’What if I succeed?’

He performed the Secret Technique, and wisps of green smoke curled up within the Quiet Chamber. On the Snow Silkworm Paper at the center of the Array, lines of text began to appear—

’I was a Spirit Servant of the Daluo Sect since childhood. From a young age, I was taught the method of Qi Eating and Talisman Drawing. Every day, I refined Talismanic Coins for the sect to support the Cultivation of Stewards, Daoists, Saintesses, and Guardians. Eighteen years have passed in this way...

’The Daluo Sect has no fewer than tens of thousands of Spirit Servants like me. If any of us failed to offer enough Talismanic Coins each month, we would be thrown into the dungeons and forced to refine them for three months without sleep. If we still couldn’t meet the quota after that, we would never have a chance to rise.

’My talent was ordinary. I worked tirelessly day and night, and after making my monthly offering of Talismanic Coins, I only had enough left to buy Spirit Rice to fill my stomach.

’On normal days, I lived in a cavern within the Earth Abyss of the sect’s Immortal Mountain. The hardship of survival was beyond what an ordinary person could imagine.

’When I was nineteen, I chanced upon an iron chest in a cavern deep within the Earth Abyss. Upon opening it, I found an Immortal Binding Rope, a Void Ghost Market Visualization Diagram, and the Pill Formula for the Four Symbols Divine Pill...

’Overjoyed, I cultivated the Visualization Diagram and entered the Void Ghost Marketplace. Using the method for refining Talismanic Coins, I traded with otherworldly beings from other realms for several bottles of Spirit Pills and a Body Refining Technique.

’After consuming the Spirit Pills, my Cultivation soared. The number of Talismanic Coins I could refine each month increased dramatically. After my offerings to the sect, I still had a considerable amount left over. After saving for several months, I bought a pavilion at the foot of the sect’s Immortal Mountain and moved in.

’After that, I left the Immortal Mountain and went to the wilderness outside the sect to hunt Demon Beasts. I obtained their Demon Cores and exchanged them with the sect for medicinal pills to advance my Cultivation.

’At twenty-three, I finally broke through to the Seventh Layer of Sensing and obtained a High-grade Spirit Servant Identity Token.

’According to the Daluo Sect’s rules, a High-grade Spirit Servant could receive a dao companion and wife through the sect’s "red thread." I received my red thread, and after activating it, it stretched for dozens of miles. I followed it to its end and found it tied to the wrist of a beautiful young woman.

’This woman was also a Spirit Servant of the Daluo Sect, as were her parents. Her family was poor, and after their monthly offering of Talismanic Coins, they were left with only three or five to barely scrape by.

’The red cord is a sect decree; no Spirit Servant dares to refuse. We were married on the spot.

’Fortunately, my wife was gentle and beautiful. She let me taste the greatest joys of the Mortal World, and I felt my life had not been lived in vain.

’According to sect law, we were required to bear a child within a year of marriage. Failure to do so would result in punishment by the sect’s disciplinary rules: either our Talismanic Coin offering would be doubled, or we would be sent to the dungeons to toil at refining Talismanic Coins for three years.

’My good wife and I worked diligently, and a son was born to us.

’In my spare time from refining Talismanic Coins, I continued to venture outside the sect to hunt Demon Beasts and exchange them for Spirit Pills. My Cultivation also rose steadily.

’At twenty-nine, I entered the Ghost Market again and obtained a legacy technique called the "True Explanation of Chaos Thunder." After I switched to cultivating this technique, my divine powers grew immensely.

’Hunting Demon Beasts outside the sect became much easier for me. With the Immortal Binding Rope, I was unstoppable. As I expanded my range of activity, I was horrified to discover that the world had an end—it was only a few hundred miles from the sect’s Immortal Mountain!

’At the end of the world was an endless gray fog that was difficult to approach... Only then did I realize that the sect was located within an immense Grotto Heaven. Countless Spirit Servants lived out their mediocre lives, never knowing they were nothing more than frogs in a well.

’How pitiful... I tried to search for the ingredients for the Four Symbols Divine Pill, but all my efforts were in vain.

’At thirty-three, my Cultivation had reached the Ninth Layer of Sensing. I applied for the sect’s assessment, passed it smoothly, and became a Steward of the Daluo Sect.

’A Steward’s monthly offering of Talismanic Coins was less than a Spirit Servant’s. As my social circle elevated, I gradually learned that the Daluo Sect was situated within a Sumeru Mustard Seed Cave Heaven.

’The World Heaven where the Human Race resided had been invaded by the Demon Realm. The Human Race suffered a great defeat, and only the legacies of a mere few major sects managed to survive. The Daluo Sect was one of them.

’The Daluo Sect relied on the Sumeru Mustard Seed Cave Heaven to preserve its Ancestral Court. It transformed the Grotto Heaven, hundreds of miles across, into a speck of dust and fled, making it impossible for the Demon Race to find and exterminate them. Unfortunately, the population within the Grotto Heaven was too large and the Spiritual Qi was insufficient. This was why tens of thousands of Spirit Servants were needed to refine Talismanic Coins to support the sect’s upper echelons...

’After becoming a Steward, I gained the authority to enter and leave the Grotto Heaven. The first time I left the Grotto Heaven alone and saw the vast, real world of mountains and rivers outside, I was utterly shocked.

’This world had become the domain of hundreds of millions of Demon Beasts and the Demon Race. The Demon Race treated the surviving Human Race Cultivators as rations, hunting them down specifically. Relying on my Immortal Binding Rope and Chaos Thunder Divine Power, I slew countless Demon Beasts and reaped great rewards.

’During this time, I found three of the Spiritual Medicines needed to refine the Black Tortoise Divine Pill... I quietly accumulated resources, hunting Demon Beasts and exchanging them with the sect for Spirit Pills to raise my Cultivation.

’Although Spirit Pills were rare, their effects far surpassed those of Talismanic Coins. Having come from the ranks of the Spirit Servants, I knew that every single Talismanic Coin was condensed from their blood and sweat, so I could never bring myself to use Talismanic Coins for my own Cultivation.

’At thirty-nine, I entered the Ghost Market again, but my gains were meager... In the same year, I was ordered to follow two Daoists and three Saintesses out of the Grotto Heaven to raid a Demon Race tribe. However, we misjudged our opponent’s strength and were nearly wiped out. I relied on the Immortal Binding Rope to repel the enemy and was lucky to escape with my life.

’At forty, I wandered between the major powers of the Demon Race, a fugitive fighting and killing my way across thousands of miles. I finally gathered all the Spiritual Medicines for the Black Tortoise Divine Pill.

’At forty-one, I successfully refined the Black Tortoise Divine Pill. A few days later, I consumed the pill and condensed a Chaos Thunder Life Talisman, thereby advancing to the Life Talisman Realm.

’At forty-three, I returned to the Daluo Sect’s Grotto Heaven, revealed my Cultivation, and became a Daluo Daozi. From then on, I no longer needed to offer Talismanic Coins to the sect; instead, I received three thousand Talismanic Coins every month.

’What a dog-eat-dog world!

’I cultivated diligently without pause, spending my years hunting Demon Beasts outside, walking on the edge of life and death. I used Demon Beast Cores as the main ingredient to refine Spirit Pills and raise my Cultivation, all while searching for the Spiritual Medicines listed in the Pill Formula for the Vermilion Bird Divine Pill.

’The only pleasure in life is to kill.

’By ninety, my Cultivation had reached the Peak of Life Talisman. I dominated the outside world, slaughtering so many Demon Race members of the same realm that they trembled at the mere mention of my name. Even several Tier Three Demon Race members fell by my hand.

’I finally succeeded in refining the Vermilion Bird Divine Pill. After taking the pill and cultivating arduously for a year, I broke through to the Life Soul Realm.

’I was promoted to a Daluo Sect Guardian, becoming the ninth Life Soul Realm cultivator in the Daluo Sect.

’For the next several decades, I led numerous Daoists and Saintesses to battle across the lands, attacking the major tribes of the Demon Race. Wherever my lightning passed, the heavens collapsed and the earth split asunder. Countless members of the Demon Race and Demon Beasts were struck down, their bodies obliterated into dust.

’After the Demon Race occupied this world, they had three thousand large tribes and tens of thousands of small ones. The large tribes were all guarded by Tier Three Demon Beasts and Demon Race members.

’Throughout my life of conquest, I annihilated three hundred Demon Race tribes and slew countless Demon Kings. I was once pursued by a Tier Four Demon Emperor, yet I retreated with ease. I eventually became the head of the Daluo Sect’s nine Guardians, a position of immense power and authority. Wealth and beautiful women were mine for the taking.

’I had been collecting the Spiritual Medicines for the White Tiger Divine Pill for many years and was only missing a single ingredient. It was rumored to be in Withered Wood Ridge, one of the ten great Sacred Lands of the Demon Race. Therefore, I secretly fanned the flames and orchestrated the Daluo Sect’s campaign to attack Withered Wood Ridge.

’In that battle, I finally met the Sect Leader of the Daluo Sect, one of the Human Race’s few experts at the Dharma Realm.

’The Sect Leader faced two of Withered Wood Ridge’s Tier Four Demon Emperors. His Divine Techniques were world-shocking, making him nearly invincible. I led the Daluo Sect’s many Guardians, Daoists, and Saintesses to sweep through Withered Wood Ridge. One by one, the Demon Kings were "taken care of," falling beneath my thunder.

’After three days of fierce battle, all the Demon Kings and Demon Generals of Withered Wood Ridge had fallen. I broke into the Withered Wood Ridge Treasure Vault, plundered a vast amount of treasures, and obtained the final Spiritual Medicine for the White Tiger Divine Pill.

’Afterward, I turned to assist the Sect Leader. In the end, we killed one Demon Emperor, while the other fled in disgrace.

’I successfully refined the White Tiger Divine Pill and was about to use it to break through and become the Daluo Sect’s second Dharma Cultivator. However, I was ambushed by the Sect Leader. I roared in anger and confusion, and the Sect Leader bluntly stated that the Daluo Sect could not support two Dharma Realm cultivators. This would not be a problem only if I left the Daluo Sect’s Grotto Heaven.

’However, to lose the cover and protection of the Sumeru Mustard Seed Cave Heaven meant the whole world would be my enemy. The Demon Race still had nine great Sacred Lands, a dozen or so Tier Four Demon Emperors, and even three Tier Five Demon Saints presiding over this world. No matter how capable I was, when a true crisis came, I would have no choice but to flee back into the Sumeru Mustard Seed Cave Heaven to hide.

’I fought a desperate battle to the death with the Sect Leader. After consuming the White Tiger Divine Pill, I was on the verge of a breakthrough, but I was assaulted by a Heart Demon and nearly succumbed to Qi deviation... At the critical moment, relying on what I had gained from the Void Ghost Marketplace over the years, I finally managed to cut down the Sect Leader in a reverse-kill after a bitter struggle.

’I was filled with a burning desire to reshape the entire structure of the Daluo Sect, but I could not withstand the might of the Qi deviation. This is how my life ends.’

...

In the Quiet Chamber, Fang Cheng slowly came to, his eyes falling on the Snow Silkworm Paper scattered across the floor. A thoughtful expression appeared on his face.

’So it’s true. The Celestial Dao Rules make it impossible to break through to the Dharma Realm?’

...