Chapter 349: Mount Shushan

Within the Nanhua Sect, those qualified to guard the forbidden zone were invariably the previous generations of Nanhua Heavenly Maidens. Renouncing the boundless veneration of the mortal world and the myriad splendors concentrated upon their persons, they consigned their lifetimes to this place, sitting in solitary isolation amidst the withered tombs of the forbidden zone. All they did was to guard the soul of an unparceled, peerless demon left behind from that horrific demonic tribulation a millennium ago!

Legend had it that demons were born of heaven and earth; so long as heaven and earth were not destroyed, the demons would not perish. Each possessed a terrifyingly immense power, and the moment they emerged into the world, it would herald a epoch-shattering demonic tribulation!

A millennium ago, it was originally the most prosperous era of the entire Morning Star Sea, and likewise the era most abundant with emerging talents.

At that time, within the Nanhua Sect alone, there were three rare geniuses of a millennium, and many whose cultivation and comprehension were both excellent. The Sect Master of that time was also the one with the highest cultivation across generations; during his reign, his cultivation had already reached the mid-stage of the Divine Court Realm!

Not only so, but the major sects led by the Nanhua Sect, the Yimu Dao Palace, and the Haoran Sect were similarly teeming with talent, as peerless geniuses emerged one after another into the world, as radiant as the stars and as bright as the crescent moon.

Yet that was an era that no one today wished to mention, the darkest age of the entire Morning Star Sea. It was said that during that demonic tribulation, it was as if the stars themselves fell; the high-level elites of the major sects fell almost to a man, and even the major powers were nearly brought to ruin because of it, their lineages on the verge of extinction.

In the end, they managed to trap this demon, and through a hundred days of arduous effort, they finally stripped its blood, bone, and soul apart, sealing them in three separate lands. What the Nanhua Sect suppressed was precisely the soul of this demon!

Legend had it that the demon soul was insidious and cunning, most adept at bewitching the minds of men, and also the most dangerous!

In the past, many cultivators from various sects had been seduced by it, turning traitor on the battlefield and causing unimaginably tragic losses to the entire cultivator army of the Morning Star Sea.

Shui Xianyun was precisely the Nanhua Heavenly Maiden of the previous generation, the disciple with the finest talent save for the Sect Master, and now the Grand Elder of consummate cultivation who sat in guard over the Nanhua Sect's forbidden zone.

White hair, white clothes, and a snow-white complexion so pale it seemed entirely devoid of blood. In this forbidden zone that had already transformed into a demonic land, she seemed less like a human and closer to a demon.

The night wind rustled her head full of silver hair, but her eyes held only a trace of profound, burning humiliation, looking as if she were an ancient exotic beast on the hunt, yet fooled by its own prey!

"Just what... is going on here!?" Reason dictated that these disciples, having been seduced by her, had long since gone astray. Once the desires in their hearts were magnified, it should have been even more impossible for them to break free from her control. Before long, all of them would have turned into obedient servants who followed their every whim.

But looking at it now, that was clearly not the case.

Originally, she had gathered these people here precisely to use a secret method to continuously expand the desires in their hearts and suppress their own innate consciousness. This did not require a very long process, only a mere few days, yet within just these few days, a mishap had actually occurred!?

"I was too careless...!" Shui Xianyun spoke with resentful hatred.

"This matter cannot be blamed on you." That voice from the depths of the darkness spoke in a low tone, carrying an endless eerie chill within it. "It seems someone is making trouble from the shadows!"

"Impossible! If someone were intentionally working against us, it would mean they have already discovered us. Why would they not report it to the sect, but instead use this kind of method...?"

Obviously, if an anomaly was discovered, reporting it to the sect was the most prudent course of action.

"Could it be that another existence of equal stature has emerged?!" Shui Xianyun's heart sank. If not for this, it would be difficult to explain why the disciples she had bewitched had all changed in an instant.

"I will investigate this matter thoroughly!" she said in a heavy voice. "Anything that stands in the way of your return to the light of day, I will eliminate it!"

"Go then," the voice in the darkness said viciously. "The moment I return to the light of day, everything that opposes us shall vanish into ash and smoke!"

...

On the other side, with the rise of games like Grand Theft Auto V and fantasy movies like Harry Potter, the various cultivators, led by the artifact masters of the Wuwei Daoist Alliance, also began to emulate some of the extremely convenient and practical spiritual artifacts within them.

For instance, the research institute currently led by Li Haoran, while better perfecting firearms for cultivators, had also commenced an entirely new topic.

Li Haoran could be seen looking at the artifact masters of the Blue Flame Pavilion who were gathered around him, holding a communication jade of excellent quality in his hand.

"You all should know why I have gathered you here." Li Haoran brandished the communication jade in his hand and said, "This is the best communication jade of our Blue Flame Pavilion, but what does everyone think of its function?"

In truth, very few of them went to play Resident Evil, and many things in Resident Evil were not displayed prominently. It was not until Grand Theft Auto V gave players too much freedom that the efficacy of many items was fully demonstrated.

A cultivator replied, "It is indeed too monotonous. Other people's communication tools can take photos, screenshots, capture parts of images, and even check the terrain of the whole world and guide the way by themselves. They can even complete payments and money transfers using a communication tool..."

By comparison, the superiority and inferiority were immediately clear.

Li Haoran said, "Therefore, I have gathered you all precisely to forge an entirely new type of communication jade. This kind of communication jade must not only be able to communicate across thousands of miles, but it must also be capable of video calls and voice calls across thousands of miles. In the short term, we must at least achieve these few points. I just spoke with Boss Fang. If we do well, perhaps in the future we can let our communication jades connect to QQ Messenger for free. Even if the computer time limit has been reached, we can still use the communication jade to chat merrily in the major QQ groups."

"Uh... this..." Everyone exchanged glances. It could actually be done like this?

One had to know that in the online mode of Grand Theft Auto V, they had added quite a few cultivators from the Morning Star Sea who drove cars together. Many of them had even set up an exchange group, chatting awkwardly in the QQ group when they had nothing to do, and even discussing the various unique aspects of the cultivation methods, spells, and artifact crafting of the two major regions. Whenever they chatted deeply, they practically wished to stay awake all night to converse freely.

But obviously, Boss Fang's time limit had restricted this matter completely.

"Do you have confidence?"

"Yes!" This way, at worst they could just go back and hold their communication jades to continue chatting. What time limit would they fear then?!

Speaking of various movies and television dramas, as a gathering place for cultivators, even though Boss Fang had hardly done any promotion, immortal cultivation television dramas such as Zhu Xian were gradually beginning to explode in popularity at the Half City Shop.

If movies like Harry Potter and Resident Evil had opened a broader world for all the cultivators and warriors, allowing them to understand many things they had never even imagined before, adopting their strengths to supplement their own shortcomings and increasing the breadth of their knowledge, then an immortal cultivation world like Zhu Xian allowed these cultivators to understand the entire cultivation system more profoundly, increasing its depth.

In fact, Zhu Xian had already broken the milestone of an average of a thousand people activating per episode at the Half City Shop by now.

And at this moment, Boss Fang suddenly heard a system prompt: The sales volume of all immortal cultivation items in this shop has broken a thousand. Completed the achievement "First Steps into Immortal Cultivation", unlocked the movie Zu Mountain, and obtained an achievement gift pack.

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