Chapter 282 - One at the Inversion Sea Realm Should Not Have a Heart Demon

A gentle azure breeze blew lightly.　　Chen Xia slapped himself across the face.　　It wasn't very hard.　　But it was enough to wake him up.　　He would occasionally zone out these days, and whenever he did, his consciousness would lapse into nothingness for a brief moment.　　But in that short span of time, Chen Xia's mind would undergo significant changes.　　Arrogance, domineering, wild.　　Almost completely opposite to Chen Xia's usual demeanor.　　This personality would take over his mind, making him do things he never expected.　　For the first time in thousands of years, he felt so frustrated, especially because it was due to himself. He bit his fingernails, constantly thinking of ways to deal with it.　　He knew it was his heart demon, and he had heard stories about heart demons before.　　The heart demon had a completely opposite character from the host, and while it was detrimental to cultivation, it wasn't harmful to the host.　　But only to the host.　　What about the people around him?　　Feeling frustrated, Chen Xia recalled what his heart demon said at the Heart Lake. One statement particularly stood out: directly severing all mortal causes and effects.　　If it were "personally" done by the heart demon, that wouldn't be good.　　Chen Xia sighed, wondering if he could negotiate with his heart demon—let it act normally and handle fights and battles.　　That way, there would be clear division of labor.　　But the current problem was that he couldn't communicate directly with his heart demon; he couldn't reach it.　　And when his consciousness weakened, during those moments of zoning out, the heart demon would take advantage, controlling Chen Xia's body briefly to do some outrageous things.　　For example, just now, Chen Xia zoned out for three breaths, and the heart demon kicked open a cultivator's robe as it passed by.　　If Chen Xia hadn't woken up quickly, the cultivator's robe might not have been saved.　　Chen Xia sighed, feeling helpless. It seemed he couldn't zone out randomly anymore. The influence of the heart demon was too great, and if his mind wasn't clear enough, he would quickly be taken over by it.　　With his hands behind his back, he walked outside, hoping to alleviate his inner frustration.　　The azure breeze blew gently behind him.　　Heading towards the colorless sky.　　———　　Deep within the Triumph Mountain's grand hall.　　The flesh statue found everything increasingly strange. Initially, he thought Chen Xia's heart demon would be an Ultimate Demon, but later he noticed discrepancies.　　An Ultimate Demon refers to the pinnacle type of heart demon, which requires extremely stringent conditions to manifest.　　Firstly, the host must be extraordinarily talented, at least on par with a potential Great Emperor, to nurture such a demon.　　Secondly, there should be something extraordinary in the Heart Lake, like an unparalleled treasure or supreme cultivation technique.　　These are considered the breeding grounds for an Ultimate Demon.　　Thirdly, and most fundamentally, is having the cultivation level of half-step Heaven Repair Realm.　　This fundamental requirement puzzled the flesh statue the most.　　Earlier, because Chen Xia could slay Heaven Repair Realm cultivators, the flesh statue forgot one crucial detail.　　That Chen Xia was actually only at the Sea Inversion Realm.　　How could he possibly have a heart demon?　　And even more terrifying, an Ultimate Demon?　　This baffled the flesh statue, leading him to a more shocking hypothesis.　　That Chen Xia's heart demon wasn't just an Ultimate Demon but even higher.　　After all, a heart demon capable of controlling the host's consciousness at the Sea Inversion Realm was unheard of by the flesh statue.　　This led to another terrifying notion: how terrifying would Chen Xia's heart demon be when he reached the half-step Heaven Repair Realm?　　When cultivators reached this realm and ascended to true Heaven Repair Realm, their inner heart demon would awaken, influencing the host.　　At this point, the concept of slaying the heart demon emerged.　　Ordinary cultivators'heart demons weren't much of a concern and could be easily eliminated.　　But the stronger the talent, the stronger the heart demon.　　So some cultivators chose another method: coexisting with the heart demon, integrating it into the Sea of Consciousness.　　This was accepting one's opposite side.　　Apart from slaying the heart demon, this was the second method to ascend to the Heaven Repair Realm.　　But Chen Xia was still far from the Heaven Repair Realm, and his heart demon shouldn't have awakened yet, let alone influence the host.　　All previous occurrences should have been impossible.　　Yet they happened.　　Faced with this reality, the flesh statue didn't know what to do, only sighing and taking it one step at a time.　　The vast hall was silent.　　Looking outside revealed no light.　　Perhaps his life would forever be disconnected from the path of emperors.　　———　　Not many years remained until the Great Dead Region conflict.　　Since he had promised Wang Yangzi to go, Chen Xia needed to prepare. So these days, he was frantically refining pills, also stabilizing his mind to avoid being influenced by the heart demon.　　Zhang Daoming watched from the side, somewhat worried. This was the first time he saw Chen Xia work so diligently.　　Since he met Chen Xia, such behavior had never occurred.　　Pills poured into storage treasures as if they were free, and at least they were spirit-grade.　　Elixirs were less refined by Chen Xia mainly because fate didn't allow such extravagance, and the ingredients weren't complete, affecting efficiency. It was simpler to refine more spirit-grade pills.　　While tending the fire, a sound came from the door—a light footstep, deliberately suppressed as if afraid to disturb the master.　　Maybe a polite visitor.　　Or perhaps a thief.　　"Tap tap."Two soft knocks sounded, followed by a crisp, faint voice.　　"Is…Is Master Alchemist Chen here?"　　"Who?"Chen Xia asked, frowning.　　Creak.　　The door was gently pushed open.　　A delicate face peeked out, with short black hair reaching her shoulders and a small braid beside her ear, looking quite adorable.　　The woman didn't dare meet Chen Xia's eyes, her fair cheeks slightly red, her dark gaze lowered, stammering.　　"I…I'm also part of the Great Dead Region conflict team. I…I came to meet you first, as Senior Wang Yangzi said."　　She slightly turned her head, not daring to look at Chen Xia, brushing aside her hair beside her ear, trying to hide her shyness, then added.　　"I…I also brought you a gift."　　She poked her head out further, wearing a plain white dress, showing the gift in her hand.　　It was a small alchemy furnace, finely crafted, with large characters "Dan Cheng"on it.　　Clearly, she put effort into it.　　"I don't have any gifts,"Chen Xia shook his head.　　The woman hurriedly waved her hands, anxiously replying, "No need for you to return it. This…this is my voluntary gift, absolutely no one forced me."　　"Hmm…"Chen Xia stared straight at the woman, unsure how to respond, so he grabbed a pill and threw it to her, saying.　　"No gift, but you can take this elixir."　　"A…Ah?"The woman caught the elixir awkwardly, her dark eyes wide, but her mouth said.　　"No, no, I can't accept your gift. How can this be right?"　　Though she said this, she didn't let go of the elixir at all.　　"Then give it back."Chen Xia prepared to comply with her wish.　　"A…Ah?"The woman paused, then composed herself, stepping fully into the room, tiny frame holding the pill, standing upright and bowing to Chen Xia.　　"Thank you."　　Meaning she didn't plan to return it.