Genichi stood on a barren hillside beneath a vast gray-blue sky.
Several wisps of cooking smoke rose in the distance. That was where the village lay, carrying with it the unmistakable warmth of human life.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
The air carried the scent of earth and fresh grass, along with the faintest trace of blood.
It was a remnant of war and famine.
He had come here.
To this ancient female-oriented romance world.
Not for sightseeing.
Not to experience a different way of life.
He had come for revenge.
Not merely for the Genichi who had been stabbed to death by that general, but for himself as well.
He couldn't tolerate that kind of absurd injustice.
He couldn't tolerate such idiotic betrayal.
And he couldn't tolerate an ending where a good person received nothing good in return.
Although this ancient female-oriented world had no cultivators, no spiritual energy, and barely even had martial artists, that general was regarded as the strongest fighter in the entire dynasty.
According to the other Genichi's memories, she had already reached the Martial Saint Realm, roughly equivalent to the Nascent Soul Realm of a cultivation world.
As for Genichi himself, after losing the enhancement provided by the Falna from the DanMachi world, his strength had fallen considerably.
He was still an Ultimate-Class Devil, but how much of that strength could he actually bring to bear in this world?
He didn't know.
And he had no intention of gambling with his life.
He didn't want to underestimate his opponent only to capsize in the gutter.
Most of all, he didn't want to end up like those other versions of himself, dying here because of some completely absurd reason.
The Myriad Desires Heavenly Demon Scripture.
It was a demonic cultivation art contained within the memories of the Genichi from that female-oriented cultivation world.
It was also one of the reasons he had been framed, betrayed, and robbed of his spiritual root.
The junior brother hadn't targeted him solely for his spiritual root.
He had also wanted this demonic scripture, which was supposedly capable of allowing an ordinary mortal to ascend to greatness in a single step.
Genichi didn't hesitate.
He began cultivating.
The cultivation method of the Myriad Desires Heavenly Demon Scripture was simple.
So simple it bordered on ridiculous.
Absorb desire.
The more desires one absorbed, the faster one's cultivation progressed.
Those desires were the seven emotions and six desires that permeated the world.
Human greed.
Anger.
Love.
Jealousy.
Fear.
Sorrow.
Every primal impulse that drove human beings forward.
Genichi closed his eyes and sank into meditation.
The desires drifting through the air transformed into countless colorful threads that surged toward him from every direction.
They wrapped around his body before being drawn into him.
Red was anger.
Orange was greed.
Yellow was jealousy.
Green was fear.
Blue was sorrow.
Indigo was love.
Violet was lust.
They intertwined into a dazzling multicolored river that poured endlessly into Genichi's body.
He could feel those desires rushing through his meridians.
Gathering inside his dantian.
Taking root within his soul.
They transformed into power and continuously raised his cultivation.
The sensation was extraordinary.
Something inside him seemed to be expanding without pause, growing stronger and stronger as it continuously broke through one limit after another.
Even more terrifying was the fact that the cultivation speed of the Myriad Desires Heavenly Demon Scripture increased geometrically the longer one cultivated.
One shichen of cultivation was equivalent to an entire day of cultivating an ordinary technique.
Two shichen were equivalent to several days.
Three shichen were equivalent to a month.
Four shichen were equivalent to an entire year.
And there was no upper limit to that growth.
If anyone else tried this, their mind would have long since been overwhelmed by the raging flood of desires, reducing them to slaves of their own impulses.
Within those desires existed anger, greed, jealousy, fear, sorrow, and countless other emotions capable of devouring a person's reason.
An ordinary cultivator would have to stop after one or two shichen.
Otherwise, the desires would backlash against them, transforming them into lunatics who cared only about satisfying their urges.
But for Genichi, that danger was almost nonexistent.
Within his body was Hestia's Authority of Sacred Flame.
That flame burned quietly in the depths of his soul, radiating a warm and gentle light.
Whenever desire attempted to corrupt him, whenever his mind wavered, whenever his rationality threatened to collapse, the sacred flame would flare to life and burn those negative emotions away.
Anger.
Greed.
Jealousy.
Fear.
Sorrow.
Before the sacred flame, they were like scraps of paper thrown into a roaring fire.
They vanished instantly.
Only the purest power remained, merging into his cultivation.
He wouldn't lose control.
He wouldn't be devoured by desire.
He wouldn't become a monster that knew only slaughter and destruction.
Once his cultivation began in earnest, the multicolored desires in the air seemed to be drawn toward something irresistible.
They rushed in from every direction and formed an enormous vortex, with Genichi standing at its very center.
The threads of desire grew denser.
Thicker.
Brighter.
Soon, the entire hillside was illuminated by their radiance.
Every beast within ten li fled in terror.
The insects stopped chirping.
Even the wind seemed unwilling to approach.
It was fear born from the deepest reaches of the soul.
An instinctive awe toward a higher form of existence.
Genichi's cultivation began to skyrocket.
Qi Refining Realm.
Foundation Establishment Realm.
Golden Core Realm.
Nascent Soul Realm.
Soul Transformation Realm.
Body Integration Realm.
Tribulation Transcendence Realm.
Mahayana Realm!
Every breakthrough brought another transformation of the soul.
He could feel his meridians expanding.
His dantian growing wider.
His soul becoming stronger.
His body began to glow.
It wasn't the golden radiance of Buddha.
Nor was it the silver-white light of divine power.
It was something chaotic, flowing, and constantly shifting.
The colors of desire.
The colors of the Myriad Desires Heavenly Demon Scripture.
And now, the colors of his own soul.
The entire process took less than half a month.
Half a month.
From an ordinary mortal to the Mahayana Realm.
No one in a cultivation world would believe such a thing.
Even the most monstrous genius in the cultivation world would require thousands of years to progress from their first step on the path of cultivation to the Mahayana Realm.
Genichi had needed less than fifteen days.
That was the terrifying nature of the Myriad Desires Heavenly Demon Scripture.
As long as enough desire existed, its growth could continue without limit.
And this ancient female-oriented world had just endured famine and war.
Human desire was stronger than ever.
The desire for food.
The desire for safety.
The desire for power.
The desire for revenge.
The desire for love.
Those desires were an endless source of fuel, driving his cultivation upward at an absurd pace.
Genichi stood on the hillside and felt the vast power surging through his body.
The Mahayana Realm.
The highest realm attainable in the mortal world.
Beyond this point came the heavenly tribulation and ascension, after which one would become an Immortal.
He clenched his fist, then slowly opened it again.
A sphere of chaotic light gathered in his palm.
It was the power of the Myriad Desires Heavenly Demon Scripture.
The power of desire itself.
By his estimate, the Mahayana Realm was probably comparable to the absolute peak of Ultimate-Class Devil strength.
If he successfully ascended and became an Immortal, he might be able to break through into the Maou-Class.
Then again, perhaps not.
His current cultivation system and the demonic power system weren't completely equivalent, after all.
But now wasn't the time to ascend.
Genichi withdrew his power.
The chaotic light disappeared, and his aura converged until he once again looked like an ordinary person.
First, he needed to refine the Myriad Souls Banner.
Then upgrade it into the Human Emperor Banner.
After that, he would return to the cultivation world and settle the score.
As for ascension...
That could wait.
(End of Chapter)
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