284: nuclear!

The demon of the Nine-Step Emperor Realm had red eyes, roaring madly, and a bloodthirsty aura assailed him.

Lin Chen frowned; this aura gave him a very uncomfortable feeling.

It was as if prolonged close contact with such a demon would cause problems for himself... Lin Chen couldn't help but feel wary.

These demons shared many similarities with the Weird (Bizarre Entities), such as being extremely difficult to kill, lacking self-awareness, and knowing only slaughter... The most important point was that both demons and the Weird possessed terrifying contaminative properties!

If a living being were contaminated, it would likely eventually be assimilated by the demons and the Weird!

Did the Black Tower Trial have a deeper meaning by allowing demons and the Weird to enter? Why did the Abyss conduct the seed Trial?

What was the purpose of the seed chosen in the final trial?

Lin Chen glanced at the demon held by the energy giant hand and shook his head slightly.

His current strength was still too weak, and many matters were beyond his level of reach; this world seemed to be far from simple... After regaining his composure, Lin Chen's true spirit instantly locked onto the black 'core' within the demon before him.

Boom—

With a thought, he activated the Spirit-Extinguishing Divine Nail, and a long nail quickly condensed from his true spirit power.

The long nail directly struck towards that core.

After a long time, Lin Chen found that the black core was still there, and the demon before him was unharmed.

"It seems true spirit attacks are indeed ineffective against demons."

The next moment, Lin Chen used his palm as a blade, unleashing a combat technique, and a single strike.

His strike directly locked onto that core!

At this instant, Lin Chen suddenly noticed that the core within this demon began to flash frantically, each flash changing its position, as if this core also sensed Lin Chen's strike!

However, Lin Chen's strike had already locked onto this black core.

Boom—

The blade light flashed, and this demon once again turned into dust, including that core!

After a long while, Lin Chen looked at the empty scene within the energy giant hand, his heart filled with joy.

He succeeded!

It turned out that the black core was the demon's weakness, just like the life core of a mutated beast; when the life core shattered, the mutated beast would die. He hadn't expected demons to be the same.

However, this demon's core was too tiny; even with true spirit perception, it was difficult to find, requiring a special type of perception ability... Recalling his previous attempts to kill those demons, Lin Chen still hadn't figured out one thing.

Although his attacks hadn't specifically targeted the core, his previous attacks must have covered it.

So why hadn't those attacks directly destroyed the cores within those demons?

He remembered the scene of the core within the demon constantly flashing.

"Could it be... these cores are conscious? Or is it just the demon's instinct?"

"Let's try again."

Since he already had a way to kill demons, Lin Chen was no longer in a hurry.

He once again brought in a demon of the Nine-Step Emperor Realm level.

This time, he did not lock onto the core within the demon but instead struck the demon's main body with a single blow.

Purple light erupted in Lin Chen's eyes, and his true spirit continuously tracked the core's movements.

Just then, a shocking scene occurred.

The core, originally inside the demon, instantly detached from the demon's main body and, with a flash, escaped the range of Lin Chen's strike!

Lin Chen stared dumbfounded at the extremely tiny core.

"These cores are too bizarre; they can actually dodge fatal blows in advance."

At this moment, Lin Chen understood why he had killed demons repeatedly, yet they could revive again and again.

"It's highly likely that these cores are the true demons!"

A bold idea suddenly popped into Lin Chen's mind.

These demons resembled mutated beasts but lacked self-awareness, yet these cores seemed to be living entities... "Is it parasitism?"

"These cores parasitized some mutated beasts, turning them into demons?"

The more he thought about it, the more likely Lin Chen found this possibility!

At the same time, Lin Chen couldn't help but feel wary.

These demons were even more bizarre than the Weird (Bizarre Entities) he encountered on the second floor...

"To kill demons, one must discover these tiny cores, which is too difficult..."

Lin Chen estimated that among the trial participants, unless someone specialized in perception and detection abilities, they would never be able to kill demons.

No, there was another way to kill them!

That was to launch an indiscriminate attack across the entire floating continent!

This way, no matter where those cores appeared, they would be attacked.

However, those trial participants wouldn't think to do that.

After all, that would consume too much divine power, and if divine power ran out, it would take time to recover.

So these trial participants dared not gamble... Lin Chen naturally wouldn't remind these trial participants how to kill demons...

"Let's try one last time to see if the system can absorb the energy from these cores!"

Lin Chen's eyes flickered slightly, then his true spirit locked onto the core, and he instantly teleported close to it.

"Absorb!"

The moment the system absorbed the energy, Lin Chen clearly perceived that the core vibrated violently, seemingly in fear...

Unfortunately, this core was confined by Lin Chen and couldn't escape at all.

Boom—

After a buzzing sound, the black core instantly transformed into a terrifying stream of energy.

Lin Chen's expression brightened; he hadn't expected it could actually be absorbed!

He had tried to absorb the demon's energy before, but it had always been unresponsive.

Now he understood: whenever he absorbed Energy Points, these cores sensed danger and would flee in advance...

This was also the first time Lin Chen had encountered such a situation.

But now he could perceive the existence of the core within the demon through his Myriad Manifestations Eye and then confine these cores in advance.

After a long while, the Energy Points were absorbed, and Lin Chen looked at the system panel.

1.2 million stones!

This demon of the Nine-Step Emperor Realm level contained more Energy Points than an ordinary Nine-Step Emperor Realm living being!

Lin Chen's eyes immediately burned with fervor; 10,000 demons of the Nine-Step Emperor Realm level would be 12 billion Energy Points!

What about the Half-Step Emperor Realm?

This was only the second day of the trial; the demons' strength would definitely grow stronger later on!

Perhaps this time, he could use the Energy Points from these demons to break through to the Emperor Realm!

The more Lin Chen thought about it, the more excited he became. The next moment, he took a step and arrived before tens of thousands of demons.

Upon discovering Lin Chen, these demons immediately rushed towards him madly.

Lin Chen sneered, his Physical Strength erupting, and he directly punched out.

The terrifyingly immense power instantly blasted all the demons into dust!

Purple light flickered in Lin Chen's eyes; he had already locked onto the black cores within the demons.

He noticed that these cores began to emit a dark light rapidly, and the already dead demons were re-condensing their physical bodies.

How could Lin Chen give them a chance? With a thought, he activated the system's devouring ability.

The system, having upgraded to its current level, easily covered all the demon cores with its devouring and absorption range.

These cores sensed danger and tried to break free from the confinement.

Unfortunately, all was in vain.

Boom—

Suddenly, the continent where Lin Chen was located erupted with a terrifying energy surge.

Countless energy streams frantically poured into his body.

An hour later, all the demon cores had been converted into Energy Points.

Lin Chen looked at the system panel.

Energy Points: 15.022 billion stones