"If that’s the case, the world on the other side..."

Chu Mu was lost in thought.

If the world on the other side of the Spatial Rift was one where living beings could survive.

Given that the Black Fog Energy had properties similar to Spiritual Qi, and was also so chaotic and evil.

Then...

Chaotic, evil, bloodthirsty...

Chu Mu could hardly even imagine what kind of Purgatory that world would be.

After all, the law of the jungle in the Cultivation Immortal Realm stemmed merely from the monopolies held by the powerful and the wickedness of human nature.

This wickedness was simply the result of a "might is right" mentality flourishing in an environment of scarce resources, a simple breakdown of morality.

To put it in terms from his past life, it was a complete breakdown of social order and decorum.

But this chaotic evil, which corroded one’s very essence, was tantamount to erasing the good in morality from its source while infinitely amplifying the bad...

That would no longer be a breakdown of social order, but... a pandemonium of Demons!

"Demons?"

A flash of insight struck Chu Mu as he suddenly thought of the word. Racking his brain over everything he’d seen and heard in the Cultivation Immortal Realm over the years, he realized... he’d never heard anyone mention so-called Demons...

Although the path of Cultivation primarily consisted of Qi Cultivation and Body Refining, the variations that evolved from them were countless.

It was also possible he was just ill-informed.

Chu Mu pondered silently. With such a terrifying thing right before his eyes, he had no intention of leaving, and instead began to wander around the area.

As an Artifact Refiner and Alchemist, the most basic skill was identifying Spirit Medicine and Spiritual Materials.

For instance, knowing the environments where specific Spirit Medicines grow and how to harvest them, or what conditions certain Spiritual Materials require...

But right now, before him was a Spatial Rift!

A Spatial Rift, regardless of its nature, would inevitably generate spatial fluctuations.

And these spatial fluctuations would, in turn, inevitably affect the surrounding environment.

In the Cultivation Immortal Realm, aside from the few that occurred naturally, most Spirit Ores and Spiritual Materials with Spatial Attributes were born from such spatial fluctuations.

Spatial Attribute Spiritual Materials...

They were incredibly precious!

Just like Storage Talismans—simply because of their minuscule Spatial Attribute—they were practically hard currency in the Cultivation Immortal Realm, almost on par with Spirit Stones!

As for Spiritual Materials that truly possessed the Spatial Attribute, they were considered the absolute highest grade!

’The Black Fog... its range is too vast!’

After surveying the area, Chu Mu hesitated. The spatial fluctuations were quite distinct.

But the surging Black Fog before him covered a vast, vast area, almost completely shrouding the zone affected by the Spatial Rift’s fluctuations.

This meant that even if there were Spiritual Materials that had been altered by the spatial fluctuations, they were all enveloped by the dense Black Fog.

To get them, he would have to leave the sea of fire and enter the Black Fog, which was brimming with chaos and evil.

He had just observed the Black Fog up close, it was true, but he had done so from within the sea of fire.

The Black Fog was corroding the vast sea of fire, but at the same time, the sea of fire was suppressing and refining the chaos and evil within the Black Fog.

Being inside it offered him natural protection.

If he were to truly venture deep into the Black Fog, based on what he’d just sensed, the corrosion would be unavoidable...

Chu Mu mulled it over for a moment before tentatively extending his Divine Sense. The instant it touched the Black Fog, an indescribable sense of evil and chaos surged abruptly into his Heart Spirit.

This time, he didn’t retract it upon contact. He continued to tentatively probe deeper into the Black Fog with his Divine Sense.

As his Divine Sense lingered and pushed deeper into the Black Fog, the chaos and evil swirling in his Heart Spirit seemed to grow stronger.

Faintly, scenes of his past life-and-death battles began to surface in his mind, almost of their own accord.

When he recalled them, he was normally perfectly calm.

After all, "if others don’t harm me, I won’t harm them" had always been his guiding principle.

But if they came to his door looking for trouble, then life and death were decided by destiny.

He had done nothing wrong. If his opponent died, it was no injustice.

And if he was the one injured or killed, it was simply because his skills were not up to par...

But now, imperceptibly, that once-unshakeable principle seemed to be warping.

Even though he was the one who had killed them, he felt an inexplicable sense of vexation...

’Kill!’

’They deserve to die!’

’They all deserve to die!’

Like a Demon’s temptation, an unspeakable bloodlust surged through his Heart Spirit, spurred on by these whispers.

In the physical world, his usually bright and profound eyes had taken on a crimson tint, as if...

"Sever!"

Chu Mu let out a sharp, low cry!

A blade for the body, the will for the soul!

At his cry, the Divine Soul Saber materialized high above his head and then... fell without hesitation!

As the saber struck, Chu Mu let out a stifled grunt, but the bloodlust that had been swelling in his heart vanished in an instant.

Clarity returned to his eyes, and his mind grew tranquil.

In that same instant, the Spiritual Radiance Blessing descended upon him.

He immediately retracted his Divine Sense, his face pale as he gasped for breath.

’Terrifying!’

He swallowed hard. He had been on high alert, even actively shielding his Divine Sense from the Black Fog’s influence.

And yet, he had still been influenced!

Moreover...

Chu Mu closed his eyes. Under the Spiritual Radiance Blessing, his physical body, Magical Power, and Divine Soul were all under his complete control.

Even though he had already sealed off all external absorption of Spiritual Qi, he could now clearly perceive faint black threads winding around his Divine Soul, Magical Power, and physical body.

Even with the Spiritual Radiance Blessing active, he could still feel the dark desires stirring and spreading in his heart under the influence of these thin black threads.

When he opened his eyes again, Chu Mu’s expression had grown grave.

This Black Fog was, without a doubt, far more advanced than he had imagined!

Furthermore...

It had managed to invade his body even when he had deliberately sealed off his physical form and Divine Soul...

’What does this mean?’

He had, after all, just sealed his Essence, Qi, and Spirit—which was tantamount to sealing off his Spirit Root entirely.

With his Spirit Root and his Essence, Qi, and Spirit all deliberately sealed, this malevolent energy still darted into his body and Divine Soul like a cat that had caught the scent of fish...

This meant that this energy—which possessed properties similar to Spiritual Qi but was also chaotic and evil—was likely a higher form of energy than Spiritual Qi, and it had no restrictions whatsoever!

No Spirit Root limitations, no limitations of any kind...

’This must be another path of Cultivation...’

Chu Mu pondered silently. Under the Spiritual Radiance Blessing, his mind and intellect leaped to a higher level, allowing him to consider things from a much more long-term perspective.

This was a malevolent energy similar in nature to Spiritual Qi. It was a higher grade than Spiritual Qi and also possessed an extremely invasive nature.

The world on the other side must have developed a corresponding path of Cultivation centered around this malevolent energy.

The only question was whether the resulting path of Cultivation was one that embraced the evil and chaos, or one that fought against it.

It was obvious that if they fought against the evil and chaos, the Cultivators who emerged from such a path would be incredibly formidable.

After all, this energy was clearly a higher grade than Spiritual Qi... To use such an energy for Cultivation while simultaneously resisting its inherent evil and chaos...

The difficulty involved...

A flicker in Chu Mu’s eyes. He circulated the Divine Soul Saber around his body. Under its sharp intent, the faint black threads of energy that had invaded him were all shattered and utterly annihilated.

Next, he tried to control its power, attempting to use its sharp intent to destroy just the chaos and evil within the Black Fog Energy, but that attempt failed.

Clearly, the difficulty... was immense!

He looked again at the surging Black Fog before him, pondered for a moment, and his Divine Sense swept out. The billowing evil and chaos once again assaulted his Heart Spirit like a tide.

A moment later, his Divine Sense retracted, and with it came a jet-black rock the size of a human head.

A quick scan with his Divine Sense revealed the same evil and chaos. However, a faint, almost imperceptible spatial fluctuation confirmed the Spiritual Material’s Attribute.

Chu Mu stared at the jet-black Spiritual Material before him, his brow tightly furrowed.

Clearly, this was a Spatial Attribute Spiritual Material, but it had been corroded by the inky-black, malevolent energy. The material was suffused with evil and chaos, making its inherent spatial fluctuations nearly impossible to detect.

’If I’m to use this, I’ll have to purge the corrupted parts...’

Chu Mu pursed his lips, feeling it was a great shame.

If a Spatial Attribute Spiritual Material is corroded and that corruption isn’t purged, then any Sumeru Mustard Seed refined from it will also be tainted by the Black Fog.

’If a Sumeru Mustard Seed, meant for storage, was filled with this Black Fog Energy, would I dare put anything inside it?’

This doomed these Spatial Spiritual Materials. If they were to be refined into Sumeru Mustard Seeds, less than a tenth of the material would be usable.

To waste such precious Spiritual Materials like this...

He took a deep breath, and then repeated his previous action, sending his Divine Sense into the Black Fog to search for Spiritual Materials affected by the spatial fluctuations.

At the same time, he manipulated his Divine Soul Saber to constantly purge the subtle, creeping corruption of the Black Fog Energy.

He repeated the process again and again, and the number of jet-black Spiritual Materials floating before him grew steadily...