377: What's the big deal?

Murong Jingyang actually felt that the Venerable Lord was making a bit of a fuss.

The Cultivation World has a long history, and the ancient Dao Lineages that have been extinguished and the old Legacies that have been lost are too numerous to count.

Every few years, ancient Immortal Caves and Secret Realm ruins would appear, stumbled upon by some lucky individuals who would obtain ancient Legacies.

Perhaps this Asura Path was the same; it was probably just an ancient or alternative name for some powerful Blood Dao Cultivation Technique?

After all, although Cultivation Techniques and Divine Abilities named 'Asura' are uncommon in the Cultivation World, they are not nonexistent.

So, this doesn't seem like such a rare occurrence, does it?

However, he only dared to think this in his heart, not actually say it aloud.

Lu Ming did not know what he was thinking, but after observing for a moment, he confirmed that Murong Jingyang's expression was normal, that his knowledge truly seemed limited, and that he was not deliberately hiding anything. Therefore, Lu Ming did not press further.

Waving his hand to dismiss Murong Jingyang to wait on the side, Lu Ming fell into deep contemplation.

This matter is very strange!

He didn't believe the Zhuge Family would bring up the “Asura Path” without reason.

From their perspective, there were no obvious benefits.

The reason was simple: the Lancang Li Family, as one of the Thirty-Six Blessed Lands, had profound heritage and extensive information channels.

Li Daoxuan, as the Family Old Ancestor and also a Great True Person of Golden Core Perfection, possessed extensive knowledge and experience.

Yet, even in his memory, knowledge of the “Asura Path” was nearly blank!

This was enough to show that the secret involving the “Asura Path” was extremely high-level, and the Karma involved might be extremely heavy.

It might even be that someone or some power deliberately concealed the traces of Karma.

In the present world, perhaps only a very few top-tier powers know its forbidden secret!

However, Zhuge Xuanji chose to make the name “Asura Path” public while simultaneously spreading Yun Chenzi's secret.

This indicated that he was definitely not speaking to the low-level Cultivators.

After all, even if those Cultivators heard it, most would, like Murong Jingyang, merely treat it as an ancient Legacy Cultivation Technique and forget about it immediately.

Only those who knew the hidden secret could understand.

So, who was the Zhuge Family speaking to?

Lu Ming was completely baffled; various speculations swirled in his mind, but he couldn't grasp the crucial thread.

It wasn't that he absolutely needed to get to the bottom of the “Asura Path.”

After all, he had tentatively decided to use the [Great Dao of Karma] as his future Nascent Soul dao foundation, and it was highly likely he would subsequently switch to cultivating the Zhuge Family's Legacy Cultivation Technique, the *Heavenly Mandate Compilation and Fortune Diagram Record*.

Therefore, in the long run, the *Asura Tribulation Prison Scripture* seemed no longer necessary for him.

However, this sudden piece of information made Lu Ming's heart skip a beat!

He suddenly realized that he might have severely underestimated the hidden secrets and significance contained within the *Asura Tribulation Prison Scripture*, or rather, the “Asura Path” behind it!

The secret hidden behind this Demonic Technique, which he had used to match the characteristics of the golden book, was probably deeper than he could have ever imagined!

However, Lu Ming didn't dwell on this matter for too long.

If he couldn't figure it out, he would temporarily put it aside.

On the path of cultivation, the reason why many mysteries remain mysteries is ultimately due to insufficient strength and limited perspective.

Once his Realm improved and he stood higher looking down, many hidden secrets that were once buried would become clearly visible!

Temporarily suppressing his turbulent emotions, Lu Ming refocused on the current priorities.

He summoned Murong Jingyang and began making detailed arrangements for the Lancang Li Family's subsequent plans... Just as Lu Ming was secretly planning and strategizing in the Northern Region, a ridiculous scene was unfolding somewhere in the Western Wasteland, at the other end of the Profound Spirit Domain.

The Western Wasteland, unlike the Northern Region where the Demonic Path runs rampant, has no unified Dao Lineage Legacy, but is instead dominated by various bizarre and unpredictable strange arts.

Insect Manipulation, Ghost Driving, Curses, Corpse Refining, Totem Shamanism... numerous unorthodox paths interweave and flourish here, forming a unique cultivation ecosystem.

Among them, the Corpse Refining Family, the “Yinluo Tan Family,” is a well-known Golden Core-level power in the Western Wasteland.

The Tan Family ancestral land is located in the “Yinluo Valley,” a place perpetually enveloped in grayish-white “Miasmic Yin Death Qi.”

Ordinary living beings who enter will have their flesh dissolve and their souls dissipate within half a day, yet this place happens to be a natural treasure ground for the Tan Family's Corpse Refining and Puppet Rearing.

Looking from afar, countless tall, thick Ghoulwood trees rose from the murky swamp, their branches twisted like ghostly claws, and their leaves displayed an ominous dark purple color.

These exotic trees have been cultivated by the Tan Family using secret methods for hundreds of years; they can spontaneously gather the Yin Evil Qi of heaven and earth, becoming an excellent breeding ground for nourishing corpses.

Unlike ordinary Cultivators who focus on cultivating themselves, absorbing Spiritual Qi, or comprehending the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth.

The Tan Family's Dao takes a different path, focusing heavily on “Corpse Refining”!

They entrust all their cultivation to the corpse puppets they refine, categorizing them by grade: Copper Corpse, Silver Corpse, and Golden Corpse, corresponding respectively to the Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, and Golden Core Realms.

Unlike ordinary Cultivators who focus mainly on self-cultivation, the Tan Family's Dao emphasizes the Dao of Corpse Refining.

They entrust all their cultivation to the refined Corpse Puppets, categorizing them by grade: Copper Corpse, Silver Corpse, and Golden Corpse, corresponding respectively to the Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, and Golden Core Realms.

Because cultivating Golden Corpses is much faster than normal Cultivator practice, the “Yinluo Tan Family” managed to raise eighteen Golden Corpses in just three hundred years.

Among them, two have reached Perfection, their bodies faintly radiating a jade-like luster, and are about to transform into the higher-level “Profound Corpse,” which is equivalent to a Nascent Soul-level Corpse Puppet!

Calculated this way, although the Tan Family itself has no Great True Person of Golden Core Perfection presiding over it, it possesses the equivalent combat power of two Golden Core Perfection experts.

It is precisely by relying on this unique Corpse Refining skill and its massive Corpse Puppet army that the “Yinluo Tan Family” is virtually unchallenged in the Western Wasteland, adopting the stance of a regional overlord.

However, at this moment, the ancestral land of this Corpse Refining Family, which should have been prosperous, was plunged into a bizarre scene!

Those Corpse Puppets, originally lifeless and only capable of following their master's commands, now acted like living people, displaying strange and varied postures and emotions that shouldn't exist.

In a certain side room, a walking corpse draped in tattered robes stood blankly before a bronze mirror. Its withered hand slowly stroked its rotting face, and a hoarse “huhu” sound squeezed out from its throat. Murky black liquid slid from the corners of its eyes, seemingly weeping for its long-lost life.

In another main hall, several Tan Family Disciples were drinking and reveling, but instead of embracing delicate beauties, they were holding female corpses with festering skin and even missing limbs.

Yet they were completely unaware that they held cold dead things, still flushed and teasing recklessly, with restless hands.

And deep within the empty eye sockets of those female corpses, eerie crimson light spots flickered. Their shriveled, cracked lips stretched upward into a bizarre arc.

As if they too were immersed in this twisted and deformed revelry.