The Ancestor of All Demons

Sikong Hu simply couldn't believe that the two Daoist books he and Pu Miaomiao had devoted their lives to comprehending had been misunderstood from the very beginning. They had sequestered themselves countless times, day and night, guessing the true meaning within the scriptures, only to be completely off the mark?

How could this be possible!

He opened his mouth to argue, but as the words approached his lips, he found he could not speak. A flood of memories washed away all the arguments he had prepared.

There were indeed many parts in these two Daoist books that they couldn't explain during their cultivation, and some parts even contradicted each other. One interpretation would resolve an issue in one section only to create confusion in another; they were a tangled web of countless threads. Like trying to press down a gourd only to have another pop up, they could never fully penetrate and thoroughly understand the entirety.

Over the years, they had stubbornly practiced the spells from the books under these misconceptions and several times they nearly fell into the grip of deviation, almost leaving them paralyzed.

Failing to understand the scriptures clearly, they both exerted great effort to collect other cultivation methods, hoping to glean insights from others' philosophies. Because neither had particularly righteous temperaments and their associates were mostly from unconventional paths, or even the Evil Demon sorts, the methods they gathered were mostly evil. By combining these with their cultivation of the Daoist books, they became more deviant and malevolent, eventually sinking to the lowest echelons of the Demon Path.

A few years prior, they had newly befriended Xu Feiniang of the Wutai Sect, a divine nun of extraordinary wisdom. They dismantled the scriptures and shared them with her. Xu Feiniang, with her brilliant mind, quickly understood their intentions and, playing along, offered explanations that only led them further down the path of Evil Demons.

After trying out her suggestions, they found the power of their spells greatly increased and thus they believed fully without doubt. Over the years, they each developed formidable magical treasures; Sikong Hu's sixteen-faced Demon Banner was created as a result.

Little did they know, Xu Feiniang deliberately led them down the path of evil, secretly manipulating them. The deeper their cultivation, the more severely they came under her Yin Demon subjugation; at the very least, she could influence their thoughts and sanity, and later on, she could even take their lives at any moment.

Now, hearing Shi Feiyang's explanation, Sikong Hu found it emotionally unacceptable, yet logically he felt this was actually correct!

Shi Feiyang, ignoring Sikong Hu's dilemma, could confirm that both the "Twenty-Eight True Scripture" and the "Three-Seven Scripture" were indeed authentic Daoist Dan Books. Although incomplete, they contained the core essentials. When it came to the power of the spells within these books, they were far inferior to the "Heavenly Book Supplement," but in terms of the quality of cultivation techniques for refining the inner elixir, they were indeed superior by several notches. The "Heavenly Book Supplement" also contained methods for Alchemy Dao cultivation, but they belonged to the heterodox paths and did not represent the true essence.

Having previously absorbed the effectiveness of the Clear Spirit Grass Pearls and refined the True Yang within the Water Pill through semi-calculated, semi-blind methods, Shi Feiyang now possessed these two Dan Books with systematic cultivation techniques. He could proceed with the next step in cultivation and utilize the "Twenty-Eight True Scripture" to temper the Divine Fire Primordial Pill, refining True Yin from within and merging it into the Water Pill. In time, when Yin and Yang were united, the Dragon Ball could be formed!

He spent each day immersed in arduous cultivation underwater, and as the months passed and seasons changed from winter to spring, his body felt itchiness on the surface. Underneath his skin, new flesh gradually emerged, separating from his original epidermis.

The shedding of his skin began!

At this point, he needed a great amount of True Sun Essence, for if his Yang energy was insufficient and Yin energy became too dominant, he would ultimately become nothing more than an Earth Dragon.

Every day at noon, he would swim to the surface of the lake and lie down on a flat rock plateau he had found earlier, where he fully stretched out his body to bask in the sun. Simultaneously, he circulated the Primordial Pill within his abdomen to maximize the absorption of the Sun Essence.

By the Zi hour each evening, when Kan and Li within him intersected and Water and Fire were in balance, he would nearly pass out. If someone timed it right and struck him with a sword then, he could easily be killed.

Shi Feiyang ingested the Scraping Immortal Pill, and its potency turned into tens of thousands of invisible blades, slicing from the inside out. His heart, liver, spleen, lungs, sinews, bones, flesh, and skin were all repeatedly cut inch by inch, causing intense pain that kept him conscious.

He had concocted sixty Scraping Immortal Pills for himself, just enough for two months of skin-shedding vitality. When mixing the ingredients, he had already reduced the pain-inducing poison by half, adding a good amount of spiritual medicine that greatly replenished Primordial Qi. Nevertheless, the ensuing agony was almost too much to bear, as he thrashed back and forth restlessly on the Earth Dragon Stone at the bottom of the lake, groaning incessantly.

The little Demon Consort Mo Zhui watched anxiously, "I should give you some more blood."

Shi Feiyang stopped him and instructed him to hide in the nest, "I need to feel the pain. Without it, I would fall into a dead sleep. I've adjusted the formula of this medicine. While it hurts, it also fiercely replenishes the Five Internal Organs Primordial Qi and compensates for the loss of mana. It's a good thing, though it tortures the body somewhat. But my three-thousand-year-old dragon body is tough enough to handle it... You quickly hide. No matter what happens, do not show yourself. We can't guarantee that some Sword Immortal might have divined my streak of bad luck and will come to plunder amidst the chaos. This is my tribulation, and I must face it alone."

Mo Zhui then hid in his rooted spot but still stuck his little head out to watch, ready to rush over and feed Shi Feiyang his blood at any sign of trouble. A guardian beast of such formidable strength and good temperament was rare in ten thousand years. He couldn't just let it die like that.

Shi Feiyang endured until the Zi hour when the sky began to brighten, and the pain gradually subsided. After resting for a few hours, by the time the Wu hour came, he went out to absorb the Sun Essence.

Thus, he persevered through the day and night cycles of Zi and Wu. Two months passed swiftly, and it was soon the last day. His mana had dropped to its lowest. Under normal circumstances, it should have been reduced to one-third, but having consumed a substantial amount of replenishing medicine in the Scraping Immortal Pills over these days and ingesting the Angry Mysterious Pill during the past three days to forcibly stimulate his potential, his mana had increased to eighty percent of its peak.

The day passed calmly as usual. At night, he swallowed another Scraping Immortal Pill and endured the hardship at the bottom of the lake. Suddenly, he sensed something: Someone was coming!

Two people arrived at the peak above: one was a Daoist nun with enchanting looks and dressed in a maple-leaf-red Daoist robe that belied a deadly edge amid her allure. The other was a barehanded red-clad Barbarian Monk with a particularly fierce demeanor.

These two were Wei Fengniang and Brooyinca.

Originally Wei Fengniang was a disciple of the Buddhist Divine Nun Guangming Shitai. Guangming Shitai was originally a Daoist Sword Immortal who cultivated in solitude on Mount Bokeley in Xinjiang, where amidst the falling snow, she uniquely created spells for the Heavenly Mountain Sect and was nicknamed the Qiong Fairy.

Later, Guangming Shitai accepted Wei Fengniang as her disciple, passing on her lifetime's knowledge. After mastering the teachings, Wei Fengniang went to the Central Plains, where she flaunted her skills as she pleased, using spells to manipulate young men at will. Those she fancied were enchanted away to secluded places to be forced into compliance, not caring for their well-being afterward... Moreover, she committed many other absurd and evil deeds.

Since her swordsmanship was superior and her mana formidable, many Central Earth Sword Immortals could not counter her and were killed by her. When someone revealed her family's techniques, they complained to Guangming Shitai, who was infuriated and immediately came from Bokeley in Xinjiang to find her.

Wei Fengniang was terrified at the prospect of her master coming out of retirement. She knew that according to the monastic rules, considering her over-indulgence and ruthless killings, she should have been put to death many times over. Worrying that her master might come to clean the house, she and her new male confidant, the Barbarian Monk Brooyinca, devised a plan. Pretending to apologize to her master, she secretly ordered Brooyinca to ambush her. At the signal of a cup thrown down, they suddenly attacked, injuring the left arm of Guangming Shitai with the Talisman Black Crow Needle and then pressing the attack with all their might, aiming to put Guangming Shitai to death.

Guangming Shitai fled in embarrassment but saved her life, though her arm was rendered useless. She was of a proud nature and taking such humiliation from her disciple was an indignity. Moreover, she was heartbroken that her disciple, whom she had raised since childhood as her own daughter, would conspire with others to kill her. Feeling desolate, she no longer practiced the Dao, abandoned her dwelling in Xinjiang, and joined Buddhism on the borders of Sichuan. She shaved her head and became a nun, with the Dharma name Guangming.

Seeing that her master dared not handle her, Wei Fengniang, together with Brooyinca, grew increasingly unbridled and lawless.

Brooyinca was a famous Demon Monk from a Demon Cult in Dianxi, which specialized in dual cultivation methods. He considered Wei Fengniang his personal Demon Consort and taught her the secret techniques of the Demon Sect. Together, they shared a realm of joy and delight.

Curiously, the two shared no name of husband and wife. They might be together or apart at any given time, each with their ways of fun. Wei Fengniang sought men, and Brooyinca women, without interfering with each other. When the mood struck, they practiced dual cultivation, enjoying much freedom.

The two had long known of the Heavenly Book within the Ding Lake, fallen into the hands of a Demon Dragon. With the Demon Dragon's three-thousand-year Dao Level, the demon was not weak, and at the bottom of the lake, it was protected by the Heavenly Talisman left by the Yellow Emperor, making a forceful seizure difficult. They had calculated that during the dragon's skin-shedding, its power would weaken, and it would be insensible. So they chose this moment to come, intent on slaying the dragon to seize the treasure!