Elder Kuzhu asked Shi Feiyang to grant him Soldier Disintegration.

Sitting cross-legged on the ground, he said, "Please use the Nine Immortal Swords of Emperor Xuanyuan to end my life and use my blood to awaken the swords."

Shi Feiyang hesitated, "You…"

Elder Kuzhu said, "According to my calculations, Emperor Chi You from ancient times will return to the Human World. The Xuanyuan Nine Swords will be needed then, but after thousands of years of dormancy, the sword tips are no longer as sharp as before.

My body has been refined for thirteen hundred years, constantly nurtured by the Returning Pill, and has become a Pure Yang Immortal Body. Using my blood to restore the swords' sharpness is best, so they may be unrivaled in the future!"

Shi Feiyang laughed, "This is the Xuanyuan Immortal Sword, not the Immortal Slaying Demon Sword. Why do I need to slay a Pure Yang Immortal Body?"

Elder Kuzhu replied, "Actually, I have a slight connection with Emperor Chi You and the Taiyin Hunyuan Ancestor. Without severing this tie with the Xuanyuan Sword, I'll continue to be entangled in the next life."

"The Cultivation Technique you cultivated includes elements of Buddhism, Dao, and Demons. Even the Xuanyuan Sword may not cut off these connections, but since you insist, I will fulfill your wish!" Having said this, Shi Feiyang pointed with his hand and released the Xuanyuan Nine Swords.

Nine golden sword lights stabbed towards Elder Kuzhu, instantly piercing his forehead, throat, chest, and abdomen, creating nine holes and killing him on the spot, severing all vital energies.

Then, Shi Feiyang took out a Circulation Golden Talisman and captured Elder Kuzhu's Primordial Spirit.

He also summoned the Heavenly Treasure Mirror, also known as the Void Treasure, originating from the Taixu Immortal Mansion. He brushed his hand over the mirror surface and blew a breath of Immortal Energy over it, causing the treasure mirror to flicker.

Inside the mirror, a colorful light rain flourished, and wind and clouds transformed, quickly revealing mountains, rivers, towns, and people, evolving into a world.

Shi Feiyang cast Elder Kuzhu's Primordial Spirit into it. In his first life, he was born into a noble family, extremely wealthy. From infancy, he grew to the age of eight or nine, always dressed in silk and jade, spoiled and pampered.

Suddenly, his family was implicated in a crime, affecting nine clans; the whole household was seized, all adult males were beheaded, and the women were sent to the Imperial Music Bureau.

Elder Kuzhu, still a child, was spared from death. He ran to the streets and became a little beggar.

In this life, he had to accumulate a hundred thousand deeds of merit as a beggar!

Himself starving, the lowest and most wretched, yet he still had to help others; one can imagine the difficulty.

All his memories and spells had been sealed by Shi Feiyang, he was utterly a normal little beggar.

He could easily harbor resentment and fall completely into degeneracy.

Because he had imprinted a mark in his own Primordial Spirit before Soldier Disintegration and, with the sustenance accumulated in the past, he still remembered the persistence needed to accumulate deeds of merit.

Shi Feiyang also created opportunities for him, allowing those who needed help to appear in front of him and giving him the ability to assist them.

With these factors combined, despite the hardships, he gradually adapted.

In a moment, a lifetime passed, and then he entered the second life.

In this life, he was abandoned by the roadside at birth, picked up by an old beggar, and reared on leftover scraps.

Starting as a beggar, he learned to beg for alms at three or four years old, speaking blessings more beautifully than song.

At five or six years old, the old beggar died, having accidentally obstructed a wealthy family's carriage, and was beaten to death by the family's servants.

Little Kuzhu, unable to even sell himself to bury his adoptive father, could only barely drag the body to the Burial Ground to bury it. From then on, not only was he bullied by ordinary people but also harassed and bullied by other beggars.

Barely surviving to the age of eight, he was suddenly adopted by a dying rich merchant... and just like that, he became wealthy.

With a sweet start followed by bitterness in his previous life, this life began with hardship and ended with sweetness.

He was taught to accumulate good deeds amid the tumultuous world and the ever-changing human affairs.

The so-called merit is not just about doing good deeds; it roots in tempering one's own character through the process of doing good.

In this process, one encounters various troubles: loss of wealth, physical injuries or disabilities, as well as experiences of indifference, misunderstandings, and humiliation.

To always stay true to one's initial resolve, unshaken by external adversities, to refine one's character to the point of elevating one's realm and gaining insight into the universe and life—that is what constitutes merit. With merit established, virtues will follow.

Merit is the one, and virtue adds the zeros behind. Without merit, all the zeros are in vain.

Elder Kuzhu, during his past travels across Central Earth, always brought along his memories and mana, totally unable to experience these trials. He accumulated good deeds but possessed virtue without merit. Although, he did amass some sustenance, in essence, it was all an illusion. Faced with a duel against Shi Feiyang, it was of no help and only allowed him a thread of reversal.

This time, with his memories and mana sealed by Shi Feiyang, each life was akin to starting anew. The tempering of his character was beyond memory, something more fundamental.

A person, even without their former memories, when faced with the same situation, will make the same choices – that is their "nature".

Elder Kuzhu underwent consecutive reincarnations within the Void Illusion Realm.

Lu Yu watched from the side, full of admiration, "Fellow Daoist's Divine Power is truly profound and unfathomable, beyond belief!"

Her words contained intentional flattery, but Shi Feiyang's spellcraft was indeed brilliant.

In the original text, only Master Fen Tuo and the Jile Perfected had used it to help the dwarves grow rapidly.

Master Fen Tuo employed the Minor Wheel Three Phases Divine Method, which made the two dwarves experience tribulations of three lifetimes within seven days and nights, accumulating three hundred thousand merit deeds. In effect, he pre-empted their future cultivation as a preparation, meaning they would have to realize these deeds one after the other in the future in order to settle their karma—essentially borrowing future merits for immediate use.

Li Jingxu relied on Daoist methods, taking three hundred and sixty-five nights to make a dwarf experience growth over the Circulation. The process of enacting the method required far greater effort; however, once the dwarf grew up, future cultivation became much easier. One method started easy and became difficult later on, and the other was hard at first but easier later; nevertheless, the ultimate achievements of the two dwarves that Master Fen Tuo assisted were indeed greater.

Shi Feiyang relied more on leveraging the convenience of the Heavenly Treasure Mirror, and the Void Illusion Realm he created, where reality and illusion gave birth to each other and truth blended with falsehood—to the extent that what was real became illusion, and illusion became real, as if truly opening another world within the Heavenly Mirror.

In just nine quarters of an hour, or a span of one and a half two hours, the Elder Kuzhu experienced reincarnation over nine lifetimes in it, amassing nine hundred thousand good deeds.

These nine hundred thousand good deeds were neither actual nor illusory—they carried merit but not virtue. It meant there was the "one" but not the trailing zeroes, serving only to elevate the mindest state of Elder Kuzhu and not representing the actual performance of so many good deeds. However, the cunning part was that the sins accumulated from killing the inhabitants of Outer Heaven Divine Mountain within the Void Treasure were also of this nature, offering a chance for partial atonement, forging a Dao Foundation, so that once he emerged in reality, he could truly cultivate nine million deeds of virtue to ultimately achieve enlightenment.

Upon reaching the end of his ninth lifetime, Shi Feiyang gathered his Primordial Spirit and returned it to the Circulation Golden Talisman, handing it over to Lu Yu, "I must trouble you once more, dear friend, to find a suitable family and send him for reincarnated birth."

"It is naturally my unshakable duty," said Lu Yu, taking the golden talisman with apparent glee, a schadenfreude grin on her face, "My brother, oh my brother, after over a thousand years of rivalry, you have finally fallen into my hands. I will send you to be the son of your enemy, and we'll see how you manage in the next life, hahaha."

Lu Yu took out Elder Kuzhu's belongings and handed them over to Shi Feiyang, "You will be his future master. I disdain using his things; keep his Magical Treasures with you for his next life."

Afterward, she floated out of the cave and departed.

Shi Feiyang accepted Elder Kuzhu's Magical Treasures, which were indeed top-notch treasures of this world; the thirty-six strands of Pure Bamboo went without saying, and the Qimen Seven Absolute Nine Star Formation was even more formidable.

During their duel in the Void Illusion Realm, both reality and deception played their part; he was not really trapped in the Array, which allowed him to emerge instantaneously.

If Elder Kuzhu had truly ensnared him, even wielding the Heavenly Treasure Mirror, he could not have broken free in a short period.

That short period could be days or even years.

Additionally, there was the Jia Yi Wood dan sand in that gourd; Elder Kuzhu used it to throw into the core True Fire of Outer Heaven Divine Mountain, blasting the mountain into smithereens.

In reality, it was all contained within the Nine Suspicions Tripod.

The gourd had been destroyed by Elder Kuzhu's blast; Shi Feiyang took a White Jade Box and stored the dan sand within.

Having dealt with Elder Kuzhu's affairs, Shi Feiyang stepped out of the cave.

During the time of his magical duel with Elder Kuzhu, there had been a bloody battle outside.

The Elder Zhu Rou of Zhushan Sect, tipped off by Grandmaster Ha Ha, said that Mo Zhui and three other Divine Grasses were in this valley and urged them to hurry to capture them, as it was the most auspicious time.

In the end, a total of more than three hundred people gathered, descending upon the valley to seize the Immortal Herbs.

On the way, they were first intercepted by Shi Longgu and her people. After a duel, Shi Longgu and her party could not hold up and retreated to the valley to regroup with Mo Zhui and the others.

Including the Mo brothers—Mo Zhui, Mo Xiang, and Mo Ying—along with Qiu Yuan, Shi Longgu, Mr. Xia, as well as Tang Shi and Sui Yin from Baiyang Mountain.

Among them, Mo Zhui, Shi Longgu, and Tang Shi were the strongest in terms of mana; the Mo brothers possessed the Three Talents Clearing Circle, and Shi Longgu had treasures bestowed by the Golden Needle Saint Mother.

Tang Shi, originally the third-ranking person under the Green Robe Ancestor in Bai Man Mountain, was only surpassed by Xin Chenzi in terms of mana. However, he did not possess a heart as ruthless and lethal as Xin Chenzi, nor did he have so many formidable Magical Treasures.

Outnumbered by enemies, they quickly fell into a fierce battle. Fortunately, before the fight began, Shi Feiyang had instructed Mo Zhui to set up an Array, which provided just enough support to survive.

However, during this time, Grandmaster Ha Ha intervened and broke the Array.

Because of these troubles, Shi Feiyang had to constantly divide his attention and hasten the return of the Nine Child Mother Sky Demon.

When the Demon Mother returned, she was accompanied by Lin Han, Shi Sheng, Luo Lu, Qiu Zhixian, Ouyang Hong, and Situ Ping.

This new force turned the tide of the battle entirely.

In fact, no one else was needed as long as the Demon Mother was present.

Alone, the Nine Child Mother Sky Demon could have eliminated the more than three hundred Sword Immortals, though with some effort.

But she wielded not just one, but nine Heavenly Demon Immortal Slaying Swords!

With the Demon Swords brandished in the air, slaughtering these Sword Immortals was as effortless as chopping vegetables. No matter whether it was Flying Swords, flying knives, Flying Forks, or other Magical Treasures, all were severed or pierced in a single stroke, often slicing people and swords in half or passing right through their hearts. They absorbed all the spiritual energy directly into the blades; the Demon Swords, fed by the essence blood of Cultivators, became increasingly fierce. In mere moments, they slaughtered everyone cleanly.

Some tried to escape, casting spells in every direction—eastward, westward, skyward, and underground.

The Heavenly Demon Immortal Slaying Swords pursued each one relentlessly, leaving no survivors.

The Zhushan Sect Elder Zhu Rou fought desperately to flee three hundred miles away but was still overtaken by a Demon Sword. His six Immortal Swords along with himself were minced into shreds, and during the process, all his essence blood was drained. He fell to the ground, a mummified fragment.

Grandmaster Ha Ha, looking upon the Nine Child Mother Sky Demons and the Nine Immortal Swords, drooled continuously...

Whether it was a Demon or a Demon Sword, if he could capture and refine them for his own use, how wonderful that would be!

As he thought so, he indeed made his move to try his luck.

But his greed got the better of him, foolishly attempting to capture the Mother and Son Demons along with their Demon Swords all at once.

The Nine Child Mother Sky Demon was not so easily dealt with; in a clash as swift as lightning, Grandmaster Ha Ha carelessly suffered the severing of two Dharma Bodies by the Heavenly Demon Immortal Slaying Sword, even his Primordial Spirit was wounded by the Sword Qi!

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