275: Chapter 275 The Outskirts of the Emerald Court!

Qin Yan slowly opened his eyes, a strange red and black light seemingly flashing through them for a fleeting moment.

He felt the changes in his body; his base vitality, which was originally 2,165 cal, had surged by another 15 cal, reaching 2,315 cal!

What satisfied him even more was that solid sense of defense.

He tried to run his long spear across the skin of his arm, and it actually produced a faint sound of metal scraping against stone, leaving only a light white mark that vanished instantly.

He was confident that his current skin strength was enough to make the attacks of most Third-Rank Martial Artists return in vain.

"Phew..." Qin Yan stood up and cast his gaze toward the deeper darkness of the night to the north.

At the edge of his vision, beyond the silhouettes of many mountains, he could vaguely see the shadow of an extremely vast palace complex whose grand atmosphere could be sensed even in the dark.

The sky above that area was perpetually shrouded in a layer of thick, slowly flowing green mist that seemed to possess a life of its own, emitting a faint phosphorescence even at night.

That place was the ultimate destination of his journey—the Jade Court!

The next day, May 18th.

As the first light of dawn appeared, Qin Yan had already packed his tent, adjusted his condition to its peak, and hurried quickly toward the Jade Court.

The Evil Spirits he encountered along the way, regardless of their strength, had now become excellent nourishment for his "Demon Refining" cultivation.

He only needed to manifest a dark vortex in his palm and make a grasping motion through the air.

The Evil Spirits would burst one after another, turning into pure dark energy that was sucked into his body and refined by the Blood Demon Nest.

He could clearly feel that with the nourishment of a large amount of dark energy, the dark gold patterns on the surface of Xiao Hei, who resided at the core of the Blood Demon Nest, were becoming increasingly dense and bright!

The seed itself also seemed to become more "plump," the eerie light it emitted grew more solid, and there was even a faint throb of "longing to break out of its shell."

"It seems that as long as it absorbs enough 'demon' energy, Xiao Hei might actually 'hatch'."

Qin Yan's heart was filled with curiosity and anticipation.

This mysterious seed, from controlling vines to extracting vitality to transforming the Blood Demon Nest, had shown abilities that repeatedly overturned his understanding.

He really wanted to know what kind of existence it would be when it was truly "born."

However, one thing was certain: it was by no means an animal, but an extremely special "Spiritual Plant."

The closer he got to the Jade Court, the more frequently he encountered the geniuses of other races along the way.

Dragonborn, fox demons, werewolves... the powerhouses of various races either acted alone or formed small teams, maintaining a wary distance from each other.

Half an hour later.

Qin Yan finally arrived at the outskirts of the Jade Court.

Before him, it was no longer open woodland.

Instead, it was a thick, inseparable emerald-green mist, as if formed from crushed jade.

Like a giant curtain, it completely obscured everything ahead.

Without hesitation, Qin Yan stepped into this dense green mist.

His vision was instantly stripped away!

Even with Qin Yan's current Third Grade Limit eyesight, he could only barely see a range of about five meters in front of him within this eerie green mist.

Any further was a blur of emerald green, flickering shadows making it hard to distinguish reality from illusion.

Beneath his feet was soft, damp ground covered with moss and rotting leaves.

All around were the twisted branches of towering ancient trees and thick vines hanging down.

Qin Yan moved forward at a steady pace.

He hadn't gone far when a sudden change occurred!

"Whoosh!"

An emerald-green vine on the right, which had been hanging quietly, suddenly shot out like a lurking venomous snake without any warning. With a sharp whistling sound, it lashed fiercely toward Qin Yan's neck!

Its speed was as fast as lightning and silent.

Qin Yan's eyes turned cold, and his left hand shot out like lightning. His five fingers, like hooks, accurately grabbed the incoming vine!

It felt cold and slippery to the touch; the vine was extremely resilient and contained a significant amount of natural energy.

"Demon Refining!"

Qin Yan shouted inwardly, and the Indestructible Blood Demon Scripture technique instantly began to circulate!

The Blood Demon Nest trembled slightly, and an incomparably overbearing devouring suction surged out from the Laogong point in his palm.

Following the meridians of his arm, it poured frantically into the vine he was holding!

"Chiiii—!"

The vine, which was originally emerald green and full of life, quickly became withered and gray at a speed visible to the naked eye!

The vegetation essence contained within was brutally extracted and plundered by the suction from Qin Yan's palm!

In just a few seconds, the resilient vine, strong enough to easily strangle a Third-Rank Martial Artist, completely lost all its luster and vitality.

It turned into a heap of grayish-white powder, rustling down from between Qin Yan's fingers and dispersing with the wind.

The pure vegetation life energy that had been extracted was quickly refined by the Blood Demon Nest and converted into a gentle energy.

It began to slowly temper and nourish the bones throughout Qin Yan's entire body!

"This 'Demon Refining' effect is truly overbearing and peerless!"

Qin Yan couldn't help but marvel again in his heart.

Compared to "Blood Refining," "Demon Refining" was more like a predatory enhancement.

It directly devoured the essence of external objects, turning it into nourishment to temper oneself—simple, direct, and efficient!

However, Qin Yan also keenly noticed that the vast majority of the energy converted by devouring external objects through "Demon Refining" flowed into the Blood Demon Nest.

It became the "rations" to nourish Xiao Hei's rapid hatching and growth.

Only a small portion was used to temper himself.

Whereas the energy converted from the "Blood Refining" part was entirely used to strengthen his own physique and foundation.

Next, relying on this overbearing "Demon Refining" ability and his own formidable strength, the traps and attacks on the outskirts of the Jade Court posed almost no threat to Qin Yan.

Along the way, all the strange vines that tried to attack him, the lurking poisonous insects, and even some weak Ruin Guards became "nutrients" for his cultivation and "catalysts" for Xiao Hei's hatching.

He could clearly feel that all 26 bones in his body were now covered with an extremely thin yet exceptionally resilient layer of red and black energy patterns!

The density and strength of his bones had significantly improved.

After the skin remolding was completed, bone tempering was the next focus for the first layer of the Indestructible Blood Demon Scripture.