Exploring Immortality Cultivation

Among cockroaches, there sometimes arose specimens with particularly developed nervous systems, whose "intelligence" was slightly higher than that of their kin. However, the life force of cockroaches was robust enough by itself, as they had acquired the most suitable bodies for survival millions of years ago. Their bodies, being very small, and their nervous systems, being too simple, meant that even if their intelligence doubled, it wouldn't significantly impact their behaviors.

This kind of "higher intelligence" did not aid in improving their survivability, so it wouldn't become a dominant gene and spread throughout the species. There might be some "particularly clever" cockroaches, but this intelligence would not spread or evolve further.

For most species, evolution proceeded in this way. This was also the answer to the question, "Despite having a significantly advantageous brain, why is it that only humans have evolved intelligence?"

Compared to allocating points to physical strength, endurance, reproductive power, or acquiring toxin skills and biting skills, adding points to intelligence offered almost no immediate advantages, without instantly noticeable effects. A "developed nervous system" was hard to become a dominant gene and spread throughout the population. If the prerequisite skills couldn't be activated, then talking about an "even more developed nervous system" or an "extremely developed nervous system" was naturally out of the question.

The choice of our human ancestors to embark on the evolutionary path of adding points to intelligence was really just a coincidence.

According to what Chen Feng had said before, Dragon Power, Dragon Attack, and Dragon Guard were core divine skills of the Dragon Clan and were very common basic skills that many members of the Dragon Clan possessed. Compared to the "Dragon's Majesty," which was exclusive to the Royal Family, these were still relatively common.

... Common my foot, each of these skills had at least a value of six plus, not all members of the Immortal Alliance could master them!

The thing is, did the Dragon Clan really need to evolve such terrifying bloodlines? When they had reached the pinnacle of the evolutionary tree millions of years ago, such combat-oriented bloodlines couldn't possibly have become dominant and spread across the entire race—unless the Dragon Clan had also experienced many mass extinctions, and those without these divine skills were naturally eliminated.

Shenzhou millions of years ago, was it really that brutal? Heavenly Immortals existed everywhere, and the Mahayana Demon Clan was as common as dogs?

Back then, there wasn't even the concept of "Ascension"?

Could it be that the Dragon Clan were not native evolutionary products of this planet? Descendants of extraterrestrial beings? Biological weapons created by some ancient civilization that had long since perished?

Or was there really some "Great Purge from the Stars"?

Chen Feng noticed that Wang Qi's face looked terrible and asked, "What's wrong? Did you think of something?"

"Nothing." Wang Qi sighed, "It's all wild guesses without evidence, not to be taken as truth."

Chen Feng wanted to ask more, but at this moment, the other Foundation Establishment Cultivators had already eradicated the tentacles completely. The tall man, who fought using only his fists and palms and whose lineage was indeterminable, lifted a piece of the ground as if he wanted to dig deep and root out the source. However, after one glance, his face dramatically changed, and he immediately let go; the rock slab smashed back onto the ground.

Li You urgently asked, "Junior Brother Zhang, what happened?"

The Foundation Establishment Cultivator surnamed Zhang clamped his mouth shut tightly, his eyes squeezed shut, nearly crying, but he still desperately shook his head and waved his hands, indicating no. No one knew what had happened.

"Brother Chen, come and take a look," Li You called out to Chen Feng. For matters like this, Tianling Ridge always had the most say.

Chen Feng approached the surnamed Zhang cultivator, who had already caught his breath, and said, "I... I'm okay."

"What did you see? I feel like your mental state is very chaotic," Chen Feng hurriedly deployed several Concentration Techniques and Heart Clarity Spells on the surnamed Zhang cultivator.

"I'm fine, it's just that what's below is too horrifying... We need to be prepared before looking."

At his words, Chen Feng immediately covered everyone with the Heart-Cleansing Rain Spell Light. Then Li You and the disciple from Liuyun Sect simultaneously struck, shattering a few larger rock slabs.

The things beneath the surface were revealed.

They were corpses, many corpses.

If there were only skeletons down there, the young ones wouldn't turn pale, as time had already diluted the scent of death.

If there were only a few corpses inside, it also wouldn't matter much. Although Shenzhou was generally peaceful, there were still intense conflicts in some local areas. Except for Wang Qi, everyone here was either a Law Enforcement Officer or a Security Guardian, and they had all seen blood.

But inside, there were countless corpses.

These bodies hadn't been placed there all at once. The bodies at the very bottom were so decayed that they revealed greenish-black bones, and all tissues had turned into a viscous, brown fluid. Bodies a bit higher up were highly decomposed, swollen, and burst, with discolored fat curling up. An even higher level of bodies had only the epidermis decaying and discolored, with slightly bloated abdomens.

Additionally, all these bodies had fleshy tentacles sticking out of them. All the tentacles had mutated from these corpses. These disgusting red meat tendrils gently swayed below, stirring the pile of corpses underground.

On closer examination, this large pit even contained the corpses of cattle, sheep, and even domestic poultry. Human life here was horrifyingly trampled upon, treated by the sacrificers as mere numbers, even equating humans to livestock.

Mutated bodily corpses, decaying bodies...

Other than Wang Qi, who already knew the true identity of this tentacle and was prepared, everyone else's expression changed.

"These few days, let's focus more on our visualization practice...otherwise, we'll be restless," Chen Feng said with a forced smile, trying to lighten the mood.

Standing at the edge of the large pit, Wang Qi's face was as grim as water.

"If you look closely, the corpses at the bottom were all frozen or starved to death, mostly animals. As you move up, there are more humans, all of whom were slowly tortured to death."

Zhen Chan, accustomed to slaughter, used the vision of one of Wang Qi's mechanical beasts to examine the depths of the pit.

"A transformation of the cult?" Wang Qi suddenly felt that his mood was very poor.

After that, everything proceeded according to procedure.

Li You reported the events here upwards. The Immortal Alliance dispatched a Primordial Spirit Master at top speed to take charge of the situation.

The Foundation Establishment Cultivators stationed around the area had never stepped into the village from the beginning to end. The cultists' level of madness also exceeded prior expectations; not a single one escaped. In other words, they had no substantial contact with this event. For the Immortal Alliance, this was the best possible situation.

As for the seven people involved in the battle, under the pretext of "not to shake people's faith," they were asked to keep the entire incident strictly confidential.

From this Grandmaster's speech and behavior, Wang Qi sensed a familiar scent. Needless to say, it seemed that those dispatched to handle this situation were all from the Immortal Alliance Dark Department.

After signing confidentiality agreements and taking heart oaths, the seven individuals were sent away from the area. Ordinary believers subdued by Chen Feng were detained and placed under strict surveillance. In accordance with prior requests from Chen Feng and Wang Qi, a small portion of them would be transferred to a detention facility near the Divine Capital.

Thus, the operation in Xiaodong and Xiaoxi to stamp out the evildoers and eliminate the witches was thoroughly concluded, with nearly a hundred cult strongholds swept away—thirty-four Golden Core Level Priest Witches, and more than two hundred Foundation Establishment Level Divine Officer Witches, with countless lesser officials uncounted.

This number left all participants feeling chilled.

If even one cult member could cause such terror, what about the thousands of cult followers?

As they parted at the Spiritual Boat Harbor, Li You stopped Wang Qi and Chen Feng, patting their shoulders, "You two, you must continue your research. I think there will be a lot of criticism about this study, but you must not give up. These cults...must be eradicated."

Now somewhat familiar, Chen Feng replied, "Brother Li, you no longer think our research is a distraction?"

Li You solemnly said, "Brother Wang spoke the truth. To completely eliminate the enemy, we must understand them thoroughly. It's because we didn't know about the cult beforehand that we ended up in such a predicament..."

Suddenly, Li You smiled and said, "Speaking of which, we must thank Brother Wang for your mighty prowess in annihilating powerful enemies, and Brother Chen for your calmness in battle and correct rescue operations, which allowed us to complete the mission without a casualty."

"Having faced life and death together, we are friends now! If you ever come to Thunder Pavilion territory, I'll treat you to a drink!"

After bidding farewell to their temporary comrades-in-arms, Wang Qi and Chen Feng also boarded the Spirit Boat. However, they were not headed to the Divine Capital but directly to Leiyang. They had a piece of jade containing the Heart Demon Algorithm that needed to be examined by a professional institution.

After uploading it, as he said, Chen Feng immediately began his visualization practice to cleanse his spirit, while Wang Qi leaned against the wall, lost in thought.

To ensure the quality of the sample, Chen Feng bought a super-fast Spirit Boat, and by evening, they had reached their destination.

One of the Immortal Alliance's nine main branches and the primary scientific research city, Leiyang, appeared just as splendid as when Wang Qi first saw it, filled with modernly designed, towering buildings. The city's abundant Spiritual Energy reflected the order and vitality of the entire city.

There were no traces of that snow disaster at all.

"Three years ago, during that snow disaster, I was still in Xinyue City, playing with Azimiao…" Wang Qi's thoughts were inexplicably stirred, his brows furrowed.

After entering the city, the two separated. Chen Feng went to locate a professional institution capable of performing complex and precise Spiritual Energy measurements without queuing, while Wang Qi excused himself to visit a senior, heading in a different direction.

Once a distance away, Wang Qi turned towards the Leiyang Branch. This metallic gleaming tower left a deep impression on him. At the branch entrance, he activated his calculator, projected a screen of light in front of him, and debited his contact book to request communication with Feng Luoyi via video call.

This was a form of implicit request for a meeting. The real entity of the Ten Thousand Immortals True Mirror was buried in this city, in this Immortal Alliance branch. Here, Feng Luoyi could directly materialize an avatar at the Carefree Level.

Before long, Wang Qi felt as if heaven and earth had flipped upside down. Upon refocusing, Feng Luoyi was already standing before him. This was reality, not an illusion. Feng Luoyi motioned for Wang Qi to follow. Soon, the two entered a quiet room.

Feng Luoyi sat down and said, "I figured you discovered some problem. If you have anything to ask, go ahead."

(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you are welcome to recommend and vote on Qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please read on m.qidian.com.)