I Cheated While Cultivating

Chapter 323: Chapter 43: The Sage of the Human Race, Flatten Mountains into Fields

“Although you have not eaten the people of this place, you have caused turmoil in the mountains, preventing the locals from hunting and thereby cutting off their livelihood. In the long run, deaths will not just number one or two.”

Zhou Heng’s thinking was very clear, and he was not deceived by the tiger demon.

“No, it’s not like that!” the tiger demon quickly shook its head and explained, “I was merely sitting in the mountains to cultivate, with no intention of harming anyone, nor have I ever stopped people from hunting. If they are too scared to enter the mountains after seeing me, how can that be my fault? Great Immortal, I implore you to see the truth!”

“Immortal Master! This tiger demon is spouting nonsense!” Lin Shi hurriedly came forward and said to Zhou Heng, “Great Immortal Master, do not be misled by this one-sided story from the tiger demon.

“We are all ordinary people in Wushan Town, at most skilled in some martial arts. On regular days when we encounter ordinary wild beasts, we would avoid them, let alone a tiger demon like this, who has become so powerful?

“It’s true that it did not organize our hunting, but every time someone ventures into the mountains, it roars furiously, scaring everyone to their core. How could we dare to venture into the mountains then?

“Surrounded by mountains on three sides and by water on one, we are almost isolated from the world and have survived on the fur from the mountains for generations. With the arrival of this tiger demon, it has cut off our means of survival!”

“Great Immortal Master, please do not listen to this person’s nonsense!” the tiger demon quickly explained, “When I cultivate in the mountains, it’s inevitable that my blood and qi surge, producing the sound of bones and muscles thundering. It is never my intention to scare people.”

This confrontation between man and tiger, each sticking to their own story, turned into a debate.

Kong Qing and Zhu Xiao watched this scene with their eyes wide and jaws dropped.

In their understanding, demons were extremely vicious and cruel, especially the great demons comparable to the True Form Realm, who delighted in eating humans.

Who had ever heard of a great demon explaining and arguing in front of humans?

It was too bizarre.

However, they were also aware that this was all because of the ‘saintly’ powerful presence before them.

No one had forgotten how terrifying the scene was when the tiger demon burst out of the mountains earlier.

“Sigh.”

Just then, Zhou Heng suddenly sighed, causing the tiger demon to become extremely nervous as it stared fixedly at him.

“With such a glib tongue, who taught you?” Zhou Heng suddenly looked at the tiger demon with a half-smile and said, “The clarity of your language comes from the foundation of civilization.

“You claim you have never left the mountain since gaining consciousness, so where did you learn the language of the human race? Moreover, the moment I arrived here, you rushed from the mountain into the city, what was your intention?”

——Gaining consciousness refers to ordinary animals or plants or something else entirely that one day suddenly gained enlightenment about what they are, acquiring independent self-consciousness, which is the beginning of becoming a demon.

Upon hearing this, the tiger demon instantly knew it had no chance to plead for mercy. It immediately conjured a whirlwind, forcefully broke free from Great Power Heavenly Dragon Bodhisattva’s grasp, shook its wings, and tried desperately to escape.

However, this time it did not try to flee outward but instead sought to escape back into the mountains.

“Previously, there were no demons in the mountains, and you only appeared here two months ago, yet you told me you have never left the mountains.” Zhou Heng scoffed, “Do you take me for a fool?”

While he was speaking, the golden bodhisattva standing on the dragon and elephant moved again. Stretching forward both hands, his ten fingers immediately turned into ten golden dragons that danced forward towards the tiger demon.

“Flying Dragon in the Sky!”

But this time the tiger demon seemed to use an extraordinary Secret Technique, its speed far exceeding that of before.

By the time the ten golden dragons reached where it was, the tiger demon had already ascended above the forest.

At this moment, the sky was filled with dense clouds, gloomy and oppressive.

“Hahaha!” The tiger demon then laughed wildly, appearing to be insane, causing a sudden change in the wind and clouds, “Ancestor, please awaken, Ancestor! Hahahaha!”

“`

Boom!

A deafening roar sounded, shaking the earth and the mountains.

The ranges stretching for dozens of miles began to tremble, with fierce winds howling and sweeping across the heavens and earth, as if an immensely terrifying demon was about to awaken.

An invisible force burst forth, emerging from the trembling mountains and collided with the ten Golden Dragons, shattering them directly into countless golden specks of light, scattering across the sky.

For the first time, the attack of the Great Mighty Heavenly Dragon Bodhisattva was neutralized.

Inside Wushan Town.

Kong Qing and Zhu Xiao immediately turned pale, their eyes widening in terror.

This Tiger Demon was already equivalent to a great cultivator in the True Form Realm, and the one they refer to as “ancestor” must be at the level of a sage, or even possibly an Immortal from the Heavenly Heart Realm!

It’s over, it’s all over now!

The two of them were once again in despair.

The townspeople of Wushan Town also fell back into fear.

Lin Shi and Lin Yan looked at the trembling mountain peaks in horror, shivering. They then turned their gaze to Zhou Heng, their only hope now.

“As expected,” Zhou Heng remained unfazed, even smiling slightly.

At this moment, the Tiger Demon flying in the sky turned around to look at Wushan Town, its eyes fiercely fixed on Zhou Heng, looking very smug.

It grinned and laughed loudly, “Stupid humans, did you really think I was pleading with you? You’re worth it? I was merely buying time, hahaha!”

“Interesting,” Zhou Heng said with an unfading smile, pointing upwards, “How do you know I’m not buying time as well?”

“What?!” The Tiger Demon felt a sudden unease upon hearing this.

At the same time, it noticed something amiss with the surrounding void and looked up, only to be struck with terror, exclaiming, “What, what is this?!”

In the sky above, the dark clouds that had shrouded the sky were pierced by a bright and brilliant golden light. The light from the shattered Golden Dragons had reassembled, forming a colossal Golden Seal, towering over five hundred feet tall, like a mountain.

The Golden Seal slowly descended from the heavens, spreading a power so formidable that it calmed the trembling mountains and shattered the dreadful demonic qi that had risen from within them.

The Tiger Demon tried to flee but found that the space around it seemed to have solidified, leaving it paralyzed and unable to move, frozen in the air.

“Ancestor, save me!” The Tiger Demon screamed with all its might.

But it was of no use. The so-called “ancestor,” who had been on the verge of awakening with awe-inspiring presence among the mountains, had now gone completely silent, without a trace of sound.

The Golden Seal had not yet landed, but it already exhibited the terrifying power that seemed to suppress all things under the heavens, utterly beyond the Tiger Demon’s comprehension.

Of course, it was also beyond the comprehension of Kong Qing and Zhu Xiao, who stared, dumbstruck, at the Golden Seal descending from the sky, their eyes about to pop out.

“My goodness, what Techniques, what Divine Skills, earth-shattering indeed!”

“Is this the power of a sage? To reveal the Divine Soul and True Form while casting such powerful Divine Moves Methods!”

“Incredible, simply unbelievable!”

“Fortunately, fortunately…”

In their amazement, they also felt immense relief that the Tiger Demon had revealed itself—otherwise, they were afraid they would have died without a place to be buried!

“`

For such a sage’s mighty power, my own entry-level control over objects realm cultivation was as weak as an ant.

Boom!

In the earth-shaking roar, the Golden Seal fell, scaring the Tiger Demon out of its wits; its heart nearly stopped beating, and it closed its eyes, waiting for death to come.

But death did not arrive as expected, followed instead by an exceedingly mournful scream.

“Ah ah!!” The scream came from below the forest, filled with extreme rage, “Why, why—The ancestor had you cast the spell to awaken my power, not to bring upon the sage of the human race, ah ah!”

Boom!

The Golden Seal smashed onto the mountain, and an invisible force burst forth, trying to resist, yet completely ineffectual, popping like a bubble in an instant.

Rumble!

The ground shook and the mountains swayed. The peak hit by the Golden Seal quickly sank under the golden light, which was dazzling to the point of piercing the sky. The terrain within a seven to eight-mile radius underwent a tremendous change.

Moments later, the Golden Seal gradually dissipated, and the sky full of golden light also faded. The roaring and piercing screams in the mountains ceased, and the mountain peak was directly flattened!

A mountain peak towering over three hundred zhang in height was just like that flattened by the Golden Seal.

However, if one looked down from high above, they could see that although the mountain peak was pressed into the ground, the surface was not completely flat; instead, there were canal-like trenches crisscrossing, forming four large characters—

Overturning Heaven Seal!

This was precisely the technique Zhou Heng had deployed using the true meaning of the first move of the Overturning Heaven Three Palms.

“Flatten mountain into field! Great Divine Power!”

“The force of a sage, so close to that of immortals and gods!”

Kong Qing and Zhu Xiao exclaimed in amazement, looking at Zhou Heng’s figure not far away as if they were gazing at a deity.

The Tiger Demon was still not dead. It looked at the disappeared mountain peak and sensed its “ancestor,” whose form and spirit were already annihilated without even having shown itself, and an overwhelming fear was about to burst forth from its heart.

Wrapped in intense fear, its spirit became extremely fragile, its brain blanked out, eyes filled with confusion. It no longer knew what to do, just hovering in the air in a daze.

Suddenly, the Tiger Demon felt its thought processes slowing down as if an invisible force was suppressing its spirit and will. The instinct to survive urged it to resist, but the extreme fear also made it want to wait for death.

What’s the use of resisting?

In the end, it’s still death.

Facing a human sage, there was no doubt that it was doomed.

So, amidst such internal conflict, after a few breaths, the divine light in the Tiger Demon’s eyes completely dimmed down, changing from confusion to utter emptiness.

Then, in an instant, the Tiger Demon’s form shifted, directly shrinking from its original three to four hundred zhang to about a zhang, and then, stepping on the wind and clouds, it promptly returned before Zhou Heng.

This certainly startled Lin Yan and Lin Shi, as well as Kong Qing and Zhu Xiao, but the scene that followed let them breathe a sigh of relief.

The Tiger Demon did not attack upon approaching Zhou Heng; instead, it bowed down respectfully, saying reverently, “Little Tiger Banner has come to a realization and is willing to serve the sage as master, to be the sage’s mount for life.”

Hiss!

Kong Qing and Zhu Xiao couldn’t help but gasp in amazement at these words, filled with incredible awe.

For a cultivator who had achieved some success, having a great demon as a mount was undoubtedly a matter of great prestige, but in practice, very few could achieve this feat.

The vast majority of demons are wild and untamable, hardly ever subdued as mounts.

Rumors say that even cultivators who have stepped into the sage level, typically, can only tame demons comparable to those of the Sun Roaming Realm as their mounts.

As for the great demons on par with the True Form Realm, no one has heard of anyone succeeding in making them into mounts.

Perhaps an Immortal in the Heavenly Heart Realm might be capable of such a feat, but for such Immortals, mounts of the True Form Realm level are no longer necessary.

Yet now, this Tiger Demon, clearly stronger than the average True Form Realm demon, actually came forward to bow, and even offered to serve as this saint’s mount for life, which was absolutely unimaginable.

The two exchanged glances and saw the astonishment in each other’s eyes.

To tame a great demon as a mount was far more shocking than killing one.

Zhou Heng looked at the Tiger Demon and did not immediately agree, instead, he turned to Lin Shi and asked, “Mr. Lin, what do you think?”

“Ah?” Lin Shi was momentarily stunned; clearly, he hadn’t expected Zhou Heng to ask for his opinion, and quickly said, “For the Immortal Master to obtain a mount in our Wushan Town is our great fortune.”

“…” Zhou Heng fell silent for a moment, then smiled and said, “Good, then I shall accept this mount.”

“Thank you, Great True One!” The Tiger Demon, appearing joyful, immediately lay down, prostrated on the ground, waiting for Zhou Heng to mount.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“The demon has been vanquished, and I shall take my leave.” Zhou Heng settled on the Tiger Demon’s back, bowed his hands in farewell to the two from the Lin Family, and glanced at Kong Qing and Zhu Xiao, “Did the two fellow Daoists also come to eliminate the demon?”

“No, no, no!” Kong Qing and Zhu Xiao quickly shook their heads, speaking in unison, “We merely heard that a Great True One was visiting here and specifically came to pay our respects; we didn’t expect you to be a saint.”

“Haha, that’s quite interesting.” Zhou Heng laughed and did not expose the lies of the two.

With a gentle pat, he got the Tiger Demon to rise into the clouds with the whirlwind, stepping on air as it ascended, and in the blink of an eye, they had left Wushan Town.

Kong Qing and Zhu Xiao wiped the cold sweat from their foreheads.

This was truly a life narrowly reclaimed.

The townspeople of Wushan Town knelt on the ground, sincerely bowing to Zhou Heng, who had already taken to the sky and was now out of sight.

…

“Congratulations! You have killed an unremarkable enemy, the Tiger Demon ‘Lord of Wushan’ (severely wounded), Fortune Bag [Copper] +3.”

“Congratulations! You have killed a defenseless enemy, the Tiger Demon ‘Wu San,’ Fortune Bag [Copper] +1.”

Above the clouds, Zhou Heng sat on the Tiger Demon “Wu San,” as a series of reward notifications appeared in his mind.

The ‘Lord of Wushan’ was the ‘Old Ancestor’ who had been slumbering and healing within the mountain, while the Tiger Demon now turned into a puppet by Zhou Heng was naturally ‘Wu San.’

Previously, in Wushan Town, Zhou Heng was considering the humans’ feelings, which is why he asked Lin Shi, but he had not anticipated that the ordinary people’s respect for an “Immortal Master” in this world would far exceed his expectations.

Even if he did not kill the Tiger Demon that caused trouble in the mountains and cut off the peoples’ livelihoods, but instead took it as his mount, Lin Shi had no complaints.

This demon-exterminating trip allowed him to further understand this situation.

Of course, the rewards were not inconsequential.

Four Copper Fortune Bags were just an addition — the real gain was the feedback from the rules of heaven and earth after he eliminated the two great demons.

Two strands of Xuan Huang merit energy!