Chapter 2: What Difference Between Man and Beast

Chen Ye spent several days hastily refining his master's bones and stored them in a storage bag.

For the Demonic Sect, the method of creating zombies is merely a common technique; the schools are numerous and complex, and there are specific principles for selecting materials.

But where did Chen Ye have any room for refinement?

Mo Ci was not a body-refining cultivator in life, his birth date and hour were unsuitable, and he had no specialized feng shui tomb available for transformation into a zombie. Fortunately, Mo Ci's cultivation power remained at the time of his death, and his corpse retained a trace of spiritual energy, but ultimately, it could not be counted as excellent material.

Chen Ye did not pick and choose; compared to when he first came to this world, the current situation was already far better.

When he first transmigrated, Chen Ye truly had nothing but this body.

He ran around naked in his flesh, with no cheat to assist him, and almost got caught as a flower-plucking thief and castrated.

Relying on petty theft, he barely survived for two months, almost starving to death on the streets.

Fortunately, at that time, he met his master, Mo Ci.

Chen Ye saw the old beggar sleeping soundly and originally intended to steal a few copper coins to buy a bun to fill his stomach, never expecting to attract a cultivator.

He almost got captured by Mo Ci to refine his soul, but fortunately, he was quick-witted, immediately knelt down to kowtow, and shamelessly begged to become a disciple.

Mo Ci found the boy interesting and treated him to a meal, but it was bloody raw meat, which almost made Chen Ye vomit. Chen Ye was ruthless enough; facing imminent starvation, he had no other choice. Regardless of what it was, he forced those bloody chunks of meat into his mouth and ate until he was full.

Mo Ci saw that the boy had a black heart, a ruthless hand, and a thick skin, making him a promising talent; thinking also that his own end was approaching, he took him in as a disciple.

Just like that, he started cultivating cultivation with bumps and bruises, and unexpectedly, as soon as he entered the sect, his master died.

Having captured his master's soul and refined his master's bones, from now on, the path of cultivation must be walked alone.

Just as he stepped out, his master's voice came to his ears: "Disciple, where do you intend to go?"

Oh, I remember, Master isn't completely dead yet.

After the Ten Thousand Souls Banner captured Mo Ci's soul, it could no longer be placed in the storage bag; after all, both were cheap goods, and their magic power would mutually contaminate and conflict, causing damage before long.

Chen Ye had to wrap the Ten Thousand Souls Banner in hemp cloth and casually wrote a few characters on it to cover it up somewhat. However, this cheap good had its benefits; as long as Mo Ci did not actively manifest, even if the Ten Thousand Souls Banner was placed before righteous cultivators, they would have to ponder for a long time before distinguishing whether it was a magical treasure or purely junk.

Hearing Mo Ci speak, Chen Ye said: "I have now awakened my spirit, so naturally I must find a way to condense the Qi Sea. Master, since you do not have a Qi Condensation Pill, I can only seek another method."

The so-called awakening of the spirit refers to the cultivator's ability to perceive the flow of spiritual energy.

The spiritual energy of heaven and earth is everywhere; it is just that mortals find it difficult to perceive. If one can tame the mind-monkey and thought-horse, after entering meditation, one will mostly be able to sense it; however, when the spirit is scattered, this perception will vanish.

And the state of awakened spirit is that even without sitting in meditation, one can perceive the flow of spiritual energy at all times.

Chen Ye awakened his spirit on the third day of cultivation; this talent was truly not bad.

After awakening the spirit, one must absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to strengthen the physique and bolster the divine soul, but this also requires concentrating the mind and sitting in meditation to actively ingest the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

Only by opening up the dantian Qi Sea, where a vortex of spiritual energy exists within the body, can one absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth automatically at all times; thus, the cultivation speed will be much faster.

Whether it is the state of awakened spirit or the Qi Sea state, both are transformations from active to automatic, from having action to non-action; this is the path of immortality.

The Qi Sea state has no real threshold; if one cultivates diligently with a focused mind, sitting in meditation day and night, a person with good aptitude can achieve it in forty or fifty years. As for disciples of high sects and great schools who consume Gathering Qi Pills, with a little practice, they can condense the dantian Qi Sea in a few hours.

This resource gap is so naked; Chen Ye lacks this background and must rely on himself.

Mo Ci pondered, "Refining a Qi Condensation Pill is not too difficult; other medicinal materials can be bought at pharmacies, but it will cost some gold and silver. However, the main ingredient requires Xuanji Dew, where only a single drop might be found in a hundred-year-old stalactite. If one enters the mountains to gather herbs, with good luck, one might find it in three or five years; with bad luck, it might take over ten years, and that time is simply too long."

Cultivators often live for hundreds of years, so why do most people still cry that their lifespan is insufficient? It is because resources are scarce, causing one to waste years in vain.

Chen Ye shook his head and said to Mo Ci: "Master, rest assured. Although I am still young, I do not intend to spend over ten years refining a single Gathering Qi Pill."

Upon hearing this, Mo Ci pondered, "Do you intend to use the Blood Refinement method? If one kills too many people, resentment will inevitably fill the sky; are you not afraid of attracting righteous cultivators?"

The righteous path has its methods; the Demonic Sect has its means.

The reason the Demonic Sect is called evil and heterodox by the righteous path is actually related to the methods of cultivation.

Righteous cultivation mostly emphasizes a pure heart and concentrated mind, abstinence and keeping precepts; in the early stages, it relies on self-discipline to curb desires, supplemented by pills for cultivation.

They generally choose to establish their dojo in deep mountains and old forests to avoid disturbance by mortals. Many techniques have numerous taboos; if one carelessly breaks a precept, it is easy to lose all previous efforts. However, the benefit is that as long as one proceeds step by step, there are relatively few bottlenecks during the cultivation journey, and the danger of breakthroughs at each stage is low.

The Demonic Sect is vastly different, adhering to the philosophy that if I don't have it, I'll just snatch it. Out of ten demonic cultivators, nine are complete with eating, drinking, whoring, and gambling; is cultivation difficult? Then refine other people's souls and vital blood to supplement oneself; this is much more gratifying than sitting in meditation and practicing Qi!

How can self-cultivation be as fast as snatching? Having tasted such sweetness, few cultivators can resist such temptation.

Condensing the Qi Sea is not difficult either; isn't the Gathering Qi Pill just using heavenly treasures and earthly gems to save countless years of cultivation effort? Refining the vital blood and souls of one or two thousand people and swallowing them yields a similar effect; at most, the accumulated pill poison is slightly greater than that of a Gathering Qi Pill.

But killing people is far easier than gathering herbs.

This is the root cause why demonic cultivators are denounced by everyone.

To slaughter the common people for one's own selfish desires; sometimes even people within the Demonic Sect find it hard to bear in their hearts.

Mo Ci was not concerned with whether such slaughter was moral; what he cared about was that continuing to kill in this manner would easily attract the attention of righteous cultivators.

A massacre of over a thousand people creates an effect of resentment filling the sky; cultivators who have awakened their spirit are particularly sensitive to changes in spiritual energy, making it easy to attract attention.

Once targeted by righteous cultivators, given Chen Ye's current cultivation, it would be waiting to die; there is no other possibility.

Righteous cultivators who have restrained their desires for most of their lives find it hard to locate a method that both vents desire and has no side effects; killing demonic heads is the best choice. It is like after years of ascetic practice, suddenly being given a day off. Just as demonic cultivators find it hard to resist the thrill of plunder, few righteous cultivators can resist the temptation of slaying demons and monsters.

Chen Ye, however, smiled and said: "Blood Refinement is good, but I do not intend to slaughter the common people."

Mo Ci asked in confusion: "If you do not kill people, how can you perform Blood Refinement?"

"Master, what is the difference between humans and beasts?"

Upon hearing this, Mo Ci was immediately surprised and said: "Do you intend to use the flesh and blood of beasts to practice? Foolish! When I taught you the Blood Refinement method, I said that the blood of wild beasts cannot be used; it will damage the divine soul and make you neither human nor ghost. Before you can condense the Qi Sea, you will become a madman without reason, no different from a wild beast!"

Why must the Demonic Sect kill people?

It is not that they are truly cruel and unrighteous; actually, refining other creatures produces many serious side effects, far more severe than the pill poison accumulated from eating pills. Eating humans yields the best effect with the smallest side effects, which is why demonic cultivators choose to kill people. Otherwise, why not just open a farm to have a continuous supply of blood food?

Chen Ye, however, said: "Therefore, I must ask: what exactly is the difference between humans and beasts? Slaughtering a thousand people causes resentment to fill the sky, but a butcher slaughtering a thousand sheep and cattle is no problem; why is this? Does the Heavenly Dao truly favor one over the other?"

Mo Ci remained silent for a long time, realizing he could not answer this seemingly simple question.

"Master, the books only record the taboos of Blood Refinement but do not detail why. I want to understand exactly what substance in beast blood causes cultivators to fall into madness. If I can find the crux of the matter, perhaps I can solve this problem."

Mo Ci helplessly said: "This is a problem that no one has solved in a thousand years; on what basis do you think you can solve this secret?"

Chen Ye, however, said: "How does Master know this is an unsolvable problem? Perhaps someone has already found a solution but is hiding it. Is it not common for masters to hold back a technique from their disciples? Furthermore, if one only follows the old paths of predecessors, how can I become an immortal and attain the Dao?"

Mo Ci remained silent, and Chen Ye hurriedly said: "Master, do not misunderstand; I am not saying you held back a technique. Although we master and disciple have only spent a few months together, I believe you have already imparted everything you know to me."

Mo Ci:...

This sounds... like an insult?