Chapter 470 - 469: The Devouring Demon of Desire, Sounding the Way by Throwing Stones

The timeline rewinds to a few minutes prior.

Below the entrance to the Spirit Holy Realm’s passage, a research camp.

Multiple international research teams were gathered here, aiming to detect and collect data on the space passage of Spirit Holy Realm that was gradually undergoing a transformation.

Being a place on international water without concrete ownership, containing an independent Wisdom Civilization, and on the verge of becoming a permanent Secret Realm Space in the near future, was naturally unmissable to anyone.

As a result, not only did every nation send its research teams for this expedition to Spirit Holy Realm, but the people that were sent were the Mount Tai North Star Level figures in the academic world of spatial studies from each country, all for the sake of collecting more detailed data.

Inside the camp of Daao Country academicians, a daily short meeting was in progress.

The aim of these short meetings was for the academicians from Daao Country side to gather at a set time every day, share data discoveries with each other, and hold discussions.

During the meeting,

A buxom female assistant was helping an elderly academician with thinning white hair prepare his brief.

The assistant’s name was Alysa.

Quite well-known in the Daao Country Research Institute.

However, she was famous not because of any extraordinary capabilities, but because she was a well-known "social butterfly" within the Daao research circle.

In other words,

She’s the socialite of the group.

Just like right now,

Alysa was presenting a brief with the old academician she assists, garnering electric glances from the younger attendees from time to time.

Some had past one-night encounters with Alysa, while others wished for a chance to share a wonderful night with her.

Daao is a typical western country, relatively open-minded.

They don’t have the concept of a "worn-out shoe."

Apart from Alysa’s beauty and figure, her "skills" were also quite commendable.

Moreover, she didn’t have any substantial demands, she wouldn’t even expect you to lend her a hand in the research circle afterward. Everyone was merely taking what they "needed."

Being the way she was, it was impossible for Alysa not to be popular.

However, no one knew that she was no longer the "original."

A terrifying demon of Asked Heaven Realm inhabited her body, her original will and Cultivation had long been devoured, her beautiful body had been reduced to an empty shell which only had an exterior but lacked a soul.

The meeting went on.

Alysa, with a smile lingering on her face after presenting her brief with the old academician, responded playfully to those looking at her with electrified eyes.

The way the demons take over bodies is quite unique.

After devouring the consciousness of the original host, before abandoning their bodies, they would temporarily acquire all of the host’s memories, and all the intricate habits of the original host will exist as though they were instinctive behaviors.

With this ability, they can easily play their corresponding roles, even possessing the corresponding knowledge.

Certainly.

Possessing the corresponding knowledge and understanding it is a different matter.

It’s simple enough to digest gained knowledge by following the learning process of the original host.

But for some of the more profound knowledge, it’s not enough to just have memory of learning; you must understand the principles behind it.

Even for the demons, achieving this is quite a challenge.

The reason why the victims were Alysa instead of the spatial studies experts from Daoa Country Research Institute was because demons can’t understand the knowledge in these people’s brains. It would be difficult for them to successfully impersonate those present.

Compared to the other academicians,

Alysa, the female assistant who was no different from a vase, was very easy for the demons to manage.

Wasn’t she just assisting the old academician from time to time, and occasionally getting involved with others when she was free?

Small things.

In any case, the body wasn’t theirs. So, enjoying it a bit wouldn’t matter.

Also, messing with the demons wasn’t without consequences.

The fundamental birth of the demons involved seven emotions and six desires.

Among these, the seven emotions were the main features.

Whereas the six desires were latent characteristics.

The seven emotions included joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, evil, and desire, corresponding to the seven features and abilities of the demons.

Among them, the demons of evil and desire are the most powerful.

The demons characterizing joy, anger, sorrow, fear, and love, can only affect the exterior through corresponding emotions.

However, the demons of evil and desire have abilities corresponding to all evil thoughts and desires.

The coverage of this is not ordinarily vast.

The Original Demon, Charming Spirit, is the representative of the demons of desire.

Stimulating the primal instincts of living beings is just one of her most formidable abilities.

Among many desires, the lust desire is particularly representative.

It’s worth mentioning that.

Since Charming Spirit, the Original Demon, is too powerful, she can constrain her other abilities, except for the desire of lust.

Therefore, the influence on the outside world was not up to her.

The demon who occupied Alysa, was also one of desire.

Compared to Charming Spirit, she was naturally nothing.

However, anyone who had "intimate contact" with her would be branded by her. By moving her thoughts slightly, they would be engulfed in a burning desire.

Please note.

They would actually be engulfed by a burning desire, not merely having impulsive thoughts.

Their lives would be incinerated in an instant.

In the end, all of their Cultivation would nourish and strengthen "Alysa."

Setting aside everything about the demons,

"Alysa," after finishing the brief and "electrifying" the crowd, was about to take her seat when she was alerted by something and looked out of the tent in an unusual way.

She sensed Li Jing.

The fact that high-ranking demons would come to the entrance to the Secret Realm was unexpected for "Alysa."

Most of the demons invading the Spirit Holy Realm are either planning how to control the Ancient God’s Descendants so they can raise them like pigs, or they are busy expanding their influence among the Ancient God’s Descendants for the future. Very few demons focus on the present world people.

"Alysa" focuses on this side because, on one hand, she finds dealing with people from the present world easier, and on the other hand, she wants to try something new.

Despite being in the Big World, the Blue Star remains an area that the Sky Demon has yet to tarnish.

Primarily, it’s due to the lack of opportunity.

Blue Star has a regulation limiting entities not native to the land to enter if they are at the Seventh Realm or above. Inevitably, any Sky Demons that cross the Boundary to Blue Star will face Heavenly Punishment, making it difficult for them to spread their influence.

The vast Blue Star is an enticing goal for the Sky Demon.

The Blue Star people, unlike the Ancient God’s Descendants, do not possess the power of the Ancient God. However, Blue Star prevails due to its abundance of inhabitants and cultivators.

What’s more critical is,

Blue Star possesses the unique characteristic of establishing passages with the many realms under heaven, frequently connecting to different Secret Realm Spaces.

Not only that,

Blue Star also possesses an Ascension Passage that leads directly to the Immortal Realm.

If they could set foot on Blue Star, the benefits for the Sky Demon would be innumerable.

In the past, there were Sky Demons who attempted to try their hand at controlling Blue Star, yet none were successful, with the majority meeting with a tragic end.

Even an Overlord-level Sky Demon from the Outer Realm Sky could perish if they fail.

So, Sky Demons usually do not harbor thoughts about Blue Star.

But how does the saying go?

The timid will starve to death, and the brave will suffocate to death.

Alysa is a Desire Sky Demon, and thus is influenced by desires herself.

Apart from lust, greed is also one of the many traits she possesses as a Desire Sky Demon.

The arrival of Li Jing surprised Alysa while also igniting a ruthless flame in her eyes.

Sky Demons do not have kin.

Even Sky Demons will, at times, devour each other to strengthen themselves.

However, the Outer Realm Sky has its own rules. Unless it infringes upon each other’s benefits or causes a significant conflict that necessitates life-or-death struggles, Sky Demons are not allowed to consume each other.

Li Jing’s arrival has crossed Alysa’s line.

She has not turned her fingers towards the Ancient God’s Descendants and has placed her focus on the Present World People.

Now that not even a stroke of the character was formed, she does not allow any other Sky Demons to get involved.

Especially Sky Demons that are weaker than she is.

The Outer Realm Sky has few rules.

Basically, whoever has the bigger fist gets to call the shots.

Compared to the Tenth Realm Sky Demon Li Jing, Alysa is stronger.

If the former infringes upon her boundaries, she naturally has a "legitimate" reason to deal with him.

That’s just how Sky Demons are - so instinctive.

The so-called rules are mostly flimsy, full of loopholes that can be easily bypassed and disregarded.

As she was in the middle of debating whether to temporarily withdraw from the meeting to "deal with" Li Jing, Alysa was stunned to find that the latter had unexpectedly vanished from her perception without a trace.

This...

How is it possible?

As a superior Sky Demon, she is at the eleventh realm,

How could Li Jing, a Tenth Realm, evade her perception?

Moreover, in reality,

The intersensory awareness between Sky Demons is a group characteristic and is not something that can be evade by mere hiding.

While still in shock, the tent curtain was quietly lifted at the corner, and Li Jing swaggered in with a self-assured demeanor.

Upon seeing this, Alysa widened her eyes in shock.

Li Jing’s Silent Shadow, integrated within the Heaven and Earth Return to Heart, has not changed much in nature and can only affect those whose Primordial Soul Strength is weaker than his.

With his current Primordial Soul Strength, he is more than capable of suppressing ordinary Eleventh Realms.

However, Alysa is clearly a special case.

She is a Sky Demon.

One of the main abilities of Sky Demons is to influence the physiological and psychological aspects of beings who possess seven emotions and six desires, amplifying their strength mainly on the mental level, rendering the Primordial Spirit of Sky Demons especially powerful.

As a result, Li Jing’s Silent Shadow did not directly affect Alysa.

However, before the two have met face-to-face, Li Jing’s use of Silent Shadow indirectly affected Alysa’s perception of him.

Seeing Alysa in sheer surprise at his presence, Li Jing showed a toothy smile, raising a hand to gesture for silence.

Upon seeing this, Alysa furrowed her brows.

Following that.

She noticed that only she was aware of Li Jing’s arrival – not a single person from the Daao Country Research Institute who was present took note of him.

This...

What is going on?!

It’s apparent that he’s standing there for all to see.

Alysa, who just harbored murderous intentions towards Li Jing a moment ago, was suddenly thrown off.

As Sky Demons, they can each develop a variety of abilities based on their own unique characteristics, even to the point of creating new techniques.

But she has never heard of a Sky Demon possessing an ability like Li Jing’s, which practically deceived her perception.

Moreover, being a Sky Demon,

Alysa quickly judged.

Li Jing, like herself, is also a Desire Sky Demon.

How could she not be shocked by this?

Forget about everything else.

It’s Li Jing’s ability that’s key, as it’s awfully strange and evasive.

Despite their brief acquaintance, Alysa quickly grasped the features of the Silent Shadow.

Li Jing can use this ability to disrupt others’ cognition indiscriminately.

Those who are more powerful than he is would not be affected.

However, if they aren’t face-to-face, and he uses that ability, they would similarly lose their perception of him.

Narrowing her eyes to scrutinize Li Jing, Alysa quietly retracted her murderous intent.

She had no choice.

She couldn’t see through Li Jing.

In terms of the survival instinct, all Heavenly Demons are in a league of their own.

They would never engage in situations that could harm themselves without absolute certainty.

Noticing Li Jing casually nodding at her, Alysa pretended not to see him and redirected her attention to the meeting.

When it came to bluffing, Li Jing was a professional.

A moment before, when they sensed each other, Alysa could clearly discern his malice even from miles away.

Now, it was evident that she had been intimidated by him. Glancing around at the others, Li Jing then fervidly eyed the Health Bar hovering above Alysa’s head.

Since Alysa’s body was human, the Heavenly Demon’s Health Bar was intuitively displayed within her.

The Health Bar showed, 16048.

This number was the highest Li Jing had ever seen, except for those marked with "???" and one Deceiving the Heavens from the Thirteen Realms

Next, he checked her Essence Source display.

2342846.

Two hundred and thirty-four thousand!

This Essence Source was probably enough for him to level up five times!

If not for the fact that Boundary Stones didn’t work on Alysa and forcibly pulling her into the Little Universe was impossible, Li Jing almost couldn’t have resisted taking action right there and then.

Over there.

Alysa noticed Li Jing’s hot gaze. She frowned and glanced back at him.

Being another Heavenly Demon of desire.

If Li Jing wanted to score with her, she knew she’d be fine.

However, encounters between Heavenly Demons usually didn’t involve such matters.

Mainly because there’s no gain in it.

Turning back to the matter at hand.

Alysa’s body wasn’t her own, so surely Li Jing wouldn’t covet a body just for its good looks, would he?

Such a thought puzzled Alysa.

Just as she was wondering, Li Jing’s voice sounded in her ear.

"What should I call you?"

Being addressed as such, Alysa raised an eyebrow.

Although this Tenth Realm Heavenly Demon was somewhat inscrutable, he seemed quite prudent, didn’t he?

He had laid out their positions right at the start, showing his teachability.

Without much thought, Alysa responded.

"Jing Yanbao."

Hearing this, a smile tugged at Li Jing’s lips.

An experience chest?

He had to admit, it was a good name.

That being said, her classical and rustic name seemed to suggest that she, like Ruan Ya, was from Blue Star Dragon Jade’s territory a while back.

The difference might be that Ruan Ya was born into affluence and lived an elegant life, while the latter was from the lower class.

After some consideration, Li Jing responded.

"I am Sheng Jiren."

"Upgrade Man", this play on words, obviously Jing Yanbao wouldn’t understand.

She wasn’t particularly interested in Li Jing’s name either.

What concerned her was.

Would Li Jing’s arrival affect her final reward...

Killing him was out of the question now.

However, if she could reset everything herself, she wouldn’t want to share with anyone.

She must find a way to get rid of this eyesore...

But before that, she needs to ascertain his intentions.

If not necessary, Jing Yanbao did not want to conflict with this Heavenly Demon whom she couldn’t quite figure out.

Giving a casual look at the person standing behind her, Jing Yanbao responded.

"Little brother Sheng, what brings you to the entrance of the Secret Realm? Are you also interested in the Blue Star of the Big World?"

Li Jing paused slightly when asked this way by Jing Yanbao.

Jing Yanbao’s "also" was quite loaded.

It clearly told him that she was interested in the Blue Star and had infiltrated the Daao Country Research Institute’s team using a borrowed human body.

As for Jing Yanbao’s self-disclosure, Li Jing was at loss on how to comment.

At the same time, he was surprised.

This upper-level Heavenly Demon appeared to be not much interested in the Ancient God’s Descendants but was directly targeting Blue Star.

Without caring about Jing Yanbao’s motive, Li Jing easily grasped the situation.

Jing Yanbao was full of malice when she sensed him and did not want him to stay. Now, she is trying to gauge his intentions.

With this judgment, Li Jing responded.

"Don’t get me wrong, I have no interest in humans. I came here because I sensed your presence and wanted to confirm whether you are the upper-level Heavenly Demon in charge."

After saying this, he continued.

"To be honest with you, I recently advanced to an upper-level Heavenly Demon by chance. As a lower-level Heavenly Demon, I didn’t have much say. But now, things are different. I need to find the upper-level Heavenly Demon in charge to secure some rights and future benefits that should belong to me."

Li Jing was never bad at talking nonsense.

But you know what?

His demeanor and glibness were very consistent with the style of a Heavenly Demon.

In the Outer Realm Sky, Heavenly Demons would still respect a force’s background.

But elsewhere.

Fists, are the only negotiation tactics for Heavenly Demons.

If she hadn’t encountered Charming Spirit and Li Jing, Ruan Ya, as a lower-level Heavenly Demon, might have to go through such a "procedure" after her promotion.

Just because I’ve become stronger and make my own decisions, that might not work.

There are heavenly demons who are stronger than her, I should let people know about this.

It’s common for heavenly demons to claim what they deserve based on their power during "group activities", the lead demon cannot ignore this because of his own power and influence.

You need to know this.

When away from home, there’s no organization to speak of among heavenly demons.

Those who can become leaders not only rely on their strength, but also on the respect of other demons.

If everyone respects you, you can’t just dismiss them, right?

Meanwhile.

Knowing the purpose of Li Jing’s visit, Jing Yanbao relaxed a bit, but she couldn’t help but look at him with suspicion.

Ascend to a higher power.

Nothing much to say about that.

To go up one floor.

It’s pretty normal.

What made Jing Yanbao suspicious was.

Li Jing just got promoted and he is already in the late stage of the Tenth Realm?

This.

It’s probably not a normal promotion, but rather he got some special allowances through the descendants of the ancient god or something else.

It’s very difficult for a heavenly demon to improve.

They also don’t cultivate.

Mainly, they rely on absorbing external food

The power of the ancient god is a strong supplement.

Normally, a heavenly demon absorbs the cultivation efforts of the living beings it devours and use them for itself. The effect would be better if the power within the entity being devoured can be changed into a power that suits its own characteristics.

A "pig pen" like Big Da Xia in the Heavenly Saint realm is an example of this.

If there’s no food to absorb, even if billions of years have passed, the heavenly demon’s power won’t improve a bit.

Li Jing ascended to the Tenth Realm, and then straight to the top.

If you say he didn’t have a special allowance, Jing Yanbao wouldn’t believe it.

She was very interested in this,

Still, she didn’t think Li Jing would tell her what happened to him.

Also, It probably exhausted the allowance he got.

For now, without asking, Jing Yanbao spoke.

"I’m not the leading person in Chongyuan Holy Realm, but I can tell you where you can find the person who is."

After she said that, she started speaking again.

"The person who is managing everything right now is hiding in a survival space south of the Chongyuan Holy Realm, among the Snake People of the descendants of the ancient god, quietly eating them while controlling everything."

Li Jing frowned at her words.

The Snake People.

Isn’t it the clan that one of his guys killed off all the top figures, including the high priest?

The leading person of the heavenly demons is hiding in the survival space of the Snake Man clan?

The leader must have a high reputation.

No less than, they should be at least higher than a pawn, right?

Even a high priest is a pawn...

Higher than that, only the ancient ancestors are left.

The situation with the Snake People seems a little severe!

If even the ancestors have been taken over, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the Snake Man Clan has been completely controlled.

Just as he was guessing, Jing Yanbao helpfully spoke again.

"The survival space of the descendants of the ancient gods is very secretive, if no one guides you, you may not find the way. You’re lucky, the lead demon now and I are very close, I have the accurate coordinates of the survival space. Our meeting is also fate, if you reach out your hand, I will pass the spatial coordinates to..."

Before Jing Yanbao finished speaking, Li Jing shook his head and spoke.

"Don’t bother, I have the coordinates of the Snake Man Clan survival space."

Jing Yanbao was slightly taken aback by hearing this, she found it a little unexpected but didn’t make a big fuss about it and spoke.

"If that’s the case, let’s part here..."

Before she finished speaking, she saw Li Jing extend his hand.

?

Seeing this situation, Jiang Yanbao couldn’t help but question it.

Didn’t Li Jing say he had the spatial coordinates?

Why is he still reaching out his hand?

Just as she was confused, a strong sense of danger hit her.

Before she could react, a mini golden pagoda appeared in Li Jing’s palm.

The next moment.

A phantom of the pagoda that could just accommodate two of them descended, covering them both.

It’s an Immortal Artifact!

No!

It’s a Half-step Taoist Artifact!

Jing Yanbao’s face changed dramatically.

?

The others in the tent who were having a meeting.

When Li Jing took out the Linglong Tower and made it work, the Silent Shadow was naturally ineffective.

Before anyone could react.

The limited space inside the Linglong Tower expanded indefinitely.

Jing Yanbao saw this and immediately stood up, billowing demon qi from behind.