Chapter 289: The Demon Comes From Within

An invisible ripple spread outward.

The obstacles in Chen Luo’s vision vanished, and he found himself once again in the gray world of Demonic Hearts. This time, however, colors had appeared.

The range of the Blackstone Secret Technique had expanded. Chen Luo selectively approached a swirling mass of crimson flame and lightly touched it.

My Martial Aunt is so graceful and alluring. That old fool doesn’t know how to appreciate her! Once I reach Foundation Establishment, I’ll definitely claim her for myself. The old bastard is on his deathbed anyway. If I take his Martial Aunt, I might even inherit his legacy.

Chen Luo fell silent.

He hadn’t meant to pry. He glanced at the disciple meditating cross-legged before him. The man had thick eyebrows and large, honest-looking eyes, giving him the appearance of a loyal and trustworthy person. Yet no one could have imagined that this seemingly upright disciple was fantasizing about “taking” his Martial Aunt while cultivating.

“I seem to recall this disciple is Elder Yu Si’s disciple.”

Having spent so much time on Grand Void Peak, Chen Luo had memorized the names of the major Elders.

Chen Luo tentatively extended his hand.

This time, Chen Luo actually touched the flame. A familiar pulling sensation washed over him as he realized he had established a connection with the “honest and reliable” disciple. He noticed a tiny “seed” had appeared within the disciple’s “flame.”

A Demon Seed?

Chen Luo suddenly understood. So that’s how Demon Seeds could be planted.

There was no need to painstakingly cultivate a host. As long as someone harbored “demons” in their heart, a Demon Seed could be planted within them. Compared to the Demonic Heart Ancestor’s methods, the Demonseed Sect Leader’s old technique of slaughtering entire clans and nurturing Demon Seeds with hatred seemed crude and primitive.

Chen Luo focused his attention on the Demon Seed. A mysterious force guided him into the disciple’s “Demonic Heart.”

“Sever all distractions.”

“Clarify the Dao, quiet the heart. Think not, listen not, dwell not on delusions.”

Chen Luo faintly heard the disciple’s mantra, the image of his lips moving growing clearer until it faded into a blurred murmur.

Restless mind, wandering thoughts.

The disciple appeared to be cultivating, but his mind had long since drifted elsewhere. Like a student daydreaming in class, he seemed to be listening but his thoughts were soaring far beyond the classroom. Some might be thinking of women, others of games, and still others of their own path to immortality.

Chen Luo opened his eyes, feeling weak, as if his body were nothing more than a wisp of air.

He found himself in a dilapidated Daoist temple. Seated inside, he wore a coarse, tattered Daoist robe. Beside him were several cracked earthenware jars, their surfaces crawling with black insects.

What is this person thinking?

Chen Luo frowned, rose, and stepped out of the temple.

As the Demonic Heart Art activated, a faint gray energy enveloped him. Unlike before, he now felt like a magnet, with countless invisible threads converging upon him. He was absorbing the power of the Demonic Heart; the more the other person thought, the more he absorbed.

This spiritual energy wasn’t conjured from thin air; it was the accumulated cultivation energy of that “honest and upright” disciple.

The Demonic Heart Art was stealing the fruits of his cultivation.

This was a new development.

Does this temple represent the Qiong Hua Sect?

Chen Luo glanced back. The gray, crumbling temple housed seven divine statues. He recognized only the third: the Grand Void Ancestor.

The Demonic Heart was a projection of reality. In the eyes of that loyal and honest disciple, the Seven Patriarchs of Jade Purity were lofty immortals, dwelling on divine altars.

Following the path from the Daoist temple to the outer courtyard, Chen Luo reached out and touched a nearby wooden door. The texture felt incredibly real, every grain of the wood conveying its delicate texture to his palm. This deepened his understanding of the Demonic Heart Art and allowed him to roughly gauge the strength of the Demonic Heart Ancestor, who had once been besieged by the Seven Patriarchs.

Creak.

The wooden door swung open.

Beyond lay not a street, but a palace corridor. Chen Luo paused at the threshold, observing his surroundings. His body continued to ceaselessly absorb the surrounding energy. In that brief moment, he noticed a significant increase in his spiritual energy.

For someone at the peak of Foundation Establishment Perfection, such rapid progress was utterly inconceivable, defying all common sense.

Step.

Chen Luo entered the palace. The floor was paved with square blue-gray flagstones.

As soon as he stepped inside, the Daoist temple behind him vanished. The closing door symbolized the Qiong Hua Sect’s banishment from this realm. In the Demonic Heart’s “thought,” his actions were to be kept secret from the Sect, hence the temple’s disappearance.

“From this day forth, the Crown Prince ascends to the throne, claiming the Nine-Five Supremacy!”

A resounding voice echoed from the depths of the palace, like a eunuch with a raspy voice proclaiming an Imperial Decree.

Has the Emperor already ascended the throne?

Chen Luo was about to head toward the voice when he heard the clatter of armor. A large group of heavily armored Imperial Guards emerged from a nearby alley, marching in perfect unison as if on patrol.

Chen Luo’s figure flickered. The bone patterns on his chest glowed as he grabbed the courtyard wall, flipped over it, and landed silently on the other side.

The footsteps of the Imperial Guards faded into the distance.

Orienting himself, Chen Luo continued toward the source of the Imperial Decree.

The palace within the True Inheritance Disciple’s Demonic Illusion was a chaotic mess. One moment the ground was paved with bluestone tiles, the next it transformed into white jade covered with crimson carpets. The surrounding buildings had also turned pure gold.

Chen Luo walked slowly.

Following the golden terraces, he came across a row of palace maids dressed in white. Their attire was remarkably revealing, and each walked with her head bowed, treading cautiously through the palace. They didn’t dare speak to Chen Luo, instead skirting around him.

Among these maids, Chen Luo recognized several familiar faces.

All the female disciples on Grand Void Peak were renowned for their beauty. The ‘honest and reliable’ disciple among them harbored intense desires, and every beautiful Senior Sister he encountered became a ‘Demonic Heart’ in his mind.

Bypassing the group of palace maids, Chen Luo continued deeper into the palace.

The power he absorbed grew steadily, causing a rainbow-like radiance to emanate from his body.

“An assassin!”

Suddenly, a commotion erupted within the palace. A dark figure darted across the palace walls, pursued by a swarm of Imperial Guards.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

A dense volley of arrows rained down.

“Ah!”

The black-clad figure, unable to evade the barrage while scaling the wall, was riddled with arrows and plummeted to the ground. Imperial Guards swiftly pinned him down. Seizing the opportunity, Chen Luo flipped over and leaped onto a nearby tall building. In the short time he had been absorbing power, his physical strength had already increased significantly.

“We’ve got him!” someone shouted from the crowd.

A group of lavishly dressed nobles descended from the high platform. Chen Luo glanced over them, noting that aside from the ‘thick-browed, large-eyed’ disciple in the center wearing a dragon robe, the rest were all women. Most shockingly, Chen Luo spotted a beautiful woman adorned with a phoenix crown among them—Elder Yu Si’s Dao Companion.

This kid really wants to ‘get’ his Martial Aunt.

And it wasn’t just his Martial Aunt. Chen Luo even saw Yu Junyao in the crowd.

A True Inheritance Disciple from Grand Void Peak of the Qiong Hua Sect, reduced to a concubine in this Demonic Illusion, competing for favor with an Elder’s Dao Companion?

His gaze shifted to the assassins surrounded by the Imperial Guard.

As expected.

Chen Luo wasn’t surprised at all. The assassin was none other than Yu Si, the Merit Transmission Elder from Grand Void Peak.

“Your Majesty, spare me! Your Majesty, have mercy!” Yu Si, now the assassin, groveled pitifully. Despite being riddled with arrows, he refused to die. The logic within the Demonic Illusion revolves entirely around the subject’s desires. These ‘people’ exist solely to lure cultivators deeper into the Demonic Heart.

With his mind in turmoil, Chen Luo’s cultivation efforts were proving twice as difficult and half as effective. The same held true for his studies.

“Old Ghost Yu Si, your day of reckoning has finally come.”

The disciple in the dragon robe stepped forward, pressing his foot against Yu Si’s face. After humiliating him thoroughly, he turned to the others and declared, “Castrate him and send him to the palace to become a eunuch.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The Imperial Guards immediately tore open Yu Si’s robes and, amidst his curses, performed the castration. This place was a manifestation of the “thick-browed, large-eyed” disciple’s Demonic Heart, its logic entirely shaped by his imagination.

The restless mind breeds endless desires.

“Those who submit to me prosper; those who defy me perish.”

After castrating Elder Yu Si, the disciple in the dragon robe burst into triumphant laughter. Everyone around him kowtowed, including Yu Si’s Dao Companion and Yu Junyao, who knelt among the crowd.

Boom!

Sensing he had absorbed enough, Chen Luo kicked off the golden pavilion. He shot forward, his fingers forming a claw, and crushed the laughing disciple’s skull. A seed brimming with desire erupted from the disciple’s forehead and landed in Chen Luo’s palm.

Poof!

The thick-browed, large-eyed disciple, Cai Rikun, who had been meditating cross-legged, suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. Unseen, a pale crimson seed was extracted from him, carrying with it decades of his hard-earned cultivation.

“Junior Brother Cai Rikun has fallen into demonic possession!” someone exclaimed, noticing the scene.

“Focus your mind and calm your heart,” Elder Yu Si said, pressing his hand on Cai Rikun’s crown. He poured Foundation Establishment spiritual energy into the disciple, instantly stabilizing Cai Rikun’s mental state and preventing further deterioration.

Chen Luo emerged from his Cultivation Chamber and looked down at the scene unfolding on the training grounds below.

The sight of Elder Yu Si rescuing Cai Rikun felt deeply unsettling. Just moments ago, Chen Luo had witnessed Cai Rikun’s Demonic Heart Illusion, where the disciple had castrated Elder Yu Si and sent him to the palace to become an eunuch.

“Demons arise from within the heart”—this was the fundamental principle of the Demonic Heart Art!

Chen Luo opened his palm, and a wisp of Demon Seed materialized in his hand.

This wisp was precisely what he had extracted from Cai Rikun earlier—the spiritual energy refined from decades of the disciple’s arduous cultivation.

From that moment onward, Chen Luo finally understood the true nature of the Demonic Heart Art.

This was undeniably a heretical cultivation technique.

In the eyes of those who cultivated the Demonic Heart Art…