Beneath the Nine Lands, within the Tenfold Hells—Cold Ice Hell.
At this moment, the Black Tiger Sword had transformed into the shape of a demon tiger, continuously swallowing and exhaling the demonic qi, demonic intent, blood-colored moonlight, and other demonic tides that came crushing in from heaven and earth.
Liang Zhaohuang, meanwhile, chanted the Peacock King Mantra and operated the five Five-Colored Halos manifesting behind him, suppressing and refining the Black Tiger Sword to ensure his control over it and prevent it from completely falling into the Demonic Path and spiraling utterly out of control.
Speaking of which, among the five beings Liang Zhaohuang had converted through the Five-Colored Halos, aside from the Vermilion Bird World-Suppressing Stele, which had already reached the immortal rank, the Black Tiger Sword, Alligator Snake, Kunpeng, and Red Flame Lion King—the one most likely to advance into the realm of immortals and demons was instead the Black Tiger Sword, the very first one he had converted.
Although the Alligator Snake, Kunpeng, and Red Flame Lion King had likewise been nurtured by him and the family to the peak of the fourth rank, they had yet to find suitable paths for advancing to the immortal rank.
Only the Black Tiger Sword had begun upon the Demonic Path. Becoming a demon instead offered a clearer, more definite road than becoming an immortal—as long as it could devour enough demonic source essence!
Of course, though the road was clear, it was no less difficult to traverse. Its hardships and dangers exceeded even the path to immortality by several, perhaps dozens of times.
After all, the essence of the Demonic Path was corruption and devouring. To nurture the Black Tiger Sword into a demon, on one hand, he had to ensure that it would not be thoroughly corrupted by