Chapter 197: The Correct Method of Cultivating the Demonic Heart Art

As the ink dripped, Chen Luo felt as if this drop of ink was pulling him to another place. His divine sense seemed to stretch infinitely.

He once again ‘appeared’ at the foot of the mountain, where he saw that ‘great benefactor’ distributing rice porridge.

Unlike the previous visions, this time Chen Luo saw a purely black and white world. The only place with color was the ‘great benefactor’ standing before him.

The benefactor’s background shimmered with a multitude of colors, twisting and changing like mist. Occasionally, faces would emerge, all bearing his own likeness.

Some were joyful, others angry, and there were even those filled with jealousy and greed.

It was an unsettling display of a thousand expressions on one person.

“It’s changing again.”

Chen Luo looked down at himself and discovered that his hands were transparent. Not just his hands—they were transparent as well. This was different from the previous times he had written. Since he absorbed that ‘mysterious force,’ the effects of his writings had altered.

The town’s philanthropist was known as Lord Zhang, renowned far and wide for his generosity.

Many families in the town had benefited from Lord Zhang’s assistance. Whenever a household faced difficulties, they could count on him. Lord Zhang never turned away those in need, always helping those who sought his aid.

As an honest baozi vendor watched Lord Zhang approaching, he greeted him with enthusiasm, “Lord Zhang, please try my baozi.”

“You run a small business already, and it’s not easy. How can you give me baozi for free? What will you do to support yourself and your family? The most important thing in business is to make money! Only by earning profit can you provide for those around you.”

Lord Zhang promptly declined, his words blunt but filled with genuine concern. The baozi shop owner, unaccustomed to such frankness, scratched his head awkwardly. Unable to find the right response, he simply wrapped two baozi in oilpaper and insisted on pressing them into Lord Zhang’s hands.

Accepting the baozi with a wry smile, Lord Zhang secretly left a few copper coins on the table. By the time the vendor realized this, Lord Zhang had walked a substantial distance away.

“Lord Zhang, what a kind soul,” the vendor murmured to himself, shaking his head with a smile.

The steamed bun vendor’s face was etched with deep emotion. Lord Zhang’s kindness was legendary; he never took advantage of the little people, and was always ready to lend a hand.

“True that! When Liu’s wife fell ill last time, it was Lord Zhang who called for the doctor,” someone chimed in.

Others joined, praising Lord Zhang’s virtues.

Walking at the rear, Chen Luo gazed at Lord Zhang. What he beheld differed from the sight of ordinary folk. Through Chen Luo’s eyes, Lord Zhang was enveloped in a colorful aura. Suddenly, the red strands of this aura surged, becoming more pronounced.

To offer me such revolting fare?! How dare these wretched serfs!

If not for the need to catch the immortal’s attention, I’d waste not a moment on these lowly creatures.

On the surface, Lord Zhang appeared as a kind and generous benefactor, ever ready to assist. But beneath this facade, he was a man consumed by calculation, who viewed others as either “wretched serfs” or “superior beings”.

As Chen Luo followed, taking his second step, the red strands on Lord Zhang’s aura suddenly twisted, rising like bubbles forming and detaching from Lord Zhang’s body.

Danger.

The mummy’s brain sent a swift warning.

A peculiar shadow drifted by, akin to ribbons intertwining in the air to form a dark crimson coil. From the head of this coil, the menacing ‘Lord Zhang’ lunged towards him with a ferocious roar.

Chen Luo quickly retreated, rendered as defenseless as an ordinary person with no means to counterattack.

Thud!

A dull sound resonated as pain pierced Chen Luo’s chest. Lord Zhang’s head had struck him squarely. Before he could react, the red rope materializing around Lord Zhang transformed into a snake, ensnaring Chen Luo within its coils. The monstrous head at the top gaped open ridiculously wide, lunging towards him with a bite.

Activate Overlaid Demonic Heart Art.

The mummy’s brain suddenly sprang to life, and without hesitation, Chen Luo complied. The Overlaid Demonic Heart Art was a combined technique of the Blackstone Secret Technique and the Demonic Heart Art.

As the method activated, a whirlpool-like force instantly surged from afar.

Crack!

With a sharp sound, Chen Luo’s vision went dark.

Blub!

In the room, Chen Luo suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood, his chest seeping profusely. Thankfully, the power of the Demon Bone Array Sigil Art surfaced, neutralizing the force; otherwise, his injuries would have been twice as severe.

The brush fell onto the bamboo scroll, leaving a dark blotch across a once pristine area.

Looking down, Chen Luo discovered that the once-empty bamboo scroll was now covered in tiny, densely-packed writing. The script resembled no language he’d ever seen; its form bore some likeness to ancient turtle shell writing but was distinctly different.

It took Chen Luo several minutes of rest to fully process what had transpired.

Everything in the room appeared identical to before, save for the bamboo scroll.

Before his very eyes, the scroll rapidly transformed. The once-new bamboo grew old and weathered. The ink began to fade, and the script slowly vanished. Within mere breaths, the once-full text disappeared entirely, leaving behind nothing but a blank bamboo scroll once more.

It looked exactly as it had when he’d first taken it out, save for appearing slightly older and worn.

How can the “heart devil” emitted by an ordinary person be so powerful? A Refined Demon cultivator… Chen Luo’s thoughts drifted back to his time in Guoshan County.

Guoshan County had been a place destroyed by demonic cultivators. A group of these practitioners, who refined emotions, had used the greatest evil to engulf the entire city, reducing it to a pile of rubble.

Now, the words Chen Luo had written using the Overlaid Demonic Heart Art possessed a similar power. However, the forces he was tapping into felt even more uncanny.

The mummy’s brain had relayed another message to Chen Luo.

Heavenly Tribulation?

Chen Luo’s heart lurched—a bolt of lightning had struck his mind.

This was akin to experiencing a more advanced version of the art ahead of time. As a mere mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, he seemed to have inadvertently grasped something extraordinary. He owed it all to the help of his external brains, particularly the mummy’s brain. Without its connection to the Blackstone Secret Technique and the Demonic Heart Art, he never would have thought to combine them, nor would he have known how to do so.

Fusing the Demonic Heart Art had unlocked this path for him.

Could it be that the Demonic Heart Ancestor was encircled and killed precisely because he mastered this technique?

The thought flashed through Chen Luo’s mind but quickly passed.

After a brief respite to tend to his wounds, Chen Luo once again unrolled the bamboo scroll and picked up the brush with the same method. That familiar sensation washed over him once more.

This time, Chen Luo didn’t find himself at the foot of the mountain, but rather amidst churning thunderclouds.

Boom!

Within the roiling dark clouds, a figure could be seen battling the lightning tribulation.

The heavenly tribulation descended again and again. Finally, that figure endured the lightning tribulation. The heavily wounded cultivator sat cross-legged in mid-air, suddenly Chen Luo seemed to hear a voice:

“Draw him into the path of demonic possession!”

In an instant, dozens of shadows, similar to the previous one, charged forward and vanished into the seated cultivator’s mind. Chen Luo was swept along as well, but before he could make sense of it, the seated cultivator erupted in fury, let out a furious roar:

“Ahhh!! No one can kill me! Die, Die, Die, all of you, just Die!!!”

The sound wave exploded, sending Chen Luo flying before he could even react. In the last moment of his vision, he vaguely thought he saw that cultivator release his golden core.

Then,

Boom!!

An explosion reduced everything to nothingness

Chen Luo coughed up a mouthful of blood, sent flying from his seat. The force even toppled the house behind him. It took him a good while to come back to his senses.

He looked at the brush he was tightly gripping in his hand, recalling the scene from before.

“Did I just transform into a Demonic Heart and enter the Heavenly Tribulation of a Core Formation powerhouse?” Chen Luo mused, his mind racing. Though his encounter had been brief, the experience was etched into his memory.

The entity that had finally emerged and self-destructed was indeed the cultivator’s true self, encapsulated within a Golden Core.

That individual was a seasoned Core Formation ancestor, possessing a high-grade Golden Core! Chen Luo realized with a jolt of comprehension.

“So, this is how the Demonic Heart Art is truly practiced!”

After a prolonged rest, Chen Luo finally sat up, a sense of doubt brewing within him for the first time regarding the ‘Demonic Heart Art’ imparted by Daoist Void, his master.

Out of all the techniques and divine abilities he had acquired, only two had been directly instilled into his mummy’s brain and eyes:

First, the Demon Bone Array Sigil Art—an extraordinary body refinement technique. It had been painstakingly deciphered over seven centuries by the pig monster Zhu Chungan, who had studied countless demonic skeletal patterns to unravel their innate power combinations.

And second, the Demonic Heart Art—passed down to Chen Luo by a Foundation Establishment elder from a Core Formation sect.

How could these two abilities possibly be on the same level?

Chen Luo found himself with an urgent desire to return to the Sacred Lake Immortal Sect, seeking a deeper conversation with his master, Daoist Void. He had initially believed he had grasped the full extent of his master’s origins, but now, it seemed clear that neither Daoist Void nor Elder Sister Bai Su appeared to be ordinary individuals.

Reining in his thoughts, Chen Luo retrieved a spirit pill from his Pouch of Holding and began to heal the injuries sustained while cultivating the ‘Demonic Heart Art’.

For the next half month, Chen Luo devoted himself to attempting to cultivate this Demonic Heart Art.

This mysterious technique offered him a glimpse of a path vastly different from the current cultivation world.

Through repeated practice, Chen Luo gradually discerned some patterns.

As he circulated and superimposed the Demonic Heart Art, his state became quite extraordinary. Sometimes, he would find himself drawn to ordinary people, observing their ‘inner demons’. At other times, he would be transported elsewhere, joining the ‘Demonic Heart Power’ floating between heaven and earth to besiege Transcendence seekers.

Whenever a Transcendence seeker perished, these ‘inner demons’ would grow stronger.

After facing the Demonic Heart Tribulation three times, Chen Luo’s ‘Demonic Heart State’ had slightly strengthened, no longer helpless against even ordinary people’s inner demons as before.

Two days ago, when Chen Luo descended the mountain, he had annihilated the Great Philanthropist’s inner demon.

After vanquishing his adversary’s Demonic Heart, the Great Philanthropist fell gravely ill on the spot. Upon awakening, he underwent a profound transformation, as if he had glimpsed the essence of life itself. He no longer bothered with trivial matters, his mindset undergoing a complete about-face. He shed his pretentious philanthropy and transformed into a wise, magnanimous elder.

This metamorphosis was as if he had been enlightened by an immortal, leaving even his wife marveling at the miraculous change.

It also deepened Chen Luo’s understanding of Demonic Hearts.

“Senior, I’ve procured all the spirit materials you requested,” Su Linlin said.

Five days later, the fox spirit Su Linlin visited again. Compared to her last visit, her aura had become more refined, and she now wore a pair of moon-shaped earrings, making her even more bewitching.

Opening the door to her cultivation room, Chen Luo looked up.

A translucent wave emanated from within the room.

“Put them over there. You can have someone fetch the spirit stones,” Chen Luo said, his voice hoarse. Compared to several months ago, he now carried the aura of a seasoned demonic being. An indescribable scent surrounded him, commanding reverence from those who beheld him.

He’s become even stronger!

Su Linlin’s heart trembled, and the small pride she had gained from her clan’s recent rewards instantly vanished.

This is the real cultivation world.

The ones fortunate enough to receive extraordinary experiences will never be just her.