PDLP Chapter 320 Temporary Ceasefire, Information Exchange
Chapter 320 Temporary Ceasefire, Information Exchange
Ji Ying wanted to take some strategies to ease the tension and stop her from pursuing him so relentlessly.
He took the initiative to lower his stance and said, "Fellow Daoist, cultivating immortality isn't all about fighting and killing. Why don't we sit down and talk today?"
"I see that you, fellow Daoist, possess extraordinary talent and are destined for greatness. You will surely ascend to the Upper Realm in the future. It would be best to learn about the situation in advance, wouldn't you say?"
Ji Ying believed that the information about the outside world was undoubtedly extremely valuable to a native cultivator like her.
Chu Lengyu listened quietly, a hint of curiosity in her eyes, but not as excited as Ji Ying had imagined.
What he said was somewhat attractive to her, but it wasn't what she needed most right now.
However, Ji Ying's death is not far off, so it's good to be able to extract some value from him in the end.
To verify Ji Ying's words, Chu Lengyu decided to ask Jin Lei for help.
After the last time, Jin Lei realized his situation and decided that he would agree to whatever conditions she proposed from now on.
Unexpectedly, Chu Lengyu asked him to apply the Heart-Burning Curse.
This is a spell that can detect lies. Once the user lies, the Heart-Burning Spell will immediately ignite, and the liar will suffer the pain of having their heart burned by flames.
Although Jin Lei was unwilling, in order to have a chance to survive, he had no choice but to obey Chu Lengyu's order and apply the Burning Heart Curse.
There are other spells and talismans of this kind in the world, such as the Mind-Questioning Technique and the True Word Gu. Although each has its own merits, they all have their limitations. Moreover, for the demon race, it is even easier to exploit their loopholes and deceive them.
Righteous cultivators uphold the ultimate principles of Heaven, firmly believe in the purity of their hearts, and are not allowed to arbitrarily alter their memories or make vows lightly.
Meanwhile, demonic cultivators are completely unconcerned about the backlash of secret techniques. In order to deal with lie detectors, they do not hesitate to deceive themselves. Some even go so far as to abandon their past memories and reshape themselves. Even if a powerful being who has undergone tribulation were to come, they would not be able to detect anything amiss.
Jin Lei silently prepared himself, wondering what the female cultivator would ask him.
Chu Lengyu began asking Ji Ying some questions about the outside world.
Seeing this, Ji Ying secretly felt smug.
He thought she was starting to waver, so he introduced himself even more enthusiastically: "In the myriad worlds of the starry sea, the realms of immortals, demons, and spirits stand in a tripartite balance."
"The Immortal Realm needs no introduction. After you ascend to immortality, you will surely be guided there." (Note)
"Although the Demon Realm is the territory of my Eleven Plague Clan, various unorthodox practitioners can also ascend to the Demon Realm."
"The spirit realm contains gods and Buddhists, as well as demons, ghost cultivators, and so on. Over time, it has become a place where various races from different realms mingle..."
Chu Lengyu listened silently, preparing to verify everything with Jin Lei later.
Only she knew that there were no cultivators in this realm, no one had ascended to immortality, and there was no connection with any "upper realm." No one would guide her, let alone the "immortal realm," she couldn't even go to the slightly inferior "spirit realm."
After successfully breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage, she will be excluded like Ji Ying and can only stay in the Gale Layer.
But now, she not only has the Xiandu Mountain Cave as a retreat option, but also the Xuzhou Ding, a "bridge to all worlds," which allows her to travel to the outside world.
This ability to move freely in and out of situations is exactly what she wants.
Ji Ying, wanting to find out more, asked, "The nine realms of cultivation are increasingly difficult. I see that you are quite young, yet you have already reached the Nascent Soul stage. May I ask what kind of cultivation technique you practice?"
He began to suspect that Chu Lengyu was not simply a native of the lower realm.
She shook her head and did not answer.
Cultivation techniques are the foundation of every cultivator; anyone with a brain wouldn't ask about them recklessly.
Seeing her displeasure, Ji Ying immediately tried to make amends: "Fellow Daoist, you may not know this, but there is a huge difference between cultivation techniques in the lower realm and those in the upper realm."
"This matter needs to be told from the beginning..."
Upon hearing this, Chu Lengyu glanced at him, and Ji Ying coughed lightly, not daring to keep him in suspense, and continued:
“After you transcend the tribulation and ascend, it doesn’t matter whether you are in the Immortal Realm or the Spirit Realm. If you don’t have connections, you will be assigned to different star palaces based on your star field of origin.”
"Fellow Daoist, do not think that you can rest easy after ascension. In fact, that Reception Platform is not something to be used for nothing."
"Those who ascend from the lower realms are burdened with enormous debts from the moment they take their first step into the immortal realm. They must sign a contract to serve the Star Palace for a hundred years."
At this point, a hint of resentment flashed across Ji Ying's face, as if recalling past disappointments: "The Star Palace treats cultivators in the lower realms like dirt, forcing them to reclaim wasteland and conquer all directions, resulting in extremely high casualties. And to redeem oneself is not just a matter of spending a large sum of spirit stones, but also involves many difficulties and dangers."
Chu Lengyu was somewhat surprised, but quickly understood.
This information was not present in Ji Chao's fragmented memories.
But it's actually not hard to understand.
The so-called "usage fee" for the reception platform is just a pretext. The upper realm uses this as an excuse to keep the newly arrived cultivators from the lower realm firmly under its control.
The lifespan of cultivators in the Nascent Soul stage is long, and a hundred years is but a blink of an eye. However, the Star Palace has maximized the effectiveness of the Reception Platform, forcibly taking almost all cultivators from the lower realms under its command and using them for its own purposes!
The Star Palace also has a complete promotion reward mechanism, which involves both offering promises and incentives to motivate cultivators from the lower realms to willingly go through fire and water for it.
With this thought, Chu Lengyu suddenly had a better understanding of the enormous Star Palace, and her heart tightened, her expression becoming more serious.
She admitted that Ji Ying's words were indeed valuable.
If Chu Lengyu were unaware of this, and used the ascension passage from another world, she would have stumbled into the Star Palace's trap and been forced to sign a hundred-year indenture.
If she wasn't mistaken, the guards near the reception platform were probably extremely strong.
At that time, she would be unfamiliar with the place and unable to fight against many people on the Star Palace's territory, so she would have to accept any losses.
Ji Ying knew that her words must have had a significant impact on the female cultivator, and therefore felt a little smug.
He thought disdainfully: "The natives of the lower realm are just that—the natives of the lower realm. They have no knowledge."
Chu Lengyu raised her head and asked with certainty, "Presumably, cultivators in the lower realms also have their own forces to oppose the Star Palace?"
Ji Ying was surprised by her keen insight.
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Note: Important.
This "celestial realm" is not the real celestial realm!
This "celestial realm" is relative to the lower world; it is the upper realm, the celestial realm.
But in essence, it is still the "cultivation world"! It's just that the upper limit of power it can withstand is higher, and it can accommodate the cultivation of earth immortals.
However, higher beings such as Celestial Immortals and Golden Immortals reside in the true Immortal Realm and do not descend to the mortal world.
The same applies to the "Demon Realm".
Therefore, although the eleven plague gods are supreme beings in this "demon realm," able to summon wind and rain and govern the lower realm, they are actually nothing more than vegetables in front of the true demon realm.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have been afraid that their power exceeded the limits of containment, causing them to be rejected by the rules of the Great Dao and return to the true Demon Realm.
This book is about cultivating immortality, but it only covers a limited number of power levels. The highest level is Earth Immortal, who can then ascend to the true Immortal Realm. Further details will not be elaborated upon.
I realized the design was flawed while writing it, but there was nothing I could do. I'd already stepped into the trap, so I might as well make it look good.