Evil Sealing Seal

Lin Feng knew nothing about Nightmare's attributes or race. In his previous life, only Ye Qiu had refined it.

It was also through Ye Qiu's notes that people learned of the existence of such a strange Demon Spirit.

On the Exotic Beast Ranking, Nightmare ranked seventh. That might not seem low, but in many people's eyes, if not for its fatal side effects, Nightmare could absolutely have ranked first.

Although the Exotic Beast Ranking recorded it, the list offered little description of this Evil Spirit beyond the fact that it could grant its owner extraordinary talent while stripping away life force and the soul. Its race, attributes, and whether it possessed other innate abilities were all unknown.

Though much remained unknown, just as the Exotic Beast Ranking described, this Nightmare was an Evil Spirit.

Evil Spirits were evil, ominous beings.

Even though he had merely absorbed it into his body and had yet to truly refine it, that evil aura and baleful aura made Lin Feng's expression change.

Inside his body, before the refining had truly begun, the Nightmare sensed danger and struggled desperately, howling madly!

The stabbing pain in his mind made Lin Feng suffer, leaving him dizzy and muddle-headed. Fortunately, he had lived two lives. In his previous life, he had been an Eighth-Rank Martial Artist, had endured countless life-and-death battles, survived nine deaths out of ten, and killed hundreds upon thousands of demon beasts. This little interference posed no great threat. No matter how the roars and killing intent eroded him, he only needed to hold fast to his true heart.

"What powerful willpower."

Teenagers passed by from time to time. Seeing Lin Feng close his eyes and concentrate, they naturally knew he was refining a Demon Spirit. Yet his calm, composed appearance left them greatly shocked.

A Demon Spirit was originally a gathering of a demon beast's soul and energy after death, brimming with beastly nature. Refining one was equivalent to obliterating its consciousness, so it would inevitably resist fiercely and might even backlash against its owner.

Thus, even with their beastly nature suppressed, they could still easily disrupt their owner's mind.

When ordinary youths refined Demon Spirits, their faces would twist grotesquely and their whole bodies would tremble. Some would even howl and roar. Such calmness was exceedingly rare.

This was also why the rules required those participating in Awakening Day to be at least sixteen but no older than eighteen, with strength at least at Body Cultivation Fifth Stage.

Those too young lacked a firm temperament. Once their minds fell into disorder, or if their bodies were not strong enough, refining would fail, and they might even suffer backlash from the Demon Spirit.

Those over eighteen represented poor talent. Even if they refined one, it would only waste resources.

The higher the grade of the Demon Spirit, the more violent the backlash.

If not for the fact that the many Demon Spirits had already had much of their beastly nature suppressed by Blue Moon, few people could refine Demon Spirits through their own efforts. Nine out of ten would suffer backlash. The higher the grade of the Demon Spirit, the more violent the backlash.

Unless they were geniuses with unwavering resolve, special soul artifacts and secret techniques, and exceptionally outstanding Soul Power.

That was also one reason the important figures atop the altar had contributed high-grade Demon Spirits.

By contributing Demon Spirits, they could not only obtain slots for Awakening Day, but also receive additional benefits, such as policy subsidies like tax reductions in River City.

"Awooo..."

The black Demon Spirit howled incessantly inside Lin Feng's body, its voice filled with destruction and killing intent. A pitch-black, bizarre shadow appeared within his consciousness, constantly disrupting his mind.

"This Demon Spirit's beastly nature has already been largely suppressed by the Blue Moon divine artifact, yet it still has such formidable resistance!"

Though the process was difficult, a trace of delight appeared on Lin Feng's face.

"Although I never successfully refined a Demon Spirit in my previous life, even a fifth-grade Demon Spirit could not possibly have such formidable resistance. Nine out of ten, it's Nightmare."

Even with Lin Feng's willpower, he found it extremely difficult. If it were an ordinary youth, they likely could not even control it, much less refine it.

Of course, an unparalleled genius like Ye Qiu was an exception.

After great difficulty, Lin Feng drove Nightmare into his dantian and swiftly gathered his Soul Power to envelop it. But the refining speed was too slow; the speed at which his Soul Power refined it could not even match Nightmare's rate of resistance.

To become a Demon Spirit Master, one had to possess a Soul Sea in order to refine Soul Power.

The Soul Sea was located in the lower dantian region of the human abdomen. Such a thing had nothing to do with a martial artist's talent.

Many people possessed cultivation aptitude worthy of being called genius, yet were born with blocked Soul Seas and could not become Demon Spirit Masters. Such cases were not rare.

Lin Feng's Soul Sea was not blocked, but it was too small and contained too little Soul Power. This was the main reason he could not become a Demon Spirit Master in his previous life.

If Ye Qiu's Soul Power was a basin of water, then Lin Feng's was, at most, a single cup.

With his Soul Power, he could not even refine the lowest, first-grade Demon Spirit, much less Nightmare, which ranked seventh on the Exotic Beast Ranking.

At that moment, Lin Feng truly admired Ye Qiu. That youth's Soul Sea talent was terrifyingly powerful.

Ye Qiu had not fused with a Demon Spirit earlier not because his talent was lacking, but because he had looked down on those Demon Spirits. He was choosing the best one.

"Spirit Transformation."

Lin Feng silently recited it, and the spiritual energy within his body began to surge, gradually undergoing a wondrous transformation.

In his previous life, Lin Feng had been unable to become a Demon Spirit Master. It had been his regret, and after spending many years on it, he had finally found a possibility of becoming one.

Spirit Transformation was a secret technique that temporarily transformed the spiritual energy within one's body into Soul Power.

Although Lin Feng had obtained this mysterious secret technique in his previous life, he had not dared cultivate it, because the process of Spirit Transformation could not be stopped. Once the technique began circulating, all the spiritual energy within the body would be transformed into Soul Power.

In his previous life, Lin Feng already possessed the strength of an Eighth-Rank Martial Artist. Having to begin cultivation all over again was clearly not worth the loss, but now he was only at Body Cultivation Seventh Stage, still in the body-tempering phase, so he had far fewer concerns!

The spiritual energy within his body trembled slightly, continuously transforming into Soul Power. Soul Power kept accumulating in his Soul Sea, washing over Nightmare again and again. Its originally pitch-black body gradually became stained with a layer of gray. Little by little, gray occupied four-fifths of Nightmare's body.

"Almost there. Just a little more and I'll succeed."

Just as Lin Feng rejoiced inwardly and felt he was about to succeed, Nightmare suddenly trembled. Light swirled within its hollow eyes, then abruptly burst forth in a blinding flash.

"Not good!"

A wave of terror rose within Lin Feng.

The sensation made his scalp tingle and goosebumps erupt across his body.

The Demon Spirit struggled more and more violently before finally breaking free of his control. From his dantian, it rushed swiftly toward his heart, looking like a writhing lump of flesh.

Lin Feng shot out a hand to grab it, but the lump of flesh seemed to have eyes and could see his movements. It swiftly changed direction and crawled toward the right side of his chest. Lin Feng trembled faintly, forcibly suppressing the nausea in his heart as both hands repeatedly blocked its path. Yet before he could catch it, the lump slipped away. In the end, it even surged up his throat toward his head.

"Demon Spirit backlash!"

Lin Feng was startled, his pupils shrinking. If the Demon Spirit truly invaded his brain, he would undoubtedly die.

"My strength is still too weak!"

Lin Feng smiled bitterly inwardly, feeling somewhat regretful.

He was currently at Body Cultivation Seventh Stage, the Qi-Blood Stage.

Body Cultivation was the initial stage of martial cultivation.

Body Cultivation had nine stages. It mainly involved physical training, challenging the body's limits, supplemented by dietary nourishment to temper the body, making it strong, quick to react, and brimming with qi and blood, thereby laying the foundation of martial cultivation.

Every breakthrough in stage increased one's strength by a hundred jin. At Body Cultivation Ninth Stage, one possessed nearly a thousand jin of strength. One could not cultivate techniques in the Body Cultivation Realm. The spiritual energy within a martial artist's body was passively absorbed after physical training and pushing one's limits opened the body's pores.

Therefore, Lin Feng did not have much spiritual energy in his body. Even after using a secret technique like Spirit Transformation to convert all his spiritual energy into Soul Power, the amount of Soul Power remained limited.

His Soul Power might be able to refine a seventh-grade Demon Spirit. With his willpower and the secret technique Spirit Transformation, even an eighth- or ninth-grade Demon Spirit might have a chance of success. But those on the Earth List would already be a great strain, and facing Nightmare, ranked seventh on the Exotic Beast Ranking, was simply too forced.

If he rashly continued refining the Demon Spirit now, his only end would be his soul scattering and spirit dispersing.

"Evil Sealing Seal!"

Though Lin Feng felt some fear, he did not panic. He understood his own soul-cultivation talent well, and this situation had actually been within his expectations.

Lin Feng swiftly formed seals before his chest. Burning, stabbing pain spread faintly through his limbs and bones, as though he were being roasted by flames. A trace of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. At the same time, the blood within his body began to boil, gathering in his Soul Sea and condensing into a blood-red cage that enveloped it.

The instant the cage appeared, Nightmare, which was about to enter his brain, stiffened all over and vanished in an instant. The next moment, it appeared inside the cage.

"Screee..."

Nightmare froze briefly, then let out a piercing shriek and rammed itself against the cage again and again, to no avail. Blood-colored chains extended from the cage and pierced Nightmare's body. The black Nightmare was gradually dyed red by blood, looking bewitching and bizarre.

Boom!

A roar suddenly sounded in Lin Feng's mind. His boiling blood gradually cooled, and his entire body shuddered as he felt a little cold.

"With my current strength, I simply can't refine it. I can only seal it temporarily."

Lin Feng opened his eyes, a trace of regret showing within them.

He tried to stand, but his legs felt as though they had been filled with lead. His blood seemed ready to boil and burst apart, and the next moment he was about to collapse from exhaustion. Unable to endure it, he slumped to the ground.

Lin Feng's face was now deathly pale, and he was weak from exhaustion. With his current strength, using the Evil Sealing Seal once had nearly consumed one-fifth of his blood.

Even his internal organs had suffered some damage. Most obviously, his muscles had torn, and cracks had appeared in the bones within his body under the unbearable strain. His qi and blood were utterly depleted, and even the foundation of his cultivation had been damaged.

The price he had paid was enormous!

Fortunately, he had finally caught this Nightmare.

Compared to what he had gained, this loss was ultimately nothing. So long as he could refine Nightmare, Lin Feng was confident he could make up for it.

After taking deep breaths and resting for quite some time, Lin Feng finally stood up and wiped the sweat from his forehead. If he had not prepared an extra measure, he might truly have capsized in the gutter.

"Alas!"

Lin Feng sighed and raised his head, discreetly surveying his surroundings. Awakening Day was now nearing its end. Some youths were already celebrating in advance, while more were still desperately chasing Demon Spirits. It seemed no one had noticed him.

In the eyes of outsiders, Lin Feng, pale-faced, drenched in sweat, and showing no signs of demonization, had already failed his awakening.

As for that Shadow Demon Spirit, it had already vanished into ashes during the refining process.