Star Abyss.
Ji Yuan held the Fifth-Tier Fire-Attribute Demon Core, turning it over and examining it several times.
A dark-red halo flowed across its surface.
The fluctuations of spiritual power sealed within reached him through his skin.
He could almost sense the cultivation essence of a Fifth-Tier Demon Beast's entire life locked inside this tiny bead.
He set down the Demon Core and let out a long, heavy breath.
When he had first set out for Demon-Slaying City, it had all been for this.
On the road, he had spent plenty of time puzzling over ways to obtain a Demon Core.
The safest route, of course, was to exchange military merit for one.
Demon-Slaying City fought the Demon Race year-round. Fifth-Order Demon Cores were rare on the military-merit exchange list, but they were obtainable.
The trouble was that the required merit was staggering. Without three to five years of accumulation, he would never scrape enough together.
If that was too slow, he would have to find another path.
For instance, while the armies of the Martial God Continent and the Demon God Continent faced off, he could secretly assume the form of Demon Venerable Black Baleful and pick off an isolated Fifth-Tier Fire-Attribute Demon Beast amid the chaos.
Kill it in one blow, seize its Demon Core, and run.
With the battlefield as cover, no one would notice an unfamiliar aura appearing in the shadows.
And if neither of those routes worked, he could wait.
Once he entered the Spirit Transformation Stage and his cultivation rose, he could personally hunt a Fifth-Tier Demon Beast and claim its Demon Core openly.
He had turned these plans over in his mind countless times.
But he never could have imagined that the Fire-Attribute Demon Core would end up in his hands like this.