A Farmer's Journey To Immortality

"What are you thinking about, lad?"

Velia asked as she noticed Aksai deep in thought.

He looked up and took a deep breath before recounting how he had arrived here, including his encounter with Haitin.

He also shared everything he knew about the three Core Formation Lords who had been trying to break into the treasury hall for quite some time.

"I see," Velia said with a nod before asking casually, "So, what do you want to do with those three idiots? If you want, I can kill them for you."

She made the offer as if it were nothing.

Indeed, disposing of three Core Formation Lords wouldn't even make her blink. Beyond her status as the Guardian Spirit of Holy Land Torel, her individual prowess was nothing to scoff at.

In fact, if Velia had wanted to, she could have killed the three Core Formation Lords long ago.

Not only had they barged into Holy Land Torel uninvited, showing not an ounce of respect, but they had also begun plundering the resources within the isolated dimension with reckless abandon—as if they were the most powerful beings in the world.

Velia could have shattered their arrogance at any moment by throwing them into one of the testing grounds. Those grounds were designed to challenge intruders, and if she adjusted the difficulty at will, even battle-hardened Nascent Soul Kings would struggle to survive, let alone Core Formation Lords.

Yet, she had chosen not to act on impulse.

As the Guardian Spirit of Holy Land Torel, she couldn't play favorites. This place was a legacy of the once-prosperous sect she had once been a part of, and upholding its rules and regulations was her duty—especially now that Holy Land Torel had suddenly become accessible to outsiders.

The Holy Land needed to be revived, and for that to happen, Velia had to find a rightful heir—not just someone talented but someone with the heart and mindset to shoulder great responsibilities.

The legacy holder of Holy Land Torel also needed to be bold and daring. After all, only those with courage could take on the task of eliminating the sect's enemies. Vengeance was not for the weak. To see it through, one needed a fire burning in their heart.

As a result, Velia allowed the members of the demonic sects to roam freely within Holy Land Torel. It wasn't as if they could easily steal the land's most valuable resources.

Aside from a few "low-hanging fruits" that weren't even worth mentioning in her eyes, these demonic cultivators—most of whom possessed below-average talent—had no chance of obtaining anything significant enough to warrant her intervention.

Who knew? The next true inheritor of Holy Land Torel could very well emerge from among these demonic cultivators. At least, that was the guiding principle behind the search for a worthy successor.

Although Velia's sharp eyes had yet to identify such a candidate in the past few years, it wasn't her place to pass judgment. Her role was to observe in silence and ensure that the tests proceeded exactly as they were meant to.

Indeed, the cave Aksai had cleared was just one of many testing grounds. Several others were scattered throughout the holy land, each offering its own unique rewards. Some of these trials weren't even designed for low-level cultivators—only Core Formation Lords and beyond could enter them.

The test standards of Holy Land Torel were exceptionally high, evaluating multiple factors to ensure fairness. As such, no one could manipulate or cheat their way through these trials using mere schemes.

The three Core Formation Lords had attempted to claim rewards from one such testing ground. Consumed by ambition and an insatiable desire for rare resources, they had nearly driven themselves mad upon discovering the wealth of opportunities within Holy Land Torel.

However, perhaps they were blinded by greed, all three of them had been severely injured on the testing grounds. The demonic leaders could only conclude that their talent was not sufficient enough to pass any of the tests meant for their realm.

Since they could not win in regular ways, they had decided to attack the treasury hall itself. What they couldn't achieve by merit, they would take that by force.

As such, these Core Formation Lords had come to the treasury hall to rob the place clean of all its precious resources. They might also gain a method to leave the isolated domain wherever they wanted.

***

Kill or not to kill. That was indeed a big question.

Aksai couldn't help but think about the question seriously.

Haitin had promised Aksai a lot of rewards if he managed to pass down the knowledge related to Heretic Dao to the three Core Formation Lords.

The three Core Formation Lords in question then needed to cooperate with each other and use the knowledge gained from the Heretic Dao inheritance to break free from the isolated dimension.

However, Aksai did not want to hand over the Heretic Dao to the three Core Formation Lords. Simply because he knew that they wouldn't appreciate his efforts in bringing the inheritance to them. In fact, one of them might even consider Aksai as a threat and try to eliminate him.

After all, these three were Core Formation Lords of the demonic faction. It was better to avoid meeting them for any reason whatsoever.

Aksai wasn't blinded by Haitin's rewards. Although he had come to appreciate the guy's wisdom, it didn't mean that he could completely trust that man. In fact, he knew that Haitin would not hesitate to kill him too if it ensured certain benefit for the demonic faction.

What was the demonic faction's most crucial need at this point? It was the safety of the three Core Formation Lords. As long as they returned to the outside world safe and sound, the rest could be managed by Haitin.

Thus, Aksai could not approach the Core Formation Lords carelessly. To avoid further conflict or other complications, he was fine with killing the three Core Formation Lords as well.

However, there were many problems attached to the killing of the three Core Formation lords. Firstly, if he were to kill all three of them here inside the Holy Land Torel, it would only bring chaos in the outside world.

After all, the demonic faction losing all three of its Core Formation Lords would make the righteous faction bolder. With no deterrent, the other Core Formation Lords from the righteous faction will also start to bully the demonic faction.

The whole of Dadangar Subcontinent would become restless when the news of three Core Formation Lords was confirmed. The righteous faction will not only try to suppress the demonic faction but also start to have internal disputes.

The five major righteous sects would start fighting among each other over who gets the bigger share of pie that was robbed from the demonic faction.

In short, killing three Core Formation Lords had a lot of known and unknown adverse effects.

Aksai didn't want to deal with these effects himself.

In the end, Aksai decided to not rush and first gather information.

Thanks to Velia's help, he started to eavesdrop upon the three Lords. He also got to see their condition while staying silently inside the treasury hall.

To the Spirit farmer's surprise, all three of them were injured and looked miserable.

In fact, two of the three were in a serious condition.

An idea formed in Aksai's mind.

'Should I just let them exhaust their strength only to die in frustration here?'