Chapter 628: Magic Dao Nine Veins, Catching Kun in the Time Ocean, Light of Time Sequence

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"Brother Wei."

"Fellow Daoist Wei."

"We have long heard of Brother Wei's great name, and seeing you today truly proves the rumors are true. You are indeed a peerless genius with extraordinary bearing and remarkable talent."

Wang Yu: "..."

The enthusiastic reception was expected, but he rarely saw anyone shamelessly flattering him. After all, before arriving in the Mountain and Sea Realm, they had all been top venerable cultivators in their respective realms.

After enduring countless hardships, they had finally cultivated to the verge of ascension. Yet, upon ascending, they found themselves mere low-ranking soldiers. Such a drastic drop in status was difficult to accept.

Even if these individuals had joined mid-to-low-tier demonic cultivation lineages, they were still considered high-ranking Nascent Soul cultivators in the lower realms. Wang Yu wouldn't underestimate them for this; being valued by the demonic path didn't necessarily mean they possessed exceptional innate talent. Their character, methods, or intellect might have been the reasons for their recognition. Thus, Wang Yu remained quite courteous.

"Fellow Daoists, you are too kind. If there are no further questions, let us depart immediately."

"No problem, we've all seen the projection orb."

"Indeed, with Ancestor Heartless's guarantee, we have no doubts."

"Excellent, let's go."

Wang Yu waved his hand, releasing the World-Splitting Divine Ark. All thirty individuals boarded, each having roughly three square meters of space, just enough to stand.

Utilizing a special node in the ascension channel once more, the Divine Ark easily carved a path directly to the Cosmic Sea. With a whoosh, it sped through. Wang Yu's second business venture officially began, and his confidence grew significantly after entering the Cosmic Sea.

He pulled aside a sixth-layer Nascent Soul cultivator who had joined the Demonic Sword Lineage for a chat. His name was Dugu Jiu, titled 'Ghost Spirit Sword Venerable,' and he hailed from the Purple Bamboo Realm. After ascending, he would likely become a junior Ghost Spirit. He was quite old, already over two thousand years of age. By the standards of the Nine Realms, such talent was considered the lowest tier, not even qualifying as 'decent.' Yet, he managed to join the Demonic Sword Lineage, indicating he possessed considerable ability.

Wang Yu patted Dugu Jiu's shoulder, chuckling. "Little Jiu, I hear your knowledge of the Demon Cultivation Realm is unparalleled among all our demonic path colleagues in the Mountain and Sea Realm?"

Dugu Jiu appeared as a middle-aged man with grayish-white hair. At the moment, he was dressed in a long black ice-silk robe, looking quite relaxed as if on vacation. However, a closer look at his right hand would reveal him playing with his Natal Spirit Treasure—the Ghost Spirit Sword Pellet! Its aura was so concealed that had Wang Yu not known his information beforehand, he might have overlooked it. Naturally, this was when he wasn't fully exerting himself. In the cultivation world, overly detailed spiritual sense probes easily provoked hostility and were often considered a provocation. Only dominant superiors would act this way toward subordinates. Wang Yu currently projected the image of a benevolent figure and a great contributor. Although Dugu Jiu's eye twitched slightly upon hearing the informal address 'Little Jiu,' the reality of strength being paramount in the cultivation world made him choose to accept it: "Brother Wei, you flatter me. It's merely some knowledge; perhaps I'm just more inclined to study."

"Alright then, tell me about the Demon Cultivation Realm."

The two sat down at the stern of the ark. Dugu Jiu pondered for a moment before slowly beginning to speak.

The Demon Cultivation Realm is vast and boundless. The primary strongholds of the demonic cultivation lineages are mostly located here, occupying top-tier ninth-grade supreme spirit veins. Nine hegemon-level lineages possess Tribulation Transcending Loose Immortals: The Ninefold Blood Sea, Undying Mountain, True Demon Path, Myriad Gu Cave, Underworld, Sacred Pill Hall, Fiend God Palace, Blood Demon Sword Gate, and Death Curse Sect! These nine top lineages each represent one or more demonic paths that have developed to a near-immortal level. Above them, the Great Demon Heaven governs all. Dugu Jiu's Demonic Sword Lineage belongs to the Blood Demon Sword Gate. Its core heritage involves nurturing a blood demon sword as one's natal weapon, which grows by slaying living beings and devouring their essence blood. The stronger the demon sword, the stronger the cultivator's cultivation. This is a classic 'stronger with each kill' method, highly compatible with the rules of the Demon Cultivation Realm, making it a powerful orthodoxy ranking among the forefront of the nine great demonic gate lineages. It has a high compatibility with Wang Yu. However... it's not comprehensive enough.

The Ninefold Blood Sea, on the other hand, is a pure bloodline lineage. Its life-saving abilities rank first, with its core heritage following the Blood Sea Path, embodying the principle: 'As long as the blood sea doesn't dry, the primordial spirit is imperishable.' Wang Yu was particularly interested in five of these: the Blood Demon Sword Gate, Undying Mountain, True Demon Path, Fiend God Palace, and Sacred Pill Hall. The Sacred Pill Hall, naturally, is a holy land for refining pills from living beings. It masters various sinister and bizarre pill-refining methods. Undying Mountain and True Demon Path have high attainments in body refinement, especially the latter, which has almost perfectly inherited the demonic race's profound body refinement techniques. The Fiend God Palace, meanwhile, possesses three fiend-refining methods. Corresponding to the three treasures—Essence, Qi, and Spirit—demonic cultivators of this lineage find it extremely easy to break through to Dao Integration. As long as they fully cultivate the three fiend-refining methods, their breakthrough rate is nearly 100%, making it the strongest breakthrough secret art. The only historically recorded failure was that prodigy who mastered three thousand Dao principles, but that was a special case and can be disregarded.

Wang Yu believed that as long as he was strong enough, and with the help of methods like the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Map, the Devourer Beast Artifact Spirit, and the Soul Search Incantation, he might be able to cultivate the heritage of these five lineages simultaneously if he encountered their successors. He intended to walk his own unique path: the Myriad Transformations Heavenly Demonic Dao! As long as he could fight his way up from the bottom, the Great Demon Heaven... would protect him, right? Wang Yu wasn't sure about this point yet and planned to gather more information later.

After giving a general overview of the top lineages in the Demon Cultivation Realm, Dugu Jiu began discussing the situations they would encounter upon entering the Demon Cultivation Realm. Even though they were disciples of mid-to-low-tier lineages, they still had to enter the True Spirit Realm before transferring to the Demon Cultivation Realm. They had privileges, but not many. This also confirmed the treatment they would receive after entering the Demon Cultivation Realm.

The powerful figures of the Great Demon Heaven had specially designated an area with a radius of 300 million kilometers, calling it the Demon Forging Domain. Surrounding it were 10,800 secret realms transformed from Grotto-Heaven worlds. These Grotto-Heavens were connected to the spirit veins of the Demon Cultivation Realm and housed countless human cultivators—all born in the Demon Cultivation Realm, their innate talents far surpassing those from small-thousand worlds. They would cultivate within these Grotto-Heavens until reaching the Nascent Soul stage. Then, they would enter the Demon Forging Domain to participate in slaughter trials. For them, breaking through to the Void Refinement stage allowed them to apply to leave the Demon Forging Domain. However, for ascenders, the Great Demon Heaven seemed to have higher expectations. Ascenders could only apply to leave the Demon Forging Domain after breaking through to Dao Integration. They could then directly enter the Immortal Palace and assume important positions, starting at a very high level. This included Dugu Jiu, who had joined a lineage. He also needed to enter the Demon Forging Domain to participate in the slaughter trial. If he could survive and emerge, he would become a core figure for the lineage in the future, and his treatment would undoubtedly be top-notch.

This information aligned with what Qing Qing had provided. However, she seemed to be more valued by the Demonic Star Lineage, as she was given a survival mission, allowing her to apply for departure once the time limit was met. That was why she had set her sights on Wang Yu's extraordinary combat prowess.

As Dugu Jiu continued speaking, Wang Yu displayed a pensive expression. According to Dugu Jiu, was the upper limit of the Demon Forging Domain Void Refinement peak? After all, one could apply to leave after breaking through to Dao Integration. Even if staying could bring more benefits and allow for unlimited exploitation of lower-level cultivators, such a vast gap, reaching a level of complete suppression, would render the trial meaningless. No one at the Nascent Soul stage could resist the pursuit of a Dao Integration cultivator, not even Wang Yu. Therefore, even if Dugu Jiu didn't mention it, he suspected there must be corresponding mandatory departure rules. At the very least, even if one could stay, they would likely be among the lowest tier of Dao Integration powerful figures? Wang Yu remained vigilant regarding this point.

Based on his estimation, he would enter the Demon Cultivation Realm just at the critical point of his breakthrough. Once both his paths broke through to Void Refinement, he would be considered a high-tier powerhouse at that stage. Wouldn't he be able to do whatever he pleased? However, thinking this way was improper. While he had profound foundations and could fight beyond his level, others might also possess such abilities. He still needed to act cautiously.

With this thought, he asked again. "What about the situation within the Demon Forging Domain? Do you have detailed information?"

"This..." Dugu Jiu shook his head, responding with an awkward expression. "This information is restricted. It is strictly forbidden to disclose it to any ascender. Even the provisional disciples of the nine demonic lineages do not know the full details."

Evidently, the Great Demon Heaven wanted to observe the demonic cultivators' adaptability. Since the cultivation rule of survival of the fittest was to be implemented, all privileges had to be eliminated. However, Qing Qing's situation proved that this rule was not absolute. This heightened Wang Yu's vigilance. He decided that he must be extra cautious when encountering cultivators from top lineages in the future.

After several uneventful months of travel, Wang Yu delivered this batch of passengers to the True Spirit Realm and then, rubbing his hands together, finally embarked on his own exploration mode.

He hadn't been idle during the journey. Following the spatial anomaly nodes where he had previously encountered the Xukun beasts, he marked several such points on the Divine Ark's star map, intending to explore them on his return trip. He only needed one Void Stomach. This shouldn't... be too difficult... a hunting expedition, right?

Adult Xukun beasts possessed at least Void Refinement stage combat power, and their stomachs had the power to devour all matter, like an insatiable black hole. This characteristic meant that a blessed land Grotto-Heaven integrated with a Xukun stomach would gain the unique ability to directly absorb chaotic energy from the Cosmic Sea and convert it into spiritual energy. Wang Yu absolutely could not miss this opportunity. This was like installing an automatic growth plugin for a blessed land Grotto-Heaven, greatly reducing the cultivator's burden in nurturing this realm. The stronger the final cultivated product, the easier it would be to condense the 'Flower of Qi'.

Xukun beasts often roamed the Cosmic Sea in groups without a fixed dwelling, so finding them required some luck. Wang Yu had encountered a small ancestral group of seven Xukun beasts last time. Perhaps he could find them again on this second visit, as the time interval between the two trips wasn't long.

As he pondered, he actively activated the 'Boundless Fortune' secret technique. After consuming the luck accumulated by the Fortune Fruit during this period, he then took out the fifth-tier supreme spirit treasure, the Four Seasons Heavenly Wheel, which he had obtained from Withered-Flourish Mountain! This spirit treasure possessed extremely strong domain-like properties. Once the Cycle of Four Seasons was activated, it could create a one-on-one combat environment for Wang Yu, and the opponent would randomly suffer one of the negative effects of 'birth, aging, sickness, and death'. This was similar to the illusion formation Wang Yu had experienced when he first obtained it. However, when actively activated by him and empowered by demonic essence, its power would be greater, and when controlled by his subjective consciousness, the difficulty of breaking it would double. This was his safeguard for hunting Xukun beasts.

And so, after a month of travel, Wang Yu suddenly felt an inspiration of fortune. He deviated from the absolutely safe 'Ascension Route' and ventured into a more mysterious and dangerous region of the Cosmic Sea.

Soon after, his expression became dazed. "This is..."

He saw a shimmering, iridescent ribbon floating in the Cosmic Sea, like a trail left by some creature. Having done his research on this, Wang Yu quickly recognized it. "Void Rainbow Crystals. They are the excrement that Xukun beasts expel only when they've eaten too much... containing abundant spatial power." Though called 'rainbow crystals,' they resembled grains of sand more. Each piece was only about the size of a fingernail. Compared to the massive size of a Xukun, these were less than mere flakes of skin, yet in human hands, they could be called crystals. "What a treasure!" Wang Yu manipulated his demonic essence, using exquisite absorption techniques to collect all of this bounty. The further he went, the more distinct this rainbow crystal trail became.

Until one moment, endless light entered his vision, and Wang Yu's pupils contracted. In the boundless darkness of the world, a brilliant white sphere of light was wantonly radiating, possessing boundless, latent yet explosive energy like a star. Several Xukun beasts were swimming around the large sphere of light. Their gaping mouths were devouring the white light rays, eating and excreting simultaneously, their bodies visibly expanding at a rapid pace. It was a small group of seven, with four being 'growth stage' individuals. Yet, through this feeding, they saved a tremendous amount of growth time, instantly reaching the standard of adult Xukun beasts and experiencing a surge in strength. How could such a sight not shake one's heart and mind?

As for Wang Yu, who possessed the inherited memories of the Feifei Beast, while his understanding of humanity hadn't grown much, his knowledge of the Cosmic Sea had undergone a drastic transformation. This large sphere of light was a special wonder called the Light of Chronos. As its name suggested, it involved the power of time. The rapid growth of the Xukun beasts was precisely due to this light.

Looking at the Fortune Fruit, which had completely dimmed within his heart lake space, Wang Yu knew what kind of opportunity he had encountered. Unfortunately... his cultivation level wasn't high enough! Even if he had the chance to comprehend it, he dared not become engrossed. Among the Three Thousand Great Daos, the Dao of Time was counted among the supreme laws. Apart from the founder of the Eastern Sovereign Heaven, the Demon Immortal, who had comprehended a portion of the Dao of Time, none of the other eight immortals had made any achievements in this regard. A Nascent Soul cultivator attempting to comprehend it might accidentally age and die. Only those at the Dao Integration stage could truly access this opportunity. Thus, Wang Yu could only sigh in regret, feeling immense pity.

However, seeing the Xukun beasts extensively devouring the 'Light of Chronos,' a thought sparked in Wang Yu's mind: perhaps direct comprehension wasn't the only way to gain the greatest benefit. The Illusionary Light artistic conception was also a form of light... Moreover, he was on the verge of condensing his artistic conception weapon. He wasn't seeking instant ascension; he merely wished to plant a small seed, hoping it might one day sprout. Directly devouring it to condense an artistic conception weapon was not advisable. However, he could try extracting it from the Xukun beasts. After retreating a short distance, Wang Yu chanted incantations to control the Four Seasons Heavenly Wheel. This spirit treasure inherently aligned with the essence of the Light of Chronos. Once he subdued a Xukun and extracted this power, then let the Four Seasons Heavenly Wheel filter it, it should be feasible.

And so, the Four Seasons Heavenly Wheel transformed into a formation-plate-like construct, locking onto the weakest Xukun beast. In an instant, a thick white mist emanated from it. Darkness receded, and light dispersed. Only Wang Yu and that Xukun remained, confronting each other from a distance.

"—Roar!"