“It’s because I’m weak?” Demon Li Chong’s obsession was distorted and unstable. He suddenly looked up and stared at Xu Jingming as he roared, “I lived such an abject life in this world, worried about all kinds of trouble. I didn’t dare offend anyone. I deserve death just because I’m weak? I deserve this outcome?”

“Just because I’m weak, my wife should be taken, my children killed, and I should die in prison for no good reason?” Demon Li Chong became even crazier. “That’s unacceptable!”

When their minds collided, everything the demon experienced and his obsession fused into Xu Jingming’s consciousness and kept attacking in a bid to use his obsession to shake Xu Jingming’s mind.

Sigh.

Xu Jingming sighed. “I admit that you’re very pitiful, and I pity you.”

The distorted demon, Li Chong, stared at him.

“If it’s a peaceful world with strict laws, you can be protected by the law even if you’re weak. You can use the law to deal with villains,” Xu Jingming said. “But what if there’s no law to protect you?”

“In times of chaos, people are willing to kill for food. When that happens, the weak will be eliminated.”

“In ancient times, during the tribal era, humans fought with wild beasts for the right to survive! The tribes that were weak didn’t even have the right to survive.”

“Therefore, how you survive depends on the era you live in.”

Xu Jingming looked at him. “With the demon rampage these days, almost every young adult will learn martial arts. Look at those who have basic mastery in martial arts. Even if they encounter demons, their escape speed is much better than that of ordinary people. How many of those gangs who bullied you actually bullied martial arts experts?”

“Basic mastery of martial arts…” Demon Li Chong whispered. “It’s too difficult to gain basic mastery.”

When he was young, his father had also gotten him to practice martial arts. However, he was used to being lazy, so how could he endure such hardships?

“I’ve seen everything you’ve experienced; your family hired many guards when your father was still around,” Xu Jingming said. “But in your hands, there were fewer and fewer guards in your compound.”

“Is it easy to run a medicine hall? Is it easy to earn money?” Demon Li Chong roared in a low voice. “How can there be so much silver to hire so many guards?”

“You’re weak, and you’re an ordinary person. You don’t have any powerful guards, and you don’t even have enough guards,” Xu Jingming said. “Do you really think that Master Wang killed you because of your wife? There are plenty of beautiful women in this world! Your wife is already in her thirties, and she has two children. Would Master Wang really go through the trouble of colluding with the county magistrate for her? That Master Wang is doing this for your wealth!”

“Master Wang and the county magistrate did it for your wealth. Both parties worked together to wipe you clean. As for taking your wife? It’s just an excuse for Master Wang to legally embezzle your family’s wealth.” Xu Jingming looked at the demon, Li Chong. “That’s why I say that I pity you. There’s a good saying: virtue doesn’t beget positions! As for you… your strength wasn’t sufficient to hold such amounts of wealth. You ended up suffering from it.”

“For my family’s wealth?” Demon Li Chong’s figure twisted even more as he murmured, “Yes, my wife is already in her thirties. The county magistrate squeezed me dry of all my cash, and Master Wang took over my assets.”

“Dad said…” Demon Li Chong recalled his father’s instructions before his death.

“Son, remember to deliver 500 taels of silver to Dongming Mountain before the new year every year. I was the one who brought you there in the past few years. You have to go by yourself in the future!”

“Dad, we pay money every year, but those officials and gangs still come asking for more. It’s useless.”

“You’ll only bring trouble on yourself if you don’t hand it over! You have to believe me.”

“But my good friend, the Luo family, didn’t pay them. Didn’t nothing happen?”

“You have to pay them—you have to. Remember, cough cough cough…”

“Yes, yes, I’ll keep it in mind.” On his father’s side, Li Chong naturally agreed.

After he took over the family business upon his father’s passing, he did make payment in the first year. However, he didn’t feel that there were any benefits after handing over the money; he still encountered all kinds of extortions. Therefore, he didn’t pay any more money from the second year onward.

Isn’t it better to keep 500 taels of silver in his pocket every year? Li Chong realized that his life hadn’t changed much without paying. He even felt that his father was stupid and had been cheated.

“What does Dongming Mountain do?” Demon Li Chong stared at Xu Jingming.

“Dongming Mountain has demons.” Xu Jingming looked at him. “There are many mountains in Cheng’an Prefecture that are called Dongming Mountain! They are all led by the most terrifying ‘demon’ in Cheng’an Prefecture. If you pay up obediently, you will be on the list of people to protect! If you don’t pay up, you can only fend for yourself.”

“Demons protect us?” Demon Li Chong found it unbelievable.

“Ordinary people almost don’t know what Dongming Mountain is, but generations of experience have taught them that they have to pay up obediently,” Xu Jingming said. “This is the environment where your homeworld’s people live. You have to abide by the workings of such an environment.”

“You don’t even understand the environment you were living in. First, you didn’t pay the demons. Second, you’re weak. Third, you didn’t hire any powerful guards. Fourth, you had a large sum of money. In such a world, do you think you will have a good ending?”

“Ridiculous.”

Demon Li Chong was fully convinced and completely understood. He laughed. “I actually have to pay the demons in this chaotic world.”

“Humans have to pay the demons. How laughable.”

The blurry and distorted obsession completely dissipated before striking Xu Jingming’s mind and consciousness. This cleansing only made his mind and consciousness more firm.

Knowledge was one aspect of the mind, and putting things into practice was another.

Xu Jingming had learned many principles from reading books in the humanities and from some of the tests in the mysterious land! However, these principles had to be put into practice repeatedly before they could be completely ingrained into his mind.

Demon refinement with the mind allowed the demon’s obsession to fuse into one’s consciousness—as if one had personally experienced everything the other party had experienced.

For demons to be formed from an obsession, they naturally had a relatively strong impact.

Once a flaw appeared in a Demon Vanquisher’s understanding, there would be a huge problem.

Xu Jingming’s mind became even more firm after experiencing such a cleansing strike.

The rules for survival are different depending on the environment.

This demon, Li Chong, had violated the survival rules of the Demon Vanquishing World in every aspect, resulting in a tragic outcome, Xu Jingming thought to himself. First, the Demon Vanquishing World is a place for us Demon Vanquishers to hone our minds. Second, it also has a dangerous environment to force countless mortals to produce ‘demons.’ Third, it’s also a place for these countless mortals—whose memories are blocked—to be forced to practice martial arts. If they gain basic mastery of martial arts, that will be one additional cosmic lifeform!

Almost every Lv. 8 cosmic human registered an account in the Demon Vanquishing World.

The natives here were naturally real humans who had entered with their memories blocked!

Every county city had a martial arts center! It gave them a chance to learn martial arts, and it used all kinds of methods to force them to learn martial arts.

When one couldn’t cultivate to become a Demon Vanquisher… Learning martial arts was almost the only way out for the natives.

Even if I die in the Demon Vanquishing World, I’ll wake up in reality, he thought. Such a world naturally forces one to cultivate. I hope this virtual world experience will give you some insights.

In reality, many people would find themselves in a collision course with trouble.

But in the virtual world, the price of being in the collision was much lower. This was also the Cosmic Human Alliance’s mercy.

…

The next morning.

Xu Jingming ate breakfast and saw Wu Qi sweeping the floor.

“Uncle Qi,” Xu Jingming greeted.

Wu Qi immediately put down his broom and walked over. “Young Master, what’s the matter?”

“Since there’s someone to do the chores, have a break,” Xu Jingming said.

“It’s boring doing nothing,” Wu Qi replied with a smile.

Xu Jingming nodded. “Uncle Qi, you can go out more often if you’re free. If you find any news of demons, tell me when you come back.”

“News about demons?” Wu Qi was stunned.

“Since I’ve become a Demon Vanquisher, I naturally have to refine more demons,” Xu Jingming said.

After refining the demon, Li Chong, once, Xu Jingming could sense that his mind had become much firmer in certain aspects. This was how the mind was; one needed to put what they knew into repeated practice! Demon refinement was a method of practice that penetrated deep into the mind.

“I heard that it’s also very dangerous to deal with demons.” Wu Qi was a little worried.

“Don’t worry, Uncle Qi. I can easily take them down, just like the demon that the caravan encountered.”

Wu Qi nodded slightly. “Alright, I’ll go out more often. If I hear any news about the demons, I’ll immediately inform you.”

“Thank you, Uncle Qi,” Xu Jingming said.

“It’s only right. I’ll head out now.” Wu Qi immediately set off. Back then, he was a young beggar and was saved by the Wu family’s young lady. Later on, when she married into the Chen family, he followed her and became a butler.

In his life, Miss was someone he was bent on protecting with his life.

With his mistress dead, Wu Qi naturally placed all his attention on her son.

There are millions of people in the prefecture capital, so the probability of a demon being born is much higher, Xu Jingming thought. However, I can’t afford to deal with those that are too strong.

The stronger and more intelligent a demon was, the more they could control themselves.

A faction like Dongming Mountain was spread all over Cheng’an Prefecture, and they even collected protection fees for extended periods! Be it the official Demon Vanquishers, the Demon Vanquishers of large families, the Demon Vanquishers of sects… All kinds of Demon Vanquishers couldn’t do anything to this demon faction.

Xu Jingming knew his limits. Before reaching Lv. 8, he had to keep a low profile.

…

In the blink of an eye, more than half a month passed.

Uncle Qi wandered about the city every day and went to the teahouse and other places where people gathered. He also heard a lot of news about demons.

Xu Jingming sat in a rockery pavilion in the back garden. Sadly, the official Demon Vanquisher network covers the entire city, so they are usually the first to arrive! Some families’ Demon Vanquishers are also rather fast. The weaker ‘demons’ get finished off by these Demon Vanquishers the moment they appear.

When Lv. 7 cosmic lifeforms descended into the Demon Vanquishing World, they loved to deal with weak demons. It was relatively safer to refine those weak demons.

Xu Jingming had gone through the tests of the mysterious land after all. For example, there were more than a hundred life crises on Planet Number Six. After passing those tests, the probability of an obsession threatening Xu Jingming was extremely low at the level of a Human Demon.

Those ordinary Demon Vanquishers didn’t have Xu Jingming’s guts. They avoided the strong demons, but they finished off the weak demons as quickly as possible.

Not a single suitable demon has been discovered. As for some of the famous ones in Cheng’an Prefecture, they are at least at the Earth Demon level. I don’t dare to touch them. Xu Jingming looked at the moon in the sky, then formed a seal with his left hand and shouted softly, “Descend!”

Two bolts of lightning struck down. Of the two bolts of lightning, one was dazzlingly white, and the other contained darkness—they perfectly fused together.

Bang!

The sound was deep and bassy, and the hole in the ground was bottomless.

Xu Jingming watched.

I’ve studied the Primordial Star Conjecture’s Light Rays volume for more than three months, and my insights have increased. I’ve finally raised Bolt to the divine power level. It can barely be considered a divine power with basic mastery, and it’s also the first divine power I’ve grasped, Xu Jingming thought.

The spell, Bolt, when transformed into a divine power was the Quint-Bolt spell recorded in the Myriad Star Demon Refining Scroll.

Basic mastery of the divine power, Quint-Bolt, required the perfect combination of two different types of lightning! Its might had increased several times compared to a single bolt of lightning.

At lesser mastery, one needed the combination of three different bolts of lightning. Its might was several times greater than at basic mastery.

Greater mastery meant the combination of five different bolts of lightning, and its might was dozens of times greater than basic mastery.

This Quint-Bolt spell required a very vast amount of Light Rays knowledge as a foundation to master. Xu Jingming could be considered a peerless genius of Light Rays, but he barely gained basic mastery of the divine power, Quint-Bolt, after three months of studying the legacy. It was obvious how difficult it was.

With the combination of two bolts of lightning, the might is increased several times, Xu Jingming thought. I’ve just basically mastered a divine power. Unfortunately, there’s no demon suitable for me to practice with.

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