15: Chapter 16 Cultivation Increase!

Seeing that Monkey King had returned to Ao Lie's side after smashing the Yellow Wind Cave to pieces, he anticipated Pigsy's coming shock and decided to offer an explanation.

In passing, he warned him not to spread rumors, or he would beat him to death with a staff!

Seeing this, Pigsy was sensible enough to nod in agreement.

He also wanted to see exactly what kind of ability could make so many powerful beings willing to risk their lives for Ao Lie.

Ao Lie set the corpse down, then felt the majestic power within his body and murmured.

“Arise!”

As soon as he finished speaking, a pillar of black particle wind rose from the Yellow Wind Monster's corpse.

Then, the wind pillar gradually fused, forming the appearance the Yellow Wind Monster had when he was alive.

The Yellow Wind Monster's yellow fur remained, but black shadow particles flickered within it from time to time, and he was clad in armor.

All these signs highlighted his heroic and overbearing aura. After a moment's thought, Ao Lie combined it with the Yellow Wind Monster's former Divine Ability and named him: “Shadow Servant!”

Upon hearing this, Shadow Servant knelt on one knee and said in a sincere but sharp voice.

“Shadow Servant greets the Lord!”

At this point, Ao Lie's Shadow Legion had added another great general.

Including the previous shadows, Ao Lie now had a total of two General-rank shadows, one Commander-rank, three hundred Knight Grade, and two thousand Common Grade.

The General-rank shadows were Xiao Hei and Shadow Servant. Both were at the Late Stage of the Taiyi Golden Immortal Realm, barely reaching the Peak; once Ao Lie's cultivation reached the Grand Unity Golden Immortal Realm.

They could leap directly to become Grand Unity Golden Immortals, with the three flowers gathering at the crown, free from the cycle of Karma and Reincarnation!

Even the subsequent Primordial Grand Unity Realm! At that Realm, they could already stand on their own, and any one of them picked at random could occupy a corner of heaven and earth.

And the 'occupying' here meant truly taking it as one's own, enjoying all the Opportunity and Luck of that piece of heaven and earth!

The Commander-rank shadow was Tiger Overlord; however, Tiger Overlord's limit was not the Commander-rank.

As Ao Lie's cultivation improved, he could also enter the General-rank! His cultivation would reach straight to the Grand Unity Golden Immortal Realm!

There were three hundred Knight Grade shadows in total, and the three with the most seniority among them.

Were the White Snake Demon, the Grey Wolf Demon, and the Rhino Demon whom Ao Lie had killed with his own hands.

The upper limit of their cultivation was the Peak of the Profound Immortal Realm, and they had essentially reached the end of their path!

Pigsy watched from the side, dumbfounded. He had witnessed with his own eyes a demon whose form and spirit had collapsed and was about to enter Reincarnation be resurrected.

Its cultivation was even more advanced than before! If he were to fight it himself, he would definitely be unable to win.

He just didn't know if it still possessed the Samadhi Divine Wind from its previous life; if it did, then this power would be enough to shake the world!

At this thought, Pigsy couldn't help but break into a cold sweat.

Ao Lie closed his eyes. The moment Shadow Servant became his shadow, he felt his cultivation surge once again!

Adding a combat power of the Late Stage Taiyi Golden Immortal was very helpful to him, a demon who was only at the Early Stage of the Profound Immortal Realm.

If he reached the Golden Immortal Realm, perhaps the help would be smaller, but that time had not yet come.

Releasing control over his body, the feeling of his cultivation reaching a Bottleneck grew stronger and stronger, and his cultivation followed this wonderful sensation.

It gradually rose, climbing from the initial Early Stage of the Profound Immortal Realm all the way to the Peak of the Profound Immortal Realm.

If calculated according to the previous Heavenly Immortal Realm, Xiao Hei's joining should have logically pushed Ao Lie directly into the Profound Immortal Realm, given Xiao Hei's Taiyi Golden Immortal cultivation.

This was like being a minor Cultivator in the Qi Refining stage; eating a Qi Refining stage Medicinal Pill would raise you by one minor Realm.

But suddenly one day, you obtained a Medicinal Pill meant for a Golden Core Cultivator in some Secret Realm, and eating it would have no side effects.

Then after eating it, you would directly rise by one major Realm, or even two!

The same should apply to Ao Lie, but why hadn't Ao Lie risen past the Profound Immortal Realm?

Ao Lie didn't quite understand either. After thinking long and hard, he finally came to the most likely explanation.

That was, it was linked to loyalty. What Ao Lie had done to Xiao Hei was too dehumanizing, making him kill his own subordinates with his own hands.

Listening to the wails of his most loyal subordinates was simply too heartbreaking.

While the subsequent General-rank shadow was also killed by him.

It was more like accepting fate after losing a bet where the winner takes all, so his loyalty was still quite high compared to Xiao Hei's.

Opening his eyes, Ao Lie exhaled a mouthful of turbid Qi. This feeling of having one's cultivation surge without having to work painstakingly for it was too great.

The pleasure was even no less than—'One day, your favorite crush comes to your side and leans into your ear.

Then she whispers that she accepts your confession and tells you that you can do naughty things tonight!'... to that extent.

Ao Lie turned to look at Monkey King and Pigsy, and after a long time, he uttered four words.

“Return in triumph!”

...

The three of them seemed to have clouds under their feet, and in the blink of an eye, they flew back to the old man's residence. They woke the still-sleeping Tang Seng and urged him to get up quickly.

Afterward, the three of them also began to do chores.

Ao Lie went to the courtyard gate to groom the horse's hair and take down the bundle on the horse to organize it.

Pigsy used his Nine-toothed Rake to help the old man reclaim the fields, even reclaiming the low-lying land behind the old man's house that was several football fields in size.

Pigsy chanted a spell, and the nine-foot cold iron rake grew with the wind until it became a hundred meters in size, eight hundred meters long, and two hundred meters wide!

Then Pigsy jumped onto the clouds and swung the rake, striking down at the furthest end of the low-lying land. With a burst of strength in his hands, the earth shook instantly.

Under the loud noise, the small hills and giant rocks in the low-lying land were all crushed into gravel and fertile soil.

The giant nine-foot rake moved from the distance to the near side, and in an instant, nearly a hundred acres of fertile land were plowed!

The old man came out and saw this, then hurriedly called his family to thank Pigsy together, his mouth constantly murmuring.

“The Heavenly God has shown his might! Thank you, Elder! ...Jili wulu, sixiao bada...”

In short, a long string of complimentary words made Pigsy's face turn red and his heart race. He scratched his bald head and happily flapped his fan-like ears.

Monkey King lay on a lounge chair nearby, surrounded by dozens of little monkeys who looked exactly like him, helping him clean up.

Seeing everyone complimenting that idiot in the sky, his heart felt itchy, but he didn't care much and went back to sleep.

Tang Seng stood to the side, nodding incessantly, with a look of approval in his eyes.

Looking at these three disciples, a sense of brightness emerged in his heart. As his thoughts churned, he felt like reciting a poem.

“Three disciples busy with filial piety, Wukong sweeps the dust and frost. Bajie swings his rake to plow the fields, Wuping packs the luggage with care. Working together to do good deeds, the road to the West is filled with Buddha's light.”

...

At noon, with the sun high in the sky, the master and his four disciples said goodbye to the old man's family and set off to continue their journey west. The old man saw them off for a long distance before turning back.

The next stop was the Liusha River from the Journey to the West. A flash of ruthlessness crossed Ao Lie's mind. He decided that if possible, the Shadow Legion wouldn't mind taking in a character like the Sand Monk.

After all, the Sand Monk could be said to be the character from the original text who was best at staying hidden in the shadows. The original text said that eating a bite of Tang Seng's flesh could make a Mortal immortal and greatly increase a demon's power.

And that was just one bite, but what about the Sand Monk?

He had eaten nine whole, complete portions of “Tang Seng's flesh”!

Then how exaggerated must his power be! Presumably, if he fought Monkey King at his Peak, it wouldn't even be impossible for him to hold the upper hand!