Demonic Inheritance (part 3)

Once the lid was removed from the coffin, Li Jing saw the body of an old man perfectly conserved inside it. The old man had a lot of wrinkles, long white hair, a long white beard, and was wearing a black robe. Seeing him like this, Li Jing almost thought that he was still alive!

Thankfully he was truly dead… This old man was a 'Devil Monarch', his title was just below the 'Devil Sovereign' of the legends. In this world, it was the second highest title that a demonic cultivator could have.

Li Jing inspected the surrounding of the body but found nothing until he suddenly noticed a red ring on the thin index finger of the old man's right hand.

'A blood ring!' He thought, excited.

A blood ring was quite similar to a spatial ring except that it was linked to its owner by a blood pact. As long as the owner of the blood ring was alive, he was the only person who could view and access its content.

Li Jing took the blood ring from the old man's finger and poured a drop of his blood on it. The ring glowed for a second and now recognized Li Jing as its new owner. Then, Li Jing injected his Qi inside it to see its content.

The first thing he noticed was that the dimension inside the blood ring was at least ten times larger than the dimension of his spatial ring!

Inside the dimension was stored thousands of pills, thousands of spiritual plants, a dozen of weapons and artifacts, and hundreds of thousands of Spirit Stones!

However, Li Jing chose to ignore it all for now because his gaze was attracted by four manuals placed in a beautiful golden box.

He was sure that these manuals were the Cultivation method and Martial techniques used by the Devil Monarch Zhang Mo.

He took out the golden box and inspected the first manual with his perk Appraisal.

It was a Sky-grade Demonic Cultivation method called 'Unholy Dark Art'!

The method described how to gather Dark Qi from the Underworld, a place where the soul of the dead who had committed atrocities resided, and how to use it. It also contained many notes and advice making it easier to understand it despite its complexity. These notes were probably written by the Devil Monarch Zhang Mo himself!

'So the Devil Monarch Zhang Mo was a Dark Qi practitioner.' He thought.

Li Jing was very tempted to use this method to cultivate. The Unholy Dark Art, being a Sky-grade Cultivation method, was obviously far more efficient than his current Mortal-grade Cultivation method. Moreover, Dark Qi was also extremely powerful…

He inspected the other three manuals and used his perk Appraisal on them.

[

Name: Nightmarish Eyes

Type: Dark Qi Martial technique

Grade: Sky (Low)

Description: Disturb the soul of people who see you in the eyes, trapping their mind in a powerful illusion that shows them their deepest fear. The stronger the targets are, the easier they can free themselves from the illusion. People with a powerful soul can resist the technique.

]

[

Name: Soul Shattering Palm

Type: Dark Qi Martial technique

Grade: Earth (High)

Description: A palm attack that damages the target's soul instead of doing physical damage.

]

[

Name: Dark Command

Type: Dark Qi Martial technique

Grade: Sky (Middle)

Description: Force a target in the same cultivation realm as you to obey your orders. The more Dark Qi is used, the longer the target is forced to obey. People with a powerful soul can resist the technique.

]

Seeing the grade and description of these Martial techniques, Li Jing widened his eyes in surprise.

'These techniques are so powerful, it's no wonder that this man was recognized as a Devil Monarch and survived the Righteous Purge!' He thought.

Li Jing thought that it would be a shame to not take advantage of this powerful inheritance and decided that he will definitely practice the Unholy Dark Art and learn these Martial techniques. There was no risk to be discovered as long as he was careful and didn't use Dark Qi in public.

Even Teng Fen who could tell the Cultivation method practiced by a cultivator in just one glance wouldn't be able to discover Li Jing. Because thanks to his system, Li Jing didn't store the Qi inside his dantian while cultivating so for other people, his dantian only contained neutral Qi.

Li Jing stored the four manuals and the golden box inside his new blood ring and examined the other items.

There were thousands of pills of all kinds: Qi Gathering Pills, Healing Pills, and Qi Replenishing Pills; but also some extremely rare pills like the Berserk Pills that greatly increased the strength of a cultivator momentarily or the Supreme Cleansing Pills that could cure any poison and disease!

Next, he inspected the spiritual plants. He recognized most of them and used his perk Appraisal on those he didn't recognize. Silver Fairy Root, Fire Red Leaf, Frozen Spirit Flower… Although none of these spiritual plants were of Immortal grade, some of them were very rare and could only be found on the other side of the continent, thousands of miles from the Sky Jade Kingdom.

With so many pills and spiritual plants, Li Jing could literally create a small martial clan!

Among the dozen artifacts in the ring, there were four Protection Talismans, four Protection Stone Barriers that could protect a small area for days with a powerful shield, and three Suppression Collars that could prevent a cultivator wearing it from using his Qi.

But the most interesting artifact was the Qi Concealment Ring that could hide the true cultivation realm of a cultivator by making it appear five levels lower! Although it was only effective up to the Nascent Soul realm, it was already amazing.

Finally, Li Jing took out all the weapons and examined them. There were four swords, two sabers, three spears, and two bows. They were all Earth-grade weapons!

Li Jing also noticed a majestic halberd that was broken in half, it was entirely black with golden patterns carved on it. The weapon was really well-crafted and was clearly worthy of a Monarch! Li Jing supposed that it was the personal weapon of the Devil Monarch Zhang Mo. There was a manual next to the broken halberd; Li Jing took them out of his blood ring and used his perk Appraisal on them.

[

Name: Soul Drainer Halberd (Broken)

Type: Weapon

Grade: - (Broken)

Description: Drain the soul of anyone killed by this weapon. The souls drained are used to execute various skills detailed in the Soul Drainer Halberd Scripture.

]

[

Name: Soul Drainer Halberd Scripture

Type: Martial technique

Grade: Sky (High)

Description: The Scripture contains a set of powerful skills that can only be used with the Soul Drainer Halberd.

]

'No, why is the weapon broken!' Lamented Li Jing.

Although he knew a blacksmith capable of repairing the weapon, that person lived in the Central Continent and the only way to go there was to reactivate the portal that linked the Southern Border Continent to the Central Continent…

Despite the fact that he was disappointed that the weapon was broken, he was overall extremely satisfied with this inheritance which has greatly exceeded his expectations.