Chapter 399: Pure Land, Remnants of the Beast God

The Ancient Beast Ancestor God Mountain holds immense significance, practically representing the orthodox lineage of the demon race in the Ice Hell Realm. The inheritance obtained from reaching its summit is certainly extraordinary.

Wang Yu was unsure if it would help him break free from the Ice Hell Realm's confinement, but it would certainly allow him to successfully navigate among the numerous demon kings. Success would fundamentally change his status. He would transform from a mere cultivator skilled in alchemy into a distinguished guest of the demon race. The Beast God's inheritance might even help the northern demon tribes produce Soul Transformation Heavenly Demons. By carefully maintaining a balance and offering incentives, he might secure powerful allies.

Of course, these were still just Wang Yu's conjectures. Even if everything unfolded as he speculated, there could still be variables. He both hoped the Beast God's inheritance would be formidable and that it wouldn't be *too* formidable. Once top-tier Soul Transformation cultivators were involved, things might become complicated. As these thoughts raced through his mind, Wang Yu bid farewell to the others, directly descending from the sky platform to return to the Ancient Beast Ancestor God Mountain.

The treasure exchange continued. However, several early-stage Fourth Rank shapeshifting great demons secretly followed him. This was not born of malice, but rather a form of supervisory protection. It served to prevent greedy demons from acting maliciously and also to ensure Wang Yu didn't deceive them by simply leaving the depths of the Northern Breaking Realm Mountains.

"There's still a lack of trust between humans and demons," he mused. Having made this assessment, Wang Yu, who had intended to go directly to the fifteenth-floor platform, suddenly paused as he flew past the Mind Beast Pagoda and then found himself lingering at its entrance. Before he could speak, a familiar aged voice resounded.

"Young friend, do you have something to ask?"

"Your foresight is truly sharp, Senior."

Soon after, the old man familiar with Lei Yao appeared. Wang Yu naturally addressed him as 'Third Master'.

"Third Master, I wonder if any human or demon has ever reached the summit of this Ancient Beast Ancestor God Mountain."

The old man stroked his beard, studying Wang Yu for a moment. "Of course there have been."

"Then, does the inheritance at this mountain's peak involve Soul Transformation Venerables? Rumor has it this mountain was left by the Beast God to strengthen the younger generation of demons. If I were to ascend rashly… it might cause unnecessary trouble."

It wasn't too late to ask now, and the old man no longer thought Wang Yu was boasting; his performance over the past two months had amply proven his strength and potential. The fifteenth floor was only three levels away from the eighteenth. Throughout history, he was already considered an exceptionally outstanding talent in the records. After all, although the Ancient Beast Ancestor God Mountain didn't restrict the race of those who challenged it, it was ultimately a sacred land of opportunity biased towards the path of physical cultivation, where the demon race held a natural advantage.

The old man explained as he pondered: "You needn't worry about that. Since a contract has been signed, once you obtain the inheritance, leaving a copy in the Mind Beast Pagoda will ensure your safety."

Wang Yu raised an eyebrow. "What if I were to secretly impart it to others? For example… the Sky Roc Clan?"

The old man fell silent for a long time. "It's not strictly forbidden," he finally said. "The inheritance granted by the Ancient Beast Ancestor God Mountain will certainly be most suitable for you. Others can cultivate it too, but it won't be as compatible with their physical bodies as it is with yours."

"I see."

There were things Third Master didn't explicitly say, but Wang Yu understood perfectly. This was, after all, a place of demon inheritance, so the techniques bestowed were likely demonic cultivation methods. In the best case, they would be precious arts, with treasure bones serving as texts. In the worst case, they would be inherited demon techniques that could only be cultivated by those with demon bloodlines. He could leverage the acquisition of this inheritance to gain higher "political" standing among the northern demon tribes, but he also had to be careful not to leak the inheritance information.

"As for the Mind Beast Pagoda, this junior trusts that all the elders are people of their word."

"Naturally. Since you covet the opportunity to reach the summit, don't delay any further. Go and return soon."

Third Master had already tacitly assumed he could reach the summit. This showed that the Mind Beast Pagoda's ancient guardians held him in very high regard, considering him comparable to the top-tier geniuses who had emerged in the cultivation world since the Ice Hell Realm's inception. Fame throughout the world, however, was just a minor concern! He still had a conflict with the Holy Lord's Heavenly Palace to resolve, and infiltrating the northern demon tribes beforehand would be greatly beneficial.

The brief conversation concluded. Wang Yu returned to the fifteenth-floor platform, warmed up, and prepared to face the trial of the sixteenth floor, which involved combat within an illusion. The moment he stepped onto the stone stairs, his consciousness plunged into an environment resembling a mental lake. His opponents were the imprints of power left by outstanding youths who had challenged the Ancient Beast Ancestor God Mountain throughout history. Their power levels were the same as Wang Yu's current realm. Combat in the illusion was indistinguishable from reality, but death in the illusion did not destroy one's soul. Failing to defeat an opponent merely meant losing one challenge opportunity.

He still had three opportunities, and this was only his first attempt. He certainly wouldn't fail on the first stone steps of the mountain. However, each level of this sacred mountain had 1,080 steps, and each step was about a zhang (approx. 3.3 meters) high. They looked like broken cliffs. With his human youth physique, he could only climb them, which appeared quite awkward at first glance.

His first opponent was a giant lion wreathed in flames, an ancient beast known as the Blazing Flame Lion, once considered a beast of auspiciousness by humans, possessing innate flames that could incinerate ghosts and souls. It was related to the Suppressing Evil Azure Lion, and Wang Yu had only seen it in ancient texts. Now, being able to fight it in an illusion, naturally broadened his horizons once more. Moreover, as he steadily advanced, each victory brought a subtle increase in his mental strength.

According to the divisions of the Mental Path, after the Pure Realm comes the Void Self Realm, then the third realm, the Immaculate Realm, and finally the Glazed Realm! Only then could one be considered to have achieved minor success in the Mental Path. He had reached the Void Self Realm many years ago. Although the Prajna Heart Sutra had never been placed in his item slot, he would silently recite it after each killing to resolve karmic obstacles. This was a method of cultivating the mind, and its progress was relatively slow, but the mental strength cultivated was incredibly pure and powerful. Besides using it in some divine abilities related to the Mental Path, Wang Yu actually lacked secret techniques for mental strength to fully utilize this power.

The Asura's Killing Intent in his mental lake was a phased achievement. It reflected the state of his spiritual realm. The beating heart, once filled with bloody, murderous power, gradually became incredibly pure, even faintly shimmering with golden light. These were all signs that it was about to advance to the Immaculate Heart.

The mind is difficult to cultivate. More than Qi cultivation or Spirit cultivation, it relied on talent and disposition. Wang Yu's most frequent action was to follow his true nature; this attitude of acting spontaneously without overstepping bounds was the reason for his rapid increase in mental strength. In this mental combat within the illusion, his mind received an additional layer of tempering. Battling the imprints of past geniuses left on this mountain provided unparalleled tempering for his Dao heart, helping Wang Yu forge a more core quality: Fight! The Asura Heart, beyond killing intent, also contained battle intent: never regret! This refinement and progress even showed signs of upgrading his Asura Killing Fist, and his comprehension of divine abilities and their true meanings grew ever deeper.

This continued for a full seven days. Wang Yu moved faster and faster on the sixteenth floor, finally reaching the sixteenth floor's bounty platform, where the Beast Ancestor's vital blood bestowed pure vital energy. This helped him quickly increase the total amount of his Silver Blood Divine Marrow. His head gradually began to emanate faint silver light, an aura of immortality radiating from his body, his power reaching the peak of early-stage Fourth Rank Body Refinement.

"Splendid!"

After the exhilarating mental combat, the seventeenth floor transformed into the most severe hell of torture. Every step felt like knives cutting into his body. It swore to annihilate his physical body and strip away his flesh and blood. At that time, he had to resist with the immortal divinity within his bones. Through this adversarial tempering, he quickly mastered the power gained from his vital energy increase. The mountain climbing trials were interconnected, with no superfluous steps.

The eighteenth floor was the final one. It was also the simplest layer: 1,080 stone steps, each imbued with the oppressive aura of a powerful expert. This pressure, far surpassing that of Nascent Soul cultivators, definitively reached the Soul Transformation level. Although it couldn't inflict destructive damage to the physical body, it rendered him unable to move even an inch. This was a form of imposing presence! A spiritual oppression! Breaking through it would mean breaking through all oppression! No matter how grand and majestic the imposing presence, one must have the courage to draw a blade and face it. This difficulty was actually not as great as previous challenges, but the underlying meaning was thought-provoking.

"Just who exactly is this Beast God, and what was their mindset when they left this mountain as an inheritance…?" It was truly thought-provoking. Perhaps only when he truly broke free from this cage someday and ventured into a wider world beyond the Ice Hell Realm could he reach a definitive conclusion.

On the final floor, Wang Yu walked very slowly, yet he was like a piece of iron gradually being ground into a drawn sword, its sharpness progressively revealed. The divine light in his eyes became so keen it could pierce others' minds. He walked for a full two months. As he took the final step, a powerful aura suddenly erupted from within Wang Yu, sweeping away all obstacles and impurities. His mental strength surged instantly. An Immaculate Asura Heart completely coalesced. He had now entered the third layer of the Mental Path—the Immaculate Realm!

The summit of the Ancient Beast Ancestor God Mountain was unremarkable, resembling a vast platform. Only at its very center was a stone altar, upon which sat a human-shaped statue of the Beast God. It was carved entirely from bronze, with a beast's head and a human body. Fiery crows circled around its body, and its feet rested on two dragons, poised as if soaring through clouds and mist. It held a trident, pointing it diagonally towards the sky. It resembled a general leading a charge, imbued with a fierce battle intent that bespoke absolute resolve, even unto death.

After reaching the summit, Wang Yu slowly walked to the base of the statue. As he looked up, as if triggering some mechanism, his consciousness wavered, and he found himself in an inheritance space resembling a sea of stars. From the hazy nebulae emerged a gigantic, six-horned, dragon-faced beast head. One ancient, one newborn. Both remained silent as they faced each other. After a long while, the other party finally spoke: "What era is it now?"

Wang Yu did not answer, a crescent moon mark flashing in his eyes. He said, surprised, "This is… a remnant of a divine soul… are you dead?"

The Beast God's enormous head sighed softly. "When the cunning rabbit is dead, the loyal hound is cooked; such is the way of discarding a donkey after it has done its grinding. Knowing too much is not good for you either. Young friend, can you tell me what era it is outside?"

"If calculated from the era of the Immortal Dynasty, Senior, you would likely be a figure from… one hundred thousand years ago? Perhaps, this junior isn't very clear on that ancient history." This was true; ancient history concealed too many secrets. What he knew was still just the tip of the iceberg. There was no definitive conclusion on how many years each historical hegemon had ruled the Ice Hell Realm. There had simply been too many breaks in historical records, and too much time had passed. The fact that the Beast God's remnant soul could persist until now was, conversely, astonishing. Wang Yu couldn't help but ask, "May I ask, Senior, can Immortals achieve eternal life?"

The Beast God, still pondering the vastness of time, heard this and shook its head: "For mortals, a hundred years can be considered long life. For cultivators, a thousand or ten thousand years is long life." After a brief pause, it continued, "For Immortals, one hundred thousand years, or a million years, is considered long life. As for living forever… I do not know."

After a brief exchange, the Beast God continued, "Your eyes are missing something, not enough to escape this realm."

Wang Yu frowned. The Beast God's remnant soul had clearly lamented earlier, implying it was discarded after use by an Immortal from the Upper Realm. What exactly happened was currently unknown. Whether what it said was true also needed to be questioned. After all, before truly stepping onto the summit, Wang Yu had not expected to encounter the surviving thoughts of such an ancient being. Whether to believe it or not could be decided later. Any extra information he could extract would be a gain.

As he was thinking, power gathered within the nebula, rapidly coalescing into a palm-sized piece of dark gray rubble. The Beast God said, "This is a fragment of a moon core I obtained in the Boundary Sea years ago. It can help you establish a true connection with the Lunar Star. Your current eye technique is a good idea, but the method is still a bit too crude."

After receiving the moon core fragment, Wang Yu felt the surging, immense power of Lunar origin within it, and his eyes widened rapidly. A moon core fragment… The remains of a shattered moon? That seemed too exaggerated. More likely, it was a product of a shattered projection of the Lunar Star in another world. As a supreme celestial body, the power it contained was far beyond what a Nascent Soul cultivator could control.

Putting away the precious item, Wang Yu thanked it and continued to ask, "May I ask, Senior, is there something wrong with the Soul Transformation inheritance spread by the ancient demons in this realm? And what realm lies beyond Soul Transformation? Is it the Immortal realm?"

The Beast God was very patient, answering each of Wang Yu's questions. "The ancient demons… they are not human! They are enemies of the True Spirit Realm, and also powerful demon cultivators. Their demonic souls were extracted by mighty beings of the Immortal Palace and eternally suppressed in the Demon Sealing Hall, while their physical bodies were forced into the lower realms, bound by the rules of the Heavenly Dao's power. The inheritance spontaneously spread by their physical bodies is not inherently problematic, but it carries a significant demonic corruption trait. Without a sufficiently strong and stable Dao heart, one can easily be corrupted and fall, losing oneself." In other words, if one's mental realm was sufficiently profound, they could actually resist this assimilation.

As the Beast God answered, new questions arose for Wang Yu. The sheer amount of information was also shaking his worldview. Demon Race, True Spirit Realm, Immortal Palace, Demon Sealing Hall!

"Are demonic cultivators hostile to the Immortal Palace?"

"Not so," the Beast God replied, "Beyond Soul Transformation is Void Refinement. Beyond Void Refinement is Body Integration, and above Body Integration is Grand Ascension. Following that is the Tribulation Transcending Stage. After passing the Three Calamities and Five Declines, the Three Earth-Heaven-Human Tribulations, and the Ninety-Nine Immortal Ascension Tribulation—one can become an Immortal! The Immortal Palace has Immortals, and it also has Demonic Immortals. It practices teaching without discrimination. Demons and fiends can also join the Immortal Palace to seek the Dao. The situation in the True Spirit Realm is complex and difficult to explain at once. If you break free from this cage in the future, you will naturally understand clearly."

The Beast God practically answered every question. Satisfying Wang Yu's curiosity in such a way, it naturally had a request of its own. A golden light flew from its brow and landed in Wang Yu's hand, transforming into a stone scale. "When your eye technique cultivation is successful in the future, cast this object into the void. That will be the price for me answering your questions. Do you agree?"

"Agreed."

Rapidly processing the information he had learned, Wang Yu agreed without hesitation. It seemed the Beast God recognized the effectiveness of his Lunar Nether Pupil, and this affirmation greatly boosted Wang Yu's confidence.

"There's one more matter I'd trouble you with, Senior Beast God."

"Speak."

"This junior has heard that outside the Ice Hell Realm, there is a Six-Eared Thief who can hear the words of all beings within the Ice Hell Realm. I wonder…"

"Hahahaha, that is an Immortal Palace Dao Soldier, merely at the Void Refinement stage. I will bestow upon you a secret technique and an inheritance. If fate allows, we might meet again in the True Spirit Realm someday."

The secret technique was named "Six Senses Obscured"! Its grade was hard to discern, but with it, Wang Yu would be able to better conceal himself and speak with other powerful cultivators about matters concerning the Ice Hell Realm without fear of being spied upon. As for the inheritance, it was somewhat peculiar…