58: Demon Realm

Unlike the mood he had during previous missions, Qin Yue was now heading to the Demon Realm, far from human territories.

Although Qin Yue had already received a Mystic Rune Horse from the General Affairs Hall when he descended the mountain, he did not plan to use it this time.

He didn't want to rush the journey like he did during missions; he wanted to properly see this world before entering the Demon Realm.

It took Qin Yue a full month to reach Two Realms Mountain, the dividing line between the Human Race's territory and the Demon Realm!

During this month, Qin Yue measured with his legs, observed with his eyes, and experienced with his heart. He discovered that the lives of ordinary people in the Human Race's world were much better than in his previous life's ancient world.

While on the Sacred Mountain, Qin Yue had heard many stories about the Three Sages of the Human Race saving the Human Race from suffering, but this time, what he first felt was the governance capability of the Three Sages of the Human Race.

To manage such a vast territory in such an orderly manner truly surpassed all emperors of his previous life's ancient world.

However, during his travels, Qin Yue also discovered a problem: he could neither find Heyang City nor Shiqiao Village.

It was as if his origin had vanished from this world.

But not finding Heyang City did not affect his itinerary.

Now he had reached the foot of Two Realms Mountain; once he crossed this mountain, he would officially step into the Demon Realm.

Based on the Demon Realm map and Condensing Evil precautions given by Senior Brother Jiang Shang, Qin Yue had long since chosen the location where he would Condense Fiend Energy.

Of course, he would not choose to Condense Fiend Energy near a demon king; that would be purely seeking death.

His alternative locations were all deep mountains and vast swamps. He wanted to first try to find a Sha Hole not occupied by a demon king.

Qin Yue explored the deep mountains, hiding during the day and moving at night. In fact, there were more demons at night than during the day, but the night greatly enhanced his Shadow Step, so he still chose to act at night.

With Qin Yue's Perfection Realm Blood Qi Circulation Method and its characteristics of moving as if on flat ground, his travel speed in the forest was also very fast.

Traversing a deep mountain might take an ordinary person a year, but Qin Yue only needed one night.

During the day, Qin Yue was hiding in a cave to rest.

He took out the map and drew an X over the giant forest he had explored last night.

This was already the last target location he had chosen.

The places he had explored these past few days were either occupied by great demons or had their Sha Holes destroyed; none were usable!

After several days of exploration, Qin Yue found the Demon Realm to be much better than he had imagined.

In Qin Yue's previous imagination, the Demon Realm should have been full of demons, with corpses strewn across the land, and Evil Qi soaring everywhere. As a result, apart from encountering a few minor demons on the way, it was no different from the Human Race's world!

He even saw cities and villages while traveling across the plains.

Of course, he would never enter the cities and villages.

The Condensing Evil precautions clearly stated that all members of the Human Race in the Demon Realm were not to be trusted.

Any act of rescuing the Human Race or seeking help from other members of the Human Race in the Demon Realm would expose him, thereby attracting powerful demons.

Seeing that neither the locations he had chosen nor those recommended by Senior Brother Jiang Shang could be used for Condensing Evil, Qin Yue decided to continue deeper into the Demon Realm.

Anyway, he had brought enough supplies and wasn't afraid of spending more time in the Demon Realm.

...

Qin Yue squatted on a large tree, looking down at the bottomless valley ahead.

Evil Qi surged in this valley; it was the best Sha Hole Qin Yue had found in this past month!

Qin Yue gently moved his thoughts, and Super-Sense Mode activated. There were no demons lurking around.

This Super-Sense Mode had helped him greatly over the past month.

It always allowed Qin Yue to detect danger in advance, letting him slip away several times just before demons arrived.

Qin Yue jumped down from the tree and moved into the valley. He dared not run fast, because based on his experience over the past month, the more concentrated the Evil Qi, the more demons there were.

This time, Qin Yue was truly lucky; he didn't encounter any demons until he reached the bottom of the valley.

The bottom of the valley was filled with fallen plants and decaying animal corpses. Not only was there Evil Qi that Qin Yue could sense, but also miasma and foul odors.

Qin Yue used Shadow Step to move through the gaps between various corpses. After a careful search, he finally found the source of the Evil Qi in a crevice at the bottom of the valley.

Judging by the fractured rock face, it was a newly opened mountain crevice, and this Sha Hole must have just formed, which was why no demons had occupied it.

Seeing this situation, Qin Yue punched the side wall of the mountain crevice, causing the earth and rocks on the side wall to collapse, essentially filling up the entire crevice.

Seeing this, Qin Yue nodded with satisfaction, then circulated his Body Refining method, sealing all the acupoints in his body, and squeezed into the Sha Hole through the only remaining gap.

After Qin Yue squeezed in, there was another loud "bang" from inside the mountain crevice, and the mountain wall collapsed again, blocking all the remaining gaps.

The mountain crevice was a labyrinth of passages. Qin Yue tried to go as deep as possible, chose a narrow passage, and walked into it.

Then he caused the earth on both sides of the passage to collapse, sealing himself within this section of the passage.

He intended to Cultivate directly in this Sha Hole until his Condensing Evil was complete.

If other Martial Artists knew Qin Yue's thoughts, they would surely think he was crazy.

His Master had told him when teaching him Condensing Evil that it was not something that could be done overnight; it required mental will to fight against the malevolent intent within the Evil Qi.

But Qin Yue didn't need to at all!

The Qingming Pills he had refined over these past few months were specifically for countering this malevolent Qi.

When he first started refining Qingming Pills, Qin Yue could only refine one batch of medicinal materials at a time, but later, he would simultaneously refine at least three batches of medicinal materials each time he did Medicine Refining.

Qin Yue did not sell these extra Medicinal Pills but instead collected them all, for use today.

Circulating the "Yin Yang Dual Revolving Refining Energy Art," Qin Yue began to Cultivate the Nine Revolutions Body Refining Art's third revolution after his body quickly absorbed a full amount of Evil Qi.

With Qin Yue's multi-tasking technique understood in Body Refinement Stage Two, each absorption of Evil Qi was not enough for him to Cultivate for two days.

One must know that his Master had said that the "Yin Yang Dual Revolving Refining Energy Art" was originally a method for quickly absorbing and storing Evil Qi.

Once this technique was Cultivated proficiently, the amount of Evil Qi absorbed and stored each time would be enough for an ordinary Martial Artist to use for a month.

After each refinement of Evil Qi was completed, Qin Yue would use his Super-Sense state to feel the vibrations in the Sha Hole, and after confirming safety, he would continue to Cultivate.

Perhaps the measures he took before entering the Sha Hole were effective, because no demons occupied this Sha Hole until Qin Yue completed Body Refinement Stage Three.

However, Cultivation could not always proceed so smoothly.

When Qin Yue was using Evil Qi to integrate into his Blood Qi liquid, a demon finally discovered this Sha Hole.

During one of Qin Yue's Cultivation sessions, his Super-Sense state suddenly gave a warning: a demon had broken into this Sha Hole. It was actually just a small demon, but Qin Yue didn't dare to act. Who knew what large force might be behind this small demon?

After the small demon left, three days later, Qin Yue felt a huge Demonic Qi descend from above his head. He knew it was the demon king who had arrived.