“Are you sure you’ve made your choice? I’ll warn you beforehand, the inheritance you’re about to receive won’t be as easy as you imagine.”
“I’m ready,” Jiang Huai replied earnestly. True Person Qingxuan nodded slightly. She raised her hand, and a distorted vortex soon appeared before them. Then she said, “Next, I’ll take you to Overlord True Person’s inheritance first.”
But before that, she turned her gaze to Wen Wanwan. “You possess the Grand Xuan Sacred Body, and your soul’s strength is several times tougher than that of ordinary cultivators. Would you like to try Purple Slaughter True Person’s inheritance?”
Upon hearing this, Wen Wanwan immediately stood up. “I’m willing.”
“Then you come with me too.” True Person Qingxuan looked at Wen Wanwan together. Wen Wanwan stood up and came to Jiang Huai’s side. Xu Qing glanced at True Person Qingxuan and said, “Is there anything I can do?”
“Stay here and don’t cause trouble… If they both die at Mo Dan’s hands, you’ll be the only one who needs to get out alive and deliver the message to the outside world.”
True Person Qingxuan didn’t restrain the cruelty in her words. Wen Wanwan and Jiang Huai both heard her and raised no objections.
Xu Qing’s eyelashes drooped slightly, and she sat wearily on the bluestone, softly humming in response.
Immediately, True Person Qingxuan led Jiang Huai and Wen Wanwan into the vortex connecting the several secret realms, disappearing before Xu Qing.
***
Jiang Huai appeared in a cave.
There was a hazy, faint light before him, and beneath the faint light, a blurry phantom stood before him. It looked like a man, and his appearance was not old, but exceptionally handsome.
“Senior is…?”
“Overlord True Person.”
“Your title as True Person… is truly imposing.”
“Because the cultivation method I practiced is called the Overlord Art,” Overlord True Person said with a hearty laugh. “You are Jiang Huai, right?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Since you are here, it seems you have chosen the second method… Once you choose, there’s no turning back. I’ll warn you beforehand, my inheritance is far more painful than you can imagine.”
“How painful?” Jiang Huai asked, confused.
“The Overlord Art I practiced is a pure physique cultivation method. In my life, I relied solely on this method to temper my physique all the way to the Ninth Realm. Even when my cultivation reached the Ninth Realm, I knew almost no spiritual Qi Daoist magic, yet I could split mountains and suppress seas and tear space with my physical body alone.”
Jiang Huai’s eyes widened slightly. “That powerful?”
But Overlord True Person before him gave a wry smile. “Yet my death was due to my lack of proficiency in spiritual Qi Daoist magic. I was severely wounded in my soul and was doomed to die, so I had to find my tomb in advance.”
Jiang Huai was speechless for a moment.
“My inheritance isn’t as complicated as theirs, but it’s the most painful inheritance besides Purple Slaughter True Person’s… Once you decide to accept my inheritance, there’s no retreat. You must cultivate my Overlord Art. The spirit fruits and pills remaining in my secret realm for cultivating the Overlord Art are enough for you to cultivate it to the Great Perfection of the fifth level.”
“Senior still hasn’t said how it’s painful…”
“It’s very simple,” Overlord True Person before him said with a relaxed smile. He then took out a pile of pills and spirit fruits, along with an ancient cultivation manual, and placed them before Jiang Huai. “Because cultivating the Overlord Art is very painful.”
***
Wen Wanwan also arrived before a cave.
A phantom appeared before her as well. The phantom was dressed in a purple dress. Although the light and shadow were hazy, it was still possible to see that she was once a beautiful fairy. However, her features were exceedingly cold, and her pair of red eyes were incredibly dazzling.
“Are you the one who possesses the Grand Xuan Sacred Body?”
“I am. My name is Wen Wanwan. Senior is…?”
“My name is Purple Lu,” True Person Purple Lu’s voice was also extremely cold, even carrying an inexplicable pressure. Wen Wanwan suddenly felt a chill down her spine. After a moment, Purple Lu spoke, “Did True Person Qingxuan warn you that my inheritance is not so easily obtained?”
“True Person Qingxuan did, but… Wanwan doesn’t understand,” Wen Wanwan replied softly.
“I primarily cultivated the Slaughter Sword. In my life, I’ve slain countless evil cultivators, so my inheritance is extremely filled with malevolent energy. To learn my sword techniques, one needs an extremely tough soul. But just having a tough soul isn’t enough; one also needs immense perseverance. Do you think… you have it?”
“Yes,” Wen Wanwan nodded gently.
“But I see your eyes are far too soft. Have you ever killed anyone?”
After a moment, Wen Wanwan gently shook her head.
“Then you are not suitable to accept my secret realm inheritance. Go back,” unexpectedly, True Person Purple Lu said. Wen Wanwan was stunned. “I want to try… Senior, please give me a chance.”
True Person Purple Lu looked at her calmly. “Take a step forward, extend your hand, and place it on that blood-red jade stone.”
Wen Wanwan did as she was told, stepping forward and placing her slender jade hand on the jade stone. For an instant, her consciousness was momentarily scattered. When she came to her senses, her soul had entered a blood-red space.
At this moment, the phantom of True Person Purple Lu before her was no longer hazy. It seemed this was a world of illusion, and True Person Purple Lu had guided her soul into it. True Person Purple Lu, holding a sword coldly, looked at Wen Wanwan before her.
“I never took disciples in my life because my sword techniques were too malevolent and not suitable for inheritance… To learn my sword techniques, it’s simple. Just kill my residual soul in this illusion. When you can kill me, it means you have graduated.”
“You have countless opportunities to try, but all the sword strikes I land on you will have their pain directly fed back into your mind. The passage of time here is more than a thousand times slower than outside. How much you can learn… depends entirely on how long you can endure. When you can’t bear it anymore and want to give up, tell me, and I will send you out.”
With that, True Person Purple Lu advanced, picking up the blood-colored spirit sword in her hand and slashing towards Wen Wanwan.
***
Jiang Huai’s facial features were all contorted. Even though his body trembled as if he had been electrocuted with one hundred thousand volts, he still had to reach out and swallow the pill exuding an ancient aura before him.
The next instant, his screams echoed throughout the cave.
He felt every single fiber of muscle in his body tearing and reforming, over and over again. The pain was indescribable. If not for his determination, he would have likely passed out from the agony.
“You can try smashing the cave to vent,” Overlord True Person said, sitting leisurely on the bluestone, his handsome eyes filled with playful amusement.
Hearing this, Jiang Huai punched the cave wall. Even though his fist was soon covered in bloody pulp, the pain was nothing compared to the agony in his body. Tears streamed down his face, and he even blew snot bubbles, looking utterly pathetic. He looked at the phantom of Overlord True Person before him, but Overlord True Person merely smiled helplessly, with a hint of schadenfreude in his laughter.
“Don’t worry about me laughing at your pathetic state. When I cultivated the Overlord Art, the pain made me beg and crawl on the ground, often smashing my head against the earth.”
Hearing this, Jiang Huai repeatedly smashed his head against the wall. The venting he caused only resulted in superficial injuries. The pills from the Overlord Art were constantly reshaping his physique, making his body even tougher.
“Alas, fine. I admit that my method of cultivating the Overlord Art is indeed foolish. The trick that kept me going when cultivating the Overlord Art was my hatred… When I was young, my spiritual Qi talent was inferior to others, and I could never catch up to them. But the girl I liked was alas so noble. I liked her immensely. By chance, I obtained this Overlord Art. This was my only way to turn my life around, so I cultivated day and night. When I was rolling on the ground, I would think of nothing but my hatred… hating that my talent was insufficient, that I couldn’t become a peerless genius. If I were a genius, I wouldn’t have to suffer so much.”
“I heard from True Person Qingxuan that your sword Dao talent is very high, right? You grasped sword intent in your teens… Amazing. I had to live for hundreds of years to barely touch the threshold of sword intent.”
“Did you eventually win over the woman you loved?” Jiang Huai tried to say something to distract himself.
“Alas, even though I could defeat all the men pursuing the girl with one hand later on, the girl found me unfunny and too rigid, so it ended unresolved,” Overlord True Person’s smile became more helpless. “But I later came to terms with it. Even if she didn’t like me, there were still many other women who liked me. Hey, hey, my Overlord Art’s physique enhancement isn’t just a little bit. Be careful that your Dao Companion can’t handle it later, find a few more to share the burden.”
Jiang Huai was momentarily speechless at this remark and couldn’t help but laugh. As he laughed, he cried again. The pain was slowly subsiding. He had already cultivated to the second level, which meant he had to start practicing the third level. According to Overlord True Person’s description, it would only be more painful.
He tremblingly reached out, wiped his tears, and swallowed the medicine and tears together, then continued to roll on the ground in a pathetic manner.
“Speaking of which, you have another friend who is currently undergoing True Person Purple Lu’s inheritance, right? Her inheritance is even more torturous than mine.”
Jiang Huai was startled. “What?”
“True Person Purple Lu’s inheritance pulls your soul directly into an illusion to learn her sword techniques. The way to learn is by fighting her repeatedly, and all the pain from being killed is directly fed back into your body. Several cultivators have accidentally entered True Person Purple Lu’s inheritance before, but not a single one could even last a hundred rounds… I wonder how long your friend can last.”
“Tell her not to suffer so much… Let me have that inheritance… I’ll learn it…”
“I heard True Person Qingxuan say that your sword intent is not weak compared to Purple Lu’s, so learning it wouldn’t be of much use. You don’t need to worry too much. Purple Lu has her limits… As long as your friend voluntarily gives up, she won’t be truly harmed.”
“As for you… you have more perseverance than I imagined. If I were still alive, I’d be quite willing to take you as my disciple. We could suffer together; it would be quite interesting to think about.”
Overlord True Person said with a smile. Jiang Huai smiled helplessly. At this moment, his hair was disheveled, and there was not a trace of his former calm and elegant demeanor. He tremblingly reached out, took another pill for cultivating the Overlord Art, and put it in his mouth.
After obtaining these inheritances, Jiang Huai vowed… he would gouge out Mo Dan’s flesh piece by piece and make him taste this kind of pain!
