After returning to his cave, Wang Wei pondered deeply about his recent discovery. Just like him, his third senior sister cultivated the [Flame Controlling Art]. And from his observation, she might even have reached the 7th level.
Now, the question is how did she have this technique. Wang Wei thought of three possibilities:
One, his Master gave it to his third sister after Lou Cheng showed it to him.
Two, his Master has created many inheritances of this technique scattered into the world, and he accepted people who have discovered the inheritance as disciples.
Based on his previous calculation that his master had some relationship with this technique, this theory is highly likely.
Third, one of the ancestors of the Origin Pill Dao Sect was the one who left the inheritance and his master is just in charge of collecting the disciple who received the inheritance.
As Wang Wei pondered over these three theories, he quickly eliminated the first one. Based on his observation of Lan Ling, her foundation was established with the [Flame Controlling Art], meaning that she has been cultivating it long before Lou Cheng even entered the sect.
As for the other two theories, either one could be true. Nevertheless, no matter the truth, he can conclude that this technique was not simple and held a greater secret.
After concluding, he wanted to know the answer, so he began to ponder how to find the truth. Directly asking his third sister or master will not yield any result.
These two would probably use the fact that his cultivation was low to warn him not to intervene in this kind of mystery that could get him killed.
As Wang Wei tweaked his brain to find a solution, he suddenly remembered the 5 Saints that intercepted him when he was returning to the sect.
Lou Cheng is a pretty mediocre person in the sect, so who would send 5 Saints after him? For what reason? The only special thing about him is that cultivation technique.
"I should not have killed all of them at once," muttered Wang Wei with regret. He wished he had left at least one alive to search for information.
Nevertheless, he could guess who sent them: Fu Caiyun. Wang Wei guessed that he might also have some suspicion about Lou Cheng’s cultivation method and sent his people to check it out.
As long as Wang Wei investigates from there, he will eventually find something. However, he did not immediately set out but instead started to take a deeper look at the [Flame Controlling Art].
Previously, he only took a glance at it and used the fourth level to break through the Supernatural Realm.
...
A few weeks prior, after Wu Hong watched Wang Wei leave for the Southern Continent, she left the sect and headed for the Western Continent.
She broke the space, and in just an instant, she crossed the Central Continent and arrived on the other side. Soon after, Wu Hong found herself on a mountain range.
After sensing the nearest place with life, she broke the space and appeared there, floating in the air as he gazed downward.
What she saw was a man dressed in a red robe sitting cross-legged in the middle of a village; he was absorbing a bunch of red energy that came from all the dead people of the village.
Based on the blood on his body, Wu Hong could tell that this man had just slaughtered this village himself, and he was using their blood to cultivate. With just a glance, she could tell that this man’s talent was horrible. The highest level of cultivation he should reach is probably the Body Refining Realm 3rd or 4th Layer.
Yet, this man’s current cultivation level was the Divine Sea Realm; to be precise, he was in the peak of Origin Lake. She could guess how many people he slaughtered to reach that level.
Without saying anything, she used her Divine Sense to search his soul; the poor guy did not have the time to react or realize what was going on. He bled from all the orifices of his body as his soul was destroyed.
"So, I’m currently in Tiger King Domain. Not far from the Children’s Heart Domain."
Wu Hong waved her hand and all the bodies of these villagers were buried, and a large grave was erected in the middle. Then, she broke the space again and headed for her destination.
After arriving in Children’s Heart Domain, Wu Hong headed to a place called Black Stripe Forest. Once there, she saw many cultivators headed inside the forest to hunt demonic beasts and search for opportunities.
Unfortunately, at the entrance of the forest, a group of people dressed in similar uniforms would stop anyone coming out of the forest and asking for tax. And if someone refused, they would be directly killed and their space rings taken away.
Of course, the majority of people did not refuse as they were used to this already. With a glance, Wu Hong–who was invisible–identified these people taking taxes: they were from the Beating Heart Cult, a devil Emperor Lineage with one Great Emperor.
Ignoring these people, she entered the forest. Using her Divine Sense, she found her destination in the southern part of the forest. Wu Hong then appeared in front of a small cave.
After seeing it, she immediately frowned, then quickly entered. Soon, she found herself in a small secret realm that was darkly light with a red ambiance.
However, as soon as she entered, there were no guards, no puppets, or formations to prevent her from moving forward. As such, Wu Hong’s frown increased.
She headed unimpeded directly to the core of this. All she saw was a small table with nothing inside. She searched for a while but did not find anything.
"Did Do Hu already get the [Curse of Hatred]? According to the timeline, it should have been a little later."
After not finding what she wanted, she left the Secret Realm and headed straight to the Devouring Heart Domain–which was the location of the Beating Heart Cult.
Once she arrived, no one discovered her presence. However, she could hear some of the conversations that the disciples were having.
"Brother Yu, did you have a breakthrough in your cultivation?"
"Only because of luck," replied Brother Yu with a smug look on his face.
"If I remember correctly, your last breakthrough was only five years ago. Brother Yu, there must be some secret. How about sharing it with your little brother?"
"There is no big secret. I was lucky enough to get the heart of a child born on the most Yin time of the year. After absorbing it, of course, I made a breakthrough."
"Brother Yu, don’t lie to us. To acquire such rare and precious material, you must have some connection. How about sharing with your little brother?"
"Hehe, as long as you have enough origin source, I can get you any kind of hearts you want for cultivation," replied Brother Yu with a cunning light in his eyes.
Meanwhile, after filtering out the information she wanted from the talks of these disciples, Wu Hong headed to the main mountain of the sect where the sect master was located.
No one was able to detect her presence, not even any of the formations around. She easily broke through the sect master’s mansion without alerting anyone.
There she saw a middle-aged man sitting cross-legged on a futon with his eyes closed. A heart floating in front of him. Despite not being attached to a body, it was still beating as the man absorbed energy from it.
The aura of the middle-aged man and the heart were similar; they were both in the Saint Realm.
Wu Hong suddenly appeared in front of the man and placed one of her fingers in the middle of his forehead, then she searched his soul. The process lasted for a few seconds, then she frowned again.
’He was not the one who took the [Curse of Hatred?’ thought Wu Hong. ’Then who was it?’
She immediately used her finger to calculate that person, however, she did not find anything.
’There are only two people who can stop my calculation. The first one is that old guy in the Nether Hell. However, he is currently sealed and has no power to intervene. Plus, it does not benefit him in any way.
’The second being Heavenly Dao.’
She paused for a moment.
’Could it be intervening because it’s related to Wang Wei?’
She did not have an answer, and she did not care at the moment. What she cared about was her next action.
In the previous timeline, Wang Wei suffered from that curse; for more than 10,000 years, he was in constant pain as his soul was slowly corroded and tortured. It almost drove him insane. And since he did not have his Paragon Soul with him, he was helpless and on his own,
No matter what method the Dao Opening Sect used, they could not remove the curse.
Wu Hong’s purpose was to retrieve it in advance and prevent this from happening again. However, too many things have changed in this timeline.
"Well, there is no need to care that much," muttered Wu Hong. "Since he could survive the curse in the previous timeline and benefit from it, there should be no problem.
"After all, his current self is much stronger, and it’s not even a comparison."
After thinking about this, she left the site of the Beating Heart Cult. As for sect master Do Hu, he did not die but passed out as his Primordial Spirit was injured.