All Heavenly destiny reduced to ashes
Chapter 404 - 47 Demon Spirit Method

Chapter 404: Chapter 47 Demon Spirit Method

"Oh? Something attacked my drone?"

Coming to his senses, An Jing noticed that his drone had been destroyed by something, and he narrowed his eyes — not angry nor close, just somewhat curious, "What was that?"

"It’s a demon beast," Subdue Evil said, "a local one."

An Jing was interested, "There are still demon beasts on Broken Blade Mountain that didn’t leave with the Beast Tide?"

"The Frost Calamity is just cold, not meant to exterminate all beings."

Subdue Evil said, "The Frost Calamity freezes the mountain ranges. The forests around Broken Blade Mountain were already a Great Demon Spirit and naturally wouldn’t easily die; instead, they would sleep and turn as hard as rock and iron, waiting for the long winter to pass."

"As for things like Dang Kang and such demon spirits, they need an active nature to live comfortably. Since the forest itself needs to sleep, they have no choice but to migrate."

"However, if there are some minor demon beasts that don’t rely on forests but consume minerals, then for them, the Frost Calamity is irrelevant. There might be enough for them to eat in this forest for tens of thousands of years."

"I don’t understand much about demon spirits," An Jing clicked his tongue in wonder. He knew the reason for the migration of the Beast Tide, but he hadn’t realized that the ferocious beasts could actually consume minerals to sustain themselves, "I thought they just lacked salt and various trace elements, so they would gnaw a bit, but to actually eat?"

This time An Jing used the ’feigning curiosity with reverent inquiry method’ that Subdue Evil had taught him, "Indeed, being an ancient Sword Spirit, you know so much!"

"Heh, I know a lot more!"

Subdue Evil suddenly became enthusiastic, "Embracing the Void, the Great Immortal, once said, in ancient times, humans were also a branch of the demon spirits. The human cultivation method and the demon spirit cultivation method originated from the same source."

"Eventually, humankind became the leaders among all spirits. The ancient primary cultivation methods transformed into the immortal path of Qi Refinement. Many demon spirit elites who followed the powerful human leaders also learned the immortal path of Qi Refinement and retroactively transformed the ancient demon spirit bloodline cultivation methods."

"The Immortal Path favors purity, starting from the Spirit Root, drawing a kind of pure breath, fusing it with the essence Qi inside the body, and then refining the qi to solidify the foundation, ascend to the ethereal, and achieve immortality, finally reaching the Daoist Profession and becoming immortal, indestructible, immovable, and unchanging — the original god."

"Whereas the Demon Spirit Method is closer to nature and does not depend on the Spirit Root. Instead, it utilizes the lineage inside the body to attract the natural Earth Qi and Hundred Qi of the world: consuming iron, copper, gnawing rocks, drinking melts, forging and tempering flesh and bones. Eventually, countless diverse qis are perfectly integrated, creating a natural demon core inside the body, and ultimately refining a drop of True Spirit Blood."

"Nature, embodying all things within the universe. As the heaven and earth can encompass countless types of Spiritual Fiends, so can the body as a Small World; an indestructible demon core essentially represents a demon spirit realizing the essence of natural balance, using various types of Spiritual Fiends to construct a perfectly solid whole, and the True Spirit Blood signifies pure life, born from the ’Yin-Yang Vitality Dao’ within natural balance."

"Among these, Hundred Qi forms the base to achieve an Immortal Foundation. Thousand Qi in a demon core can prove the Purple Mansion, but only if Ten Thousand Qi and Ten Thousand Fiends flow without chaos, using this naturally integrated core as the nucleus to cultivate the True Spirit Blood, can one become an Indestructible True Spirit."

"Therefore, every demon cultivator is an independent Small World, centered around them, creating diverse and marvelous ecosystems, just like the Six-Tusked White Boar you saw earlier. The herd it led tread on the ice and snow, transforming it into a broad path of grass and beasts."

"And in the end, when the demon cultivators perish, they also create vast tracts of Spirit Land, nurturing countless species."

"Embracing the Void Ancestral Dragon held the ’Ex Nihilo’ Fate Pattern in ancient times. Wherever it went, it would foster a kind of new True Spirit Blood or even a new human lineage, thus revered by both the Immortals and Demons Dual Dao as a truly divine being of heaven and earth."

At this, Subdue Evil also fell into deep thought, "This body returning to the heavens and the earth...is it somewhat like today’s Martial Arts? Although Martial Arts includes the world inside the body from the Immortal Path’s Formation Path, the method of returning the body to the earth and filling the flesh shell with Body Refinement are somewhat related to the Demon Spirit Path."

But he quickly figured it out, "However, Martial Arts ultimately originated from the Immortal Path, and although it emphasizes integrating with nature, it derives many branches from the purest Spiritual Fiend, rather than reconverging these branches into purity like in the Demon Spirit Path."

"The one reflects the other, just like the branches and roots of a tree, coming from the same source, yet focusing in different directions, ultimately making them different."

"Hey, whether they’re similar or not isn’t that important." An Jing didn’t care much, "The way you talk doesn’t sound like someone from the Great Ape lineage. It’s normal for Martial Arts, being a newer development, to have similarities with the methods of ancient beings or demons."

"However, from what I hear, the cultivation method can indeed be practiced by humans."

"Humans are ’Wisdom True Spirits’ in a broad sense and can indeed be considered a type of demon spirit," Subdue Evil said, being a sword himself, he was quite objective in this matter. "The physical quality of humans is even stronger than some lesser demon spirits, so of course, they can practice the Demon Spirit Method."

"But a human’s wisdom is stronger than their physical body, much more powerful than those demon beasts who only gain intelligence after becoming Great Demon Spirits and rely solely on instinct beforehand. Naturally, it is better for humans to practice Immortal Martial Arts."

"But on the other hand," An Jing thoughtfully said, "if we are talking about popularizing cultivation methods, wouldn’t the Demon Spirit Method, which even mindless beasts can practice, be better than the talent-requiring Immortal and Martial Arts?"

"Yes, the fact that it can be widely disseminated is also why the rather primitive Demon Spirit Method has never disappeared. But without talent, the upper limit of this cultivation method isn’t high. For humans, it doesn’t compare to practices like Martial Arts that focus on Body Refinement through health preservation exercises."

Subdue Evil didn’t pay much attention to this aspect anymore, and he casually said, "In any case, demon spirits are not just about consuming minerals. Even a purely carnivorous creature like a mountain tiger, once it becomes a demon spirit, would become omnivorous. It could survive just by absorbing the Qi of plants or the Fiend of Yin water."

"Once they become demon spirits, they transcend their original natural cycles, the food chains... Similarly, there are also demon spirits that live solely by absorbing the Earth Pulse Qi from minerals. They don’t fear Frost Calamity at all. They could just live by burrowing underground, naturally not needing to migrate."

While An Jing was inquiring about the path of demon spirits, his second drone had already taken off, returning to where the first drone had crashed.

An Jing carefully observed and identified the true culprit behind the destruction of his drone: a fluffy, light grey to silver small squirrel.

This little grey-silver squirrel was shaking its tail, squinting eyes in contentment as it gnawed at the precious metal minerals at the core of the drone. Its large, fluffy tail, endowed with magnetism, was gathering the other fragments of the drone toward the Ore Gathering Tree, serving as fertilizer for this Spirit Plant.

"This is the essence of a Guardian Spirit Beast."

An Jing smacked his lips. In his youth, he often heard herb pickers and old hunters mysteriously talk about how ’precious places always have ferocious beasts’. Now, it seemed they were referring to these kinds of obvious symbiotic relationships between Spirit Plants and Spirit Beasts.

This grey-silver iron-eating squirrel usually collects mineral debris to nurture the Ore Gathering Tree, protecting the Ore Gathering Tree from other wild animals. The Ore Gathering Tree itself also serves as a reserve for the squirrel during tough times, perhaps even spread the seeds of Ore Gathering Tree, depending on each other.

"This is a ’Cangsu Cang’," Subdue Evil revealed its true nature, with surprise, "It was quite rare in our era; it has two branches, one purely Metal Attribute, the other purely Earth System, with a keen sense of different mineral veins."

"Although there are defects in this Embracing the Void world, the natural ecosystem is indeed quite good. Back in my day, Cangsu Cangs were quite scarce due to loss of habitats. I didn’t expect to see them in the future at Broken Blade Mountain."