"Where the hell have you two been?!"
Zhao Changfeng roared at Chen Jian and Cui Pinyuan as they hurried over, his face twisted with fury.
Chen Jian's brows knitted tightly, but he did not speak immediately.
The Yin Ghosts were his eyes.
When the demon spirit had emerged through the Earth Yin Cold Spring, he too had sensed something amiss and rushed over with Cui Pinyuan at once.
But the battle had unfolded in a flash of lightning and sparks, with life and death decided in an instant. By the time he arrived, the fighting had already ended.
Chen Jian surveyed Zhao Changfeng's condition with an exceedingly strange look. Clear bewilderment surfaced on his face, usually as impassive as a pool of stagnant water.
"B-Brother Zhao, where's the demon spirit?"
Cui Pinyuan spoke up.
"Here."
Zhao Changfeng opened his hand. A demon core with exceptionally distinct demonic markings rested in his palm. Still panting, he snapped, "The two of us nearly died just now."
No one knew how perilous and difficult surviving had been for him.
Because the Small Cauldron had once drawn in a demon spirit through Heavenly Heart Demon-Seeding, he could sense the aura of hatred for all living things emanating from demon spirits. Since this High-Rank Demon Spirit had not deliberately concealed itself, he had been able to sniff out its presence.
He had first decisively slashed with the Blood God Saber, catching the demon spirit off guard with a blow, then immediately begun corrupting it with his flesh and blood.
While condensing his blood shadow with willpower to resist the flood dragon python-shaped demon spirit's energy body, he had also used the two Small Cauldrons to circulate Heavenly Heart Demon-Seeding and tug at its soul, all while resisting the demon spirit's corrosive consciousness with his unyielding resolve.
Even that had only allowed him to barely hold his own, not gain the upper hand.
Until Ruan Meizhen's heart-demon obsession suddenly erupted.
He, Ruan Meizhen, and the demon spirit had all sunk into it together, experiencing those scenes that tormented the heart.
The demon spirit had taken the form of Zhan Jingsi, who always controlled everything, choosing the most terrifying person in the scene in an attempt to shatter his will.
Fortunately, he had experienced Ruan Meizhen's state of mind over and over, and had also contemplated Shi Yue's miserable life. By using their heart-demon obsessions to temper his own heart, he had forged a will of iron and broken free of the restraints.
Each link had depended on the next.
Had Zhao Changfeng made a mistake at any one of those steps, or failed to weather it safely, he would have become the demon spirit's Soul Food.
"Such distinct demonic markings-a third-rank demon spirit!"
Disbelief filled Cui Pinyuan's face.
Chen Jian, however, was not particularly surprised. The Yin Ghosts' reactions had already told him that the demon spirit coming through the Earth Yin Cold Spring was no ordinary foe.
"A third-rank demon spirit already possesses intelligence. It came through this well, and its original target..."
Ignoring Zhao Changfeng's anger and not asking how he had managed to kill a third-rank demon spirit, Chen Jian immediately began considering the underlying problem.
"Song Zejun and his wife colluded with demon spirits. They must have known how our forces were arranged here, and that I come from the Ghost-Controlling Sect and need to practice Ghost Refining."
"Perhaps the demon spirits even knew that Tong Yi and his group from the Primal Demon Temple had arrived."
At that thought, Chen Jian's gaze grew stranger still. "This third-rank demon spirit should have been targeting Tong Yi and me. It wasn't coming for you, Zhao Changfeng."
Zhao Changfeng understood at once.
Since the demon spirit could come up through the Earth Yin Cold Spring, it naturally knew of their presence, as well as what this Earth Yin Cold Spring could be used for.
Chen Jian could refine Yin Ghosts, and Tong Yi could use them to cultivate the Profound Yin Scripture. Both were disciples of Demon Dao Great Sects, so after arriving, they would naturally monopolize this Earth Yin Cold Spring and sit here for long stretches, honing their Demonic Cultivation Art.
Demonic Cultivation Art was extremely prone to going awry. At the slightest sign of backlash during either man's cultivation, the demon spirit could exploit that opening.
The demon spirits probably had not expected that the ones cultivating beside the Earth Yin Cold Spring would be Zhao Changfeng and Ruan Meizhen, rather than Chen Jian and Tong Yi.
Cui Pinyuan shifted his gaze to Ruan Meizhen, who sat quietly in a corner, and suddenly said, "Congratulations, Miss Ruan."
Ruan Meizhen opened her eyes. An unusual brilliance shimmered in their beautiful depths, as though faint soul shadows were appearing within them.
She managed a strained smile but said nothing. Instead, with Chen Jian and Cui Pinyuan present, she hurried to condense her fragile, newly formed primordial spirit.
She had finally entered the Primordial Spirit Realm!
She did not quite understand what had happened. All she knew was that when her heart-demon obsession surged forth, Zhao Changfeng had become Xu Lang and hacked Zhan Jingsi to death on the spot with a demonic saber.
Naturally, she knew that Zhan Jingsi had been the demon spirit in disguise, but she did not understand why both it and Zhao Changfeng could appear within the scenes of her heart-demon obsession.
Still less did she understand how Zhao Changfeng had rewritten the true course of those eternally unchanging scenes, turning them into a story where he killed Zhan Jingsi.
"Xu Lang, Zhao Changfeng..."
Ruan Meizhen looked at that figure, towering like a mountain ridge. Her feelings were too complicated for words, and she did not know how she should treat him from now on.
Zhao Changfeng had truly fulfilled his original promise, helping her advance successfully into the Primordial Spirit Realm and become Teng Kun's fifth formal disciple.
And he had done it by killing a third-rank demon spirit!
"We'll hold this place. This demon spirit is dead, but others will sneak over through this Earth Yin Cold Spring."
Chen Jian barked the order.
"I really don't know where this Earth Yin Cold Spring leads. I explored it before, but my flesh-and-blood body couldn't withstand the increasingly frigid power of earth yin."
Cui Pinyuan explained somewhat anxiously, afraid they might mistakenly think he was involved with the demon spirits.
"No need to waste your breath explaining," Chen Jian said indifferently. "I investigated it too, and likewise couldn't reach its depths."
With that, the Yin Ghosts that had left the well walls howled as they plunged back inside. Others descended straight down, seeking to explore it once more.
Zhao Changfeng finally sat down with his mind at ease.
The willpower produced by the wicked thoughts and will of a third-rank demon spirit...
A vast amount of willpower he could command had already gathered within the two Small Cauldrons inside him, becoming a pillar supporting his increased combat strength.
The willpower generated by this third-rank demon spirit equaled that of the previous twenty-seven, and even exceeded it by a considerable margin.
Now, one of the two Small Cauldrons was manifesting Ruan Meizhen's heart-demon obsession, while the other depicted Cui Pinyuan and his disciple struggling against a fate before which they felt powerless.
His flesh, ravaged by the flood dragon python demon spirit, urgently needed abundant blood energy to repair and temper it. This also saved Zhao Changfeng the step of damaging it first.
Once I return to the sect, I can exchange the third-rank demon core for a third-rank Blood God Saber. The Blood Shadow Art's power will rise to three times its original strength.
Only one more fold of power, yet ten times the price. Still, it really is worth that much.
Zhao Changfeng pondered silently as he used second-rank spirit beasts to repair his injuries.
A third-rank demon core...
His eyes flickered. Carefully recalling the dangers of the earlier battle, he suddenly caught a detail.
When the demon spirit's wicked thoughts and will collapsed and were dragged away by the two Small Cauldrons, its flood dragon python-shaped energy body, entangled by his blood shadow, instantly shattered into countless streams of light before gathering again into a third-rank demon core.
Before it became a demon core, he had felt the strange sensation that the Small Cauldrons could absorb it too. They had indeed produced a suction force.
But he did not understand the art of absorption and refinement, so he had failed to capture that energy, which actually possessed a form, and allowed it to gather into a demon core.
Could the "refining" in the Second Volume of Heavenly Heart Demon-Seeding refine it?
When he thought of how the true Bronze Cauldron deep in the starry void beyond the heavens could swallow foreign creatures with physical bodies of flesh and blood, he felt this was genuinely possible.
Every Demon Dao Great Sect placed great importance on collecting demon cores, yet none explained their specific uses. He felt demon cores must have a purpose.
If the two Small Cauldrons could extract the power within a demon core, it would amount to squeezing a demon spirit completely dry. Its wicked thoughts and will could produce dense willpower, but he did not know what use the energy forming its body might have.
After that, second-rank demon spirits occasionally emerged through the Earth Yin Cold Spring, only to be killed by Chen Jian and Cui Pinyuan the moment they appeared.
"The third-rank demon spirit died, and no word has gone back for quite some time. These second-rank demon spirits must be here to investigate."
Holding a second-rank demon core, Chen Jian said, "Since they can't use this well to have a third-rank demon spirit quietly eliminate Primordial Spirit Realm cultivators like me, sooner or later they'll lose patience and invade in force."
Cui Pinyuan nodded lightly. "They probably won't keep us waiting long. Incidentally, Tong Yi should have a Message-Transmitting Artifact that can contact the Primal Demon Temple. When we act, we must finish the fight quickly."
"Don't worry," Chen Jian said indifferently. "He won't get a message out. I have something that blocks Message-Transmitting Artifacts."
Secretly alarmed, Cui Pinyuan immediately realized that Chen Jian had probably done this sort of thing many times. Afraid his targets might leak word, he had spent a fortune on a secret treasure capable of blocking Message-Transmitting Artifacts.
Whoosh!
Ruan Meizhen suddenly waved her hand, sending out a dark green current.
Venomous scorpions, centipedes, snakes, insects, and other deadly creatures mingled within it. Under the control of her thoughts and will, they actually spread out in orderly formations, as though they possessed intelligence of their own.
"Condensing a Slaughter Art with Divine Sense and controlling it with your primordial spirit. Congratulations."
Cui Pinyuan smiled easily.
With Ruan Meizhen having successfully consolidated her Primordial Spirit Realm cultivation, their side now had another powerful ally. Their planned operation naturally had a better chance of success.
Chen Jian glanced at Ruan Meizhen, his brows creasing almost imperceptibly. A love slave...
He had heard the conversation between Tong Yi and the others, and knew this woman missing an arm was one of the love slaves Xu Lang had created. He also knew very well that Xu Lang cultivated that Demonic Cultivation Art to deal with the Six-Tribulation Great Calamity.
But he did not expose the matter. He did not want to invite trouble for no reason and have Xu Lang come looking for him afterward.
"I'm almost ready too."
Zhao Changfeng rose to his full height. His bones crackled in a series of sharp snaps, and deep red light spilled across his body.
An incomparably vigorous surge of blood energy spread outward from him like a blood-colored mist, only to be drawn back into his body.
After repeating this three times, Zhao Changfeng gradually withdrew the deep red demonic light covering his body and returned to normal. Smiling, he asked Cui Pinyuan, "Senior, do you have any more second-rank spirit beasts? Third-rank ones will do too."
Using the spirit beasts stored in the cavern, he had tempered and honed all his flesh, bones, and sinews, officially entering the late Yuanqi Stage.
Chen Haoming had taken a full three years to advance from the peak of the Yuanjing Stage to the late Yuanqi Stage. He had done it in less than a month.
Cui Pinyuan looked at the few spirit beasts remaining in the cavern after Zhao Changfeng and Ruan Meizhen's joint harvesting. His nose twitched. "Let's survive first. We can talk about the rest afterward."
Chen Jian raised his hand and grasped, and the Yin Ghost Spirit-Seizing Banner appeared in his grip. "The demon spirits are here," he said quietly.