Chapter 64 Did My Mind and Body Separation Stop Working?

To avoid being seen coming out of the dilapidated estate, the demonic cultivator hurriedly left the ruined residence where Feng Xue had once rented a room before dawn. Although his Yin-煞 body did not fear the bitter cold, he still forced himself to put on a shivering appearance, wrapped tightly in his thin, weathered garments, and shuffled slowly along the warm wall of the street.

No matter the era, life as a demonic cultivator has never been easy. Yet, there are always those who step onto the demonic path for various reasons, whether righteous or dark. Under such circumstances, every demonic cultivator who manages to survive the encirclements of the righteous sects develops a cautious, prudent, and adaptable nature. Even though he was once a revered grandmaster, this demonic cultivator still maintained an extremely cautious style of conduct, disguising himself as a down-and-out beggar.

Clad in thin, tattered clothes, he dawdled past one luxurious estate after another, begging from everyone he saw. This was not merely a disguise, but also a way to conveniently scout for prey.

Demonic cultivators take the vital essence of others as their cultivation resources, which naturally draws heavy karmic retribution. However, this is not without a remedy. The so-called karma and retributive evil are essentially just a monitoring mechanism imbued into the [Humanitarian Spiritual Essence] by human naive moral concepts materialized through collective thought-power. Therefore, eras of great turmoil and moral decay are precisely when demonic cultivators act most unscrupulously.

In times of peace, the method to reduce one's blood-foulness and karmic retribution is naturally to prey upon notorious villains reviled by the masses. Although killing anyone, even someone steeped in evil, will still generate karma, it will simultaneously bestow corresponding virtuous merits that dissolve tribulations. In fact, many of the righteous thieves frequently heard of in the pugilistic world—those who punish the wicked, aid the oppressed, and rob the rich to give to the poor—are actually demonic cultivators in disguise.

This serves two purposes: first, by performing acts recognized by humanity as "acting on behalf of heaven," they acquire virtuous merits to burn away blood-foulness and karma; second, it effectively reduces the investigative efforts of the righteous sects. After all, if an ordinary good person dies, both the government and righteous cultivators will want to investigate the truth, and the common people will want the criminal brought to justice. But if the deceased is a notorious local bully, even if the authorities still investigate, the subordinates may not be willing to risk their lives, profound cultivators cherish their reputations even more, and the common people might even secretly throw obstacles in the way to protect the hero who eliminated a pest for the people. They might even alter wanted posters so drastically that no one can recognize them.

Moreover, the support of the common people also exerts an influence on the humanitarian realm, diminishing the backlash caused by the wicked act of "cultivating through human lives."

This little trick, however, leads to a new problem—

It is very difficult for demonic cultivators to unite among themselves. After all, in the eyes of every demonic cultivator, these peers are not only competitors fighting for cultivation resources, but also high-quality experience packages capable of providing massive amounts of virtuous merits and vital essence.

Many demonic cultivators even suspect that this method of killing villains to practice cultivation might have been deliberately spread by some righteous cultivator specifically to instigate internal strife among the demonic faction!

...

"Though the estate has changed, and the clothes have changed, this mortal world is still the same old ghost town!"

Enduring the cold glances of the servants, the demonic cultivator muttered inwardly while continuously scanning his surroundings with Qi-observation techniques. It was not that he was impatient to kill someone for cultivation, but merely a habit formed over many years of practice.

Walking and stopping all the way, the sky finally grew completely bright, and his target was already close at hand.

"To think I can still faintly sense that lingering aura. Could that spirit ghost have been feasting from last night all the way until dawn? *Sluuurp*... What kind of lavish household is this? So extravagant?"

Feeling the residual aura overflowing in the air from vital essence being consumed by a ghost, the demonic cultivator—whose divine soul had already transformed into that of a "ghost"—couldn't help feeling a surge of excitement. Yet reason ultimately reined in instinct, and he continued to walk leisurely past the grand mansions while carefully observing the estate emitting that "fragrance."

"Oh, standing stake-post exercises early in the morning? Is he a guard of this estate? But the fabric of his clothes is extraordinary... And this magical artifact... to think there are over a dozen of them?!"

Noticing the young man standing in the courtyard, the demonic cultivator muttered inwardly. Upon closer inspection, however, he realized something was amiss. Although this youth was physically robust and full of vital spirit, there was no surging of blood and Qi. A martial artist who didn't even rank in the second tier—even if he served as a guard—would only be a minor minion certainly not qualified to possess so many magical artifacts.

In contrast, the youth's thoughts were pure and unified, and his spiritual light was full, clearly indicating he had condensed a phantom image of his divine soul. Though he was still some distance away from achieving the Dao, being able to manifest such spiritual soul characteristics at such a young age meant calling him a seed of a grandmaster was by no means an exaggeration.

"And there's still a faint sense of rising vital essence about him... Could this kid be the one feeding the ghost? He practices both martial arts and profound Dao simultaneously? Where does he get the energy?"

The more the demonic cultivator thought about it, the less he could understand, even entertaining the thought that perhaps his century of seclusion had missed some new breakthrough in the profound cultivation world. Yet, recalling the few profound cultivators he had encountered on the road earlier, none of them displayed such a condition.

"Either it's some unique secret technique, or he is raising loyal retainers as sacrifices..." As soon as this thought arose, the demonic cultivator dismissed it himself. If raising loyal retainers to provide vital essence could reduce karmic retribution, demonic cultivators wouldn't be in their current plight.

It would be one thing to have loyal retainers consume magical power to refine artifacts, but trying to cultivate through this method would inevitably incur karmic evil. Yet this youth exuded a translucent clarity from head to toe. Forget about cultivating with someone else's vital essence—even taking mere elixir pills wouldn't leave him in such a state. While a trace of bloody foulness could be perceived, it was already on the verge of being worn away by virtuous merits. One could tell at a glance that he had slain some treacherous and wicked individuals.

What was even more extraordinary was that spirit ghost. Its purity was simply unprecedented in his entire life; it looked entirely like it only consumed the pure vital essence provided by its master. As for the rest, not to mention incense offerings, it hadn't even touched anyone else's vital essence—it was the epitome of being pampered.

"Wait, this ghost eats this well? Can a single person's generated vital essence really support dual cultivation of martial and profound arts, and still have enough left over to raise a ghost? Did you pick up your lifespan for free?"

The more the demonic cultivator pondered, the more absurd it felt, to the point that his entire worldview on cultivation was being challenged.

Suppression of his curiosity and restraint in his stride carried him past the final courtyard until he finally shuffled to the front of the target estate. Facing the young man in the yard who was standing with eyes closed in a stake-post stance, he let out a cry suppressing countless emotions:

"Have pity, master, spare a bite to eat!"

As the words fell, the demonic cultivator's spiritual sense suddenly stirred. Although the youth had not opened his eyes, the intuition he had accumulated through countless brushes with death keenly sensed that a gaze had swept over him, causing a jolt of alarm in his heart—

"Heavenly Eye Technique? Hasn't the Divine Firmament Sect's lineage been broken? Could it be the Numinous Treasure Sect's Heavenly Eye? But the Heavenly Eye Technique leaves a distinct mark between the brows, and this clearly isn't it! However, with my method of dividing spirit and flesh, even the legendary..."

As the demonic cultivator pondered, he grew increasingly unconfident, for he noticed that the youth's previously smooth breathing rhythm suddenly broke for a split second, and even the coordinated flow of blood and Qi stuttered slightly.

Without a doubt, he was extremely startled at this moment!

"Could it be he saw through something? That's impossible!"