In the vast, empty hall.
Chen Xia came looking for the Blood and Flesh Statue, and the first thing he asked was how to suppress the heart devil.
His words were very calm, as if he was asking about someone else's affairs.
The Blood and Flesh Statue looked at him carefully, mainly to examine his eyes, and after seeing no obvious changes, he replied.
"Did someone explain the changes in your heart devil to you?"
Chen Xia nodded, "It was sort of explained to me, but I still don't understand. And then something else came up, so I've been suppressing it for now. I'll properly deal with the heart devil issue after I'm done with this other matter."
The words Wang Yangzi said, Chen Xia could hear and understand them, but he just didn't comprehend them.
Your heart devil is yourself.
Chen Xia felt that wasn't right. He felt like this heart devil was not just himself, it seemed to have some ideas of its own.
The Blood and Flesh Statue began explaining, "Don't think too much about this heart devil business. Don't let your emotions fluctuate too much. Just stay calm, that's the best way to suppress your heart devil."
"However, some powerful heart devils will actively influence the host's spiritual awareness. That can't be helped. After all, the heart devil is the opposite side of yourself. You can't blame others if you lose control of your own mind."
"I know that method," Chen Xia frowned, "What I'm asking about is other methods."
The Blood and Flesh Statue hesitated for a moment, then cautiously asked, "Are you sure you can maintain a good state of mind and keep your heart devil under control?"
"It should be no problem. It hasn't shown up for a long time now." Chen Xia nodded.
"It must be dormant then." The Blood and Flesh Statue breathed a sigh of relief, then replied,
"Another way to suppress the heart devil is with a potent medicine that makes you emulate the temperament of your heart devil."
"If it goes crazy, you go even crazier than it!"
"It really is a fierce cure, but is there a relatively more gentle method?" Chen Xia shook his head and asked again.
"There is." The Blood and Flesh Statue nodded and said, "Since the heart devil has the character for 'heart', it comes from your own heart. As long as you have no heart yourself, the heart devil will vanish as well."
Chen Xia frowned, "Wouldn't I vanish too then?"
The Blood and Flesh Statue let out a soft laugh, "Precisely why it has to be a trick, making the heart devil think your heart has died. It's an ingenious pseudo-death divine ability that can even deceive the Heavenly Dao. That's how I escaped the realm back then."
His body shuddered as he stretched out his tiny hand and pointed outward, solemnly declaring,
"Immortal art - Deceiving Heaven."
Abruptly, dense golden words manifested in the hall, converging before Chen Xia.
"Just take a look, don't commit the specifics to your spiritual awareness or the heart devil will know too." The Blood and Flesh Statue reminded.
"Alright." Chen Xia nodded in agreement and started examining the archaic golden text before him.
In summary...
He didn't really understand it. Some parts seemed overly convoluted.
The Blood and Flesh Statue seemed to perceive this and smiled, "Not understanding is precisely the point. This divine ability is meant to deceive Heaven after all. If you can't even fool yourself, how can you trick the Heavenly Dao? When the time comes to use this art, you will naturally recall it."
It really was quite mystical.
Chen Xia nodded, tentatively believing for now.
The Blood and Flesh Statue solemnly added,
"However, there is one caveat with this method - after reaching the Boundary Severing Stage, you must slay the heart devil, otherwise it will start battling your main consciousness for control."
"In other words - going mad."
Two competing consciousnesses taking turns seizing control really would be madness.
"Mm." Chen nodded, then fell silent for a while before speaking again, "Regarding the alliance you proposed, I think we'd better call it off."
The Blood and Flesh Statue was startled, then nodded bitterly, "Alright."
He had anticipated this outcome already, but hearing it directly still stung a bit.
And for passing on just one immortal art, it wasn't actually worth much, since it wasn't a fighting technique and thus of little value.
Suddenly, Chen Xia added,
"But if I do become an emperor in the future, I can assist your ascension. Consider it repaying today's favor."
The Blood and Flesh Statue's eyes brightened as he quickly exclaimed, "Many thanks, sir!"
With Chen Xia's potential future as an eminent emperor backing him, the odds of his success would increase dramatically.
This time, he was determined to break through the shackles of this realm and stride the heavens as an immortal!
After this, nothing else eventful occurred.
It was as if the heart devil had settled back into dormancy, so Chen Xia also stopped striving so hard with pill concoctions, just brewing some occasionally whenever he remembered.
He probably hadn't been back to tend that herbal field in ages, but the medicinal plants seemed quite self-sufficient, growing quite lushly without needing his hoe.
In these passing years, he gradually became more and more obscure, his fame fading.
As newer figures continued emerging in the realm, making greater and greater names for themselves, talk of past cultivators dwindled more and more.
Even the Starry Sky Pill Sect was rarely mentioned anymore.
Zhen Hu and Bai Jie had left the realm together, claiming they needed to head out for more experience and would return later to rebuild the Starry Sky Pill Sect.
No one knew if they would actually make it back though.
On the path of cultivation, danger and opportunity did not always coexist.
For ordinary cultivators, far more often...there was only danger.
But Chen Xia was clearly no ordinary man.
Lady Luck would make an exception for him.
That's why he had survived until now and would continue surviving henceforth.
But the same could not be definitively said of Zhen Hu and Bai Jie.
On the day they parted...
They deliberately sought out Chen Xia to once again express their heartfelt gratitude, even offering to split their meager remaining spirit stones with him.
Chen Xia accepted.
After all, one does not refuse free gains.
Yet as a return gift, he gave them each a precious medicinal pill for healing wounds - for cultivators like them, those pills were virtually second lives.
Zhen Hu was even more grateful, eyes brimming with hot tears as he pledged,
"When we return, having resurrected our Starry Sky Pill Sect, we will surely invite you to preside over the grand opening ceremony as our highest patriarch!"
"Just focus on coming back alive first." Chen Xia waved his hand dismissively and gently advised,
"Go slowly on your way."
It was rare for him to offer such words of caution.
But today, he couldn't help voicing them.
Perhaps it was the onset of old age...
Chen Xia sighed softly as he watched Zhen Hu and Bai Jie's backs growing farther and farther away.
He felt no sorrow over their parting.
Only deeper comprehension of the meaning of longevity.
He was at peace.
The waters stilled.
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
nto another world, I bought a slave for the first time, never expecting the silver wolf girl to be so cute... Lin Feng: I know it's cold, but you don't have to sneak into my bed! Yuna: Just sharing body warmth, if you dare do anything naughty, I'll definitely...
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
