I Cheated While Cultivating

What does that mean??

The group from the Mid-Mountain Separate Courtyard were all stunned, not understanding what was happening, all looking puzzled at the tall figure. “What’s going on, what junior martial uncle?”

“Big guy, don’t just talk halfway, this new junior disciple, is he our junior martial uncle?”

“It’s got me totally confused.”

This tall guy was a disciple from the Deacon Hall of Jade Void Peak, his name was Wang Tieshan, a Martial Artist of the Seventh Rank, responsible for distributing various materials to the newly advanced true disciples.

Seeing everyone’s baffled expressions, he chuckled and said, “You may not know this, but the Sect Leader has just taken on a disciple on behalf of his master; our Pure Yang Palace has gained a sixth-generation true disciple, which is our junior martial uncle.”

Upon hearing his words, everyone’s eyes widened in utter shock as they looked towards Zhou Heng, instinctively stepping back to put distance between them and then they all clasped fists in a greeting.

“We’ve seen the junior martial uncle.”

Then they all retreated, no longer showing the warmth they had before.

“What’s going on?” Zhou Heng was a bit confused; was his status as junior martial uncle so unlikable?

“Junior Martial Uncle, don’t be concerned, they mean no harm,” Wang Tieshan said with a smile: “They just don’t know how to interact with you, considering the generation gap.

“They can neither treat you like a newcomer to take care of, nor can they easily befriend you, and since they can’t figure out your thoughts, they thought it best to withdraw for now. It should get a lot better after some time passes, but you probably won’t stay here too long anyway.”

“Right, I understand,” Zhou Heng nodded. He somewhat understood the feeling, which was like the sentiment old employees have towards a young leader parachuted into the company.

Although this young leader wouldn’t be staying long at the company and would have a broader space to operate, essentially not affecting them much, they also couldn’t warm up to him like they would a new person.

It was a perfectly normal psychological response.

“The Sect Leader must have told you before, I’m here to deliver things to you,” Wang Tieshan produced a palm-sized golden brocade pouch and handed it to Zhou Heng, saying, “This is the Qiankun Pouch; inside it has a small space holding the items the Sect has given to you. You can also use it to hold some miscellaneous items in the future.”

“Thankyou,” Zhou Heng accepted the pouch.

“Heh heh, just doing my duty, junior martial uncle need not thank me,” Wang Tieshan then took his leave, departing the Mid-Mountain Separate Courtyard.

Zhou Heng found his house.

It was a house with its own small courtyard, the facilities and arrangements were quite simple—clearly, the previous owner was solely focused on cultivation—but even so, it was much better than the place he had rented in Huangtong Mansion City.

He lay on the bed and began to check what was inside the golden brocade pouch.

This was his first “space equipment,” and using it for the first time, he was quite excited.

The space inside wasn’t large.

Zhou Heng roughly estimated, it was only about ten cubic meters.

Of course, that was already entirely sufficient for carrying personal luggage.

There weren’t many items inside right now.

There was only a Taoist robe, a longsword, and three books.

This Taoist robe was much more elaborate compared to those of the outer disciples.

It was also white as the base, yet the patterns had changed to purple, exuding mystery and nobility. There were two layers, inner and outer, and the belt was divided into a wide and narrow one, with even the boots having beautifully drawn patterns.

It appeared even more intricate than the Taoist robe Cheng Jianjian had previously worn, and one could tell at a glance that it would be very troublesome to put on.

The longsword was about three feet and six inches long, with a faint silver hue throughout. Zhou Heng took it out of the brocade bag, held it in his hand, and saw that the blade shimmered like rippling water, overflowing with a spiritual charm.

“Cross Mysterious Door.”

Zhou Heng saw the inscription at the end of the hilt—it was the name of the longsword.

A fine weapon indeed!

Moreover, it was a high-quality fine weapon with three special effects.

Toughness, Piercing, and Evil-Banishing.

Normally, even for a top Martial Dao Sect like the Pure Yang Palace, only some True Disciples would be equipped with fine weapons.

And they were generally ordinary fine weapons with two special effects.

For Zhou Heng to directly receive a high-quality fine weapon with three special effects was clearly preferential treatment.

“With such a weapon in hand, combined with the Sharpness +2 attribute, it would surely elevate the power of my Hundred Steps Flying Sword technique by several levels,” Zhou Heng mused as he executed a few sword moves with the Cross Mysterious Door Sword in the courtyard.

By his rough estimation, his strength should now be about equal to that of a Seventh Rank peak Martial Artist, but it was not certain whether he could make it into the top ten of the rankings.

Next, Zhou Heng turned his attention to the three books.

One of the Taoist Scriptures, “Pure Yang Dan Jing,” discusses principles for calming the mind and spirit, gathering one’s thoughts, and harmonizing one’s breath—deep meanings behind simple words.

Although the author is not indicated, surely it must be the work of a highly accomplished Daoist with profound spiritual practice.

The other two books are practical guides to this world.

One is “The World,” and the other is “Pure Yang.”

The former describes the general state of the world, while the latter details the origins and inheritance of the Pure Yang Palace; unfortunately, the content is not very detailed, and some key points are rather vague.

However, even so, the information discussed in these two books is hard to come by in the mundane world for Zhou Heng.

After all, this place is not like Earth, which is awash with information overload. Ordinary people would find it difficult to acquire a current history book or map of the Empire, let alone an introduction that spans thousands of years concerning the whole world.

Zhou Heng was already aware that the Central Plains were comprised of three nations—Da Zhou, Da Qi, and Da Jin—but how this situation came to be, and what lay beyond the Central Plains, he had not known previously.

This is explained in “The World.”

Three thousand years ago, there was only a single Central Dynasty in the land of Central Plains, ruling over an immensely vast territory. After the Battle of Tianyang, the Central Dynasty fragmented, resulting in the current tripartite standoff.

Beyond the Central Plains, to the north lies the great steppes with a civilization starkly different from the Central Plains’, and even their Martial Path system is distinct. To the south, there are the Wild Divine Mountains, inhabited by people rumored to carry the bloodlines of demons and gods, with many extraordinary abilities, shrouded in mystery.

To the east stretches a vast ocean with numerous immortal mountains and islands, an area where many Loose Immortals congregate. There are thousands of small countries and countless Sects. The social order and people’s lifestyles are all unlike those in the Central Plains, and all sorts of bizarre and fantastic occurrences not found within the Central Plains exist there.

The book also describes the nature of Loose Immortals.

Their Primordial Spirit resides in the void, nearly indestructible, but their physical bodies are prone to decay, facing a Celestial Man’s tribulation every five hundred years.

This tribulation is incredibly perilous; those who pass through it continue to live the immortal life, while those who fail see their lives end and their bodies decay, leaving only the Primordial Spirit. At that point, there are only two paths:

Either they choose reincarnation, gambling that they can navigate the confusion within the womb, or they use special spiritual materials as aids to merge their Primordial Spirit with some type of Lower Third Rank spiritual materials and become a Loose Immortal.

And since the various affairs of the mortal world disturb the Loose Immortals to some extent, more and more choose to relocate overseas, away from the mundane world, existing apart from ordinary society.

Beyond that lies the forbidden West Wasteland.

According to the book, this area contains terrifying entities that are sealed away, with monsters rampant everywhere, and occasionally they would strike the bordering territories of the Central Plains and the West Wasteland, causing immense suffering to all living beings.

However, the information regarding the West Wasteland Forbidden Land was only limited to this, with no more available.

It was the same with the Tianyang Battle, also limited in details.

As for the specific circumstances of the world more than three thousand years ago, there wasn’t even a slight description mentioned.

“Pure Yang” had the same issue as well.

When introducing the past of Pure Yang Palace, it was very detailed about the various events over the past three thousand years.

However, when it came to the Tianyang Battle that happened three thousand years ago and the period before that, the description was just a brief mention.

There was hardly any expansion on the details.

Fortunately, it was still better than “The World.”

After all, a brief mention is still better than not mentioning it at all.

This enabled Zhou Heng to roughly understand the situation of the world before the Tianyang Battle.

Pure Yang Palace was established in the Ancient Era, also known as the Mythical era, more than ten thousand years ago, but the exact number of tens of thousands of years ago was not specified.

At that time, immortals, buddhas, divine beings, demons, ghosts, and monsters roamed the universe, coming and going from various heavens. The major sects were high and lofty, holding power over everything in the world, and human empires could only survive under the protection of these major sects. It was a completely different situation from the current era.

Later, these powerful entities such as immortals and divine beings mysteriously disappeared, leaving no trace behind, and the first leader of Pure Yang Palace, also the founder, Pure Yangzi, vanished during this time.

This directly caused numerous sects, noble houses, and imperial powers to lose their restraints, and with no deities to support them, the accumulated contradictions between the major sects quickly erupted. The world suddenly became extremely chaotic.

In that era, killing for treasure was rampant, the mighty were revered as truth, countless sects emerged only to huddle together, forming alliances or opposing each other, and the original order thoroughly collapsed into darkness.

This led to the loss of many martial arts, the disappearance of numerous unique divine weapons, and even many historical records were buried in dust, making them difficult to find.

The book referred to it as the “Chaotic Calamity” or the “Dark Age,” which lasted for about three thousand years.

At that time, Pure Yang Palace was not very strong, only considered above average.

And it was even targeted by the newly risen sects because it was once home to celestials and divine beings, with even its second leader falling during this calamity.

The present Divine First Rank Daoist Master of Pure Yang Palace took command during the Chaotic Calamity as the third leader, and with his power alone, upheld the precarious Pure Yang Palace.

After the end of the Chaotic Calamity came the Golden Age, where various laws emerged, a hundred schools of thought contended, over eight hundred countries were established, and thousands of academies dotted the landscape. New Divine First Rank entities appeared one after another, gradually constructing a new civilization, a new society, on the incomplete texts left by ancient immortals and deities.

The book coined it the “Middle Ancient Era” also named the “Age of Saints,” in honor of the nine Divine First Rank beings who led the revival of civilization.

It was during this era that Pure Yang Palace, under the leadership of the third leader, reached its zenith, becoming one of the most formidable sects in the world, able to stand alongside Tasang Dao Palace established by one of the Nine Saints, “Dao Saint,” and Taixu Palace from the Mythical era, hence referred to as the three great Taoist palaces, a legacy that continued to this day.

After the Middle Ancient Era, some five thousand years ago, following an upheaval, the Saints disappeared and the academies closed.

This led to the emergence of an empire that unified the Central Plains. However, this Central Dynasty was also under the constraint of various major noble families. From then on, the empire and noble families jointly ruled over the world, putting great pressure on many sects.

The book called it the “Empire-Noble Houses Era.” In the two thousand years that followed, there were no significant events in the human world, but many sects were restricted or even destroyed by the noble families and the empire.

The third leader of Pure Yang Palace stepped down at the end of the Middle Ancient Era and passed on the position to the fourth.

And this fourth leader went through the Empire-Noble Houses Era to the Tianyang Battle, and after the battle, cultivated his Taoist seed, passing on the leadership to the fifth, who is the previous leader of Pure Yang Palace and nominally its master.

Three hundred years ago, the fifth leader of Pure Yang Palace cultivated his Taoist seed, passing on the leadership to Yan Shouyi, who had his Primordial Spirit in the void and achieved the state of Celestial Man four hundred years ago, making him the sixth leader of Pure Yang Palace.

“The specifics of the Dark Age, how it transitioned to the Middle Ancient Age of Saints, how the dazzling Age of Saints ended, the detailed information of the Empire-Noble Houses Era, what exactly happened in the Tianyang Battle, and the situations beyond the Central Plains, including when the West Wasteland Forbidden Land appeared, etc., are all not described…”

After reading it, Zhou Heng couldn’t help feeling itchy inside, much like the feeling he got when he encountered chopped-up stories while reading novels on Earth.

Nevertheless, he understood this situation.

In the nearly ten thousand years, how many once-dominant sects, clans, and kingdoms have fallen? How many times have the eras changed?

There must be many secrets unknown to the public within them.

And these secrets might imply crises or enormous opportunities.

If a disciple who has just started could know all of these things, Zhou Heng would start to doubt how Pure Yang Palace has managed to survive and thrive for so long.

Even though ZhouHengisof high seniority, he is still a newcomer to the sect. It would be strange for him to have access to the core secrets of the sect.

“I wonder if these unknown secrets have anything to do with my transmigration,” he mused.

Zhou Heng had originally thought that this world had no connection with Earth, but the code names of the members of the Zhou Tian Boundary Officers made him reconsider this idea.

He began trying to find the reason for his transmigration as well as the possibility of returning to Earth.

“However, it should be difficult to obtain more information in Pure Yang Palace in a short period of time. Zhou Tian Boundary Officers will issue tasks to investigate hidden events, which might lead to some gains. It seems that I need to find an opportunity to leave the mountain and join the Zhou Tian Boundary Officers as soon as possible,” he said to himself.

After sorting out the information he had obtained this time, Zhou Heng set his future goals, then sat cross-legged and began to practice Innate Skill.

At this moment, his proficiency in Innate Skill had reached an advanced level. It had a stronger effect on nurturing the spirit and soul and could now replace sleep through mediation.

The next morning.

Zhou Heng went to the Jade Void Peak Golden Top as agreed.

Yan Shouyi was already waiting there, standing at the edge of a vast cliff, gazing at the rising morning sun in the distance.

“Senior Brother,” Zhou Heng greeted with a bow.

“It seems you had a good rest last night,” Yan Shouyi turned around and smiled. “Your Inner Qi is truly pure, with some innate characteristics. This Inner Strength is extraordinary, hardly inferior to the foundational martial arts of our Jade Void lineage.

“This actually puts me in a difficult position. I was planning to teach you a Seventh Rank Inner Strength, but then I thought it might be superfluous for you and a waste of your Pure Yang Body. After much consideration, I think the Sect Fifth Rank ‘Pure Yang Dan Jing’ would be most suitable for your foundation building.”

Zhou Heng took a scroll of scriptures and briefly looked through it to discover that it was indeed an extremely exquisite and profound Inner Strength technique and very powerful too.

Compared to the Innate Skill, it was like child’s play.

The Pure Yang Dan Jing has a total of twelve layers. The first six layers are for the Lower Third Rank stages of practice, while the second six layers correspond to the Sixth Rank and Fifth Rank.

As soon as one reaches the tenth layer, one can cultivate a Pure Yang Golden Pill, transforming qi into divinity, the body producing a golden light, warding off all evils, impervious to myriad laws.

When used to execute Taoist Formulas, its power is boundless.

If practiced by someone with a Pure Yang Body, the Pure Yang Golden Pill will be even more pure and powerful, capable of contending against the Fourth Rank Dharma Body with just the strength of the Fifth Rank Golden Pill’s Dharma Phase.

It is known that at the Middle Third Rank level, if one’s cultivation is even slightly higher, it’s like surpassing the heavens, while being even slightly lower leaves almost no chance to resist.

Only with various powerful secret treasures or Divine Weapons at hand could an exception occur.

This Pure Yang Dan Jing, combined with a Pure Yang Body, would allow one at the Fifth Rank to contend against the Fourth Rank, even if just barely for a moment, which is considered defying the heavens.

Moreover, this Pure Yang Dan Jing can also be linked to the fundamental grand technique of Pure Yang Palace, pointing directly to the Divine First Rank Dao Master level’s unique Divine Skill ‘Taiyi Pure Yang Sutra’.

This is indeed the most suitable martial arts for him.

But there is one issue that concerns Zhou Heng quite a bit.

“Senior Brother, does practicing this Pure Yang Dan Jing require maintaining one’s virginity until before reaching the Fifth Rank?”