Chapter 30: Demonic Cultivators and Ghost Cultivators

At last, Wang Liang finally understood why Ghost-at-All-Costs had been so anxious upon hearing the news about attacking Demon Ridge at Jingyang Hill. They all had mission objectives stuck at Jingyang Hill, and none of them were minor ones. Just as Ghost-at-All-Costs had said, if they waited until everyone had assembled their teams and joined in only on the day the main force set out, at best they would serve as cannon fodder or scouts, and it would be nearly impossible to get their hands on anything worthwhile—let alone accomplish their own mission goals.

But now, with Wang Liang's timely reminder, they could complete some preliminary tasks ahead of time and secure their positions before the army even mobilized. At this stage, the City Guardian and his allies would surely value every bit of strength that could boost their forces. As a result, a sense of gratitude toward Wang Liang took root among them. They answered his questions with earnestness.

From their explanations, Wang Liang learned that regardless of whether one pursued the path of ghost cultivation or demon cultivation, all players started out as humans. There were three ways to convert to demon cultivation. The first was to die and follow the cycle of reincarnation, being reborn in the animal realm and then cultivating onwards. The advantage of this method was the purity of the resulting demon bloodline, which ensured no conflicting bloodline issues. The downside was the randomness of reincarnation—if one was unlucky and ended up as a weaker species, progress would be much more difficult.

The second method involved absorbing the essence blood of demon beasts, transforming oneself first into a half-demon and then into a full demon cultivator. The upside was the ability to choose one's species; the more powerful the species, however, the longer it took to collect enough essence blood. It wasn't simply a matter of targeting a species and quickly achieving the transformation.

The third route was possession—seizing another body. This was the fastest method, and species could be chosen, but it often led to discord between spirit and flesh, making one vulnerable to targeted attacks.

Ghost cultivation was much more straightforward: there was only one path. After falling in battle, the world would turn a tricolor of black, white, and grey. At that moment, if one chose to forfeit everything and requested to become a ghost cultivator, the transformation would be immediate. Of course, entry was easy, but the subsequent branching was complex. There were main types—corpse, ghost, bone, and aberrant—each subdivided into countless subcategories. The possible directions were myriad: ghost immortals and ghost gods were just two of the many paths, with even stranger, more esoteric routes available.

Perhaps because all three present were ghost cultivators themselves, their explanations dwelled more on that subject.

From their conversation, Wang Liang discerned that Ghost-at-All-Costs was following the Five Ghosts path within ghost cultivation. He could merge five ghosts representing the five elements into his body, borrowing their powers. For example, the female ghost Xiugu he had gained from Lion Tower could be merged to aid in pill refinement; his current target, Wu the Second, once integrated, would grant him martial prowess in combat.

Pincher-of-Small-Change, in stark contrast, followed the path of the Ghost King Devourer—absorbing and assimilating other ghosts to grow stronger. This was the most populous route among ghost cultivators. Full-of-Blessings-and-Longevity sought to tread the path of the Ghost God; he had already gathered a band of ghost soldiers and only lacked a divine seal to cement his status and set forth.

Wang Liang found these paths intriguing, though he had no intention of becoming a ghost cultivator himself; he was quite content as a human. Still, since he kept some small demons at home, the thought occurred to him that raising a few minor ghosts might be interesting as well. The three ghost cultivators, however, disagreed. Minor ghosts, being of the yin nature, could only be properly transformed by high-level immortals with powerful methods, which would strip away their innate abilities; it was better not to keep them at all.

Nevertheless, they offered Wang Liang some advice. While raising minor ghosts was unwise, venerating ancestors or totems would suit his current circumstances much better. They explained in detail the rituals for ancestor and totem worship, which essentially formed the embryonic stage of the incense-fire deity path. If Wang Liang happened to possess an official edict or decree, he could even obtain a divine title and command a squad or two of ghost soldiers.

While they spoke, the sky suddenly darkened. Looking up, Wang Liang saw the sun obscured by something strange. It reminded him of the bizarre phenomena he had encountered previously at Jingyang Hill, so he instinctively drew his Soul-Cleaving Blade. Seeing this, Ghost-at-All-Costs rushed forward to stop him.

“Brother, don’t act rashly. This is my elder arriving—there’s no danger. Don’t be alarmed.”

Pincher-of-Small-Change chimed in as well, “That’s right, talented brother. This is the side effect of nearing ghost immortal status—the yin energy is too dense to control. It’s not targeted at you.”

Only then did Wang Liang relax and sheath his blade. At that moment, a phantom figure of deep blue appeared before him. Unlike the three ghost cultivators, whose appearances were distorted and ambiguous, this figure, aside from his ghostly blue hue and faint translucence, looked otherwise perfectly human. He was clad in a long white robe, plain at first glance, but on closer inspection, the cuffs and hem were embroidered with nearly invisible silver threads depicting various spectral creatures.

On his head sat a jade coronet, immaculate and pure, but if one looked closely near the base, a faint trace of blood could be seen. He didn’t come empty-handed either: in his hand was a black folding fan, which, when opened, revealed two bold characters—“Traitor Within.”

Upon appearing, the elder glanced at Ghost-at-All-Costs, then turned to Wang Liang and asked, “Is this the one?”

Ghost-at-All-Costs nodded emphatically, about to speak, but the elder stepped forward and greeted Wang Liang with courtesy. “Greetings, fellow cultivator.”

Wang Liang hastened to return the gesture. “Greetings, esteemed friend.”

Seeing their senior so polite, all three of the younger cultivators froze, wondering if they had ever been careless or offended Wang Liang in their previous interactions. In truth, they were unaware that this ghost elder’s courtesy stemmed from something else entirely: the overwhelming purple aura surrounding Wang Liang.

The elder now continued, “There’s no need for such formality. The goods you’ve provided this time have been a tremendous help to me. Thirty-six taels of Yinward Wine, was it? We’ll calculate it at the premium rate for materials that enhance attributes. The current market price is…”