Dual Cultivation System: My Cultivation Was Crippled, So I Rely on Intimacy to Level Up

Chapter 204: Soul Searching the Patriarch, The Truth of the Beast Tide Revealed!

With those words hanging in the air, Zhou Kai vaulted out the window, his figure blurring as he flew into the night.

The night was as dark as ink, thick and impenetrable.

East of Spirit Mountain, a freezing wind swept across the sky, carrying a dense, murderous aura.

Li Lanyin was still deep in meditation, the clear gales swirling around her body growing increasingly solid. It was clear she wouldn’t be emerging from secluded cultivation anytime soon; she would have to miss this war of extermination.

In the shadows, twenty-two figures stood in absolute silence. Their auras were completely restrained, making them feel like unsheathed swords ready to draw blood.

Four months had passed since Zhou Kai decided to use the Zhao Family as a whetstone for his women.

Zhou Kai’s gaze swept over the group, finally settling on Mo Qianyuan.

“Senior Sister Mo, are Zhao Wuji and Zhao Hao still in the ancestral land?”

Mo Qianyuan, dressed in her plain Daoist robes, maintained her usual cold and aloof demeanor. She nodded. “My Talisman birds have been keeping watch. There is absolutely no mistake. The Zhao Family’s ancestral land holds nine Foundation Establishment Cultivators, including Zhao Hao. The Patriarch, Zhao Wuji, has been locked in his quiet room for secluded cultivation and hasn’t stepped out once. Additionally, the former Sun Family site and our old Asking Star Sect site each have one Foundation Establishment guard stationed there.”

“Very good,” Zhou Kai said. His voice wasn’t loud, but it carried an unquestionable, absolute decisiveness. “We’ve prepared for long enough. It’s time to act. Before dawn breaks, not a single Zhao Family Cultivator is to be left alive.”

“Yes!” the women responded in a fierce unison, their eyes ablaze with fighting spirit.

In the next moment, over twenty streaks of light silently cleaved through the night sky, rocketing toward their respective targets.

The Zhao Family’s ancestral land was brightly lit. Heavily armed Cultivators patrolled the perimeter, their guard high.

The defensive grand Formation enveloping the sprawling mansion shimmered with spiritual light, a seemingly impenetrable heavenly net that gave the guards a false sense of absolute security.

They had no idea that their invincible net was already riddled with holes.

Three figures silently materialized at the edge of the grand Formation: Zhou Kai, Lin Zhiwei, and Suyi.

“Husband, the Formation’s core has been jammed according to your methods,” Lin Zhiwei whispered, a confident glint in her eyes. “The warning Formation they are so incredibly proud of is now completely blind.”

Four months of meticulous research, combined with Zhou Kai’s unfathomable Cicada Chirp Steals Heaven Divine Ability, had allowed them to directly hijack the Formation’s Qi fluctuations and override its core commands. To Zhou Kai, this grand Formation was no more durable than wet paper.

Zhou Kai nodded slightly. He flicked his finger, sending a barely perceptible spark of spiritual light into the glowing barrier.

The light curtain rippled like disturbed water. Silently, a portal just large enough for one person split open, triggering zero alarms.

“Move.”

At Zhou Kai’s command, Shen Hanyi, Chen Ziyi, Chen Ziqing, and the others, who had been waiting in the shadows, transformed into phantoms and filed in.

Zhou Kai flickered and vanished into the high-altitude clouds. He looked down, preparing to watch the impending slaughter. He had no intention of intervening easily; this was his women’s trial.

At the same time, violence erupted in two other locations.

Fish Baibai hefted her massive war hammer and smashed it directly into the Asking Star Sect’s old site.

“Take this! Fire-breathing little rabbit hammer!”

With a delicate shout, the rabbit eyes carved into the massive hammer head suddenly ignited. Blazing flames erupted, instantly reducing the simple defensive Formation protecting the site to ash.

On the other side of the city, Talisman light flickered at Mo Qianyuan’s fingertips. Several Rank 3 Talismans transformed into streaks of light, instantly trapping the Zhao Family guards stationed at the Sun Family’s old Spirit Vein. An elegant, ruthlessly efficient cleanup commenced.

Back at the Zhao Family’s ancestral land, the battle exploded!

Shen Hanyi took the lead. She didn’t even draw her weapon. Instead, she pointed her fingers like a sword. Peerless, hyper-lethal sword Qi crisscrossed the courtyard. Wherever she pointed, the Qi Condensation guards were instantly perforated, dropping dead before they could even scream.

Zhao Hao roared in fury as he charged out from the main hall. He took one look at Shen Hanyi, who looked like a descending god of death.

“Where did this bitch come from?! You dare violate my Zhao Family?!”

Zhao Hao summoned a massive beast-bone shield, planting it in front of himself. Simultaneously, he spat out a blood-colored long banner that reeked of dark magic.

Shen Hanyi merely gave him a cold glance. A dark red vortex flashed briefly in the depths of her eyes.

“Noisy.”

Before the word fully left her lips, she vanished.

The next moment, Zhao Hao felt an extreme, suffocating sharpness bearing down on his head. He looked up in sheer horror to see a sword light—so condensed it looked solid—slashing down from the nine heavens, carrying the terrifying momentum of a god suppressing a demon into the void.

“Roar!”

At this critical moment of life and death, Zhao Hao let out a guttural, inhuman roar.

His bones crackled violently. His muscles instantly ballooned, tearing through his robes. Golden scales rapidly surfaced across his skin. His hands contorted and grew into massive, ferocious tiger claws. In the blink of an eye, the man transformed into a majestic, ten-foot-tall Golden Armor Tiger!

A violent Demonic Aura, mixed with impure Qi, surged into the sky.

Above the clouds, Zhou Kai frowned slightly.

This aura… this isn’t the Vitality of an orthodox body Cultivator. This is the product of forcibly fusing human Qi with Demonic Essence.

The Zhao Family had actually grafted Demon Beast flesh into their own bodies!

Clang!

A deafening metallic crash exploded across the courtyard. Shen Hanyi’s sword light struck the tiger-transformed Zhao Hao, but it only produced a blinding shower of sparks, leaving a shallow white scratch on his scales.

“Hahaha! My Golden Armor Tiger body is comparable to a Dharma Treasure! How can a little wench like you break it?!” Zhao Hao laughed maniacally. His massive tiger claws swiped at the air, generating gusts of foul wind as he pounced at Shen Hanyi.

Shen Hanyi’s expression didn’t change in the slightest. She drifted backward gracefully, her fingertips flickering with uncertain sword light.

She was testing him.

After that single strike, she had already discerned the structural flaws of this demonic body.

In the next instant, she finally unsheathed the entirely silver-white long sword at her hip.

An impossibly dazzling sword light ignited. It felt as if only this single streak of silver remained between heaven and earth. There was no earth-shattering momentum, no flashy spectacle. There was only the ultimate, pure sharpness of returning to simplicity.

Pfft!

The sword light flashed and vanished.

Zhao Hao’s wild laughter abruptly choked off. He stood frozen, lowering his head to look at the slender, perfectly straight bloodline bisecting his chest. His eyes bulged in disbelief.

His indestructible Golden Armor Tiger body had been as fragile as tofu before that strike.

The bloodline ruptured. The massive tiger carcass crashed heavily to the ground, shifting back into human form as the life drained from his eyes.

With Zhao Hao dead, the morale of the remaining Zhao Family Foundation Establishment Cultivators evaporated.

Chen Ziyi danced through the battlefield wielding her white bone demonic saber. Her blade work was treacherous, each slash surgically targeting the joints and vital points of the Foundation Establishment elders, forcing them into a desperate, chaotic retreat.

Wang Qiaoqiao summoned the wrath of the heavens. Thick, purple lightning snakes crashed down from the sky, blasting another elder until his Qi shattered, leaving him screaming in agony.

Under the combined assault of the women, the Zhao Family was steadily losing ground. Their complete annihilation was merely a matter of time.

It was a total slaughter. The battlefield was completely one-sided, going so smoothly it felt excessive.

Yet, Zhou Kai’s frown deepened.

Something’s wrong.

They had been fighting for a while now. The Zhao Family was on the brink of extinction. Why hadn’t their ultimate pillar, the Grand Perfection Foundation Establishment Patriarch Zhao Wuji, shown up? Even if he was in a death-seclusion, a man must move when his family is being butchered on his doorstep!

Zhou Kai quietly activated Cicada Chirp Steals Heaven, expanding his powerful Divine Sense to blanket the entire ancestral land.

He scanned every soul. All the Cultivators were engaged in combat… but within the quiet room, there was no trace of Zhao Wuji’s aura!

He wasn’t here!

Just then, Fish Baibai transmitted a message stating her battle was over and she was mopping up the Qi Condensation stragglers.

But from Mo Qianyuan’s side… there was absolute silence. No message.

Zhou Kai’s heart sank.

With Shen Hanyi here, the main battlefield was perfectly safe. But Senior Sister Mo specialized in the Talisman path. She was meticulous and possessed numerous escape methods. Even if she couldn’t win a fight, triggering a Rank 3 Escape Talisman to flee should be child’s play for her.

Not even being able to send a Transmission Talisman… what kind of power could completely seal off heaven and earth?!

Zhou Kai didn’t hesitate. He commanded the Split Back Katydid to descend into the shadows to protect Shen Hanyi and the others.

Simultaneously, he transformed into a streak of light, tearing across the night sky at maximum speed toward the Sun Family’s old site!

As Zhou Kai neared the Sun Family’s ruins, he saw a massive golden light bell inverted on the ground, firmly protecting Mo Qianyuan inside.

Talisman runes flowed across the golden bell, but they were flickering violently, on the verge of shattering.

A Rank 3 Golden Bell Talisman!

Zhou Kai’s pupils contracted. With Mo Qianyuan’s strength, powering a Rank 3 Talisman should allow her to easily escape even a Grand Perfection Foundation Establishment enemy. How could she be trapped like a rat, unable to even call for help?

As he closed the distance, a sinister, hyper-violent aura slammed into him—an aura far exceeding the Grand Perfection realm!

That chaotic, domineering aura had formed an invisible domain. It was madly eroding the Golden Bell Talisman while simultaneously isolating all spiritual energy, rendering any Transmission Talisman useless!

Through the chaos, Zhou Kai finally got a clear look at the figure attacking the golden bell.

It was an old man in black robes—Zhao Wuji!

But his state was grotesque. Black Qi boiled off his skin, and his eyes glowed a deranged blood-red. His aura was a chaotic mess, a repulsive blend of human Qi, violent Demonic Essence, and a faint trace of… Golden Core Dao Rhyme!

A False Core!

He hadn’t reached the Grand Perfection realm. He had forcibly advanced to the False Core realm by fusing with Demon Beast flesh and gorging on a massive amount of Demon Cores!

“So this is where the old rat was hiding!” Killing intent erupted in Zhou Kai’s eyes.

So what if it’s the False Core realm? It was nothing but a counterfeit, a fake beneath the true Golden Core! Furthermore, this was an unstable, unformed False Core riddled with structural flaws!

Even if he was facing a perfected False Core expert, Zhou Kai would dare to crush them!

Zhou Kai didn’t waste a single breath on words. His figure shot forward like a bolt of lightning.

He instantly triggered Cicada Cry Piercing Brain.

The invisible, devastating sound wave of the cicada bypassed Zhao Wuji’s chaotic protective aura and slammed directly into his Consciousness Sea!

“AWOOOOO—!”

Zhao Wuji shrieked, a miserable, inhuman howl. He had already damaged his sanity by forcing his False Core condensation. Now, taking this heavy mental blow, the last thread of his rationality snapped.

The black Qi around him exploded. His body underwent a horrific secondary mutation. His human head twisted, bones cracking and elongating, until a ferocious, drooling wolf head sat atop his shoulders!

With his focus broken, the pressure on the Golden Bell Talisman vanished. Mo Qianyuan broke free. Her face was deathly pale, and a trickle of blood leaked from her lips. She had suffered significant internal injuries.

She looked up at Zhou Kai, who was now clashing with the monstrous wolf-human hybrid. A flash of lingering fear crossed her face, quickly replaced by utter relief.

She adjusted her breathing and shouted, “Junior Brother, be careful! This beast’s strength is bizarre! I’ll go clear out the small fry and return to aid you!”

Decisive as always, she transformed into a streak of light and flew off.

Seeing she was safe, Zhou Kai threw away all his restraints, focusing his absolute, unfiltered rage onto Zhao Wuji.

“Trash that is neither human nor demon!” Zhou Kai spat.

The Chaotic Sky Hammer materialized in his hands. Zhou Kai simultaneously flooded the weapon with his monstrous Vitality and pure Qi. The massive war hammer ignited with a blinding red light.

Zhou Kai swung. Starry illusions manifested around the hammer head, carrying a terrifying weight meant to crush mountains. It collided violently with Zhao Wuji’s wolf claws.

BOOM!

Shockwaves ripped through the air. Zhao Wuji was blasted backward, his wolf claws mangled into bloody pulp.

Although the old man possessed the raw momentum of a False Core, his power was a chaotic, impure mess. In stark contrast, Zhou Kai’s Five Emperors Suppress Prison Body was the absolute pinnacle of pure physical power.

The difference in quality was absolute!

Zhao Wuji went completely feral, attacking solely on bestial instinct. Zhou Kai, however, handled the monster with effortless ease. His hammer techniques were grand and sweeping, every single strike pulverizing the old man’s flaws.

After just a few rounds, Zhao Wuji was a broken, blood-soaked wreck. He crashed heavily into the earth, reverting back to human form, his False Core aura withered to the extreme.

He struggled to lift his head. His eyes, full of madness and resentment, locked onto Zhou Kai. “For the Zhao Family… everything I did… was for Hao’er… Why… why did it end like this…”

He didn’t ask who Zhou Kai was. He didn’t ask where this grudge came from. His dying heart was consumed only by the madness of his grand plans being utterly destroyed.

Zhou Kai stepped forward, looking down at the broken patriarch with eyes colder than the abyss. “The Zhao Family incited the Beast Tide. How could my Calamity Abyss Valley possibly tolerate your existence?”

Calamity Abyss Valley!

Zhao Wuji’s pupils dilated to the limit. A flash of horrifying realization crossed his face.

Before he could utter another word, Zhou Kai’s large hand clamped down over the crown of his head.

Soul Searching!

Vast, invasive Divine Sense flooded into the patriarch’s mind. Zhao Wuji’s memories fragmented into countless images, washing over Zhou Kai’s consciousness.

A cold, noble corpse of a Rank 3 Golden Armor Tiger, being stroked by greedy hands…

Zhao Hao ecstatically fusing the tiger bones into his own body, dreaming of the Golden Core path…

In a dark secret room, Zhao Wuji force-feeding himself Demon Core after Demon Core, his face contorting in agony, just to condense a false Dao Rhyme to protect his son…

Deep within the Ten Thousand Demon Mountain Range, the Golden Armor Tiger King, having lost its mate, howling mournfully at the sky, its eyes burning with a rage that could incinerate the world…

On another peak, the Rank 3 Ghost Wolf King standing in a pool of blood, catching the last lingering scent of its slaughtered pup and letting out a despairing, earth-shaking wail…

A moment later, Zhou Kai withdrew his hand, his eyes flashing with icy understanding.

Well, well. One stole the corpse of a king’s deceased wife. The other slaughtered a king’s precious son. This grudge was truly… No wonder the two Rank 3 Great Demons went completely insane.