Chapter 5: Rage

Jiang Li almost wanted to laugh. When have I ever practiced Demonic Cultivation?

Demonic Cultivation was the primary target of suppression by the Human Sovereign Hall. Anyone who dared to practice it had to be prepared to go against the entire Cultivation World.

There were countless paths to Ascension, at least dozens of them—there was the Body Refining Path, which tempered the physical body; the Gu Path, which cultivated by nurturing venomous creatures within oneself; the Qi Refining Path, which transformed spiritual energy into essence; and the Rune Path, which utilized formations and sigils… But among them, one was strictly forbidden in the Cultivation World.

That was Demonic Cultivation—the path of a single person’s ascension at the cost of all others.

Demonic Cultivation followed no restrictions, no taboos. It sacrificed the lives of the masses to empower a single individual. It didn’t matter how many had to die—as long as one could survive and grow stronger, anything was justified.

Back when Ascension was still possible, the Nine Provinces Continent wasn’t particularly hostile to Demonic Cultivators. After all, even if they reached the peak of their cultivation, they would still ultimately ascend—which was within the world’s acceptable limits.

But once Ascension was severed, Demonic Cultivators began attempting to sacrifice the entire continent—using the lives of everyone on the Nine Provinces Continent to create a single Immortal. Some even caused catastrophes that wiped out entire dynasties.

Because of this, the Cultivation World established an unspoken rule:

“All Demonic Cultivators must be exterminated on sight.”

“You’re not surprised?” Yuan Wuxing asked cautiously.

“Without evidence, there’s nothing to be surprised about,” Jiang Li replied flatly.

“There is evidence!” Yuan Wuxing insisted. “Haven’t you heard of a certain rumor? No one knows if it’s true or false, but… Before Jiang, the Human Sovereign, rose to power, he once fought against an Outer World Demon, completely disregarding collateral damage. As a result, an entire city perished—no survivors!”

“And more than a hundred babies have already been stolen by the Jiang Family. What do they need so many infants for? The only explanation is a blood sacrifice! They’re using these infants to refine their bodies and aid in breaking through from Golden Core to Nascent Soul. That’s a pure Demonic Cultivation method! Are you telling me the Human Sovereign doesn’t know about this?”

“With his abilities, helping someone advance to Nascent Soul Stage is effortless. Yet, he allows the Jiang Family to use such depraved Demonic Cultivation methods? That proves he’s not just tolerating them—he’s one of them! Only Demonic Cultivators would ignore safer, proper methods and let their own family resort to such extremes!”

“Senior Zhang, if my speculation is correct… then the current Human Sovereign is a Demonic Cultivator. That means the Nine Provinces Continent is doomed!”

“I beg you, please inform your Sect Leader!”

Yuan Wuxing dropped to his knees in desperation.

Yet… no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t kneel. It felt as if invisible hands were holding him up.

“Senior Zhang…?”

Yuan Wuxing was about to speak again when he noticed Jiang Li’s expression had darkened.

Without a word, Jiang Li turned and walked out of the house.

His aura was terrifying—like a volcano on the verge of eruption. Yuan Wuxing swallowed nervously and dared not say another word.

Jiang Li hadn’t reacted at all when Yuan Wuxing accused the Human Sovereign of secretly aiding the Jiang Family. He even laughed it off when Yuan Wuxing suggested the Human Sovereign himself practiced Demonic Cultivation.

Why? Because he knew none of it was true.

But when Yuan Wuxing suspected the Jiang Family of performing blood sacrifices on infants—Jiang Li’s rage ignited.

Because he knew it was very likely true.

Otherwise, how could the Jiang Family possibly need so many babies?

The Human Sovereign Hall was the most adamant force against Demonic Cultivation, yet the Jiang Family might have been using his name to practice Demonic Cultivation in secret!

Jiang Li’s anger was unbearable. His Divine Sense expanded outward, covering hundreds of miles—encompassing Qing City and several surrounding cities. Every movement within those areas was laid bare before him.

And yet—he found nothing.

That, in itself, was a problem.

He didn’t find any traces of a blood sacrifice, but at the same time, he also didn’t find any of the missing children.

He focused his Divine Sense on the Jiang Family’s estate, but everything seemed normal—they were simply conducting their ancestral worship ceremony, just as before.

No secret basements. No hidden tunnels. Nothing.

That meant only two possibilities:

Yuan Wuxing was completely wrong.
The infants had been hidden in another dimension.
There were only two ways to store things in spatial realms within the Nine Provinces Continent:

Storage Rings: Can be accessed anytime but cannot store living beings.
Spatial Nodes: Fixed-location hidden spaces that can contain living beings—Mystic Realms operate this way.
Spatial Nodes were extremely well-concealed. Unless someone entered or exited, they were nearly impossible to detect from the outside.

“Do you have any hard evidence?” Jiang Li asked, reentering the house with a calm, almost indifferent expression.

“For example—a Recording Sphere capturing the Jiang Family Head and the City Lord’s conversation?”

Yuan Wuxing hesitated, then sighed. “No. Using a Recording Sphere would create magical fluctuations—the Nascent Soul Stage City Lord would’ve noticed.”

“As for other evidence… I have none.”

He looked dejected, but then he added, “The Jiang Family’s ancestral worship frequency closely matches the frequency of missing infants. I suspect they’re pretending to perform ancestral rites while actually conducting blood sacrifices. But the security is too tight—I’ve tried for years and never managed to get in.”

“The Jiang Family is worshiping their ancestors right now. Senior, maybe you could—”

“I already went,” Jiang Li interrupted, shaking his head. “There was nothing unusual… Hmm?”

His lips curled slightly—not just into a smile, but a cold sneer.

“Well, well… Looks like I just found something.”

His Divine Sense had never retracted. It had been monitoring the entire region the whole time.

Outside Qing City
Under a massive tree, space distorted, and an elder in hemp robes stepped out.

The old man carefully scanned his surroundings, ensuring no one was watching before taking flight—heading straight for the Jiang Family’s ancestral hall.

Jiang Li didn’t follow him.

Instead, he dragged Yuan Wuxing to the spatial node he had just discovered outside Qing City.

With a gentle tap, the space rippled and stabilized into a portal.

The pocket dimension was tiny, only the size of a cave.

The moment they stepped inside, a thick, nauseating stench of blood assaulted their senses, making Yuan Wuxing gag.

And then—he saw it.

Hundreds of tiny skeletons, no larger than a forearm, were scattered carelessly on both sides of the cave. Skulls were separated from spines, limbs were torn from torsos, and everything was in chaos.

At the end of the cave, a blood-soaked altar stood—upon which ten intact infant corpses lay. Their blood and flesh were still dissolving into the air.

Yuan Wuxing collapsed, sobbing in horror.

Jiang Li said nothing—his expression was icy cold.

His voice echoed through the tiny space—low at first, then growing louder and louder, shaking the very foundations of the realm.

“Senior Zhang…?” Yuan Wuxing stammered, staring at Jiang Li in shock.

With just his voice, Jiang Li had shaken an entire spatial realm.

He turned to Yuan Wuxing, his white teeth gleaming in the darkness.

“Let’s go pay the Jiang Family a visit.”