Starting My Cultivation With Time Management

Above the Heavenly Dome, in the Sixth Layer of the realm beyond the heavens known as the Sixth Heavenly Demon King's Transformative Self-Mastery Heaven, the Sixth Heavenly Demon King ruled as the sovereign of all demons, reveling in the joys and karma of the five other major Desire Heavens of the lower layers.

The Demon King resided within the Demon Palace, accompanied by five hundred Witches (the so-called Witches were the daughters of the Demon King), possessing the closest Mana and status to the Demon King himself.

Of course, Heavenly Demons themselves had no gender distinction, nor did they have the function of marriage or procreation; therefore, these Witches were generally believed to be splinters of the Demon King... akin to bacteria.

It was just that the Witches usually preferred to transform into beautiful human females, which was why they were called Witches.

Wherever there were people, there were Jianghu; the Witches, who fed on desires, were no exception. After the Demon King left the Transformative Self-Mastery Heaven permanently, the intensity of the struggles among the Witches reached its peak, as everyone coveted the position of the Sixth Heavenly Demon King.

Among the five hundred Witches, there were three sisters with the strongest Mana, who shared the closest relationship—the eldest was called "Li An," the second "Li Chou," and the youngest "Li Hen."

The names of the Witches were self-chosen, essentially representing the emotions they most enjoyed preying upon.

Li An was one who fed on the fear of death; Li Chou on the reluctance to die; and Li Hen on the resentment towards death.

As the lower realm creatures experienced fear the most upon death, the eldest sister, Li An, possessed the strongest Mana and was the leader of the three.

But however strong she was, she had yet to subjugate the other four hundred ninety-seven Witches; otherwise, she would have long become the Sixth Heavenly Demon King.

One day, Li An had a sudden revelation within the Demon Palace and said to her sisters with a smile:

"My Demonic Techniques are about to reach perfection, but I'm just one step away from complete fulfillment."

Upon hearing this, her sisters were overjoyed. Li Chou eagerly asked,

"When will sister be able to cultivate to Perfection and become the master of this Demon Palace, the Sixth Heavenly Demon King?"

"I need one last vestige of obsession," Li An replied.

"Then we just need to find a soul with an obsession and devour it," Li Hen, ever candid, suggested.

"Using that method, we would need to consume at least six thousand souls," Li An said with a smile, shaking her head. "But I have an idea..."

"To become human in the Lower Realm and experience obsession firsthand?" After hearing Li An's plan, Li Chou spoke in astonishment, "Sister, how did you come up with such a thought... Oh, do you feel this Demon Palace is too full of strife, too sharp-edged?"

"When Father was still here, we five hundred sisters were as close as limbs to a body," Li An replied with a wistful cold laugh. "But now, fighting over the position of the Demon King, unable to overpower each other, we resort to childish verbal fights that fill the Demon Palace with a vile atmosphere, truly nauseating."

"Becoming the Demon King relies on actual Mana. I will go down to the Lower Realm for some peace first. You two stay in heaven and keep an eye on the other sisters for me, so they don't come to blows."

"If they were going to come to blows, it would have happened over the past several hundred thousand years," Li Hen said dismissively. "Sister, how long will it take for you to return?"

"At most two hundred years," Li An replied. "We Witches cannot form Golden Cores, so if we pretend to be mortals, our lifespan will not exceed two hundred years; any longer and we would not be able to maintain our disguises."
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"That's very well then," Li Hen clapped her hands and laughed. "Just over two hundred years, I will not miss sister too much."

The three Witches left the Demon Palace, exerted their immense Mana, and finally managed to barely pierce through the Heavenly Dome to descend upon the Lower Realm.

This place was the southeastern coastal area of Yangzhou, and the Witches flew towards the Divine Land, debating along the way what guise would be best to assume.

"Since sister wants to seal her memories and thoroughly experience a human life, why not become a princess?" Li Hen suggested enthusiastically. "A Royal Princess lives in luxury, but her marriage is often politically arranged and cannot be decided by herself. If she falls in love with someone before her arranged marriage, wouldn't that create the needed obsession?"

"Why must it be about falling in love with someone?" Li Chou disagreed. "It would be better to pose as a Cultivator who, upon reaching the end and being unable to achieve Core Formation, has the strongest obsession with the desire to survive as life draws to a close."

The two sisters were chattering away when suddenly the eldest, Li An, exclaimed,

"Such intense emotions."

Witches are especially greedy for all kinds of desires; thus, the three quickly descended and plunged into the water, where they saw the corpse of a pretty young girl. Her hands and feet had been tied and weighed down with a large stone; she had been drowned alive at the bottom of the sea.

Seeing that the body had not yet swollen from being in the water, they knew she had died not long ago, surrounded by intense feelings of fear, reluctance, and hatred.

"Truly a matter of karmic law," Li An said in amazement, "How about I impersonate this person? What do you think?"

The two sisters looked at each other for a moment before saying,

"We'll follow your lead, elder sister."

Li An then employed her divine skills, transforming into a cloud of black mist that entered the corpse through the ears, nose, and mouth.

Li Chou pointed a finger, and the grass ropes binding the girl snapped instantly.

The girl opened her eyes and swiftly swam to the surface. She flexed her wrists, which had been discolored by the tight ropes, and after scanning the lingering memories of the corpse, she laughed and said,

"So it was the daughter of a fisherman, offered as a sacrifice to the Dragon King by ignorant fishermen, hoping for the storm to cease."

"This fisherman's daughter is too plain; why not become a princess instead?" Li Hen was still fixated on the status of a princess and urged her.

"Sister, don't speak further. This girl was born on an inauspicious date in the dark of the year, the dark of the month, and the dark of the day—a great matter of karmic law. There is no need for hesitation," Li An said as she raised two fingers to her forehead and used her mana to seal her memory of being a Heavenly Demon. "This girl's surname is Jiang, with no given name—henceforth, I will be known as 'Jiang Liyan.'"

The memories of being a fisherman's daughter flowed into a mind that had become a blank slate. Her expression went dull for a moment, then quickly turned to fear and sorrow, realizing she had been tied and sunk to the bottom of the sea, nearly drowning in the depths, but, thankfully, she had managed to break free and swim up.

But fishing was a hard life and the ropes made were very tough; how could they have broken so easily, allowing her to live?

Jiang Liyan didn't dwell on the oddness of it all, focusing instead on the vast, boundless sea around her, unable to prevent tears from falling once again.

The two witches had already vanished from sight when Li An sealed her memory.

Seeing that her sister had fully immersed herself in the role, Li Chou said,

"Floating aimlessly in the sea like this is no solution."

"Sister, you stay here and watch over her. I'll attract a cultivator nearby to come to her rescue,"

With that, she swiftly faded into the mist until she managed to lead Elder Cai E here.

The subsequent events concerning Jiang Liyan are not detailed further.

It was only before her death that the witch Li An at last recognized the true nature of her feelings for Wei Dongliu. Obsession took hold, her demonic techniques reached perfection, and she left the body that was already dead.

Two clouds of black gas rushed into the cave, identifiable as Li Chou and Li Hen, who held Li An's arms on both sides and rejoiced with bright laughter,

"Elder sister has finally returned! Congratulations on achieving the great perfection of your divine cultivation!"

As for Fairy Cai E and the person within the black clouds, they had long been stunned speechless by the scene.