Demonic Energy Purification

When Zhang Yang asked, Wang Mumu didn't look confused. He thought for a moment before replying, "Village Chief, I'm afraid this will be very difficult. Do you think that if you just copy the Battle Rune from my body and then draw it with demonic blood, you can reproduce it?"

"That's not how it works?" Zhang Yang was startled; he had indeed thought that at first.

"Of course not. Oh, actually, before I got this Mountain Monster Battle Tattoo, I thought the same way you did, Village Chief. Everyone would think that, but it's not that simple. The Battle Rune you see now is less than twenty percent of the complete Battle Rune."

"From what I can sense, the power of this Battle Rune flows in my blood, in my bones, in my flesh, and even here—" Wang Mumu pointed to his head. "—all of it is branded with the mysteries of this Battle Rune. I might never understand these mysteries in my entire life, but that doesn't stop me from perfectly releasing their power. It's a power I can't describe. So, Village Chief, you should understand now, this Battle Rune cannot be simply drawn just because you want to."

Wang Mumu's words left Zhang Yang stunned for a long time. He then admitted that he had thought things too simply. At first glance, it seemed easy for Wang Mumu and others to obtain the Battle Rune, as long as their compatibility was right. But in reality, the Village Building Order played a huge role in it.

If Battle Runes were so easy to replicate, then the Deer Demon, being so intelligent, would have figured it out long ago.

"You should go back and rest first. I need to think about this carefully."

With that instruction, Zhang Yang closed his eyes and began to ponder. He certainly wouldn't give up so easily; even a fool could see the importance of these Battle Runes and Talismans.

Everything he had now was gained by sacrificing lives, and it was irreplaceable.

As for the future, he had no idea. With the new recruits, he now had fewer than eighty people. Was he going to continue sacrificing lives to carve out a path to survival?

Or was he hoping that all future enemies would be like Level 1 Azure Wolves, Level 5 Red Hawks, or the Spider Lord and Great Horned Deer Lord in terms of strength?

That was impossible. In this fantasy world, there would be many Village Building Order holders. Every bound Village Chief would initially encounter low-level minor demons. Then, as they constantly expanded their territory and as time passed, it was inevitable that these Village Chiefs would encounter each other, then fight amongst themselves. Those who died would turn to dust, and those who survived would become even stronger.

This was the most straightforward truth.

And it wasn't just that. Was this fantasy world entirely covered by endless Primeval Forests?

That couldn't be right. What if this seemingly perilous Primeval Forest was just the newbie village?

Finally, what if not every Village Building Order holder appeared in this world at the same time? Or, if some Village Chiefs died midway, then it was possible that Village Chief A had already completed 20 years of operation, while Village Chief B had only been there for ten years, and Village Chief C had just come online.

This would be terrifying because it would create an incredibly brutal human-machine war.

Therefore, Zhang Yang had to find a way to accumulate at least ten, dozens, or even hundreds of times the advantage to allow his village to survive the 280-year cutscene.

Based on these reasons, based on Zhang Yang's 981 predecessors who died without intact bodies, and based on the fact that almost a quarter of Earth civilization's code had been deciphered, he was 100% certain how cruel and terrifying this world, or rather, the many worlds formed by the Village Building Order, would be!

He couldn't think of developing with fixed mindsets, nor could he hope that unknown enemies would give him enough time to develop quietly. He had to seize every opportunity to grow stronger, to solidify all his foundations, at any cost—well, except for selling his soul.

After a long time, Zhang Yang suddenly opened his eyes. He retrieved a unit of Wolf Demon Demonic Energy, about 100 milliliters, from the Village Building Order space. It was encased in an invisible air sac, a built-in feature of the Village Building Order space that perfectly preserved materials from spoiling.

"Wolf Demon Demonic Energy. The Village Building Order's description says it contains a faint Demonic Energy and can be used to draw Talismans and Battle Runes."

"Analyzing this sentence, I can derive three hypotheses."

"Hypothesis 1: If Talismans and Battle Runes are the materialization of some kind of power, and the source of this power is the Demonic Energy contained in demonic blood, then I could try to purify this Demonic Energy and draw some scribbles on anything. Would that become Talismans and Battle Runes? Obviously not. Hypothesis 1 is rejected."

"Hypothesis 2: If the most important aspects of drawing Talismans and Battle Runes are technique and a certain matrix pattern, and as long as these techniques and matrix patterns are followed, like an electronic circuit, they have their own rules, and Demonic Energy is just an energy like an electric current, then is this the secret of Talismans and Battle Runes?"

"Hypothesis 3: Not all Demonic Energy in this world can be the same because there are differences in compatibility. So, there can't be unchangeable drawing rules. Is it possible that for ordinary Demonic Energy, the drawing rules are standard, like an electronic circuit, while for special Demonic Energy, the drawing rules must be altered to accommodate the changes in Demonic Energy?"

"Conclusion: Since I don't know how to draw Talismans and Battle Runes, and no one has taught me the rules for drawing them, can I not reverse-engineer it? Can I tailor the drawing rules based on the range of variation in Demonic Energy? After all, logically speaking, Demonic Energy must have existed before the drawing of Talismans and Battle Runes. I'm just following an old path now."

"So, the only problem before me is this: how do I purify Demonic Energy from demonic blood and fully master its changes and properties?"

Zhang Yang asked himself and answered himself. The answer was self-evident: of course, with the Soul Force Field. Within the Soul Force Field, he felt as if he was in a world completely under his control. Even if he wasn't a god, he was certainly a demigod!

Acting on an idea was never Zhang Yang's usual style, but now, he was like a wind-up toy, not even thinking about taking a short break. He immediately began experimenting!

The Soul Force Field was instantly released, maintaining a stable three-meter diameter. Zhang Yang was increasingly skilled at controlling this force field. Unfortunately, this Soul Force Field didn't show any proficiency levels, so he didn't know if he could advance through such skilled manipulation.

"Do you wish to extract 1 unit of Wolf Demon Demonic Energy? Upon confirmation, the Village Building Order space will no longer provide containment support for it."

A message appeared—a prompt from the Village Building Order. Zhang Yang chose to confirm. Almost instantly, the Wolf Demon Demonic Energy, which seemed to be encased in an invisible air sac, dropped directly. But in just 0.1 seconds, his Soul Force Field perfectly enveloped it. This was not difficult, after all, he could make the five-kilogram Imprisonment Spear fly at supersonic speed within his Soul Force Field.

After enveloping the Wolf Demon Demonic Energy, Zhang Yang immediately felt the unique fishy smell and stickiness of the demonic blood in his soul, not through his nose or touch. This was very strange, but he didn't dwell on it. Instead, he used his soul threads to begin a finer separation of the demonic blood, much like combing wood fibers.

In an instant, the 100 milliliters of demonic blood were separated into 10,000 tiny blood droplets within Zhang Yang's Soul Force Field. This was the extreme limit of what he could do. Fortunately, this was enough to complete Zhang Yang's previous analysis, because his soul threads began to touch something very vibrant.

Even though he had never encountered it before, and no data had told him what Demonic Energy was, Zhang Yang was 100% sure that this was Demonic Energy.

To describe it vividly, it was like an endlessly bouncing super ball, or a powerful heart.

When Zhang Yang tried to capture these incredibly vibrant things with his soul threads, he realized the difficulty was beyond imagination. Even when he used half of his soul threads to capture them, he still caught nothing. The things were too vibrant, bouncing around so much that it made him grit his teeth in frustration.

Helpless, Zhang Yang could only choose to use all his soul threads. He no longer aimed to capture all the Demonic Energy, only to encircle and suppress a small wisp.

Finally, after several attempts at encirclement, he successfully captured it. At the same time, the Soul Force Field could no longer sustain itself and directly disappeared. Zhang Yang collapsed to the ground, exhausted. The remaining demonic blood was wasted, spilling onto the ground, and in an instant, returned to dust.

At this moment, surprisingly, a message from the Village Building Order appeared.

"Successfully purified 0.1 units of low-grade Demonic Energy. Can be sold."

"Quality: Trash."

"Do you wish to further purify it into usable magical power via the Golden Scales? Requires 1000 energy points."