Chapter Seventy-Two: No Kickbacks Today (Seeking First Subscription)

Luo Ancestor was still pondering Pure Yang, while Yang, on the contrary, sought to augment himself. Yet their paths diverged so starkly that Luo Ancestor was hardly surprised. If it were not so, how could myriad civilizations arise, how could the flourishing age of cultivation in the human world come to be? Thus it should be, thus it must be. Luo Ancestor felt gratified.

As for the lord of demons in the wild extreme west, mentioned by Yang, it was in fact the incarnation of Chou Pheasant’s flesh and blood, wrought by Luo Ancestor in ages past. However, this incarnation was not the first, but rather the seventh, following numerous experiments by Luo Ancestor. Each time, he would suppress it anew, so the power of this current Chou Pheasant incarnation far surpassed the first; it was already on the verge of attaining the true immortal realm of the demon race.

This too was an experiment conducted by Luo Ancestor to deduce the path ahead. Thus, Yang’s intuition was not wrong—this incarnation truly was the greatest calamity to humanity. Should it break free, it would likely devour all living beings of the mortal world, whether demon, human, barbarian, or even the smallest microorganisms, bacteria, fungi—everything would be swallowed to become the fodder for its ascension to true immortality.

It was a ticking time bomb, planted by Luo Ancestor. Yet its “explosion” would not come for centuries, perhaps millennia. Moreover, Luo Ancestor had fed it ample essence of sun and moon; this creature was insatiable, demanding more and more, and Luo Ancestor indulged it, for the more it ate, the more tender and juicy its flesh became…

How did Luo Ancestor know its flesh was so delectable? Naturally, he had often feasted upon its “predecessors.” The six previous incarnations of Chou Pheasant’s flesh and blood were all stewed by Luo Ancestor just as they neared their apotheosis…

If nothing else, its chicken feet were truly exquisite. Especially the one nurtured for two and a half years (in the world within the pot)—fed ceaselessly with sun and moon essence, it grew plump and robust, its feathers lush, radiant, its aura vigorous.

Luo Ancestor rejoiced at the sight, and allowed its bones to accompany its predecessors in burial, its flesh to honor his own five viscera temple. After consuming it, Luo Ancestor’s Four-Nine Profound Technique, which had stagnated for so long, broke through once more, reaching its thirteenth transformation. At this stage, he could uproot mountains and rivers, his fists roaring like thunder; without using true energy, relying solely on the power of flesh and blood, even a hundred-year-old sapling three hundred meters away could be felled by his punch.

If only Chou Pheasant’s flesh were not so scarce, Luo Ancestor would have greatly developed the Chou Pheasant farming industry, launching a “cave dweller’s daily egg” plan for everyone.

Furthermore, nurturing such an incarnation of Chou Pheasant’s flesh was no easy feat; it required feeding it enough sun and moon essence—“enough” here meaning without limit, giving as much as it desired. In this way, it was bound to attract the attention of the celestial demon gods, who might wonder why such a voracious junior had appeared in the mortal world.

Yet they had not investigated thus far, not because of the barrier of Luo Ancestor’s world within the pot; after all, there were many mighty beings in the wilderness capable of creating their own worlds, and if such methods could truly shield from the heavens’ scrutiny, the celestial sun and moon essence would have long been stripped bare.

Thus Luo Ancestor speculated that perhaps Chou Pheasant’s “permissions” still remained, so the laws enacted by demon clan powers upon the sun and moon did not find the Chou Pheasant incarnation’s demands unusual.

After all, Chou Pheasant’s previous realm was no small matter, and the daily absorption of sun and moon essence far exceeded the current incarnation, so it escaped notice.

With this conjecture, Luo Ancestor no longer hesitated, relentlessly feeding the Chou Pheasant incarnation with sun and moon essence. Of course, he could not feed it too excessively; if it truly became a true immortal, Luo Ancestor feared even his world within the pot could not contain it, and then disaster would surely follow.

As for the intelligence of the Chou Pheasant incarnation…

It was not low, otherwise it would not attract so many demon worshipers. But that was all. This was Luo Ancestor’s main method of limiting it; if it awakened the memories of its previous self, Chou Pheasant, things would become grave indeed.

Luo Ancestor gently patted the furnace beside him, rose, poured out some iron, cast a fire-control spell, melting the iron into a mass of golden-red heat, then transformed his true energy into runes and infused them within.

The runes were meant to arrange themselves, leaving imprints, but ultimately were scattered by the searing temperature of the molten metal.

Another failure.

This was the two thousand and eighty-seventh failure.

Luo Ancestor was resigned; he had meticulously recorded the temperature, time, frequency, and the micro-movement and direction of the liquefied metal, but… still could not achieve the method.

Nothing could be done except to keep forging.

As he forged, he observed Yang’s situation.

The Lord of Five Viscera agreed to Yang’s request, promising to awaken the viscera spirit for him.

After a day in seclusion, the two cultivated enough vitality to begin deducing the awakening of the viscera spirit.

Because Yang was a ghost immortal—without a physical body, only a form constructed from pure spirit and aura—it was truly difficult to awaken the viscera spirit.

What was the viscera spirit of the Lord of Five Viscera? It was the spirit formed from the essence of the five viscera. Though called a spirit, it was in truth a method—a law of the five viscera and five elements. To awaken it as a spirit meant to refine a technique of quality comparable to a Daoist art; once such a Daoist art was achieved, it would greatly benefit the soul, thus propelling one's realm into the five divine abilities, akin to refining the spirit and returning to the void.

Thus Yang sought, through the hand of the Lord of Five Viscera, to step into the realm of the five divine abilities, and thereby perfect the ghost immortal method. For ghost immortals lacked a body of flesh and blood, possessing only transformations of the soul; it was hard to progress.

But once the five divine abilities were gained, it meant the birth of the five elements’ qi, thus compensating for the ghost immortal’s corporeal deficiency, and enabling Yang to finally draw upon the solar essence he had always feared to endure. With the harmony of yin and yang, he could thus prove his own primordial soul and Dharma body.

This Dharma body was inspired by Yang’s study of the Barbarian Sovereign’s Dharma image, from which he derived insight and created the future path of the ghost immortal method.

Yang bore a resemblance to Luo Ancestor—gathering from east and west, supplementing himself with all, mastering myriad schools, unifying them, taking the concept of refining qi as foundation, ghost immortal method as main body, the viscera spirit method as opportunity, the Barbarian Sovereign’s Dharma image as inspiration, and the true god method as a side path, finally producing the present Flying Immortal Scripture.

What was the Flying Immortal Scripture? It was the rainbow transformation and ascension that Yang pursued.

With Yang’s invocation, the Lord of Five Viscera began to perform his viscera spirit refinement.

As the viscera spirit method was completed, Yang felt his ghost immortal body lose its lightness, gaining a certain heaviness.

It was as if the flesh and blood body had returned.

Of course, he knew this was not real.

The body of flesh and blood was not so easily obtained, unless he seized another…

But he could not bring himself to do so.

He began to sense the meaning of the five divine abilities.

He had succeeded. It was about to happen.

Poof!

Clear, cool, restless—all manner of sensations flooded his mind, and Yang knew he had succeeded.

“Is it done?”

“Yes.”

Yang immediately began to draw upon the solar essence.

Luo Ancestor, ever attentive, sent him a strand of solar essence.

Boom!

Seeing that mass of solar essence strike his face, Yang was dumbfounded.

Why was it so different from usual?

No one else ever absorbed such a copious amount of solar essence.