However, already knew this was normal; after all, he had learned through the Soul Searching technique that this item had been with the Chen family for over a thousand years.

If it could truly be opened easily, it would simply be a joke.

Since this object was related to the Soul Devouring Pagoda, summoned the Pagoda from his spirit, and upon comparing the two, he immediately spotted their commonality.

The material used was indistinguishable, but he was certain it was identical.

The hexagonal object also featured an inner hexagon at its center, which almost perfectly matched the shape of the Pagoda’s base.

Given this, even a fool would know what to do.

Nevertheless, proceeded with caution.

He focused entirely, ready to deploy the Ghost Shadow Evasion to flee instantly should anything go wrong.

Slowly, he aligned the Pagoda’s base against the four slots of the hexagonal piece.

Indeed, the fit was extremely tight.

then shoved it all the way in.

Suddenly, both objects trembled slightly at the same time.

Immediately following this, plumes of black mist erupted, swirling continuously around the body of the Pagoda.

Under such a strange phenomenon, ’s vigilance intensified; he dared not be careless in the slightest, nor did he dare hold it with his hands anymore.

Instead, he concentrated his spiritual sense and gently held it aloft.

Fortunately, it wasn't long before the black mist retracted back into the Soul Devouring Pagoda, as if nothing had ever happened.

After waiting a while longer and still seeing no strange signs, finally picked up the Soul Devouring Pagoda, now fitted with its base, and attempted to probe it with his spiritual sense.

It was largely similar to before, with only one significant change: Floating in the center was a rhombic crystal emitting a faint, deep black light.

It was entirely semi-transparent, more perfect than any gemstone had ever seen, yet the black light waxed and waned rhythmically, like a blinking eye.

The moment ’s spiritual sense touched the crystal, the object shot forward.

It sped rapidly along the path of his spiritual sense.

’s heart tightened, and he frantically tried to retract his sense, but the object’s speed far exceeded his imagination.

As quickly as he pulled his sense back, it did not slow down one bit.

Just as ’s spiritual sense retreated from his brow, the crystal landed on his Yintang point—pat—and imprinted itself there.

The intense pain, coupled with the massive influx of information surging along his spiritual sense, made ’s head feel as if it were about to explode in an instant.

“Aow~” The agony twisted his face into a fierce grimace.

Dropping his head, he forcefully tried to pry the crystal stuck to his forehead loose with one hand.

However, the moment touched that spot, it was as if he had grazed the most sensitive nerve in his entire body, piercing straight to his core.

Beads of sweat continuously streamed down his forehead.

Even enduring the torment and trying to yank it off forcefully, could not remove the black, eye-like rhombic crystal.

The crystal seemed to punish him instead, multiplying his pain severalfold.

Even with ’s formidable willpower, he could not sustain it.

With a low groan, he simply passed out.

The two Ghost Guards he had summoned remained faithfully guarding his sides, or near the cave entrance.

After fainting, ’s complexion became much calmer.

Yet, the rhombic black crystal on his forehead continued to flash its light rhythmically without ceasing.

It truly resembled a vertical eye, blinking continuously, exuding a powerful demonic aura.

Time seemed to come to a standstill here.

After an unknown period, slowly woke up.

As consciousness returned, he snapped his eyes open, sending his spiritual sense sweeping out in all directions.

In an instant, the entire internal structure of the wild cave was mapped out in his mind with perfect clarity.

He was momentarily stunned.

Although he had always paid great attention to refining his spiritual sense, which was considered quite potent among cultivators of the same level, his mental strength before losing consciousness was absolutely insufficient to receive such a clear, comprehensive feedback of the entire cave structure.

Getting even a slightly clear concept would have been considered good.

Could it be...

quickly reached up to touch his forehead, only to find nothing there.

The deep black crystal that had been embedded in his forehead while he was unconscious had vanished without a trace.

If not for the Soul Devouring Pagoda, now permanently affixed with its base, lying quietly on the ground, it would be as if it had never existed at all.

“How could this be?” The strengthening of his spiritual sense was a good thing.

But such an inexplicable enhancement made uneasy.

He sat down cross-legged, steadied his breath, and began to meticulously recall the entire process.

As his thoughts settled, some of the newly acquired information began to swirl chaotically in his mind.

However, this time, was able to block them out, focusing on the mysterious information bit by bit.

Time passed slowly in this manner.

It took him several hours to finally piece together the cause and effect of the entire affair.

The perfect, deep black gemstone emitting that faint, dark light he had seen earlier was not a gemstone at all; its name was the Demon Seed.

It was an object of inheritance from an ancient, once-dominant Demonic Sect.

The Demon Seed was neither manufactured nor naturally acquired, nor was it commonly seen.

Instead, it was formed when a powerful figure from that Demonic Sect condensed the entirety of their life's power into such a seed before death.

As the sect's sacred object, it was passed down to the most outstanding talent among the sect's younger generation.

Once a successor obtained the Demon Seed, they would undergo the inheritance process—the very ordeal had just experienced.

It was far from a near-death experience, but it was exceptionally perilous.

Those with slightly weaker willpower often ended up with their heads exploding, wasting a supremely precious Demon Seed in the process.

Consequently, that ancient Demonic Sect was extremely strict when selecting successors for the Demon Seed.

A successor who successfully inherited the seed was regarded as the sect's most core disciple, owing to their already superior innate talent.

With the aid of the Demon Seed, cultivating demonic arts became twice as effective, and the seed also possessed the function of strengthening the spiritual sense.

Thus, such successors usually achieved great things.

The functions of the Demon Seed were twofold, according to the information he absorbed.

The first was the inheritance of cultivation methods.

The Demon Seed contained the strongest cultivation methods and cultivation experience of the powerful figure who condensed it.

These formed inheritance messages directly injected into the successor's mind.

By digesting them carefully, one could easily master the inherited techniques, as they subconsciously absorbed the experience and comprehension of previous inheritors.

Cultivating the techniques from the Demon Seed was significantly faster than learning other methods.

The second function was the massive amplification of spiritual consciousness—a point had personally experienced.

The Demon Seed did not vanish; instead, it fused and grew within the Yintang point, becoming one with the inheritor.

could not ascertain the exact degree of enhancement, but he knew it was much, much stronger than before he fainted.

Furthermore, although the Demon Seed was rare, it was categorized by grade and rank.

After all, Demon Seeds condensed by different powerful individuals would certainly vary in quality.

From the transmitted information, learned that his seed was called the Emperor Demon Seed.

According to the philosophy of that Demonic Sect, the rule of the jungle prevailed, and the strongest among them was termed the Emperor.

A sect could have many Kings, but there could only ever be one Emperor.

Only the absolute strongest could be called the Emperor, ruling the entire sect.

The Demon Seed obtained was condensed by such an Emperor before their death.

Its preciousness was thus self-evident.

However, couldn't fathom why this Emperor Demon Seed was inside the Soul Devouring Pagoda, nor why it only manifested when the Pagoda body and base were united.

He only knew that after staring blankly for a long time, finally processing the astonishing news, he touched his forehead, still feeling a degree of disbelief.

Even though he had been certain that obtaining the item resonant with the Soul Devouring Pagoda would bring him huge benefits, he had never imagined it would contain such a precious Emperor Demon Seed.

It was a pity, though, that the Emperor Demon Seed only managed the inheritance of techniques and the strengthening of spiritual sense; it could not alter the inheritor's innate spiritual root aptitude.

This caused a slight pang of regret.

He wondered if even in ancient times, changing one's spiritual root aptitude was impossible.

Or perhaps the ancient Demonic Sect simply assumed that anyone qualified to inherit the Demon Seed must already be an exceptional cultivator, making any change to their aptitude unnecessary.

Reflecting on this, felt a bitterness rise in his throat, suspecting he might have the weakest spiritual root aptitude among all the Demon Seed inheritors.

Fortunately, his other aspects were not lacking; on the contrary, they were excellent.

For instance, his willpower and comprehension were high.

Otherwise, would have long since collapsed under the strain.

The enhancement to his spiritual sense represented a substantial increase in his current combat power.

With his previous cultivation level, simultaneously commanding two First-Tier Ghost Guards and one Third-Tier Ghost Guard was extremely strenuous, carrying some risk of backlash and spiritual soul injury.

Now, however, with his spiritual sense strength boosted by the Emperor Demon Seed, while he couldn't command seven or eight Ghost Guards brazenly, at the very least, commanding the current three Ghost Guards would be effortless, and he should be able to strengthen them significantly.

Although hadn't tested it, he had a strong intuition that even if they were all Third-Tier, or perhaps even Fourth-Tier, Ghost Guards, there would be no backlash.

Imagine a cultivator at the first layer of Foundation Establishment being able to simultaneously command three Fourth-Tier Ghost Guards.

Among peers of the same level, they would be virtually unrivaled.

Moreover, further understanding the information within the Emperor Demon Seed revealed that the spiritual sense amplification was not a fixed increase; it was a magnification.

This meant that as long as ’s own spiritual sense continued to strengthen, the amplified effect would continuously increase.

Furthermore, the strengthened spiritual sense would greatly improve his survivability, allowing him to detect dangers invisible to others sooner.

And the maximum number of vengeful spirits the Myriad Ghost Banner could refine and suppress also depended on the strength of one's spiritual sense.

The more thought about it, the more pleased he became.

Integrating this Emperor Demon Seed hadn't merely doubled his strength, but it had increased it by at least several tens of percent.

The Emperor Demon Seed was indeed extraordinary, worthy of being the top-tier existence among all Demon Seeds.

He assumed that the potent King Demon Seeds certainly couldn't offer the same level of spiritual sense amplification as this Emperor Demon Seed.

It was worth it.

Even if this Emperor Demon Seed had zero inheritance benefits, felt it was immensely worthwhile.

The suffering he endured during the fusion process had not been in vain.

[Hua Hua Updating] The harvest was too great...

Thinking about cultivation methods, calmed his mind again, noticing he was only about twenty votes behind the top spot on the new book monthly ticket chart.

During the double-vote period, only about ten more tickets would allow him to surpass them.

It was now certain that in this volume launch, his subscription results were the best.

There was no reason for him to be third in monthly tickets; he couldn't afford to lose to Old Man Xue, nor could he afford to lose to the second place.

Second place was the minimum he could aim for.

Brothers and sisters, give it your all and charge forward!

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