After twists and turns, left and right, descending nearly a thousand meters, Chen Mu finally emerged like a bubble bursting from a muddy swamp, with a “pop,” stepping into an underground space the size of a soccer field.
A lush peach forest suddenly entered his view. Fluorescent light flickered on the pale yellow flower stamens, resembling streetlights of a night market, illuminating the entire underground space brilliantly.
Here and there, silver-bright blossoms were hidden among the sea of flowers, making Chen Mu unable to suppress a smile.
“Found the right place, huh.”
After a moment, Chen Mu examined the entire peach forest and discovered twenty-six Moli Silver Peach Trees.
But instead of hurriedly extracting the peach wood cores, he walked toward the center of the underground hollow.
A massive stone gourd was partially tilted, half-buried in the rocky surface.
The exposed upper half stood about half a person high, adorned with mysterious silver-black patterns shimmering on the gray stone surface of the gourd.
“This thing…”
Chen Mu circled the gourd twice, narrowing his eyes involuntarily.
The Thousand Mechanisms Sect had suppressed many Outer Heaven Demons beneath the Hundred Illusion Sect. Though this stone gourd seemed ordinary, its eerie burial underground might very well be part of a Suppression Technique.
Thinking of this, Chen Mu slowly backed away, distancing himself from the gourd.
“The peach wood cores must be collected, but the Suppression Technique cannot be touched.”
“Outer Heaven Demons are bizarre—if something strange happens, I’d have nowhere to cry.
Determined not to touch the stone gourd, Chen Mu was about to turn and leave when a familiar aura suddenly appeared within his Truth Listening Divine Power.
Ever since entering the underground space, he’d kept the Truth Listening Divine Power active. Unfortunately, the omnipresent Demon Qi Stones choked with Demon Qi had sealed its effectiveness. When probing tens of meters into the Demon Qi Stone, the divine power ceased entirely.
Yet, ironically, the omnidirectional sealing forced the Truth Listening power to condense, filling every inch of the underground cavern.
The newly appeared aura—though subtle and hidden—hit Chen Mu like thunder exploding by his ear.
“Demon Essence?”
“The mysterious aura that could rapidly perfect the Sky Demon Armor Talisman comes from here?!”
Chen Mu’s face lit with joy, then… he froze and retreated again.
He walked in an arc to the opposite side of the gourd, keeping a five to six-meter distance, scrutinizing the stone-carved gourd closely.
A hair-thin crack suddenly caught his eye.
The fissure was near the edge of a black pattern—without the guidance of the Demon Essence aura, Chen Mu would’ve missed it entirely.
“Should I?”
“What if it’s a demon’s trap?”
Looking at the aura by the gourd that seemed to beckon like a swaying courtesan, Chen Mu hesitated in indecision.
“Why not absorb one strand?”
“Just one strand, one strand isn’t much.”
“No matter how sinister the Outer Heaven Demons may be, what can happen from absorbing a single essence strand?”
Hot eagerness slowly crept into Chen Mu’s gaze.
…
Inside the stone-carved gourd was a vast, pitch-black Grotto Heaven.
Three dragon heads of the Heavenly Demon Nine-head reared high, red-scaled necks trembling rapidly. Strange rustling filled the darkness, enough to set nerves on edge.
The six eyes with triple-pupils firmly targeted the fissure overhead that seemed to split the heavens.
“The six strands of Primordial Qi lost earlier—could they have been taken by him?” Nine-head sensed a familiar energy signature from the intruder.
Previously, he had painstakingly exposed strands of Primordial Qi from the seal, intending to empower a split-body for escape. Instead, all the Primordial Qi vanished—a grievance that festered in his fury for days.
“To dare approach here… truly, the road to heaven is closed, but hell opens wide for fools!” Nine-head bared his teeth; sharp fangs gleamed coldly.
Buzz!
The enormous body suddenly shot skyward, clutching tightly at the fissure in the Grotto Heaven ceiling, one eye peering out to glare at Chen Mu.
Watching Chen Mu’s conflicted, greedy expression, followed by an intensifying hunger, Nine-head’s gaze filled with malicious delight.
“Yes! Just like that!”
“A single strand of Primordial Qi—is it even that dangerous?”
“Absorb one, then another. I still have seventeen strands in me. Just dare take them, and I’ll split half your way instantly!”
“Only by then, whether you’re still you—that’s no longer any of my concern.” His smile twisted with cruel amusement.
…
Threads of light filtered through translucent jade into the cave mansion.
Cross-legged on a stone bed, Chen Mu glanced at the growing daylight outside. Picking up the palm-sized Jade Gourd from the short square table before him, he took a swig of Nourishing Spirit Wine.
The weariness from cultivating immortality overnight vanished instantly.
Seeing the three mischievous wooden figurines arrayed on the table, Chen Mu’s face involuntarily twitched.
After working tirelessly all night, he had crafted three more Peach God sculptures. Adding to his prior creations, his total now reached seventy-six—a further boost to security.
That said, the appearance of these Peach God sculptures…
“Forget it—out of sight, out of mind.”
Chen Mu scowled, stuffing the Peach Gods into the Five Ghosts Bag.
With a thought, a translucent gray wall materialized before him.
Skillfully navigating its options, he stopped at two items of interest:
Sky Demon Armor: 8933/10000/Seventh Rank;
Nine-Life Tribulation Splitting Technique: 6983/10000;
The core of the Nine-Life Tribulation Splitting Technique lay in crafting Peach Gods. As their numbers in his possession increased, the skill’s experience points naturally climbed.
The Sky Demon Armor, however, was a pleasant surprise.
“A single Demon Essence strand boosted Sky Demon Armor proficiency by over 400—comparable to half a month of full-force cultivation. What a treasure!”
A thought summoned a transparent armor layer to his body, veins of crimson threads floating within.
“In addition to Qi Forbidden Hundred Miles protection power, there seems to be traces of another Demon Qi technique formed from absorbing the Demon Essence.” Chen Mu happily examined the thread-like patterns across the translucent armor.
For a moment, those red threads seemed to whisper faint murmurs.
But before he could listen closely, the Sky Demon Armor Talisman trembled autonomously, as if someone suddenly smothered the voice source—murmuring twice before vanishing completely.
What was that?
Chen Mu scratched his head.
Carefully interpreting the feedback sensations from the gray wall yielded no abnormalities.
“Never mind. Demon Essence is merely a bonus—progress for the Sky Demon Armor is gratifying, but no progress is no loss either.”
“The urgent priority remains converting the Moli Silver Peach Tree grove into Peach Gods within this underground space.”
…
In the days that followed, Chen Mu resumed his usual routine.
He’d mine a hundred or so pounds of Demon Qi Stones before leaving.
Finding a secluded location, he’d enter an underground cave to extract one Moli Silver Peach Wood Core, then return to his cave mansion to craft Peach God dolls.
If any Demon Essence leaked out, he collected it casually.
Day by day, the number of Peach Gods increased, while the expertise of the Sky Demon Armor and Tribulation Techniques grew rapidly.
…
Back in the stone-carved gourd’s depths.
Nine-head coiled his body of crimson-scale armor tightly, staring with eighteen pupils of suspicion at the ceiling fissure of the Sealing Cave Heaven.
“How much Primordial Qi has this man absorbed already?”
“Initially six strands, and these past few days another three—nine in total?”
“Yet why hasn’t he undergone any assimilation or transformation?”
“I can clearly sense my Primordial Qi roaring from within him, but why hasn’t he turned into an extension of myself?!”
Uneasiness began gnawing at Nine-head.
“Could all the Primordial Qi given away have been wasted?”
Impossible!
Absolutely impossible!
“It must be because he hasn’t absorbed enough strands of Primordial Qi!”
Fixated on the figure still circling the gourd outside, Nine-head clenched teeth and made a ruthless decision—releasing three more strands.
“Enough with incremental oil-drip tactics! Overload him in one strike—burst him, crush him!”
“With three strands of Primordial Qi flooding in, this little creature is bound to become part of me!”
“When that happens, all the Primordial Qi swallowed earlier will return in full, with interest!” Nine-head stared at the fissure in the ceiling, anticipation brimming on his face.
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