The Path of Immortality: Starts With Creating Water Bear Gu

Chapter 364: The Cause of Duan Tianwu's Descent into Madness

At this moment, Qin Manyuan’s expression immediately changed. After cupping his hands respectfully toward Lei Wan, he warmly smiled and said:

"So, Enforcer Lei is the renowned Lei Wan. It’s truly an honor to meet you. I’ve long admired your reputation, and it is my greatest fortune to meet Central Lands's strongest expert, who now serves as the enforcer of the Gu Emperor City."

"Lei Wan’s name is known far and wide, and I naturally trust your strength. However, what truly worries me isn’t the issue of winning."

"What I’m most concerned about is his Demon Devouring Gu."

Qin Manyuan's expression turned extremely grave, and he spoke with great apprehension:

"The Demon Devouring Gu is not something that’s easily dealt with. Although anyone at a higher cultivation stage than him can ignore the power of the Devouring Domain, it’s still one of the Ten Forbidden Gu."

"The power of the Demon Devouring Gu isn’t something that can be easily countered. Even those at a higher cultivation level than him might only avoid having their spiritual energy drained from afar within the Devouring Domain. However, once they come into physical contact with him, he will still absorb their spiritual energy."

"If they’re injured, the rate at which spiritual energy is drained will accelerate."

"In other words, whether we Gu Kings fight him and win or lose, we’ll lose a significant amount of spiritual energy—potentially even being collectively reduced by an entire level."

"Under such circumstances, how can we possibly fight freely?" "If we hesitate even slightly, our combat effectiveness will significantly weaken. And if he tries to flee, no one would dare to intercept him. In such a scenario, how can we secure victory?" Qin Manyuan asked worriedly.

"Exactly! That is my concern as well," said the white-haired abbot of the Great Buddha Temple, his hands clasped together in prayer, his brows deeply furrowed with worry.

"We of the Great Buddha Temple once sealed Duan Tianwu, and he will surely seek revenge against us."

"That’s why Enforcer Lei plans to gather everyone here and lay an inescapable net to trap him. But have you considered the ordinary monks here?"

"Their cultivation is low, and they could have their spiritual energy drained from afar by the Devouring Domain. If a chaotic battle ensues, the Great Buddha Temple will suffer heavy losses."

"Aside from a few mid-stage Gu King experts, all monks in the temple will likely become crippled. After this battle, the Great Buddha Temple might even be wiped from existence."

"Yet we cannot evacuate the ordinary monks. If the Great Buddha Temple becomes an empty city, Duan Tianwu would immediately grow suspicious."

"Does Enforcer Lei have a method to completely counter the Demon Devouring Gu?" The abbot looked nervously at Lei Wan.

Long Xuan nodded slightly. This was precisely what he had been thinking. As someone with a low cultivation level, he could also be drained by the Demon Devouring Gu without any means of defending himself. This thought had been troubling him deeply.

Lei Wan glanced at the two of them and smiled. "Do not forget, I, Lei Wan, will also be participating in this demon extermination mission. As the strongest among us, I will naturally take on the primary offensive role. The spiritual energy he absorbs will undoubtedly be the most from me."

"How could I not consider this problem?"

"The method to completely counter the Demon Devouring Gu is quite simple: a Purification Gu."

"A Purification Gu can eliminate all negative effects, including any domains that affect oneself."

"I’ve already obtained permission from Gu Emperor City to use the Purification Gu. Since my cultivation is higher than his, the Purification Domain it generates will completely render his Demon Devouring Gu useless."

"Under the Purification Domain, you need not worry about the monks with lower cultivation levels losing their spiritual energy."

Upon hearing this, the abbot sighed in great relief, finally feeling at ease.

Long Xuan also felt a weight lifted off his chest and was finally reassured.

Lei Wan’s smile faded, replaced by a serious expression. "I have no concern about the Demon Devouring Gu. What truly worries me is that he possesses the heart of a Demon Emperor. That is the only unpredictable factor in this battle."

"This man has created a heretical technique that allows him to graft various unique organs from across the world onto himself."

"And the Demon Emperor’s heart he transplanted is the most terrifying thing. Its original owner surpasses Gu Kings by countless realms and possesses power far beyond that of a Gu King."

"The power of the Demon Emperor is utterly horrifying, far beyond what we Gu Kings can contend with."

"Does anyone here have a way to destroy that Demon Emperor's heart? If someone can neutralize it, I guarantee a tenfold chance of victory in this battle!"

Lei Wan swept his gaze around the room, his tone solemn as he posed the question.

"I have a plan, though I cannot guarantee its success," Qin Manyuan said, furrowing his brow.

"Speak freely," Lei Wan said, looking at him.

Qin Manyuan sighed, his cloudy eyes reflecting memories as he recounted:

"Two hundred years ago, during the war between the Flaming Court Empire and the Glorious Moon Empire, the Flaming Court Empire was ultimately defeated and forced to send Princess Xiyue for a political marriage."

"Unexpectedly, Princess Xiyue had long been involved with a terrifying monk from the Great Buddha Temple, which led to a disaster."

"On the day of the political marriage, that monk suddenly appeared, snatching the bride and slaughtering his way through 200,000 troops, killing numerous Gu Kings in both nations."

"In that battle, the monk revealed a Forbidden Gu. Under its power, countless experts from both nations fell, and it took a long time for them to recover their strength."

"I mention this because the monk was deeply in love with Princess Xiyue. If he were to see her, he would undoubtedly lose his composure."

"My Qin clan has a female Gu King who looks identical to Princess Xiyue. This female Gu King might be able to catch him off guard and pierce his Demon Emperor’s heart."

Qin Manyuan glanced at a stunning female Gu King wearing a white veil nearby.

The room fell into silence. No one spoke for a long time.

Many people know about this matter, and many do not. However, even those unaware of it can easily deduce from the situation that the protagonist of this story is none other than Duan Tianwu.

At this moment, many turned their gaze toward the elderly abbot of the Great Buddha Temple.

Lei Wan squinted slightly at the abbot and was the first to question:

"Duan Tianwu was a monk of your Great Buddha Temple. After that battle ended, it was your temple’s high monks who conducted the final pursuit."

"When my Gu Emperor City received news of someone refining forbidden Gu, we paid attention to this matter. You clearly claimed that Duan Tianwu had already died under the pursuit of the Great Buddha Temple."

"And yet, he is alive now. Can you provide us with a reasonable explanation?"

All the Gu Kings in the hall focused their attention on the abbot, waiting for his response.

The elderly abbot's face was deeply wrinkled. After a long silence, he finally sighed and said:

"Since the calamity originated from our Great Buddha Temple, it is naturally our duty to end it."

"Indeed, it was the Great Buddha Temple that carried out the final pursuit of him in that battle."

"With our power, it was impossible to kill him. We were prepared to sacrifice our lives."

"However, when we chased him to a barren mountain, we found him sitting motionless, his eyes vacant. Princess Xiyue lay quietly in his arms with a faint smile on her face, already lifeless."

"Duan Tianwu succeeded in rescuing Princess Xiyue, but she was not a Gu King. Her frail body could not withstand the aftermath of the battles he had fought."

"Duan Tianwu clashed repeatedly with powerful Gu Kings. The residual force of those battles was far beyond what her Spiritual Sea early-stage realm could bear."

"Though Duan Tianwu triumphed in his daring rescue with his extraordinary combat skills, their love was not destined to last."

"With Princess Xiyue's death, Duan Tianwu completely lost his sanity. When we launched a sneak attack, we managed to kill him without a fight!"

"But since you killed him, how is he alive now?" someone from the crowd couldn't wait to ask.

The abbot sighed heavily and explained:

"Although we killed him, we only destroyed his physical body. His soul was not entirely obliterated; a fragment of it remained."

"After all, he was once one of us. We couldn't bear to see his soul completely scattered, leaving him without even a chance for reincarnation."

"So, using a powerful divine ability, we sealed the remnant of his soul on the spot."

"As long as the lifespan of that soul fragment ran out, Duan Tianwu would perish completely."

"Duan Tianwu had very unique requirements for his body. Even if an accident occurred and his soul fragment escaped, he couldn’t possess anyone. He was destined to never rise again. Thus, we grew lax in guarding against him and gradually forgot about him."

"But accidents are everywhere. In the end, that soul fragment still managed to reincarnate by borrowing a body."

Lei Wan grew even more puzzled and quickly asked:

"Didn't you say he couldn't possess anyone? How did he succeed in reincarnating?"

The elderly abbot shook his head with a bitter smile and replied:

"Indeed, he couldn't possess anyone. His rebirth wasn’t through possession. That body was originally his. It was simply his soul returning to his own body."

This statement left many shocked. The idea of someone having two bodies was extraordinary.

Although many Gu Kings in this world have external clones, those are not true physical bodies. No one can achieve rebirth by possessing their own clone; otherwise, the world would fall into chaos.

At this moment, many people's doubts deepened, and they silently awaited the explanation. Long Xuan also showed a look of curiosity.

He, too, was curious about the true nature of the Little Medicine Boy. He didn’t know the boy’s name or background, as everyone referred to him only as the "Little Medicine Boy."

Today, perhaps this mystery would finally be solved. Long Xuan directed his gaze toward the abbot.

The elderly abbot didn’t leave them in suspense and soon explained:

"Our Great Buddha Temple possesses a powerful forbidden technique called the Dual Purification Severance Technique. Practitioners of this technique can expel all evil thoughts from their hearts, leaving their minds utterly pure. This enables rapid progress in cultivation, making it relatively easy to reach the peak of the Gu King realm."

"Moreover, monks with pure hearts and no evil thoughts are best suited to practicing Buddhist teachings. Practitioners of the Dual Purification Severance Technique attain high morality, profound Buddhist insight, and enhanced comprehension, naturally propelling their combat strength to astonishing levels."

"Our Great Buddha Monastery has emerged as one of the five supreme sects in the Flaming Court Empire due to this forbidden technique. Countless virtuous monks who abstain from killing have risen because of it, and powerful individuals abound in our sect."

"But powerful forbidden techniques often have both advantages and disadvantages. Any forbidden technique is inherently dangerous."

"The danger of this technique lies in the fact that when the practitioner separates all their evil thoughts from their body, these thoughts manifest as a separate physical entity. This entity of evil and the entity of good belong to different souls, with distinct thoughts and no hierarchy between them."

"Thus, the evil entity inevitably tries to consume its master. Meanwhile, the good entity, devoid of any evil and unwilling to kill, often hesitates to eliminate the evil entity, leaving behind endless troubles."

"At our Great Buddha Monastery, the evil entities separated by the monks are typically not destroyed. Instead, they are sealed within Demon-Sealing Boxes, which are collectively stored in the Demon-Sealing Tower for eternal confinement."

"The less evil a person has, the younger and weaker the evil entity created by practicing the 'Dual Purification Severance Technique' will be. Conversely, the more evil a person has, the older and stronger the evil entity will be."

"When Duan Tianwu practiced this technique, the entity he separated was an eight or nine-year-old boy," the old abbot said, his pupils contracting as he sighed heavily. "But we were all deceived by him."

"We had long suspected Duan Tianwu of having an illicit relationship with Princess Xiyue. When we learned that the royal family intended to send Princess Xiyue to marry for political alliance, we anticipated disaster."

"So, we forced Duan Tianwu to practice the 'Dual Purification Severance Technique,' believing that once he removed all his evil thoughts, he would become a perfectly virtuous person."

"To prevent war between the two nations, which would bring suffering to countless lives, we thought he would sever his ties with Princess Xiyue and not cause trouble during the political marriage."

"But he deceived us. On the day he practiced the technique, what he separated from his body was all his good thoughts, not his evil thoughts."

"We failed to see through his ploy at the time, and it led to disaster."

"Without a trace of good in him, Duan Tianwu became ruthless and inhuman. He mercilessly killed even his fellow disciples who tried to stop him from abducting the princess. In that battle, he left rivers of blood and completely succumbed to demonic madness..."

"Could it be that the body Duan Tianwu is using now belongs to the boy formed from his good thoughts?" Lei Wan asked in shock.

"That's correct. The body he is using now is indeed the one formed from his good thoughts," the old abbot replied, his face appearing significantly older and more haggard.

"Everything sealed in the Demon-Sealing Tower—including consciousness, lifespan, and soul—is suspended. No one can escape from the tower under such conditions."

"Throughout countless millennia, no one has ever escaped from the Demon-Sealing Tower after being sealed within it—not even the strongest individuals in this world."

"This is why we confidently sealed the evil entities created by the 'Dual Purification Severance Technique' there."

"But the only thing that can breach the Demon-Sealing Tower is human folly. Decades ago, the Demon-Sealing Box containing Duan Tianwu's good thoughts was lost."

"The good thoughts escaped and, under the manipulation of Duan Tianwu's evil thoughts, returned to him, leading to his rebirth..."

Upon hearing this, Long Xuan suddenly realized the nature of the mysterious little medicine boy he had encountered. To his surprise, the boy's origins were far from ordinary.

However, how the boy managed to travel from the Central Lands to the distant Far Western region remained a mystery—one that perhaps held even more secrets.

As Long Xuan pondered, he thought of another matter.

The Demon-Sealing Tower, capable of suspending everything about a person, could perfectly imprison anyone. But such perfection was bound to have its flaws.

Suspending everything also meant halting a person's lifespan. The old abbot had just mentioned that the tower could suspend lifespans.

If the good entity outside dies naturally due to the exhaustion of its lifespan, while the evil entity inside remains preserved due to the suspension of time, what then?

Over countless millennia, as monks contributed their evil entities to the Demon-Sealing Tower, how many powerful entities might have accumulated?

If someone were to open the Demon-Sealing Tower one day and release all those entities, the consequences would be unimaginable. A calamity beyond reckoning might arise, creating an ultimate boss that no one could defeat, plunging the world into chaos.

Thinking of this, Long Xuan felt a chill run down his spine. He could only pray that nothing like this would happen while he was alive.

These monks, he thought, were truly short-sighted, creating a horde of demons and refusing to destroy them, instead choosing to keep them locked up.

Sooner or later, they would pay the price for playing with fire. Duan Tianwu had already become a living example of this folly.

Unbeknownst to Long Xuan, the old abbot was gazing solemnly in the direction of the Demon-Sealing Tower, his expression heavy with worry.

There was one thing the abbot did not dare to say aloud. Decades ago, it wasn’t just Duan Tianwu’s Demon-Sealing Box that was lost.

All the Demon-Sealing Boxes in the tower had been lost.

The abbot feared that revealing this truth would provoke the furious crowd into killing him on the spot.