Heart Demon Path and Heavenly Demon Path

Evil thoughts arose from the heart.

At this moment, with his inner demon stirred, they were directly magnified countless times.

That fleeting trace of jealousy born after observing the sword intent of the Annihilation Sword should have vanished in an instant. Yet now, driven by the inner demon's instincts, it grew ever stronger, filling his heart.

"Heh..."

A thread of scorching gray-black airflow drifted from between his lips and teeth. Its sinister, ghostly aura seeped outward, tainting even the spiritual energy throughout Zhengxu Hall.

Mu Chengfeng was utterly unaware, his eyes already dyed a pure black.

His jealous resentment toward Chi Jiuyu's talent turned into blazing demonic flames, scorching his soul.

A figure of utmost filth and darkness, identical in form to Mu Chengfeng, like his dark reflection—

Nourished continuously by the flames of jealousy, it quietly took shape in the depths of his heart.

The inner demon, dark from head to toe like a shadow, stood amid the roaring demonic flames. An eerie smile lingered at the corner of its lips, while its eyes were black as bottomless abyss.

An inner demon.

In the past, so-called "inner demons" had merely been akin to "psychological shadows"—persistent trauma responses formed after an individual experienced intensely negative events, manifesting as fear and avoidance of situations related to those events.

But the inner demon now possessed a tangible "form."

It was a special existence born from the dark side of a cultivator's heart, one that possessed a "self."

A whisper-like murmur arose from the depths of his heart, resounding within Mu Chengfeng's soul with boundless temptation.

Urging him, inciting him...

The already raging flames of jealous resentment burned even fiercer. Strands of flowing flame even spilled from his mouth, nose, and every pore, transforming into black light behind him and soaring several zhang