Among the many demons who were one realm away from the True Demon Realm, Demon General Earth Burning Venom Serpent was among the most famous. It wasn't because he was faster, stronger, or smarter than any of the other demons. It was because of the poison unique to him, the Earth Burning Venom.
The demon general had relied on this poison when he was far weaker to cross realms and defeat those higher than him, although the poison wasn't as insidious as it was now. Despite entering the Unity Realm level recently, he was one of the demons that others absolutely did not want to fight. As such, he was one that the three true demons placed high hopes on joining their ranks.
Earth Burning Venom was a unique poison with no immunity within the Demon Cage Realm. When demons were injected with this poison, their body would feel as if flames were constantly consuming their flesh. Not only that, but their bloodlines would also ignite and be burned up. For demons that cultivated their bloodline, this was absolutely devastating. No fleshly body would be untouched after experiencing this poison.
Even for regular cultivators, the Earth Burning Venom would consume their qi and foundation, damaging their cultivation. It might even cause them to regress in their realms and give them injuries simultaneously, making it difficult for them to reascend to their original strength.
Upon feeling his venom being injected into Tianyi's body, the glint of victory appeared in the demon general's eyes. Even as Tianyi's fist landed upon his head and launched him a fair distance with concussions and blood spurting from his body due to him compressing his body beyond its limit, the demon general was satisfied, knowing victory was in his jaws.
Unable to maintain his compressed form any longer, the Demon General's body expanded to its original size, and his aura drastically was weakened.
Even he himself was not immune to his poison, so he had to devote a large portion of his strength in containing it. This had been solved after he entered his current realm and was granted near-limitless qi, but he had expended too much strength fighting against Tianyi within the Chaos Refining Formation. So the current him was doubly weakened from igniting his bloodline and using what little remained of his strength to suppress the poison.
Despite all this, the demon general's snake mouth twisted into a grin as he watched Tianyi, waiting for the horror that appeared on all those injected by his poison.
Tianyi frowned as he felt the two puncture wounds on his body quickly heal up. Seeing that as the demon general wasn't attacking, he took the chance to inspect his body. Inside his cosmos, there was a strange murky liquid just floating. When his qi touched it, both the qi and parts of the liquid were consumed and burned. It seemed dangerous, but Tianyi didn't feel any other effects except for it burning his qi.
Turning his head towards the demon general, he felt confused. This was the trump card? For a trump card that the demon general spent so much effort on, Tianyi was disappointed. Not that Tianyi wanted to be endangered, but all the efforts from the demon general made Tianyi raise his expectations.
And when reality didn't live up to expectations, there was always a sense of disappointment.
"Are you going to keep watching? If not, I'll resume my attack," Tianyi said as he gave a light look at the demon general.
Demon General Earth Burning Venom Serpent felt stunned at Tianyi's plain reaction. I'm sure I injected my poison into him, so why is there no reaction? No, he must be bluffing so he can sneak attack me and end the battle quickly in order to combat the poison!
Feeling that he had discovered Tianyi's true intentions, the demon general didn't say anything and instead started to retreat far away.
Tianyi, who saw this, was slightly speechless. Where was the fighting spirit the demon had shown moments ago? He just said a few words, did that scare the demon into trying to run away? Unfortunately for the demon, unless there was an absolute disparity between their strength, he could never escape Tianyi's Chaos Refining Formation.
Feeling a bit let down by the demon general's action, Tianyi closed the distance between the two in an instant, his hands ready to unleash all the techniques he had been training secretly.
Tianyi reached into the air and seemed to pinch something between his thumb and third and fourth fingers. He pulled back, and the demon general felt as if internal organs had been seized, pulling him towards Tianyi. Next, Tianyi's free hand formed a claw and slashed towards the demon general.
Wherever Tianyi's hand went, long spatial fissures trailed behind each of his fingers like trailing sword light. This was an attack Tianyi formed using his insights into spacetime. By rending spacetime, he formed these void streaks that could slice through anything. Tianyi's attack landed on the demon general's weakened body and tore through several tens of meters worth of flesh.
Well, almost anything.
Tianyi frowned, but he noticed that he did more damage and that his lingering true qi of chaos from his attack made the wound heal at a very slow rate. At least he was doing more damage than the scratches from before?
Increasing his attacks and the rate of his attacks, Tianyi continued to unleash technique after technique upon the demon general. Sometimes, there was a suction force that seemed to pull the demon's body to his palms. Other times, it seemed as if an explosion would occur inside the demon's body.
Tianyi never used a technique more than thrice. Since the demon general was wholly focused on defending, Tianyi treated him as a training dummy to test out his techniques.
For his part, Demon General Earth Burning Venom Serpent felt his heart grow increasingly cold with each passing moment. His poison should have long started to take effect, yet Tianyi continued to attack as if he was fine. The demon general had expended his blood essence to deliver the poison, so he made a terrible loss in this whole affair.
Now, the demon general only hoped to find an escape route to flee from the anomaly known as Tianyi. Then, he would find a secluded location to heal his wounds. After that, he would ascend the True Demon Realm before searching for Tianyi for revenge.
As time passed, the demon general felt himself growing more fretful. Inside the Chaos Refining Formation, his connection with the world was impacted. Thus his actual reservoir of qi was decreasing at a noticeable rate. Even his regeneration was slowing down. As long as Tianyi continued his actions for a month, the demon general would run out of qi, and that time would be his death.
Demon General Earth Burning Venom Serpent could only pin his hopes on Tianyi running out of strength, resulting in the collapse of the formation.
Tianyi himself felt that his attention was growing thinner with each passing moment. He was pretty sure he had been beating up the demon general for days now, with no end in sight. He didn't want to be sucked into a drawn-out battle. In the end, Tianyi gave up on personally finishing the demon off and resorted to his first option in killing foes stronger than himself.
Wealth!
Tianyi inserted qi into the jade pendant tied to his waist, and illusionary mountains and seas appeared around them. Tianyi half expected the demon general to break free after Tianyi's experience with the Dragon Emperor. Still, in contrast to Tianyi's expectations, the demon general dramatically weakened after being encased within the Mountain and Seas Formation.
"NO!!"
The Demon General felt the last bit of his connection to the world disappear after the appearance of the Mountains and Seas Formation. The Mountains and Seas Formation was a formation that sought to replicate the divine artifact, the Classic of Mountains and Seas, which was said to be a realm onto itself. Because of this, it had the feature of blurring the connections of those within to the outside world. Normally, such a feature would be useless against nascent soul grandmasters and below, but against Unity Realm cultivators and demons, it would result in them losing partial connection. Coupled with the Chaos Refining Formation, the demon general lost his greatest advantage as a Unity Realm level demon.
Tianyi ignored the demon general's cries as he summoned five immortal sword artifacts. Each one exuded an aura correlating to the five elements. It was the artifacts he had shown during his confrontation with Lovespot.
Under his control, the five swords formed into a circle, and then a lotus appeared around them. This was the Five Element Sword Lotus technique at the Immortal Realm. Tianyi couldn't use it himself, but he was able to exhibit the technique by controlling the artifacts. It was kind of like a tool. As long as he had five and connected them, they would form the technique.
And most important of all, Tianyi had enough power and concentration to use it after completing merging all three methods and elevating his cultivation method. Otherwise, he would have to wait till the Unity Realm before he could unleash the technique.
Demon General Earth Burning Venom Serpent only had time for a single scream before his life was extinguished, and not even his body remained. Looking at the empty space within the Chaos Refining Formation, Tianyi felt he was too impulsive. Perhaps he should have used another method.
Even for Tianyi, materials from a Unity Realm cultivator or demon were still of relative worth to him. The corpses of Unity Realm level demons were valuable materials since they could automatically absorb the spiritual, making them last incredibly long even without a master's input.
Tianyi blinked. He realized that he wasn't okay eating the meat of sentient beings like spiritual beasts and demons, but using their corpses was A-okay to him. Should he stop using them as materials then? If he thought about it, it was kind of like using the corpses of his fellow humans.
After a while, Tianyi just shrugged. He wouldn't eat them, but he would still use their corpses as materials. For Tianyi, him not eating demons and spiritual beasts was just for his self-righteous way of thought. As long as he was okay with it, he wouldn't put too much thought into it.
He paused when a thought occurred to him. Since there are rarely any instances of mortals or immortal artifacts birthing an artifact spirit, maybe he could artificially create one? Maybe using a demon's soul and making it an artifact spirit? It was a thought he would have to check when he returned to the Buzhou Immortal Sect.
Tianyi waved his hand and took down the Chaos Refining Formation and the lightning cage that sealed the surrounding area. Afterward, he flew towards where Daoyi and Xi Ri were waiting.
"How was it?"
Hearing the question, Tianyi thought about it before replying. "Wealth is great."
Daoyi and Xi Ri showed confused expressions, but Tianyi didn't elaborate as he took them on his immortal boat and resumed their journey. Tianyi wasn't confident in slaying a Unity Realm cultivator if he didn't have the Mountains and Seas Formation or the immortal artifacts. Once he brought out his treasures, everything was solved.
Sure enough, if you weren't powerful enough, the world runs on money.
Xia Yushan felt his brows twitch as he watched the battle in front of him. He and his group had formed a faction with other disciples from the other first-rate sects and Jade Cauldron Sect towards the territory of the Golden Crow Clan in order to harvest the demons for materials.
After several weeks, the group had penetrated relatively deep into the Golden Crow Clan's territory. Xia Yushan had planned to sneak into one of the core territories silently, but he had underestimated the demon's strength and got discovered. The Golden Crow Clan had started to send their Nascent Soul Realm equivalent experts upon receiving news of Xia Yushan's group intrusion. And now, the two opposing parties were locked in combat.
Among the disciples of the Buzhou Immortal Sect, Jade Cauldron Sect, Nihility Sect, Dust Veil Sect, and Leakless Sect, it wasn't Xia Yushan or any of the other disciples who stood out the most, but rather, Daoist Moneybag of the Jade Cauldron Sect.
At the center of the battle, surrounded by over twenty Nascent Soul Realm level demons, was Daoist Moneybag. Around him floated three ring-shaped immortal artifacts that formed an avatar made of immortal qi. And on the giant's legs was a pair of immortal artifact grieves, and it was the same for the arms.
It was as if a real immortal had descended.
Each movement from Daoist Moneybag within the avatar was copied by the avatar. It was like watching a grown man beating down some puppies. However, it was also a serious waste of resources.
Daoist Moneybag was still a mortal, so he had to use immortal stones to fuel the immortal artifacts. Tianyi's true qi of chaos could also do so, albeit not as efficiently, because it held traits of the primeval energy from which all energy, including qi, had formed from. So Daoist Moneybag could be said to be just wasting money using such a method.
It was the ultimate wastrel's way of fighting. Even Tianyi would be stunned silent at such a sight. He could do the same thing, but it was just wasteful that no one would ever do, except Daoist Moneybag. The more money he burned, the stronger he became, so he always looked for a chance to use it. Money only had value if it was used, after all.
Xia Yushan forcibly pulled his eyes from the scene, it was too dazzling for his eyes. Focusing on his own foe, Xia Yushan observed the crow demon in front of him.
The crow demon had a menacing beak with razor-sharp feathers, just a single graze could split flesh. Still, Xia Yushan was disappointed as he could not detect any yang-attribute qi from the demon. He had made the Golden Crow Clan his goal because he wanted to harvest the blood essence of the golden crow's bloodline.
He built his foundation using the five elements. If he followed the normal path, Xia Yushan would continue to focus on the five elements and form his immortal body using the five elements. However, after seeing Tianyi's progress and abnormal strength for his realm, Xia Yushan decided to change his plan.
The world was formed from yin and yang, which birthed the five phases of the five elements. The Buzhou Immortal Sect's famed Five Element Method was created based on the five phases like how the Eight Pillar Sect's Extreme Yin Mantra spiritual method and Extreme Yang Tempering martial method was based on yin and yang.
Strictly speaking, both these methods were created from the Five Phases Heavenly Scripture and Yin Yang Heavenly Scripture. The only difference between the two was that the Buzhou Immortal Sect had modified the Five Element Method into five separate chapters that almost anyone could cultivate. The revised and weaker method was even spread throughout the Huang Realm.
The Eight Pillars Sect's two methods, on the other hand, were very hard to cultivate. Even among their disciples, only a few could cultivate them every generation like Yang Linyin. More people cultivated the Taiji Fist, one of the most complex cultivation methods, as it was more a fusion of spiritual and martial methods than either one of the yin yang methods. However, there was a rumor that anyone who could simultaneously cultivate both to the peak would be able to harness the power of the Yin Yang Heavenly Scripture. Those that did would become peak existences among immortals after ascending.
Xia Yushan's plan wasn't as grand as to recreate the Yin Yang Heavenly Scripture. There were rumors that if someone could cultivate all five chapters of the Five Element Method to the peak, they would be able to display the might of the Five Phases Heavenly Scripture. Xia Yushan seemed to be able to display all five elements through his Five Element Sword Art, but that was only due to his technique in changing the elements using the five phases concept.
Xia Yushan originally had a perfect metal spiritual vein and a flawless fire spiritual vein, but he removed the fire spiritual vein using a pill, leaving him with only a metal spiritual vein. His strength stemmed from the Metal Element Chapter of the Five Element Method. He displayed all the other four elements through the element-changing technique he used to convert his metal element. It seemed that he had mastered all five elements, but that was far from the truth.
Rumour had it that only someone who had heavenly spiritual veins of all five elements was able to master all five chapters of the Five Element Method. No one took it seriously as it was impossible to have heavenly spiritual veins of all five elements.
Xia Yushan planned to use a yin yang method to strengthen his metal element and his foundation at the same time. Yin Yang birthed the five phases, but the five elements were separated into yin and yang as well. So even if he couldn't leap from five elements to yin yang, it would significantly strengthen his powers.
As part of his goal, Xia Yushan set his eyes on slaying a Unity Realm equivalent demon from the Golden Crow Clan that strongly inherited the golden crow's blood. Sect Master Xia had even given him some treasures to aid in his endeavors. As for the yin attribute materials or blood essence, he was still searching for them.
Perhaps, he could try his luck on the Jade Rabbit Clan. Jade rabbits were often associated with the moon, and the moon was of the yin attribute.
Refocusing on the battle, Xia Yushan drew the sword from his waist. He allowed a hint of a slaughterous aura to appear on him as his eyes took on a bloodthirsty gaze. He charged towards his foe, each strike only having one goal, to completely eradicate his foe in both soul and body!