Chapter 132: Enlightenment Of The 【path Of Holy Light】
Upon learning that he could continue to lie flat and upgrade without having exhausted his potential, the Tiger Demon felt much more at ease.
Temporary stagnation is not scary, as long as it can continue to lie flat and slack off, it has plenty of time and patience to passively get stronger. After all, it is such a persevering person (meow)!
Spicy Stick still unaware of the Boss’s true thoughts, continued to explain thoughtfully: “I told Li. Suppose under normal circumstances, the Tiger Demon escapes into the shadows to sleep, gaining 10 points of mana bar upper limit each day. Then initially, it will maintain this stable improvement. But as its own strength continuously breaks through and improves, the ‘upper limit’ growth it can obtain from external shadows will gradually decrease. Until a certain balance is achieved, or the potential of the Mutated Spiritual Root is exhausted, reaching the level before the original Tiger Demon’s death.”
The Tiger Demon nodded: “I understand this. It’s just like the osmotic pressure inside and outside the cell membrane. When the Tiger Demon is weak, it can continuously absorb Shadow Power to grow. But after growing to a certain extent, it can only absorb Shadow Power to replenish Magic Power consumption, and can no longer improve its own upper limit. Because the concentration of Spiritual Energy in the outside world is insufficient. Therefore, cultivators constantly pursue higher concentrations of Spiritual Energy, or simply ascend to the Upper Realm.”
The snake tail nodded vigorously: “Completely correct! Boss, you are simply a genius! Originally, your [Boss Template] could steadily rise for a long time, until the ‘Mana Bar’ reaches balance with the external [Shadow Layer] intensity. But the appearance of the [Shadow Dream Hole] changed everything. This thing’s intensity (quality) is too high, just like carrying a top-grade Spirit Stone with you, continuously catalyzing and accelerating your growth… especially this time after randomly swallowing a bunch of Pills, refining them through the [Universe Within The Belly], and with the reinforcement acceleration from the [Shadow Dream Hole], causing you to complete the basic development ahead of schedule.”
She thought for a moment and described, “Your current [Tiger Demon Stance] has roughly entered the ‘maturity stage.’ To continue improving, it needs time for slow accumulation. If you want another explosive surge in the short term, you must switch to a new world with a stronger [Shadow Layer], or significantly increase the quality and intensity of the [Shadow Dream Hole]. But both of these are very difficult to achieve. I guess your current true strength is no longer below that of an ordinary trash Heaven Rank.”
This is good news, at least enough for self-preservation. [Tiger Demon + Shadow Dream Hole], even if Cicada City Residents come knocking, he can still flee calmly.
Especially this wave of evolution, which seemed to come out of nowhere, but it has already paid back the ticket price. Even if he completely abandons this Bubble World, it wouldn’t be a loss at all. Of course, if he can further take root and develop it deeply, developing the Underground World, he has a premonition that he can earn even more in the future!
The Tiger Demon lowered its head to look at its claws that had grown a size larger, feeling that its current body form had already expanded to 4 meters long (not including the snake tail), with a shoulder height of over 2 meters, and a weight of about 1.5 tons. On Earth, it would simply be a giant beast that had become a spirit, with sleek muscles under its thick fur, wrapped in a layer of thick fat. Feline overlord!
Of course, compared to monsters like Vajra and Godzilla, it’s still just a small fry. But everyone isn’t on the same track; Tiger Demon doesn’t follow the exotic beast path, but Datafied Cultivation!
After a bout of smug self-indulgence, the Tiger Demon finally calmed down: “It seems the [Shadow System] has temporarily expanded to its limit. Continuing to invest will yield diminishing returns. So…, it’s time to improve the [Holy Light System] a bit.”
Just thinking about how he continuously detonated 9 Magic Worms in Cicada City, causing them to undergo Ultimate Sublimation and transform into light, bursting forth with the brilliance and Ash of a ‘Heaven Rank full-power strike’, sent waves of wrenching pain through his heart.
At this moment, the Tiger Demon suddenly struck a ‘Kitten clutching heart’ pose, revealing an expression interwoven with grief and regret over losing his beloved: “It hurts! It really hurts too much!”
So much Soul Ember, there simply wasn’t time to absorb it all. It just dissipated into the air of the underground city, completely wasted! Thinking back on it now, it’s heartbreaking, a painful loss of billions in soul subsidies.
If he could timely collect the self-explosion ash of these ‘Magic Worms’ and inject it into the [Holy Seal]. He would surely have achieved Great Perfection in ‘Seal Casting’ by now. He might even have condensed a [Soul Crystal], breaking through to a brand new Holy Light realm!
Spicy Stick detected the Boss’s mental wave and quickly performed emotional soothing: “Not a pity, not a pity. Boss, you have successfully verified the feasibility of ‘Shadow Magic Worm. Holy Cough Blast.’ So next, you can continue to create more blasts, as long as you don’t waste anymore.”
The Tiger Demon retorted: “How could it be that easy? I found that my [Holy Light] still has the same brightness, and its quality has even improved somewhat, but the ‘color grade’ seems to have dropped a tiny bit again. If we keep blasting around like this, I’m afraid I’ll first slide down to the ‘Neutral Camp’ and no longer be holy.”
The color of 【Holy Light】is linked to one’s most authentic will, mind, and thoughts. Because it is purely idealistic, it cannot be deceived. One can deceive others, even deceive 【Holy Light】, but cannot deceive oneself.
Although from the perspective of the Holy Church, Yuan Zhu did nothing wrong throughout the entire process; he merely used Holy Cough to redeem the evil “Shadow Ghost Companion (Magic Worm)”, making it wholeheartedly convert to Holy Light, and ultimately choose an ultimate sublimation of selfless devotion without regrets or expectations of reward, self-detonating into light.
In the [Holy Light System], this is a thorough act of kindness, filled with merit, warming to the heart. But his [Holy Light] attribute began to slightly fade, because his heart was not perfectly good and holy enough.
It was he who personally filled the ‘Magic Worms’ that submitted to him with 【Holy Cough】, forcibly commanding them (Ghost Companions) to drop their defenses and embrace the Holy Cough, then cruelly ending their lives to create Holy Cough explosions that destroyed and wrecked the Cicada City ecosystem.
Therefore, as his [Holy Light] becomes stronger and purer (positive feedback), the shade value also decreases (negative feedback).
As soon as he thought of the changes in Holy Light, he decisively switched back to Human Stance and entered the exclusive ‘Shadow Inner World’ that Tiger Demon had opened up for the camp using Domain Supernatural Ability.
The screen transformed, and Yuan Zhu detached from the Shadow Dream Hole to arrive in a clean and empty space devoid of anything. The art style of the Inner World somewhat resembled the Shadow Dimension of the Little Xihong Realm, with everything in a colorless black-and-white comic style.
Directly above in the sky hangs a black ‘Dream Hole’, somewhat similar to the Lower Urban Area of Cicada City. In the air, aside from a small amount of Shadow Power, there is no ‘Spiritual Energy, Polluting Energy, Nightmare Power……’, and the environment is quite clean.
At this moment, he raised a single finger, controlling the Holy Mark to ignite a wisp of Holy Light at his fingertip, and began to savor it carefully.
As soon as 【Holy Light】manifested, it displayed its domineering exclusivity and purification burning impulse, wanting to shine brightly and radiate in all directions, cleaning and purifying the faint ‘Shadow Pollution’ in the air.
However, it was suppressed by Yuan Zhu, and the range of its light irradiation was restrained, controlled within one inch of the fingertip, without causing destructive purification cleanup to the Inner World.
“My [Holy Light] has strengthened a bit more; it’s due to the mindset change after the Cicada City battle, along with the positive feedback from confidence and sense of achievement.”
【Holy Light】This idealistic power biased towards the mental side is just strange. He openly robbed Cicada City, PKed three Innate experts, and detonated a nine-chain explosion. Clearly, he didn’t absorb much ‘Soul Ash’, and the released Holy Light all dissipated and was wasted.
But its own [Holy Light] extracted positive and uplifting faith and confidence from this battle record, thus becoming even more pure and firm.
“If I always maintain this invincible fighting spirit and mindset, couldn’t this [Holy Light] continuously improve?”
Little Spicy Stick calmly said: “The path of the heavenly prodigies has always been this way!”
Suddenly, Yuan Zhu revealed a surprised expression, looking at the faintly glowing ‘Holy Light’, and puzzledly said: “Huh? Why do I feel that the color of my [Holy Light] has a faint trend of recovery?”
Spicy Stick asked curiously: “What’s the situation?”
Yuan Zhu closed his eyes and used his spirit and soul, which had been reinforced and upgraded by the Boss Template, to reversely perceive the Holy Light System of the Immortal Scripture Client, then figured out the reason.
“It’s [Holy Light Particle]! Those Personal Holy Light (Holy Cough) that I personally spread out, after completely detaching from my control, still exist in the world and have not been completely destroyed. When these ‘Holy Light Particles’ cut off their direct connection with me and are absorbed and controlled by others (the brother and sister, Cicada City Residents), their use of the ‘Holy Light Particles’ instead affects the quality of my ‘Holy Light’? Interesting!”
With just a simple perception, Yuan Zhu discovered the origin of the changes in his exclusive Holy Light.
…
First, all Holy Light originates from the Holy Church, this ultimate source (Holy Light Source), which is a super platform.
Next, the Eight Holy Kings and other Archangels will all, within the original Holy Light, bestow their respective law information. (System APP)
Then, at the step where the cultivator brands the 【Holy Mark】, they will be gifted various private goods. For example, Yuan Zhu’s Holy Mark retains a large amount of 【Yellow Heaven System】 private goods, but it can be chosen to ignore.
Once the 【Holy Mark】 is officially obtained, the 【Holy Light】 will combine with the host’s mental will to perform binding integration, slowly transforming during the seal casting process, and ultimately turning into ‘Personal Holy Light’.
Nowadays, Yuan Zhu’s [Personal Holy Light] is also like that of the Eight Holy Kings, adding a large amount of his own private elements, transforming into ‘Personal Trendy Holy Light (Holy Light Particle)’ according to his own will and way of thinking.
Thus, when these [Holy Light Particles] completely escaped absolute control and were absorbed by ‘Cicada City Residents’ who had no connection to oneself, this ‘Holy Light’ imprinted with personal information instead formed a causal force capable of interfering with one’s own [Holy Light] faction.
“Holy shit! So that’s how the Holy Light System works?!”
Yuan Zhu, who opened his eyes, vaguely grasped the correct way to play with the Holy Light System. He didn’t know if other cultivators had the same realization as he did at this moment?
When the [Shadow Magic Worm (Holy Cough Bomb)] was still under his control, even though the magic worms were not part of his own body, the ‘Holy Light (Holy Cough)’ within them was controlled by him, and this power was an extension of his own ‘Holy Light System’.
Therefore, detonating the Magic Worm himself to create damage and pollute the environment (spread Holy Light)… is a subjective action, and the karma produced after the explosion will be counted on his own head.
If one subjectively and maliciously detonates [Holy Cough], wantonly burning the life and soul of the sacrifice, karmic retribution will descend, polluting the Holy Light color code.
When he branded 【Holy Cough】 into the brother and sister’s bodies, and gave up control over 【Holy Cough】, choosing to gift it. Allowing the brother and sister to digest and absorb it with Qi Refining Technique, creating 【Holy Cough True Qi】.
After this operation, he lost control over this ‘Holy Cough’, and even 【Holy Cough】 was covered and transformed by True Qi. But the brother and sister formed a causal connection similar to their own 【Holy Light】.
Their every move, though weak, became another factor influencing 【Personal Holy Light】. It is Yuan Zhu’s achievement in spreading the 【Path of Holy Light】 in the otherworld.
His ‘Holy Light (Holy Cough Particle)’ seemed to disappear, reduced to True Qi. But in the eyes of the 【Holy Church】, this is spreading the gospel and enlightening sentient beings. Holy Light has not truly disappeared; ‘Holy Cough True Qi’ is the hub and bridge connecting the two.
Once the True Qi System is tainted with ‘Holy Light Attribute’, it gives 【Holy Light Pollution】 the opportunity to invade, or even annex and absorb 【True Qi Pollution】! This is great merit.
Similarly, the chain of 【Holy Cough Blasts】 he triggered in 【Cicada City】 created countless victims who actively accepted pollution in just three days.
Even if Cicada City big shots took action to clean up the ‘shadow and Holy Cough’ pollutions.
But those natives who inhaled ‘Holy Cough Particles’, including smart people like Little Girl, did not clear ‘Holy Cough Pollution’ immediately, but instead attempted and compared it.
Is it more cost-effective to consume a small amount of ‘vitality’ to renew, using Holy Cough to purify polluting energy, annihilating iron poison and Immortal Zombie Tendrils in the air; or to clear Holy Cough and let the physical body withstand multiple pollutions?
Ultimately concluding that retaining 【Holy Cough】 brings greater revenue! So many residents chose to secretly pay vitality to renew 【Holy Cough】. And some low-level people have begun consciously modifying breathing methods to more efficiently combat polluting energy.
This batch of residents is similar to the brother and sister. Gradually absorbing and refining uncontrolled 【Holy Cough Particles】 of Yuan Zhu, causing his ‘exclusive Holy Light’ to truly spread and diffuse in Cicada City.
This change, with increasing numbers, reverse influences his own 【Holy Light】 camp. And shows a trend of elevating the ‘color number’. This indicates that his exclusive trendy 【Holy Cough Particle】 is spontaneously creating ‘good deeds and good actions’ in Cicada City, accumulating positive feedback similar to ‘merit’ for him.
Conversely, if Cicada City Residents become familiar with ‘Holy Cough’ and fully refine it, using it for killing and evil deeds, then his 【Holy Light】 would also be affected and begin to Fall Seal?
Is this why the 【Holy Church】 is enthusiastic about preaching? Using Holy Light to detect and annihilate pollution, while developing believers, and also spreading personal Holy Light, using believers to reverse cultivate?
So the 【Holy Church】 has relatively strict thresholds and tests for branding 【Holy Mark】, to avoid too many apostates pulling down the evaluation of their own lineage, leading to Fall Seal?
Yuan Zhu has never branded a 【Holy Mark】, yet by massively releasing ‘Holy Cough Particles’ absorbed and used by Cicada City Residents, he can obtain feedback through the transmission of this ‘Holy Light Pollution’, influencing the 【Holy Light】 camp and quality.
One can imagine the enormous feedback that those High-Ranking sources controlling 【Holy Mark】 receive through layers of Holy Light radiation.
“Snake Snake, do you think I should cultivate a batch of my own ‘Holy Light Cultivators’ in the ‘Underground World’, pass down ‘Personal Holy Mark’, establish a 【Holy Church Sect】, constrain and guide local believers (Holy Cough users), lead people toward goodness, and spread my personal ‘Holy Light brand culture’?”
Spicy Stick: “Sounds a lot like the Eight Holy Kings’ work. The old temple priest of Rain Courtyard wants to pull you into 【Tai Huang Dao】!”
“So it’s digging a pit for me to jump into! Wait… Snake Snake, I suddenly realize I have some extraordinary talent? My 【Holy Light】 seems unaffected by the 【Tai Huang Dao Master】, instead forging its own path, creating exclusive trendy 【Holy Cough Particle】, and already able to radiate Cicada City Residents, gaining potential Holy Cough believers (users).”
Spicy Stick quickly recalls their boss’s entire cultivation process: “I guess it’s the 【Holy Seal】 issue! Different Holy Church sects each monopolize a large number of 【Holy Seal】, and the seal casting process is also the process of forging Holy Light. If you redeem 【Tai Huang Dao】’s Holy Seal, your Holy Light Attribute would continuously bias toward the 【Tai Huang Dao Master】, and then you would become a humanoid propagation device for 【Tai Huang Lineage Holy Light】.”
“But you timely jumped out of the trap, purchasing unadulterated 【Holy Seal. Sanctuary】 in 【Happy Paradise of Gods】, plus the hidden aptitude brought by 【Great Desolation Immortal Scripture. Client】, not labeled by other High-Rankers, instead becoming a potential ‘nascent stage Holy Light source’?”
Yuan Zhu’s eyes lit up: “Right! Isn’t this just a replica of 【Shadow Pollution】?”
His 【Tiger Demon】 is so heaven-defying because 【Great Desolation Immortal Scripture】 intercepted part of some third-rate shadow evil god’s intent, claimed by 【Mutated Spiritual Root】.
Now, his 【Holy Light】 is similarly absorbed by 【Immortal Scripture. Client】, replicating the robbery process, claiming 【Holy Light】 as his own, turning it into exclusive pollution.
The difference between the two is that 【Shadow System】 ascends to heaven in one step, with an extremely high starting point, and its potential not yet fully redeemed; while 【Holy Light】 starts from the bottom, developing step by step, not even reaching 1 Seal yet, but equally possessing ‘divinity potential’.
Spicy Stick hurriedly flattered: “Congratulations King, felicitations King. Enlightened to the secret of 【Holy Light】, today I know I am me!”
Yuan Zhu: “It seems the 【Path of Holy Light】 not only needs to emphasize the growth and reinforcement of one’s own ‘Holy Light’, but also spreading it, even developing sects and downlines? Bestowing Holy Marks, cultivating disciples to constrain believers’ and users’ behavior patterns. Isolating exclusive 【Holy Light】 to create one’s own doctrine lineage? This Underground World is indeed a good place.”
He found that this Bubble World is both suitable and unsuitable for spreading Holy Light. The suitable part: harsh environment where commoners don’t even see 【Holy Cough】 as pollution or disease torment; anyone who actively accepts and embraces it can combat more pollution. Extremely high acceptance.
But the downside: Holy Light is restricted everywhere in the Underground World; once released, it triggers all-around riots and backlash. Unlike shadow, which is practically born for the Underground World, rejected by no pollution.
After learning of Yuan Zhu’s distress, Spicy Stick suggested: “Absorb the soul ash of ‘Shadow Magic Worm’! Disease Ash helped you birth 【Holy Cough】, this disease-type Holy Light Skill; then absorbing insect system pollution ash will surely birth ‘Holy Light Skills’ suitable for the current version!”
“Makes sense!”
Yuan Zhu summoned a weak ‘Shadow Magic Worm’ from the 【Shadow Dream Hole】; this is the Ghost Companion he newly refined during its dormancy. This time, he didn’t foolishly trigger Holy Cough explosion in the ‘Inner World’. Doing so might first collapse his own ‘Inner World’.
So he chose slow-burn mode, using the ‘Shadow Magic Worm’ as a Holy Light flashlight, steadily releasing 【Holy Light】 to bathe himself in it, absorbing soul ash, beginning a new round of 【Seal Casting】.
During 【Seal Casting】, Yuan Zhu did not forget to ignite his own life force, controlling the continuously generated ‘Holy Light’, optimizing and perfecting (creating) various Holy Light combat skills that fit the 【Sanctuary】 space attribute according to his will.
