Demon-slaying was very strange.
The searing pain coming from the stump of Chen Yan's right hand did not make him waver in the slightest. He did not even furrow his brow.
Immediately afterward, Chen Yan tried to use his natal spiritual energy to reconstruct his right hand, but it was to no avail. Nothing happened.
Although Chen Yan could sense that his sea of qi was still abundant, and that Martial Spring was still continuously pouring out spiritual energy.
He simply could not activate it.
Chen Yan raised his head and looked at the dark-green demonic beast only several yards away.
His severed hand was still clenched in the beast's jaws.
Those dark-gold vertical pupils stared fixedly at Chen Yan, endless demonic qi churning in the depths of their slit-like pupils.
It slowly opened its jagged maw and swallowed the severed hand.
The sound of bones cracking came from deep within its throat. Then it licked the blood from the corners of its mouth.
A low, almost delighted growl came from deep within it.
The demonic qi around the beast spread outward.
Ancient and pure, it was closer to a certain origin.
Of course, what concerned Chen Yan most was that the demonic qi spreading around that beast was actually of the same origin as the demon core coiled within his sea of qi.
Chen Yan could roughly understand what was happening.
He was trapped within some kind of illusion.
Perhaps because he had relied too heavily on the Purple Mansion Record and the demon core of a tenth-realm great demon for cultivation, the excessively dense demonic qi within his body had formed a demonic miasma and muddled his mind.
Yet Chen Yan also knew very clearly that he absolutely could not let down his guard simply because this was