Chapter 745 - 398: Purge (Part 2)

Evil Demons have almost never appeared in this world. The ones who typically plagued the mortal realm were the lonely ghosts and vengeful spirits of the dead, or perhaps some Demons that had gained sentience by accident.

The City God’s underhanded dealings included, but were not limited to, trading with the souls of the recently deceased and with vengeful spirits to obtain items that aided cultivation. He would also tame Demons through various methods, such as teaching them to devour the souls of the dead, eventually refining these Demons into Detained Spirits and taking them as his subordinates.

In fact, the first few manifestations Yang An eliminated before encountering the City God were Detained Spirits that the City God had refined using certain methods.

Of course, such practices were not uncommon among the City Gods; that fellow was just following suit. Thus, the Immortal Mansions above them mostly turned a blind eye. As long as things didn’t escalate to the point of plaguing the mortal realm, they generally wouldn’t bother to intervene.

On a smaller scale, these actions taken by the City Gods—sacrificing a person or two—were for the benefit of the majority. As long as they could protect the inhabitants of their jurisdiction, it was a good thing in the eyes of the Immortal Mansions above. It was considered a solid achievement.

On a larger scale, Cultivators advanced through the ranks, and the officials in the Immortal Mansions were no different—they too had climbed up step-by-step from being City Gods. Such practices had long become a tacitly accepted, unspoken rule. If someone were to be punished for it, then very few would have a clean record.

"This is a classic case of the fish rotting from the head down. This kind of culture must be purged at its source."

A fiery glint appeared in Yang An’s eyes.

As a native of the Origin Realm, he had seen or heard of many similar incidents growing up. If this were to happen in the Origin Realm, it would be a trivial matter. In which Sect, in which city, were there not fields littered with corpses? Even if it were something major, Yang An wouldn’t have bothered to give it a second glance.

But this was Earth, and that was unacceptable. Since he had the power to act, he had to stamp out this culture. He absolutely could not allow the same trends from the Origin Realm to take root here.

The reason Bow Lady said it would be difficult for Yang An to purge this place came down to the strength of these Cultivators—an issue Yang An would have to confront.

According to the City God’s memories she had acquired, the relative combat strength between realms in this world’s Cultivation System and that of the Origin Realm was not vastly different.

However, perhaps due to the integration of a turbid qi, Cultivators from the Origin Realm were stronger than their counterparts of the same rank here.

This was evident from several points:

First, once a Cultivator from the Origin Realm reached the Visceral Stone Realm, they would gain Immortality. The Visceral Stone Realm is equivalent to this world’s Golden Core Cultivator realm, but Golden Core Cultivators are simply no match.

The Cultivators here do not possess Immortality; they only have one life. When they die, their bodies perish and their Dao vanishes completely.

Second, every Cultivator in the Origin Realm bore various "costs." These costs would cause a Cultivator to lose their sanity and verge on madness. Once a fight began, they would employ a brutal, life-or-death fighting style.

In a one-on-one fight between a Cultivator from the Origin Realm and one from Earth, the Origin Realm Cultivator would have the last laugh eight times out of ten.

Third, it is incredibly difficult for Cultivators on Earth to advance. They must undergo a Tribulation Crossing between each realm—a so-called Celestial Tribulation. This makes crossing the chasm between realms an extremely perilous endeavor.

The power of a Celestial Tribulation is determined by the Cultivator’s realm and combat strength. Therefore, to increase their chances of a successful Tribulation Crossing, most Cultivators resort to using external items like Magical Treasures or even higher-level Spirit Treasures and weapons. This allows them to dull their own "edge," which in turn reduces the intensity of the Celestial Tribulation.

The Cultivators of the Origin Realm, however, are different. Although most Cultivation Techniques also have costs that must be paid upon breakthrough, these are far less severe than a dangerous Celestial Tribulation.

As a result, while the Origin Realm doesn’t have many Cultivators or major factions, each one is incredibly fierce, and their average Cultivation Level is quite high. It’s a place where those in the Visceral Stone Realm are a dime a dozen and Corpse Transformation experts are as common as dirt, to say nothing of Zombie Gods and Insect Dao masters.

Furthermore, besides relying on Magical Artifacts, Cultivators from the Origin Realm depend more on the various bizarre Techniques they have mastered, which greatly enhances their combat strength.

In contrast, there are many Cultivators on Earth, but their average Cultivation Level is considerably lower than that of Origin Realm Cultivators.

For instance, the City God that Yang An killed had only just entered the Golden Core realm, but he was already considered a mid-tier combatant among the vast number of Cultivators.

"I see."

Yang An felt fortunate that he had awakened Bow Lady in time. Without using her abilities to obtain this information, he would never have known such a vast difference existed between the two worlds.

He had already stored a significant amount of Spirit Charm within his body. When he released Origin Realm Techniques using this Spirit Charm, their power became unexpectedly greater.

Logically, if the Cultivators of Earth used Techniques, they shouldn’t be any weaker than the Cultivators of the Origin Realm.

Only after hearing Bow Lady’s explanation did he understand that it was all because of the perilous restriction added by the Celestial Tribulations.

The existence of Celestial Tribulations caused the Cultivators here to focus more on strengthening external items and using them to enhance their combat power, rather than focusing on their own cultivation. This, in turn, made the Celestial Tribulations even more difficult to endure.

’But in that case, shouldn’t this be good news for me?’

’If the Cultivators here are weaker than their Origin Realm counterparts at the same stage, then purging this place should be easier than I thought.’

Yang An voiced this question.

"And that’s the crucial part."

Bow Lady smiled, explaining calmly.

"If you think that the Cultivators here are truly weaker than those from the Origin Realm because of this, then you are gravely mistaken.

"The ’weakness’ I mentioned only applies to those with relatively low Cultivation Levels, like that City God. When it comes to the powerful beings within the Immortal Mansion, they are far, far stronger than their Origin Realm counterparts at the same stage!

"Do you know why?"

’The High-tier Cultivators here are stronger than the High-tier Cultivators from the Origin Realm?’

Bow Lady’s question sent Yang An into deep thought, but he quickly came to a realization.

’Once you reach high realms like Zombie God and Insect Dao, the only factor that can drastically influence combat strength is undoubtedly the Power of Rules.’

"It’s the Power of Rules?!"

Yang An answered immediately.

"Yes and no. The Cultivators here call it the Great Dao. It’s something similar to the Power of Rules, but even more powerful."

"The Origin Realm’s Power of Rules comes from Forbidden Artifacts, and the origin of Forbidden Artifacts is still unknown. But the Great Dao here is part of the Heavenly Dao Laws, one of the building blocks of this world’s Rules."

"To master one of the Great Daos is to grasp a sliver of authority over the world’s very Rules. This is something Forbidden Artifacts cannot compare to."

"This world’s Cultivation System, in order, is: Qi Cultivation, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Divinity Transformation, Harmonizing with the Dao, and Tribulation Crossing. The memories I acquired contain no information on realms beyond that."

"Of these, Qi Cultivation should correspond to the Origin Realm’s Fake Food Realm, as both are the first realm of Entering the Dao. Divinity Transformation corresponds to Zombie God, and Harmonizing with the Dao corresponds to Insect Dao. These latter two are also stages where one masters a form of the Power of Rules."

"So, you can think of it this way: the Low-tier Cultivators here are slightly weaker than those in the Origin Realm, but the High-tier Cultivators are much stronger than their Origin Realm counterparts. That’s why I said achieving your goal would be very difficult."

Bow Lady’s explanation was very detailed, but her words sent Yang An’s thoughts in a different direction.

He wasn’t dwelling on the immediate difficulties he faced. No matter how hard the task, he was determined to see it through.

Instead, his mind had wandered elsewhere, and a flood of unstoppable questions surfaced.

’Why does the Origin Realm have Forbidden Artifacts, but no Heavenly Dao Laws?’

’Where did the Forbidden Artifacts come from?’

’Do Forbidden Artifacts exist because the Origin Realm has no Celestial Dao?’

’What is the connection between the Forbidden Artifacts and the Origin Realm’s lack of a Celestial Dao?’

Of course, these questions merely flashed through his mind before he pushed them aside.

When it came down to it, the problems of the Origin Realm were none of his damn business. It seemed he had no real need to figure it all out.

But there was one point he couldn’t ignore.

’Since Earth has Heavenly Dao Laws, and they can be acquired by Cultivators... could there be a Heavenly Dao Law related to light?’

He had been trying to construct a Power of Light Rules outside of the Origin Realm’s Three Spiritual Light to avoid falling completely into Old Life Crane’s trap, which was tied to the Three Spiritual Light. Although he had made occasional progress, he was still a long way from replicating the power of the Three Spiritual Light.

But now, on Earth, armed with this new information... if he could master one of the Heavenly Dao Laws and obtain the power of a Great Dao of Light—one completely different from, and perhaps even stronger than, the Three Spiritual Light—wouldn’t he be able to escape the scheme against him while also gaining the true power needed to resist an invasion from the Origin Realm?

If he could succeed, it would be killing several birds with one stone!