Tales Of Demons, Gods, And Libraries

Looking into the c.h.e.s.t, I inspect the Nightmare Demon Pot. The entire artifact appears to be made of a sparkling black jade. The surface of the pot is covered in runes. Reaching in the c.h.e.s.t with both hands, I gently lift it out.

Carefully holding the Nightmare Demon Pot at eye level, I'm surprised at how heavy it is. Similar to the size of a bowling ball, it has to weigh around twelve kilograms. I softly whisper, "Huh. I thought it would be bigger."

Finished inspecting the artifact, I think of its flaws and quickly jump into the Library of Heaven's Path. A moment later, I'm reading through the book on the Nightmare Demon Pot. By the time I finish reading, my excitement is nearly tangible.

Nie Li was a wasteful idiot!

One of the functions of the Nightmare Demon Pot is refining demon spirits, but it's not a game of chance. There is actually a rune inside the pot where you place the 'master' demon spirit. The Nightmare Demon Pot will then convert five sacrificial demon spirits into energy to be fed to your selected demon spirit. There is very little chance of failure!

Another function of the Nightmare Demon Pot is the ability to add mutations to a demon spirit. This function is unpredictable. Placing your master demon spirit in a separate rune inside the pot, you then use donor demon spirits to attempt to create a mutation in the master demon spirit.

So, if I wanted to be able to fly when merged with the Shadow Devil, I could try and give it wings. I would have to remove the Shadow Devil from my soul realm, and then place it in the master rune. I would then fill the pot with winged demon spirits and sacrifice the donor demon spirits to attempt a mutation in the Shadow Devil. But there is a chance of no mutation or the Shadow Devil obtaining something completely random from one of the donor demon spirits.

There is a third function of the Nightmare Demon Pot but is currently unavailable. There is an array linking a secret realm to the Nightmare Demon Pot. A realm with access to heavenly energy. The function would allow you to link a demon spirit to the secret realm in-order-to raise the demon spirits rank.

This has tremendous potential. You could use the demon spirit of a 1-Star Bronze rank, and raise it to Legend rank in a couple of days. The months this would save you isn't the best part. The best part is the use of heavenly energy to raise the demon spirits' rank. Heavenly energy increases the chances a demon spirit will develop a mutation by nearly ten-times!

Even the simplest of mutations will also include an overall power increase of the demon beast spirit. The mutation is just an added bonus.

Unfortunately, I won't have access to this third function until the Nightmare Demon Pot has absorbed enough energy to power the array. The pot will absorb a small portion of energy from every demon spirit sacrificed inside of it. Only when the Nightmare Demon Pot takes on a bright red color, will it have enough power to access the secret realm.

I wonder if the Nightmare Demon Pot and the Myriad Miles River and Mountains painting are linked to the same secret realm. If they are linked, I may be able to reverse engineer the inscriptions to create my own access point. That all depends on the realm existing outside of the painting.

Putting those thoughts to the side, I exit the Library of Heaven's Path. Ready to leave, I store the Nightmare Demon Pot in my soul realm. I start to stand up when a fragmented memory from Yun Hua pops into my head. It's the route to the Nether Realm. I'll have to deal with them soon.

Sitting back down, I reach into my pocket and pull out Yun Hua's interspatial ring. Focusing a small amount of my soul force, I check what the ring contains. The ring has a space similar to the size of my first interspatial ring. There are fifty million demon spirit coins and roughly one-hundred thousand Demonic Crystal Rocks from the Nether Realm.

There are also a dozen bottles of Soul Concentrating Pills and body enhancing pills each. This is a huge sum of money worth of pills. I wonder if Yun Hua was supposed to deliver these to the Dark Guild? I can't think of another reason for Yun Hua to have so much money in his possession.

I'll have to deal with the Dark Guild soon, but I need more information first. Too bad Soul Refining doesn't instantly give access to the memories absorbed.

Putting those thoughts aside, it's time to buy some demon spirits.

I remove the large straw hat and grey robe, placing them on top of the c.h.e.s.t. Entering Void-Form, I stealthily make my way out of the Hong Yue Auction House. I find a secluded area where I can't be easily spotted and exit Void-Form.

Using the disguise technique, I alter my appearance to appear like a twenty-year-old man. Stepping out into the crowded streets, I start searching for the merchant hall.

After a frustrating half-hour of searching, I break down and ask for directions. It's of small comfort that I was almost there.

Walking into the merchant hall, I'm greeted by a charming middle-aged woman in a stylish red and yellow robe.

"Welcome to the Xuan Ling Merchant Hall. My name is Ling Jiao. How may I help you," asked the charming woman?

Maintaining a professional air, I reply, "Thank you. I am looking to purchase several demon spirits."

Ling Jiao's eyes seem to shine for a moment before she escorts me to a private sitting room. During the walk, she gives a brief description of the Xuan Ling Merchant Hall and how it has the largest selection of merchandise in the northern district.

I'm seated in a small but comfortable private room. Definitely not the V.I.P. room, but it feels like a reserved area. Possibly for mid-tier buyers?

Ling Jiao hands me two large books and a cup of hot tea. Sipping the fragrant tea as I look through the books, I'm doing my best to keep from smiling. Their selection of nightmare and darkness type demon spirits are not as extensive as other types, but they have several rare nightmare type demon beasts.

Deciding to get those for myself, I look at the demon beasts with a holy attribute for Zhang Xuan. A god level growth rate demon spirit should nearly double his cultivation speed.

Honestly, I'm a bit disappointed in the holy attribute demon beasts. Most of them seem to have a variation of light type attacks and a healing factor. Their ability to quickly recover would make them a pain to fight. I was hoping for something a bit more dramatic from an attribute named holy.

Having made my selections, I inform Ling Jiao of my decision.

I can't help to smile as her lovely face goes completely blank. Her eyes seem to flutter as she stutters out a request for confirmation.

After repeating my order, Ling Jiao's eyes flood with an excited gleam. The gleam in her eyes doesn't dimension in the slightest as she's totally the cost of my order. Coming to a total of thirty-one million demon spirit coins, I don't hesitate to agree to the amount.

I finish my tea as Ling Jiao is away collecting my demon spirits. Twenty minutes pass before she returns carrying a small decorative pillow with an interspatial ring resting on top.

I quickly complete our transaction and ask for a few minutes alone. I tell Ling Jiao I will see myself out once I'm finished, so she doesn't need to wait. Once alone, I enter Void-Form and make my way out of the merchant hall.

Rapidly making my way through the northern district, I hurriedly make my way back to my campsite. I can't wait to begin using the Nightmare Demon Pot.

Once I'm back in my familiar little camping area, I go about setting up defensive arrays. I even include an array that will prevent any type of energy from traveling outside of my campsite.

After all my defensive arrays are back in place, I sit down with the Nightmare Demon Pot. Gathering all the nightmare and darkness type demon beasts to the side, I focus on my next move. Placing an empty demon spirit stone in my soul realm, I compile the Shadow Devil into it.

Confirming the Shadow Devil is secure in the stone, I remove it from my soul realm. Carefully placing it in the mutation rune of the Nightmare Demon Pot, I quickly fill the pot with nightmare demon spirits. Taking a deep breath and crossing my fingers, I activate the mutation process.

The unique energy coming from the Nightmare Demon Pot seems to turn in on itself. Five minutes pass before the energy pulses out of the pot. I nervously check the inside of the pot and find only the Shadow Devil remaining.

On closer inspection, the once pale blue eyes of the Shadow Devil seem to have lost the little amount of blue in them. Seeing no other difference, I place the Shadow Devil back on the mutation rune and refill the pot.

I run the Shadow Devil through the mutation process seven more times before I run out of nightmare and darkness type demon spirits. I even attempted to refine the Shadow Devil to see if it was possible to raise its growth rate above god level. The Shadow Devil's growth rate remained at god level, but it did break into 4-Star Black-Gold rank.

Filled with anticipation, I integrate with the Shadow Devil once again. Unable to wait any longer, I merge with the Shadow Devil.

The merger was slower than normal, but the change couldn't be more dramatic. The cool indifference seems to have intensified, nearly all emotions are removed from my thought process. The range of my night-vision has increased, and I seem to be able to see the outline of small living creatures scurrying around the trees.

Similar to the first time I integrated with the Shadow Devil, knowledge of new abilities flow into my mind.

There is a spatial lock ability. It is of limited use but will prevent the use of space abilities around me. The other two abilities are more interesting. They are the shadow jump and shadow grasp.

Shadow jump has amazing assassination utility. I can enter a shadow and teleport to another shadow up to 100 meters away. I am completely undetectable during the move. The downside, I can't stay in the shadow for long.

Shadow grasp is merely using shadows to become tangible to restrain or interfere with an opponent. This will allow me to restrain multiple weaker opponents. Versus a strong opponent, this would only be a distraction. But sometimes a distraction is all you need to win.

Ceasing my merger with the Shadow Devil, I spend the rest of the night working on a demon spirit for Zhang Xuan.

Arriving at Zhang Xuan's training area in Void-Form, I'm pleased to see him cultivating.

Exiting Void-Form, I clear my throat. I'm only slightly disappointed he didn't jump.

Standing up, Zhang Xuan cups his fist and bows, "Good morning Professor."

"Good morning Zhang Xuan. I have something for you," I reply. Withdrawing a demon spirit stone, I hand it to him.

"This is a mutated Celestial Vale. It has a god-level growth rate and is the best-suited demon beast I can find for you." The rest of the training section is spent guiding Zhang Xuan on using the abilities gained when merged with the Celestial Vale.

At the end of our training, I give Zhang Xuan another forty Soul Concentration Pills with orders to spend the next three days cultivating.

Before I depart, Zhang Xuan quickly speaks up, "Master. My son, Zhang Ming, has recently returned home from the Holy Orchid Institute and will be spending the next two months at home. I would like your permission to allow me to teach him some of the lessons you have taught me."

Carefully observing Zhang Xuan, I don't even need to think about my answer. I firmly state, "No."

Zhang Xuan's eyes say it all. He wasn't expecting to be denied. The look of frustration and sorrow are plain to see.

Not allowing him to speak, "You are not ready to teach another, and you should not be distracting yourself from reaching Gold rank. I am not without compassion. You have my word, once you have broken into Gold rank, I will personally teach your son. Perhaps even several others as well."

Excitement floods Zhang Xuan's face and his shoulders rise from their previous slouch. Cupping his fist and bowing deeply, "Thank you, Master."

After departing ways with Zhang Xuan, I make my way deeper into Central District. While instructing Zhang Xuan, I received memories of Dark Guild safe houses in Glory City and their headquarters in Blackrock City.

It's time to give the Dark Guild a setback.