Divine Transcendence

In the lair of the Human Demon King.

Beside the blood pool, a headless corpse lay quietly, devoid of any signs of life.

Yuan Ming squatted beside it, a tattered cloth spread out on the ground. On top of it was a dark red head, the head of the Human Demon King.

He carefully wrapped up the head and looked at the silver cat sitting beside him.

The silver cat was carefully examining a black bead the size of a longan, lost in thought.

"Let’s go," Yuan Ming reminded.

The silver cat snapped back to reality, lifted one of its front paws, and lightly swept it across the soul bead. The soul bead disappeared from its original position.

Yuan Ming was amazed by this, but he didn’t ask any further questions. He picked up the package containing the head of the Human Demon King and followed the silver cat’s guidance, leaving through another cave exit.

...

After an unknown amount of time, two figures quickly pursued each other in the underground cave and finally arrived here.

"The aura of that person is strong here, we can’t be wrong, he’s inside..." Elder Chu Xiong’s eyes lit up as he pointed to the entrance of the cave.

"Quickly kill him and find the soul bead," Elder Sa Ren urged.

Elder Chu Xiong waved his hand, and a black weapon resembling a bone claw appeared in the palm of his hand. He swiftly rushed into the cave.

Elder Sa Ren followed closely behind and also rushed in.

However, the moment they entered the cave, both of them were stunned at the same time.

Inside the cave, it was a mess. The ground was littered with scattered and fragmented corpses, most of them in a severely decayed state, and many had already rotted into bones, in complete chaos.

And near the blood pool, there was another headless corpse.

"This is..." Elder Chu Xiong was shocked and quickly rushed over.

Elder Sa Ren followed closely behind.

"How did he die? Could it be fake?" Elder Sa Ren couldn’t believe it.

"The wound on his chest was caused by my Bone-Eroding Hand, there’s no mistake, it’s him," Elder Chu Xiong explained, his brow furrowed, clearly full of doubt.

How did the Human Demon King suddenly die, and... where did his head go?

"The soul bead!"

Both elders felt a sudden tightness in their hearts and quickly searched for it on the corpse.

But after a moment, both of them felt a chill in their hearts. Someone had beaten them to it, and the soul bead was gone.

"Elder Chu, does anyone else know about the soul bead?" Elder Sa Ren asked with suspicion.

"You know the true identity of this matter, how could I tell anyone else? Could it be..." Elder Chu Xiong looked at Elder Sa Ren, suspicious.

"Do I look like someone who would do something stupid like that?" Elder Sa Ren glanced at him and said.

"Then who could have done this?" Elder Chu Xiong frowned and pondered.

After Elder Sa Ren looked around and examined the scattered corpses on the ground, his brow couldn’t help but knot.

"Do you have any idea when you look at the state and distribution of these corpses on the ground?" Elder Chu Xiong incredulously looked at Elder Sa Ren.

"Being able to control corpses at least indicates that the one who took the soul bead... is a Soul Cultivator, this..." Elder Sa Ren hesitated.

"There are only the two of us here, what can’t you say? Do you also think it was done by the Grand Elder?" Elder Chu Xiong straightforwardly said.

"Other than the Grand Elder, I can’t think of anyone else in the entire Bi Luo Cave," Elder Sa Ren nodded.

"That old man might have already discovered the existence of the soul bead. He actually took the lead and snatched it away. We were planning to present it to him after obtaining it," Elder Chu Xiong said indignantly.

"But why did he take his head?" Elder Sa Ren was puzzled.

"Could it be... he’s already..." Elder Chu Xiong’s expression changed slightly.

"This doesn’t seem right. If it really was the Grand Elder, with just one command, which of us would dare to defy? Besides, why would he take the head?" After carefully pondering for a moment, Elder Sa Ren said.

"Soul Cultivators have always been mysterious and sinister. Taking the head might be for the purpose of refining some Soul Cultivation artifact, but it’s not certain," Elder Chu Xiong pondered.

"If that’s the case, it makes sense. If it was the Grand Elder, we can’t mention the soul bead anymore... let’s pretend that this never happened," Elder Sa Ren smiled bitterly and said.

"That’s right! Fortunately, he’s already dead. After destroying the body, this matter can be considered closed. Our long-standing worry can finally be removed," Elder Chu Xiong sighed and said.After they finished speaking, they looked at each other in silence, their hearts not feeling much at ease.

...

On the other side, in a hidden valley.

Yuan Ming squatted below a green cliff, placing the head of the Demon King into a well-dug pit, filling it with sand and stones, burying it.

Then, he found a uniquely shaped stone and placed it next to the pit, serving as a wordless tombstone.

After doing all this, he glanced at the silver cat sitting on a nearby rock, frowned, and said, "With this matter settled, let’s part ways." He was quite dissatisfied with what had happened in the cave earlier and didn’t want to have any more involvement with it.

"Stop."

The voice of the silver cat echoed in his mind, still with an unquestionable tone.

Yuan Ming turned around and saw a palm-sized green book appearing out of thin air, landing at his feet.

"What is this?" Yuan Ming furrowed his brows.

"This time, without your help... I wouldn’t have obtained the Soul Bead so easily... This, consider it as a reward." The silver cat said, completely ignoring Yuan Ming’s reaction, and turned to leave.

Leaving Yuan Ming alone, he hesitated for a long time before picking up the green book from the ground.

At first glance, he saw the three characters "Death Moon Method" written on the cover of the book.

It wasn’t the Southern Region’s script, but the script used by the Central Plains people in Yuan Ming’s memory.

After a moment, Yuan Ming chose a sunny hillside and sat down on a flat boulder, opening the green book.

"The technique of soul cultivation is not burdened by form or constrained by methods. It is mysterious and unpredictable, difficult to defend against. Those who cultivate must examine themselves. If their divine soul is not strong and their will is not resolute, they should not practice it lightly. Remember, remember."

The opening paragraph was not a summary of the technique, but a reminder for the reader to self-reflect and see if they have the qualifications to practice the technique.

Although Yuan Ming didn’t understand what soul cultivation was, he felt that the opening words were somewhat intimidating.

He continued reading and the subsequent content was more normal.

"Absorb the essence of the sun during the day, and the essence of the moon during the night. The Death Moon technique nourishes the soul, strengthens the spirit..."

Yuan Ming read through the entire "Death Moon Method" and understood that soul cultivation seemed to be a type of cultivator who refines the power of the divine soul. Soul cultivation techniques usually aim to refine the divine soul. Their attack methods during battles also focus on attacking the enemy’s soul consciousness, making it even more difficult to defend against.

Yuan Ming couldn’t help but think of the battle with the Demon King in the cave. The corpses that had risen to attack were probably a soul cultivation technique used by the silver cat, right?

However, it seemed that cultivating this kind of technique was extremely difficult. The warning in the beginning was not an exaggeration, as there were indeed risks in cultivation. Those with weak willpower were likely to harm their own souls. Once the soul was damaged, one could lose their memories, intelligence, lose their soul, or even become an idiot.

Originally, Yuan Ming didn’t have much interest in the "Death Moon Method," but after reading the description of the first level of the technique, he had a slight desire to practice it if he could refine the power of his divine soul into a physical form. Although he didn’t know if his divine soul was qualified, he had some confidence in his willpower.

Afterwards, he continued to read the content, only to find that the technique was unexpectedly short, with only three levels in total. However, the content of these three levels was very detailed, and there were occasional small annotations in tiny handwriting next to the blank spaces, seemingly left by someone.

It detailed the cultivation methods and later-stage attack techniques, but the content was quite profound and obscure. At least for Yuan Ming, it was somewhat difficult to fully understand.

At the moment, he didn’t have immediate plans to cultivate, so he put away the book, rested on the spot for half an hour, and then left.

...

In the following half month, Yuan Ming didn’t go out to hunt beasts anymore. Instead, he stayed in his cave, healing his injuries and cultivating.

One reason was that he wasn’t sure if Kun Tu and Ba Da would come looking for trouble, and the other reason was that he wasn’t sure if the sect’s handling of the Demon King incident would involve him. Although the chances of these two things happening were not very high, given his lowly status as a mere beast slave, he still had to be cautious.

During the day, he continued to cultivate the Nine Elements Technique, and at night, when the moon was hanging in the sky, he would come out to try cultivating the "Death Moon Method."

What troubled him was that he encountered the same dilemma as when he was cultivating the Qi Refining Technique.

The "Death Moon Method" had a clear entry requirement, which was to be able to "perceive with divine consciousness and observe oneself in meditation."The so-called divine consciousness is a kind of ability that transcends the six senses, born from cultivators who have stepped into the Qi Refining stage. It is also mentioned in the Nine Elements Decision. In simple terms, it is a special perceptual power that can probe everything.

However, his divine consciousness is currently very weak, only able to sense within a range of a few inches with his eyes closed. Moreover, every time he opens his divine consciousness, if he keeps it open for a bit too long, he feels a sense of exhaustion and needs to rest for a long time to recover.

In addition, with each increase in cultivation, the divine consciousness will also slightly strengthen. But for Yuan Ming, the change is not very noticeable.

According to the books, the so-called "introspection of divine consciousness, self-observation while seated" requires guiding the divine consciousness to observe one’s own Dantian, meridians, and sea of consciousness, these three important internal landscapes. It’s like a king inspecting the mountains and rivers within his territory, demonstrating control.

However, after half a month of effort, Yuan Ming could barely introspect his own sea of consciousness, and what he saw was only a small chaotic area. He couldn’t truly introspect the entire sea of consciousness.

Not to mention the so-called external patrol of divine consciousness along the meridians, or visiting the Dantian.

This circulation of divine consciousness is different from the previous guidance of the silver cat to condense his eyes with the power of the divine soul. The operation is more meticulous, and the control of the power of the divine soul is extremely strict. Yuan Ming has always found it difficult to master.