Chapter 672: Refining Demon Art, the Seed of Divine Patterns

"Ten Directions Annihilation Dao…"

Li Yuan listened with great care; this should be one of the twelve great Daos of Mount Mount Dongxuan, though the name itself was truly rather overbearing.

As for that Demon Refining Art…

Li Yuan could not help but look toward the Demon Refining Immortal-Slaying Sword held by the Dao child on the platform.

But he felt it wasn't very likely — after all, that was a secret transmission passed down to only five people per generation; even if it were a true transmission, it wouldn't likely be taught on an occasion like this, would it?

"Dong~"

A chime of a stone gong rang out.

On the high platform, Master Master Fufa lightly tapped the void, and ripples visible to the naked eye spread outward layer by layer, just like water waves:

"The Demon Refining Art is not a spell or divine ability in the ordinary sense, but rather a technique that can be used to communicate with other dimensions. If employed properly, one can earn a great deal of cultivation resources without ever leaving home…"

There's such a technique?

Hearing this, Li Yuan could not help but light up.

His perception was keen, and he faintly noticed that the expressions of many senior brothers around him were odd, as if they had all heard of this Demon Refining Art before — some frowning, others quite interested.

"However, this technique can only communicate with the 'Tian Mo Fa Jie.' Fortunately, the Tian Mo Fa Jie is vast and boundless, containing within it tens of thousands of small realms — a single realm comparable to a hundred or a thousand realms…"

Master Master Fufa's voice was neither loud nor soft, and the people below naturally heard him clearly. As he spoke, the ripples in the void from his tapped finger continued to spread.

Unhurried and unhurried, they had already enveloped the entire valley.

"Tian Mo Fa Jie?"

Hearing this name, Li Yuan's brow furrowed slightly — that was no kind place at all; an ordinary cultivator would likely lack the ability to obtain cultivation resources from within it.

"Weng~"

Master Master Fufa was quite the one for his words to take effect as law.

As he spoke, light and shadow interwove in the void, projecting all manner of scenes — barren scorched earth, a sea red as blood, an evil land dense with volcanoes.

The only thing they shared was that within these evil lands lurked all kinds of ferocious and terrifying demons — some like men, some like beasts, some like ghosts.

Scene after scene of interwoven light and shadow spread all around the valley; being amid them gave one the feeling of being within the Tian Mo Fa Jie itself, as if that legendary Tian Mo Da Fa Jie lay just beyond the void, within arm's reach.

"Slug Demons, Eye Demons, Ape Demons, Infant Demons…"

Amid the various scenes, Li Yuan recognized many of the demons — they were ones recorded in the Tian Mo Record he had purchased earlier. But among the ever-shifting light and shadow, there were also countless demons he did not recognize, yet were even more savage and terrifying.

"Other dimensions contain endless creation; the greater the danger, the deeper the creation. Take this Tian Mo Fa Jie — fraught with peril, naturally the creation runs deep…"

On the high platform, Master Master Fufa's gaze swept down, and the hearts of all below gave a jolt, with the illusion that his eyes had landed upon each of them personally:

"Then, who can tell me what creation the Tian Mo Fa Jie contains?"

Silence!

As his words fell, the crowd below went quiet for a moment, and then someone rose, cupped his hands, and answered:

"To answer Senior Brother, the Tian Mo Fa Jie contains all manner of creations, such as 'Blood Demon Water,' 'Nether River Dew Drops,' and the like — usable for refining pills and treasures, and also for nurturing Dao soldiers."

Li Yuan recognized the one who had stood to answer — it was Wang Wang Jingyi from earlier. He paused briefly, then continued:

"The greatest creation of the Tian Mo Fa Jie is naturally these demons themselves!"

On the platform, Master Master Fufa neither agreed nor disagreed, merely telling him to sit. After that, several more people rose to answer, but their replies were largely the same, differing only in emphasis.

'They're all people of broad knowledge and experience.'

Li Yuan silently committed the words of his senior brothers to memory.

He guessed there might be books on the Tian Mo Fa Jie in the Scripture Pavilion as well, but the pavilion's collection was as vast as the sea, and he had only just joined the sect, never having borrowed any.

And these senior brothers, who had been in the sect for at least several hundred years — even if they read only one or two books a day — naturally had a breadth of knowledge far surpassing his at this point.

"All correct, yet not quite correct."

After hearing everyone's answers, Master Master Fufa did not make things difficult for those below. The Tian Mo Fa Jie lay deep within the Opening Gui Xu; among those present, aside from himself, probably none had ever come into contact with it, so having some understanding was already no small feat.

"Li Yuan."

Master Master Fufa suddenly called a name. The latter started, leapt to his feet, his heart filled with alarm and suspicion, yet dared not be remiss, and bowed:

"Here!"

"Come up here."

Master Master Fufa glanced at him: "The Demon Refining Art is somewhat special and requires someone to assist. You are the youngest disciple, so naturally it falls to you."

"Ah? Yes…"

Li Yuan could hardly refuse, and could only walk up onto the high platform.

Walking out from the crowd to the front, and then feeling the strange gazes of all his senior brothers, Li Yuan even felt incense offerings 'sizzle' and rise within his Niwan Palace.

Clearly, the senior brothers were all very shocked.

In Mount Mount Dongxuan, the True Transmission lectured on the Dao once every twenty years, with the five True Transmissions taking turns. But no matter which True Transmission lectured, none had ever been seen to summon someone up to assist.

'Does Senior Brother Master Fufa value him that highly?!'

Yu Yu Xuanji's expression shifted slightly; she felt there must be some inside story here that she did not know.

If Master Master Fufa were not on the platform at this moment, she would likely have pulled out her Tongshi Orb on the spot to ask the other True Transmissions.

"Sit."

"Oh~"

Li the Daoist was a little flustered.

Keen as he was, even Yu Yu Xuanji had sensed something was off — so naturally he had too — but he could only brace himself and cooperate, sitting cross-legged on the cushion beneath him.

"Commence your art and refine!"

Master Master Fufa gave the order, and Li Yuan dared not be remiss. After calming his mind, he began to circulate his art and refine.

"Weng~"

Li Yuan's He Yi Jing was already perfected. With eighty-one strands of Kun Peng magic power stirring around his body, wisps of heaven and earth spiritual energy began to seep out from the void.

【This Demon Refining Art…】

Daoist Li was exceedingly sharp; while running his art he had already guessed something, and raised his guard in his heart. Before long, he heard a 'cry', and within Ni Wan Shen Jing, the Jin Chi Peng bird perched in the Profound Vine Tree raised its head warily.

「Woo~」

The next instant, Li Yuan opened his eyes and saw, to his astonishment, a bizarre demon — reddish-black, part fish, part bird — crawling out of the void!

The demon was hideous of face, and now its features were alight with joy; riding the spiritual Qi Li Yuan exhaled and inhaled, it flung its slobber as it pounced toward his brow!

「Smack! 」

Before Li Yuan could even urge his magic power to act, the demon was already pinned in the void, its dark-green little eyes darting left and right, full of terror and horror.

「……」

Li Yuan was not startled. This demon was only at the second realm in caliber; he could flick it dead with a snap of his fingers, but the way it had launched its sneak attack still gave him some surprise.

「This is a Fish Demon; it is most fond of water-aspect magic power. 」

Master Master Fufa's voice rose at the right moment, introducing it to the disciples below, then posed a question:

「Junior brothers, you have all witnessed this demon's arrival with your own eyes. Who knows by what means this demon came from Tian Mo Fa Jie? 」

「Heaven and Earth spiritual Qi! 」

The Mount Mount Dongxuan disciples below exchanged glances. With their realm and eyesight, they naturally saw that this demon had come precisely by riding the Heaven and Earth spiritual Qi that Li Yuan had drawn down.

「Junior Brother Li, do you now understand the essence of this demon? 」 Master Master Fufa asked again.

Li Yuan nodded, his expression rather complex:

「A divine pattern? 」

Li Yuan was somewhat startled and doubtful in his heart.

From this demon's body he had not detected the aura of a divine pattern, yet he perceived with great clarity the entire beginning and end of this Fish Demon's descent.

Running his art to refine magic power is, in essence, driving the divine prohibitions contained within the magic power to draw down Heaven and Earth spiritual Qi. The reason this Fish Demon was able to ride the Heaven and Earth spiritual Qi he had drawn down to launch a sneak attack on him —

was naturally because this Fish Demon corresponded to one of the thirty-six types of divine patterns he had gathered when refining his Kun Peng magic power!

「A divine pattern? 」

The expressions of the Mount Mount Dongxuan disciples below varied; some seemed to have seen it, while others knit their brows tightly.

「Heavenly demons have substance but no form. The reason they can cross the Opening Gui Xu and launch sneak attacks on many magic-refining cultivators is, when traced to its root, precisely because their essence is divine patterns! 」

Master Master Fufa resolved the doubt in a single sentence, and the area below immediately grew lively.

There were no mediocre cultivators among the Mount Mount Dongxuan disciples, and they had already understood why Master Master Fufa had said earlier that Wang Wang Jingyi and the others were right, yet also not right.

The demon itself was a creation, but when traced to its root, it was not because the demon body could be refined into treasures or pills; rather, it was because the demon's essence was a divine pattern corroded by the Opening Gui Xu!

"How can Tian Mo Fa Jie be mentioned in the same breath as Wu Shen Fa Jie, and once descend upon the present world — and before the Primeval, even sweep across the realms of the Heavens?"

Master Master Fufa narrated the hidden secrets of Tian Mo Fa Jie, his tone calm and indifferent:

「The boundless demons within Tian Mo Fa Jie are precisely transformed from divine patterns corroded by the aura of the Opening Gui Xu; therefore the demons of this realm are born with all manner of strangeness,

and after slaughtering one another, they will ascend into more powerful demons, comprehending even stranger arts — even divine abilities! 」

Silence!

The valley fell abruptly quiet; for a moment one could even hear a pin drop.

Most of those present were cultivators who had practiced for several hundred years, and from Master Master Fufa's words alone they sensed a profound terror.

Cultivators refining magic power must gather scenes and expand patterns, must be intimately familiar with the traits of divine patterns, must also be intimately familiar with combinations of divine prohibitions, and must run their arts to refine magic power — but the demons of Tian Mo Fa Jie need none of this!

They need only devour and slaughter one another, and they can cultivate one bizarre divine ability after another, and continuously ascend their realm…

「Hiss! 」

At this moment, a wail rose on the platform. Master Master Fufa flicked a finger, and the Fish Demon suspended in the void was enveloped in raging flames.

Under everyone's gaze, its body turned to flying ash, leaving only a wisp of mist, hazy and indistinct, drifting without dispersing — it was a divine pattern.

「The subtlety of the Demon Refining Art lies not in drawing demons, but in refining them! 」

Master Master Fufa narrated calmly:

「The demon body can be refined into treasures, the demon blood can be refined into pills, and its essence can transform into a divine pattern… This demon's grade was too poor, so it left only this single wisp of a divine pattern…」

At this point, Master Master Fufa paused slightly, his gaze sweeping over everyone present, and he smiled faintly: 「But if it were a powerful demon, one could even refine out an art,

or even, a divine ability! 」

「Crack! 」

Before Master Master Fufa's words had finished falling, he had already stretched his hand forward. With a sound like the void shattering, his spread five fingers had plunged into a stretch of light and shadow reflected in the void.

It was a boundless, endless sea of blood, teeming with countless demons!

「Roar! 」

Under everyone's gaze, Master Master Fufa's five fingers spread like a canopy pressing down; accompanied by roars of fury from the blood sea, he forcibly seized away tens of thousands of demons of every kind!

「Crack! 」

All the light and shadow within the valley vanished, and the rippling void also abruptly stilled; only the sounds of grinding kept ringing unceasingly on the high platform.

That was Master Master Fufa kneading his palms together.

「…Too ferocious! 」

Li Yuan could not help but swallow a mouthful of saliva.

He was the closest, and saw most clearly. Among the myriad demons Master Master Fufa had seized in that one hand, there were no shortage of powerful demons at the San Si Jing!

But at this moment, even though tens of thousands were gathered together, within that single palm they could only howl, struggle, and wail as they were ground into fine powder.

Li Yuan was shaken in his heart, yet below the platform it was still so quiet one could hear a pin drop. This scene was even more terrifying to the disciples below, because most of them were only at the fourth realm themselves.

Those at the peak of the fifth realm — such as Yu Yu Fa Huan Zhen, Gu Shan Xuan Sheng, Fang Fang Jiuan — looked somewhat better, yet none failed to feel awe in their hearts.

「Whoosh! 」

After kneading it for two or three moments, Master Master Fufa raised his hand and flicked it aside; streaks of light of differing hues had already fallen separately into the hands of everyone present.

Li Yuan lowered his head and looked — it was a nine-coloured, interwoven sphere, translucent as glazed glass, within which one could faintly see quite intricate divine patterns flowing and interweaving.

"This is a Divine Pattern Seed, kneaded together by those demons. Inside there might be a spell, or it might just be a pile of disordered divine patterns…"

"A small trinket, I hope my junior brothers and sisters won't think it beneath you…"

Master Master Fufa rose to his full height, uttered a single "I take my leave," and was already leading the four Dao boys away as he drifted off.

Many of the disciples below rose to their feet one and all, calling out "Many thanks, Senior Brother, for the treasure," and after a single chime of a stone gong, bowed together in unison:

"Farewell, Senior Brother!"

……

……

"So this is what a true transmission of Mount Mount Dongxuan is?"

"Master Master Fufa, the True-Transmission Senior Brother…"

"That move — far too ferocious!"

Returning to the third floor of the bamboo tower, Li Yuan recalled the scene he had just witnessed, and his mind still swayed with emotion.

A grab through empty air, and ten-thousand demons refined away in an instant — this kind of divine ability, he could not even begin to understand it; he only felt utterly shaken.

A casual grab was already so terrifying — if that Refine-Demon Immortal-Trapping Sword were to leave its sheath, how terrifying would that be?

"Refine-Demon Sword!"

Li Yuan muttered it over and over in his heart; after his emotions settled, he only then took out that nine-coloured Divine Pattern Seed.

After the true-transmission lecture ended, quite a few senior brothers had spoken up wanting to buy this Divine Pattern Seed of his, all feeling that his might be different from theirs.

Li Yuan naturally declined them one by one, because he felt the same way himself.

"Senior Brother Master Fufa does seem to regard me a little differently… could it be related to the Receiving Divine Fire?"

Toying with the Divine Pattern Seed, Li Yuan speculated to himself — perhaps Master Master Fufa recognised the master of that Receiving Divine Fire?

"It should be like this…"

Li Yuan gathered his thoughts, sat cross-legged, and attempted to refine this Divine Pattern Seed.

On the road back to Huishan, he had already searched exhaustively through the Grand Void Myriad Phenomena for intelligence on Divine Pattern Seeds, and the result was naturally nothing at all; afterwards he made a trip to the Scripture Pavilion.

Naturally there were books on this sort of thing in the Scripture Pavilion. After Li Yuan borrowed and skimmed through them, he at once understood the value of the Divine Pattern Seed, as well as how to refine it.

Divine Pattern Seeds are produced not only in Tian Mo Fa Jie; quite a few alternate dimensions deep within the Returning Ruins can produce them as well, but what is contained within depends entirely on luck.

It might be a pile of divine patterns of varying grades, or it might be a spell — there have even been those who opened up a divine ability!

Divine patterns combine into prohibitions; spells combine into divine abilities.

Why does promotion to true transmission require a superior-grade Jin Dan?

Because one who condenses a superior-grade Jin Dan is able to nurture a Natal Divine Ability based on one's own fundamental Dharma and the spells one has learned!

……

PS: Ten thousand words. Happy Children's Day.

(End of this chapter)