"Huff!"
Shen opened his eyes, his body full of sweat.
He felt a reaction from his core. The demonic Qi from the red bead circulated inside his body and with each circulation, his body ached as his pain intensified.
The Mana cores in the surroundings were also turning dimmer with each circulation. His realm slowly decreased as the previous Qi got converted inside his body, leaving only the Demonic Qi.
*Crack!*
Shen gritted his teeth as his cracks developed around his core. The method he used was experimental and dangerous, but it was the only one he had after so many hypotheses.
'It's do or die now!'
Shen took a deep breath and finally converted the remaining Qi he had into a Demonic one. He pulled in all the remaining Mana from the surrounding beast cores, instantly flooding his core.
The core broke! Yet, this was something Shen expected and quickly reacted. Using the mixture of Demonic Qi and Mana, Shen's broken core fragments gathered around.
The destroyed core fragments started mending each other and enlarging. The color of the core turned black as transparent blue glowed inside it from time to time. When done the core had finally formed.
Shen had followed the process using a technique every Cultivator and Mage knew after a certain stage, which allowed them to see the condition of their cores.
Through it, Shen had seen everything happen, yet something weird took place.
'Why is it like this?'
Shen frowned at the unexpected situation. Although the procedure successfully ended, a weird occurrence had happened. The cores' circular shape had changed, becoming something like a sphere with spikes emerging from its sides.
'I did expect some variables but not this one.'
This was an experiment based on a theory he came up with, Shen knew that his understanding of Mana and cores weren't enough to take into account everything, but decided to go with the risk either way.
His foundation had already gotten crippled and had nothing more to lose. If something happened along the way, he would try to fix it when he could.
'I will think of this later.'
"Congratulations on successfully Cultivating the Demonic Overlord Path, with it, you have proven your worth of this next set of knowledge. The more you cultivate this technique, the stronger you shall become. The resources you will need will become even harder to attain. Taking this into account, your ancestor made nine other inheritance grounds."
The voice transmission resounded inside Shen's head once again, after he didn't know how long.
'I forgot this thing existed.'
Shen shook his head as he remembered what the voice said as shock froze him.
He remembered THAT GUY having tons of treasures, but since he found nothing of the sort here, Shen concluded he gathered them later.
Yet the voice removed all such thoughts.
'Nine other grounds? He said nothing of the sort before!'
"Is it fun to tell you their locations like this? Of course, the answer is: No! To the right wall of the sarcophagus, there is a fake brick. Take it out."
The more the Voice talked, the more he learned of the personality of the one behind it. Shaking his head, Shen played along.
"This black box will be the indicator to each inheritance ground. When you attain a certain hidden qualification, this box will glow a faint red. Bind it to your Demonic Qi so it could keep track of your achievements."
'This playful bastard!'
Shen started getting sick of this. It was one thing to ask him to follow a certain object aimlessly, but wanting the said object bound to his core? That was a big no no.
The dangers of such a procedure usually show itself later on. Binding anything to the core, for both Mages and Cultivators showed their submission to a contractual agreement.
'Shit! Shit! Shit!'
Shen remembered the voice's words and smashed his fist into the wall.
Nothing happened to the wall, but Shen's fist ached a little. Not that he minded at that moment.
Shen had no choice. He believed the voice's words and although he knew a lot of hidden grounds and treasures that others discovered in the future, none of them could help Cultivate his Demonic Qi.
He didn't want his path to cut off just when he regained it. With a crazed and determined look, Shen started binding the box to his core.
Tendrils of newly attained Demonic Qi entered the black box that glowed twice a faint red color before dimming again.
Shen frowned. Everything happened smoothly. Too smooth for his taste, but what's more confusing is the red light.
Shen smirked as the voice spoke again, confirming his suspicions.
"Now, for the last reward before opening the gate to outside. In the same direction, on the left side of the sarcophagus, you will find another hidden brick. Take it out."
Shen did the same thing again, but he found a white necklace inside.
"This white necklace is a storage device that has a pile of Demonic blood beads that will help your cultivation. They should last you a while before you find the other inheritance grounds. I again congratulate you on becoming the next generation's Demonic Overlord."
At the end, the voice turned respectful. Shen even felt that it would bow if it was there.
*Rumble!*
Shen felt the familiar sound and shaking again and watched as a path of ascending stairs formed in front of his eyes.
'It seems the exit is forming all by itself. I wondered how I was going to go back up. At least, this guy didn't make me go all the way back.'
Shen looked around the room one last time. He didn't leave immediately but inspected every corner and brick of the Treasure Room.
Only after making sure that nothing more was here, did he sigh and look towards the stairs.
'It's about time my plans are set into motion.'
Shen narrowed his eyes and ascended the stairs.