I Cheated While Cultivating

An immensely terrifying force surged, his innate Pure Yang inner Qi exploding forth, simultaneously embodying the power of holding all things within Zhou Heng’s “Three Lifetimes All Creation Inner View,” crushing down on this entity.

Bang!

Only to hear a loud crash, the vague silhouette that was about to emerge from the pitch-black orb was almost devoid of any resistance under Zhou Heng’s move “Heaven and Earth Capsize,” instantly shattered to pieces.

But he did not stop there.

Following that move, Zhou Heng formed a Taoist formula with his hand, and suddenly, wind and fire arose, the Qi of the five organs and five elements gathered, turning into a cluster of golden lightning, flickering on and off, interweaving yin and yang, refining the five elements.

His left hand formed a seal, his right hand extended toward the heavens, and instantly condensed a seed of thunder, while his whole body was draped in golden lightning, resembling the descent of the Thunder God.

Boom!

The sound of thunder roared like the wrath of heaven, golden lightning erupted from Zhou Heng’s palm, transforming into a sky-piercing and earth-penetrating thunder sword, destroying all evil with unstoppable force.

“Five Thunder Righteous Method!”

The blindingly bright golden lightning struck the thing that had crawled out of Hong Jiaren’s corpse, which was already in pieces, was nearly completely annihilated under the thunder imbued with the principle of the five elements and yin and yang.

Under the lightning of the Five Thunder Righteous Method, the destroyed parts of the “thing” instantly turned into wisps of black smoke, and a strong stench filled the air.

This time Zhou Heng stopped his actions, but still held a Taoist formula in his hand, with the Cross Mysterious Door Sword floating by his side, his gaze fixated on the remnants of the “thing.”

The remaining “thing,” unattacked, naturally began to gather and quickly merged back together into a pitch-black creature over half a human’s height.

However, it was called a creature only because its main body was slender.

In fact, this “creature” had just a pair of arms and two legs, with a head topped with facial features like a human’s, appearing somewhat alien.

“Such a powerful palm technique, such powerful thunder, this should not be within the capabilities of a cultivator of your level,” it actually articulated human speech, logic intact, seemingly possessing considerable intelligence.

“What are you, an evil creature?” Zhou Heng’s eyebrows furrowed, a strong aura of an evil creature emanated from this “thing,” yet there seemed to be differences.

“Evil creature?” It laughed, neither confirming nor denying, “According to your terms here, I am indeed an evil creature. Young man, you may also call me Li You. Would you be willing to become my disciple?”

“Disciple?” Zhou Heng’s eyes narrowed slightly, he said in a deep voice, “You are a deity? And why did you crawl out of Hong Jiaren’s body?”

The reason he had not immediately exterminated this bizarre being

was to understand exactly what was going on. Could it be that those who accidentally obtained the heritage of evil methods were merely materials to cultivate these kinds of things?

If so, then who was behind this?

“No.” Li You shook his head gently, smiling, “A deity is but a spirit, how could that term capture my greatness? You needn’t be hasty in rejecting me, just remember the name ‘Li You.’

“If you encounter an insurmountable danger, sincerely pray to this name three times, and I will help you overcome all difficulties, annihilate all enemies, and at that time, you will understand my mighty power.”

Just then, a prompt resounded in Zhou Heng’s mind.

“The evil spirit ‘Li You’ is attempting to impart the evil method ‘Divine Spirit Descent Technique\'[Heavenly Third Rank] to you. If you execute this technique as instructed, you will be possessed by the evil spirit, losing your self.”

Such a formidable evil method!

To be possessed by just praying to the name thrice sincerely??

But what exactly is an evil spirit?

And how is it different from evil creatures?

Zhou Heng was beset with questions upon questions, and he dared not continue conversing with this evil spirit, unsure of what other bizarre methods it might possess.

Therefore, with a thought, the Mysterious Door Sword floating beside him immediately flew up into the sky, while he released the Taoist formula he held!

“Nine Heavenly Mysterious Execution, transform into thunder!

“Brilliance Heavenly Power, invoke with my sword!”

In an instant, the color of the wind and clouds changed, the high clouds suddenly formed a vortex, shaking violently, as if the sky itself was spinning.

Amidst these surging clouds, countless thunders danced and interwove, similar to wild golden snakes. In an instant, the thunder converged on the Mysterious Door Sword.

Boom!

As if divine thunder descended from the ninth heaven, the lightning, enveloped with unparalleled power to vanquish evil, pierced through the void from above, seemingly ignoring distance, and struck Li You instantly.

“`

The evil spirit, however, was not flustered or frightened in the least. It even chuckled and waved its hand at Zhou Heng, saying, “Indeed, a decisive young man. We shall meet again.”

Boom!

An ear-splitting blast erupted; the evil spirit Li You disintegrated into ash, and the Cross Mysterious Door Sword exploded in mid-air.

The application of Divine Sword Thunder Control required a high grade of weaponry, and even though Zhou Heng had only reached the third level of proficiency, the power of this Taoist Formula surpassed the limit that an upper-grade sharp weapon could withstand.

“It seems it’s time to find a handy treasure weapon,” Zhou Heng thought to himself. Although he had just stepped into the Seventh Rank not long ago, in terms of strength, he had few foes beneath the Secret Sixth Rank.

“Congratulations! For defeating the evenly matched enemy evil spirit ‘Li You’, Fortune Bag [Silver] +1.”

The reward notification sounded.

Added to the two Copper Fortune Bags provided by Wei Yang and Hong Jiaren, along with those gained from vanquishing evil sects over the past ten or so days, he had now accumulated three Silver Fortune Bags and ten Copper Fortune Bags.

“Need to find a chance to open them,” contemplated Zhou Heng.

At that moment, the family who had sought his help earlier came out from their yard, knelt down, and expressed their gratitude.

Soon, other households in Qingquan Town, having learned of the complete downfall of the True Medicine Sect, came out of their closely shut homes and offered their thanks to Zhou Heng.

Many people wanted to offer their wealth, and some even wished to have their daughters accompany Zhou Heng to serve him.

But Zhou Heng paid no attention to these offers and simply led his jujube-red horse away.

This left every household in Qingquan Town even more grateful.

Everyone etched the name Zhou Heng into their hearts.

It even evolved into a custom of carving his name onto jade pendants to ward off illness and disaster.

…

After leaving Qingquan Town,

Zhou Heng did not continue searching for another Evil Sect or malefactors practicing evil ways; instead, he rode his jujube-red horse to the nearest entrance of the Purple Tenuity Palace.

He needed to inquire about the matter of the evil spirit.

This type of evil spirit was clearly different from ordinary evil creatures, especially regarding what Li You had said before being killed.

Meet again?

It was dead, turned to dust; how could they meet again?

Could it be that such a being could be resurrected?

Besides that, Zhou Heng needed to find the angle of the constellation, as the third task had still not been assigned.

Surely, it hadn’t gone to Xi Liang.

Following the familiar starry path, Zhou Heng listened to the overlapping voices of the Ziwei treasure decree again as he arrived in the vast world where the Purple Tenuity Palace was located.

No sooner had he stepped into this world than he saw a figure riding the clouds toward him.

This was a woman, dressed in a luxurious white fur outfit, not very tall but with a slender waist and a particularly prominent chest.

Even just riding the clouds, she moved with the grace and elegance of a lithe lotus.

Her mask bore the image of a white rabbit.

Apparently, she was “Room Constellation,” also known as “Room Sun Rabbit.”

“I have seen the Honorable Star Lord,” Room Sun Rabbit floated forward, accompanied by a faint fragrance, and after paying respects to Zhou Heng, she was about to say something when she suddenly exclaimed, “Star Lord, you have encountered an evil spirit?!”

“That’s right,” Zhou Heng first nodded, then frowned and said, “How do you know? The evil spirit has been turned to ash; could it have left a mark on me?”

“This is no simple mark,” Room Sun Rabbit gently shook her head. She seemed rather anxious and directly grabbed Zhou Heng’s hand, lifting him onto the clouds with her, “Pardon the impertinence, Star Lord.”

In the blink of an eye, they arrived in front of the Purple Tenuity Palace, coming face to face with The Supreme and Celestial Man.

“Evil Spirit Mark?!”

These two Celestials exclaimed in unison, losing their customary composure.

“`