My Informative Cultivation Life

"My lord, I have told the truth now, please spare me."

The Demon Mushroom pleaded pitifully.

"Spare you? You\'ve consumed too much flesh and blood of cultivators, you are an Evil Holy Medicine, and as a disciple of our Dao Sect, I must eradicate such evil." Yang Ji glanced at it sideways, striking a pose.

He quietly closed his five fingers, exerting pressure on it.

"My lord, I was powerless to resist before; I didn\'t have a choice when consuming flesh and blood. Now, I want to be a good mushroom, please spare me." said the Demon Mushroom, as it felt the pressure between the fingers intensify, hastily adding as it sobbed, "Great lord, if you spare me, I am willing to submit to you, I am willing to follow you. I possess Buddhist Scriptures;

my talents are better than those you just took under you, I will definitely be more useful to you in the future.

Upon hearing this, Yang Ji was overjoyed in his heart, because that was exactly what he had wanted to hear.

This little mushroom had a denser aura of destiny than his, and naturally, he wished to take it under his wing.

However, at this moment, he still put on a compassionate face, showing a hatred for evil, and shook his head, "It\'s a pity you carry the Buddha-Demon Scripture with you. Given your current nature, you will only turn it into a Demon Scripture, which will become a great harm in the future."

"For the peace of the world, and to avoid disaster from demons, I have no choice but to crush you, just as I would a Dao Child of the Demon Sect."

As Yang Ji\'s fingers closed, the body of the Demon Mushroom made creaking noises, which terrified it enough to cry out, "Great lord, Buddhism and Demonism come from the heart; one thought can turn to demon, one to Buddha. My heart is good, naturally I am a Buddha. Please, don\'t kill me."

"Can you guarantee that?" Yang Ji saw it was about time, loosened his grip slightly and stared at it, asking.

"I guarantee, I guarantee," the Demon Mushroom caught its breath and quickly nodded, saying, "My lord, don\'t kill me, from now on I am your mushroom—to consume whoever you command in one bite."

"Hmm?" Yang Ji immediately frowned unhappily and said seriously, "We are a righteous Dao Sect, how could we casually eat people?"

"Hehe, my lord, you\'re right. Anyway, whoever you tell me to eat, I\'ll eat. Whatever you say must be right," the Demon Mushroom giggled.

Yang Ji saw a hint of slyness in its eyes and knew that this little creature was only submitting under the might he displayed for now, and he had no idea what it was planning for the future.

The Demon Mushroom, having absorbed many fragments of cultivators\' souls and gained sentience, had become exceedingly cunning. Moreover, since it carried the Buddha-Demon Scripture, he could not judge it by normal standards.

But a mushroom in hand is his mushroom. If he couldn\'t even control a single mushroom, then how could he contemplate achieving the Dao and becoming an immortal?

Yang Ji wasn\'t afraid that it was harboring any wicked schemes. He scrutinized it and nodded, "Since you\'ve made such a promise, I will spare you. I consider your youth and believe you can still be shaped into good character. From now on, follow me closely and do no evil, understand?"

"Understood, my lord, I understand," the Demon Mushroom quickly revealed a childlike, innocent smile and bobbed its head compliantly.

"Hmm!" Yang Ji pretended to nod deeply in thought.

"Right, you should choose a name for yourself and stop with \'little mushroom\' this and \'mushroom\' that," Yang Ji added.

After contemplating, the Demon Mushroom suddenly said, "Hehe, then I shall be called Buddha Child. Using Buddhism as a mirror to see my true self, to discipline my mind and cultivate my character, for I am naturally a good-hearted child."

"Buddha Child, that works," Yang Ji nodded.

"Come into my sleeve, and let\'s go out."

"Yes, my lord."

...

In the great hall outside the secret chamber, the people who were meditating and adjusting their breath welcomed Yang Ji as he emerged.

The group knew Yang Ji had sent them away earlier and wisely refrained from asking about the Demon Mushroom matter.

"How is your recovery?" Yang Ji glanced over the group and asked.

"After taking some Medicine Pills, we are much better now; moving around is no longer an issue," said the white-haired elder.

"Then let\'s return to the Sect," Yang Ji nodded.

"By the way, my lord, when we confirm the mission back at the Sect, should we mention that you alone killed the clone of the Dao Child of the Demon Sect? If the higher-ups in the Sect know about it, they\'ll surely value you greatly, and it seems there will be many benefits," the smiling young man suddenly said on the way through the teleportation.

"No need. If we say I alone killed the Dao Child of the Demon Sect, and the Sect deems your assessment failed, wouldn\'t that ruin your future?

You can say we killed the clone of the Dao Child of the Demon Sect together, but that I played the main role. That way, it would be ideal if we draw attention from the Sect; if not, there is no loss," Yang Ji said indifferently.

The group nodded in agreement, recognizing it as the safest approach.

...

After several days and many turns, everyone finally returned to the Wuji Dao Sect.

Seeing the immortal-like scenery of the Dao Sect once again, Yang Ji still felt a surge of excitement.

Passing the first assessment meant that he was one step closer to staying forever in the Dao Sect, and one step closer to Longevity.

Although the Dao Sect was very large, travel was very convenient as teleportation arrays were laid out everywhere.

Yang Ji and the others were directly teleported to the Mission Hall for assessments.

The reason it was called the assessment hall was that this grand hall was specifically used to review the tasks completed by disciples undergoing the assessment.

The assessment hall was not located in the Celestial Palace of the Firmament but atop a mountain on the ground that was like an Immortal Mountain.

The top of this mountain seemed to have been flattened by a great divine power with a single strike, making it very level.

Upon it, huge palaces were constructed, hidden within the clouds, magnificent and vast.

After being teleported to the mountaintop, they also saw many cultivators\' figures, clearly, all of whom had completed their tasks and had come for the elders to review.

Yang Ji and his group of eight looked around and then headed straight towards the grand hall.

"Our task review is in Hall Number Six," the athletic girl said after checking the Dao Sect Command Token, which displayed their task and had the number "six" at the end.

Everyone nodded and, following the guidance, made their way towards Hall Number Six.

Outside the hall were two Foundation Establishment Realm sentinels who, seeing the group approach, asked, "Are all the senior brothers here for the assessment task review?"

"Exactly, may I inquire if the assessment elder is currently occupied?" the white-haired elder said with a smile.

"Inside, there are presently no disciples being reviewed, the senior brothers may go in.

"Thank you."

The white-haired elder and the others clasped their hands in thanks and walked in.

The hall inside was not overly furnished, only housing an assessment elder meditating on a cushion.

This middle-aged elder had a scholarly appearance and was of the Void Refinement Realm. Seeing the group enter, he slowly opened his eyes.

"We\'ve seen the elder!" Everyone bowed and saluted.

"Have you completed the assessment tasks?" the elder asked with a kindly smile.

"Fortuitously, we have passed. We request that the elder reviews our performance," the group said respectfully, handing over their Dao Sect Command Tokens, and each displayed the corpse of the Lord of Baxuan City.

The assessment elder glanced at their Dao Sect Command Tokens and used his Divine Sense to scan the bodies on the ground, then nodded and said, "I am the one who assigned this task, and these bodies are indeed that of the Lords of Baxuan City."

"Do not resist my Divine Sense. I need to check your strengths and cultivation levels. If you are indeed at the peak of the Golden Core stage without error, then you will have passed the assessment."

Upon hearing this, everyone rejoiced and allowed the elder\'s Divine Sense to sweep through their bodies.

This feeling was peculiar; as the elder\'s Divine Sense passed over them, it seemed all their secrets were exposed and could not be hidden.

After a short time, when they felt a release in their bodies, they knew the elder had withdrawn his Divine Sense.

"You are indeed all at the peak of the Golden Core stage, verified without error. You have passed the first assessment."

"Thank you, elder," the group said, their expressions filled with joy as they once again bowed in gratitude.

The assessment elder slightly smiled and then imprinted the words "first assessment passed" with his unique Dao energy onto everyone\'s Dao Sect Command Tokens.

As Yang Ji and the others were assessed by him, those seven words written with his unique Dao energy meant that if Yang Ji and his companions were to falsify anything, this elder would also bear the joint responsibility.

However, his inscription also carried a sense of authority, signaling that Yang Ji and the others had indeed passed the assessment.

Just as the assessment elder was about to hand the Dao Sect Command Tokens back to the group, the white-haired elder timely said, "Elder, the Lord of Baxuan City is not merely as simple as his title suggests; their true identities are actually clones of the Dao Child of the Slaughter Demon Sect, Di Xuansha."

"You say... they are clones of the Dao Child of the Slaughter Demon Sect, Di Xuansha?" The assessment elder was stunned, suddenly looking up in surprise.

(Thank you to Qingfengmingyuehaoqingjing for the 1500 coin reward and to Longshenzhu for the 500 coin reward.)