Chapter 2 of 10

Chapter 2

21 min read5,210 words

Wang Chong leaped to his feet, beads of sweat dripping from his forehead.

After a moment, he hesitantly opened his palm.

A translucent bead rolled around in his palm.

If one looked closely, they would see that this bead contained its own world, with clouds and mists, clear and turbid elements, mountains and rivers, and all living things, a magnificent sight.

"Yan Tian Pearl! Was it this that helped me withstand the power of the Return to Immortal Mirror?"

Wang Chong came from a side branch of the Demon Sect, the Tianxin Daoist Temple, and was the most outstanding disciple in the temple's history, spanning several hundred years. He was also the only disciple in the past hundred years to have cultivated both the Dhara and Dili sections of the Tianxin Daoist Temple's Five Awarenesses Demon Scroll.

The Tianxin Daoist Temple was a heretical sect of the Demon Sect, but the Five Awarenesses Demon Scroll it passed down was orthodox, originating from the Tianmo Wanhua Xuanbian Jing of the Extreme Demon Sect. The Five Awarenesses of the Heavenly Demon were incredibly powerful.

Upon cultivating the Dhara section of the Five Awarenesses, one could achieve "thousand transformations of qi; illusionary cultivation," allowing one's true qi to change properties at will and even transform one's power between existence and non-existence. Upon cultivating the Dili section, one could "capture souls" and even "transfer consciousness and alter intentions," even modifying one's own memories.

Since the founding of the Tianxin Daoist Temple by its patriarch, Tianxin Daoist, only two people had ever cultivated the Five Awarenesses of the Heavenly Demon in the past few hundred years.

One was Tianxin Daoist himself, who cultivated the Manas section, enabling him to "communicate between yin and yang; reverse life and death"!

The other was Tianxin Daoist's fourth disciple, Futuo Shangren, who was also Wang Chong's great-grandmaster. He cultivated the Vijnana section, enabling him to "distinguish all things; separate and transform matter."

Wang Chong was the third genius to cultivate the Heavenly Demon Awarenesses since the founding of the Tianxin Daoist Temple, even surpassing the two patriarchs. He was the first disciple of the Tianxin Daoist Temple to cultivate two Heavenly Demon Awarenesses.

Upon Wang Chong's cultivation of the Dhara and Dili sections of the Five Awarenesses, the entire Tianxin Daoist Temple rejoiced. The elders plotted for several days, fabricated an identity for him, and sent him to the Emei Sect to steal their superior Daoist techniques.

Thus, Wang Chong was not at the Tianxin Daoist Temple but in the Five Spirits Immortal Mansion of the Emei Sect.

The fabricated identity given to him by the Tianxin Daoist Temple was that of a young nobleman named Tang Jingyu.

Before the age of ten, this young master Tang Jingyu lived a carefree life, with no worries other than attending school and preparing for the imperial examinations.

At the age of ten, his father suddenly fell ill and died. His stepmother treated him poorly, scolding and beating him frequently, and he often went hungry, eating only the food of pigs and dogs. His life was truly "worse than death, like that of a pig or dog."

Tang Jingyu felt that he might not survive to adulthood and, taking advantage of his stepmother's inattention, fled from home.

Being young, Tang Jingyu forgot to steal some money when he fled. With no skills other than reading, he became a beggar and lived a miserable life for several months.

One day, he met a Taoist who called himself Yan Daoist. Yan Daoist said that Tang Jingyu had good potential and could learn Daoism from him.

To have a full stomach, Tang Jingyu was happy to become a disciple and followed his new master, Yan Daoist, to become a young Taoist.

Yan Daoist had a significant background; he was a registered disciple of the Tianxin Daoist Temple.

The Tianxin Daoist Temple wanted to send Wang Chong to the Emei Sect and approached Yan Daoist, asking him to kill Tang Jingyu and replace him with Wang Chong. In return, they taught Yan Daoist a harmful technique that required the extraction of a living soul to cultivate, as a reward.

Yan Daoist, unaware of the true situation, thought he had gained the favor of his sect. Misled by the Tianxin Daoist Temple, he went out to capture young boys and girls and accidentally captured a newly initiated female disciple of the Emei Sect. This led to the Emei Sect's elders attacking him, beheading him with flying swords, and scattering his soul with thunder magic.

Wang Chong and Yan Daoist's other disciple were quite obedient and did not resist the righteous immortals. They immediately knelt and cried to the sword immortals of the Emei Sect, explaining that they had been kidnapped and did not truly have evil intentions or wish to learn harmful techniques from such a wicked master.

The Emei Sect, being a righteous sect, did not kill innocents. After questioning the two, the elders found that they could not be returned home and decided to take them to Mount Emei.

The Tianxin Daoist Temple relied on the Dhara section's ability to transform true qi and conceal Wang Chong's demonic techniques, and the Dili section's ability to alter memories, making it impossible for the Emei Sect's elders to detect his true identity through soul-searching techniques. If the elders were careless, Wang Chong could pass through undetected. If discovered, losing a disciple would not harm the foundation of the Tianxin Daoist Temple, as the Demon Sect did not value human life.

When Wang Chong was brought to the Five Spirits Immortal Mansion, the Return to Immortal Mirror, which hung at the entrance, suddenly emitted a hundred-foot golden light, thoroughly illuminating him.

The Return to Immortal Mirror was a precious treasure of the Immortal Mansion and the Emei Sect's most important magical artifact, with countless uses. It could detect the presence of demonic qi and even reveal the past, present, and future. However, activating this treasure was extremely draining, so the Emei Sect's elders rarely used it.

Wang Chong's heart sank. Although the Five Awarenesses Demon Scroll had many uses and could withstand the Emei Sect's elders' soul-searching techniques, it could not resist the power of the Return to Immortal Mirror.

Wang Chong thought he was doomed, but for some reason, when the golden light of the Return to Immortal Mirror reached him, a bead appeared in his palm, generating countless transformations and somehow withstanding the mirror's great power, revealing only Tang Jingyu's past.

Seeing that his background was indeed clear and his life story tragic, several of the Emei Sect's elders felt pity and temporarily took him and Yan Daoist's other disciple in.

Although Wang Chong had been living in the Five Spirits Immortal Mansion for over ten days, he still broke out in cold sweat whenever he thought about that moment, even waking up from nightmares. If his identity were discovered, he would surely be beheaded by the Emei Sect's sword immortals, and his soul might be shattered, leaving no chance for reincarnation.

The appearance of the Yan Tian Pearl was mysterious!

In the nine continents, ten lands, and sixteen oceans, there were only a handful of treasures that could resist the Return to Immortal Mirror, and none of them were in the possession of the Tianxin Daoist Temple, a side branch of the Demon Sect with declining power. Even if they had such a powerful treasure, it would have been stolen or carefully hidden by the elders, never given to a junior disciple to bring to the Emei Sect, which would be like gifting the treasure to them.

When the Yan Tian Pearl appeared in Wang Chong's palm, it also transmitted a strange technique to him, called the Yan Tian Technique, which seemed to be the method for refining the Yan Tian Pearl.

---