Gathering Pearls

Yan Chihuo returned to his room and activated the formation before consuming the Soul-Nurturing Fruit. Shortly after ingestion, a warm, indescribable sensation of comfort spread throughout his entire body.

He soon discovered that his soul was undergoing a slow metamorphosis—a qualitative change. In other words, while the strength of his soul had not increased significantly, it had become much more condensed. This not only enhanced the power of his soul-based spells but also greatly reduced the consumption of soul energy. More importantly, it meant that when he later attempted to assimilate the souls of powerful Demons and Monsters, the backlash he faced would be far less severe.

In essence, if a Demon's soul was too powerful and Yan Chihuo failed to assimilate it using the Innate Seventy-Two Transformations, he would normally suffer a certain degree of backlash. However, with the soul metamorphosis brought about by the Soul-Nurturing Fruit, the probability of successful assimilation increased significantly, and even in the event of failure, the resulting backlash would be much lighter.

Although it took Yan Chihuo only three hours to refine the Soul-Nurturing Fruit, he could still clearly feel its effects. His soul continued to condense; while the effect was no longer obvious, it was still an extraordinary achievement.

Following this, Yan Chihuo began his closed-door cultivation. Originally, he could have studied the Sword Technique Fragment alongside Mo Han, but Mo Kailong had been recalled three years prior to enter closed-door cultivation. It turned out that years ago, Mo Kailong had suffered a cultivation deviation while practicing, and although he had escaped in time, he was left with internal injuries that prevented any further progress in his cultivation. Mo Kailong had later discovered a secret technique that could heal these wounds.

However, this secret technique had a drawback: the success rate was