372: A glimpse into the lives of all beings!

However, sometimes submission means being controlled by others, trading a portion of one's freedom for future development.

For Lu Ming, however, this was not something unacceptable.

In the final analysis, it came down to that one saying.

With strength, you have the right to challenge others; without it, you should develop yourself in low-profile, waiting for the right moment.

So as long as it didn't cost him his life, he could accept paying a certain price to join the Inner Domain.

Because only there could he find the ladder and infinite possibilities leading to Realms higher than the Nascent Soul!

Therefore, controlling the Lancang Blessed Land and obtaining a high-starting-point "legal" identity was a crucial part of his plan to enter the Inner Domain!

"After being silent for several years, it's time to give the Outer Domain a little shock!"

Lu Ming's eyes were deep as he murmured to himself... In the Northern Territory, deep within the Yuanhu Mountains.

Beneath this seemingly ordinary mountain range, the earth had long since been hollowed out, forming a massive underground cave system.

This was the headquarters of the 'Tianli Cult'!

A few years ago, this place had suffered a great catastrophe when a Grand Elder from a nearby Golden Core power, "Fierce Wind Valley," found clues and aggressively attacked.

The wrath of a Late Golden Core Stage Cultivator had nearly caused the entire Yuanhu Mountain to crack and collapse.

This resulted in a large area of buildings and Formation facilities being turned to dust under the impact of the violent combat aftershocks.

Afterward, however, with the Tianli Cult investing massive amounts of manpower and resources, the underground caves had long since been restored to their original state, even surpassing their former glory!

The main space had been expanded to be extremely vast, enough to easily accommodate thousands of people.

The most core area of the cave was the Central Hall.

The lights here were dim, with only the Gloom-Glow Stones embedded in the hall's dome emitting a pale, cold light.

In the center of the hall stood a nine-foot-high circular dharma altar, dark red in color as if cast from immortal music.

The surface of the altar was engraved with countless twisted, complex, and eerie runes.

They seemed to possess life, slowly squirming on the dark red base and emitting an ominous aura, making the entire altar look bizarre and grotesque.

At this moment, atop the altar, a middle-aged Daoist dressed in a profound black Daoist robe sat quietly cross-legged.

His appearance was quite peculiar, shrouded in a hazy, shifting phantom that made his features blurred and indistinct.

With every glance, it seemed as if countless faces were rapidly alternating and flashing across his visage.

Sometimes it was a joyful face laughing maniacally, sometimes a weeping face of extreme grief, sometimes a hideous face of a greedy ghost, and sometimes a resentful face of jealous malice... This was not a technique of disguise, but an external manifestation condensed from the endless desires of all living beings!

Every face that appeared and vanished represented a manifestation of emotions transformed from the seven passions and six desires of living creatures.

It was as if the most intense emotional moments of countless beings struggling in the Mortal World had been frozen by some power and finally projected onto this Daoist's face.

This formed the constantly flowing "Faces of All Living Beings"!

Simply by sitting there, he naturally emitted an invisible field that influenced the entire hall.

Getting closer, one could seemingly hear the laughter of countless beings, or the chaotic murmurs of low weeping and roaring.

Below the altar, thousands of figures knelt in a dense, black mass.

They all wore uniform black robes with hoods, hiding their faces in shadow.

At this moment, like the most devout believers, they bowed deeply toward the Daoist on the altar, silently chanting obscure syllables.

Countless twisted, constantly shifting "mortal desires" rose from the Niwan Palaces of these black-robed cultists.

Joy, anger, sorrow, happiness, love, hate, and desire.

Greed, anger, ignorance, pride, and doubt.

The seven passions and six desires intertwined, forming turbid and colorful streams that flowed under the guidance of an invisible force.

Ultimately, they converged on the altar like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, slowly seeping into the Daoist's seven orifices: eyes, ears, mouth, and nose.

With every breath the Daoist took, these colorful "mortal desires" rose and fell in rhythm.

Around the entire altar, a thick, colorful mist drifted, its colors shifting and bizarre, emitting a weirdly attractive force that made one's heart and mind sway.

If an unknowing Cultivator were to approach and accidentally touch this colorful mist, they would instantly fall into an endless illusion of the Mortal World!

Countless chaotic and violent emotions, twisted and expanding desires, and memory fragments of intertwined love and hate would rush into their Sea of Consciousness like a bursting flood, instantly tearing an ordinary Cultivator's mind to shreds.

At best, their Divine Soul would be damaged and their Heart-Nature would change drastically; at worst, they would descend directly into madness, becoming a slave to desire.

However, at the center of this filthy vortex of desire, the black-robed Daoist remained as steady as a rock.

His expression was calm, and his breathing was long and rhythmic.

He swallowed the massive amount of desire, refining it and incorporating it into his Dantian.

The power that was enough to drive ordinary people mad was, to him, merely the "resources" needed for cultivation.

In the cave, amidst the murmuring prayers of the cultists, an unknown amount of time passed.

Finally, at a certain critical point.

The churning, ever-changing colorful mist around the altar suddenly froze.

In the next moment, the seated Daoist suddenly opened his mouth, and all the colorful mist turned into a tornado, swallowed into his body like a great whale sucking in water!

In an instant, his profound black Daoist robe moved without wind, snapping loudly!

An aura several times stronger than before erupted from within him!

"Boom!!!"

A violent surge of magical power swept through the entire underground hall!

The dark red runes on the altar lit up one after another, bursting with blinding blood-red light to form a barrier, restricting the impact to the area of the altar.

Inside the Daoist's body, a roar like a rushing river could be heard.

A colorful glimmer radiated from his body, and behind him, a massive demonic shadow with six arms, a blurred face, and seemingly gathering all the world's desires and emotions, faintly emerged.

The demonic shadow flashed and vanished, but it emitted a pressure that made the Soul tremble!

The breakthrough barrier to the Late Golden Core Stage was blown open under the impact of the countless accumulated mortal desires!

His aura climbed steadily, finally stabilizing at a brand-new height!

When the last trace of colorful mist was completely absorbed and refined, the Daoist's tightly closed eyes suddenly snapped open!

In the depths of his eyes, countless phantom faces seemed to change rapidly before finally returning to a state of calm.

Late Golden Core Stage, achieved!

"Congratulations, Cult Leader! Your Daoist arts are profound, and the Great Dao is within reach!"

Below, the thousands of black-robed cultists seemed to sense something. They all raised their arms, their hands forming a strange and uniform seal in front of their chests, shaped like a blooming flower of desire.

Maintaining their kneeling posture, they shouted in unison. Their voices layered over each other in the enclosed underground space, echoing endlessly, filled with fanaticism and awe.

This person was none other than Murong Jingyang, the leader of the Tianli Cult!