Two days later.
Zhao Changfeng cultivated without a thought for food or sleep. Faint sounds of his organs vibrating came from within him, and his refined body occasionally trembled along with them.
Within his body, strands of deep red light traveled through his meridians and blood vessels, spreading qi and blood throughout his limbs and bones, destroying first, then repairing.
A hazy red glow naturally radiated beyond the surface of his body.
As he circulated the Essence-Devouring Demon Art, he could see the second-rank spirit beast's flesh gradually shriveling, while his own body underwent earth-shaking changes.
Tiny fibers in his flesh and sinews were destroyed, and his organs suffered damage too. His connective tissue and bones likewise developed fine cracks, unable to withstand the brutal ravaging.
Amid the destruction, abundant qi and blood repaired the damage, creating a stronger framework of flesh.
This was the process of tempering flesh, bones, and sinews.
The power contained within second-rank spirit beasts was precisely what he craved most at this stage. He ravenously refined the beast, honing his originally frail physique.
Thump, thump!
His heartbeat grew strong and powerful, pumping blood far more efficiently.
"The middle Yuanqi Stage!"
Zhao Changfeng grinned, unable to stop a smile from spreading across his face.
The early stage required accumulating qi and blood step by step until the qi-blood sea was full. That marked the completion of the early stage.
Since he practiced a Demonic Cultivation Art and had spirit beasts to consume, reaching that stage was not difficult. The middle Yuanqi Stage, however, required cleansing and tempering the sinews, bones, and organs with qi and blood.
He was nearly finished with this step too.
At the late Yuanqi Stage, he would need to repeatedly refine all the blood in his body with his own qi and blood, making every drop brim with vitality.
He silently calculated and concluded that the spirit beasts stored here would be more than enough to push him to that stage.
"Since all these spirit beasts are mine, as long as I have enough time to cultivate, both the late Yuanqi Stage and great perfection are possible!"
The smile on Zhao Changfeng's face deepened.
Those who practiced Demonic Cultivation Arts did not worry about advancing too slowly. What they feared most was the backlash caused by the various Demonic Cultivation Arts, and many stumbled and fell at this hurdle.
He had tempered himself for two days without sleeping or resting. The only reason the urge to kill had not tainted his mind was that he had helped Shi Yue dissolve his Heart-Demon Obsession and deeply experienced the suffering of Shi Yue's wasted half a lifetime.
The torment of losing his children had been as unbearable as something gnawing at his bones.
Being brought repeatedly before the Primal Demon Temple's mountain gates as Xu Lang and experiencing that hellish torture had likewise tempered his mind.
Even as other people's obsessive inner demons tainted and tormented him, they honed his will through a different method.
Yet as he persisted through round after round of bitter cultivation, and his cultivation level and strength soared, the inevitable backlash from his Demonic Cultivation Art would still come.
Gradually, a killing urge coiled around his heart, growing fiercer and fiercer.
He knew full well it was time to stop, but knowing how little time he had, and having suddenly obtained so many spirit beasts, he truly could not bear to halt.
So he gritted his teeth and persevered, continuing to temper this once-feeble body.
He did not know how much time passed.
"Pfft!"
A mouthful of blood shot out like an arrow, bursting into a bloody bloom on the cold stone ground.
Zhao Changfeng snapped awake in horror.
The killing urge surged through him like a mountain torrent about to erupt, and a dark, thin figure suddenly materialized within the Second Cauldron.
The man wore a black robe embossed with gold-edged patterns. He was tall and thin, and an earthworm-like scar on his left cheek marred his appearance, making him look vicious and ruthless.
"The Primal Demon Temple! And it isn't Xu Lang!"
Zhao Changfeng froze for an instant, then suddenly discovered that the First Cauldron had stopped producing willpower. Another aura of unwillingness lingered around him.
His expression shifted slightly. After carefully sensing and considering it for a moment, he finally realized what had happened.
Shi Yue had been murdered!
The image that had suddenly appeared was born from Shi Yue's unwillingness and had been preserved within the Second Cauldron.
Perhaps because Shi Yue was dead, after the image manifested, not only could it produce no new willpower, it had actually temporarily halted the production of willpower within the First Cauldron.
Unless he killed this man, the image would remain like a cuckoo occupying a magpie's nest, obstructing his accumulation of willpower.
With this image present, he could not use the Heavenly Heart Demon-Seeding art to draw a second person's obsessive inner demon inside either.
"Shi Yue..."
As he spoke that name, he had the strange sensation that he himself had been killed once. He also suddenly understood why he had repeatedly rekindled Shi Yue's vitality, insisting that Shi Yue keep living well.
Anyone who planted a Heart-Demon Obsession within the cauldron had best remain alive and well, even after that obsession had been dispelled.
Shi Yue's death had suddenly inflicted grievous injuries on him. His organs were severely damaged and urgently needed to be repaired with qi and blood.
And this was only Shi Yue.
If Ruan Meizhen, whose connection to him ran deeper, were to die, the injuries he suffered would be many times more terrifying. They might even cause his cultivation realm to fall immediately.
"The Primal Demon Temple... what did Shi Yue ever do to you?"
Zhao Changfeng hurriedly used a spirit beast and his Demonic Cultivation Art to treat his injuries. Once his organs had been repaired, he could not wait to step outside.
The sunlight was blinding.
Strong winds howled that day, whipping up sand that ravaged the land.
Beside the ruined, dilapidated stone house, Shi Yue's corpse lay covered in sand and gravel, utterly lifeless.
Two small bronze bells had been trampled out of shape and tossed onto the sand like rubbish. One of Shi Yue's hands had tried to reach for them, but he had failed to grasp them.
Before dying, all he had wanted most was to get those worthless bells, yet he had not managed even that.
After Chen Haoming's death, he had wanted to reunite with his two children beneath the Nine Springs. It was Zhao Changfeng who had sustained his life through two conversations, giving him the courage to go on living.
He had finally rekindled his will to live, hoping that one day Zhao Changfeng would fulfill his promise and ask the Extinction Sect about his two children's reincarnation.
Sadly, fate toyed with people.
When he wanted to die, he had failed to do so. Just as he regained a longing for life, someone had casually cut him down, leaving his corpse sprawled on the sand like a stray dog.
"Shen Yanrong and Qin Hui from the City Guard Army couldn't find you, so they asked me to give you this."
Ruan Meizhen tossed a cloth bag toward Zhao Changfeng.
Zhao Changfeng did not reach out to catch it. The bag landed on the ground with a thud, and he frowned. "Who killed Shi Yue? Why did they kill him?"
"Xiang Lin, from the Primal Demon Temple."
As she spoke, Ruan Meizhen's lovely eyes flicked toward the Council Hall. She explained softly, "The Profound Yin Scripture Shi Yue cultivated came from the Primal Demon Temple."
"Although it was only an incomplete basic Demonic Cultivation Art, he wouldn't allow a rogue cultivator like Shi Yue to practice it. The moment he sensed the same aura on Shi Yue, he casually killed him."
"Xiang Lin's cultivation is at the great perfection of the Yuanqi Stage. Once he makes his realm breakthrough, he'll become a formal disciple of the Primal Demon Temple."
Ruan Meizhen added this.
Upon learning that people from the Primal Demon Temple were coming, she had shut herself away just as Zhao Changfeng had some time before, terrified that the visitors would recognize her and humiliate her with their words.
She did not know what Zhao Changfeng had encountered either. She merely had a vague sense that he was still alive, and doing very well.
Only after seeing Zhao Changfeng appear and walk silently all the way to Shi Yue's corpse, and knowing that the Primal Demon Temple's people were questioning Cui Pinyuan, had she mustered the courage to show herself.
"Hm?"
To her surprise, Ruan Meizhen discovered that faint flashes of red light seemed to flicker within Zhao Changfeng's body, even though he was not circulating his Demonic Cultivation Art.
This was a sign of the middle Yuanqi Stage, of having cleansed and tempered his flesh, bones, and sinews with qi and blood. Zhao Changfeng had actually entered the next minor realm!
"What's going on with those rogue cultivators?"
Zhao Changfeng noticed that the rogue cultivators who had left in groups had actually reappeared in Tamu Town, each looking as grief-stricken as if their parents had died.
"On their way back to the city, they encountered the people from the Primal Demon Temple, who herded them back here like pigs and dogs."
Ruan Meizhen's lips twitched as she said flatly, "A group of people died in Tamu Town, and demon spirits like seeking out places where cultivators gather. They're here to fill out the numbers."
Zhao Changfeng nodded in understanding.
In the eyes of disciples from those great sects, rogue cultivators without a sect backing them were like pigs and dogs, to be manipulated however they pleased.
That was true of them, and it had been true of Shi Yue too.
At that moment, a party of nine emerged from the crude Council Hall, surrounded by Qin Hui and the other members of the City Guard Army.
Cui Pinyuan was among them as well, his head lowered in an air of resignation to fate.
Chen Jian followed too. Usually sparing in his displays of emotion, he now had fury in his eyes that was extremely difficult to conceal.
All nine wore the attire of the Primal Demon Temple. Xiang Lin, who had appeared in the Second Cauldron, was among them. He looked curiously at Zhao Changfeng and Ruan Meizhen, seemingly pondering something.
"You're Zhao Changfeng, right?"
The man leading them was dark-skinned and rather stout, with a red lantern hanging from his nearly nonexistent waist. He passed the others and reached Zhao Changfeng first, declaring as though it were only natural, "That Earth Yin Cold Spring hidden underground belongs to me."
Zhao Changfeng frowned and looked at Cui Pinyuan and Chen Jian.
Cui Pinyuan hung his head dejectedly without a word.
The anger remained in Chen Jian's eyes, but he too stayed silent.
"In recognition of my contributions, Senior Cui gave me that Earth Yin Cold Spring, along with all the spirit beasts stored inside."
Zhao Changfeng spoke in a low voice.
"The entire Beichen Demon Kingdom belongs to our Primal Demon Temple. Naturally, all ownerless rare treasures and secret realms within its territory belong to the Primal Demon Temple as well."
The newcomer smiled casually and explained, "Cui Pinyuan is merely a rogue cultivator. What right does he have to say the Earth Yin Cold Spring belongs to him?"
"If your Crippled Demon Sect had discovered it in the first place, there would still be room for discussion between us. As for him..."
The man shook his head, clearly showing Cui Pinyuan no respect whatsoever. He did not believe a rogue cultivator had any right to ownership of the Earth Yin Cold Spring.
"Even if it didn't belong to him, the area around Heavenly Shield City is under our Crippled Demon Sect's jurisdiction, and we reached Tamu Town first!"
"The Earth Yin Cold Spring should rightfully belong to us!"
"My master is dealing with the demon spirit trouble at the world membrane and could arrive in Tamu Town at any moment. Is your Primal Demon Temple planning to rob us outright?"
Zhao Changfeng argued his case.
The newcomer frowned slightly.
He also knew he could not settle ownership of the Earth Yin Cold Spring with a single declaration. Still somewhat wary of Old Devil Teng's fearsome reputation, he prepared to find another argument.
"Senior Brother Tong, that woman..."
Xiang Lin suddenly chuckled, pointing from afar at the incomparably beautiful Ruan Meizhen. Without the slightest regard for her dignity or feelings, he laid bare her deepest, most painful scar. "I told you about her. A few years ago, in front of our mountain gates, Junior Brother Xu personally severed an old romance."
With that, he laughed unrestrainedly.
The man named Tong Yi's expression shifted, and he murmured, "Oh, I remember. So it's her."
Hearing Xiang Lin and Tong Yi's exchange, the other visitors from the Primal Demon Temple clearly understood the situation as well. Every one of them looked at Ruan Meizhen with mocking, derisive eyes.
Ruan Meizhen's delicate shoulders trembled slightly. She wished the ground would swallow her.