NOVEL WEB Chapter 4: Dishitian
Inside the Blood Sea, a violet-skinned figure emerged. She had three faces on each side of her head, one of an innocent little girl, one of a seductress, and one that exuded a motherly warmth. Along with her three faces, she had three pairs of arms attached to an intoxicating figure.
The female shura blinked a few times to rid her blurry vision. After she did so, she showed a shocked expression as she gazed around. 'Where is this? How did I come to such a hellish place?'
Suddenly, she clutched her head and entered a fetal position as a large amount of information entered her mind. 'Great Desolation, Three Purities, Nuwa, Jieyin, Zhunti, and Hongjun? Isn't this the place of mythology from China?'
The female shura shook her head as the pain receded. She stared at her hand and clenched it. The air exploded from the pressure of her hand, and she stared at it in amazement.
"I'm so powerful," the female shura said.
She knew that mortals could cultivate and become an immortal. The first realm was the Earth Immortal Realm, followed by the Sky Immortal Realm, then the Profound Immortal Realm, Golden Immortal Realm, Great Unity Realm, and Great Firmament Realm. At birth, she was born in the Profound Immortal Realm. For her, who only had memories of a mortal human, this was an unthinkable amount of power.
The female shura only had one issue. "Why the hell am I a woman? I was clearly a man in my previous life!"
After venting for a while, the female shura sighed. 'Forget it. Don't immortals have shapeshifting techniques? I'll just have to learn one and fix my form. Before that, I need to give myself a name.'
She wanted to name herself something awesome like Huang Yi, Jin Yong, Liang Yusheng, or Gu Long, but a name appeared in her mind by itself. "Dishitian! From now on, I am Dishitian!"
The sky trembled, and the red sea surged in response to her announcement. Dishitian happily laughed. Not because of the name, but the moment she said it, a cultivation method appeared in her mind.
'Haha, I knew it. I got a cheat since I'm a transmigrator.' Without waiting, Dishitian closed her eyes and accepted the cultivation method. Its name was Sinforge Body Tempering, and she could temper her body using Karmic Sin! The more people with Karmic Sin she killed, the faster her cultivation grew. Simultaneously, she could earn Karmic Merit.
Dishitian frowned and thought. 'That's it?'
Don't most transmigrators get some sort of treasure from some bigshots too? Just as Dishitian thought that, she sensed a treasure in her lower dantian. Rather than one item, it was a set of twelve orbs that formed one spiritual artifact.
In the Great Desolation, spiritual artifacts were divided into cardinal, innate, and acquired. Cardinal spiritual artifacts were extremely rare; even Saints might not possess one. Although inferior to cardinal spiritual artifacts, Saints still had a chance to acquire innate spiritual artifacts, no matter how small. Although the most common of the three types, acquired spiritual artifacts were still beyond most cultivators.
All spiritual artifacts had a set number of restrictions that decided their grade. As a general rule, the more restrictions, the more powerful and higher the grade. Spiritual artifacts with twelve or fewer restrictions were low-grade spiritual artifacts. Middle-grade spiritual artifacts have thirteen to twenty-four restrictions, and high-grade spiritual artifacts have twenty-five to thirty-six restrictions. Last but not least were top-grade spiritual artifacts, with thirty-seven to forty-nine restrictions.
The twelve orbs in her dantian possessed eighteen restrictions, making it an intermediate-grade innate spiritual artifact. Dishitian's heart thumped in exhilaration, but reality quickly cooled her excitement.
Ignoring whether or not the Saints would lower their status and kill her to take her spiritual artifact, Dishitian had to be on guard against those with covetous intentions. She didn't want to die for the crime of possessing a treasure beyond her ability to keep, but neither did she want to throw it away.
The innate knowledge she received upon birth already made her aware of the rarity of an innate spiritual artifact. If she discarded it, she might not receive another one in her life. In addition, if she concealed it well enough, it could be a lifesaving trump card at a critical moment.
Dishitian observed her surroundings again—despite being in the Blood Sea, the miasma wasn't as thick and ominous as her inheritance in her memories. Nor could she detect any battles near her or other shuras. 'Luckily, I seemed to have been born at the perimeter of Blood Sea. I have to find a place to hole up and refine the innate spiritual artifact as soon as possible.'
Although the twelve orbs were hidden inside her body, she didn't discount the possibility that a being with higher strength than hers would be able to sense it. Better to make it her own as fast as possible.
She started flying away from the Blood Sea's center, searching for a safe location. Dishitian's eyes lit up when she discovered a rocky island poking out of the Blood Sea. Due to the contamination effect of the Blood Sea, the rocks were dull red, but that wasn't what caught her attention. What excited her was the cave.
She descended onto the rocky island and entered the island. Before she even had a chance to observe, something rushed toward her and landed a hit, blasting her backwards.
Dishitian stabilized her bearings and floated above the cave entrance. Her eyes narrowed and pierced through the darkness to see an ugly and ferocious man with two heads and two pairs of arms. It need not be said who had just attacked her.
The punch didn't hurt, nor did it leave a mark on her body. After observing the male shura again, Dishitian noticed that the shura only possessed the strength of an Earth Immortal. She waved her hand, and before the shura even had a chance to resist, he exploded in an eruption of blood.
Dishitian stared at the aftermath. The bloody haze dispersed and hardly changed the atmosphere of the Blood Sea. She thought that she would have been affected more. After all, even if her target was a shura, she still killed a sentient life.
Instead of horror or any other adverse reaction, she felt a sense of heat spreading through her body. The urge to find another shura and rip them to shreds almost overtook Dishitian. It took hours for her to cool her feverish body from the battle lust.
With a renewed understanding of her current existence, Dishitian entered the cave and sealed the entrance. Despite possessing the power of a Profound Immortal, she didn't have any spells or techniques to go with her realm, so she could only use the simplest method to refine twelve orbs.
Dishitian gathered her essence into her lower dantian and made the essence seep into the spiritual artifact. The spiritual artifact started to vibrate and released a dark light, one that caused Dishitian’s heart to palpitate. If she hadn’t known that it wouldn't hurt her, she would have thrown it as far as possible from herself.
She didn't know how long she spent refining the spiritual artifact, but the most she could refine was seven restrictions. Yet, that was enough for her to reign uncontested in the Profound Immortal Realm.
Through her refinement, Dishitian learned the name of the spiritual artifact, the Twelve Sea Calming Pearls. 'Twelve? I thought the Sea Calming Pearl came in a set of twenty-four. Why would it appear inside my body?'
If Dishitian remembered correctly, the Twenty-Four Sea Calming Pearls originally belonged to Zhao Gongming, an outer disciple of the Interception Sect created by the Heavenly Venerable of Numinous Treasures.
During Investiture of the Gods, Zhao Gongming died due to Daoist Randeng's actions. Daoist Randeng would later betray the Enlightenment Sect for Buddhism, becoming Dipankara Buddha. He would later use the Heaven Measuring Ruler to transform the Twenty-Four Sea Calming Pearls into twenty-four different worlds.
Sweat slid down Dishitian's cheeks. 'Zhao Gongming or Daoist Randeng won't hunt me down for these Twelve Sea Calming Pearls, right?'
Dishitian had the urge to discard and throw these pearls as far as possible, but as soon as that thought occurred to her, steel appeared in her eyes. So what if it originally belonged to Zhao Gongming or Daoist Randeng wanted to obtain it? Since it appeared in her hands, it was hers, and she would retrieve the other half and the Heaven Measuring Ruler too.
Her first priority would be raising her strength. Although her current self had far more power than she could have ever imagined in her previous life, it was not enough. To have the confidence to protect the Twelve Sea Calming Pearls, she would at least need to have the power of a Golden Immortal of the Great Firmament.
Dishitian left the cave and ventured deeper into the Blood Sea. She would need to fight and kill to temper her body and gather information—the farther before the Investiture of the Gods, the more time she would have to strengthen herself.
An unknown number of years later, chunks of flesh belonging to a formerly live shura fell into the Blood Sea. Dishitian’s hands clutched the neck of a green-skinned shura. Despite her green skin, she was quite alluring, which was why Dishitian killed her companion first.
"King Vemicitrin won't let you off!" the green-skinned shura shouted as she continued to struggle in Dishitian's clutches.
Dishitian increased her grip, causing the shura to choke. "King Vemicitrin would have to find me first. Enough; tell me all that you know."
Through the years, Dishitian gradually formed an understanding of the current world. To her surprise and joy, she learned that the Titan-Demon Tribulation had ended not too long ago. Humanity had just started to prosper, and the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors hadn't even appeared yet.
However, some things were different than she remembered. The Three Purities still existed, but Supreme Purity Tongtian was a woman! Not only that, but it was Jade Purity Yuanshi who mended the heavens and not Nuwa like the legends. Dishitian had to scoff at the rumors that Supreme Purity Tongtian was going to be the Jade Emperor. That was obviously Haotian.
Before she could worry about why the Great Desolation was different from the legends of her previous life, Dishitian needed to survive in the Blood Sea.
The Blood Sea was divided into four territories, ruled by the four kings of the shura race: Bali, Kharakantha, Vemincitrin, and Sakra. Of the four, Sakra was undoubtedly the most powerful, and the other three had to ally together just to stand a chance. Of course, this didn't stop Bali, Kharakantha, and Vemincitrin from betraying each other at their earliest convenience.
Dishitian had no desire to join any of the forces, Sakra's included. She'd be used as cannon fodder at best, and the chances of dying were too high. She needed strength fast, true, but she needed a balance between risk and reward.
She crushed the shura's throat and exterminated her soul. The green-skinned flesh fell into the Blood Sea and dissolved into a fleshy liquid. Afterward, Dishitian closed her eyes and absorbed the Karmic Sin from the deceased shura.
The Karmic Sin seared through her veins. Wisps of smoke rolled off her skin as her brows twitched in pain. With each circulation of the Karmic Sin through her body, the stronger her body became, and when all the Karmic Sin disappeared, Dishitian could feel her flesh reach the limit of the Profound Immortal Realm. Just a little bit more, and her flesh would break through to the Golden Immortal Realm in power.
Dishitian opened her eyes, and there was a murderous glint in her eyes that quickly receded. 'Looks like I'll have to hunt a few more shuras before leaving.'
"That's an interesting tempering technique you have."
Dishitian's eyes widened, and she snapped her gaze toward the voice. The speaker was no doubt a shura, his aura alone told her that, but he didn't look like one. He looked like a normal human—one face, a torso, two arms, and two legs—clad in golden robes, if a bit kingly.
There was no doubt as to who he was. "King Sakra."
Sakra smiled as he looked at Dishitian. His eyes told all. He did not see her as a threat, and she knew that she had no power to resist him. "I was wondering which of the other king's shura dared to attack my territory, but it turned out to be a rogue shura. What's your name?"
"Dishitian," she answered honestly.
An amused smile graced Sakra's lips. "An interesting name. You're a bit different from all the shuras I've seen. Are you interested in joining me?"
Despite Sakra posing it as a question, with no hint of threats, Dishitian already knew she had no choice. She bowed and said. "It would be my honor. My king, I would like to offer you my body tempering method, Sinforge Body Tempering."
Sakra didn't speak, but his eyes gained a greater interest in Dishitian. Despite him not saying anything, Dishitian revealed the intricacies of the Sinforge Body Tempering method.
"Oh? It's a little bit interesting," Sakra said. He waved his hand. "Alright, I've seen your loyalty. Return to Thunder Temple with me."
Dishitian nodded and flew behind Sakra. Along the way, Dishitian did her best to erase her presence as much as possible. Although Sakra seemed amiable, she couldn't shake the gut feeling that he would kill her on a whim.
'Dammit, I shouldn't have gotten greedy and left earlier,' Dishitian thought with regret. She could already imagine her pitiful future. She had no doubt that she would die if Sakra ever learned of the Twelve Sea Calming Pearls in her possession.
As the duo traveled deeper into the Blood Sea, battles became more frequent. Even if the four Shura Kings did not order war, the shura themselves would willingly throw themselves into battle, but none of them dared to block the two, mostly due to Sakra's prestige and power.
The duo reached a massive battle. Over thousands of shuras waged war against each other. There were even several shuras at the Golden Immortal Realm fighting. Rather than a war, it appeared closer to a free-for-all brawl with no rhyme or reason.
Dishitian felt a flame rage inside of her. All the fresh spilled blood ignited the battle lust she was suppressing. A savage grin started to make a way on her face despite her best efforts. All the way, Sakra glanced at her with amusement.
Just as Dishitian was about to lose all reason and release herself to bloodlust, a golden light filled the sky. Along with golden dawn, a sonorous chant entered her ears. Just a single glance at the light calmed every negative emotion and ignited an intense yearning within her heart. She wasn't the only one affected; all the shuras engaged in battle stopped and stared at the light with yearning.
Soon the source of the golden light appeared. He was a bald man with a cinnabar dot between his brows sitting atop a golden lotus. All sentient life who gazed upon him would know his name, for he was a Saint acknowledged by Heaven.
He was Saint Zhunti.