Immortality and Cultivation: Starting with Improved Spirit Rice

Chapter 91: Re-entering the Illusion, with Great Gains!

The feeling of weightlessness faded.

When Zhao Cheng'an opened his eyes again, the magnificent golden hall appeared before him once more.

The air was filled with a mixture of sandalwood and the smell of blood, just like the previous times.

The door to the side hall was flung open, and Huai Xuanzi, with a missing arm, stumbled out. The old Taoist shoved the Netherworld Seal into Huai Xuanzi's palm and hissed, urging him to leave quickly. An explosion rang out from the depths of the main hall, and the demonic fox shrouded in black mist appeared amidst thick smoke. The old Taoist summoned thirteen golden flying swords, which clanged as they met the fox's attack.

This time, Zhao Chengan did not make any further attempts.

He gripped the cold magic seal in his hand, turned and rushed towards the palace gate.

Behind them came the booming sound of sword light colliding with black energy, followed by the deafening crash of beams and pillars shattering. The entire transmission hall collapsed in the violent explosion, sending smoke and dust billowing into the sky.

The scene, as it unfolded before Zhao Cheng'an's eyes, felt strangely unreal.

Just like a cutscene that's played repeatedly in a game, every collapse trajectory and every flying piece of debris is perfectly accurate.

He didn't turn around.

With the Dharma seal in hand, the goal is clear.

"To enter the Taiwei Dharma Hall, which is locked by restrictions, one must first arrive at the sect's central hub, the Cardinal Pavilion, and obtain access to the Dharma Hall from there."

"The Cardinals' Chamber is located at the other end of the mountain gate plaza. You need to pass through this corridor first, where you may be ambushed by the Heavenly Demons."

As Zhao Cheng'an walked briskly, he looked around at his surroundings.

Fire was everywhere.

Orange-red flames licked at the carved beams and painted rafters, turning the entire sky an ominous dark red. Apart from the black mist demons that darted and swirled through the rifts in the sky, many cultivators dressed in the robes of the Netherworld Sect were fighting each other on the open ground on both sides of the corridor.

Fellow disciples kill each other.

Zhao Cheng'an's gaze swept across a battlefield, and he happened to see a cultivator's head being severed by his opponent's sword.

However, the cultivator who succeeded had no time to show his triumph.

"Bang!"

The severed head suddenly exploded, spewing out crimson tentacles that, wreathed in billowing black energy, pierced his brow with lightning speed and then burrowed into his body inch by inch through the wound.

The cultivator's body stiffened for a moment, then he slowly straightened up.

He raised his head, his once clear eyes now a hollow, lifeless gray, and a strange smile spread across his lips.

Seeing this, Zhao Cheng'an felt a chill run down his spine.

It turned out to be the case.

"These celestial demons have no physical form. Not only are they immune to ordinary spells and magical artifacts, but they can also parasitize the bodies of cultivators or demonic beasts, borrowing their bodies and cultivation levels."

"Those who are parasitized appear no different from ordinary people."

Zhao Cheng'an thought to himself, "No wonder Huai Xuanzi, with his last breath, repeatedly told me not to trust anyone."

"In a place like this, it's impossible to tell whether the fellow disciples in front of you are friends or foes."

"These demons are going way too far. What exactly did the Netherworld Sect do to have so many demons appearing within the sect?"

Zhao Chengan withdrew his gaze and quickened his pace.

Just as he stepped across a corridor strewn with pebbles, he heard a faint sound under his feet.

A familiar black mist appeared out of thin air, quickly condensing into a hollow skull in mid-air. Ghostly green flames flickered in its eye sockets as it lunged towards him.

"That's exactly what I've been waiting for!"

This time, Zhao Cheng'an was not helpless as he had been the first time.

His mind sank slightly, and the Chaotic Divination Formula composed of eight calculation cores in his Niwan Palace suddenly began to operate.

An invisible mental shock slammed into the skull.

"Bang!"

The black mist seemed to be lashed by an invisible whip, violently churning and boiling, with a sharp, piercing howl emanating from within.

"It really worked."

Zhao Cheng'an was overjoyed.

"Again!"

He endured the aching sensation deep within his Niwan Palace and continuously activated the Chaotic God Calculation Formula, launching a second and third attack on the skull.

After several mental bombardments, the skull finally gave way, letting out a mournful cry before dissipating into a cloud of black mist and vanishing.

"It's a success."

However, Zhao Chengan's face also turned somewhat pale.

He raised his hand and pressed his temples, where they were throbbing violently, accompanied by a tearing headache from excessive mental exertion.

While the Chaotic Divination Technique is powerful, it also consumes an astonishing amount of divine power.

"I need to be even more careful from now on. With my current spiritual strength, I can only use it a few times in a row." Zhao Cheng'an adjusted his breathing and continued walking forward.

After bypassing the burning corridor, he finally saw the majestic Cardinals' Pavilion in the distance amidst the smoke and dust.

"We can see it now, but we still need to cross this square in front of us."

Zhao Cheng'an had reached the end of the corridor and kicked open the blocked door. However, before he could even catch his breath, another cloud of black mist suddenly rushed out from the shadows to the side.

"fall!"

Zhao Cheng'an's gaze sharpened slightly.

Run the Chaotic Divination Formula again and defeat it.

Just as he was about to continue forward, he suddenly felt something gently touch his ankle.

Zhao Chengan lowered his head.

A blood-soaked hand was gripping his ankle tightly.

Following the arm, one could see the corpse of a cultivator lying in a pool of blood, covered in blood, with a large hole torn in his robe at the chest.

"You're still alive?"

Zhao Cheng'an's heart skipped a beat, and he subconsciously spoke.

But before he could finish speaking, he realized something was wrong.

The corpse suddenly raised its head.

With a chilling tearing sound, the head detached from the neck and hovered in mid-air, opening a gaping maw full of fangs as it lunged at his face.

"No way! There's even a 'door-opening kill' tactic—that's too sneaky!"

Zhao Cheng'an's pupils contracted.

Even if he knew beforehand, let alone that he was completely unprepared, it would be difficult for him to deal with two Heavenly Demons at the same time, given his current level.

"Bitterness!"

The head was moving too fast; he didn't have time to use his divine sense to react.

Zhao Cheng'an sighed silently to himself.

The next instant, everything went black.

"vegetable!"

"hiss!"

In a luxurious cabin on the Wenda, Zhao Cheng'an suddenly sprang up from the bed like a carp leaping into the air.

He was panting heavily, his hands still frantically flailing in front of him, as if trying to brush away the skull that had lunged at his face. What had just happened was truly horrific; his entire face seemed to have been devoured, leaving Zhao Cheng'an still somewhat shaken.

It took him a while to realize what was happening.

That head, that gaping maw, and the sudden darkness before us were all just a scene from an illusion.

He is now sitting comfortably in the room of the fairy boat.

Zhao Cheng'an let out a long breath and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

The undershirt on his back was soaked with sweat, clinging coolly to his skin. Deep in his mind, the excruciating pain from when that head bit off his divine consciousness still lingered, a feeling so real it made his heart pound.

He closed his eyes, channeled the spiritual energy within his body, and slowly nourished his somewhat swollen Niwan Palace.

After some time, the tearing headache gradually subsided.

Zhao Cheng'an opened his eyes again, preparing to stand up and pour himself a glass of water to moisten his throat.

But at that moment, Zhao Chengan suddenly had a thought.

He focused his mind on the Niwan Palace (a point on the back of the head) and carefully sensed it.

The Chaotic Divination Formula, composed of eight calculation cores, operated more smoothly than before, and the amount of divine power required to maintain it was less than I remembered.

"It wasn't my imagination. During the illusion trial—my own divine sense actually increased by a certain amount!?" Upon realizing this, Zhao Cheng'an's face immediately lit up with joy.

He began to carefully consider the matter in his mind.

Each time he entered the illusion, he needed to fully activate the Chaotic Divination Technique to fight against those heavenly demons. Each time he was killed or ejected, his divine sense would suffer a violent impact and depletion.

This feeling was exactly the same as when he repeatedly tried to inscribe the formula for interrupting the flow in the bamboo house of the Seven Kingdoms.

"I see."

Zhao Cheng'an suddenly realized, "This illusion of the Netherworld Soul Jade is itself an excellent whetstone for divine senses."

Fighting the Heavenly Demon inside is like stretching and tempering one's own spirit and will again and again.

"Although being killed each time is never a pleasant experience, it also brings certain gains."

"If that's the case, then the value of this jade pendant is even greater."

"It's a pity I can't experience it forever. The pain of death inside is real. I cultivate the authentic Xuanmen mental techniques, not some evil art like 'Azure Transformation and Ascension,' otherwise my spirit would not be able to bear it, and that would be a loss."

After realizing this.

Zhao Cheng'an's previous discouragement from failure vanished, and his eyes were filled with enthusiasm.

Over the next two weeks.

Whenever Zhao Cheng'an had free time, he would immerse his divine sense into the Soul Jade and enter that illusionary realm filled with blazing fire.

The danger inside was far greater than Zhao Cheng'an had anticipated.

Each time the excruciating pain of death jolted him awake from his bed, his temples throbbing. But each time he regained consciousness, he could clearly feel that his spiritual power had improved by a fraction.

Pain and reward coexist.

Zhao Cheng'an gritted his teeth and persevered.

Inside the sunroom, the sound of the Lingquan Waterfall gurgling could be heard.

As usual, Zhao Cheng'an, Luo Qingyi, and Ning Zixu sat around the stone table by the Spirit Pool, each holding a book and notebook, occasionally exchanging a few words with each other.

Luo Qingyi was flipping through a thick book when her slender fingers paused on the pages, as if she had encountered some difficulty.

She raised her head and looked at Zhao Chengan opposite her.

-

"Fellow Daoist Zhao, here is a question about bridging runes of different attributes."

Directly coupling fire and ice runes can easily lead to structural collapse. The book suggests adding earth runes as a buffer, but this would make the rune domain too large. Do you have a better idea?

Zhao Cheng'an didn't stop writing, and almost casually answered: "There's no need to use earth talismans. A miniature closed loop structure can be embedded between the fire talisman and the ice talisman, allowing their energies to cancel each other out in a closed loop. This will prevent collapse and save most of the talisman domain."

Luo Qingyi was stunned for a moment.

She quickly went through the structure Zhao Chengan had described in her mind and found that it was indeed feasible, and far more ingenious than the methods in the book.

She looked up, a rare hint of surprise flashing in her usually cool eyes. "Zhao, it seems like you're learning faster and faster lately."

Luo Qingyi said with some disbelief, "Although rune-related subjects have always been your strong point, I remember that you needed to think for a while before you could answer such complex coupling problems, but now you can answer them almost fluently."

Ning Zixu, who was sitting on the other side and engrossed in flipping through his notes, also looked up when he heard this and his gaze fell on Zhao Chengan.

We agreed to learn and improve together, but were you secretly sabotaging us behind our backs?