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.
u serious?" Chen Feng watched helplessly as his painstakingly trained disciple, fresh off a championship victory, publicly abandoned him. "You had your chance, but you didn’t appreciate it. Now, face the consequences of your choice!" Chen Feng possessed the "Master System," a treasure trove of supreme martial arts techniques, capable of molding ordinary individuals into peerless prodigies. "Legs like yours? A shame not to train in the Crippling Kick." "Ever heard of a palm strike that descends from the heavens?" "Auntie! I see extraordinary bone structure in you—a martial arts prodigy, one in ten thousand." The once-defiant senior disciple, now watching her juniors rise to fame one after another, dominating the internet, was consumed by endless regret.
lities. One day, Qi Yuan was buying groceries when he unfortunately came face-to-face with a monster. Just when he thought he was going to die on the spot, he suddenly heard the monster's thoughts... "This aura, he's definitely not an ordinary master!" "So terrifying, so terrifying." "A fight with my back against the wall, I can't take it anymore." Qi Yuan: Ah, no one told me that my awakened ability isn't telepathy, but rather the stronger my enemies imagine me to be, the stronger I truly become. PS: Zhou Hai in the first chapter is not the protagonist.
【Prologue: The Beginning of It All – Use holy water to heal the saintess tainted by demonic energy, then converse with her.】 Shen Nian stared at his older sister sipping yogurt, lost in thought. So you’re telling me my sister is the saintess, and yogurt is the holy water? 【Main Quest 1: Brave Youth, Become an Adventurer! Reward: Rookie Adventurer Title.】 【Side Quest 1: Find the Adorable Kitty! Reward: 1000 Gold Coins.】 Shen Nian: "Wait, I’m a high school senior here—did some guy who got isekai’d accidentally bind his system to me?" Hold on, completing quests gives gold rewards? Titles even boost stats? Is this for real? (A lighthearted, absurd campus comedy—not a revenge power fantasy.)
close your eyes and open them again, only to find yourself transmigrated into the role of a villainous male supporting character. Readers familiar with urban wish-fulfillment novels know that it is only through the relentless antics of the villainous male supporting character that the plot between the male and female leads can progress. As the villainous male supporting character, Long Aotian not only has to bully the female lead, harass the second female lead, and flirt with the third female lead, but he also has to go all out to antagonize the male lead. In the end, when his body is discovered, he is still clutching half a moldy fried dough stick in his hand. Fully aware of the plot, Long Aotian is determined to change his fate, starting with the female lead! In the beginning, the female lead lacks confidence: "Big brother, I hope I didn't scare you?" In the middle, the female lead treads carefully: "Brother Long, please don't hit me, okay?" Later on, the female lead becomes coquettishly clingy: "Aotian, it's time to pay the 'public grain' tonight." Long Aotian's legs go weak, and he feels like crying: "I taught you to be thick-skinned, not shameless!"
