Chapter 431

Ye Liuyun refined all the items the Nine Nether Earth Demon gave him, and his mood improved considerably.

At least this adventure was worth it; the harvest was not small. These few items are already considered priceless treasures.

He first familiarized himself with how to use these items and then stored them all away. He cannot use the Hunting Demon Armor at all now, so he can only keep it as a decoration for the time being. As for the Hunting Demon Bow, he cannot even draw it, let alone use it to shoot people.

At present, the most useful thing for him is the Magic Vine seed, which he can control at will. Also the Mourning Bell can be used to smash objects and to block attacks.

Next, he began cultivating the Buddha‑Demon Golden Body and the Nine Nether Prelude.

The Nine Nether Prelude is purely a sound‑wave attack method. It is relatively easy to practice, so Ye Liuyun first mastered the basics of this Nine Nether Prelude, and only then began cultivating the Buddha‑Demon Golden Body.

The Nine Nether Earth Demon is not in a hurry either. After waiting all those years, losing a little time makes no difference.

When he saw Ye Liuyun for a short time, he quickly grasped the basics of the Nine Nether Prelude's attack method, further confirming that Ye Liuyun is extraordinary.

One must know that if someone whose Soul is not strong enough practices the Nine Nether Prelude, they will drive themselves into madness, yet Ye Liuyun experienced no such problem at all.

When Ye Liuyun was cultivating, he also noticed this, but with the Ten Thousand Gods Command present, the Nine Nether Prelude could not affect him at all.

While cultivating the Buddha‑Demon Golden Body, Ye Liuyun realized that the techniques the Nine Nether Earth Demon gave him are hardly any Demonic Cultivation at all.

The Nine Nether Prelude is merely a Spiritual Soul Attack that emits demonic sound to strike others' Souls. As for the Buddha‑Demon Golden Body, it has nothing to do with demons; it is purely a method of refining the Physical Body and the Soul, with no moral alignment.

He first used this method to cultivate his Physical Body, allowing the power within it to circulate. With each cycle, his Physical Body grew stronger by one degree.

Then he slowly merged the power of his bloodline and the True Essence, letting various forces revolve around his Physical Body. Probably only members of the Demon Race can cultivate demonic energy surrounding themselves to form a true Buddha‑Demon Golden Body.

However, he will not refuse any technique that can make him stronger.

Finally, he entered his Xuan Kong Shi to cultivate; three days later, his Buddha‑Demon Golden Body had reached the Third Layer. It could fully withstand attacks from a Seventh‑Layer Heavenly Gang Realm strongman, so he paused the cultivation of his Physical Body.

Now his Physical Body, when attacked, displays a pale golden light that continuously circulates on its surface, actively gathering his internal forces to help deflect the assault. Its defensive capability is far stronger than his former Immortal Overlord Body, and its reaction speed is also quicker.

When he cultivates the Buddha‑Demon Golden Body of his Soul, a different scene appears. His Soul directly transforms into a Buddha‑Demon image, alternating between a Buddha form and a demon form. By the time he reaches the introductory stage, his Soul is half demon and half Buddha, coexisting as one.

The forces flowing around his Soul are mainly Buddha Light Power and Nether Ghost Fire.

This time Ye Liuyun did not cultivate two Souls simultaneously; instead, he focused on strengthening a single Soul for future attacks.

After Ye Liuyun's Soul entered the introductory stage, he did not stop but kept cultivating. With each increase of one layer in the Buddha‑Demon Golden Body's strength, his Soul doubled in power. When he reached the Third Layer, a massive Buddha‑Demon illusion appeared behind his Soul.

At that moment, when he launched another attack, the huge Buddha‑Demon illusion behind him performed the same motions as his Soul, but its attack power was three to five times stronger than his direct Soul attack.

With this illusion's assistance, Ye Liuyun now feels confident dealing with Seventh‑ to Eighth‑Layer Heavenly Gang Realm warriors. The loss of the Hell Mingshe has finally been compensated.

And as Ye Liuyun's Physical Body and Soul both improve, he senses that the Buddha‑Demon Golden Body technique also raises his realm; the realm he had just broken through shows signs of another breakthrough.

He is now at Golden Core Ninth Level; another breakthrough would be a major leap into the Heavenly Gang Realm, the realm he has always dreamed of reaching.

He plans to make a single push, taking advantage of a free Protector outside, hoping to use the opportunity to break through directly.

Thus, he took out the Poison Dragon's Primordial Power, began absorbing it, preparing to break through to the First Layer of the Heavenly Gang Realm. His Physical Body and Soul simultaneously operated the Buddha‑Demon Golden Body, accelerating his breakthrough.

Since Ye Liuyun cultivated two Golden Cores, his energy absorption speed has doubled compared to before, so although breaking into the Heavenly Gang Realm requires more energy, his speed compensates for the time gap.

Three days later, the Poison Dragon's Primordial Power was almost completely absorbed. Both of his Golden Core walls were unusually solid. The True Essence inside the Golden Cores had fully solidified. The two Golden Cores and their internal True Essence had tightly merged into one.

With a booming sound, when Ye Liuyun's energy reached a certain level, the True Essence of the Golden Cores began to compress violently, its nature changing; the originally pale golden True Essence turned a deeper, richer gold.

It seems the effect of cultivating the Buddha‑Demon Golden Body caused the Buddha Light within the True Essence to multiply, and the energy contained in the True Essence also began to increase exponentially.

His realm directly broke through the Heavenly Gang Realm, reaching the First Layer of the Heavenly Gang Realm.

The quantity of True Essence did not change, but the energy it contains became far more terrifying. In an instant, Ye Liuyun completely drained the Poison Dragon's Primordial Power. That was not enough; he also absorbed all the Spirit Stones around him.

The thirty million Spirit Stones he had just earned at the auction were also absorbed in no time.

Ye Liuyun could not bother with such details; if it was insufficient, he would take out more—anyway, he needed to fill the True Essence completely.

In the end, after almost using up all the Spirit Stones exchanged at Tianyu Tower, his energy absorption rate finally slowed down.

Feeling the True Essence power of the Heavenly Gang Realm, Ye Liuyun was overjoyed. He had originally thought he was not far from the Heavenly Gang Realm, but after this breakthrough he realized his strength had increased severalfold.

"It seems the people I met before weren't strong enough; I never encountered such a genius!"

Ye Liuyun sighed inwardly. The geniuses in the Central Domain must be far beyond his previous strength.

Ye Liuyun paused, and after his realm fully stabilized, he emerged from his Xuan Kong Shi, ready to begin rescuing the Nine Nether Earth Demon.