Of course, Yang Fan knew he couldn't possibly kill everyone in Demon's Canyon, from the information he gained from devouring Tang Xiaorou's soul, organisations with Core Formation as their strongest force count as low tier organisations.
There were mid tier groups with Nascent Soul Cultivators and high tier with Soul Formation cultivators. There were even rumours that the owners of Demon Canyon, The Heavenly Devil Sect, had an ancestor in the Soul Condensation realm!
Yang Fan didn't want to bother with those ranks of people yet, from Lin Fan's memories, he learnt that the advantages he has, only applies to lower ranked cultivators, he would need to get stronger and develop his skills to become a force to be reckoned with.
He was also ready to gain some benefits as Lin Fan unknowingly stumbled here and it was Demon's Canyon that became his first stepping stone. There was apparently a secret Palace that was hidden in a cave to the North-West of the entrance that allowed one to cultivate many times faster than usual.
He didn't need to purify his energy as the Qi he gained from devouring souls had 100% purity. He wanted to break through to Foundation Building Realm using that secret cave, the foundation of cultivation, are your meridians as you use those to circulate energy.
To break through, one would need to strengthen and clear their meridians, Yang Fan's current meridians were equal to someone in the 7th stage of Foundation Building due to the originals talent and the fact that he had incredibly pure Qi constantly circulating through him.
The reason Yang Fan could fight opponents much higher leveled than him was due to his original skillset, his strong meridians and his pure Qi that gave him much more power in his attacks. Some people are born with clearer meridians than others while some have stronger meridians.
This decides the talent level of others, they can also be called physiques. Commoners either don't have the capabilities to cultivate like having naturally blocked meridians, which doesn't allow them to cultivate or they don't have the resources.
Yang Fan took out a phantom of the opera mask that he had customised, he usually wore it for his missions and seeing it made him reminisce about the past. He walked briskly while wearing a long black trench coat with skinny black jeans.
He gained a lot of looks as cultivators usually wore robes or tunics, he was disgusted by their fashion sense but just accepted it. Many people were mesmerised by his clothing, "Excuse me young sir, may I ask where you received your clothing from?" A woman came up to him and asked respectively looking shy as well.
Many people were respectful to strangers as who knew what cultivation level they were at, after all, if they died due to their arrogance, they would only have themselves to blame. She seemed shy due to the fact that women were raped by others quite often and Yang Fan was very intimidating.
As she inched closer to talk to him, her hands moved out like a flash, aimed towards his neck, most people in Demon's Canyon were full of all sorts of tricks, and this woman seemed to prey on newcomers, many were caught unaware due to these people.
The people who were making their way towards the entrance were gossiping as her hands moved, "Li Fei is getting even more arrogant now that she became the little devil's woman, even daring to prey on newcomers in Shadow King's territory!" Others thought, 'The newcomers are so unlucky, thank goodness we didn't face this when we first came here!" They spoke like Yang Fan was already dead.
[AN: Don't ask me why, if their hands are moving so fast that the crowd can speak so much in such little time, I've always found that part confusing when it comes to xianxia novels, they say his hands were as fast as lightning but the crowd has a full on debate in that time period.]
This wasn't suprising as the newcomer only seemed to be in 9th stage Qi Refining and Li Fei was at Foundation building 4th stage. The reason Li Fei moved so close was to check if Yang Fan was using a special method to hide his cultivation. Yang Fan, however, instantly moved his head to the side as if he was an anime character feeling confused.
His hands seemed to move almost twice the speed of hers as he cleanly snapped her neck without the slightest hesitation, the crowd was a little bit dazed but that was it as situations like this were commonplace, they were instead gossiping about what the little devil would do.
Yang Fan heard this but wasn't frightened as he knew that the, so-called little devil was only at the half step core formation realm, he actually wanted to test his prowess against such a person, he ransacked the body then made his way into the Canyon and registered for a fee of half a low tier spirit stone.
This was quite new to him as the backwater city he used to live in only used gold coins, and he was thankful he grabbed a bunch, the Canyon guards were only at the 6th stage of Foundation building stage but many who wanted to try something we're deterred by their status as disciples of Heavenly Devil Sect.
The further you went into the Canyon, the more prestigious it was, there were 4 sections, the one for low tier, mid tier and high tier organisations. There was also a separate area for the Heavenly Devil Sect, the quantity and purity of Spiritual Qi increased as you moved further down, there were no restrictions to where you could live, only an increased amount to pay.
However, the organisations stayed in their areas as they actually had influence there, they preferred to be a 'Large fish in a small pond than a small fish in a large pond.' For example, there were many people on the level of the clan leaders in the low tier area, in the mid tier area, they had the right mindset and didn't focus on momentary gains and instead moved forward
Although they didn't have high positions, they cultivated faster and were generally stronger due to purer spiritual Qi and better resources, that was why those 'mighty' clan leaders respected those who came from there. Yang Fan estimated he had a week till that little devil comes.
This was because he was currently in seclusion and based on the average time he spent, it was pretty accurate, he decided to find the Palace as he would be able to cultivate faster and reach Foundation Building Stage, this was because he wasn't planning to use his domain in this fight.
He hoped to consolidate his cultivation through fighting Wang Yun who was otherwise known as the little devil, he spent an hour going through rocky terrains and repeatedly cursed fate as it was completely unrealistic for Lin Fan to find this place through 'luck.'
He found the entrance and was suprised to see signs of it recently being opened, he repeatedly came up with multiple conjectures and chalked it up to a butterfly effect, he was still very cautious as look what happened to Lin Fan when he just concluded it was a butterfly effect.
He then remembered that he came much earlier than Lin Fan! This meant that either someone found this cave before and died, or the person who made this cave is still here! He grinned excitedly as he was only a formations master and someone who had enough knowledge to set up formations that could purify and attract Qi to the level that he is feeling, was at the very least a grandmaster!
He kept his stealth activated and travelled through the dim lighted tunnel, he saw that the emerald coated pathway came to an end and there were four different rooms with majestic doors that had many formations inscribed on them, 'someone clearly put a lot of effort in.' He mused, he noticed one door was slightly ajar and heard some coughing sounds.
He then heard liquid splattering onto the floor, he guessed he was coughing blood. He waited near the door and eagerly paid attention to the words coming out, "Who would've thought that the Thousand Poisons Grandmaster, a great Soul Formation cultivator, would die today! And of poison no less!"
Yang Fan was suprised that the man hadn't noticed him if he was really a Soul Formation cultivator, he then gazed at all he formations and realised the man probably couldn't use Qi or soul force as it becomes that when one reaches Nascent Soul. This explains the huge difference between Core Formation and Nascent Soul.
Yang Fan felt the man was slightly hysterical then remembered that his words were quite similar when he was dying. He felt a blush coming on and questioned himself, 'W-was that me?' he instantly calmed down and waited for the man to finish his monologue.
45 minutes later, the man released a breath of turbid air and plopped down on the floor, supposedly dead, Yang Fan was suprised at the treachery of this old fellow, first he kept announcing his power, as if to lure someone into being greedy and trying to take something, then he played dead and stopped all his vital processes.
Yang Fan may have been originally fooled but he can see souls and will know when someone is truly dead, he was waiting for the day he reaches Soul Formation, at that stage, it was possible to bring one's soul out of the body. Many in Soul Formation did this as the soul was basically intangible and only soul attacks could hurt them.
Soul force could harm them but the corresponding skills need to be used, Yang Fan wasn't excited for those reasons, he was excited because if any foolish Soul Formation cultivators did that, he could devour theirs. He obviously couldn't do that now as his soul needs to be strong enough to sustain the absorption.
He estimated that because he devours souls, his soul was much stronger than any others who cultivated their souls. He would need to reach the peak of Nascent Soul to completely absorb a Soul Formation cultivators' soul, this was because at Soul Formation, a baptism takes place which puts the soul on a whole different level.
He decided he would use a formation to trap the soul and slowly devour it, this would be worse than torture for the soul though, he would get the boost to reach Foundation Building Stage. He watched the person stop faking and start cursing until he actually dropped down dead, he then activated the formation and trapped the soul, he placed it in his ring then locked down the Palace.
He cultivated arduosly for 4 days, using all sorts of treasures he had gained, although he managed to increase the strength of his meridians to the level of a peak Foundation Building Stage, he couldn't clear them so that he could breakthrough.
He wasn't suprised as his very existence wasn't tolerated by the heavens, he tried for a day more, then used force to clear his meridians then took a bite of the soul as if it was an apple, his bite was more like a nibble though.
He gained the resulting momentum to break through and astonishingly his meridians reached the level of a Core Formation cultivator! He was ecstatic! If he cultivated his meridians to an even higher level, he would reach unprecedented heights as it was incredibly tough to cultivate one's meridians after the Foundation Building Realm.
He stretched and realised he had about two days, he stretched and then smelt an awful stink, 'Is this the legendary Impurity Cleansing' he thought excitedly even though he smelt like shit. He jumped into a small pool that was probably made for the purpose of keeping clean.
He scrubbed all the black dirt off him and realised that this was probably the waste that was blocking his meridians, after he practiced his martial skills so he wasn't overwhelmed by his new power, he couldn't wait to battle the Little Prince Wang Yun to consolidate his cultivation, although he felt it might be too easy.
He then remembered that Tang Xiaorou's father was in the 2nd level of Core Formation and planned to pay the whole sect a visit, he also remembered that Han Sen was the young master of the Blood Devil Sect, he realized they must have quite the fortune as well...