Chapter 2: The Five Paths of Immortality
“Seeking death!”
A fierce roar exploded like thunder.
These two demons dared to ambush him.
Rage surged from within; Yu Qiye’s fingers curled into claws, tearing fiercely.
Before the claw’s light could strike, the swirling gale entwined between his claws howled forth, terrifying the snake demon to the core.
“Brother Deer, help me!”
The snake demon who struck first cried out.
“I’ll aid you.”
As the words fell, the deer demon swung a weapon resembling a staff at Yu Qiye.
Boom!
Another resounding blast.
Yu Qiye’s black wings flicked up again.
His wings, like forged metal, were exceptionally tough, capable of withstanding one or two blows without serious harm.
In the next moment, ignoring the retreating snake demon, Yu Qiye lunged directly at the approaching deer demon.
Both claws struck simultaneously, demon power swirling, emitting sharp claw light continuously.
Swish, swish, swish!
The fierce claw light engulfed the deer demon’s entire body like a sudden storm.
Fast.
So fast that the deer demon couldn’t even react.
“How does this guy seem even stronger now?”
The deer demon was stunned, hastily parrying with his staff.
Yet at that moment, Yu Qiye’s right claw suddenly halted.
“Could it be he’s tired?”
The deer demon felt the pressure lighten and joy filled his heart.
But before a smile could spread across his lips, Yu Qiye’s right claw suddenly hooked upward with great force.
Boom!
With a sudden roar, a wind blade half a meter long howled forth.
With a ‘pshht’ sound, blood splattered three meters high as the deer demon was cleaved in two.
“So this is the purple attribute ‘Mastery of Gale’.”
Yu Qiye was secretly amazed.
In the fierce battle, he sensed it.
He noticed strands of wind blades converging between his claws.
Then, with a thought, he unleashed all the gathered wind blades in one claw.
It transformed into this invisible yet deadly ‘massive wind blade.’
[Notification: You have slain the deer demon and randomly acquired the attribute Spirit of the Mountain (Blue). Would you like to merge it?]
[Spirit of the Mountain (Blue): The spirit of the mountain can transform into a mountain sprite, and upon returning to original form, it harmonizes more deeply with nature. It can conceal aura, revealing no demonic energy.]
Conceal aura, reveal no demonic energy?
A fine attribute.
Merge.
“Merge.”
[You are now merging Spirit of the Mountain (Blue).]
His body trembled violently as an inexplicable energy infused into him.
Indescribable and mysterious.
Yet Yu Qiye clearly felt his body undergoing an unknown change.
Yes—his aura!
His demonic energy was fading!
“So this is attribute merging.”
His eyes flickered as he glanced at the snake demon, whose heart was already shattered with terror.
[Race: Snake Demon.]
[Rank: Minor Demon.]
[Attributes: Cunning and Deceptive (White), Poisonous Mist Surging (Blue), Swordsmanship Mastery (Blue), Devouring Flesh (White)]
“What’s this? Could I actually see others’ attributes and even their tags?”
Yu Qiye was astonished.
“Brother Crow, it’s a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding.”
“I’m willing to submit and follow your side.”
Repeated pleas, the snake demon seemed to beg for mercy, lowering his long sword.
“Brother Crow, could you spare my life?”
The snake demon bowed his head, pleading once more.
“Agreed.”
A simple reply, yet what awaited Yu Qiye was the snake demon suddenly raising his head.
His mouth slightly open, a vast green poisonous mist surged forth, corrupting several meters around.
Plants withered, the earth turned sickly green.
But no matter how fast the snake demon was, he was no match for a faint gleam of light...
At the moment he raised his head, Yu Qiye had already thrown his black feather.
The black feather shot like an arrow from a bowstring, ‘thud’—piercing the snake demon’s brow.
His body shuddered and collapsed solidly to the ground.
“With a ‘Cunning and Deceptive’ attribute, you still expect me to trust you?”
Cunning and deceptive is a personality trait.
Normally, personality wouldn’t appear in the attribute list.
Otherwise, there would be many more “cunning and deceptive” tags.
After all, whether human or demon, personality is complex.
Yet now, ‘Cunning and Deceptive’ appeared among the attributes.
There could be only one possibility.
That cunning and deception was engraved in this snake demon’s very bones, bloodline, even soul.
Yu Qiye sneered but did not advance.
He wasn’t sure if the snake demon was truly dead.
Until...
[You have slain the snake demon and randomly acquired the attribute Devouring Flesh (White). Would you like to merge it?]
[Devouring Flesh—You can rely on devouring flesh to enhance your body’s strength, cultivation, and even healing.]
“Merge.”
As the words fell, Yu Qiye’s body trembled again.
A sharp pain erupted in his stomach.
His brows furrowed slightly.
His body shook as a mysterious force seemed to temper his stomach.
However, the pain came quickly and left just as fast.
In moments, the pain vanished.
Only an inexplicable hunger remained.
His eyes flickered as he looked at the snake demon’s and deer demon’s corpses, saliva beginning to flow.
But no rush.
He had one more task.
...
Once certain the two demons were dead, Yu Qiye stepped forward.
He cut open their abdomens to extract demon pills.
These pills were small, about the size of a marble.
Known as demon cores.
Condensed from a demon’s essence.
Consuming them greatly enhances cultivation.
As for side effects...
That could wait for another day.
He swallowed the two demon pills one after another, then sat cross-legged to begin refining.
Boom!
A dense, potent energy surged into his body, flowing into every limb and bone.
In just a short while, Yu Qiye felt his cultivation leap significantly.
“I’m not far from becoming a great demon now.”
From the few memories of his bloodline in his mind, this world’s demons were categorized as minor demons, great demons, demon generals, demon kings, and the legendary demon saints.
These were memories from the crow spirit.
A demon’s memories.
But in another memory, this world’s realms were even more detailed.
Like the immortals, divided into five types:
Heaven, Earth, Human, God, and Ghost.
Ghost Immortal—transcended within Yin, unregistered in the underworld’s records, escaping reincarnation’s suffering but unable to enter paradises, ultimately wandering with nowhere to go, stopping at rebirth. Essentially a pure spirit, called immortal because the Yin soul lingers.
Human Immortal—cultivators who fail to comprehend the Dao, fixated on a single path, diligently cultivate, roughly harmonize the five elements, stabilize their form, resist evil influences, called human immortals, though their attainment is partial.
Earth Immortal—halfway between heaven and earth, with potential to become a god immortal. Despite elemental chaos, refining pills to maintain lower fields, refining the body to attain longevity, they still have not comprehended the Dao, limited to minor attainment.
God Immortal—earth immortals who abandon the mortal realm, continuously practice to form qi and reach the state of five qi returning to source and three flowers gathering atop the head. Once fulfilled, they become pure yang beings, transcend form to ascend, rejecting worldly ties and returning to paradises.
Heaven Immortal—earth immortals who abandon paradises and preach among mortals, achieving merit in cultivation and deeds. When merit and deeds are sufficient, receiving celestial scriptures to return to heaven, becoming heaven immortals.
This classification, frankly, is somewhat complex.
Moreover, to Yu Qiye, it seemed more like five paths.
Five distinct ways to ascend to immortality.
For example, the Earth Immortal Patriarch, Zhenyuanzi, is said to have pioneered the Earth Immortal path, earning reverence as the ‘Ancestor.’
“Or another kind, simpler and more direct.”
Yu Qiye recalled another classification.
Simple and straightforward.
Like the mortal world’s stages: Qi Refinement, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Out-of-Body, Tribulation Crossing.
Beyond that lie the immortal realms: True Immortal, Profound Immortal, Golden Immortal—akin to the legendary Great Luo.
“It should be like the memories from my past life. The demon race’s heritage has been broken and abandoned by heaven. Their understanding of cultivation lags behind the great era. Most demons can only explore on their own.”
Yu Qiye guessed.
But fortunately, with memories from two lives, he could compare.
Minor demons, having just transformed, have demon cores and about a hundred years of cultivation.
Roughly matching Golden Core or Nascent Soul.
Great demons, quite powerful, with centuries of cultivation.
Comparable to Out-of-Body.
Demon generals, associated with the ‘Thunder Tribulation,’ with cultivation of thousands of years.
Likely matching Tribulation Crossing.
As for demon kings, rulers of their domains, their power is harder to gauge.
Some demons, merely great demons, gather minor demons to occupy territory and declare themselves kings—these are false demon kings.
True demon kings possess at least true immortal power.
Powerful demon kings may even reach Profound Immortal.
And demon saints... saints of the demon race, true mighty beings, comparable to Golden Immortals without issue.
But nowadays, are there truly demon saints?
His eyes flickered as Yu Qiye gazed at the heavens.
The future’s seven great demon saints mostly self-proclaimed, their claims heavily exaggerated.
“Bull Demon King and the Monkey King might possess Golden Immortal strength.”
As for the rest, Yu Qiye smiled.