Chapter 20: I Find It Very Hard To Feel Okay

“Then it’s decided. I’ll go with this one.”

Xu Gu pondered for a moment, but in the end still made his choice.

If he was born to be invincible, why would he fear becoming the enemy of the whole world?

“If you can’t keep it up, as long as you haven’t reached Foundation Establishment, you can switch to another cultivation method anytime,” the demonic senior brother said, unsurprised. Youngsters were always like this—if they didn’t slam into a wall, they’d never turn back.

“Thank you for the warning, senior brother,” Xu Gu said in thanks.

He selected two more suitable magic arts in the Scripture Pavilion, then returned to his cave residence, ready to cultivate.

“You really plan to cultivate that demonic technique?” The white fox’s eyes rolled round and round, suddenly a bit spooked.

If Xu Gu did end up becoming the enemy of the world, wouldn’t following him around mean it was in for a world of trouble?

“Remember, you’re a demonic cultivator. If you’re this afraid of death, why be a demonic cultivator at all?” Xu Gu shot the fox a sidelong glance, then explained, “Relax. This future Demon Lord isn’t stupid. I’m not going to provoke too many enemies before I have the strength to handle them.”

You always squeeze the softest persimmon.

For this cultivation method, the most important thing was picking soft persimmons to squeeze.

He had his own plan.

He stopped paying attention to anything else and sat down to cultivate.

Boom.

The instant he crossed his legs and sat down, circulating the spiritual power in his body and moving his innate essence along Heaven Demon Art’s meridian route for a trial rotation, something shocking happened.

First, a streak of black light shot into the sky.

Then, boundless resentment and baleful energy poured down from above like a vast ocean, roaring and crashing straight toward Xu Gu.

It was like ten thousand lonely ghosts descending to collect a debt.

“What the hell is this?”

Xu Gu’s heart shook. His pupils shrank. Cold sweat soaked his back as if he’d been wrapped up by a host of vengeful spirits. He hurriedly broke off his circulation of the technique, staring in disbelief at the ocean-like mass of resentful energy in front of him.

Just as the manual described, all of this resentment and baleful aura had been drawn by him.

But… he hadn’t even started provoking enemies yet, had he?

Did he even have enemies?

Why had he attracted such a huge mass of resentment the moment he started cultivating?

It felt like he’d offended the entire world.

“What’s going on?”

Even the white fox could feel the disturbance. Its fur stood on end, pupils contracting tight as it stared at Xu Gu in alarm. “How did you piss off this many people? Did you massacre a city?”

“How could I? I’m only at the Qi Refining stage! I have no idea what’s going on.” Xu Gu was just as baffled, staring blankly.

After hesitating for a moment, he forced himself to calm down again, sat back down, and resumed cultivating.

He didn’t know how he’d provoked this many enemies or attracted this much resentment, but all of it was nourishment for cultivating Heaven Demon Art. It wasn’t exactly a bad thing.

He immersed himself in cultivation. His progress soared.

Three days later…

Xu Gu successfully gathered three white fragment talsimans and fused them.

[Hundred-Day Foundation (White): In one hundred days, you will achieve perfect Foundation Establishment.]

“Not bad.”

He looked over the talisman’s description. His current realm was Qi Refining, seventh layer, mid-stage peak perfection—there was still some way to go before Foundation Establishment.

And the threshold into Foundation Establishment itself required some time.

By normal standards, he’d need at least half a year before he could form his foundation. So this white talisman was actually fairly useful to him.

That afternoon, just as Xu Gu was about to continue cultivating, a demonic disciple came with a message: there was some important matter to be discussed at the training arena, all Demon Cavern disciples were to attend, and he was not to be absent.

“This is…” The white fox faltered, feeling a vague sense of unease.

As a spirit fox, its sixth sense had always been sharp.

“What’s coming was always going to come,” Xu Gu said. He wasn’t surprised. He rose slowly to his feet and walked out of the cave.

When he arrived at the training arena, Huan Caiyi, Li Shaobai, and the others were already there.

“What’s going on?”

“I heard they’re holding a meeting?”

“Such a big show… is there some huge conspiracy?”

They traded sound transmissions, all equally in the dark.

“Senior Brother Xu Gu.”

When they saw Xu Gu, their eyes lit up as if they’d found their backbone. Smiles appeared on their faces as they greeted him.

Huan Caiyi in particular almost bounced on her toes with excitement.

Over the last few days she’d gone to look for Xu Gu several times, but every time he’d been in closed-door cultivation.

That level of diligence had genuinely impressed them. They couldn’t sit still for long themselves. As expected of a senior brother from a hidden sect.

“Senior Brother Xu Gu, you’ve actually broken through?”

Once Huan Caiyi came to stand by his side, she could faintly sense a subtle change in his aura. He’d advanced by one or two minor levels.

“The cultivation method is strong, the cave’s spiritual and yin energy is rich, and the Demon Cavern prepared quite a few top-grade pills,” Xu Gu replied with a smile, not hiding anything.

“As expected of senior brother,” Huan Caiyi praised from the heart. Then her brows knit slightly, her expression clouded with concern and worry. “I don’t know what’s wrong with this Demon Cavern. It feels like it’s suppressing me somehow. Inside the cavern, it’s like my talent can’t fully manifest. My cultivation speed has slowed down a lot.”

“Same here.”

“Yeah, I feel it too.”

“It’s so weird!”

“It really is a terrifying demonic holy land! No wonder none of the seniors wanted to go undercover in the Demon Cavern before.”

Li Shaobai, Kong Haoran, and the other four righteous-path infiltrators all chimed in to agree.

“…”

The corner of Xu Gu’s mouth twitched.

He already knew what this was. It had to be that purple talent, Mediocre Man.

Then he vaguely sensed strands of resentment and baleful aura rising from above those five people’s heads, drifting toward him and gathering over his own.

“Don’t tell me that ocean of resentment and baleful energy is from all the people affected by Mediocre Man…”

“No, that’s not quite right.”

Xu Gu shook his head, denying his first instinct.

“The disciples in this Demon Cavern have pretty mediocre talent to begin with. They’re not at the level Mediocre Man targets. Even if there’s some effect, the difference is small.”

“The only ones who can clearly feel the impact are probably those five monstrously gifted righteous-path infiltrators.”

While he was lost in thought, more and more demonic disciples streamed into the training arena.

The place filled with noisy chatter.

“I don’t know which bastard suggested this to the higher-ups—charging everyone a ‘demon entry fee.’ The stronger you are and the more trouble you cause, the higher your fee!”

“I’m only at ninth-layer Qi Refining. It takes me a whole month to scrape together two spirit stones, and now I have to hand over two a month? If I can’t, I have to go sell my life on missions!”

“I’ve got it worse! I’m at first-layer Foundation Establishment, and I have to turn in five spirit stones a month! Heaven help me!”

“Just let me find out who came up with this idea! I’ll kill him!”

…

Lines of black appeared on Xu Gu’s forehead. He asked Huan Caiyi and the others, “What are they talking about?”

“Oh, you haven’t heard yet?” Huan Caiyi explained, “Starting three days ago, all disciples below Golden Core have to pay a monthly ‘demon entry fee.’ I heard this is just a trial run. It’ll be rolled out across the whole Demon Cavern later—and maybe even the entire demonic path.”

“And apparently, this is all thanks to you, Senior Brother Xu!”

“From now on, joining the demonic path comes with a price! I believe way fewer people will choose to fall into demonic ways in the future.”

Her delicate hand waved as she practically skipped with excitement.

The other four righteous-path infiltrators also looked completely in awe.

This was a monumental contribution.

“Ah?”

Xu Gu stared, expression utterly lifeless.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. Senior Brother actually copied my moves from the examination?”

“And copying them is one thing…”

“He’s making me carry the blame?”

He suddenly understood where that sea of resentment had come from.

And he wasn’t happy about it at all.

Right now, the “pay-to-be-demonic” strategy was only being piloted in a small area. Later, it would spread to the entire Demon Cavern, and after that, likely the entire demonic path.

He didn’t dare imagine how colossal the resentment of demonic cultivators would be by then.

Sure, his cultivation speed and strength would skyrocket—but if these demonic cultivators ever found out it’d been his idea…

He didn’t dare picture the unspeakable things the demonic path would do to him.

“Senior Brother, your face doesn’t look so good. Are you feeling unwell?” Huan Caiyi asked in concern.

“…”

Xu Gu fell silent.

I find it very hard to feel okay.

(End of this chapter)