Enslaving a peak late Foundation Establishment expert, Ian Song couldn't help feeling quite pleased.
Next, he had a private conversation with the Black Heaven Cult Master via sound transmission.
After hearing the Black Heaven Cult Master's origins, Ian was quite surprised. The world always claimed that a hundred years ago, when the Divine Temple descended, forty-nine people entered and only nine came out. It was true that forty-nine went in, but in reality, ten came out.
Why did those nine choose to hide the existence of the tenth person?
Because that tenth person was the only one who cleared the third-tier challenge domain—and that person is now the Black Heaven Cult Master.
As the saying goes, 'The tallest tree in the forest catches the wind.'
Since the Black Heaven Cult Master was the only one to clear the third tier, he naturally received the richest rewards from the Divine Temple. That made him the target of the other nine's joint attack.
Fortunately, fate was on his side. He barely escaped with his life under their siege, but spent ten years recovering from his wounds.
In those ten years, the world had already changed.
His enemies all went on to establish Holy Lands and empires. With his strength alone, there was no way he could take revenge.
So, following the cultivation method he obtained from the Divine Temple, he devoted himself to training. In ten years, he advanced his cultivation to mid Heaven-and-Man and founded the Black Heaven Demonic Cult.
During those ten years of hard cultivation, the Three Great Empires and Three Holy Lands only became more stable. Because he spent a decade recovering, by the time he reached mid Heaven-and-Man, his enemies had already used their Divine Temple fortunes to break through to late Heaven-and-Man.
He wanted revenge but lacked the strength, so he could only hide and bide his time.
So, over eighty years, he built the Black Heaven Cult into the greatest demonic sect, rivaling any Holy Land.
Still, he never dared seek revenge, because the Three Holy Lands were closely allied and always wary of him.
Although a century has passed, the Black Heaven Cult Master's hatred has only grown deeper with time.
Ian Song's challenge to the Three Holy Lands—and his ruthless face-slapping—made the Black Heaven Cult Master genuinely happy.
That was why he sent Levi Li to invite Ian Song to join the cult.
But in the end, Levi Li died at Ian Song's hands.
Instead of holding a grudge, the Black Heaven Cult Master valued Ian Song even more and came in person to recruit him.
Unfortunately, he underestimated Ian Song's strength. Not only did he fail to subdue Ian, he ended up getting himself caught instead.
Back then, the Black Heaven Cult Master obtained five treasures from the Divine Temple.
After clearing the first-tier challenge domain, he received a special manual called the Black Heaven Scripture. Unlike martial or Immortal Dao methods, it cultivates extremely fast but only reaches peak Heaven-and-Man.
Clearing the second tier, he got two rewards: a body-strengthening pill and a martial art called Black Heaven Divine Palm, which is closely related to the Black Heaven Scripture.
For the third tier, he received two more rewards—a sword and a formation jade. The sword was taken from him when the other nine attacked, and now it's in Sima Tianji's hands. The formation jade can unleash a special array called the Source-Sealing Array: anyone below Heaven-and-Man gets their true qi completely locked down; early Heaven-and-Man experts have their true essence slowed twentyfold, mid-stage tenfold, and late-stage threefold.
But when Ian fell into that array, his sword essence was only slowed by a factor of two.
That was likely because his sword essence was simply too high-grade.
The Black Heaven Cult Master never got the chance to enter the fourth-tier challenge domain. After he cleared the third, the Divine Temple's time in the mortal world ran out.
So Ian didn't get any information about the fourth tier from him.
When Ian enslaved the Three Holy Lords, he got the martial arts and manuals they obtained from the Divine Temple: Fan Shijun, Jiang Yunyan, and Sima Tianji.
Those three manuals, just like the Black Heaven Scripture, are all fast-track cultivation methods—they let you quickly reach peak Heaven-and-Man, but once you get there, it’s almost impossible to advance any further.
So for Ian Song, these four manuals aren’t much use. But for building up the Dragon Guard Directorate, they’re perfect—after all, in the modern world, even top-tier Immortal-Dao experts only reach peak Foundation Establishment.
As long as the Directorate has a whole group of peak Heaven-and-Man experts, they’ll be able to stand toe-to-toe with mainstream cultivators.
The real value, though, lies in those four martial arts—they’re truly unique.
After carefully analyzing them, Ian gained a good deal of new insight, deepening his understanding of the first three forms of the Azure Lotus Sword Codex.
Ian took out a jade bottle and handed it to her. Inside were one Marrow-Cleansing Pill and five Vital Essence Pills.
The Marrow-Cleansing Pill would help her cleanse impurities and rebuild her foundation, while the Vital Essence Pills could boost her cultivation. Five of them were more than enough to help her break through to the Innate realm.