Standing in the wilderness, Chen Heng thought to himself.
Technically speaking, the Heaven Devouring Scripture was still of use to him, but it was not as effective.
If he had obtained this Heaven Devouring Scripture just as his cultivation foundation had begun to collapse, perhaps he might have been able to make a full recovery.
If he used the Heaven Devouring Scripture to devour others" const.i.tutions and bloodlines, perhaps he could have restored his cultivation foundation.
However, it was not as likely anymore; it had already been one year.
By now, his body"s situation had become incredibly bad.
At this point, if he wanted to stop his cultivation foundation from collapsing further and mend it, it was not impossible, but the amount of slaughtering he would have to do would be unbelievable.
Moreover, he would not necessarily be successful in the end.
Rather than doing something so horrible, it was better to just give up now.
Chen Heng shook his head.
In this Desolate Region, where could he find incredibly excellent const.i.tutions and bloodlines to devour?
Devouring ordinary people"s const.i.tutions and bloodlines was not of much use to him.
As for going to other places, putting aside his current state, he did not even know how to find those special geniuses.
Those incredibly special geniuses had most likely long since been discovered and brought into big sects; it would not be so easy to make a move against them.
With Chen Heng"s current situation, devouring one or two geniuses would not be enough.
Unless he wanted to make an enemy of this entire world, it was better to give up.
Various thoughts flashed in Chen Heng"s mind, and in the end he shook his head as he looked to the side.
In the small building, Liu Li and Liu Yi were still sleeping within.
However, only Liu Yi was truly sleeping, and as for Liu Li, he only had his eyes closed and was just pretending to be asleep.
Chen Heng wondered what he was thinking about.
Standing there, Chen Heng silently observed these two people.
Their golden Fortunes appeared above them, and by now, there were small flames burning on their Fortunes—this meant that their Fortunes had broken out.
It seemed that soon, these two people would escape from their current circ.u.mstances and begin to rise up.
"It"s fine."
Looking at the Fortune covering Liu Li and Liu Yi, Chen Heng thought for a moment before making a decision.
Standing there, he smiled and turned and left.
In the following days, Chen Heng continued to teach them as usual.
As for the Heaven Devouring Scripture, he did not bring it up, as if nothing had happened.
Everything returned to normal—until one day.
"Have a seat,"Chen Heng called Liu Li and Liu Yi to his room and had them sit down early one morning.
"I am going to go," Chen Heng smiled and said softly.
Hearing this, Liu Li and Liu Yi both immediately looked up.
"Teacher, where are you going?" Liu Yi asked reluctantly.
"A place very far away; my homeland," Chen Heng replied with a gentle expression.
"Teacher"s homeland?" Liu Yi felt quite curious, "What is it like?"
"It"s a very good place," Chen Heng said as he smiled, "There is very little conflict there and the people don"t have to worry about not having food to eat. Everyone can study and learn martial arts…"
A look of longing appeared on Liu Yi"s face as she asked, "Can you bring us as well? I don"t want to leave you, teacher."
On the side, Liu Li did not say anything, but he also looked quite reluctant.
"I don"t want to leave you two either," Chen Heng stretched out his hand and patted Liu Yi"s head.
Liu Yi did not resist and enjoyed the feeling of Chen Heng"s hand on her head, a relaxed expression on her face.
She gradually began to lean against Chen Heng"s body and soon fell asleep.
Seeing this, Liu Li opened his mouth and wanted to say something but froze.
A wave of sleepiness washed over him, making him want to fall asleep.
This feeling of sleepiness was intense and came suddenly, making him feel quite wary.
"Teacher…" Liu Li was barely able to force his eyes open and look ahead at the last moment.
Sitting on the bed, Chen Heng had a calm and gentle expression as he looked at him.
Looking at Chen Heng, Liu Li felt quite bitter.
At that moment, he thought back to what Yu Shan had said to him and felt much pain and bitterness.
"In the end, it still came down to this?"
Liu Li wanted to speak, but he was unable to hold on against the feeling of sleepiness.
He tried to open his eyes, and soon, his eyes closed as he fell asleep.
In front of his chest, the black pendant gave off light and seemed to react.
"So it actually happened," Yu Shan watched what was happening outside and coldly laughed.
He had long since expected this and had prepared for it.
In the end, cultivators were just cold and selfish people.
Some solo cultivators could wage ma.s.sive battles over just a bit of spirit stones and spirit pills, let alone lives.
How many people acted as heroes for their whole lives, only to show their inner ugliness during their last moments?
No one was willing to die; this was even more so for the old monsters who had lived for a long time.
From how Yu Shan saw it, this was not surprising at all.
If it was him, he would do the same thing.
Yu Shan hid in the pendant and prepared to attack at the critical moment and kill Chen Heng in a single strike.
It was just that what surprised him was that after rendering Liu Li and Liu Yi unconscious, Chen Heng did not immediately act.
"Life and death…"
Sitting on the bed and stroking Liu Yi"s little head, Chen Heng fell silent for a long time before lightly sighing.
Following this, he slowly put a hand on Liu Li"s shoulder.
Just as Yu Shan thought that Chen Heng was about to act, what he saw completely surprised him.
Pure essence blood began to flow out from within Chen Heng"s body.
The blood was extremely pure and seemed to contain great power. If an ordinary person could touch some, they could become quite extraordinary. Their talent would become much better and they would go through great changes.
This was Chen Heng"s essence blood, and under his control, it slowly entered Liu Li and Liu Yi"s bodies.
Seeing this scene, Yu Shan was completely dumbfounded, not knowing how to react.
He naturally knew what Chen Heng was doing—currently, Chen Heng was using the Heaven Devouring Scripture.
However, different to the normal Heaven Devouring Scripture, Chen Heng was not using it to devour other people"s const.i.tutions and bloodlines.
Right now, he was refining his const.i.tution and bloodline and using the Heaven Devouring Scripture to give it to Liu Li and Liu Yi.
This was a True Lord"s essence blood and was incredibly precious. It could be said that it was incredibly rare and priceless.
What"s more, compared to the normal devouring by Heaven Devouring Scripture, Chen Heng was refining his const.i.tution and bloodline himself.
By doing this, he would drastically lower the negative side-effects.
However, the results of his const.i.tution and bloodline being refined was incredibly shocking.
After he did this, Chen Heng would definitely die.
This was a True Lord making a sacrifice to support others.
Even Yu Shan, someone who was incredibly cold, could not help but react emotionally.
"The Heaven Devouring Scripture really lives up to its name…"
Sitting on the bed and looking at Liu Li and Liu Yi, Chen Heng sighed as he said, "It"s just that in the end, it is an evil path. Even if it will allow you to become powerful for a while, it will not last. In the end, your personality will greatly change and go mad.
"As such, it"s better for me, your teacher, to give you a push."
Chen Heng smiled, and his face became paler and paler, "As a True Lord, my essence blood can give you a baptism, Li"Er, and change your const.i.tution. There"s no need for you to cultivate this kind of evil technique."
Chen Heng spoke softly as he continued.
"He"s doing this just so Liu Li won"t cultivate the Heaven Devouring Scripture?"
Within the black pendant, Yu Shan" expression changed.
In the past, he had seen many powerful cultivators and old monsters. Most of them were like him, willing to do anything for their goals.
It was simply impossible for them to do something like what Chen Heng was currently doing, sacrificing his own life for the younger generation.
Even though sacrificing himself to help someone else looked simple, it required great determination.
Without completely selfless altruism and a calm and undisturbed soul, it was impossible to do.
Just what kind of character was this?
Yu Shan deeply sighed and felt quite ashamed.
Because of his personality, he was quite pessimistic and had never thought that he would meet someone like Chen Heng, who would sacrifice himself to help his disciple.
As time pa.s.sed, Chen Heng began to continuously cough.
As he lost more and more essence blood, his face became darker and his black hair gradually became white. Wrinkles appeared on his face, and he began to quickly age.
The powerful magic energy within his body also quickly dissipated, and the once ocean-like reserve of magic energy soon dried up.
On the other hand, Liu Li and Liu Yi"s bodies became stronger and stronger.
Motes of spirit energy covered their bodies.
In just a short amount of time, their cultivation greatly increased.
Putting aside Liu Yi, just Liu Li had suddenly completed Foundation Building and had gone through a ma.s.sive change.
From this moment on, he would be a true cultivator.
"Looks like… this is the limit…" an exhausted voice sounded out.
Looking at Liu Li and Liu Yi, Chen Heng got up with great difficulty before walking out of the room.
He walked outside and had to stop every few steps as if he was in extreme pain.
Outside, the warm sunlight fell on him, and looking at the bright exterior, Chen Heng smiled and walked out.
He walked slowly and found a small path which he followed.
He was now extremely weak; after all of his essence blood had been drawn out, all that remained was an empty sh.e.l.l.
He did not have much lifeforce left and would soon die.
However, Chen Heng was not surprised and accepted it calmly.
He slowly continued forwards.
Soon, changes began to appear in his body.
Lines began to appear all over his body, spreading more and more, until his entire body was covered.
......
Right now, he looked like a doll covered with cracks, as if he would shatter at any moment.
A slight breeze blew.
Within the breeze, Chen Heng"s body froze before scattering, leaving behind no trace.
Only his clothes remained, proving that he had once existed.
...
Liu Li only woke up after a long time, and he seemed to have had a dream.
He did not remember the contents of the dream, but he felt that it had been quite comfortable.
A warm feeling covered his body, seeming to nurture his body and cause him to become more powerful.
After he woke up, he found that that feeling was real.
"You"re awake," Yu Shan"s voice sounded out gloomily.
"Yes," Liu Li nodded before feeling quite surprised.
The feeling he got from his body was very different from before.
He felt incredibly powerful.
His body contained a terrifying power, and he felt as if he could smash apart a boulder with a single punch.
He had never felt so powerful before.
As Liu Li examined his body, he was completely dumbfounded.
Within his body, there was a faint golden magic energy circulating, giving off light.
He never had magic energy before.
In the past, because of his const.i.tution, he had never been able to condense magic energy and set out on the path of cultivation.
Even though he did not have much magic energy, there was definitely magic energy within his body.
Liu Li was completely stupefied by this.
After a while, he looked at Liu Yi next to him.
Liu Yi seemed to also have gone through changes; her aura became deeper and her cultivation became even more terrifying.
Feeling these changes, he muttered to himself in confusion, "Just what happened?"
He only remembered Chen Heng suddenly making them fall asleep.
He had thought that Chen Heng was going to act against them and use the Heaven Devouring Scripture against them.
However, it seemed that this had not been the case.
Just what had happened?
"Have a look for yourself." Yu Shan" voice sounded out as he sighed.
Scenes appeared in Liu Li"s mind.
Yu Shan did not use words and instead used his magic energy to recreate the scene from before and displayed it to Liu Li.
Within the scenes, after Liu Li fell silent, everything that Chen Heng had done was displayed to him.
He saw Chen Heng caress their heads before refining his const.i.tution and bloodline and sending his essence blood into their bodies.
Seeing this scene, Liu Li was stupefied.
"Teacher!"
Within the scene, he could clearly see the changes in Chen Heng and could only watch as Chen Heng"s handsome appearance became incredibly elderly and frail.
He could not help but sob, not knowing what to say.
"You had a good teacher."
In his mind, Yu Shan"s voice once again sounded out as he sighed.