? Killing an evil creature and then casually looking into its life story? That's like having no privacy at all! I don't want you to see that."

Good grief! They're even considering privacy here?

Fu Ze shook his head.

"Under normal circumstances, that definitely won't work. Gods are different from ordinary evil beings. When they die, their spirituality may not immediately dissipate. After I kill it, I might have a chance to sense any remaining divine thoughts—"

Li Junfeng nodded.

"No, that's not it at all; it doesn't make any sense."

That's what I'm saying.

But the way he looked at Fu Ze still seemed a little strange.

They clearly still found the whole thing strange.

However, the Hedgehog Evil God is now dead, and Fu Ze shows no signs of being corrupted by evil energy. Furthermore, given their previous experience with the Yellow Thorn Earth God, they can barely accept it.

Zhao Rui grinned as well.

"Alright then. Anyway, you guys who practice magic are all incredibly mysterious. As long as you, Brother Fu, don't get dragged into this by that evil god and suddenly have red eyes, demanding that we sacrifice infants, that's fine."

Fu Ze gave Zhao Rui an annoyed look.

Stop cursing me.

After saying that, he turned to look at the spot where he had just killed the Hedgehog God.

The place was a mess, with only scorched black soil, broken spikes, and a dull, dark red metal fragment remaining.

Fu Ze's voice turned somber.

"Brother Li, Arui, this matter is more troublesome and complicated than we thought. The local earth god of Hewan Village was not originally an evil god. It was corrupted into this state by this thing."

He pointed to the dark red metal block.

"In other words—this thing is actually the root of everything!"

What?

Li Junfeng and Zhao Rui were both somewhat surprised.

When they were fighting fiercely with the Hedgehog God, they saw it using the thing embedded in its head to unleash powerful magic, and they thought it was some kind of magical artifact.

So, this is the root of the problem?!