As he passed through the gaping tear in the fabric of the universe, he expected to be bathed in spiritual energy.
However, reality delivered a harsh blow.
The world beyond the wall was not a sacred land filled with celestial music, but a desolate, grey wasteland. Before he could stand firm, a massive golden net, powerful enough to imprison the void, descended from above. Dozens of armoured warriors riding colossal, azure-scaled beasts swooped down from the clouds; the weakest of them were at least at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage.
The leading warrior sneered, 'Another ant crawling up from the lower realms.' His long whip crackled with lightning as it lashed fiercely across Xiao Wuchen's back. The whip tore through Xiao Wuchen's crimson python robe, revealing the cruel reality of the cultivation world.
'Not bad looking, but a cripple with incomplete faculties.' The armoured soldier lifted Xiao Wuchen's chin with his toe; his eyes were filled with disdain. 'This kind of trash isn't even good enough to be used as a catalyst in alchemy. Send him to the Black Demon Abyss quarry and let him work until he dies.'
Xiao Wuchen didn't resist. He sensed the violent spiritual energy around him, which was a hundred times denser than in the mortal realm yet still suppressed to some extent. The pseudo-golden core in his sea of consciousness was shrinking rapidly.
He realised that here, he was no longer the Nine Thousand Years Old, but merely the lowest 'defective product' in the Eastern Wilderness. Three hours later, Xiao Wuchen was locked in a 'Spirit-Eroding Lock' capable of absorbing true energy and thrown into a giant pit a thousand feet underground.
This was the Black Demon Abyss. The air was thick with the acrid smell of sulphur and mineral dust. All around him were figures in tattered clothes, swinging their specially made pickaxes numbly and hammering at the hard rock to dig out scattered low-grade spirit stones.
"Don't bother looking, newcomer. Once you're here, your life isn't your own."
A dishevelled old man missing an arm said in a low voice. He had once been the leader of a small sect in the lower realm, but now he was just a walking corpse in this mine.
'Here, we are called "Sin Slaves". If we can't hand over one hundred spirit stones every ten days, we'll be dragged out to feed the gatekeeper beasts." The old man pointed to the mountain of white bones deep in the mine. 'Those are the lives that have been sacrificed to satisfy the extravagance of the higher-ups in the cultivation world.'
III. System Awakening: The Harvesting Logic in Desperate Situations
Xiao Wuchen sat on a cold rock, his palms bleeding from the corrosive spirit lock.
[Ding!] Extremely negative environment detected: Black Demon Abyss Quarry.
Current identity definition: lowest level labourer (waste).
[System strategy update: the rules of the cultivation world are too strict; the host needs to activate 'lurking and reaping' mode.]
[New feature unlocked: Demonic Intent Furnace.]
Function: The host can directly absorb the impurities in discarded spirit stones, increasing the conversion speed by 500%.
Hidden attribute: The despair, hatred and death energy within the quarry can all serve as nourishment for 'Demonic Sword Intent'.
Xiao Wuchen looked at the iron pickaxe in his hand, a cruel, secretive smile spreading across his face.
The high and mighty sects used this place as a cage to extract resources and imprison ants. They were unaware that they had personally sent a demon, adept at surviving in the darkness, into a powder keg filled with fuel.
"Hey, newbie!"
A burly, sinister overseer approached. As the leader of this mining area, he used his Foundation Establishment cultivation skills to intimidate the workers. Coveting the exquisitely crafted, albeit damaged, jade pendant around Xiao Wuchen's waist, he reached out to snatch it.
"The good stuff has to be offered to..."
Before he could finish,
Xiao Wuchen didn't move, but his hand, which was holding the pickaxe, trembled slightly.
The iron pickaxe pierced the overseer's hand and pinned it to the hard rock wall.
"I'll teach you this lesson." Xiao Wuchen slowly rose to his feet, his silver hair gleaming with bloodlust in the dim light of the miner's lamp. He approached the screaming overseer, his voice low and menacing. "What belongs to me, not even the heavens would dare take. What right do you have?'
[Ding!] Plundering begins: Absorbing the negative emotional value of the overseer, he repairs 1% of the cracks in his pseudo-Golden Core.
In this dark and sunless abyss, Xiao Wuchen's demonic eyes slowly opened. A quarry? No, this is the first graveyard he prepared for the Eastern Wilderness Sect."
Beneath the Black Abyss, sulfurous embers flickered on the damp stone walls, illuminating countless numb and desperate faces.
Following Xiao Wuchen's killing of the overseer, there was no commotion as expected — in this forgotten corner of the cultivation world, the death of an overseer was more commonplace than that of a rat. He sat cross-legged on a pile of abandoned slag, his hands pressed to the ground as he began his first true 'harvest' since entering the Eastern Wasteland. 'Ding! Extreme Yin pulse detected underground — abandoned mine evil energy!" The 'Devouring Heaven and Devouring Essence Technique' was fully activated, entering 'evil energy to spirit' mode!
The mine's evil energy, which ordinary cultivators would avoid at all costs, was an excellent tonic for Xiao Wuchen's demonic art. Visible grey vortexes surged into his acupoints, frantically repairing the meridians that had been damaged during his transmigration.
Instead of shattering under the onslaught of evil energy, the pseudo-golden core within his body lost its gaudy dark gold lustre and transformed into a pure and profound dark black.
'This feeling... is a hundred times stronger than the true energy of the mortal realm.' Xiao Wuchen opened his eyes, black light flashing in his pupils, and the rocks beneath his feet instantly turned to dust. 'You... you really killed Zhang Hu?'
Several ragged, cowering slaves surrounded him. Among them were former generals and princes of fallen kingdoms, but years of toil and humiliation had broken their spirit.
Xiao Wuchen surveyed them coldly: 'Zhang Hu is just the beginning. What I want is control of this Black Demon Abyss.'
'You're insane! The inner disciples of the Qingyang Sect are stationed up there, and there's a barrier. We're just mortals; what right do we have to resist?' the old man roared, his voice trembling.
'With this.'
Xiao Wuchen flicked his finger, transforming a wisp of pure malevolent energy into a gentle spiritual light that entered the old man's brow. This caused his previously depleted dantian to instantly burst forth with a faint life force and his broken meridians to show signs of healing.
'I can let you live in this hell, and I can also give you the power to kill.' Xiao Wuchen stood up, his silver hair flowing freely as he emerged from the abyss like a god. 'Those who want to die, continue mining. Those who want revenge, kneel.'
"Thump—" One, ten, a hundred... In the darkness, thousands upon thousands of sinners slowly lowered their pickaxes before this almost miraculous power and knelt in unison.
In the dead of night, chilling screams echoed through the mine tunnels.
Xiao Wuchen wasn't saving the world, he was transforming it. Using the 'Divine Demon Weapon Refining Technique' provided by the system, he forcibly infused the malevolent energy of the ore vein into sinners filled with extreme resentment.
This wasn't the cultivation of immortality, but rather "corpse refining".
These 'living death warriors' lost their sense of pain and no longer feared immortals. Their eyes turned blood red with malevolent energy and their bodies, tempered by demonic arts, became harder than iron.
'Ding! Yin Soldier Sequence Established."
Current members: Three thousand (Foundation Establishment stage physical strength).
Loyalty: 100% (Demon Seed Control).
System prompt: The host has become the true ruler of the Black Demon Abyss underground. Current stealth value is decreasing. Please be wary of Qingyang Sect patrols.
'Master, the lackeys above are coming down.' A refined Yin Soldier Death Warrior appeared silently behind Xiao Wuchen; his voice was mechanical and cold.
At the mine entrance, several disciples of the sect dressed in blue robes appeared, cursing and swearing. They held thunder whips, ready to punish today's offerings.
Xiao Wuchen sat on a throne made from the bones of the overseers in the shadows, toying with a top-grade spirit stone, a cruel smile playing on his lips.
'Perfect,' he said. 'My new retainers lack a little immortal blood to hone their blades.'
With a flick of his slender fingers, three thousand pairs of scarlet eyes simultaneously opened in the shadows around him.
It was a silent harvest.
'Who dares to enter this forbidden area?!'
The dozen or so outer disciples of the Qingyang Sect who were guarding the mine entrance were filled with shock and rage. They all drew their flying swords; in their eyes, these slaves were nothing more than walking tools, incapable of causing any trouble.
However, their laughter abruptly ceased when the first wave of 'Yin Soldiers' emerged from the darkness.
The slaves' eyes were bloodshot and their bodies were surrounded by an inky black aura. When faced with flying swords piercing their chests, they didn't even flinch. Instead, they roared as they stretched out their iron-like hands to seize the magical artefacts and crush them.
'These monsters are devouring spiritual energy?'
A disciple was horrified to discover that his spiritual energy was being frantically sucked away by the sword. In an instant, three thousand Yin Soldiers surged forward like a tidal wave. Not even the dozen or so disciples from the immortal sects were left with intact corpses — they were torn to shreds.
'Qingyang Sect, I'll accept this interest for now.'
Xiao Wuchen stepped out slowly, his silver hair turning dark purple in the night. The 'Life and Death Sword' in his hand, sensing the blood of an immortal, hummed softly and excitedly.
Behind him, tens of thousands of sinners, incited by their hatred, wielded crude pickaxes; their killing intent was more terrifying than that of a regular army.
'What kind of demon dares to disrupt the foundation of my Qingyang Sect!'
A long azure rainbow stretched across the sky. Xuan Mingzi, the outer sect elder of the Qingyang Sect and a late-stage Golden Core cultivator, was enraged. He hovered in mid-air, forming hand seals, and a torrent of azure lightning crashed down.
'Heavenly Thunder, sweep away all evil!'
Xiao Wuchen not only stood his ground in the face of the overwhelming lightning capable of annihilating a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he also threw his head back and laughed wildly.
"Talking about 'righteousness' in front of me? Hypocrisy!"
He leapt into the air, his figure transforming into a jet-black streak of light as he soared straight into the sky.
'The Three Forms of Divine Demons—Nine Netherworlds!'
This sword strike fused with the malevolent energy accumulated underground over thousands of years in the Black Demon Abyss. The moment the sword light slashed out, the azure-lit sky was stained black and the light rebounded upwards.
'What?' Xuan Mingzi was shocked. He had never seen a move so bizarre, capable of reversing the attributes of spiritual energy.
He hastily summoned his natal magic weapon, the 'Azure Sun Bell'. However, in the face of this jet-black sword light, this magic weapon — capable of withstanding the full force of a cultivator of the same level — was like a fragile porcelain vase, cracking open with a hideous gash.
Like a ghost, Xiao Wuchen pierced through the shattered bell shadows, seizing Xuan Mingzi's throat with his left hand.
'You call us defective products?' Xiao Wuchen's voice rang in his ear, chilling him to the bone. 'Then what kind of trash are you, whose neck was crushed by a defective product?'
'Crack.'
The Dao Fruit of a late-stage Golden Core elder shattered instantly in Xiao Wuchen's hand.
[Ding! Successfully killed a late-stage Golden Core cultivator.]
[Plunder begins: Obtained Golden Core Essence, Qingyang Cultivation Technique Fragment and storage ring.
The Yin Soldiers received a blood infusion and levelled up, reaching the 'Perfect Foundation Establishment' physical body level.
V. A Comeback: Planting a Flag in the Black Demon Abyss
That night, a blood-red light soared into the sky above the Black Demon Abyss.
All 300 of the Qingyang Sect's elite disciples stationed there were wiped out.
Xiao Wuchen stood atop the highest watchtower in the mining area, his tattered robes billowing in the wind. He slashed down the tower's stone pillar with his Life-Destruction Sword, carving two powerful, blood-red characters:
'Asura'.
'From this day forward, the Eastern Wilderness will no longer be your backyard, you hypocrites.'
Xiao Wuchen gazed at the endless, majestic Immortal Mountains in the distance as the alarm bells began to ring. He knew the Qingyang Sect's high command would soon be mobilised in full force, but he no longer cared.
With these three thousand fearless Yin soldiers and the mineral resources at the bottom of the Black Demon Abyss, he had finally made his mark on the cultivation world.