Immortal Refiner

Beneath the Myriad Beasts Spirit Tree, the eight golden paths formed from shimmering metal and golden tree leaves gradually fell silent.

The demon races that had embarked on these paths to compete for the Myriad Beasts Spirit Fruit had largely determined their victors.

Now, the defeated contenders were withdrawing from the paths one by one. Though they had failed to secure a sacred fruit, they counted themselves fortunate to have escaped with their lives.

”Bai Xing is too powerful. His lion’s roar shattered my composure completely.”

”Alas, the jade azure serpent erected a poisonous mist barrier across the golden path. We couldn’t possibly pass—a single touch of that venom would mean instant death!”

”The Wind Ape’s speed is unmatched. Even under the crushing pressure of the golden path, it scaled the path with astonishing speed. I feared I could never catch up.”

”The blazing demon weasel and the bone demon giant wolf fought to the bitter end. Even our combined forces couldn’t match them, so we retreated to preserve our lives.”

”...”

As the demon beasts retreated from the golden paths, they began exchanging stories of their failures.

However, the surviving demon race soon discovered a strange phenomenon: not a single demon had survived on the golden path chosen by the human and the three-headed profound crocodile!

”The human’s golden path is understandable. No demon dared compete with him for the same path.”

”But the three-headed profound crocodile... its bloodlust must be terrifying! Did it slaughter every demon on its entire path?”

”Hmph, I bet it was just humiliated by the human earlier and lashed out in a fit of rage. What kind of skill is it to take out its anger on weaker races?”

”That’s not entirely fair. Once you step onto the same golden path, you become a competitor. Being killed is just part of the game.”

”...”

The demons now emerging from the golden paths were the surviving losers. Those still inside were the victors, currently refining the Myriad Beasts Spirit Fruit.

Once these beings successfully refined the Myriad Beasts Spirit Fruit, their strength would undergo another leap, solidifying their foundations!

Perhaps, in the future, some demon might even achieve transformation through this fruit.

After crossing the golden path, Li Qing completely defeated the three-headed profound crocodile, successfully obtaining his second Myriad Beasts Spirit Fruit.

This sacred fruit could only be consumed once in a lifetime, whether by humans or demons.

Naturally, he released ninth insect from his spirit beast pouch, preparing it to devour the Myriad Beasts Spirit Fruit and begin its evolution.

Since being severely injured by Jin Lie, ninth insect had remained dormant within the pouch, conserving its vital energy.

Seeing the still-sleeping creature, Li Qing smiled and offered it a pale golden Spirit Fruit.

Unlike Li Qing’s pure gold Myriad Beasts Spirit Fruit, this one’s golden luster was incomplete, allowing faint traces of its potent vital energy to leak out.

Sensing the Myriad Beasts Spirit Fruit’s irresistible allure for demon beasts, ninth insect immediately awoke.

Whoosh!

Its tentacles shot out, swiftly coiling the pale golden Spirit Fruit from Li Qing’s hand and bringing it to its mouth.

”Heh, eat up. I went through quite a bit of trouble to get this for you,” Li Qing chuckled.

Hearing this, ninth insect immediately showed gratitude before swallowing the Myriad Beasts Spirit Fruit whole.

Soon, a dense surge of energy erupted within the ninth insect’s body, causing its severed tentacles to rapidly regenerate.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

But that wasn’t all. A faint golden aura instantly enveloped the insect’s body, and its aura subtly intensified.

After observing for a while to ensure there were no unexpected side effects from consuming the Spirit Fruit, Li Qing finally retrieved his own pure golden Spirit Fruit.

This Spirit Fruit resembled a solid gold ingot, heavy and dense, with no energy leaking from its surface. It appeared utterly ordinary.

Without hesitation, Li Qing swallowed the pure golden Myriad Beasts Spirit Fruit whole.

In the next instant, a torrent of concentrated energy exploded within his body, transforming into countless golden streams that surged through his meridians, cleansing and fortifying his physique.

Boom!

Without a word, Li Qing immediately sat down cross-legged and activated both the Brahma King True Body and the Crimson Blaze Heaven-Burning Art, refining the pure energy coursing through him.

The Myriad Beasts Spirit Fruit was the fruit of the golden giant tree, a colossal, deeply rooted entity that had absorbed the vital energy of the entire Myriad Beasts Secret Realm, along with the essence blood of the demon races that had perished within its depths.

This fruit was no ordinary treasure; it was the most precious gem in the entire demon realm.

In fact, it could be said that every transformed demon beast king in the demon realm had once consumed such a sacred fruit.

Even demons with the most inferior bloodlines could use it to lay the foundation for transformation and strive for higher realms.

Of course, transformation was no easy feat.

This fruit merely added the finishing touch, playing no decisive role in the process.

Transformation, like nascent soul formation for human cultivators, was as difficult as ascending to heaven!

Li Qing casually sat down cross-legged and began refining the surging energy released by the Myriad Beasts Spirit Fruit.

Part of the energy was absorbed into his fleshly body, while the vast majority was used to enhance his true essence and mana.

During this process, his blood seemed to purify, and his breathing of heaven and earth spiritual energy became smoother.

Indeed, the Myriad Beasts Spirit Fruit was subtly improving his cultivation aptitude, making him more attuned to the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

However, his spirit root aptitude remained unchanged, still the four spirit root.

Roar!

Suddenly, the roars of demon beasts erupted from within Li Qing’s body!

Li Qing, who was focused on refining the Myriad Beasts Spirit Fruit, felt a slight jolt of alarm, fearing something had gone wrong.

Soon, several malevolent auras rose inexplicably from within him—the untamed will of demon beasts!

So there’s another trial here. The Myriad Beasts Spirit Fruit actually contains the will of demon beasts!

But if it’s just these wills, they won’t pose much of an obstacle for me!

Li Qing sneered coldly and activated the two heavenly spirit fires within his body.

Boom!

One black and one white, the two heavenly spirit fires intertwined within him, instantly suppressing the newly emerged demon beast wills.

These were among the most yang and unyielding forces in the world, capable of easily subduing mere demon beast wills.

Before long, his body returned to calm.

The energy within the Myriad Beasts Spirit Fruit settled once more, as if tamed.

As Li Qing sat in meditation, his aura gradually grew stronger.

The bottleneck in his cultivation realm, which had remained stagnant for so long, finally began to loosen.

Late-stage core formation seemed within reach!

Seizing the momentum, Li Qing immediately launched an all-out assault on late-stage core formation!

(End of the Chapter)