Why are all of us who transmigrated at the same time demons?

Lu Taishang's gaze grew even colder, like the ice on a snow-capped mountain that had never melted for a thousand years.

"Sect Master Gongsun Yan, Vice Sect Master Li Daoxuan, and Demon Extermination Peak Chairman Bi Nian, the three of you stay here. The rest of you get out!"

As if granted a pardon, the crowd bowed and then fled from the Star-Picking Pavilion in a panic.

Inside the Star-Picking Pavilion, a terrifying roar nearly shook the stars from the sky.

"It seems Third Uncle is truly enraged; he even unleashed the Lion's Roar!" The Xuanming Peak Master wiped the cold sweat from her snow-white forehead and sighed. She had to hurry and drag her good-for-nothing son back to the sect to give him a severe beating. If the punishment wasn't severe enough, the fate of her family of three would be truly tragic.

Chapter 161 Underworld Cultivation: Ascending to Heaven in One Step

The people of Huixin Sect will never know that there was only one robber who made the move, and that he was just a Qi Refining cultivator at the beginning.

Didn't the previous Demon Extermination Peak Master mention that the bandits had a gap of more than thirty days? Actually, during that time, Loran went to study the mysteries of Foundation Establishment and Core Formation.

The essence of Foundation Establishment in this world is to open up the meridians and acupoints throughout the body, transforming the true qi cultivated during the Qi Refining stage into immortal magical power. Therefore, the transition from Qi Refining to Foundation Establishment is a qualitative change. Qi Refining cultivators can reach a lifespan of up to 120 years, but upon reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, the upper limit of lifespan increases dramatically to 500 years.

Furthermore, the power of Foundation Establishment is far more profound and unpredictable than that of Qi Refining True Qi. Therefore, in the Realm of Enlightenment, only those who have reached the Foundation Establishment stage are considered to have truly entered the path of immortality. Those in the Qi Refining stage are not considered to be on the path of immortality; only those who have reached the Foundation Establishment stage are qualified to be called True Persons.

Foundation building is further divided into three grades: upper, middle, and lower, depending on the level of the foundation established. Each grade is further divided into three levels: upper upper, upper middle, upper upper, middle upper, middle middle, middle lower, lower upper, lower middle, and lower lower. This is the so-called "Nine Grades Immortal Foundation System".

Generally speaking, only those who have reached the first four ranks are considered to have a chance of becoming a Golden Core cultivator. Those with a mid-ranking Immortal Foundation in the fifth rank can also become Golden Core cultivators if they have some good fortune, but such cases are extremely rare. The last four ranks are considered to have no chance of becoming Golden Core cultivators, especially the lowest-ranking Immortal Foundation, which may even regress if not properly nurtured after being established.

For Loran, isn't Foundation Establishment something that anyone with hands can do? He had a different idea about it.

In his view, the foundation-building step was actually unnecessary, or rather, unnecessary for a peerless genius.

Loran used the three great immortal techniques to analyze the so-called Golden Core and Nascent Soul path, and he found that the Tongming Realm's system was actually inseparable from the four steps of Taoist cultivation.

The foundation of the Qi Refining stage is still refining essence into Qi, but because the cultivation environment in the Tongming Realm is quite luxurious, they can directly draw external spiritual energy into their bodies. This is actually similar to the Qi Refiners of the pre-Qin period, and can be considered a combination of internal alchemy and ancient Qi Refining methods.

Foundation Establishment and Core Formation are simply breakdowns of the Qi Refining and Spirit Transformation stage. From Foundation Establishment to Core Formation, it is merely an improvement in the level of magical power; only when one reaches the Nascent Soul stage does a qualitative change occur.

The Nascent Soul is actually the true Golden Elixir. The Nascent Soul is the process of the Holy Embryo, in which the soul descends into the inner elixir of the Core Formation stage, where essence, energy, and spirit are condensed into one, and the elixir breaks through to form the Nascent Soul.

The cultivation of the Nascent Soul stage involves nurturing the sacred embryo until it grows into a complete and perfect primordial spirit. After that, the next step is to advance to the Deity Transformation stage and begin the cultivation of refining the spirit and returning to emptiness.

Foundation Building and Core Formation are essentially the same stage, but advancing directly from Qi Refining to Core Formation is too difficult for ordinary people. Therefore, the predecessors in the cultivation world have broken down this stage of cultivation into two major realms.

But Loran found this too troublesome, especially since this world, besides Qi Refining, also had Body Refining cultivators, and divine sense could be cultivated independently of magic power and the physical body. Practicing them one by one, how troublesome! Should they all be trained together?

Magical power, physical body, and spiritual consciousness should advance in tandem and complement each other.

After acquiring a large amount of resources through plunder, Loran found a secluded place to build a cave dwelling and began his research. The resources he had previously plundered were currently being used for his research for a while.

He felt that Qi Refining was divided into ten levels, Foundation Establishment into early, middle, late and perfect stages, and Core Formation into early, middle and perfect stages. If one were to cultivate multiple paths simultaneously, it would be too troublesome to divide into ten levels of Qi Refining, ten levels of Body Refining, four levels of Qi Refining Foundation Establishment, four levels of Body Refining Foundation Establishment, four levels of Qi Refining Core Formation, and four levels of Body Refining Core Formation. The realms were endless, and this did not even include the realm of divine sense.

After some thought, Loran decided to categorize all ten levels of Qi Refining into the three acquired realms, and Foundation Establishment and Core Formation into the three innate realms. Moreover, upon entering the innate realm, Body Refining, Qi Refining, and Spirit Refining must be unified. The powers cultivated through these three methods will be called Divine Power, Magical Power, and Mental Power, respectively. Loran now needs to unify these three.

After extensive experimentation and analysis, Loran finally devised a method for unifying the three forces, named the "Great Freedom Heavenly Demon Scripture." Ultimately, it formed a Heavenly Demon Primordial Golden Pill, and the power cultivated from it was also called Primordial Power.

Inside the cave, Loran used a large number of spirit stones to artificially create a spiritually rich environment. He sat cross-legged and began to break through to the Innate Realm according to the methods in the "Great Freedom Heavenly Demon Scripture".

Loran fully opened up his own little world, using his spirit to remotely sense the void beyond the Transparent Realm. The Taiyin and Taiyang stars outside the Nine Heavens Gale Layer were sensed and began to descend two streams of star power. The two streams of star power appeared around Loran in the form of true fire from the sun and true water from the moon, respectively, and began to temper his physical body with water and fire.

Beyond the Transparent Realm lie other worlds, and between these worlds lies the void, inhabited by numerous void creatures, among which the most prominent are those known as Void Demons. These creatures mostly lack physical bodies, existing instead as a spiritual force adrift in the void. When a cultivator begins their breakthrough from the Foundation Establishment stage to the Core Formation stage, interacting with the heavens and earth, these Void Demons sense this and descend from the void, infiltrating the body of the cultivator undergoing the breakthrough to wreak havoc.

This is the demonic tribulation during the Foundation Establishment stage when breaking through to Core Formation. When reaching the Nascent Soul stage, the demonic tribulation is further divided into external demonic tribulation and internal demonic tribulation. Internal demonic tribulation is formed from the cultivator's own distracting thoughts, while external demonic tribulation is formed from these Void Demons. These Void Demons often combine with inner demons and distracting thoughts, making the demonic tribulation even more terrifying.

These Void Demons often descend along the primordial energy. Due to differences between individuals and their varying affinity with different primordial energies, they are divided into many types, such as Sun Demons, Moon Demons, Rust Gold Demons, and Impure Earth Demons.

When a cultivator who cultivates by absorbing the yang energy of the sun breaks through a barrier, they are more likely to attract the sun demon; when a cultivator who cultivates by absorbing the yin energy of the moon breaks through a barrier, they are more likely to attract the moon demon.

With her powerful control over her physical body and the strength of her soul, Loran was able to communicate with the world like a Core Formation cultivator when she broke through the Qi Refining stage. Therefore, when the Void Demons saw that there was such a reckless little thing in the mortal world, they all descended to devour Loran's essence, energy and spirit.

In an instant, all sorts of demons descended from the void along with the primordial energy, including the Sun Demon, Moon Demon, Five Elements Demon, Earth Demon, Pill Demon, and so on. It was as if a gathering of demons had been held, and they all entered Loran's sea of ​​consciousness.

Then, no more demons appeared.

The demon behind sensed something was amiss. With so many fellow demons arriving, shouldn't a mere youth who hadn't even reached the Foundation Establishment stage have been devoured in an instant? Why was he showing no signs of weakness?

Just as the demons behind him hesitated and began to retreat, Loran's momentum suddenly plummeted, and all the color drained from his face.

"That's more like it! I knew it, how could this kid not react at all?"

"Indeed, indeed. It's normal that there was no reaction before. After all, being able to communicate with heaven and earth at the Qi Refining stage is definitely extraordinary."

The demons no longer doubted and rushed one after another into Loran's body, fearing that their comrades in front would have enjoyed all the delicious food.

After a while, the demons outside who hadn't yet crawled in began to have doubts again.

"That's not right. Even if he's incredibly capable, he's only at the peak of Qi Refining. How could he possibly withstand our attacks for so long?"

Soon, Loran's life force was as weak as a candle flickering in the wind, but a divine light burst forth from the top of his head.

The demons' eyes lit up.

"This kid is about to die. It seems his soul is about to be devoured, and his true nature and intelligence are showing."

"Charge! As long as we can taste the essence of their true nature, this descent to the mortal realm will be worthwhile."

"Hehehe! Such dazzling spiritual light is simply an unparalleled tonic!"

The demons surged in one after another.

After a while, the sympathy gradually ended, the divine light began to dim, and the demons who arrived late began to back down.

At this rate, we're probably only left with dishwater to eat!

Just as some of the demons were preparing to return to the void and resign themselves to their misfortune, Loran suddenly opened his eyes, opened his mouth, and a suction force like a black hole sucked all the demons in.

"How could I possibly let you return to the void to report? Wouldn't that make it difficult to borrow the power of the demons again in the future?"

After the last batch of secret demons were swallowed by Loran, they fell into his sea of ​​consciousness and saw a top-grade demon who was a hundred feet tall, with a blue face and red hair, a mouth full of fangs, holding a demon fire greatsword in his left hand and wielding a black jade halberd in his right hand. He was riding a hellish war chariot surrounded by lightning and fire, dominating the demons and killing them with unparalleled skill.

"What a wicked little devil! We hunt geese all day long, only to have our eyes pecked out by the geese!" the demons exclaimed.

"You all have helped me achieve enlightenment, and you will surely have immeasurable merit. Isn't that wonderful!" Loran's soul laughed loudly, while his hands continued to strike, sending a large number of demons flying with each strike of his halberd.

To integrate the divine power that drives the physical body, the mental power that drives the soul, and the magical power that drives the vital energy into one, there must be sufficient pressure.

Sufficient spiritual energy can compress magical power, and powerful fire and water elemental energy can temper the physical body, but where does the pressure to temper the soul come from?

Loran then thought of the Void Demon of this realm, who was quite similar to himself. He used a secret technique to lure a horde of demons and create a demonic prison within his sea of ​​consciousness. He let his divine soul fight within it, using the fighting spirit to subdue the demons and kill without equal to compress his spiritual power.

The demons slain by Loran can also become nourishment for Loran's own soul, helping him to become even stronger.

As the last secret demon was killed, Loran's killing intent surged to its peak. As if heaven and earth were colliding, the three forces began to merge and converge, each containing the other, sublimating into a primordial secret power.

Once the water and fire tempering was complete, Loran opened her eyes, and a terrifying aura emanated from her.

Achieving the Innate Realm, comparable to the Core Formation stage!

Chapter 162 Underworld Cultivation: The Spirit Farmer's Suffering

In a teahouse in Qingxiaofang, a group of familiar rogue cultivators gathered, sipping the lowest grade of spiritual tea while sharing their recent experiences.

"Have you heard? The Upper Sect suffered heavy losses!"

"Everyone knows about this big event. I heard that the upper sect has gone crazy and offered a high reward, even releasing the qualification to enter the inner sect as a reward."

"Truly from the realm of calamity cultivators..."

The group of rogue cultivators whispered among themselves. After all, Qingxiaofang was the territory of Huixin Sect. To avoid causing big trouble, they all addressed each other as "Shangzong" (a respectful term for the sect) and avoided calling Huixin Sect by name directly. Their conversation was brief, and they could understand each other's meaning with just a glance.

A young man dressed in shorts and a t-shirt got up from the table, paid the bill, and left without saying a word.

A slightly overweight, fleshy-faced rogue cultivator watched the boy's departing figure, a hint of confusion in his eyes. The tall, thin rogue cultivator at his table nudged him with his elbow and asked, "What are you looking at? Spirit stones?"

Seeing the boy walk away, the slightly chubby rogue cultivator turned to his companion and said, "Hey Qing-ge, do you know that little kid?"

The rogue cultivator named Qing Ge'er looked in the direction the slightly chubby rogue cultivator was looking, his eyes filled with doubt: "Fatty Wang, are you stupid? This is Li San's little brat. Li San just died in the mountains a few days ago. His stomach was ripped open by a demon wolf. We were the ones who brought his body back. How can you not recognize him?"

Fatty Wang gave him a disgruntled look: "Of course I know that's Li San's kid. What I mean is, why is he dressed like an old farmer? He looks so unfamiliar."

"I heard he's a spiritual farmer?" Qing Ge said somewhat uncertainly.

Fatty Wang's eyes widened in disbelief: "He got into the Ministry of Agriculture in Qingxiaofang? That's promising! How could that simpleton Li San have such a successful kid?"

“Uh…” Brother Qing said somewhat dejectedly, “He didn’t join the Ministry of Agriculture. He seems to be an individual farmer with only a dozen or so acres of spiritual land under his name.”

Fatty Wang found it even more unbelievable: "Is he out of his mind? Are there still people running individual farms in Qingxiaofang these days?"

"Who knows? Maybe they've been led astray!" Brother Qing shrugged, indicating that he wasn't too sure either.

Although in many novels about cultivating immortality, spirit farming is often depicted as the starting point for the protagonist's journey, in the Tongming Realm, it is a profession that everyone avoids like the plague. The reason is actually quite simple: this job is not only extremely arduous and time-consuming, but also pays very little, making it almost impossible to earn spirit stones.

In the Realm of Enlightenment, all forms of cultivation flourished like a hundred flowers blooming, with the powerful art of puppetry being particularly noteworthy. This technique has completely replaced traditional spiritual farming, becoming the preferred method for cultivating spiritual fields.

These puppets, equipped with basic commands, performed exceptionally well in every aspect, including loosening the soil, sowing seeds, guarding, watering, and harvesting, almost completely surpassing the abilities of the Spirit Farmer.

More importantly, the puppets do not feel tired or in pain; they can work tirelessly. Moreover, since they are not dealing with complex and dangerous situations like battles, the manufacturing process and material requirements for the Lingnong puppets are very low, making them very inexpensive and allowing for mass production.

In contrast, although the spirit farmers are also cultivators who can cultivate, they are still unable to transcend their mortal flesh and blood bodies. Using them to do chores that these puppets can easily accomplish is a huge waste.

That's why sects would never recruit disciples with low aptitude to serve as spirit farmers. For the sects, doing so is neither cost-effective nor necessary.

You must understand, even if they are just menial disciples, they are still disciples of the sect! Once you take them in, it means you will need to put in the effort to manage them and ensure they don't cause any trouble. Not only that, you also need to give them hope for improvement so they have the motivation to work hard in their cultivation, after all, no one wants to be just a menial disciple for their entire life.

Furthermore, as a disciple of the sect, you also need to teach them some spells and techniques, which requires a certain amount of time and effort. Even if the spells you teach are very basic, if you want to build a large-scale operation, you need a sufficient number of spirit farmers, which makes teaching them quite laborious.

However, a puppet that can be bought for a single spirit stone can perform most of the work of a menial disciple. The puppet requires no management, won't cause trouble, and you don't need to teach it spells or techniques; it simply needs to complete tasks according to your instructions.

In contrast, it's extremely difficult to buy a cultivator with cultivation aptitude with a single spirit stone, even one with inferior spiritual roots. After all, people with cultivation aptitude are themselves a valuable resource.

Sects only recruit disciples with outstanding aptitude who pass the assessment. Those with lower aptitude often become independent cultivators rather than spiritual farmers. These independent cultivators either join various cultivation families as guest elders, retainers, or even marry into other families.

Alternatively, he could try to make his own way, gain a certain level of cultivation, marry and have children, settle down, lay the foundation for the next generation, and eventually grow into the next immortal cultivation family. Fang Zheng would never become a spirit farmer.

Currently, the spiritual farming model adopted by major sects and cultivation families is quite similar to the large-scale farm model. Taking Qingxiaofang as an example, they have established a special Agricultural Academy. The cultivators in this Agricultural Academy are all professionals who are proficient in all aspects of cultivation.

Among them are plant masters who are experts in cultivation. They have a thorough understanding of the growth habits of various spiritual plants and can skillfully cultivate high-quality spiritual plants according to different spiritual land conditions and spiritual vein directions. There are also puppeteers who are skilled in repairing puppets. They can create various powerful puppets and are responsible for their maintenance and upkeep.

In addition, there are Earth Spirit Masters who are responsible for regulating the flow of spiritual energy and the distribution of spiritual veins in spiritual lands. They have in-depth research on the flow of spiritual energy and the distribution of spiritual veins in spiritual lands and can make the spiritual energy of spiritual lands more abundant through clever arrangement and guidance, which is conducive to the growth of spiritual plants.

These cultivators are all highly skilled professionals, each with their own expertise playing an indispensable role in the Spirit Farmer mode. The menial tasks, requiring little mental effort, are all handled by the puppets. The cultivators can efficiently complete various tasks simply by commanding the puppet army.

Of course, when faced with tasks requiring advanced skills and meticulous operation, the monks would personally take charge, demonstrating their true abilities and professional competence.

The Academy of Agriculture is led by a head who commands a large army of spirit farming puppets to cultivate vast spiritual fields.

This agricultural institute model allows the planting and production of spiritual rice and herbs to be scaled up and industrialized. As a result, individual spiritual farmers simply cannot compete with them and will only have their spiritual fields swallowed up, becoming landless cultivators.

So here's the question: if we can't earn spirit stones as individual farmers, why should we, as independent cultivators, become spirit farmers? Even if there's no hope, wouldn't it be better to find a place with scarce spiritual energy and live the life of a wealthy landowner? Who knows, maybe one of our descendants will have exceptional talent?

For cultivators, they come to cultivate immortality, not to become laborers toiling in the fields.

Why would I, a peasant, come to the world of cultivation to live a precarious life? Wouldn't it be better to be a peasant in the mortal world with wealth, land, a wife, and a stable life?

That's why Fatty Wang was so surprised when he found out that someone was actually doing spiritual farming, thinking that the other person had lost their mind.

Even as a hunting party member? Combat puppets are much more expensive than spirit farmer puppets. One combat puppet, equivalent to the combat power of the fifth level of Qi Refining, is equivalent to the price of hundreds of spirit farmer puppets. Most forces simply cannot afford to assemble an army of combat puppets.

Therefore, the area for hunting monsters has not yet been completely occupied by those major powers, and independent cultivators can still get a share of the profits.

Wang Pangzi and Qing Ge, two independent cultivators, were just chatting. They were only casual acquaintances with Li San. Their own cultivation was already difficult enough, so how could they care about the life or death of the son of someone they didn't know well? They just happened to meet him today and used it as a topic of conversation.

However, someone took it to heart: Loran, who used the "sheep-dividing technique" and the "baiting technique" to cast a wide net for fishing.

Chapter 163 Underworld Cultivation: Shennong Cultivation System

Li Minxiao has a big secret: he is a time traveler with a system.

He was a transmigrator; his parents were rogue cultivators who frequented Qingxiao Market.

He had no memory of the first sixteen years of his life. When he was sixteen, his father, Li Yuanlang, died in a wolf hunt. When his mother found out, she abandoned him and boarded the flying boat of a young master from a cultivation family who liked mature women. She left Qingxiao Market without looking back.

The loss of his father and abandonment by his mother caused him to awaken the mystery of his birth, along with the "Shennong Immortal Cultivation System".

This system offers numerous benefits simply by harvesting spiritual plants personally.

These gains include lifespan, cultivation level, and comprehension points; the more he harvests, the stronger he becomes.

The large-scale Lingnong Academy simply doesn't accept a weakling like Li Minxiao, who has poor cultivation and knows nothing about the arts of cultivation. Even for something as purely manual as harvesting, there are puppets to do it for him, so there's no need for him at all.

Therefore, Li Minxiao had no choice but to use all his family's wealth and rely on the last bit of connections left by his father to buy fifteen acres of spiritual land, preparing to become a spiritual farmer himself.

To outsiders, this looks like the kid has been so devastated by the bad news that he's lost his mind and will suffer in the future.

Fifteen acres of spirit fields—something that has gone through the proper procedures of Qingxiaofang is something that those who can get it don't bother to grab, and those who want it can't get it. It's quite useless, but it has bought Li Minxiao a lot of time to develop.

But Loran had already laid many traps. What is the biggest characteristic of a protagonist with a cheat ability?