62

"Ugh—"

Qingchen let out a muffled groan, suppressed to the extreme. Veins on his forehead bulged and throbbed like earthworms.

His face was drained of color, deathly pale as if covered by a sheet of paper.

He seemed to have been drained of all his energy in an instant, barely able to maintain his posture.

But even on the verge of his consciousness being shattered by the excruciating pain,

he clenched his teeth, his hand gripping that wisp of divine soul essence tightening even more resolutely.

He began to peel away the layers.

Silk by silk, strand by strand, he slowly and firmly tore that piece of divine soul essence from his own sea of ​​consciousness.

This process was akin to a mortal cutting their own flesh with a dull knife, a direct torture inflicted on the very soul.

Time lost its meaning at this moment.

Only the endless, seemingly without end, tearing pain remained the sole reality.

Qingchen felt his soul tremble violently, his consciousness teetering on the brink of collapse.

Only a sliver of yearning for power and an unwavering pursuit of immortality kept his mind afloat.

He knew that if he couldn't overcome this ordeal, all was lost.

Only by enduring this soul-extraction and refinement could he condense the "Demon Seed" recorded in the *Demon Lotus Golden Seed* secret technique, and continue to enhance his soul!

Only with a powerful soul could he cultivate the *Brahma Demon Refining Technique*! Opening a sliver of a path to a higher level!

According to the secret technique's brief description, once he achieved Foundation Establishment, this Demon Seed would transform into "Foundation Establishment Demonic Fire"!

Not only would it be terrifyingly powerful in combat, but it could also be used to repeatedly refine his own magical power, increasing his chances of breaking through to the Golden Core True Person realm by 20% after nine cycles!

20%! Qingchen's heart burned with excitement.

He was currently just a mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator, an insignificant figure both within and outside the sect.

Such a heaven-defying opportunity to change his fate was right before him!

If he retreated out of fear of the pain before him, wouldn't he later, on his deathbed, be filled with regret and remorse?

On the path of cultivation, it's all about seizing this crucial advantage!

Once the method is obtained, practice it immediately; there's no time to hesitate!

He didn't know how much time had passed—perhaps an instant, perhaps several hours.

Qing Chen was already drenched in cold sweat, his clothes clinging to his skin, sending chills down his spine.

When that last thread of connection was resolutely severed, an unprecedented feeling of exhaustion swept through his body, almost causing him to collapse.

But at the same time, he also "saw" it: in the center of his sea of ​​souls, a barely perceptible fragment, radiating a pure, ethereal light, was quietly suspended.

That was the essence of his separated soul, the foundation for condensing the demonic seed.

...

One month later.

Inside the island's protective cave, Qingchen sat cross-legged on the old futon, his face still deathly pale, but his eyes remained as sharp as ever.

He closed his eyes, focusing his mind, his consciousness sinking into his body, cautiously "looking" into the depths of his soul.

There, a small, slowly rotating ball of eerie light appeared.

It was only the size of a fingernail, seemingly ethereal yet not solid, not a solidified form, but a tiny vortex.

"This is... the nascent form of the Demon Seed?"

Qingchen's consciousness gently touched it, and a warm yet slightly chilling energy fluctuation returned to him.

This stirred a strange tremor and awe within him.

This tiny thing contained a portion of his divine soul's essence and ineffable potential.

He knew this was only the first step in a long journey.

Next, he needed to nurture and cultivate it day and night with the power of his own divine soul, stabilizing it.

Every night, he needed to draw upon the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and the essence of moonlight, using secret runes to imprint and refine it, constantly strengthening it.

Until the Demonic Seed truly matured, manifesting the extraordinary phenomenon of the "Demon Lotus in Fire."

Logically speaking, for a Qi Refining cultivator, especially in the mid-stage, recklessly activating their divine soul was tantamount to self-destruction.

At best, it would damage the divine soul, interrupting the path to cultivation; at worst, it would cause the soul to be scattered on the spot.

But this *Demon Seed Golden Lotus* secret technique clearly far surpassed the scope of ordinary cultivation methods.

Even during the Qi Refining stage, it continuously refined and tempered the divine soul through an incomparably profound method, so that while its quantity did not increase dramatically, its quality and resilience were far beyond those of other cultivators at the same level.

It was precisely because of his diligent cultivation in the early stages, laying such a solid foundation, that Qingchen was able to successfully sever this "seed of the divine soul."

A cultivator's divine soul possesses limitless potential, but it is constrained by the physical body and cultivation level, making it difficult to fully unleash its potential.

Legend has it that those at the highest cultivation levels can even transcend the shackles of their physical bodies, roaming the vast void, indestructible through countless eons.

The purpose of the *Demon Lotus Seed* is to use this limitless potential as fuel, constantly refining it through secret methods.

Ultimately, it will condense into the awe-inspiring "Demon Lotus Form"!

However, Qingchen was unaware of this.

Even for those with unparalleled talent, cultivating such a secret method involving the very foundation of the divine soul is by no means easy.

Usually, top-grade spiritual pills are needed to replenish the depleted divine soul at any time, and the presence of a master or senior to protect and stabilize the mind and soul is essential before daring to attempt it.

His initial success was largely due to his hidden talent, but also to the old futon he'd casually brought from a secret chamber in Beiman Mountain.

This object was extraordinary.

While he was splitting his soul, it continuously emitted a cool aura, protecting his soul's core and alleviating his pain.

Furthermore, it continued to nourish him afterward, helping him stabilize his injuries and recover quickly.

Without this object, let alone successfully splitting his soul, he would most likely have suffered a soul collapse during the process, or been left with irreparable internal injuries, damaging his foundation and cutting off his path forward.

…

Three months later.

On the vast sea, waves surged.

A small boat cleaved through the gray waves, and standing at the bow was Qing Chen.

His complexion was ruddy, his eyes calm, and the spiritual energy emanating from his body was more solid than before, clearly indicating that he had completely consolidated his mid-stage Qi Refining realm.

While the flesh and blood of the two rock-armored crabs weren't enough to sustain his long cultivation journey, they did help him steadily solidify his mid-stage Qi Refining realm.

After a brief rest upon arriving at Hundred-Foot Island, Qingchen once again embarked on his demon-hunting journey.

This time, he increased the proportion of "martial artist's blood essence" in his bait, even going so far as to use Chen Zhu'er's blood essence as bait.

When the blood essence in the bait approached a quarter, the effect was immediate, attracting mid-grade first-tier demon beasts into the array traps he had set.

Since stabilizing his cultivation, Qingchen had completely immersed himself in this medium-risk, high-reward demon-hunting cultivation.

He spent three or four years intermittently in the waters surrounding Huangzhu Island.

The various sea beasts he killed far exceeded the haul of ordinary demon-hunting teams.

Initially, he disdained those worthless 'ordinary sea beasts'.

But later, adhering to the principle of not wasting anything, he refined them all into basic essence blood using rudimentary methods, for use in luring demons.

The reason was simple: the "martial artist's essence blood" was consumed too quickly, soon becoming insufficient.

Later, not only ordinary sea beasts, but even many early-stage first-tier demon beasts he had slain became "bait" to attract stronger demon beasts.

In these three or four years, if it weren't for the few drops of life-saving essence blood stored in the [Brahma Aperture], which allowed him to use the *Blood Qi Transformation* technique to fight powerful enemies in crucial moments;

If it weren't for the nascent demon seed form of the *Demon Seed Golden Lotus*, which possessed a mysterious interference and deterrent power against the souls of low-level demon beasts with low intelligence;

with just that rudimentary "illusionary warning array," Qingchen would probably have perished in the demon's belly many times over.

After all, all the magical artifacts he possessed were of low quality.

Chen Zhu'er's Azure Steel Sword, a low-grade first-tier defensive magical artifact, and the sect's standard flying sword... were of mediocre quality and limited power.

After years of consumption, the spirit talismans he had purchased from the outer sect peak and obtained from Chen Zhu'er's storage bag were completely exhausted.

The [Mysterious Tracking Warning Array] was further destroyed after it unfortunately attracted an attack from a high-grade first-tier demonic beast;

forced to abandon it, Qing Chen reluctantly discarded it, ultimately destroying it completely.

Now, taking stock of his possessions, besides a dozen or so low-grade spirit stones, only the low-grade flying sword left by Chen Zhu'er—the Azure Steel Sword—remained relatively intact.

The low-grade defensive magical artifacts and sect flying sword he had purchased had long since crumbled and been completely destroyed in desperate battles against various sea beasts and demonic