Awooo!
A series of roars sounded as four more self-lost Original Sin beings rushed madly toward the Blood Cauldron. They were uniformly all Original Sin Manifestation Bodies.
'Something's not right!'
Da Xing the Mad Monk stared at the four Original Sin beings and suddenly spoke up. Gu Qingfeng took a look and also felt something was off, because the aura of Original Sin emanating from these four beings was remarkably similar, almost identical, and felt like they shared the same lineage. It was as if they were four blood brothers who had fused with the same Original Sin Blood, sown the same sin causes during their Original Sin Retribution Body stage, and received the same sin fruits, the same retribution, the same Original Sin Manifestation Bodies.
Was such a coincidence possible?
Gu Qingfeng didn't believe it. He pondered that there must be some connection between these four self-lost Original Sin beings.
'Those four should be someone's cultivated Original Sin Fragment Bodies!'
Da Xing the Mad Monk stated with certainty. 'And this old monk dares to guarantee that person's true self must be nearby.'
Cultivating Original Sin Fragment Bodies wasn't a rare thing, at least not in Da Xing the Mad Monk's eyes. He knew many great powers secretly cultivated Original Sin Fragment Bodies.
The difference was that some Original Sin Fragment Bodies were raised through 'free-range' methods, while others were raised through 'caged' methods.
The so-called free-range Original Sin Fragment Body, as the name implied, meant letting the fragment body survive on its own, paying no heed to its life or death.
Caged Original Sin Fragment Bodies, on the other hand, were cultivated and refined as if they were a personal magical treasure, tightly leashed in the palm of one's hand.
Both free-range and caged methods had their pros and cons.
The advantage of free-range Original Sin Fragment Bodies was that they could better conceal the true self's identity. Many old-timers from renowned orthodox sects, including experts from the Thirty-Six Heavens and Seventy-Two Blessed Lands, raised Original Sin Fragment Bodies this way, letting them survive out in the open. However, most struggled to survive, either being exterminated or devoured by other Original Sin beings.
Of course,
if luck was good, they might manage to cultivate an Original Sin Dharmakaya.
Only...
once a free-range Original Sin Fragment Body became a Dharmakaya, it would gestate a new ego. At that point, even if the true self wanted to regain control, it would be far more difficult, and it wasn't impossible for the so-called Original Sin Fragment Body to rebel and become the master.
If one used the caged method for Original Sin Fragment Bodies, such occurrences could largely be avoided.
Caging an Original Sin Fragment Body meant cultivating it as a magical treasure, feeding it Original Sin Blood to make it grow.
Caging an Original Sin Fragment Body was like tying a leash around its neck. Even if the fragment body lost its consciousness and became like a raving demon, it could still be firmly controlled. Moreover, with sufficiently high skill and by seizing the right opportunity, even if the fragment body eventually became a Dharmakaya, one could still keep it firmly in hand.
However,
with caged Original Sin Fragment Bodies, the true self's identity could no longer be hidden. Therefore, experts who considered themselves part of the righteous orthodox sects would never openly cage Original Sin Fragment Bodies, especially those who had always claimed to be guardians of the Great Dao—they would never engage in such dealings.
On the other hand, many experts who sought to contend for the title of True Lord of Original Sin were raising caged Original Sin Fragment Bodies.
But most only caged one Original Sin Fragment Body.
After all, caging an Original Sin Fragment Body required feeding it large amounts of Original Sin Blood. Raising one might still be affordable, but raising more would be difficult to sustain, and there was no need to raise so many Original Sin Fragment Bodies.
The goal of caging Original Sin Fragment Bodies was the same for all: to successfully cultivate an Original Sin Dharmakaya.
As was widely known, to cultivate an Original Sin Dharmakaya, one must first pass through the Original Sin Incarnation Body stage, then the Original Sin Retribution Body stage, followed by the Original Sin Manifestation Body stage. After becoming an Original Sin Retribution Body, one would lose their ego; after becoming an Original Sin Manifestation Body, they would lose their original self.
No one could guarantee that after losing their ego and original self, they could still gestate a new ego.
Those experts who coveted the position of True Lord of Original Sin, to guard against unforeseen risks, would not easily risk their true selves. Once they lost their original self, if they failed to gestate a new ego, the loss would be tremendous.
Therefore, by caging an Original Sin Fragment Body, feeding it Original Sin Blood, and nurturing its growth, one could both avoid being exterminated or refined by others and, after it cultivated an Original Sin Dharmakaya, seize the opportunity to forcibly merge with its newly gestated consciousness.
Who exactly came up with this method was now unknown. It was only known that many had followed suit, and quite a few had succeeded.
However,
the Original Sin Dharmakaya fused through this method of caging Original Sin Fragment Bodies was not pure. While called an Original Sin Dharmakaya, it had already deviated from the true meaning of a Dharmakaya. Hence, this kind of Original Sin Dharmakaya was also called a Pseudo-Dharmakaya!
Only those who had truly experienced the Original Sin Incarnation Body, Original Sin Retribution Body, and Original Sin Manifestation Body stages, who had lost their ego and original self, and from whom a new ego was gestated by Original Sin itself, could be considered a Dharmakaya in the true sense.
In the current Heaven and Earth, there weren't many who could be called true Original Sin Dharmakayas. The most famous included Old Monster Black Mountain, Patriarch Blood River, Ghost Emperor Green Lantern, including the Unending Demon Emperor Ren Tianxing, the Carefree Great Emperor Mo Wentian, and even the Blood Raven Patriarch inside the Blood Cauldron—all counted as true Original Sin Dharmakayas.
As for Pseudo-Dharmakayas, they far outnumbered the true ones.
Da Xing the Mad Monk saw at a glance that these four self-lost Original Sin Manifestation Bodies were caged, and moreover, caged by the same person.
What surprised him was, who was so extravagantly wealthy as to cage four Original Sin Fragment Bodies at once, and even nurture each one into an Original Sin Manifestation Body!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The four Original Sin Manifestation Bodies rushed into the Blood Cauldron.
Earlier,
when those self-lost Original Sin beings rushed into the Blood Cauldron, they all let out mournful wails before falling silent.
When these four Original Sin Manifestation Bodies charged into the Blood Cauldron, no wails were heard. Instead, a series of thunderous booms echoed, causing the entire Blood Cauldron to tremble violently.
Just then,
a group of eight descended from the sky.
These eight had not lost their egos, nor were they Original Sin beings. They weren't even human—they were demons, and powerful old demons at that!
The eight old demons did not charge toward the Blood Cauldron either. Upon landing, they took up positions around the Blood Cauldron and immediately began casting divine abilities to set up a formation.
Whoosh!
Immediately after, another person descended from the sky.
It was a man.
A man who appeared handsome yet sinister, his entire body radiating a powerful aura of demonic and monstrous energy.
That's right!
Demonic and monstrous energy.
Both demon and monster.
Clearly, he was a Child of Monster-Demon.
This left both Gu Qingfeng and Da Xing the Mad Monk greatly astonished.
Children of Monster-Demon were extremely rare.
Their very existence was tied to an ancient taboo and curse.
It was precisely because of this taboo curse that even if demons and monsters intermarried, they could not bear offspring.
However,
nothing in the world was absolute.
Since the Primeval Era, every epoch would see one pair of demon-monster intermarriages that broke the curse and gave birth to a Child of Monster-Demon.
Children of Monster-Demon were born with terrifying power and were exceedingly evil, branded as baleful stars!
Neither Gu Qingfeng nor Da Xing the Mad Monk had expected to encounter a Child of Monster-Demon here. What surprised them even more was that this Child of Monster-Demon also carried a thick aura of Original Sin.
Incredible!
This Child of Monster-Demon was actually also an Original Sin Dharmakaya!