Chapter 88: Heavenly Demon Devours the River Dragon

A shortcut forged through demonic means was more powerful, more flawless than true Golden Core formation, as if tailor-made for him.

In the dim tent, after his excitement subsided, Shen Yi’s handsome face gradually grew calm.

Perhaps it was his past-life experiences that made him more suspicious by nature.

He found it hard to believe that fortune would simply fall from the sky.

Precisely because the Heavenly Demon Yama Devouring External Core Art seemed so irresistibly alluring, it left him uneasy.

Everything has a price—this principle should hold true in most cases.

Even if something truly flawless existed, it could not have been crafted by a mere jiao demon and fox spirit over two centuries.

If that were true, Golden Core formation methods would be everywhere.

After a moment, a faint sigh echoed in the tent.

“Why are you being picky now?”

Shen Yi’s gaze flickered with a hint of self-derision—he had journeyed from Baiyun County, facing black-furred dogs, yellow foxes, ape demons of Dongshan, foxes of Beiyai, river demons, young jiao, and tuolong jiao demons.

Had he played it safe and progressed step by step, he would have died eight hundred times over.

With his talent and comprehension, he had no foundation for cautious advancement—he was destined to leave safety behind and roam to plunder lifespan.

Every step beyond the city walls carried the risk of sudden disaster.

Along this path, Shen Yi felt he always played the role of “the last resort”—when the Li siblings fell, when Hong Lei and Zhao Kanglin misjudged, all were moments of certain death, yet he barely managed to turn the tide.

But who was there to cover for him?

The Demon Suppression Bureau?

Lin Baiwei possessed nearly the strongest background in Qingzhou and had reached the peak of Jade Liquid realm—yet she survived only because Old Liu, in panic, swung his club.

Entrusting one’s life to such improbable events was far from reassuring.

“Still, better to be cautious.”

Shen Yi took a deep breath and did not immediately drain lifespan—he first carefully examined the newly devised technique in his mind.

After all, Golden Core formation was a matter of utmost gravity, demanding extreme caution.

If any unresolved dangers remained, even though he hated to waste these demonic lifespans, he would have to set them aside.

The Heavenly Demon Yama Devouring External Core Art drew primarily from the jiao demon and fox spirit—yet even Shen Yi found parts of it obscure.

Lines of text slowly surfaced in his mind.

The candle melted slowly, its flickering flame shrinking to the size of a soybean.

Shen Yi furrowed his brow, using his shallow knowledge from the panel to struggle through the external core art’s content.

Until finally…

Only by crafting this wondrous art can one forge the Xiongsha Devouring Core Artifact.

“Crafting? Artifact?”

Shen Yi opened his eyes, his expression strange.

He suddenly recalled the tuolong.

Its scales, it seemed, had been forged through some method—not only defensive and offensive, but even when ripped off by the black blade, the tuolong showed no pain.

So this external core… was it unrelated to realm or even to himself? Was it more like a magic treasure?

He was hitting another knowledge blind spot.

Shen Yi sighed, raising an eyebrow—he had lived too short a time since his reincarnation, had trained too briefly, lacked any proper master, and understood little of many things.

Still, if it was an artifact, using it felt far more secure.

Shen Yi’s spiritual sense drifted, carefully channeling the vast demonic lifespans into the Heavenly Demon Yama Art.

…

【Year One, you mobilize your entire Jade Dew within the Furnace of the Burning Sun to forge the mysterious artifact described in the External Core Art】

Seeing this prompt, Shen Yi exhaled slightly.

He kept watching the panel as a flood of prompts flashed before his eyes.

【Year Thirty-Two, you accumulate Jade Dew…】

【Year Ninety-Eight, you gather all excess energy your meridians and flesh cannot contain into your dantian, refining it with the Furnace of the Burning Sun, then forcibly solidifying it through strange means】

【Year One Hundred Seventy-Two, you accumulate Jade Dew…】

【Year Three Hundred Seventy, the external core takes initial shape, silently floating within your dantian】

【Year Six Hundred Ninety, your internal external core is fully coated in thick golden Jade Dew, radiant beyond measure—it begins actively absorbing energy】

【Year Nine Hundred Thirty-One, within the Furnace of the Burning Sun, golden light fades, revealing a perfectly round external core artifact—hollow within, awaiting your nourishment】

【Heavenly Demon Yama Devouring External Core Art (Perfected)】

【Remaining demonic lifespan: 1,125 years】

…

As the final prompt appeared, it confirmed Shen Yi’s suspicion.

The external core artifact was not some cryptic metaphor—it meant exactly what it said.

The Heavenly Demon Art leapt directly from uninitiated to perfected—this clearly resembled forging a tool, so no intermediate stages existed.

He closed his eyes slightly and sank into inner observation.

His organs glowed; golden blood plasma surged; countless dark red meridians wove together into the Furnace of the Burning Sun, like a great prison radiating searing heat.

Within this prison, a smooth, jade-white pill floated silently.

Without active control, his Jade Dew would never pass near it—in this perfectly unified inner body, it stood utterly alien, completely sealed off by the Furnace of the Burning Sun.

Nine hundred years of demonic lifespan had been spent, yet his realm and power remained unchanged.

“…”

Shen Yi felt no disappointment; instead, his expression turned curious. He opened his eyes and slowly extended his palm.

The next moment, the jade-white pill materialized in his palm.

It could even be removed from the body…

Demons were demons—even their cultivation relied on sheer lifespan, and they understood nothing of Golden Core formation.

Shen Yi clenched his lips in silence, brought his other hand’s tuolong essence closer—and instantly, the jade-white pill erupted with a ruthless, devouring intent!

“Wait.”

As if suddenly remembering, Shen Yi swiftly pulled it away and returned it to his dantian.

He had nearly forgotten he could still gain a talent from the essence.

After all, the Heavenly Demon external core only needed the cultivation energy within.

He placed the tuolong essence in his mouth, tasting its sweet-salty tang, then reopened the panel.

He channeled demonic lifespan into the Heavenly Demon Art.

【Year One, you ingest the Jade Liquid realm-perfected tuolong essence, drawing its vast demonic power into your body, circulating it through all meridians, digesting its impurities, and guiding every last bit toward the Heavenly Demon external core】

【Talent acquired: Jade Liquid. Hundred-Forged Tuolong Body】

【Hundred-Forged Tuolong Body: A natural scale-renewal method of aquatic beings—your body is enhanced, achieving major breakthroughs every century】

Shen Yi clenched his fist, carefully sensing the change.

Compared to the jiao demon’s power, this boost was less dramatic—his strength increased by roughly thirty percent, still within manageable limits.

As for the century-long advancement, he could ignore it for now.

After briefly adjusting to his body, he sank into inner observation again—and froze in surprise.

The jade-white external core showed no change—still perfectly round and translucent.

Only after intense scrutiny did he glimpse a thin layer of crimson demonic fluid inside, barely noticeable.

“A thousand-year tuolong, Jade Liquid realm-perfected cultivation… and this is all?”

Shen Yi was speechless and placed the jiao core back into his mouth.

He spent one year of lifespan, as usual, channeling its demonic power into the external core.

【Year One, you ingest the jiao core…】

Suddenly, a deafening explosion roared in his ear!

Shen Yi’s face darkened—he instantly traced the source: the furnace of countless dark red meridians trembled slightly.

Within this prison, the external core remained still.

Yet its demonic elixir now filled half its volume.

Fortunately, though the Furnace of the Burning Sun trembled, after a few breaths, it barely managed to suppress the external core again.

“Is it exceeding its limit?”

Good—it held. If it had burst, all those lifespan and jiao core investments would be wasted, and he’d have to discard the artifact—how painful that would be.

Shen Yi observed the external core internally, using the communication method from the external core art, attempting to touch it with his spiritual sense.

The next moment, the Furnace of the Burning Sun slowly opened.

From within the pure jade-white core, streams of crimson demonic aura flowed out, staining its surface with dense, sinister crimson, dripping blood-red, then rapidly spreading through his limbs and body along the path the furnace provided!

“…”

Shen Yi snapped his eyes open—his dark pupils flooded with blood-red.

His handsome features remained calm—not because he was unmoved.

He simply did not know what expression could convey the shock within him.

Within his body surged a power he had never seen, could not comprehend—restless, radiating terrifying energy.

As if a colossal entity had broken free from the abyss, revealing its horrifying form.

This is the cultivation base accumulated by Lord Jiao over three thousand years...

Shen Yi slowly extended his palm, his bony fingers seeming capable of crushing all things in the world!

At the same time.

At the peak of Qingfeng Mountain, the morning light was faint.

The two Golden Core Elders who had been standing silently behind Chen Qiankun suddenly looked up toward the distance, their eyelids twitching uncontrollably.

(End of Chapter)