[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-pure-yang":3,"chapter-pure-yang-pure-yang-chapter-114":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Pure Yang!",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2267214,4427,"Chapter 114: Skill Cannot Surpass Fate! The Laoshan Daoist","pure-yang-chapter-114",114,"\u003Cp>Divine breath sinks into stillness, feigning death; one sleeps, and all things become empty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Divine Breath Pill, for ordinary Daoists, induces a state of feigned death: the soul-spirit falls silent, neither alive nor dead; if one fails to awaken, the feigned death becomes real—extremely perilous.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet the Divine Demon Embryo differs; practicing this method, the most fearsome in all under heaven, the soul-spirit grows so immensely powerful that it exhausts the pill’s effect in a single night—for such beings, it is but a great dream.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The Dao has its origin; the Nine Extremes reign supreme… the Nine Gates’ Internal Pill Method is the pinnacle of all under heaven…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The eyes of a youth dressed in casual attire burned with fierce brilliance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Master, I heard from my Senior Brother that over twenty years ago, someone visited our Laoshan Daoist sect—he cultivated the Divine Demon Embryo,” Gu Jingqiu couldn’t help saying.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Laoshan, one of the Ten Great Daoist Sects, a 5A-level national scenic area, with a ticket price of 180, located on the coast of Dongshan Province, hailed as the Number One Mountain Over the Sea.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, since ancient times, there has been the saying: “Mount Tai may be high, yet it cannot match Laoshan of the Eastern Sea.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since ancient times, Laoshan has been a sacred place for Daoist cultivation; Qin Shi Huang and Han Wu Di both came here seeking immortality elixirs, and the great sorcerer Xu Fu set sail from here to find the Immortal Mountains.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As a Laoshan disciple, Gu Jingqiu’s knowledge was extraordinary; he had heard of the Nine Internal Pill Methods, especially the Divine Demon Embryo, famed as the most fearsome under heaven, whose practice inevitably invites the Great Dark Night Unlit calamity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When he first heard of it, he was profoundly shaken.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dao cultivators dread the Great Dark Night Unlit above all; once caught in the calamity, the soul-spirit falls silent, all cultivation is lost. Those with luck may preserve their lives, forgetting past achievements and memories; those without luck perish utterly, their Dao extinguished.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If practicing this method truly invites calamity, then what’s the point of cultivation? What’s the point of refining? Gu Jingqiu didn’t believe anyone in this world could master it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet in the sect, he had heard his Senior Brother mention that over twenty years ago, a young man had visited the mountain gate—his Dao methods were profound, and the internal pill method he cultivated was one of the Nine Legends…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Divine Demon Embryo!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The Wang of Daling Sect… he was an old acquaintance,” Hua Yixun sighed softly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Truly, someone mastered it? Is he even human?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gu Jingqiu’s lips twitched slightly, yet his bright eyes shimmered with deep astonishment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Master, I heard that practicing the Divine Demon Embryo inevitably invites the Great Dark Night Unlit… once caught in this calamity, cultivation regresses, memories vanish, and one becomes no different from an ordinary mortal…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then how do they escape the calamity?!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In Gu Jingqiu’s view, falling into the Great Dark Night Unlit meant overturning everything past—cultivation, power, even memory gone; in such a state, one was likely worse off than a common mortal—how could one possibly break free?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If so, the Divine Demon Embryo would be a joke.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This is one of the method’s greatest secrets…” Hua Yixun said gravely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“When I was young, my Master once mentioned… every successor of the Divine Demon Embryo has their own unique way to endure the calamity…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Before entering the Great Dark Night Unlit, they had already prepared.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This is precisely the most terrifying aspect of the Divine Demon Embryo: it’s like warning you in advance that all your accumulated wealth will vanish overnight—you must plan ahead to recover what you’ve lost.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This process is a great trial and refinement of one’s character, wisdom, and endurance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Practicing this method is like life itself: losing and regaining, gaining and losing again, cycling endlessly, seeking the imperishable spiritual light amid birth, death, existence, and nonexistence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The Wang of Daling Sect… his way of enduring the calamity was peculiar, and exceedingly brutal,” Hua Yixun said solemnly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What method?” Gu Jingqiu asked curiously.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hua Yixun shook his head and fell silent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Master, what did that man come to Laoshan for?” Gu Jingqiu’s eyes darted, changing the subject.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“To borrow incense offerings!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Borrow incense offerings? Can incense offerings be borrowed?” Gu Jingqiu looked perplexed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“How?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“By strength,” Hua Yixun said coolly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gu Jingqiu’s expression hardened—he sensed the danger within.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though he didn’t know how incense offerings were borrowed, he knew that to take anything from Laoshan, one of the Ten Great Daoist Sects, one needed more than just the diamond drill—without it, one couldn’t even enter the mountain gate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The most fearsome under heaven… truly the most fearsome under heaven,” Gu Jingqiu murmured.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Master, where is that man now?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gu Jingqiu’s curiosity swelled—among the Nine Internal Pill Methods, to have one living master in this age was rare beyond measure; as a Dao cultivator, he naturally felt profound yearning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Some say he’s dead…” Hua Yixun said lightly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His last news of the Wang of Daling Sect was ten years ago.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since then, the Wang of Daling Sect vanished from the Daoist world; even his band of powerful followers vanished like ripples swallowed by the endless river.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The Divine Demon Embryo… how could he die?” Gu Jingqiu exclaimed, pale-faced.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Such beings were like legends—how could death be spoken of so casually?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What’s so strange? Sixty years ago, even the so-called Number One Expert under heaven, the Three Corpses Daoist, died atop Mount Dongyue…” Hua Yixun murmured.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Nothing in this world is eternal—remember that…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Skill cannot surpass fate!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Skill cannot surpass fate!” Gu Jingqiu repeated the phrase, nodding unconsciously.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Suzhou City is ahead—find her before we enter the station.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, Hua Yixun shifted the topic, pulling Gu Jingqiu’s thoughts back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Master, the demon must be on this train.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gu Jingqiu instinctively glanced ahead and behind, then said: “Could those people in the next carriage be accomplices of the demon?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No… one of those youths is a disciple of Maoshan—he visited our Laoshan as a child with several of Maoshan’s senior Daoists.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hua Yixun’s reference was naturally Jiang Hu—he had passed Jiang Hu on the platform and recognized him immediately.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Maoshan is a orthodox Daoist sect, one of the Ten Great Daoist Mountains; its disciples would never consort with demons.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing this, Gu Jingqiu finally exhaled in relief.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If there are no accomplices, the demon has nowhere to flee.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Don’t be careless—it’s a demon,” Hua Yixun whispered, his eyes flashing coldly as he uttered the word.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Snake demon!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since the founding of the nation, spirits have struggled to become demons—but the demon Gu Jingqiu and his Master pursued was a genuine demon, and a snake demon at that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Nanyang Miscellanies once recorded a tale.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, a bachelor from Nanshan County made his living gathering herbs; at over thirty, he still hadn’t married.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One day, caught in a storm deep in the mountains, he took shelter in a cave and met a woman of unparalleled beauty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The bachelor, smitten, took her home and spent every day with her; after a year, the woman gave birth to a white egg. The bachelor was terrified, turned to find her—but she was gone, leaving only a pool of white skin behind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That night, a violent wind blew; villagers saw a colossal white serpent, as thick as a water barrel, flying through the air, snatching up the white egg.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Later, the bachelor lived to over a hundred, dying peacefully; when villagers entered his home, they found the white skin beneath his bed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since ancient times, snakes have been regarded as spiritual beings, with white snakes the most revered; ancients believed white snakes’ molting symbolized rebirth and cyclical renewal, embodying the power of life and death, granting rebirth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, ancient Daoists devised a method to preserve youthful appearance—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>using the shed skin of a white snake to craft a skin cocoon; one enters it, gradually fusing with the cocoon, gaining the ability to molt, replacing all old cellular tissue and maintaining vibrant vitality.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The new skin becomes as tender as a maiden’s; hair grows thick and jet-black…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet this method has a flaw: after fusing with the cocoon, bodily functions change, metabolism becoming dozens of times faster than a normal human’s; the body gradually assimilates itself, eventually transforming into a true serpent. Despite this drawback, even today, some Daoists in remote mountains still raise white snakes, refining them with pills.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The demon Gu Jingqiu and his Master pursued was a white snake raised by a Daoist sect; after attaining sentience, it gradually developed demonic arts, escaped death, and even seized a human body, transforming into a demon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Did you bring the Manifestation Incense?” Hua Yixun asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Demons, born from soul-possession, suffer internal conflict between soul and body; during moonlit nights or special environments, they undergo uncontrollable demonic transformation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For example, aquatic demons often undergo violent transformation during thunderstorms.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, many Daoist methods can force them to reveal their true forms—such as the Manifestation Incense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Master, this is a high-speed train…” Gu Jingqiu couldn’t help saying.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone knows smoking is forbidden on high-speed trains.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Fool… can’t you use smokeless incense?” Hua Yixun glared sharply.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Master is right,” Gu Jingqiu nodded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Laoshan’s Manifestation Incense has a smokeless variant, designed precisely for such special environments.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Does the demon think hiding among people makes him safe?” Hua Yixun said coldly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once a demon undergoes uncontrollable transformation, its true form is revealed—it cannot escape.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Master, could the demon suppress the transformation?” Gu Jingqiu worried.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Suzhou City was near; if the snake demon used demonic arts to suppress its transformation and disembarked, it would be far harder to find.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No…” Hua Yixun said coldly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Heaven is impartial; having granted demons the chance to possess human bodies, it also planted inherent flaws.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The demonic transformation is uncontrollable—unless one is an ancient demon with over three hundred years of cultivation, who might suppress it; otherwise, once triggered, it cannot be reversed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unless…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Unless what?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“There exists in Daoist lore a rare power called ‘Taming Demons’…” Hua Yixun began, then shook his head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Taming Demons can not only suppress demonic transformation but also awaken their potential, turning demons into demons of darkness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet this power exists only in ancient Daoist scriptures—rare even in antiquity, let alone today.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Master, what is Taming Demons?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Nothing. Prepare yourself—the train is arriving,” Hua Yixun instructed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gu Jingqiu nodded, took a coil of incense from his bag, pinched it between his fingers, and a strange fragrance slowly rose, spreading through the carriage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Wait,” Gu Jingqiu smiled faintly, closing his eyes, gathering his spirit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ten minutes later.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Fan glanced at the time, his peripheral vision flicking toward Zhan Xinyue and Sui Chunsheng.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One of them was in meditative stillness, the other was reading—a book on ideological and political education.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In contrast, Jiang Hu was happily gnawing on a duck neck.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Look at their awareness. Look at you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What’s the point? They’re part of the system. How could they be the same?” Jiang Hu sucked his fingers, then glanced away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Too eager to advance!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What are you doing?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, Zhang Fan stood up from his seat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“To the restroom.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he spoke, Zhang Fan squeezed past Jiang Hu and walked to the end of the carriage, tugging at the restroom handle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Someone’s in there!?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Fan turned, ready to head to the restroom in the next carriage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Splash…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that instant, the door opened. A pale, slender arm reached out, seizing Zhang Fan’s arm and dragging him inside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The next moment, the restroom door slammed shut again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the cramped space, Zhang Fan stared at the young girl before him, his expression turning strange.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She appeared about eighteen or nineteen, slender, with pale skin, wearing tight shorts and a ponytail—sharp and brisk.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this moment, she pressed tightly against him, breathing heavily, her breath cold as it struck his face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You… are you alright!?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Fan, seeing her condition, raised his hand to open the door.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that instant, the girl seized his palm, leaning into his chest and clutching him tightly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So cold…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Fan’s expression shifted slightly—he felt her body temperature was unnatural. In the middle of summer, she was this icy, and her temperature seemed to be dropping further.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It felt exactly like a cold-blooded creature.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I… I feel terrible…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The girl nearly collapsed into Zhang Fan’s arms, her head bowed, her delicate frame trembling violently. On her lowered face, strange scale-like patterns emerged.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She clung to him tightly, baring her fangs, her face twisted in excruciating pain…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was the agony of suppressing the urge to devour warm-blooded creatures.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Master, I sensed a trace of demonic energy.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Meanwhile, in the carriage, Gu Jingqiu’s eyes snapped open, a flash of horrified brilliance surging in his gaze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That demon can’t hide anymore,” Hua Yixun said calmly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ah…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the cramped restroom, the girl bit her lip, drawing crimson blood—yet her blood was freezing cold.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this moment, she seemed to lose all control; the scale patterns on her face grew vivid and alive.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Let me take you out first.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that instant, Zhang Fan reached out, grasping the girl’s slender arm, preparing to open the restroom door.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hum…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In an instant, a warm sensation flowed through Zhang Fan’s palm. The girl’s body shuddered, her violent transformation halting abruptly. The strange scale patterns on her face receded at a visibly rapid pace.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Huh!?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Meanwhile, in the carriage, Gu Jingqiu’s face changed drastically. He looked left and right, his eyes filled with disbelief.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That demonic energy… vanished!?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",2280,"2026-06-19T21:05:40.312Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","962473becdda63c07f83af5a9b5d70b97c6665807b4fd37b3940eff752169693","pure-yang-chapter-115","pure-yang-chapter-113",520,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fpure-yang-cover.jpg"]