Chapter 616: Dissolving into the Earth
“Hmm, why is this Type Three Mad Demon dissolving?”
Everyone noticed that the Type Three Mad Demon casually killed by Steward Fang earlier was actually melting like ice, gradually dissolving and returning to the earth.
Steward Fang released his spiritual sense and discovered it wasn’t just the Type Three Mad Demon—even the dead humans were dissolving into the earth.
“This is completely normal,” He Chong said matter-of-factly.
“Humans and Mad Demons draw power from the earth, so of course we must return that power after death. This is perfectly natural—we call it Earth Burial.”
Steward Fang frowned, somewhat confused about the underlying principle. It almost seemed like the earth was consuming living beings.
Was it a problem with the land, or with the Mad Demons?
Steward Fang turned to his disciples and said, “You’ve been neglecting combat training. The sect master has repeatedly emphasized making full use of the training grounds, yet they remain deserted. This is a perfect opportunity for you to gain experience.”
“Go hunt one Qi Refining Stage, one Foundation Establishment Stage, and one Core Formation Stage demon beast each from the nearby area and bring them back. The corpses must remain intact. Go now.”
“And Dong Li, Bai Heitu—you two. I don’t know what relationship you have with the sect master, nor do I care to know. The sect master emphasized before departure that you should be treated like ordinary disciples. Therefore, you will go hunt one Core Formation Stage demon beast.”
Jiang Li and Bai Hongtu acknowledged the order.
Steward Fang released his spiritual sense to monitor the disciples’ every move, his brow furrowing slightly.
Their performance was quite poor. They managed adequately against Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment stage beasts where their cultivation level provided an advantage, but when facing Core Formation Stage beasts, they became flustered and disorganized.
Fortunately, they understood the value of teamwork—when one couldn’t handle an opponent, they would team up two or three against one.
“Dong Li and Bai Heitu’s performance, however, is quite impressive. Even I couldn’t do better than them.”
Steward Fang pulled a vine from his robe and pressed it into the ground. The vine grew wildly underground, charging toward a Mad Demon in the distance.
The Mad Demon was gnawing on a human who had just died and hadn’t yet dissolved into the earth when the ground bulged and vines suddenly sprouted, piercing through the demon’s forehead.
Realizing its death was imminent, the Mad Demon shrieked continuously, its sonic waves reverberating like a heavenly blade slicing across the earth, cutting surrounding trees in half.
Steward Fang recited a scripture, and the vine spread its leaves, growing from the forehead and penetrating through blood vessels. The Mad Demon’s roar abruptly ceased.
If someone were to dissect the Mad Demon, they would find no blood vessels remaining inside—only vines had taken their place!
“Got myself a Nascent Soul Stage demon beast.”
Steward Fang had the vine drag the Mad Demon back. This display left He Chong utterly stunned.
This was a Nascent Soul Stage beast capable of shaking mountains! A single one could smash through city gates and cause an entire city to fall. How could such a creature die so easily at this master’s hands?
The disciples returned with intact demon beast corpses and reported their achievements to Steward Fang.
“Steward Fang, what’s the purpose of these demon beast corpses? Are we going to analyze why they’ve gone mad?”
Steward Fang collected all the Mad Demon corpses, finding the disciples’ question somewhat amusing. “Analyze demon beasts? We’re the Spirit Plant Sect—who among us understands demon beast anatomy?”
“Then why are you…” The disciples were confused.
“Naturally, to bring them back for analysis by professionals. Just because we don’t understand doesn’t mean no one in the Nine Provinces does.”
Steward Fang smiled. “Don’t forget, behind us isn’t just the Spirit Plant Sect—it’s the entire Nine Provinces World.”
The disciples suddenly understood.
Before this, they had always thought that when in trouble in another world, they should seek help from their sect elders. They hadn’t realized they could also request assistance from other sects.
Steward Fang continued, “While coming to another world does give us an advantage and serves to train you, you must remember that the most important purpose of exploring other worlds is to thwart the schemes of the Outer Realm Demons. This comes first.”
“We will remember, Master.”
“This person is doing quite well,” Jiang Li transmitted his thoughts to Bai Hongtu. So far, Steward Fang’s words, actions, and way of thinking hadn’t shown any major issues.
“The question is whether he’s naturally like this, or if the Confucian School’s courses have had an effect.”
Steward Fang led the group out of the dense forest, sending He Chong to collect their exploration rewards from the human authorities while the rest fabricated identities and settled among the human population.
“Why don’t we openly declare our identities?”
“Because we still don’t understand the human authorities’ attitude toward us, nor do we know the strength of the humans here. He Chong said there haven’t been any Unity Stage cultivators for a long time, but that doesn’t guarantee there aren’t any Unity Stage experts among the humans.”
“What if the humans do have Unity Stage cultivators who harbor ill intentions toward us?”
“Then we ask the sect elders to intervene?” a disciple suggested, thinking of their powerful backing.
Steward Fang shook his head. “The sect elders have many matters to handle. We can’t trouble them with everything—that would create dependency.”
“Remember, when traveling abroad, you can’t become arrogant just because you have powerful backing. Remain cautious.”
The disciple still seemed puzzled. “Then why did we tell He Chong the truth? Won’t he report our situation to the authorities?”
“We told him the truth to gain his trust and quickly obtain information about this world. As for He Chong reporting to the authorities…”
Steward Fang pointed to his head. “My spiritual sense has been monitoring He Chong. He did report our situation to the authorities, but they didn’t believe him.”
He smiled coldly. “Clearly, in this world, insignificant people have no voice, and the human leadership doesn’t care about the opinions of small figures.”
“Let’s go to the library—that’s where the most information is concentrated.” Steward Fang stopped paying attention to He Chong. Their current priority was to understand this world’s history and combat capabilities.
Steward Fang found a dictionary and had everyone learn this world’s language. Previously, they had relied on spiritual sense for communication, but spiritual sense couldn’t translate written text.
These disciples were all Core Formation Stage cultivators. Thanks to improvements Jiang Li, Bai Hongtu, and Yu Yin had made to spiritual sense cultivation methods, even Core Formation Stage cultivators could now use spiritual sense, greatly improving their learning efficiency.
Soon, everyone had mastered the local language.
“I’ll use my spiritual sense to scan books in the history section. You go to the body refining section and collect information about this world’s body refining methods. Then we’ll compile the information and analyze the situation.”
“Yes!”
Steward Fang gestured for quiet. “Keep the noise down—this is a library.”
…
“The world’s history largely matches what He Chong said. Over two thousand years ago, this was a cultivator world, though cultivation levels were generally low. The reason was probably that cultivators back then were unwilling to share their cultivation insights, relying solely on transmission between masters and disciples. Once both master and disciple died, those unique cultivation methods would completely disappear.”
“How could progress happen under such conditions?”
“As for the demon beasts, there was too much crossbreeding, preventing them from unleashing their bloodline’s true power. The strongest only reached Spirit Transformation Stage, but the demon beasts back then possessed rationality.”
“Later, a Unity Stage expert appeared among humans. After representing humanity in signing a ceasefire agreement with the demon beasts, he disappeared without a trace.”
“Some say he ascended to a higher realm, others claim he journeyed through space. In short, no one knows where he went.”