Cultivation: When you take things to the extreme

Chapter 322: Chapter 213: Corpse Resolution_1

The ancient Immortals of this world, although not as numerous as the gods and Buddhas of the world of Dao and Law, were still extremely powerful beings to the mortals, with the ability to live eternally; otherwise, how could they be called Immortals?

Though the ancient Immortals possessed the ability to not die, like the Mahayana True Immortals of the real world, they only possessed the law of longevity, not the power of immortality.

In the current world, Mahayana True Immortals are subject to the limits of Heavenly Tribulation.

In this world, the ancient Immortals were also governed by the Yuan Spirit.

The Heavenly Earth Prime Spirit was the source of the ancient Immortals’ longevity.

However, after an ancient war, the heavens and earth were tainted, and the Yuan Spirit underwent Demon Transformation.

The ancient Immortals that relied on the Heavenly Earth Prime Spirit for longevity immediately faced a major crisis.

Although they could refine and cleanse the Demonic Qi, the Heavenly Earth Prime Spirit absorbed through such a process could no longer satisfy the ancient Immortals’ needs.

Unless they robbed the heavens and the earth and devoured all living beings, the ancient Immortals, in this tainted Demon Realm, could no longer live eternally.

The ancient Immortals did not wish to do so, thus they broke through the realm and Ascended elsewhere, in the hope of finding a way to remove the demonic disaster.

But not all the ancient Immortals chose Ascension; some stayed in the mortal world.

These ancient Immortals remained for two reasons: one was the worry in their hearts due to the earlier Ascenders not returning, and the second was because…

In this world, Immortals must stand watch over the world in order to suppress the demonic catastrophe and prevent the common people from falling into calamity.

These ancient Immortals, giving up their own chance for longevity, willingly stayed in the mortal world to suppress the demonic disaster.

Indeed they are noble souls.

However, reality is cruel, and no change for the better was seen.

These ancient Immortals who remained in the world used every method to extend their lives but did not see any hope for change.

In the end, these remaining ancient Immortals either turned to dust upon death or Ascended with regrets.

After the last ancient Immortal demised, the world no longer had the power to suppress the Demon Realm.

The three Death Lands, where the forbidden areas were, began to unleash various demonic calamities, rampaging across the Cultivation Realm.

The nine great Demon Realms, which were almost extinguished and suppressed with the blood of the ancient Immortals, also revived from near extinction.

With the spread of demonic calamities and the rampant Demon Catastrophe, the human Cultivation Realm entered a dark and terrifying era of chaos.

The Cultivators of later generations called this era the “Dark Chaos.”

During the Dark Chaos, the Cultivation Realm, without the protection of Immortals, suffered a devastating blow.

Billions of Cultivators fell, and thousands of temples were destroyed.

All Sects and schools lost their heritage, and their lineages were completely severed.

The human kingdoms were buried in dust, and some even became Demon Realms, fostering demonic catastrophes.

In the end, the Cultivation Realm was shattered, the mortal world sank, and under the ravage of demonic calamities, living beings were nearly wiped out.

Fortunately, there was a sliver of hope from the heavens; the Heavenly Demons from beyond this realm had been sealed by the ancient Immortals. These demons borne from calamities, while terrifying, had little intelligence. They were leaderless and did not know to completely extinguish humanity.

Taking advantage of this characteristic, people struggled to survive in the Dark Chaos, desperately fighting for life.

After an unknown length of time, finally, a spark of hope shone in the darkness.

Later generations innovated new cultivation methods and reopened the path to Immortality; this was known as the Corpse Resolution Immortal Law.

What is the Corpse Resolution Immortal Law?

The heavens and earth are tainted, and the Yuan Spirit has transformed into demons, affecting all living beings and everything in nature.

Through this cultivation, the higher one’s Cultivation, the heavier the demonic nature becomes.

Once a certain state is reached, one will be overtaken by demonic nature, lose oneself, and turn into a demon.

Therefore, after the ancient times, it was difficult to practice cultivation; the higher one’s Cultivation, the easier it was to become a demon.

But in the depths of the Dark Chaos, the surviving Cultivators painstakingly researched and discovered that the Demonic Qi from the Demon Realm mostly affected the flesh, with only a minor effect on the Divine Soul. Thus, in the early stages of cultivation, one would not immediately transform into a demon; at most, the body would undergo certain changes.

During this stage, the Cultivators called it the Demon Seed, implying that the Demonic Qi was like a seed planted in the body.

As Cultivation advanced, the Demon Seed gradually matured into a Demon Fetus.

At the Demon Fetus stage, the body is largely demonized, resembling a Demon Fetus gestating within, and it begins to erode the Cultivator’s mind and Primordial Spirit.

Once the mind is invaded, one is completely demonized; the “Demon Fetus” turns into a demon, utterly falling into the Demon Path, beyond the possibility of redemption.

The Corpse Resolution Method is to use various means and Spiritual Objects to sever the demonized physical body at the Demon Fetus stage and purify the Cultivator’s Primordial Spirit. Eventually, the Primordial Spirit is merged into a Spiritual Object or an ancient Spiritual Treasure, thus corporeally resolving and commencing a new cultivation.

After this method was developed, many exceptional individuals emerged. They uncovered the tombs of ancient Immortal Gates, finding one ancient Spiritual Treasure after another, as well as natural Spiritual Objects that could transform the Demonic Qi into resources for cultivation.

With these, one after another, Corpse Resolution Immortals emerged spectacularly, reopened the Immortal Path, reversed the Demon Catastrophe, and finally ended the era of Dark Chaos, barely containing the demonic calamities within the three Death Lands and the nine great Demon Realms.

However, the power of the Corpse Resolution Immortals was far inferior to that of the ancient Immortals; they just managed to end the Dark Chaos but were still helpless against the Death Land Demon Regions, and they couldn’t fully suppress them. Demonic calamities still occasionally broke out, forming Demon Realms in various places and devouring living beings.

Furthermore, the Corpse Resolution Immortals also did not achieve longevity; when their time came, they too had to dematerialize.

With no other options, the Corpse Resolution Immortals had to follow the old path, leading their Sects to Ascend, breaking through the realm and escaping this world of despair.

But times have changed, and the Corpse Resolution Immortals were not like the Ancient Immortals. The world polluted by Demonic Qi presented numerous obstacles, making it impossible for a single person to break through the realm and ascend, let alone lead their entire sect to Ascension.

In the end, the Corpse Resolution Immortals could only join forces. The Corpse Resolution Immortals from several major sects united and led their disciples in a collective Ascension of their sects.

This became a tradition, eventually evolving into today’s Nine Sects Alliance, with entire sects undertaking Ascension.

The nine major sects formed an alliance, combining the power of nine Corpse Resolution Immortals to lead the sect’s upper echelons and core disciples to Ascend to the Upper Realm, escaping this despairing and suffocating polluted Demon Realm.

Escaping for life may sound unpleasant, but it had become the only path to survival for Cultivators in this world.

If one did not wish to be corrupted in this polluted Demon Realm, they would need to find a way to board the great ship of the Nine Sects Alliance.

Great Xing Mountain was now striving to assist the ancient masters within the sect to sever the Demon Fetus, achieve Corpse Resolution to become Immortals, and gain qualification for the Nine Sects Alliance.

…

Once the ins and outs were sorted out, everything suddenly became clear, and all the previous doubts were resolved.

Why, despite the existence of Divinity Transformation-tier Demon Heads and even more terrifying Demon Objects in this world, do the Human Clan continue to survive and thrive, not being domesticated, and even able to establish dynasties and Cultivator sects?

Why is the development of this world so backward when there is an abundance of Heavenly Earth Prime Spirit as a cultivation resource, along with the dangers of Demon Catastrophe and the risks of Demon Tribulations, yet no one is willing to disseminate Mana Points and train a large number of cultivators to resist these calamities?

All these questions, all these problems, now had answers.

Indeed, this world was home to great demons of Divinity Transformation-tier, and even more horrifying world-threatening Demon Objects.

But in ancient times, the Ancient Immortals dyed the skies with their blood in a decisive battle, sealing and suppressing them, restricting them to three Death Lands and nine Demon Regions.

Therefore, although there are great demons in this world, it has not fallen into a world dominated by demons.

Outside the three Death Lands and nine Demon Regions, the world is still under the control of Cultivators.

So, sects stand in the Cultivation Realm, dynasties rule the common people, and a situation where demons lord over and rear sentient beings has not arisen.

If there are sects, why establish dynasties? Isn’t this superfluous?

Not at all!

In a normal world where Taoism prevails, there would indeed be no need for dynastic rule.

But this is not a normal world. The malignancy and pollution of the Demonic Qi prevent this world from becoming a Taoism-flourishing age where “everyone could be like dragons and engage in cultivation.”

After all, spiritual objects from heaven and earth, Ancient Spiritual Treasures, are finite in number. If everyone cultivated, how could there be enough supply?

If cultivation resources cannot meet demands and yet cultivation methods are widely spread and a large number of Cultivators are trained, it would lead to only one outcome.

Civil strife, contestation, killing.

In the end, it would be either a chaotic world engulfed in war or a calamity of mass murder.

In fact, even if there were enough resources to create an age of flourishing Taoism, there would still be numerous challenges to face.

For instance… the selfishness of the human heart, and its bottomless greed.

The human heart is the hardest to control.

In the World of Dao and Law, the reason the Wandao School achieved great success in governing the world was not only because of various measures satisfying the supply of resources needed for cultivation but also a major reason lay in the stringent laws, strict supervision, and enforcement from top to bottom.

If the top beam is not straight, the bottom beam will be crooked. If those in higher positions cannot ensure enforcement strength, even the best national policies will result in disastrous chaos when implemented.

After all, people have selfish intentions and inevitably fall prey to greed, playing tricks from above and below.

So, strict measures have to be employed, with forceful and thorough suppression from top to bottom.

For this reason, Xu Yang killed many people, from three thousand years ago until three thousand years later. To this day, there are still many who dare to take risks and cross the line, eventually becoming the dry bones of the Wandao School’s rule.

The moral climate of the World of Dao and Law couldn’t avoid such occurrences, and this world…

infused with corrupt Demonic Qi, deeply-rooted demonic nature, and higher cultivation leading one closer to demons.

Even with Corpse Resolution Immortals at the highest level to suppress, who would fill the middle void? Surely, it’s not practical to expect Corpse Resolution Immortals to handle everything, is it?

Can you expect a group of high-tier cultivators, with unstable conditions and potentially succumbing to demonization at any moment, to enforce strict laws and supervision?

Clearly, that’s not realistic.

With insufficient resources, oversight cannot be fully established, and the populace under rule is polluted with Demonic Qi and deeply rooted Demon Seeds in their bodies, like ticking time bombs.

At such a time, promoting the practice of cultivation universally would lead to one ultimate result…

An age of Cultivators thriving like dragons?

No, it would be an age where everyone is like a demon, an apocalypse!

Under such conditions, universally promoting cultivation is a recipe for disaster – who knows how many Cultivators would turn to the extreme, falling into demonic ways.

Cultivation cannot be promoted and must instead be isolated, with a division between the Cultivation Realm and the human world.

Hence, the situation arose where sects stand in the Cultivation Realm, while dynasties govern the mundane world.

But this division is not absolute, as many Immortal Sects covertly control mundane dynasties, just like Great Xing Mountain behind the Xing Dynasty.

Sects control dynasties for various reasons, including selecting disciples, gathering Spiritual Objects, and so on, but the most important is to secure one resource, a critically important resource.

Five Viscera Pills!