395: Chapter 395 Improved Magic Valley

["Ah?" You are slightly taken aback, a bit surprised. This invitation came too suddenly.]

["What? You're unwilling?" Her eyebrows shot up, a flash of displeasure in her eyes.]

["I... I was planning to leave Asura Star and continue deep into the Demon Realm. Perhaps... it's not convenient for me to stay long," you politely declined.]

["Then you should join my City Lord's Manor even more," she said with a firm tone.]

["The cross-star Teleportation Array of Asura Star isn't something just anyone can use. Having Demonic Spirit Stones alone is far from enough; you also need to have contributed to Asura Star, and your identity must be verified to ensure there are no issues."]

[She paused, lowering her voice: "This place is a vital border region, and its population is already scarce. If we allow people to leave at will... you should be able to imagine the consequences."]

[The cold-faced guard behind her stepped forward: "Kid! Our Young Miss personally invited you, which is already giving you immense Face! You still dare to hesitate and put on airs here?!"]

[Your thoughts raced as you quickly weighed the pros and cons.]

[You indeed urgently need to leave Asura Star and find a corner of the Demon Realm that isn't so conspicuous and has relatively weak strength to focus on studying the Nine Nether Void Refining Record and attempt a Breakthrough to Void Refining.]

[But joining the City Lord's Manor, although adding a layer of restraint, would also grant you a relatively safe identity in this unfamiliar Demon Realm.]

[Moreover, familiarizing yourself with the lifestyle and habits of the Demon Realm here for a while would make it easier to hide your tracks when you go deeper into the Demon Realm in the future.]

[You immediately decided—]

[Temporarily join the City Lord's Manor!]

["Since I have been favored by the Young Miss, I... would be honored to accept," you said, cupping your hands, your tone appearing quite sensible.]

["Good." She nodded slightly, her tone softening a bit. "From now on, you are a member of my City Lord's Manor. Do your job well, and I, Jin Wei, will not mistreat my own people."]

[It turned out that this cold and capable female Cultivator was the only daughter of the Asura City Lord, Jin Yuan—Jin Wei!]

[In the forty-second year,]

[You have been a guard in the Asura City City Lord's Manor for nearly a year.]

[During this year, you kept a low profile and observed carefully, finally gaining a general understanding of the Demon Realm.]

[The Demon Realm is not a world of a single race.]

[The "Demon" here is a broad concept, encompassing thousands of diverse races.]

[Besides Demon Cultivators like the Human Race, there are also powerful Demon Races with beast heads and human bodies, Abyss Survivors with bone wings, the bodiless Soul Race, elemental-formed Demonic Spirits, and pure Demon Races born from the world's baleful Qi...]

[The complexity of the races far exceeds the imagination of the Immortal Realm.]

[However, compared to the vastness and wealth of the Immortal Realm, the Demon Realm is more like a completely opposite world.]

[Star Continents capable of supporting life are pitifully rare, perhaps less than one percent of the Immortal Realm's.]

[Because of this, living space is squeezed to the limit.]

[Resources—whether the Demonic Crystal veins and Heaven And Earth Treasures required for Cultivation, or the food and water needed for basic survival—are extremely scarce.]

[The total population is probably not even one-ten-thousandth of the Immortal Realm's.]

[But in this cruel competition for survival, the Demon Realm Cultivators who can survive and grow up often have individual combat power exceeding that of Immortal Realm Cultivators of the same rank.]

[Their Cultivation Techniques are more direct, their combat experience more violent, and their tolerance for pain and indifference to death far exceed those of Immortal Realm Cultivators raised in relatively comfortable environments.]

[Of course, this refers to "typical" cases.]

[When it comes to the small handful of beings standing at the Peak—the Mahayana stage—the strength between the Immortal and Demon Realms is about equal.]

[The Immortal Realm wins with its massive base, constant emergence of talents, and orderly Legacy.]

[The Demon Realm wins with its extremely powerful individuals and firm will to survive.]

[The two cancel each other out, and the overall strength actually maintains a delicate balance.]

[What surprised you the most, and even touched you deeply, was a strange "ecology" within the Demon Realm.]

[Despite the thousands of races and the friction, conflict, and even blood feuds between them, when facing the fundamental issue of "survival," the various races of the Demon Realm show a pragmatic unity.]

[Their struggles are often not for expanding territory, showing off glory, or fighting for ethereal "orthodoxy," but simply to seize resources to stay alive.]

[Their goal is so simple it makes one's heart ache—]

[To live.]

[Merely to live.]

[To live for the sake of the tribe.]

[You find it hard to reconcile the Demon Realm Cultivators, who "struggle and fight every day for a bite of food or a piece of Demonic Crystal," with the image of the "Demon Race enemy" described in Immortal Realm records as "cruel, bloodthirsty, and intending to devour the Immortal Realm."]

[This struggle is not only reflected in those low-level Cultivators and ordinary Demon People who live hand-to-mouth.]

[Even those high-level Demon Race Cultivators who already possess the power to move mountains and fill seas are similarly worried about "resources"!]

[And the barren environment of the Demon Realm makes the competition for these resources even more cruel, more bloody, and... more without a way out than the lower-level survival competition.]

[Resources are like an invisible shackle placed around the necks of every Demon Race being, from the lowest-level Demon People to the highest-level Demon Venerables, strangling them until they can't breathe.]

[It also forces them to carve "survival," "plunder," and "protection" into the depths of their Bloodline and Soul.]

[This day,]

[You followed a squad of City Lord's Manor guards, led by Jin Wei, leaving Asura City and flying about five thousand miles to the northwest.]

[Finally, you landed in a hidden valley surrounded by overlapping, eerily shaped black Peaks.]

[In the center of the valley, a piece of land about a hundred miles in area was firmly covered by a mist array.]

[The mist before you was thick and churning, not only obscuring vision but also obstructing Divine Sense from probing in.]

[This was a secret experimental spiritual field that Jin Wei had spent immense effort and resources to set up, specifically for her project that was considered a flight of fancy—]

[Improving the demon valley and increasing yield.]

[The inspiration for this experiment originally came from a seemingly casual "chat" you had two years ago.]

[At that time, you mentioned that Spiritual Plants also have methods for rank improvement and hybrid breeding, and perhaps the demon valley could learn from this.]

[Unexpectedly, Jin Wei took it to heart and actually started trying it.]

[Over the past year, you have followed her here for no fewer than a dozen attempts, failing every time, wasting countless precious demon valley seeds and demon spirit soil, and enduring much doubt and pressure.]

[Previously, you didn't understand why the Demon Realm lacked basic food crops.]

[Now you understand—the environment of the Demon Realm is far harsher than that of the Immortal Realm.]

[Ordinary land simply cannot withstand the long-term erosion of Devilish Qi, nor can it nourish the demon valley that requires specific Demonic Energy to grow.]

[Only demon spirit soil—]

[A type of soil that contains special Demonic Energy, has a peculiar texture, and is extremely rare throughout the Demon Realm.]

[Only "demon spirit soil" can be used to grow various types of demon valley, and even most of the Heaven And Earth Treasures required by the Demon Race.]

[It can be said that all "renewable" resources in the Demon Realm depend on this precious "demon spirit soil."]

[Its quantity directly determines how much population an area can support and how many Cultivators it can sustain.]