Xuantian Immortal Cultivation Record

Gobi, barren mountains, deserts, and chaotic rocks, interspersed with occasional dark or red lakes, and small patches of grassland dotted with black grass – this was the geography of this world. The overall tone was gloomy, quite matching the habits of the demonic creatures that lived here.

Unable to fly, Zhang Yuanjing was limited to running on two legs, and his activities were confined to an area of only a few thousand miles. As for how vast this world truly was, he had no idea.

There were many demonic insects, so many that Zhang Yuanjing's skin would crawl with goosebumps whenever he scanned with his divine sense.

Initially, only a few thousand blue dots and fish-like monsters chased him. Later, he realized the blue dots were a type of demonic insect resembling butterflies.

Subsequently, there were also demonic insects resembling flying ants, swallows, centipedes, and even maggots, along with those iron-bull-like demonic insects, a total of seven types, each numbering in the thousands, surrounding and intercepting him from all directions.

As time passed, the number of demonic insects continued to increase.

Although Zhang Yuanjing had the Yin-Yang Creation Furnace at his disposal, he couldn't capture too many at once.

These demonic insects were almost the same as the earth demonic beasts. Their cultivation was not high, but their numbers were vast. As far as his divine sense could reach, there were very few Saint Core realm insects, and they were hidden in the rear, not rushing to the front. Those chasing closely were all below the Foundation Establishment realm, and the vast majority were in the Blood Refining realm.

He wasn't very clear about what talents these demonic insects possessed. From previous battles, using small spells and spiritual talismans, he knew that these demonic insects were not afraid of Daoist magic attacks. This was stronger than the earth demonic beasts. As for other aspects, he knew nothing.

He did know one weakness: they were not fast. Whether crawling on the ground or flying in the sky, they were not as fast as he could run.

Half an hour passed, and the space Zhang Yuanjing could move in became smaller and smaller, and the demonic insects gathered around him became alarmingly numerous. Helpless, he had to risk using earth escape techniques, drilling into the ground and traveling through the soil.

Before long, he heard rustling sounds in the soil above and behind him. He scanned with his divine sense and discovered that the four types of demonic insects that had drilled into the soil resembled flying ants, centipedes, iron bulls, and maggots.

Zhang Yuanjing quickly descended, soon reaching below two hundred zhang. The two types of demonic insects resembling flying ants and iron bulls quickly stopped, while the two types resembling centipedes and maggots continued to chase closely. However, below three hundred zhang, the speed of the two types of demonic insects slowed down, far behind Zhang Yuanjing's escape speed.

An idea flashed in Zhang Yuanjing's mind. He thought of a way to gradually devour these two types of demonic insects.

So, he descended another twenty zhang or so, to a place close to three hundred and thirty zhang deep, and used thick earth magic sword techniques to dig a cave about two zhang square. He placed the Yin-Yang Creation Furnace in it, opened the furnace lid, and waited for the demonic insects to approach.

After a dozen breaths, the fastest batch of demonic insects, about one thousand five hundred in number, finally reached within ten zhang of him. At this time, without him urging it, the suction force in the furnace generated itself, constantly drawing the demonic insects in front into its belly.

After devouring about a thousand, the Yin-Yang Creation Furnace sealed the furnace mouth, no longer collecting demonic insects.

Seeing this, Zhang Yuanjing guessed that swallowing a thousand demonic insects was the furnace's limit.

The total volume of these thousand demonic insects was not as large as the spine he had collected in the Profound Origin Secret Realm. This showed that, compared to the spine, the demonic insects had their own special characteristics, and even the Yin-Yang Creation Furnace could not imprison too many at once.

He reached out and picked up the Yin-Yang Creation Furnace, drilled downward, avoided the surrounding demonic insects from a deeper layer of soil, and escaped outwards.

The demonic insects that had been taken into the Yin-Yang Creation Furnace were frantically撞击 the furnace mouth, but the furnace mouth was sealed very tightly with Qi, looking like only a thin layer of mist, but as unbreakable as the legendary heavenly prison.

After pulling away nearly ten miles, estimating that there was enough time, Zhang Yuanjing immediately stopped escaping, dug out a space, took a Crimson Cloud Pill, grabbed the blue long ears and red ring of the Yin-Yang Creation Furnace with both hands, input water and fire spiritual power, activated the Yin and Yang fires, and quickly increased the furnace temperature to refine the demonic insects in the furnace.

After about thirty breaths, there was no movement in the furnace. He opened the furnace lid and saw that nearly a thousand demonic insects had all turned to ashes.

He summoned the Origin Stone and communicated with Zhang Shi, but Zhang Shi said crisply, "Master, eating these black ashes is no longer useful to Zhang Shi. There is almost no increase in power."

"No use?" Zhang Yuanjing was stunned and couldn't help but feel disappointed.

Initially, the Origin Stone had been upgraded to the third level by devouring this substance and crystallized polar spiritual energy.

Therefore, when he saw so many demonic insects, although he was surprised, he had not been without expectations, hoping to kill the demonic insects, let the Origin Stone devour the black ashes, and rise another level. Unexpectedly, this thing was already useless.

A thought flashed through his mind as he pondered the use of this substance. At this time, another thousand demonic insects approached, so he used a few jade boxes to store the black ashes in the Yin-Yang Creation Furnace, and then let the furnace emit suction, put the demonic insects into the furnace, and escaped again.

In the following days, he relied on the earth escape technique to maneuver underground with nearly 20,000 demonic insects. Every once in a while, he would refine a thousand of them, and soon wiped them out. After two more days, no demonic insects drilled into the soil below a hundred zhang.

Zhang Yuanjing took the initiative to attack, going to the shallow layers of the soil, using the Yin-Yang Creation Furnace to collect the demonic insects resembling flying ants and iron bulls. After refining four furnaces, these two types of demonic insects also drilled out of the ground and no longer actively came into the soil.

Zhang Yuanjing also tried to quickly drill to the surface of the soil to sneak attack the insect swarm. However, the demonic insects were extremely vigilant. As soon as they discovered him approaching the ground, those demonic insects resembling flying ants and iron bulls would immediately drill into the ground and surround and intercept him.

After several unsuccessful attacks, he had to give up this trick and instead escape in the deep soil, avoiding the tens of thousands of demonic insects gathered above.

However, although these demonic insects could not enter the soil to fight, their hearing was very keen. Even if he hid at a depth of six hundred zhang, he could not hide from their ears. As soon as he moved, the insect swarm would also move, always entrenched above his head.

Zhang Yuanjing thought for a long time. Besides relying on the Yang Refining Umbrella, he didn't have a better way, so he simply stopped considering how to deal with the demonic insects and instead thought about how to use the black ashes.

This substance was obtained by refining demonic insects and must be the essence of the demonic insects. Demonic insects eat turbid Qi from heaven and earth, and the essence produced is also the power of turbid Qi. The Origin Stone can swallow it, which is its own special feature. It is not a living being, but a strange object naturally born between heaven and earth, and it also inherits the characteristics of earth, carrying all things, so it can absorb turbid power.

He practiced the Thick Earth Nurturing Art, and the Swallowing Object Art could devour all kinds of objects. The restriction methods condensed by Lin Dushan with turbid power could also be dissolved, but directly refining and absorbing these black ashes would still have some doubts.

As for the two spirit beasts, they were both born with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Turbid power was like poison. The consequences of swallowing black ashes would probably be no better than the Yang Derivation Beast at the bottom of the Profound Yin Cave.

Zhang Yuanjing pinched a small pinch of black ashes from the jade box and twisted it hard, turning it into extremely small dark black particles. Some of them gave off wisps of turbid power, eroding into his skin, but were blocked by magic power, making slight hissing sounds, making his fingers feel slightly numb and itchy.

If he swallowed this thing, it would only consume each other with spiritual energy, which would be useless and waste his magic power.

"Zhang Shi, what kind of changes occur in your body after you swallow these black ashes?"

Zhang Shi was caught off guard and stuttered for a long time before saying uncertainly, "Master, Zhang Shi is that these black ashes contain some very powerful and pure power. It was useful to swallow them, so I ate them. I don't know the specific situation in my belly. Because Zhang Shi quickly fell asleep."

Zhang Yuanjing was speechless for a long time after hearing this, and could only ask, "Do you feel that this thing eroded your body or caused any damage? What was the initial movement after swallowing it?"

Zhang Shi was prepared this time and spoke much more smoothly: "Back to Master, Zhang Shi felt that eating those black ashes was no different from ordinary treasures. They were all mixed with other things and circulated and swirled in my body without causing damage. I don't know if there will be any changes after that."

Zhang Yuanjing nodded silently and stopped asking it.

The situation Zhang Shi said was actually an application of the Swallowing Object Art, but it didn't have to perform the exercises and was born with this ability, so it looked relaxed and comfortable and didn't feel anything special.

A thought popped into his mind: What exactly is turbid Qi?

As the world says, there is clear Qi in heaven and earth, rising to become spiritual Qi; there is turbid Qi in heaven and earth, descending to become demonic Qi.

Those who cultivate the Dao absorb spiritual power to refine Qi into spirit, refine spirit to return to emptiness, and refine emptiness to combine with the Dao; those who cultivate demons absorb turbid Qi to refine blood and strengthen the soul, refine the soul to achieve emptiness, and refine emptiness to combine with the Dao. The two paths lead to the same destination. This is the general saying, but not much is known about the source, use, and result of turbid Qi, and its specific situation.

Why is there turbid Qi in heaven and earth? The cold and desolate Qi of this world is ethereal and has no special power. Why can it be condensed into turbid Qi for cultivation? Is turbid Qi really condensed from these cold and desolate Qi?

Having seen the breath and breath of the extreme cave, and having seen the heavenly thunder smash the Void Heaven Stone, he had actually had doubts in his heart for a long time.

This heaven and earth is like a life, absorbing the energy it needs from the void and discharging things that will burden it to maintain overall balance, so that it can exist in the void.

If heaven and earth rely on spiritual power to maintain it, then turbid Qi should be the burden that needs to be discharged to reduce the pressure on itself. However, the reality is not like this.

There are many areas in this world where turbid Qi spreads, not only in some earth abysses and deep caves, but also in areas such as desolate and dead lands. Turbid Qi is filled hundreds of zhang high in the sky, which is completely contrary to the principles of heaven and earth's survival and operation.

He repeatedly deduced that the only two possible situations that could cause this result were: either heaven and earth were weakening and were no longer able to remove all the turbid Qi "burden"; or the principles of heaven and earth's operation that he knew were incorrect, and there was a deeper level of great principles beneath the commonly known principles.

In the former, the most powerful reason is that since ancient times, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth has become much thinner. It is extremely difficult for the current world to produce a Transformation God cultivator, while before the Middle Ages, the major sects in each domain were not lacking.

Moreover, the origin of demonic cultivation is relatively late. According to the records of the Profound Heaven Sect, the earliest was no more than one hundred thousand years ago, and the prevalence of demonic cultivation was only in the last tens of thousands of years.

In the latter, Zhang Yuanjing deduced from the outer void and the Void Heaven Stone.

Since one side of heaven and earth originated from the void and obtains energy from the void, then all the substances in this side of heaven and earth that can be used for cultivation must contain that energy. Therefore, spiritual Qi and turbid Qi may lead to the same destination. This also corresponds to the fact that demonic cultivators and Dao cultivators eventually move towards the same realm and destination.

Unconsciously, Zhang Yuanjing had pondered in the soil for most of the day. The demonic insects accumulated on the ground had reached tens of thousands, and many demonic insects that were good at drilling were also working hard to approach Zhang Yuanjing.

Zhang Yuanjing was awakened by Zhang Shi, and only heard small rustling sounds above his head. His divine sense swept upwards and couldn't help but smile.

These principles are only useful when he can devour black ashes like the Origin Stone. It's a little too early to ponder at this time. He used the earth escape technique together and escaped to other places again.

As soon as he moved, the demonic insects gathered above immediately noticed and also chased after him. However, in terms of speed, except for the several types of demonic insects that flew in the air, the rest quickly fell behind.

Without the rustling sound of thousands of insects crawling on his head, Zhang Yuanjing breathed a sigh of relief and rose to the soil layer a hundred zhang away, and his speed increased several times, immediately leaving behind the flying ants, sky cows, and several other types of flying demonic insects.

In the end, the only ones that could keep up were a newly appeared type of demonic insect, shaped like a swallow, with eyes as big as owls, and very long legs with sharp claws. In fact, there were only two or three thousand of them. Only four or five hundred of them were flying in front, closely following Zhang Yuanjing, all above the Foundation Establishment realm, and the leader had the strength of the early Saint Core realm.

Zhang Yuanjing seized the opportunity, drilled out of the ground, opened the Yin-Yang Creation Furnace, relied on Zhang Shi to use the Earth Control Technique, blocked the attack of the Saint Core realm demonic insect, and took all the swallow-shaped demonic insects below the Foundation Establishment realm into the furnace.

Then, he drilled into the depths of the soil again, took the Crimson Cloud Pill, and refined all these demonic insects. The remaining black ashes were simply put into a storage bag.

After that, Zhang Yuanjing repeated his old tricks. After escaping dozens of miles underground, he saw that a group of flying ants had been singled out, so he drilled out of the ground and used the Yin-Yang Creation Furnace to collect insects.

At this time, a group of new demonic insects suddenly flew out of a stone cliff on one side. They were still flying types, quite large, three feet long, neither birds nor beasts, long and hairless, with large and small sacs bulging on their bodies, on which gray liquid flowed.

Zhang Yuanjing only glanced at them twice, and his divine soul produced a very disgusting and depressing feeling. The magic power in his body suddenly had a tendency to stagnate, and the speed of escape suddenly slowed down, almost as slow as walking.

The demonic insects took the opportunity to surround him, about a thousand in number. And the flying ants, which had been chasing closely, also rushed up, numbering three or four thousand.

Zhang Yuanjing sacrificed the Evil Repelling Umbrella, and with a layer of protection, blocked the hundred or so demonic insects that were rushing closest, and used the earth escape technique to hide in the ground.

After that, after several enticements, he finally succeeded in luring out those long and ugly flying insects and used the Yin-Yang Creation Furnace to kill them.

A game of eating and escaping was repeatedly staged in the desolate world. Each time, he was able to kill more than a thousand demonic insects.

Of course, it wasn't all smooth sailing. Once, a demonic insect resembling a flying spider appeared, which not only flew fast but also sprayed poisonous webs. A single demonic insect had limited strength, but thousands of them working together to spit webs, the black spider silk could be described as covering the sky and the sun, and forcibly enveloped Zhang Yuanjing in it.

Fortunately, Zhang Shi reacted extremely quickly and transformed into armor, wrapping Zhang Yuanjing tightly, preventing him from touching a single poisonous silk.

Five days later, all the flying demonic insects within a thousand miles had been swept away by Zhang Yuanjing, and the number of demonic insects killed was about sixty to seventy thousand.

At this time, because of the continuous use of earth escape and the swallowing of Crimson Cloud Pills to stimulate the Yin and Yang fires, he had also reached a very weak state.

In the following ten days, as long as he got rid of the crawling demonic insects on the ground, he would find an open place on the top of a mountain, use middle-grade spiritual stones to restore his magic power, and at the same time use the Swallowing Object Art to dissolve the pill poison. When the demonic insects chased after him, he would change to another place.

After recovering, Zhang Yuanjing, with renewed vigor, continued to eliminate tens of thousands of demonic insects, until no more could be seen in the surrounding area.

The stiff voice suddenly rang in his ears: "Fourth Calamity Responder, congratulations on obtaining the qualification to challenge the Insect King. If you win, a spiritual energy region will be generated in the Demonic Evolution World. At the same time, the Calamity Responder himself will receive a Demonic Evolution Pill. If you fail, the Calamity Responder himself will be eaten by the Insect King, and that Insect King will evolve into a Demon God, escape the insect nest, and occupy a place in the spiritual world. Calamity Responder, do you have any questions?"

"Yes!" Zhang Yuanjing shouted loudly, "Please tell me, after winning, can I leave this place? Also, who are the two great sirs..."

"No questions? Very good! Then prepare yourself. The challenge will begin in three days!" The voice said monotonously.