Zhen Xueren seemed to think that her explanation had gone far enough, but after glancing at Li Ling and seeing that he was listening with some interest, she decided to add one last thing.

"Of course, everything I have said so far is the general understanding of the Four Pillars. It is applicable to all cultivators under heaven, regardless of whether they are righteous, demonic, neutral, loose cultivators, clan cultivators, or sect cultivators."

Her ruby eyes narrowed slightly.

"However, the way the Four Pillars manifest is completely different between the righteous Dao and the demonic Dao."

"Oh?" Li Ling sounded out with interest.

This was something he had not really thought about too deeply.

After all, from what he had seen so far, righteous and demonic cultivators were largely the same kind of beasts wearing different brands of clothing.

One side shouted about morality while doing evil behind the scenes, and the other side laughed while doing evil openly, but at the end of the day, the corpse on the ground would not suddenly feel better because the person who killed them had shouted ’justice’ before swinging the sword.

Zhen Xueren smiled faintly. "For the righteous Dao, Wealth is mostly what I described earlier. Pills, treasures, resources, spirit stones, heavenly materials, inheritances, formations, artifacts, and other inanimate things that can be refined, consumed, exchanged, or inherited."

"But for the demonic Dao..."

Her voice became softer, yet the meaning contained within became much heavier.

"Living beings are Wealth."

Li Ling’s lips curled upward slightly.

Zhen Xueren continued in a calm tone, as if she was not saying anything shocking at all. "Mortals, demon beasts, spirit beasts, fellow cultivators, ghosts, corpses, souls, bloodlines, physiques, spirit roots, karmic ties, emotions, hatred, fear, desire, obsession, resentment, love, even faith. Anything that lives, anything that feels, anything that carries essence, spirit, qi, karma, or fate, can become Wealth to a demonic cultivator."

She glanced at Li Ling meaningfully.

"For the righteous Dao, killing a million mortals is usually a calamity. For the demonic Dao, depending on the method used, it could be a breakthrough resource."

Li Ling nodded slowly, feeling that this was very true.

Wasn’t the Infinite Slaughter System exactly the ultimate embodiment of this principle?

To others, a cultivator was a rival, a friend, a stranger, or an enemy.

To Li Ling, they were also Slaughter Points.

Their life, cultivation, body, soul, spirit, karma, and fate were all resources waiting to be seized.

The only difference between him and an ordinary demonic cultivator was that they needed methods, rituals, furnaces, cauldrons, formations, or sacrifices to convert life into benefit, while he merely needed to kill.

In that sense, he was not just a demonic cultivator, he was literally the essence of the demonic Dao refined into a walking person.

Zhen Xueren lifted her second finger again.

"For the righteous Dao, Land is usually some secluded sect hidden deep in immortal mountains, spiritual peaks, blessed valleys, hidden grottoes, or cave heavens far away from mundane life. They like silence, purity, spiritual veins, clean qi, and places where the ’dust of the mortal world’ is thin."

She sneered faintly.

"They always speak as if separation from the mundane world makes them closer to the Dao. As if mortals are stains upon the world rather than the very foundation that produces cultivators generation after generation."

Li Ling chuckled. "A rich family that despises farmers while eating rice every day."

"Exactly, but for the demonic Dao, civilization is the best Land," Zhen Xueren said with amusement.

She gestured toward the countless courtyards below, each one like a city compressed into an estate.

"Cities, markets, clans, sect domains, mortal kingdoms, war fronts, borderlands, trade hubs, slave markets, beast farms, ghost fields, pleasure districts, prisons, battlefields, execution grounds, graveyards, and ruins. These are all good Land for us."

"Because they contain Wealth?" Li Ling asked knowingly.

"Because they contain Wealth," Zhen Xueren confirmed with a bright smile.

"A mountain with a spirit vein is good, but a city with ten million people is better. A quiet valley is peaceful, but a battlefield where a million soldiers die with resentment in their hearts is useful. A righteous sect may see a crowded mortal capital as polluted by mortal dust, but a demonic cultivator sees blood, souls, desires, fear, greed, ambition, grudges, lust, corpses, bones, and endless karma flowing through the streets like rivers of gold."

Li Ling could not help but laugh lightly.

The more Zhen Xueren spoke, the more he felt that the demonic Dao was not merely evil for the sake of evil.

It had its own economics, its own ecology, and its own logic.

Predators did not gather near grasslands because they loved the scenery, they gathered there because the herbivores were there.

Zhen Xueren lifted her third finger.

"For the righteous Dao, Companions are often friends who are willing to have their back, Dao Companions who can walk beside them or continue their legacy, disciples who inherit their methods, and especially mentors willing to teach them the way forward."

Her expression became one of disdain. "Very beautiful, very touching, and very suitable for stories told to children."

Li Ling smiled slightly.

"For the demonic Dao, Companions are much broader. A demonic cultivator’s companion can be a corpse puppet refined from a dead enemy, a ghost dragged out of the underworld, a demon beast whose bloodline was enslaved, a spirit beast corrupted by resentment, a lover taken through desire, a servant marked by soul control, a child born for bloodline inheritance, a rival who constantly forces you to improve, or an enemy whose hatred becomes the sharpening stone of your Dao."

She turned her head slightly toward Li Ling.

"As I said earlier, enemies are Companions too. In fact, for some demonic cultivators, enemies are the best Companions, because servants can become lazy, lovers can become sentimental, friends can become soft, and disciples can become useless, but a true enemy will never forget to think about how to kill you."

Li Ling’s smile deepened. "That kind of sincerity is indeed rare."

Zhen Xueren laughed softly. "Isn’t it?"

She then lifted her fourth finger.

"As for Techniques, this difference is even more fundamental. The righteous Dao’s techniques are mostly orthodox methods that require spirit roots, comprehension, slow accumulation, compatibility with the Dao, meditation, enlightenment, and other things that sound profound but often boil down to sitting still for centuries and hoping heaven smiles upon you."

Her tone was filled with mockery.

"They observe mountains to understand heaviness, rivers to understand flow, flames to understand transformation, the wind to understand freedom, the sun to understand yang, the moon to understand yin. They claim to connect their spirit roots with the world and comprehend the Dao step by step, polishing themselves until they resemble some idealized concept of heaven and earth."

Li Ling did not interrupt, but internally, he felt that her mockery was a little unfair.

After all, such a thing did work.

The only problem was that it was slow, inefficient, and required either talent, lifespan, resources, protection, or enough luck not to be hacked to death by someone who was not interested in giving you a thousand years to comprehend the myriad phenomena of the world.

Zhen Xueren’s smile became colder.

"But for the demonic Dao, Techniques are anything that allow us to consume Wealth faster while suffering the smallest backlash possible."

Her words were simple, but they struck directly at the heart of the matter.

"A blood technique that refines corpses into cultivation is a technique, a soul art that devours ghosts is a technique, a charm method that turns desire into power is a technique, a body refinement art that uses poison, pain, slaughter, beasts, or human furnaces to grow stronger is a technique, an oath method that binds people into resources is a technique, and a karmic art that transfers disaster to another person is a technique."

"As long as it helps us convert the world, and especially living beings, into our own advancement, it is a valid demonic technique."

She paused.

"The only real question is efficiency and backlash."

Li Ling’s eyes flickered with appreciation.

Efficiency and backlash.

Those two words truly summarized the entire demonic Dao in a way that even children could understand.

How much could you take?

How fast could you take it?

How much would you pay afterward?

If the answer was acceptable, then the method was good.

If the answer was unacceptable, then the method was trash, no matter how grand its name sounded.

Zhen Xueren folded her arms again and sneered slightly.

"This, more than any moral reason, more than any philosophical reason, more than all the righteous speeches and demonic laughter under heaven, is why the righteous Dao and demonic Dao will never see eye to eye."

She looked toward the distant floating landmasses, her gaze passing from the golden-white Divine Deva Plane to the gothic Hungry Ghost Plane, then to the verdant Wild Beast Plane and the gloomy Desolate Hell Plane.

"It is a fundamental conflict of interest that cannot be repaired, cannot be negotiated away, and cannot be solved by a few marriages, treaties, oaths, alliances, or speeches about peace."

"The righteous Dao are like herbivores who feed on the world itself, and to them, the world is grass. Spirit veins, herbs, ores, heavenly treasures, comprehension of nature, the blessing of heaven and earth. They graze upon the world and call it harmony."

Her smile became malevolent. "But the demonic Dao are predators, because we feed on them."

Li Ling glanced at her askance with amusement, thinking that this woman was quite eloquent.

Zhen Xueren continued softly, "A herbivore can coexist with grass because the grass regrows, while a predator can theoretically coexist with prey only if the predator eats frugally and only the old and already dead among the prey. However, if both maintain their natural behaviors without restraint, then fear, conflict, and bloodshed are inevitable."

"There is no situation where prey and predator can live together peacefully while both remain true to their own nature."

She finally turned to Li Ling, her red eyes gleaming with a light that was both wise and wicked.

"That is the true relationship between righteous Dao and demonic Dao."

Li Ling was silent for a brief moment, then nodded with sincere appreciation.

"Senior Sister Zhen is truly insightful and wise."

Zhen Xueren’s eyes immediately narrowed.

"Are you calling me old?"

Li Ling blinked, then laughed lightly. "How could I dare? Sister Zhen is so youthful, bountiful, and beautiful, like a ripe peach hanging from the branch, making one unable to help but wonder how sweet the flesh would be if plucked."

The scarlet river beneath Zhen Xueren’s feet trembled slightly.

For the first time since she appeared, her expression changed in a way that was not purely amused or teasing.

Her ruby eyes moved over Li Ling from top to bottom, slowly and deliberately, as if she was reassessing something she had previously placed in a casual category.

One had to know, cultivators were not shy mortals who would blush because someone praised their beauty.

Demonic cultivators, especially those who had reached Zhen Xueren’s level, had heard all kinds of vulgar words, poetic flattery, desperate pleading, arrogant propositions, and lustful declarations.

However, there was a difference between a weakling speaking obscenities and a monster speaking with confidence.

The former was courting death while the latter was making an offer.

And Li Ling, who had just been titled Demon Emperor by the Sect Master himself, was no longer some interesting junior she had been helped by in passing.

Now, the fellow was a monster whose future was so bright and bloody that even the True Inheritors could not look away.

Zhen Xueren pursed her lips slightly, but her eyes contained a faint light of interest. "Junior Brother Li, your mouth is truly dangerous."

Li Ling smiled. "Only my mouth?"

Zhen Xueren stared at him for a moment, then laughed, the sound carrying a strange charm that made the scarlet blood river beneath her ripple like stirred wine.

"Unfortunately, we have arrived. As for whether you have the qualifications to plow this Senior Sister’s farmland, we can discuss it afterward."

Li Ling immediately threw his head back and laughed uproariously, his voice echoing across the golden-white sky of the Divine Deva Plane like thunder from a debauched immortal.

"Good! Very good! Sister Zhen, I suddenly feel that the upper layer of the sect will be far more interesting than I expected!"