Black Wind Gully fell silent once more. Only the wind still wailed between the ruined stone pillars, stirring the ashen Killing Intent, but it no longer dared approach the center of the Altar.
Li Yuan sat cross-legged, eyes closed. The Myriad Fiend Core hovered quietly above his palm, and wisps of exceptionally pure black Killing Intent poured into his body without end, like weary birds returning to their nest. Unlike the violent forceful devouring from before, this fusion felt more like a natural acceptance and mastery.
His consciousness sank into his sea of qi. The Dark Crimson Gold Crimson Sun had transformed completely. It had not grown larger; on the contrary, it had become more condensed. But its color had changed from its original Dark Crimson Gold to a deeper, heavier dark red, nearly black! Like the lava of hell as it cooled, the dark purple gleam at its core shone ever brighter, turning slowly like a black hole and radiating the majesty of one who ruled over all fiends.
The Crimson Sun's rotation stirred the qi and blood throughout his body. Once surging like a mighty river, his qi and blood now felt as heavy as lead and mercury, its color a dark red. Countless minute black Killing Intent crystals, fine as dust, could be seen drifting along within it. No longer an outside energy distinct from his qi and blood, these crystals had completely melded with them, imbuing his qi and blood with an entirely new quality—unparalleled weight and piercing power.
He tried guiding a thread of this new "fiend blood" toward his fingertip. It did not swell, nor did his skin change color. But as the blood flowed through, a faint hum sounded from within his finger bones, and a sharpness capable of piercing metal and iron