Chapter 19: The Side Effects Really Are Pretty Serious

“Very well.”

Seeing that Xu Gu was determined, the senior brother stopped trying to dissuade him and turned to leave.

Xu Gu, on the other hand, couldn’t wait. He opened the book, flipped to the first page—and was greeted by a whole pile of illustrations, with little figures doing all kinds of high-difficulty poses.

There really were a lot of illustrations.

“Shoo. Not for kids.” Xu Gu snapped softly at the white fox on his shoulder, who was craning its neck to “study,” then found a corner for himself and started carefully examining the book.

And then—

After just one page, Xu Gu froze.

Why were all the little people in the illustrations wearing clothes?

“Is this… warm-up prep?”

Xu Gu’s expression shifted. He quickly flipped through the book, turning pages all the way to the end. His brows locked together completely. He was speechless.

“Junior brother, what’s wrong? Don’t go into qi deviation!”

The senior brother guarding the entrance of the Scripture Pavilion saw this and hurried over in a panic, worried.

They absolutely could not afford for anything to happen to Xu Gu.

The entire Scripture Pavilion had been built for Xu Gu and the other five. If something happened to Xu Gu, he was definitely getting fired.

Xu Gu pondered for a moment, then held up Dragon Phoenix Transformation and asked the senior brother, “You said this is a proper cultivation art?”

“Yes, a proper cultivation art.” The senior brother hesitated, but still replied.

The corner of Xu Gu’s eye twitched. He took a deep breath.

This was the problem—it was too proper.

What kind of demonic sect had a “Dragon Phoenix Transformation” that wasn’t a dual cultivation method, but a serious orthodox dragon and phoenix race cultivation technique?

Alright, he’d gone in with preconceived notions. This Dragon Phoenix Transformation was, indeed, 正经—“proper.”

Xu Gu was unwilling to let it go. “If it’s proper, then why did you say it has a lot of illustrations?”

“Demonic cultivators have low literacy, so there are a lot of pictures.” The senior brother patiently explained, “All manuals have lots of pictures.”

“Then that line you said—‘this is a technique jointly created by the dragon race and the phoenix race’—how do you explain that?” Xu Gu was still unconvinced.

“It’s said this was created by two combined-stage powerhouses, one from the dragon race and one from the phoenix race,” the senior brother said with longing.

The Combined Stage—also known as the “Do As You Please” stage. Only after stepping into this realm could one be considered a true cultivator, truly free and unrestrained.

“…”

Xu Gu’s face went dark. After a moment, he asked dryly, “So when you said cultivation tends to affect the mind, that it’s easy to get distracted and hard to focus… you meant?”

“This is a dragon and phoenix race technique. If a human wants to learn it, he has to pretend to be a dragon or a phoenix. That’s very difficult. If you’re not careful, you’ll get too deep into the role and won’t be able to get out.” The senior brother replied matter-of-factly.

For a human to cross species and learn a phoenix or dragon method—how could that possibly be easy?

“Hahaha…”

Xu Gu was so speechless he actually laughed. Somehow, even though every word this senior brother said was technically correct, he still felt like he’d just been toyed with.

Forget it. A future demonic lord doesn’t fuss over small things.

Xu Gu didn’t dwell on it. He casually put Dragon Phoenix Transformation back onto the shelf, then rubbed his hands together, his expression turning a little subtle, and asked:

“Then… do you have any improper methods?”

“What improper methods?” The senior brother scratched his head, confused.

Xu Gu blinked. Oh, playing the honest man, huh?

“I mean high-grade dual cultivation methods,” Xu Gu said directly.

“Dual cultivation method? What dual cultivation method? Forgive your senior brother’s shallow knowledge, I’ve never heard of such a thing.” The demonic senior brother was already sweating; cold sweat was sliding down his back.

What do I do? First day on the job and the important client has already asked three questions I can’t answer.

Xu Gu lifted a brow, surprised. “You really don’t know? The kind of method where you invite lots of the opposite sex to assist your cultivation, they only lose a little vitality, and your own cultivation soars?”

“Huh?” The senior brother jolted, then said in a trembling voice, “There are methods that heaven-defying?”

“…”

Now Xu Gu was the one stunned.

What kind of demonic path is this that doesn’t even have dual cultivation techniques?

No wonder it’s in decline.

“That’s not right. Then what was that thing Gray Bone Daoist cultivated?” Xu Gu frowned.

Strictly speaking, Gray Bone Daoist’s method leaned more toward harvesting than dual cultivation, but in any case it was close in nature. If harvesting techniques existed, dual cultivation methods should logically exist too.

“Oh, you mean that ‘Supreme Limitless Yin-Draining Great Art’ he cultivated? That’s fake. It’s just feudal superstition, not worth mentioning. In essence it’s no different from directly eating people,” the senior brother said, perfectly naturally. “It’s like chicken soup versus chicken meat. Most people think chicken soup is more nutritious, but that’s a misconception. All the nutrition is actually in the meat.”

Xu Gu: “…”

For a moment, he had no words.

Though he did not agree with the later analogy.

In his view, dual cultivation versus directly eating people was more like the difference between eating eggs and eating chicken. One was a continuous source, a long-flowing stream; the other was draining the lake to catch fish, unsustainable. Eggs were easier to digest, while chicken could give you a stomachache.

Most importantly, the sentencing for the two was different.

The senior brother added, “But I have heard of similar methods. Some ghost cultivators and demonic beasts often absorb others’ yang energy. However, their absorption of yang energy isn’t for cultivation—just to maintain their spirit bodies or human forms.”

Xu Gu’s eyes lit up.

Similar was good enough. If he couldn’t learn it now, he could improve those sorts of methods in the future and create his own dual cultivation technique.

“Thank you for your explanation, senior brother.” Xu Gu cupped his hands.

“Not at all! This is what I should do.” The senior brother was extremely modest.

After the demonic senior brother floated away, the white fox hesitated, clearly not believing its own eyes. “They all say the demonic cultivators in the Demon Cavern are vicious and terrifying, demonic flames soaring to the heavens. I didn’t expect them to be so easy to talk to.”

And then it heard—

That same senior brother who had been all smiles with Xu Gu suddenly explode in fury, yelling at several Demon Cavern disciples:

“Get lost! What kind of stray cats and mongrels are you to act so presumptuously in front of me? Next time you dare show such disrespect to your senior, I’ll take your dog lives!”

“Ah?!”

Those Demon Cavern disciples were scared half to death, rolling and crawling away.

They’d seen this senior brother being so nice to Xu Gu, so they’d thought they could come ask some questions too. But the moment they opened their mouths, their tone just a bit too casual, he slapped them flying.

The white fox’s mouth twitched. It took back what it had just said.

Xu Gu wasn’t surprised.

He wasn’t stupid. He knew this senior brother wasn’t being nice because he was easygoing, but because Xu Gu had done well on the examination, had huge future potential, and a high status in the Demon Cavern.

It was just politics.

That was just a small interlude.

Xu Gu continued searching the Scripture Pavilion for quite a while, and finally found the demonic technique he needed.

“Heavenly Demon Art.”

Boom.

When Xu Gu lifted his hand and touched it, an even bigger commotion erupted. Black light flared, evil might swept out, startling everyone inside the Scripture Pavilion.

“T-This…” The white fox was so excited it shook. “Could it be a legendary peerless demonic ability that’s been sealed away, now emerging at last upon meeting its fated one?”

“No. Heavenly Demon Art is classified as a dangerous item. It can’t be casually given to people to cultivate, so Senior Brother set a restriction on it. Anyone who takes it will trigger the restriction.”

That same senior brother drifted over to Xu Gu again, speaking each word slowly and clearly.

“Why?” Xu Gu studied Heavenly Demon Art carefully. He really liked this technique.

It was a very typical demonic-path cultivation method, and its power was in no way inferior to those dual cultivation techniques he’d imagined.

Its effect was simple: once cultivated, it could absorb the negative emotions between heaven and earth to increase one’s cultivation.

“This is an ultimate demonic cultivation technique bestowed by the Heavenly Demons. It’s said that even in the Heavenly Demon Realm, it’s a forbidden art,” the senior brother said solemnly, his voice suddenly rising. “Because the side effects are too severe.”

“What side effects?” Xu Gu nodded. He understood. The stronger the technique, the greater the price. As long as the price was acceptable, it wasn’t an issue.

The senior brother shook his head with an air of mystery. “It’s very easy to get beaten to death.”

“…”

Xu Gu’s eyelid twitched. A few black lines popped up on his forehead.

How the hell is that a ‘side effect’?

“You don’t understand, junior brother. The resentment this technique can absorb must be resentment that arises because of you. In other words, to cultivate this art you have to constantly provoke enemies, constantly infuriate others,” the senior brother said, his voice actually trembling.

“In the end, you might need the entire world as your enemy. Who can live long and well when the whole world wants you dead?”

As he spoke, he slipped into memory.

“I don’t know about the Heavenly Demon Realm, but I know this: here in the Profound Sky Continent, every demonic predecessor who cultivated this forbidden art died an unnatural death without exception.

“The strongest one on record only reached the Deity Transformation Realm. He was cautious, always hiding, but after cultivating to Deity Transformation, he’d practically enraged heaven and earth. He had too many enemies. In the end, he was killed, and he even dragged the Demon Cavern into it. We had to pay a huge amount in compensation.”

As he spoke, this senior brother looked genuinely bitter.

The Demon Cavern’s current poverty—this technique had contributed its share.

Xu Gu smacked his lips.

The side effects really were pretty serious.

(End of this chapter)