Chapter 243: Age, Is a Demonic Cultivator

Rain pattered against the window, the world white and blurred.

Lead-gray clouds silently encircled the demon capital, invading the sky from all directions.

At noon it had been a clear 35 degrees Celsius; pedestrians on the streets held umbrellas, guessing how high the temperature would climb this year—yet barely past three in the afternoon, the temperature plummeted.

Countless silver needles suddenly fell from the sky, cold yet harmless.

Seeing Qu Yanping grabbed an elderly, bald man with a white beard in an alley of the shantytown, placing one hand on his crown to forcibly search his memories.

Seeing Qu Yanping, 24 years old, is a demonic cultivator.

In Shi Huanyu Realm, reaching Foundation Establishment at 24 was already considered highly gifted—but who could have imagined that twelve years ago, he was a waste of his clan?

Under the rule of Taiqing Immortal Emperor, all mortals lived out their lives in comfort, even those without any chance of cultivation could look forward to their next life.

"Next life," Seeing Qu Yanping sneered, the laughter of children in his clan echoing in his ears, the indifference of elders, his parents' careless words.

"Seeing Qu Yanping~ useless~ born into Qu family for good fortune~ ate spirit fruit and let it out like a fart hahaha~."

"Yanping, you're born dull, unable to sense spiritual energy, your meridians too weak to channel qi—when you grow up, join the clan's merchant guild and learn business."

The one in the next life is not me; this life cannot be deceived.

Though outwardly dressed in silk and feasting on fine food through clan commerce, he was merely earning livelihoods for those with cultivation potential.

This was not what he wanted; all he sought was eternity.

Seeing Qu Yanping watched the raindrops falling from the sky—on that day, when he obtained the Heaven Demon Blood Mirror, it had rained just like this.

Memory search complete, Seeing Qu Yanping placed the old man among the clutter in the alley; his eyes were closed, his breathing steady, both body and soul unharmed.

This was not because he disdained to consume blood offerings, nor because he felt pity and refused to kill— he merely feared provoking trouble and inviting unnecessary complications.

Moreover, having obtained the Tongxuan Pill and cultivated the Immortal Realm's secret technique 【Heavenly Eye Divine Power】, he no longer needed blood offerings—he could use the Heavenly Eye to pierce illusions and connect with cosmic laws, drawing purest spiritual energy from heaven and earth.

Thus, ordinary mortals were not even food to him; only cultivators could satisfy him.

He hadn't expected cultivators in this realm to appear before mortals only these past two years—before that, anything related to cultivators was treated as myth and legend.

The mortal world, advancing through technology, resembled other star realms recorded in his clan—but this was certainly not Shi Huanyu Realm.

"Western Divine Realm, Eastern Immortal Realm? Immortal Emperor and God?"

"All other planets in the solar system, besides Earth and the Sun, were shattered and then restored."

"This is at least the level of legendary immortals—if the Immortal Emperor here is as powerful as Taiqing Immortal Emperor of Shi Huanyu Realm, then this planet might even be his cultivation ground—and there are two such beings?"

"Fate is unpredictable."

"And these two seem to be two aspects of a single entity?"

"Some myths of this realm resemble ancient tales from Taiqing Realm, yet differ in many ways."

One question after another surfaced in his mind; Seeing Qu Yanping felt as if a hairy spider crawled along his spine—the fear erased all joy from his newly attained Heavenly Eye technique.

He conjured modern attire, making himself indistinguishable from the mortals of this realm.

Even if cultivators from Shi Huanyu Realm pursued him here, Seeing Qu Yanping could change his appearance, hiding himself with the power of the Heavenly Eye and the Heavenly Eye Purple Gold Pill.

Too bad they pursued too closely—he could have destroyed the teleportation array or hidden the cave dwelling.

"Logically, they shouldn't know how to operate the array—but I hadn't fully searched the cave dwelling."

Seeing Qu Yanping recalled that through his own arrangements, he had detected three individuals approaching from the other side of the teleportation array.

"If they left messages, more Taiqing Sect cultivators will surely come."

"If they didn't have time to…"

Seeing Qu Yanping's gaze turned icy; in either case, these three must be eliminated.

"Right now, killing them won't take much effort—perfect. I'll use their lives to become a Jin Dan."

One thing to note: do not draw the attention of cultivators in this realm—first, observe carefully.

With this thought, Seeing Qu Yanping planned to wander as a mortal first, then find a place to settle—he stepped out of the alley, unaware that the old man whose memories he had searched had vanished like a bubble.

"Need an ID, but government offices have contact with cultivators—police stations in big cities shouldn't be touched by magic—better find a remote county, lowest risk."

As Seeing Qu Yanping pondered, he passed a convenience store and took an umbrella.

He was thinking about his next move, just as he had in Shi Huanyu Realm—each time he hunted for blood offerings, he considered the worst-case scenario.

If he obtained a legitimate identity and remained inconspicuous here, hiding should pose little problem—after all, except for the two strongest, other cultivators had shown no overwhelming power, and their numbers were still scarce.

According to mortal speculation in this world, perhaps some heavenly paradise had not yet opened, or had not fully emerged?

Just as Seeing Qu Yanping paused outside a cellphone shop, intending to get a communication device and a SIM card, a shout rang from the sky.

"Kuangdao Sanlang! I'll cut you open! Tear you apart! Chop you to pieces AAAAAA!!!"

Accompanying the voice was a roaring, thunderous wind.

Seeing Qu Yanping instantly felt an overwhelmingly tyrannical force crush down from above—in an instant, his limbs grew heavy, the surrounding spiritual energy becoming the heaviest chains.

At that moment, a massive dragon hundreds of zhang long suddenly appeared before him—green scales, crimson claws, golden eyes brimming with lethal fury.

"Ah!?"

Seeing Qu Yanping saw the dragon open its jaws and lunge at him—he desperately tried to flee.

"Mr., are you alright?" A woman's voice with an accent jolted Seeing Qu Yanping back to reality.

He frantically looked around—he was still on the street, but had somehow sat down in a puddle, his hands caked with mud and sand.

"Mr., are you feeling unwell?"

Only then did Seeing Qu Yanping see the speaker—a plump woman in her thirties.

"I'm fine," Seeing Qu Yanping waved his hand; his dilated pupils gradually returned to normal. He forced a embarrassed smile: "Slipped on my foot—sorry."

What I just saw… was a dragon?

"I saw you standing by our store—were you looking to buy a phone?" she asked politely. "Why not come in and get out of the rain? Your umbrella's broken."

"No, I have things to do today, thank you." Seeing Qu Yanping rose and ran off, one hand pressed to his brow—the Heavenly Eye was faintly burning.

He looked up at the sky—there, a colossal form revealed a single scale here, a claw there, amid the clouds.

Seeing Qu Yanping's heart skipped a beat—had his Heavenly Eye ability just been triggered because of its appearance?!

He hadn't cleaned the mud off his body; in the sky, besides that giant dragon, there were over a dozen powerful auras, each openly displaying their cultivation, each sufficient to crush him.

Fortunately, he could secretly observe using immortal secret techniques.

This was his first encounter with cultivators of this world; for safety's sake, he found a hidden spot, confirmed there were no cameras, and swallowed a Tongxuan Pill.

Mysterious runes formed an eye pattern on his third eye, and at its center, flesh split open, coalescing into a phantom vertical pupil.

The next instant, Seeing Qu Yanping perceived everything happening within the entire city.

He focused his attention upward.

The Azure Dragon roared, its body rolling through the sea of clouds; each breath from its dragon head sprayed vast amounts of vapor, whipping up fierce winds that swirled around its claws, and with every light tap against empty space, the Azure Dragon grew faster.

What drew attention was that this Azure Dragon bore over a dozen different weapons—long knives, short swords—planted at various locations: head, body, tail.

Is this a wounded True Dragon?! Even unable to ride the clouds and mist?!

Ahead of the Azure Dragon were eleven cultivators constantly fleeing, collectively using spells, flying swords, and talismans to resist the pursuing Azure Dragon.

Yet these attacks struck the Azure Dragon like raindrops; even some extremely precious artifacts only slightly slowed its speed.

At the very front was a man with wind and thunder wings sprouting from his back; he led the others by a wide margin, even pausing occasionally to wait for the other cultivators and the Azure Dragon to catch up.

"Sanlang! You bastard! Give the dragon egg back to it, AAAAAHHH!!" shouted a man with heavy dark circles and over twenty upward-pointing braids, using spiritual energy to amplify his voice as he flew: "We've already obtained the Heavenly Dao relic and the Light Memorial Coin! Why the hell did you steal its dragon egg?! Are you stupid?!"

"I'll run you through with a sword today, you bastard! Have the guts to take off the Heavenly Dao relic!" Huangshan Zhenjun's eyes bulged with rage—this Sanlang had grown slightly stronger in the Simulation Universe and dared to provoke him, a Zhenjun?! This was too much!

"Fellow cultivators, senior elders, I found the Heavenly Dao relic first—why did you insist on entering the Mystical Realm with me? Is it my fault?! These are all my spoils!" Kuang Dao Sanlang's face wore a smug, taunting grin; he kissed the cloud-patterned dragon egg in his arms and shouted behind him: "Hehehe! Don't follow me—do you think your snail-speeds can drag me into the dragon's belly?!"

"I'm furious! After decades apart, this bastard is even more deserving of a beating!" A stunning figure barely dodged a dragon claw, instantly teleporting a distance—seemingly using a secret technique—"Today, I'll blow myself up just to drag your ass to the Underworld!!"

Flashes of Jin Guang appeared; the distance between that cultivator and the man named Sanlang kept shrinking, while spiritual energy around them gathered relentlessly toward the cultivator.

"I'm joining too!" The man with heavy dark circles burst into flames all over his body, flying toward Sanlang—sacrificing his meridians' integrity to unleash all his spiritual energy!

"Kuang Dao Sanlang, die!" Another cultivator's aura surged sharply—was this a demonic cultivator?!

The demonic cultivator transformed into a massive white wolf, sprinting across the sky atop the thunder, its mouth clutching a long knife as it charged forward.

Behind them, the Azure Dragon hunted them; before them, they hunted the man named Sanlang. As several cultivators prepared to self-destruct, spiritual energy in the sky surged like a whale swallowing water toward this spot.

Seeing Qu Yanping was utterly stunned—he'd never seen such a scene; even the weakest of those auras were incomparably stronger than his own—were these cultivators really about to self-destruct?!

'The cultivation customs here are so brutal?!'

'Damn! There's no way I can escape this city under these conditions!'

Facing the many cultivators preparing to self-destruct and the wounded Azure Dragon behind, Kuang Dao Sanlang showed no fear; his wind and thunder wings ignited with deep blue flames and expanded endlessly, blotting out the eastern sky.

At the moment the attacks reached him.

"Foolish," Kuang Dao Sanlang laughed wildly: "Let me show you the true power of this Heavenly Dao relic!"

The moment he spoke, Seeing Qu Yanping felt himself frozen in place.

'Am I going to die?'

Seeing Qu Yanping felt a pang of resentment, but under these circumstances, he was helpless—survival of the fittest; the weak could only drift with the tide, unable to control even their own life or death.

One second passed, two seconds passed.

'Wait! Why is the rain…'

Not just him—the rain falling from the sky had also frozen midair, each transparent droplet suspended motionless; the cultivators and the Azure Dragon were likewise frozen.

At his third eye, the mysterious runes continuously fed information into his mind; only now did he realize—the entire world's time had halted!

The Heavenly Eye technique can break through time?!

But something even more astonishing struck Seeing Qu Yanping: at the very top, only the man named Sanlang was moving.

He directly tossed each cultivator preparing to self-destruct into the Azure Dragon's mouth, then returned to his original position.

"Real men never look back at explosions," Kuang Dao Sanlang put on sunglasses, turned around, and snapped his fingers.

As for whether he'd be beaten after returning to reality? Ridiculous! If I'm gonna get beaten anyway, I might as well enjoy it fully.

Strength gained in the Simulation Universe is real strength!

Time resumed, accompanied by thunderous flames sweeping across the entire sky; only the Azure Dragon, engulfed in deep blue thunderfire, remained, while muffled booms echoed from within its mouth.

【Heavenly Dao Relic: Wings】 Effect: In normal state, it manifests as Wind Wings; by channeling power, it can activate Thunder Wings and Light Wings. After thirty minutes of use, it triggers Time Wings, with a one-hour cooldown.

"That was awesome!" Kuang Dao Sanlang said, running his fingers through his hair: "I, the Lord… pfft, cough cough…"

Sudden change—a long sword pierced Kuang Dao Sanlang's chest; his eyes filled with shock as he turned, unable to believe it, to see behind him.

"Drunk Hermit?!" Kuang Dao Sanlang realized he'd forgotten about him.

"Heh," said a man with a reclusive aura; he chuckled, then his face darkened as he roared: "My name is Zuiyue! Memorize this name, damn it!"

Countless sword qi erupted from within Kuang Dao Sanlang's body.

Moments later, Zuiyue Ju Shi flew away from the sky, clutching a pair of wings; the battle was finally over.

(End of Chapter)