Eternal Life Begins with Learning

Chapter 452: Chapter 416: Driving Straight In (Part 2)

Chu Mu struggled to raise his hand. As a sliver of Magical Power stirred, he could feel faint wisps of True Demon Qi circulating.

’So, this curse is... Demonization?’

Chu Mu couldn’t hide his exhaustion. Having a faint guess, he rubbed his dry eyes and exhaled a turbid breath. He took out several Healing Elixirs and swallowed them before his eyes slowly closed, the overwhelming fatigue threatening to drag him back into a deep slumber.

「Time flowed on, and in the blink of an eye, several more days had passed.」

He didn’t wake again until the sixth day.

When he opened his eyes, his utterly depleted body seemed to have finally recovered a sliver of strength.

Compared to his Golden Core Realm Cultivation, this sliver of strength was truly insignificant.

But given the severity of his festering wounds, even this insignificant amount was barely enough to let him move and muster a minuscule trace of his Essence, Qi, and Spirit.

"Hngh..."

He gritted his teeth against the excruciating pain, pushing himself up to lean against the cave wall. He swallowed several more Healing Elixirs and sent a sliver of his Divine Sense into his Sea of Consciousness and Dantian, guiding the Medicinal Power to circulate through his body and nourish his ravaged wounds.

「The sun rose and set. In the blink of an eye, more than ten days had passed.」

It wasn’t until the sixteenth day that Chu Mu, who was leaning in the corner of the cave, slowly opened his eyes.

His eyes were still bloodshot. Faintly visible Demon Patterns swirled within his pupils, disrupting the clarity in his gaze.

He closed his eyes for a moment, then slowly opened them again. The sharpness in his gaze remained, and under its pressure, the faint Demon Patterns seemed to be suppressed and sealed away.

He slowly extended his arm and pushed up his tattered sleeve. A horrifying, scale-like pattern snaked up his arm, already covering more than half of it and continuing to spread toward the rest of his body.

’So when the parasitism failed... it turned into Demonization...’

Chu Mu’s brow furrowed slightly. His initial guess about Demonization had become quite clear.

It was obvious now. The Demon Lord’s Residual Soul left in the Heart of the Demon Realm was either a contingency set up after the Demon Lord’s fall, or it was a mutation that had occurred in that wisp of a soul over the long eons.

Whoever refined the Heart of the Demon Realm would inevitably suffer a backlash from the Demon Soul.

This was practically a parasitic curse.

For every Demon he killed—a manifestation of a Demon Soul using the Power of the Demon Realm—he had to bear a portion of the Demon Soul’s backlash curse.

The accumulation of this backlash was equivalent to transferring the Demon Lord’s Residual Soul, originally sealed in the Heart of the Demon Realm, onto him as a parasite.

Under normal circumstances, such a parasite would likely have evolved into a bizarre transformation like Possession or reincarnation.

But his Sword Intent was pure and his mind was stable.

No matter how terrifying this Demon Soul backlash was, it couldn’t change the fundamental nature of a mere Residual Soul.

A mere wisp of a Residual Soul, upon entering his Sea of Consciousness, had its Demon Nature shattered by his Sword Intent. All that remained was its deeply ingrained curse of Demonization, which now instinctively and relentlessly tried to tempt him into the Demon Dao.

This, clearly... was the real reason why that True Demon hadn’t dared to refine the Heart of the Demon Realm itself.

After all, the True Demon body it had taken through Possession was clearly a former subordinate of the Demon Lord, or perhaps of a lower-ranking bloodline, and was subject to a natural suppression.

If the True Demon had personally refined the Heart of the Demon Realm, it might very well have allowed the Demon Lord’s Residual Soul to succeed in its Possession and be reborn!

He had played the part of the scapegoat perfectly.

Judging from the situation when he was rescued and left the Demon Realm, that man in the dragon robe probably couldn’t suppress the Demon Puppet Legion and the True Demon with its many hidden cards, either.

Its scheme was likely to succeed.

It was almost certain that the True Demon would become the true Master of the Demon Realm.

By controlling the Demon Realm and being empowered by its world’s power, that True Demon would be virtually invincible there.

Once it had organized the Demon Realm, it could then use their shared origin to erode this Secret Realm.

The disaster had taken root and was now deeply entrenched. What happened next would depend on the true self of the man in the dragon robe.

As his thoughts churned, Chu Mu pursed his lips and slumped weakly against the cave wall.

The moment he relaxed, those whispers in his ear, heavy with temptation, surged into his mind again.

"Hmph!"

With a cold snort, the constant, bewitching whispers were instantly shattered and dispersed.

But soon, the shattered whispers resurfaced in his mind like maggots clinging to his bones.

Chu Mu’s expression turned grim, and his brief moment of relaxation vanished completely.

Despite having his Sword Intent to protect his mind and ensure he remained lucid and didn’t fall to the Demon Dao, his situation was dire.

While his mind could hold firm, the Demonization Erosion, fueled by his festering wounds, was advancing almost unimpeded. His physical body, Divine Soul, and Magical Power all showed clear signs of Demonization.

At this rate, if he couldn’t find an effective countermeasure, he would be completely demonized in a year at most.

If his Essence, Qi, and Spirit all became demonic, it would be meaningless even if his consciousness remained uncorrupted.

It was just like a Vast Sea Bloodline Cultivator. Even if they cultivated their bloodline and protected their mind from being eroded by it, it didn’t change the fact that they were a Bloodline Cultivator.

It was the same for him.

If his mind didn’t fall, but his Essence, Qi, and Spirit did... then he would be a Demon!

And this type of Demon, born from the backlash curse of the ancient Demon Lord’s Residual Soul... who knew what other tricks it had in store.

Once he truly fell to the Demon Dao, he would likely lose all control of himself.

’My injuries...’

Chu Mu was speechless. This was undoubtedly a vicious cycle.

If he hadn’t been so grievously injured, even if he couldn’t resolve this Demonization Erosion, his Golden Core Realm Magical Cultivation and his repeatedly transformed True Flame Sword Intent would have been more than enough to suppress it to a certain degree.

He would have had ample time to find a solution. Both his Sword Intent and his Great Sun True Flame were natural counters to demonic existences, possessing a near-absolute, suppressive quality.

And both had clear paths for transformation.

His Sword Intent transformed through the sharpness gained in slaughter.

His True Flame transformed by devouring other Spiritual Fires.

Although neither could solve the Demonization Erosion right now, they would surely be able to eliminate this hidden danger once they had transformed to a certain level.

But now, his festering wounds had allowed the Demonization Erosion to advance unimpeded, and the situation had completely deteriorated.

In the short span of a single year, forget solving the Demonization Erosion; he couldn’t even fully heal his festering wounds in that time.

As it stood, this Demonization was nearly impossible to solve!

Chu Mu pondered in silence, his gaze shifting until it finally landed on the Light Curtain Panel in his vision.

[Name: Chu Mu]

[Skill: Basic Blade Technique (Skill Nears the Dao) (2530/10000), Human Sword Unity Technique (Returning to the Essence) (3223/10000)...]

[Great Sun Scripture: Tier Three, Layer One: 23/10000]

[Alchemy: Tier Three Upper Grade (5320/10000)...]

[Artifact Refining: Tier Three Lower Grade (9900/10000)...]

[Array: Tier Two Lower Grade...]

[Spiritual Radiance Value: 100095.6%]

His gaze lingered, and Chu Mu frowned, seemingly puzzled.

He was well aware that his Sword Intent had transformed rapidly during the endless slaughter in the Demon Realm.

His Array skill breaking through to Tier Two was also normal. For several years in the Demon Realm, aside from achieving Core Formation, he had almost never stopped studying Array Prohibitions. Combined with the understanding of them gained from his Artifact Refining Skill, it was natural for him to become a Tier Two Array Master after integrating all that knowledge.

But if he recalled correctly, back when his life was hanging by a thread, after he had unleashed a strike at that hundred-zhang-tall Ancient Halberd, his state of mind had become clear, and he’d had a sudden insight.

Although he hadn’t had time to savor it then, that feeling of insight had clearly originated from his Sword Intent...

There must have been some kind of change that exceeded his expectations.

And yet, it wasn’t reflected on the Light Curtain Panel...

Chu Mu frowned and tried to sense it, but his festering wounds didn’t permit him to make any significant effort.

’Forget it...’

A moment later, Chu Mu shook his head with a sigh and let out a long, turbid breath.

After a brief moment of thought, he raised his hand, and a scarlet elixir appeared in his palm.

The Heavenly Deceit Pill.

Moreover, it was a Heavenly Deceit Pill that had been improved several times.

Its terrifying side effects had been suppressed to a minimum.

And its duration had been increased by nearly three times...

...

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