20. The Heavenly Demonic Way

(3 Hours after the death of the City Lord, On the streets of Golden Prosperity City)

The city, once a chaotic battleground of looters, vagrants, and desperate survivors, began to shift with the arrival of the Zheng Family's forces. Where there had been unchecked fires burning through merchant districts and gangs carving out territory in the absence of law, now squads of armored soldiers marched through the streets, stamping out rebellion with swift and merciless efficiency.

Seeing this, Mo Tian knew that this was his que to leave. So, he rushed towards one of the secret entrances to the city. Running through the pathways where the black market used to be, back to the well and into the slums.

While outside the city, Mo Tian could hear the cries of defiance were being silenced beneath the heavy clang of steel boots and the glinting tips of spears. He could imagine what was happening to those who had taken advantage of the lawlessness, such as thieves, deserters, and opportunists. They were dragged into the open, executed in the plazas as a grim warning. The clang of metal on metal still echoed in some alleys, but each passing hour saw the sound grow fainter as resistance crumbled beneath the iron will of the city lord's forces.

Order was being restored, not through words or negotiations, but through force. Patrols occupied key intersections, banners of the Zheng Family unfurled once more on towers that had been scorched by war. The markets, once abandoned or picked clean by desperate hands, began to see movement as merchants cautiously reopened, testing the return of stability. Fear still lingered in the air, but with it came a growing sense of control. The city was no longer a battlefield. It was becoming a fortress once more for the battle to come.

Seeing that he could not take advantage of the golden opportunity any longer, Mo Tian went back to his house in the slums. When he arrived he unloaded his latest loot and looked into his hidden chamber. The once empty room has been transformed into a small library. Seeing this brought a smile to Mo Tian's face.

Then he quickly checked his supplies for the next round of training. He had enough food and informed the beggar group he created that they would need to station themselves near both armies and sit in spaces that are conspicuous to soldiers. This way they could collect information and it would be easy for soldiers to get information from the beggars. Additionally, he told the beggars that they could sell some supplies. From all the raids, Mo Tian collected a big amount of coins and materials to craft poisons, aphrodisiacs, and other kinds of things you would find on the black market.

The demonic cult of the past had all kinds of books about these kinds of things. Although Mo Tian could not craft everything. He could make a few basic things that could be sold. Since the demonic cult has been exterminated by the Justice League, these things became exceedingly rare and expensive.

After he was done checking and the hidden chamber was cleaned up, Mo Tian sat cross-legged surrounded by towering bookshelves overflowing with scrolls, manuals, and ancient books. In the dim glow of a single lantern, his eyes flickered across the worn pages of an old texts, his fingers tracing each character with quiet reverence. The silence of the chamber was unbroken as he absorbed the knowledge before him, his mind sharpening with every word, memorizing everything that is written.

After having read everything, Mo Tian took the paper where he had written his requirements. Seeing that he had some manuals that could guide his direction, he set them in a separate pile and cleaned up the rest of the books.

Mo Tian entered the Mind Space, his focus narrowing to the very surface of his being, his skin. The projections emerged before him, shifting and flickering, their forms adjusting as he willed them to undergo the first refinement. He envisioned the ideal, skin that could withstand the bite of steel, the searing heat of flames, the numbing cold of ice, yet remain supple and responsive. It had to be a shield, but one that bent rather than broke, adapting rather than resisting outright.

The illusions moved through countless scenarios, their skin subjected to endless trials. Blades sliced across their bodies, yet instead of tearing, the surface rippled, dispersing the force like water on stone. Fire licked at their forms, yet no burns remained, only heat absorbed and released in a controlled cycle. He imagined their skin struck by blunt force, yet rather than bruising, it flexed, absorbing the impact before rebounding with force of its own.

Each failure dissolved into mist, but from every broken projection, new insights emerged. His mind dissected the process, hardness without brittleness, flexibility without fragility. He envisioned a refining force coursing through the body, sinking into the flesh, tempering it layer by layer until it was like tempered leather, both resilient and pliant. His skin would not just defend, it would adapt, shift, and counter, becoming the first true step toward forging an unshakable yet ever-moving body. Slowly, the first level of Mo Tian's cultivation method took form.

Mo Tian took a break in between the creation of every level of the cultivation method to ensure that he did not miss out any opportunity that could help him in recreating the former demonic cult.

The next level is the Bone tempering realm. The essence of unwavering strength. Mo Tian focused on shaping his bones not as rigid, immovable structures, but as living pillars, fluid in their resilience. They would be denser than the hardest metals, yet bend without breaking, flexing under pressure while absorbing and redistributing force. Each joint would be an extension of this flexibility, honed to effortlessly redirect impact, ensuring not only protection but adaptability in the face of any blow. Through this tempering, his bones would become both unyielding and responsive, a foundation of strength that could withstand any assault without faltering.

The illusions moved through countless scenarios, this time it was their bones subjected to endless trials. Each failure dissolved into mist, but from every broken projection, new ones formed. Slowly, the second level of Mo Tian's cultivation method took form. Mo Tian repeated this process for the other realms as well.

In the Marrow Tempering Realm, Mo Tian focused on the lifeblood flowing through his body, the marrow that birthed it. By refining its very essence, he would accelerate blood production, ensuring an unceasing tide of energy coursing through his veins. His stamina would surge beyond limits, wounds mending as if time itself bent to his will. Every drop of blood would carry regeneration, every pulse would feed resilience, creating a body that could endure ceaseless battle without faltering.

Strength meant nothing if the core of the body could not withstand true strain. In the Visceral Tempering Realm, Mo Tian envisioned his organs. Lungs that could drink in air like a storm, a heart that thundered with relentless force, a stomach that could dissolve poison as if it were mere water. Through refinement, his internal systems would grow tougher, able to endure extreme conditions and maintain peak efficiency under duress. At the same time, his meridians would widen, his internal energy flowing unhindered, cycling with ever-increasing speed and precision.

Lastly, the Aperture Tempering Realm. This was the breath of the body. Mo Tian sought not just control over his energy but mastery over the very balance of intake and release. The hidden apertures within his body, normally dormant, would awaken, opening paths unseen. With refinement, he would be able to draw back the energy he released, absorbing wasted power and recycling it into his strength. Likewise, his body would instinctively expel foreign energies, rejecting poison, suppressing invasive forces, and ensuring that his cultivation remained untarnished. With every movement, every breath, he would become an unceasing cycle of power, refining himself endlessly.

Slowly, the full cultivation method took shape. Mo Tian meticulously crafted the cultivation manual, pouring his focus into each word of the cultivation method, believing it would be the key to unlocking his full potential to use the 'Heavenly Demon Weapon Art'. However, after putting it into practice, he quickly realized the method fell short. Its power was insufficient to bring forth the true strength he sought in the Art and the risk for internal injuries was lessened but not removed.

Undeterred, he began testing and experimenting. He began finding subtle flaws within the manual's structure. Each flaw he corrected only seemed to expose another, more elusive imperfection, forcing him to reconsider his approach again and again.

Determined not to give up, Mo Tian delved deeper, refining the method step by step. He turned to the projections within his mind space, using them as a testing ground for every adjustment, watching how the movements shifted with each change. Slowly but surely, through constant trial and error, he began to discover the delicate balance required to make the manual truly effective. His understanding grew, and with it, the technique evolved into something far more precise and powerful, a reflection of his own potential that was now within reach.

When Mo Tian finally reached the balance in the cultivation method, he started testing it using the 'Heavenly Demon Weapon Art'. It finally worked, but if anyone else wanted to cultivate this cultivation method they needed to have extreme control over the body or it would not have the same effect.

Mo Tian looked at the projection performing the cultivation method he had created. It was performing actions that looked like stretching, but it was more of an extreme version of it. It bent the body to the extreme to temper it. Each level had different moves, but each one required extreme control or one would break, tear or outright destroy their body.

"I'll call it the 'Heavenly Demonic Way'. This would honor my old cultivation method."

Mo Tian exited the Mind space and started performing the first level of the cultivation method. After performing it once. Mo Tian could feel that he was exhausted. So he quit for today. Then he heard a familiar sound.

[Congratulations Host! You started learning a martial-level Cultivation Method]

[The 'Martial Cultivation' Reward has been rewarded to the Host. Please click on the Rewards Tab to claim your reward.]

Seeing the reward, Mu Tian was not really shocked. He had already predicted that the reward method would be similar for rewards related to the host. It appears that every time he learns a technique, art or anything related to cultivation and starts performing it. He would receive a reward. To test whether the rewards were similar, He quickly went to the [Rewards] to see what was going on.

[Rewards]

['Martial Cultivation' Reward – Ready to be claimed]

[Return]

Mo Tian clicked on the reward, expecting that it would be similar to the other reward. What he did not expect was that he would again get information loaded into his brain.

*AAAGH* echoed throughout the secret chamber.

After a few seconds, the information wave stopped. Mo Tian barely kept himself from falling unconscious. When Mo Tian came back to his senses, he found he knew a lot about the Martial Realm, which is also called the Body Tempering realm. It gave Mo Tian a few methods to refine his new cultivation method to make it safer and more stable to cultivate, but it was nothing much.

Additionally, he acquired another cultivation method. It was called 'Devouring Yin Scripture' This alarmed Mo Tian greatly, because a normal person would pick this cultivation method immediately. This was due to its grade. It was a Law-Grade Cultivation method. But Mo Tian created the 'Heavenly Demonic Way', which was also a Law-Grade Method. To be safe, Mo Tian ignored this method and just used is as a refence to perfect his own cultivation method. Still, Mo Tian compared the two cultivation methods.

There was a striking similarity. Both methods could be used simultaneously with the 'Reverse Chain of Yin and Yang Dual Cultivation Method', but the results would be totally different. Using the cultivation method from the reward would result in quick progress, but an unstable foundation that would lead to falling to the demon. This would alter his personality into a more chaotic version of himself. The 'Heavenly Demonic Way' on the other hand would ensure that the cultivator had a stable foundation at the cost of difficulty of cultivation and the requirements of control. 

After the rewards were settled, Mo Tian started perfecting the martial art further. He was quickly done. After testing it, it came out even better. Now, He had his own cultivation method and could start building the Demonic Cult back in this world.