I Swear I’m Not a Demonic Cultivator - Chapter 7
Chapter 7: I Love to Showcase My Dao Heart
That cry of “Thank you for the sect’s great kindness” came from the depths of Fang Zheng’s soul.
His voice, infused with spiritual energy, soared skyward, piercing the ears of the seven Elders hovering in the sky with pinpoint accuracy.
Seven faces, crimson with rage, froze in unison.
At the forefront, Chief He Tian of the Hall of Law Enforcement stumbled in mid-air, nearly losing his balance. Beside him, the hot-tempered Fourth Elder abruptly halted his killing technique incantation halfway through, the spell stopping at his fingertips as he forgot what came next.
“What… did… he… just say?” The Third Elder’s lips trembled, even his newly dyed black beard shaking.
He Tian’s eyes, like nails, were fixed on the disciple below, whose face radiated sincerity.
That Demon Lord was devouring the murderous aura of the Seven Stars Dragon Lock Grand Formation.
That Demon Lord remained unscathed.
That Demon Lord was bowing and thanking them.
An indescribable sense of suffocation choked He Tian’s chest. He forcibly circulated his spiritual energy, but the oppressive force surged upward, forcing it back, leaving a metallic sweetness in his throat.
Meanwhile, Fang Zheng, receiving a full-body “Heavenly Dao Fortune Blessing” massage, felt every one of his thirty-six thousand pores open wide, basking in warmth and ecstasy.
His comprehension was skyrocketing at an unprecedented rate.
His gratitude toward the Sect had reached new heights.
What profound cultivation! What boundless affection!
To test a mere Outer Disciple like me, they’ve spared no expense, activating the legendary Mountain-Protecting Grand Formation, consuming a vast amount of Spiritual Energy!
Fang Zheng’s eyes welled with tears.
No.
I’ve only shown them my muscles. Now I must demonstrate the mind that commands them.
The Elders might be worried, fearing this surge of power will overwhelm me, driving me mad or leading me astray.
I must reassure them!
I’ll prove through my actions that my Dao Heart, like my sword, is unwavering!
A powerful sense of mission surged within him. Fang Zheng resolved to repay the Sect’s unwavering trust with his most indomitable Dao Heart!
He lifted his head, facing the seven majestic figures in the sky, and bowed deeply once more.
His voice rang out even louder, clearer, and more filled with filial reverence than before.
“Elders, I understand! You’re worried about me!”
“Rest assured! I will now demonstrate to you what a Dao Heart as unshakeable as a mountain truly means!”
The words had barely left his lips when…
High above, the bodies of the seven Elders trembled in unison once more.
Not again!
What other devilry is he going to display?
“Stop him!” He Tian forced the words through clenched teeth, straining every muscle in his body.
But it was too late.
Fang Zheng had already closed his eyes, channeling the most profound meditative art he knew:
Quietus Non-Thought True Insight!
He would make the Elders witness firsthand what it meant to have “a mind like a clear mirror, untouched by worldly defilements.”
There was no opening stance.
No ripple of Spiritual Energy.
A circle of formless, colorless, and intangible ripples emanated from Fang Zheng, sweeping fiercely across the entire Back Mountain.
Swift.
Faster than thought itself.
The moment the ripples grazed the heavens:
High above,
the horrified expressions on the seven Elders’ faces froze.
The Spiritual Energy that had coursed through their bodies for centuries stilled.
The next instant, that very energy turned traitor!
No longer an aid, no longer obeying their commands.
It transformed into billions of venomous Gu worms, tearing through their meridians in a frenzy of self-destructive chaos, biting, smashing, and detonating.
This wasn’t a clash of Cultivation Techniques.
This was a higher-dimensional principle, proclaiming judgment with absolute finality—
Your Dao is a fallacy.
Your existence is a joke.
“No…”
He Tian squeezed out a raspy, wheezing syllable, like air escaping a broken bellows.
He watched helplessly as the Seven Stars Dragon Lock Formation, powered by the combined efforts of seven Golden Core cultivators and capable of suppressing even a Nascent Soul…
began to fade.
The dazzling azure light rapidly turned ashen, dimming and becoming mottled with rust.
One after another, the arcane and intricate formation runes flickered out, as if snuffed out like candle flames by a crude hand.
The chains of universal law, stretching across heaven and earth, snapped one after another, each break echoing with a silent lament.
Finally…
Crackle…
A faint shattering sound.
The light net that had once blanketed the sky did not explode with earth-shattering force, nor did it unleash world-destroying energy.
Instead, it dissolved soundlessly into billions of specks of gray-black dust, falling like a blizzard burying an old era.
To Fang Zheng, this scene was breathtakingly majestic.
He saw the chaotic, violent killing intent within the formation completely purged by his Quietus Non-Thought True Insight.
What remained was a sky filled with dancing particles of purest spiritual light, brighter than fireflies on a summer night.
The Sect’s grand formation, having undergone his “purification,” had become even more refined, closer to the fundamental source of the Dao!
My Dao Heart is indeed as unshakable as Mount Tai!
Satisfied, he opened his eyes and looked up at the Elders in the sky.
The weakest among them, the Seventh Elder, swayed violently and spewed a massive mouthful of inky black blood. His aura withered, yet his complexion flushed with a newfound rosiness.
Fang Zheng’s heart surged with warmth. See! The Seventh Elder is deeply moved by my Dao Technique! He’s purging years of stagnant Dao Injury blood, reinforcing his Dao Foundation! The Elder’s intentions are truly profound!
He then noticed the Third Elder’s grizzled hair, which, in mere moments, had turned completely white, devoid of a single mixed strand. It flowed gracefully in the wind, exuding an ethereal, Daoist-sage-like aura.
Fang Zheng’s respect deepened. Good heavens! This is the ultimate sign of severing worldly concerns, achieving instant enlightenment, and perfecting one’s Dao Heart! What extraordinary talent!
Finally, he turned his gaze to Elder He Tian, the leader of the group.
He Tian neither vomited blood nor turned white-haired.
Instead, he hung frozen in mid-air, his facial muscles twitching between contorted grimaces and maniacal laughter, his hands flailing wildly, muttering unintelligible nonsense.
“Wrong… all wrong… ha ha… I’ve cultivated my whole life, cultivated utter crap… ha ha ha…”
Tears welled in Fang Zheng’s eyes.
Sudden enlightenment!
This was undoubtedly the legendary state of “forgetting oneself in joy, transcending the self in enlightenment”!
Only by shattering all illusions and glimpsing the true self of the Great Dao could one manifest such primal, frenzied abandon—a dance of primal joy and unbridled ecstasy!
Elder He Tian, to guide me, has sacrificed his own Dao Foundation, demonstrating the Dao for my sake!
The sect’s benevolence towards me is as profound as the mountains!
High atop a distant mountain peak, hidden in an unnoticed shadow, a woman in a black dress stared intently at a water mirror before her.
As the sky-obscuring formation vanished soundlessly like a sand painting, her five fingers gripping the water mirror clenched uncontrollably.
In the mirror, she saw the Azure Cloud Sect’s Seventh Elder plummet from the sky like a shot-down wild goose.
She saw the Third Elder, his smile more wretched than tears, begin tearing out his own hair strand by strand.
She saw Chief He Tian of the Hall of Law Enforcement, weeping and laughing simultaneously, performing a wild shamanistic dance in the heavens.
She couldn’t bear to watch any longer.
From her sleeve, she drew a blood-red lotus-shaped communication Jade Slip. Her Divine Sense, infused with uncontrollable fervor and dread, pierced through the void.
“Reporting to the Holy Maiden, the Azure Cloud Sect… has birthed a Demon.”
“A Demon, walking among mortals…”
She paused, frantically searching her mind for the most precise word.
“…a Nirvana Demon.”
The moment her Divine Sense was sent, she could no longer suppress the primal terror rising from the depths of her soul. With a crack, the priceless blood-red Jade Slip shattered in her hand, reduced to fine powder by her frantic grip.