Chapter 951

In the end, they still could not identify which of the dozen or so mortals was the true demon of the heart.

The demon of the heart was still destroyed; under Wei Yuan’s tacit approval, the immortal plants activated the array and erased all the mortals within it. Wei Yuan immediately felt his spiritual sense clear, as if a heavy burden had been lifted. This proved the demon of the heart had indeed been among these people.

But this incident also proved the demon of the heart was constantly evolving. Even with its range narrowed to just a dozen or so individuals right before Wei Yuan’s eyes, he still could not pinpoint its exact location.

On another front, Wei Yuan noticed the immortal plants’ attitude toward mortals had subtly changed. In the past, the immortal plants would instantly call for slaughter, treating mortals like earth and stone, discarding them without a second thought.

Now that the range had been narrowed to only a dozen or so mortals, in former times they would never have summoned Wei Yuan—they would have simply annihilated them all. But now, the immortal plants were unwilling to erase mortals casually; in their eyes, this was no different from murder.

Wei Yuan pondered: could it be that these mortals within the mortal realm were slowly transforming into sentient beings, rather than mere illusions born of the heart’s projections?

This might be the very sign of the mortal realm slowly ascending.

Wei Yuan had long pondered what differences would arise after the mortal realm ascended to the Yu Jing realm. Normally, as a manifestation, it was already equivalent to a complete heart-projection world. But after ascending to Yu Jing, would it merely gain a few heavenly realms?

But now Wei Yuan had glimpsed a trend: the sentient beings within the mortal realm were slowly shifting from illusion to reality, and perhaps in time they would even develop karmic retribution. Coupled with the two special heavenly realms—Yellow Springs and Pure Land—Wei Yuan felt he was watching a complete world slowly grow and mature.

The demon of the heart trial was not yet over, and no one knew when it would end. But the mortal realm had indeed begun its transformation; Wei Yuan was already on the path to ascending to Yu Jing. Yet the mortal realm was too vast—when the Molting Dragon’s terrifying true form was placed within it, it occupied only a tiny fraction of the sea.

Such a colossal heart-projection world would take an immense amount of time to transform, but if it succeeded, it might become an unprecedented spectacle.

Once Wei Yuan understood this, he no longer rushed. He prepared to continue waiting out the demon of the heart, and turned his thoughts to the handling of the fourth heavenly realm.

The more heavenly realms, the faster the absorption of celestial qi, and the faster the mortal realm would grow. But the cost was that the entire system became increasingly unstable; beyond a certain threshold, it might trigger the collapse of the entire heart-projection world.

In choosing the fourth heavenly realm, Wei Yuan was torn: should he place a supreme weapon of destruction, sacrificing intake efficiency for immediate combat power, or should he choose a supreme life-giving treasure to greatly enhance the mortal realm’s overall qi intake?

These were two divergent paths of development. Wei Yuan placed both options within the mortal realm, preparing to seek the opinions of the Hidden Dragon and Phoenix.

After resolving matters within his heart, Wei Yuan once again headed for the secret realm. Outside the secret realm, two airships were moored, and a camp of considerable scale had been established, with hundreds of cultivators bustling about.

Yu Zhizhuo, upon seeing Wei Yuan’s arrival, led him to the teleportation array. Around the array, dozens of cultivators were busy, carefully measuring the structure and replacing some of its components.

Yu Zhizhuo said: “We’ve confirmed this array is over one hundred thousand years old, though its exact age remains unknown. Though the secret realm appears small, it actually exists in a different cosmic plane; the two ends span hundreds of thousands of li within our world. This teleportation array is the secret realm’s exit, but it only handles the short distance from the secret realm to our world—it’s not far, and the burden is light.”

“I see.” Wei Yuan, possessing basic array knowledge, understood that this meant the array could support a relatively large volume of personnel and supplies moving back and forth. Though it would still consume energy, it was merely a fraction of what a long-distance teleportation array required.

Yu Zhizhuo added: “This array was originally powered by spirit stones, a common method of energy supply in ancient times. But spirit stones are mostly natural mineral deposits—each use depletes them, and their purity and quality are unstable. Direct use is highly inconvenient.”