117: Thunder Refining Inner Demon

The flames of the Star Palace's civil unrest burned in the distant core Star Domain, buying Mo Yuan precious breathing room.

Inside Floating Ink City, the rebellion had been largely quelled, and the remaining Star Corpse Guard had been re-imprisoned or destroyed. The city was in shambles, but order was slowly being restored.

However, the source of all the Chaos—the lingering influence of the heart demon mirror—remained like a maggot on a bone, still lurking deep within the city's energy meridians and the consciousness of some sequence units. Though the whispers were faint, they had not been completely extinguished.

Mo Yuan knew deeply that if this Heart Demon affliction was not completely eradicated, it would inevitably make a comeback.

Furthermore, the humiliation of Han Li stealing his golden mark and the opportunity of the Star Palace's civil unrest all stemmed from his own insufficient strength.

He urgently needed stronger power, especially... power capable of resisting or even controlling this kind of mental-level invasion.

His gaze turned to the center of the command platform, to the most powerful main body of the heart demon mirror (transformed from that initial Mirror Demon that had completely mutated after copying a Star Palace Elder's Cultivation Technique), which had been thoroughly frozen by Ink Snow with absolute cold.

That thing was frozen within a massive, crystal-clear piece of mysterious ice, still maintaining its twisted and hideous form. The chaotic Dao patterns on the broken mirror surface representing different Cultivation Techniques were solidified, but the evil core inside, which bewitched hearts and amplified desires, was still emitting weak yet stubborn fluctuations from beneath the ice.

Destroy it? It would be easy. Ink Snow only needed to exert a little more force to turn it, along with the mysterious ice, into dust.

But what Mo Yuan saw was not just a scourge, but... resources. It was a tonic!

The core of this heart demon mirror was a bizarre crystal formed after the Mirror Demon's copying ability and the magic bottle's Chaos energy lost control, absorbing the negative emotions and desires of a large number of Cultivators. It contained an extremely vast and pure... Mental Energy!

Although it was polluted, if that pollution and Chaos could be refined, what remained would be the purest Divine Soul Origin!

And refining it required the most extreme, most overbearing, and most capable power to cleanse evil—Thunder! Especially his unique Chaos Thunder Gang, which integrated multiple traits such as Chaos, Heavenly Dao (remnant), stars, and Eternal Life!

"Ink Snow, maintain the freezing, and transport it to the Thunder Abyss core furnace area."

"Mo Yun, use the Earth Magnetic Force to construct the base for the 'Nine-Layered Thunder Strike Demon Refining Formation', and draw the power of the Thunder Abyss into the Formation."

"Mo Yu, surround the outer perimeter of the Formation with dark Thunder water, and be responsible for channeling away the filthy residue produced during the refining process."

Three orders were precisely issued.

The Three Daughters acted immediately.

Soon, the massive piece of mysterious ice sealing the heart demon mirror was moved to an open-air platform at the bottom of Mo City, directly connected to the violent Thunder magma outside.

Mo Yun invoked the power of the earth, and nine thick metal pillars carved with Thunder runes instantly rose on the platform, forming the outline of the Formation.

Mo Yu summoned dark Thunder water, which surrounded the platform like a moat, emitting an aura of devouring and purification.

Mo Yuan stepped into the Formation and stood before the frozen heart demon mirror.

He raised his Thunder God Arm, which was still weak, stinging, and covered in cracks. There was no fear in his eyes, only cold determination.

"Unseal."

Hearing this, Ink Snow moved her fingertips in the distance.

Crack!

The mysterious ice wrapping the heart demon mirror instantly shattered into the finest ice crystals and dissipated completely!

Having lost the suppression of absolute zero, the main body of the heart demon mirror trembled violently, emitting a sharp, piercing screech mixed with countless negative emotions!

The broken mirror surface flashed crazily, and the twisted Dao patterns lit up. That evil power, which bewitched hearts and amplified desires, surged out like a bursting dam, turning into a visible grey-black Mental Energy storm that rushed crazily towards Mo Yuan!

"Well come!" Mo Yuan did not dodge or avoid it. Although his Thunder God Arm was weak, he still raised it firmly!

"Nine-Layered Thunder Strike Demon Refining Formation... Activate!"

Hum—!

The nine Thunder pillars suddenly lit up, and the violent Thunder Abyss energy was forcibly extracted and injected into the Formation!

The entire platform instantly turned into a purgatory of thunder!

Countless thick Thunder bolts of various colors, like giant pythons dancing wildly, struck fiercely at the heart demon mirror from all directions!

However, the heart demon mirror's Mental Energy storm was intangible and formless, and it could actually penetrate the physical bombardment of the Thunder to a certain extent, acting directly upon Mo Yuan's Divine Soul!

In an instant, countless illusions flooded into Mo Yuan's Sea of Consciousness!

He saw the ecstasy and ambition he felt when he first obtained the magic bottle...

He saw the cold calculations when crafting the sequence...

He saw the tragic heroism of the hundred thousand Pseudo-Immortals going to their deaths and his own indifference...

He saw the powerlessness and anger when Han Li stole his golden mark...

He even saw the miserable ending where he finally achieved success and fame, only to be backlashed and devoured by the magic bottle...

Greed, fear, anger, suspicion, desire to kill... all sorts of negative emotions were magnified a thousand times over, like billions of poisonous needles, crazily stabbing at his Dao Heart!

Mo Yuan's body shook violently, his face instantly turned pale, and a trace of blood even spilled from the corner of his mouth.

The power of the Heart Demon struck directly at the Origin, far more dangerous than physical attacks!

But the Chaos grey light in his eyes burned even more fiercely!

His Dao Heart had long been tempered to be as hard as mysterious iron through countless cold choices and brushes with death!

"A mere Heart Demon... dares to disturb my Dao Heart?!"

"Refine... for me!"

He let out a roar like thunder, actually voluntarily opening a trace of his mental defense to guide the Heart Demon power into his Thunder God Arm!

At the same time, he fully activated the Formation, along with all his own Chaos Thunder Gang, Eternal Life Thunder Strength, and star Thunder arcs!

Sizzle—!!!

The Thunder God Arm instantly became the most intense battlefield for energy conflict!

The grey-black Heart Demon power and the purple-gold Chaos Thunder Gang crazily strangled and annihilated each other!

The intense pain almost caused his arm to shatter again!

The power of the Nine-Layered Thunder Strike Demon Refining Formation also climbed to its peak. Nine dark purple Thunder magma beams, as thick as buckets, like hammers of heavenly punishment, continuously and fiercely bombarded the main body of the heart demon mirror!

Crack! Crack!

The broken surface of the heart demon mirror began to show real cracks, and those twisted Dao patterns, under the baptism of the extreme Thunder, were stripped away and purified bit by bit like stains!

The screeching it emitted changed from sharp to shrill, and finally turned into a wail!

Mo Yuan endured the dual torment of his Divine Soul and body, using himself as a furnace and the Thunder God Arm as a crucible, forcibly refining this most evil and wicked Heart Demon in the world!

The process was slow and painful. Golden blood even began to ooze from his seven orifices, but he remained standing, his eyes cold and focused.

It was unknown how much time had passed, but the wailing of the heart demon mirror gradually weakened, and the cracks on its main body became more and more numerous, until finally...

Bang!

With a soft sound, it burst apart completely!

But what burst out was not fragments, but a mass of incomparably pure, warm, and powerful Mental Energy core, shimmering with seven-colored glaze luster—the [pure heart core]!

All the filth and residue that had been refined were instantly swallowed, purified, and discharged into the depths of the Thunder Abyss by the dark Thunder water invoked by Mo Yu.

Mo Yuan suddenly opened his mouth and inhaled!

That mass of pure heart core turned into a warm current, instantly surging into the center of his eyebrows and merging into his Sea of Consciousness!

Boom!

As if the Universe had just begun, his Sea of Consciousness instantly expanded by several times!

His Divine Soul, which had been somewhat withered due to excessive consumption, instantly became full, solid, and crystal clear!

The strength, resilience, and sharpness of his Divine Sense, and even his ability to calculate and deduce, all improved at a terrifying speed!

An unprecedented sense of clarity swept through his entire body.

The slight restlessness previously caused by the Heart Demon's whispers completely subsided. Even his control over the Sentient Thunder Codex and his mental link to the Sequence Legion became clearer and more stable!

His Divine Sense strength had remarkably broken through to the level of the Nascent Soul Early Stage! Moreover, it was incomparably pure, possessing extremely strong immunity to Heart Demon-type attacks!

He slowly opened his eyes. Within the Chaos grey light deep in his pupils, there seemed to be an extra trace of glazed radiance that could see through falsehood.

He raised his Thunder God Arm. Although the cracks on the surface remained, the bones and meridians inside, which had been tempered by refining the Heart Demon, seemed to have faintly recovered a trace of vitality.

"The Heart Demon... is also a resource." Mo Yuan slowly clenched his fist, feeling the majestic Divine Sense power in his Sea of Consciousness.

Han Li, you stole my golden mark and broke my arm.

I will refine the Heart Demon to strengthen my Divine Soul!

This path has never been walked by anyone.

And I will definitely walk it to the end!