I Cheated While Cultivating

“`

The next morning at the break of dawn, within the Zhaoming Garden at Taihua Mount’s Hospitality Peak.

Zhou Heng finished a night of meditation and walked out of his room, only to find the courtyard already filled with the delicious aroma of tofu pudding and deep-fried dough sticks, complemented by the scent of bone broth.

It gave him the feeling of being back in Huangtong Mansion City.

Suddenly, Yun Xiu emerged from the kitchen, carrying a serving tray with two bowls of tofu pudding made with bone broth and ten deep-fried dough sticks on it.

“Heng brother, you’re awake,” Yun Xiu said with a beaming smile as she placed the tray on a stone table in the courtyard. “I was about to call you after preparing breakfast.”

“What made you think of making breakfast?” Zhou Heng asked, glancing at the stone table nearby and sniffing, “Hmm, smells even better than when we were at Huangtong Mansion City.”

“Didn’t we just talk last night about how long it’s been since you last freeloaded steamed buns from me?” Yun Xiu laughed. “So I got up early today to steam meat-filled buns. They’re not ready yet; still in the steamer. The tofu pudding and dough sticks were quicker to make.”

“Haha, then I’ll start with these,” Zhou Heng said as he approached the table, took a dough stick, and bit off a big chunk, followed by a large sip of salty tofu pudding made with bone broth, immediately showing a look of contentment on his face.

“Don’t rush,” Yun Xiu said as she sat opposite Zhou Heng with a smile. “I made a big pot of bone broth, and there’s plenty of tofu pudding leftover—you won’t miss out, take your time.”

“I haven’t had this in a long time,” Zhou Heng replied, biting off another big chunk of the dough stick, finishing it off, and then gulping down a large bowl of tofu pudding, “Excellent, the taste is fantastic!”

“Would you like another bowl?” Yun Xiu asked with a flower-like smile, taking the bowl from Zhou Heng’s hand.

“Sure,” Zhou Heng said with a grin. “Now I can eat as much as I want without getting full.”

As a Martial Artist of Secret Six Rank, True Qi had developed to the point where any food consumed could be refined and absorbed at any time, so there was virtually no chance of overeating.

“What if I ask for money?” Yun Xiu asked with a light laugh. “A stick of dough is ten pieces of copper, a bowl of tofu pudding is twenty, and what about a steamed bun for a tau of silver?”

“I can afford it,” Zhou Heng said, looking like a big spender, then burst into laughter, “Hahaha, things have indeed changed a bit since back then.”

“Fortunately, it’s all for the better,” Yun Xiu remarked, bringing over another bowl of tofu pudding and tasting a bit of dough stick and tofu pudding herself. “The buns will take a little while longer.”

“Every time I went back then, I was waiting for Xiu’er’s meat buns,” Zhou Heng nodded and then chewed on a dough stick while looking around. After swallowing, he asked, “Master and Predecessor He haven’t returned all night?”

“They haven’t come back yet,” Yun Xiu shook her head, her gaze filled with worry. “I hope nothing’s happened.”

“It shouldn’t have,” Zhou Heng replied softly, looking westward. “With the power of my senior brother, if something big had happened, it couldn’t have gone unnoticed. Maybe they got held up with something else?”

“I hope so,” Yun Xiu nodded.

At that moment, the clouds to the west began to churn tumultuously, like rolling waves soaring into the sky. Two bright beams of light approached Zhaoming Garden, one after the other.

It was Yan Shouyi and He Mengqiu.

They had finally returned.

Zhou Heng and Yun Xiu both stood up, ready to go out to greet them and inquire about what had happened.

But just as they were about to stand, Yan Shouyi and He Mengqiu came side by side from the outside.

“Mm, that smells good,” Yan Shouyi commented, glancing towards the kitchen and then at Zhou Heng, joking, “It’s definitely not your cooking…” Then he turned to Yun Xiu, nodding his head in praise, “Miss, you have great skills.”

“You flatter me, Predecessor,” Yun Xiu quickly demurred.

“Master, would you like some?” Zhou Heng stepped forward and smiled. “But remember to pay; dough sticks are ten silvers each, tofu pudding is fifty silvers a bowl, and buns are a piece of gold each.”

“Do you think your master has never bought anything in the mortal world?” Yan Shouyi chided with a smile, then his expression turned serious. “Last night, Predecessor He and I discussed some things, and now I think I can answer the questions you had before.”

“The questions I had before…” Zhou Heng’s eyes sharpened at the mention, and he nodded. “Can we talk about it now?”

Back in County City of Fengzhou, he had asked Yan Shouyi about the Evil God, the external demons, and about history before and up until the Middle Ancient Era.

The descent of the Evil God Mokkalaka, along with previous entities like “Dongyue the Great Emperor of Tai Mountain” and “The Divine Mother Yunxiao,” had significantly heightened Zhou Heng’s interest in these extraterritorial evil gods.

It also happened that he had shown enough prowess this time around to no longer have to worry about learning prohibited knowledge too early and thereby inviting disaster.

Although Yan Shouyi had agreed to discuss it at the time, he couldn’t guarantee the completeness and accuracy of what he knew.

Now that he’s bringing it up proactively, did it mean they confirmed some previously uncertain details in their conversation last night?

“We can talk about it now,” Yan Shouyi nodded slightly. “It’s good that Predecessor He is here too; he can provide some additional details.”

“Yes,” He Mengqiu nodded. “Last night, Sovereign Yan consulted with me about some matters, but it still depends on what exactly you want to know, Mr. Zhou.”

“Since you consulted with Predecessor He…” Zhou Heng pondered for a moment and put down his dough stick. “I want to know how, precisely, including the Saint of Dreams, did the three saints of the Middle Ancient Era go mad?”

The end of what was called the Middle Ancient Era was actually the zenith of the Age of Saints, when diverse philosophies flourished, academies stood tall, and civilization prospered to its peak. It was a golden age for cultivation.

Yet, that unprecedented era of prosperity suddenly deviated from its trajectory due to the bizarre madness of the Saint of Dreams, the Saint of the Way, and the Saint of Laws, hurtling towards the abyss of destruction.

This was too abnormal, far too incredible to comprehend.

“The buns in the kitchen are nearly done; I’ll go check on them.” Yun Xiu stood up and left, aware that with her current cultivation realm, it wasn’t yet time for her to understand these secrets.

“`

Many things, even just understanding or knowing them, mean an extreme danger, which may endanger one’s life and even involve innocent people around one.

“Um, go ahead.” He Mengqiu nodded, then turned to look at Zhou Heng and said with a wry smile, “Master Yan mentioned last night when discussing with me that you might ask about this, but I didn’t expect you to be the first.”

“I suspect it has something to do with the Evil God.” Zhou Heng glanced in the direction Yun Xiu had left, then drew back his gaze and said earnestly, “Was the cause of the crazed saints originally the Evil God?”

“Yes, but also no.” He Mengqiu chose his words carefully, gave an answer, and then said, “For the specific circumstances, I had a conversation with Master Yan last night; it’s better for him to explain.”

“Alright.” Yan Shouyi nodded lightly, but he didn’t immediately answer; instead, he asked in return, “Junior Brother, I previously mentioned that I can answer all your questions, but I can’t guarantee their truthfulness or comprehensiveness.

“Now I want to ask you, do you want to know regardless of the truth, as comprehensive as possible, or do you only want to know the parts that can be confirmed to be true?”

“The truth.” Zhou Heng replied without hesitation.

False information can kill people; information that is comprehensive but whose truth cannot be confirmed often leads to unforeseeable consequences.

“Just as I thought.” Yan Shouyi smiled, his expression then turned serious, and he said, “Then regarding the bizarre madness of the Middle Ancient saints, there are two points of information that can be confirmed as true.

“Firstly, the original madness of the saints was indeed due to an Evil God, but the specific reason that made three beings of the Divine First Rank, the Saintly Lords, completely lose their sanity and fall into madness, is unknown.

“The second point is that the Evil God had a precious decree; you should know what a precious decree means, the Zhou Tian Boundary Officer should have mentioned it.”

“Mhm.” Zhou Heng nodded.

“A precious decree, originally in the Ancient Mythological Era, was an honorary title only revered immortals and gods could possess, but later it became something used to describe high-ranking Evil Gods,” Yan Shouyi sighed lightly and said solemnly, “That Evil God’s precious decree nearly caused the Pure Yang Palace to fall into great chaos as well. Junior Brother, you also need to be mentally prepared.”

“Nearly caused the Pure Yang Palace to also fall into great chaos…” Zhou Heng was startled upon hearing this, then suddenly his eyes widened in astonishment and said, “Brother, do you mean to say… could it be… ”

“The one who brought about the bizarre madness of the Middle Ancient saints, directly leading to the Middle Ancient Era’s peak and destruction, that ‘Evil God’s’ precious decree is…” Yan Shouyi closed his eyes and said slowly, “Pure Yang Policing Politics, Converting the Devine Sovereign, Prosperously Carrying the Wonderful Way, Heavenly Sovereign! That is, our ancestral founder of Pure Yang, Grandmaster.”

“How could this be?!” Zhou Heng suddenly stood up, his face showing an extremely shocked expression.

Even when Yan Shouyi began speaking earlier, he had some mental preparation, but hearing it now still shocked him immensely.

It wasn’t just because the Evil God who led to the destruction of the Middle Ancient Era was actually the founder of the Pure Yang Palace, an Immortal from the Ancient Mythological Era, the Grand Ancestor Master of Pure Yang.

It was also because, at this moment, he finally confirmed that the world’s Grand Ancestor Master of Pure Yang was the same Pure Yang child he had heard of in the mythological legends on Earth in his previous life!

Lu Yan, Lu Dongbin!

“Jade Pure Interior Minister, Golden Imperial Chosen Immortal. Incarnated as the master of the three teachings, wielding the command of the five thunders… across four lives and six realms, responsive to those who feel; throughout the three realms and ten directions, answering all who seek… Greatly Saintly and Merciful, Greatly Benevolent and Filial. Founding and beginning the teachings, the Responsive Ancestral Master… Pure Yang Policing Politics, Converting the Devine Sovereign, Prosperously Carrying the Wonderful Way, Heavenly Sovereign.”

This is the Treasure Mandate of Patriarch Lu!

“Junior Brother, since you entered the sect, you might have heard in detail about the deeds of Patriarch Pure Yang, but have you ever been told about his origins?” Yan Shouyi was surprisingly calm as he spoke, “In our daily life within the sect, the presence of Patriarch Pure Yang actually seems quite minimal, haven’t you noticed?”

“Is this… a deliberate downplay?” Zhou Heng frowned.

“Exactly.” Yan Shouyi nodded and said solemnly, “Master once told me that before the Middle Ancient Era, it was a clear sect rule that every year on the patron’s birthday, the Treasure Mandate was to be recited, offerings were to be made, as a way to pay homage to the patriarch.”

“However, after the Middle Ancient Era, whether it was long-standing experts or newly admitted disciples, none were allowed to recite the patriarch’s Treasure Mandate anymore, and even the full text of the patriarch’s Treasure Mandate was not allowed to be known.”

“Is it really Patriarch Pure Yang?” Zhou Heng felt that Yan Shouyi hadn’t finished speaking.

“But it may not be necessarily so.” Yan Shouyi said, “At the end of the Middle Ancient Era, the Grand Ancestor Master intervened, using the residual contamination in the Saintly Primordial Spirit’s dreams to trace back and investigate that Evil God, even truly ‘seeing’ that Evil God and having a brief communication with them.

“The conclusion that the Grand Ancestor Master reached was that whether it was the nature of the great dao’s rules, the information of the Treasure Mandate revealed by the heavens, or the spirit aura disclosed, all indicated that this Evil God was no different from Patriarch Pure Yang of those days.

“Theoretically speaking, if all these piece of information are the same, it means the essence of the being is the same, and it should be the same existence.

“However, the understanding that this Evil God has of our world is very limited; It didn’t even know where the main gates of the Pure Yang Palace were located…

“This clearly isn’t a situation that Patriarch Pure Yang, who had lived here for who knows how many years, would be in; thus, the Grand Ancestor Master suspected that although all the information about this Evil God pointed to Patriarch Pure Yang, It might not really be Patriarch Pure Yang.”

The Grand Ancestor Master mentioned by Yan Shouyi was the third-generation leader of the Pure Yang Palace who took charge in troubled times during the Middle Ancient Era, attained the Divine First Rank, led the Pure Yang Palace out of the Dark Era, and brought it to the peak of revival.

He was a disciple of a disciple of Patriarch Pure Yang, a “living fossil” who had lived from the Ancient Mythological Era to the present, one who had actually interacted with Patriarch Pure Yang and lived together with him for a significant amount of time.

“…” Zhou Heng fell silent upon hearing this, his mind racing with one thought after another, and finally, he gritted his teeth, “Could it be that the Evil God is just impersonating Patriarch Pure Yang, or are… these inferences merely the Grand Ancestor Master’s self-consolation?”

“Both are possible.” Yan Shouyi did not avoid anything and said, “Last night, I exchanged some information with Elder He on this point, and our common view is that we should trust the Grand Ancestor Master’s conjecture before we are capable of investigating it ourselves.”

“…Mhm, that is how it should be.” Zhou Heng, after a brief contemplation, also nodded, and then continued to ask, “Originally, I wanted to ask about the Ancient Mythological Era, but now I would like to change the question.

“The Evil Gods that exist in our world now or those who have tried to descend here, such as the Emperor of Dongyue Mount Tai, the Goddess Bao Sheng in the Clouds… how many of them appeared during the Ancient Mythological Era?”

“As long as there is a Treasure Mandate…” Yan Shouyi said gravely, “they all appeared.”

“Did the high-ranking deities of the Ancient Mythological Era all become Evil Gods?” Zhou Heng continued to probe, “Is the reason for the end of the Ancient Mythological Era because many high-ranking deities became Evil Gods?”

“That’s not the case, I can be sure of that.” Yan Shouyi provided an answer.

“Then why is it?” Zhou Heng immediately asked.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!