Chapter 688: New Realm (Bonus Chapter, Please Subscribe)
Chapter 688: New Realm (Bonus Chapter, Please Subscribe)
Decades of time, fleeting as the flick of a finger.
Jia You Realm.
As there were too many lower realms, Fang Xi couldn't be bothered to name them individually, so he simply designated them by the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches.
Clad in a green robe, he held a string of Buddhist beads, and a golden bell hung from his waist.
With every step, golden lotuses bloomed beneath his feet, and waves of Buddhist chants resounded, purifying the soul.
“This Buddhist chant golden bell combined with the Buddhist beads. . . barely has some effect on nourishing one's Divine Consciousness. ”
“However, against the inner demons that will come later, they won't be of much use. ”
Fang Xi sighed with emotion.
When his cultivation reached even greater depths, these two Buddhist treasures could be discarded. . . Of course, not truly thrown away, but exchanged for resources or bestowed upon his subordinates.
Now that no major wars were erupting in the Earthly Immortal World, and Fang Xi reigned supreme in the Human World, his state of mind was exceptionally calm.
It was only then, after decades of idleness, that he embarked on another journey through the myriad realms, not only to collect fragments of the All-Heavens Precious Mirror but also to seek out unique spiritual plants and spirit beasts to supplement the ecology of his Earthly Immortal Spiritual Realm.
“This realm. . . ”
Fang Xi released his Divine Consciousness, covering a range of several thousand miles, and swiftly located a populated area.
Subsequently, his expression turned somewhat peculiar as he saw snake demons and wolf demons, each with human limbs. . . jointly forming a village.
“It doesn't seem to be ruled by humans, nor by pure demons. . . but by. . . half-demons? ! ”
He could tell that while these demons appeared bizarre, most still retained some human semblance; they were likely mixed-blood descendants of humans and demonic beasts.
Precisely because of this, they were able to assume humanoid limbs at the first and second ranks, making everything they did much more convenient.
Fang Xi even saw some of them attempting to refine artifacts, while others were creating talismans. . .
With a thought from his spiritual sense, he found the village chief, a wolf-type half-demon at the Core Formation level.
This demon was mostly humanoid, but its body was covered in thick fur, its canine teeth protruded, and its face was ferocious.
At this moment, the half-demon was sitting cross-legged within its cave dwelling, cultivating a technique.
“Demonic beasts generally don't cultivate specific techniques; they merely instinctively absorb the essence of the sun and moon. . . ”
“Yet, the cultivation method this demon practices is an orthodox demonic race technique. . . ”
Fang Xi mused, “Perhaps the cultivators of this realm are predominantly these 'demon cultivators'? ”
“However, it's also possible that such an ecology only exists in remote areas. ”
At this moment, in a lower realm, he was practically unconstrained.
He immediately transformed into a streak of light and headed towards that demon cultivator village.
Within the escape light, Fang Xi, as was customary, activated his Three-Phase Annihilation Art, converting the immortal origin energy of the Withered Glory Chant into a dark green Heavenly Demon Qi.
His appearance and some of the treasures on his person were also accordingly disguised.
The 'Celestial Demon Extermination Manual' was a profound demonic race cultivation method, but unfortunately, after reaching the Return to Void realm, it had no further continuation.
“In the Earthly Immortal World, there should be subsequent cultivation methods; I can have my External Avatar keep an eye out. . . ”
Fang Xi simply couldn't bear to give up the convenience of the Three-Phase Annihilation Art.
However, while the 'Celestial Demon Extermination Manual' was still usable now, after reaching the mid- and late-stages of Return to Void, it would fall into the same predicament as the Withered Glory Chant before it had a Soul Transformation chapter.
Even if he forcefully increased his demonic power, without corresponding secret arts and divine abilities, he would merely be a fat pig. . .
Relying on his profound realm, it was no big deal to oppress Soul Transformation demon cultivators, but if he encountered demon cultivators of the same rank, he would be at a loss.
After converting his cultivation method, a trace of demonic aura immediately emanated from Fang Xi, making him seem more adapted to this world, and even the pressure from his 'Spirit Domain' was significantly reduced.
Indeed!
The reason Fang Xi could still move freely in the lower realm was naturally due to the support of his Earthly Immortal Spiritual Realm, whose Spirit Domain constantly countered the suppression of the world's power and heavenly laws.
Otherwise, he would likely be forced to ascend in the blink of an eye.
His escape speed was astonishingly fast; a streak of dark green escape light landed directly within the village.
On an open clearing, the demon cultivators who had been setting up stalls were scared out of their wits.
“It's actually. . . actually a Great Demon that has fully transformed? ! ”
“And transformed so perfectly? ”
A female fox demon licked her lips, wagging her three tails: “This. . . Great King, do you need any small beasts? ! ”
“Scram! ”
Fang Xi showed no politeness, the cold word 'scram' escaping his lips.
The half-demons immediately scattered in chaotic flight—it was truly a scene of wolves fleeing and pigs charging, as one wolf demon wrapped its beast hide and the flesh upon it, transforming into a gust of demonic wind to escape.
Another pig demon, with a pig's head but the corpulent, pale body of a human fatty, snorted and grunted as it picked up a few stone runes from the ground, its two still-untransformed hooves digging at the earth, seemingly trying to dig a hole to hide in. . .
Seeing such a chaotic scene, Fang Xi's brow furrowed even deeper.
‘Thankfully, the language seems fluent enough; these demon cultivators all understand demonic script. . . ’
Witnessing this, he immediately transmitted a message with his Divine Consciousness to that Core Formation wolf demon: “Come here! ”
A moment later, a gust of demonic wind appeared, and the third-rank wolf demon landed on the ground. Gazing at Fang Xi, who was entirely in human form yet exuded a potent demonic aura, it secretly cried out in bitterness.
At this moment, a fawning smile had to appear on the wolf's face: “This Great King, from where do you hail? This 'Clear Wind Village' is under the command of the 'Blazing Flame Demon King', and perhaps you even have some acquaintance with him. . . Great King, please come to this little demon's cave dwelling; there is excellent blood food and fine wine offered. . . ”
The wolf demon feigned an accidental sweep with its Divine Consciousness and was even more profoundly shocked.
Even with the 'Blazing Flame Demon King', it could still sense the other party's unfathomable demonic power.
But this demon king, while undeniably possessing a demonic aura, gave it a feeling of utter emptiness.
‘Could it be that this demon's strength surpasses even the Great Blazing Flame King? Heaven preserve us, please don't let him be an enemy. . . ’
The wolf demon's heart was filled with intense bitterness.
“You dare to probe this Venerable One with your Divine Consciousness? You're quite bold, aren't you. . . ”
Fang Xi offered a faint smile: “I originally intended to ask you a few questions, but now it seems. . . it might be better to just take action directly. ”
The moment Fang Xi smiled, the wolf demon inwardly cried out, 'Not good! '
Without hesitation, a violent emerald wind enveloped its body, shooting backwards.
This violent wind of its had quite a background; it was its innate divine ability, later cultivated through techniques and secret arts, transforming into a gust of 'Heavenly Wolf Wind', whose power was enough to melt metal and dissolve iron. Even magical artifacts and spirit artifacts would suffer considerable damage if brushed by this wind.
More crucially, it possessed both defensive and evasive flight capabilities, having helped it escape countless dangers.
But this time, it was clearly different!
Fang Xi lightly twirled his Buddhist beads, and a minor Buddhist divine ability manifested: the 'Vajra Lion's Roar', which possessed considerable power to subdue demons and devils.
Buzz!
Mid-air, the wolf demon felt a terrifying lion's roar resound in its ears; its head spun, and it inexplicably tumbled down.
That gust of Heavenly Wolf Wind was utterly incapable of protecting it in the slightest.
Not only that, seven or eight tenths of its demonic power had been shattered, and its demon core was sickly, unable to mobilize much demonic power.
Fang Xi lightly made a grabbing motion with his right hand, and a golden light flew out, binding the wolf demon and pulling it before him.
He didn't stand on ceremony and directly performed soul-scouring.
With his current Divine Consciousness, soul-scouring a third-rank wolf demon caused no after-effects whatsoever; the wolf demon didn't even realize it had been soul-scoured. . .
And piece by piece, information surfaced in Fang Xi's mind:
“Lesser demons, great demons, demon kings. . . demon gods. . . and. . . a Demon Court? ”
“This realm is indeed already the dominion of demon cultivators. . . ”
“To think demon cultivators have even formed a civilization, and even a court. . . Demon God. . . Is that a Soul Transformation-level demon cultivator? ”
A moment later, Fang Xi tossed the wolf demon aside as if it were trash and looked towards the east.
According to the wolf demon's memories, this place was merely a border region of the Demon Court. Journeying eastward, there would be cities established by demon cultivators, growing increasingly prosperous, eventually leading to the Demon Capital, which was the seat of the Demonic Imperial Court!
And according to Fang Xi's own perception, that fragment of the All-Heavens Precious Mirror was also in this direction.
‘Alas. . . it seems it has already fallen into the hands of demon cultivators. ’
‘Fortunately, it wasn't taken into the Earthly Immortal World by a previous ascending demon cultivator. . . ’
He sighed inwardly, dropped the wolf demon, transformed into a streak of dark green escape light, and vanished into the distance.
Long after, half-demons cautiously peeked out, one by one: “That demon king has left, right? ”
“How terrifying, it's the first time I've seen a completely transformed half-demon. . . ”
“The Great Green Wolf Demon seems to have fainted. . . ”
The half-demons exchanged glances, all somewhat restless.
Among the demon race, even with established systems, the nature of the strong preying on the weak was still etched deep within their bloodlines.
Now seeing the Green Wolf so easily defeated, the half-demons approached with fierce glints in their eyes. . .
Finally, a second-rank tiger demon could no longer restrain itself and pounced.
Mid-air, it transformed into a huge white-browed tiger with hanging eyes, opening its gaping maw to bite the wolf demon.
But the next moment!
Owooo!
Accompanying the mournful wolf howl, an even larger green wolf's head appeared, biting down ferociously and completely gnawing off the huge tiger's head.
Crunch!
The enormous tiger corpse collapsed to the ground, blood gushing out.
Only then did the green wolf head transform into wisps of black qi, gracefully sinking back into the Green Wolf's body.
“Hmph, you don't even look at your own cultivation, yet you dare to rebel? ”
It disdainfully kicked the tiger corpse, then tore off a tiger leg, stuffing it into its wolf maw and devouring it with gusto.
As the blood dripped, the many half-demons, watching the tiger demon that was usually a bully turn into blood food, all trembled uncontrollably.
A very few half-demons lowered their heads, their eyes gleaming with desire.
It was unclear whether it was a craving for this high-rank blood food, or for something else. . .
“Hmph, next month's Blood Tax will be increased by thirty percent! ”
After eating its fill, the Green Wolf let out another roar: “This is your punishment! ”
All the half-demons sighed inwardly, yet dared not resist.
The rules among the demon race were precisely this stark, demonstrating the survival of the fittest to the fullest extent. . .
If they were unwilling to pay the Blood Tax, they would either be eaten by the Green Wolf, or they would have to leave this spiritual vein land and flee into the wilderness.
From then on, not only would their cultivation be hard-pressed to advance even an inch, but they would also face immense dangers. . .
Therefore, even with such heavy oppression, these half-demons could only compromise.
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