323: Packaged

"Hmph! Hmph! Aaaaaaaagh—!"

Zhou Yan let out a foul sound.

Fortunately, his Dao Heart was still active, quickly calming his state.

Zhou Yan clutched his forehead, looking depressed.

"Is Karma still tormenting me?"

"Is it because I have a firm Dao Heart that I'm always shown these disgusting things?" (Annoyed)

Zhou Yan glanced at the time.

The System panel showed that less than five minutes had passed from the moment he started receiving those memories to when he woke up.

But he had seen a great deal.

Living long truly made a difference.

Even if it was just a wisp of consciousness, even if it had been formatted and lost a massive amount of content, it still retained a lot of information.

Aside from the things those maggots loved most, the remaining thirty percent was quite a harvest, though the price wasn't small either.

Now Zhou Yan somewhat understood why those people reacted that way when they heard about eating eggs nurtured by the remains of a Demon Venerable.

Now he also just wanted to say that Old Eight was nothing compared to this; he had nothing left to fear.

This part of the memory contained a vast amount of information regarding the Eastern Extreme Secret Realm.

The path for the first half after entering the Secret Realm was recorded in almost meticulous detail.

The second half was supposed to be there too, but it had turned into purple-black blocks and garbled code.

"No wonder in his confusion, he still used the Eastern Extreme Secret Realm as a bargaining chip to tempt me."

"It turns out this guy actually had the goods."

Senior Yu Kou told him to check out the Eastern Extreme Secret Realm, the Demon Venerable dropped a guide for it, and his cultivation now seemed sufficient—could this Secret Realm be the legendary Opportunity that belonged to him?

Zhou Yan used the Six Desires Heaven to organize and purge those filthy memories, then categorized and saved all the rest.

According to the Demon Venerable's memories, some content in the latter half of the Eastern Extreme Secret Realm was connected to the core part and seemed to involve some secret; perhaps that's why it couldn't be displayed after formatting.

To Zhou Yan's surprise, there was actually information about 'Kun Gou' in the memories, and quite a lot of it.

In the Demon Venerable's memories, Kun Gou belonged to a group called the Five Ghosts.

And he was the Ghost of Earth, ranked third.

His life form far surpassed the creatures of this realm; the Demon Venerable only figured out some of his background after reaching the Mahayana stage.

Kun Gou should be an 'Immortal', but not a normal one.

According to the Demon Venerable's investigation, he should be in a state known as a Ghost Immortal.

Although he possessed characteristics that transcended this realm, the sense of incompleteness was very obvious.

He had been doing certain things, likely trying to complete himself.

He had four siblings: the eldest was Li Hui, the second sister was Xin Lu, the fourth sister was Bing Jin, and the fifth was Zha Yi.

They corresponded to the Five Elements, and their bodies all contained terrifying Authority.

Exactly how terrifying, Zhou Yan couldn't see; this part had been overwritten.

The System really deserved to die—it didn't censor the truly disgusting parts but cut out all the critical information.

But what was certain was that they were all dead except for Kun Gou, who had been trying to resurrect his siblings.

The reason the Demon Venerable knew this was because Kun Gou had once collaborated with him for the purpose of resurrecting Zha Yi.

The result wasn't much different from the incident in Kaifeng; Kun Gou was double-crossed again.

The Demon Venerable seemed to have used some method where, instead of being possessed by Zha Yi, he inversely seized the other's power, using it to cross the Heavenly Tribulation and attain the Mahayana stage.

Unfortunately, he also miscalculated; he couldn't control that power.

Under the influence of Zha Yi's residual power, he eventually collapsed, triggering the unprecedented Calamity of the Demon Venerable.

The essence of the Calamity of the Demon Venerable was the leakage of his own Power of Law.

Possibly due to Zha Yi's influence, his power was able to run rampant across the continent without hindrance, while other Mahayana experts were restricted at every turn.

At that time, nearly sixty percent of living beings were corrupted by him, turning into monsters filled with both vitality and decay.

Ultimately, Mahayana experts sent by various factions joined forces, braving the restrictions to surround and suppress him, ending the era of the Demon Venerable.

Before completely dying, he had a moment of enlightenment and thus left behind many resurrection backup plans, including this wisp of will.

From the memories, this Demon Venerable had at least six resurrection methods left in the world.

Counting the one handled by Zhou Yan, there should be five left.

"Is this what they mean by 'having an elder at home is like having a treasure'?"

"Truly worthy of being called Old Maggot."

"Thinking that there are five more such Mahayana opportunities, how could I waste your painstaking efforts?"

"As the saying goes, a teacher is one who passes on the Dao, teaches the profession, and resolves doubts."

"Today you have resolved my doubts, so you count as half a master to me."

"Having accepted this memory of yours, I shall act as your eldest Disciple and take over the rest of your Legacy as well."

"This is the bond between us as master and Disciple!"

"Zhou Yan, are you there?"

Just as Zhou Yan was rubbing his hands in anticipation, planning how to be careful of Kun Gou, search for the remaining power of the Demon Venerable, and the upcoming trip to the Eastern Extreme Secret Realm, a familiar voice suddenly came from outside.

Zhou Yan tidied his clothes and flew out of the Formation; the visitor was the Grand Elder.

"So it's the Grand Elder, it's been a long time. Is there something you've come to see me about today?"

Seeing that it was the Grand Elder, Zhou Yan was actually quite curious about his purpose.

It wasn't that he didn't welcome the Grand Elder, but the Grand Elder was actually a workaholic who was rarely seen on ordinary days.

And Holy Son Peak didn't get many visitors; recently, only the Fourth Elder and Long Tianxing had been here.

Wang Yao had already gone into seclusion for Core Formation, Shi Suiyan was still missing, and Long Tianxing had been avoiding him since the last incident, making this place quite deserted.

For the busy Grand Elder to suddenly come to the quiet Holy Son Peak today, there must be something urgent.

"Old Fourth should have told you about the opening of the Eastern Extreme Secret Realm last time, right?"

"Yes, the Fourth Elder came by and said it was the Old Ancestor's wish for me to go take a look."

The Grand Elder nodded, sizing Zhou Yan up for a few moments, his eyes filled with satisfaction.

"I've come for this matter as well."

"It has now been officially finalized that a Three Sects Martial Competition will be held at this time next year."

"At that time, the Three Sects and some other forces and Loose Cultivators will participate."

"Those ranked in the top twenty will all be able to go explore the Eastern Extreme Secret Realm."

"By then, most of the world's Cultivators who haven't reached Soul Transformation will come; you need to be prepared."

Hearing this, a familiar sense of déjà vu washed over Zhou Yan.

Here it comes, the classic Sect Competition, a part of the Xuanhuan world experience one simply couldn't skip after transmigrating.

Perhaps because there had been many happy events lately, Zhou Yan instinctively made a joke.

"Aren't we the hosts of this competition?"

"Then is there any inside rigging you can arrange for me?"

"My requirements aren't high, just a top-three spot will do."

But as soon as he said it, he regretted it. He just remembered that the Grand Elder wasn't like the Sect Master; he was a righteous man who also headed the Law Enforcement Hall, so he surely hated such talk the most.

Zhou Yan was about to explain he was just joking when he heard the Grand Elder speak.

"Rigging? Of course there is."

"Otherwise, why would it be called the Three Sects Martial Competition and not the Number One Under Heaven Martial Arts Assembly?"

"That's what I'm saying, rigging or whatever, I was just jok... huh?" Zhou Yan was full of shock.

Wait, the cultivation world was this dark?

The bloody reality was just laid out before him like this?

So there really was rigging?

Seeing Zhou Yan like this, the Grand Elder found it strange instead.

"What are you surprised about? Didn't you suggest the need for rigging yourself?"

Zhou Yan was momentarily incoherent.

Even though he was a beneficiary, it still felt weird.

"No... Grand Elder, is it really appropriate to rig things so openly? Won't it... violate the rules?"

The Grand Elder stroked his beard and said calmly.

"What's so strange about that?"

"The Eastern Extreme Secret Realm doesn't have much restriction; below Soul Transformation, as long as one has the Opportunity, even a Mortal could go."

"So even if you didn't participate and just went directly, no one would stop you."

"But to get to the Eastern Extreme Secret Realm, you have to cross the Eastern Region and the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains; the dangers involved go without saying."

"This is also the trial you need to experience; we won't send you there directly. After winning a top 20 spot, you have to reach it by your own ability."

Zhou Yan was even more confused upon hearing this.

"Why do we have to go ourselves? Travel expenses aren't even covered?"

Moreover, his situation was special; if he dared to go to the Eastern Region, Ma Hao, that old schemer who played with time, would definitely come to catch him.

Although he was confident he could escape from a Soul Transformation expert, he didn't even want to imagine how sinister someone who played with time could be.

After so much time, the other party must have recovered by now.

Now, as long as he dared to go, he would surely have to face that creepy expert with the time-flow specialty.

The Grand Elder saw his concern and finally realized.

"Oh, I almost forgot."

"I was just thinking that with your status, you could know some secrets, so I told you certain things, but forgot to explain the reason."

"Actually, this Three Sects Martial Competition was originally established to help you cross the Eastern Region and the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains."