Chapter 348: ’Demon Venerable’ Han Guang

The challenge of the Mixed Element Divine Pill was that one had to simultaneously cultivate techniques from the Daoist, Buddhist, and Demon lineages, and also gather their Three Sacred Artifacts to act as a foundation for condensing the pill.

Now that all three Sacred Artifacts were gathered, condensing the pill would be a natural process.

Although he couldn’t perform the Solidifying Pill process while inside the Heaven-Reaching Tower, Chen Yuan still prepared to first refine the Original Demon Pill into his body to prevent it from losing its potency.

Pure Demonic Qi erupted from Chen Yuan’s hand, enveloping the Original Demon Pill.

But just then, something unexpected happened!

A black glint suddenly appeared on the Original Demon Pill and shot violently toward Chen Yuan’s head.

The Nether Blood Fiend Power around Chen Yuan’s body instantly flared to block it, but to no avail.

This force turned out to be an extremely pure form of Spiritual Power. It instantly shot into Chen Yuan’s mind, pulling him into a hazy, mist-filled Spiritual Space.

Before Chen Yuan’s eyes, within that misty space, a middle-aged man wearing a Black Gold Dragon Pattern Robe and a Black Lotus Jade Crown stared at him without expression.

Judging by his face alone, the man looked to be in his fifties. His features were sharply defined, with deep-set, tiger-like eyes and an aquiline nose that gave him a majestic yet fierce appearance.

His hair, however, was dry and white, and he carried an aura of decline.

“How audacious, junior! You dare kill my son and steal my Original Demon Pill! Return the pill to the Original Demon Sect at once, and This Seat may yet spare your life. Otherwise, should This Seat discover who you are, I will hunt you down—even if you have the backing of the heavens, even if you flee to the ends of the earth. This Seat will ensure you can neither live nor die!”

Chen Yuan’s brow furrowed slightly. He knew who this man was.

The Palace Master of the Original Demon Palace, a titan of the Demon Dao, the “Demon Venerable” Han Guang, who had reached the Peak of the Nine Realms Celestial Profound!

Chen Yuan hadn’t expected that the man had actually left a sliver of his spiritual imprint on the Original Demon Pill.

‘No, this definitely isn’t a Spiritual Imprint.’

‘Strictly speaking, a Spiritual Imprint is little more than a pre-set program. It would seem rigid and mechanical.’

‘But the Han Guang before him was dynamic. His eyes were even sizing Chen Yuan up.’

‘This must be a sliver of his Primordial Spirit, forcibly split off with a Secret Technique and attached to the Original Demon Pill. That’s why it can think for itself.’

Seeing that Chen Yuan didn’t respond, Han Guang’s Primordial Spirit said coldly, “You still intend to resist, junior? If you don’t return the Original Demon Pill, This Seat can annihilate your spirit right now and turn you into a living corpse!”

Chen Yuan studied the Han Guang before him, a faint smile suddenly touching his lips.

“This sliver of your Primordial Spirit was attached to the Original Demon Pill before. Now, it seems you’ve entered my mind. No matter how strong you are, Demon Venerable Han Guang, this is just a splinter of your Primordial Spirit. It’s not even a proper avatar, just a mere sliver. You’re threatening me inside my own body. So what if you’re the Demon Venerable?”

As his words fell, Chen Yuan focused his will. The surrounding misty space instantly vanished, replaced by a golden expanse that enveloped them both.

This golden space was suffused with sacred Buddha Light, and countless Sanskrit Spell Seals were inscribed all around.

The space within seemed both infinitely large and infinitesimally small. A world in a grain of sand, all subject to Chen Yuan’s will.

Han Guang’s sudden appearance had stunned Chen Yuan, and for a moment, he hadn’t been able to react.

‘The man has no physical body; his Primordial Spirit entered my mind. In that case, with a single thought, I can pull him into my Hidden Realm. What is there to fear?’

Han Guang’s brow furrowed. “What is this? It seems like a Buddhist Secret Technique, but neither the Vajra Prajna Temple nor the Longshu Zen Temple has a Dharma Gate like this. Don’t tell me you’re from the Venerable Dharma Ability Temple? No, that’s not right either. At your age, with your level of Cultivation, how could you possibly master such a powerful Spiritual Secret Skill?”

Then, Han Guang suddenly let out a cold laugh. Clasping his hands behind his back, he looked at Chen Yuan. “You really are a stubborn one, junior! It seems you’re determined to learn the hard way! Since you refuse to appreciate my kindness, very well. Today, I’ll destroy half of your spiritual consciousness and teach you a lesson!”

With that, Demonic Qi erupted from Han Guang. The boundless energy enveloped him completely, and his form swelled a hundred times over. He transformed into what looked like a Supreme Celestial Demon, terrifying beyond measure.

Chen Yuan remained motionless. With but a thought, his figure instantly teleported a great distance away.

To be precise, Chen Yuan himself hadn’t moved. Rather, the space between them had been stretched.

Within this Hidden Realm, the infinitely large and small were all subject to Chen Yuan’s will.

The next moment, Chaos Power flared around Chen Yuan. Accompanied by a dragon’s guttural roar, the Black Dragon Temple condensed within the Hidden Realm and lunged toward Han Guang, jaws snapping!

The Black Dragon roared, and it was as if heaven and earth wept blood!

Though he faced a sliver of a Ninth Realms Celestial Profound Powerhouse’s Primordial Spirit, this was Chen Yuan’s personal Hidden Realm. This was his home turf.

Amid the roars and snapping jaws of the Black Dragon, the Demonic Qi surrounding Han Guang was steadily suppressed. The immense, terrifying demonic shadow shrank, gradually revealing Han Guang’s form within.

“What in the world is this Secret Technique!?”

Han Guang scowled, watching the Black Dragon relentlessly tear apart and shatter his Demonic Qi.

Secret Techniques involving Spiritual Power were often bizarre and esoteric, but this one was majestic and overwhelming. The Black Dragon’s power was a mixture of the Daoist, Buddhist, and Demon Three Veins, and it could even manifest within one’s spiritual consciousness. He had never even heard of such a thing.

If his opponent were merely an ordinary Condensing Truth Realm Martial Artist, destroying his spiritual consciousness with this sliver of Primordial Spirit Power would have been effortless.

But since his opponent had mastered such an astonishing Spiritual Power Secret Technique, this sliver of his Primordial Spirit Power wouldn’t just fail to destroy his opponent’s spirit; it was in danger of being annihilated itself.

However, this was only a sliver of Han Guang’s Primordial Spirit. It naturally felt no fear. There was only anger—the fury of being provoked by a junior!

“You dare, junior!”

Seeing that the Black Dragon was about to devour him, Han Guang’s hawkish eyes locked onto Chen Yuan. “Even if you annihilate this sliver of my Primordial Spirit, you will still bear my mark. The next time This Seat sees you, I will recognize you by that mark. And when that day comes, I will make you wish for a death that will never come!”

“Old dog! Next time we meet, we’ll see who’s begging for death!”

Chen Yuan sneered and, with a wave of his hand, the Black Dragon completely devoured and annihilated the sliver of Han Guang’s Primordial Spirit.

‘This sliver of Primordial Spirit was an independent entity. With its destruction, Han Guang won’t know who I am. Unless I stand right in front of him, he’ll have no way of discovering my identity.’

‘Han Guang is a Ninth Realms Celestial Profound Level powerhouse and the Palace Master of the Original Demon Palace. Now that I know his identity, I just need to make sure to avoid him.’

With the sliver of Han Guang’s Primordial Spirit extinguished, Chen Yuan faced no further obstacles. He immediately refined the Original Demon Pill into his body.

With this, the Three Sacred Artifacts of the Daoist, Buddhist, and Demon Lineages were all gathered. Chen Yuan could now step into the Primordial Pill Realm whenever he wished.

As his consciousness returned to his body, Chen Yuan looked at Han Chang’s corpse, his brow furrowing slightly.

”Demon Venerable’ Han Guang left a Primordial Spirit Mark on Han Chang’s Original Demon Pill… Something about that felt wrong.’

‘Primordial Spirit Power is far more important than the physical body. In the Jianghu, while Secret Techniques and Spiritual Medicines for regrowing limbs are rare, they do exist.’

‘But Secret Techniques capable of splitting or repairing the Primordial Spirit are exceedingly rare.’

‘So, for Han Guang to split off a sliver of his Primordial Spirit to create that mark on the Original Demon Pill, he must have paid a steep price.’

‘But why would he pay such a price to attach a sliver of his Primordial Spirit to the pill? Was it to protect Han Chang, to give him an extra trump card?’

‘No, that’s not right. That sliver of Primordial Spirit had no defensive properties. When I killed Han Chang, it did nothing to defend him. It only activated and invaded my mind when I dug out the Original Demon Pill and prepared to refine it.’

‘So, it seems the sliver of Primordial Spirit Power wasn’t there to protect Han Chang, but to protect the Original Demon Pill.’

‘And Han Guang, the father, only mentioned my killing of Han Chang in passing. His real focus was on the Original Demon Pill.’

‘He even said he’d spare my life if I just returned the Original Demon Pill.’

‘True or not, is that something a Ninth Realms Celestial Profound Powerhouse would say to his son’s murderer?’

‘It was as if, in Han Guang’s mind, the Original Demon Pill was far more important than his own son.’

A bold guess suddenly formed in Chen Yuan’s mind.

He hurried over to Han Chang’s body. Extending his Inner Strength, he used the power of the Inner Vision God Observation Method to examine the corpse.

A moment later, a look of realization dawned on Chen Yuan’s face. “I see.”

The Original Demon Pill had been inside Han Chang’s Dantian. Normally, a pill containing the Demon Dao Origin like this would just provide a source of power and, at most, enhance one’s natural aptitude and constitution.

But under the scrutiny of the Inner Vision God Observation Method, Chen Yuan discovered a change.

The Original Demon Pill had been silently altering Han Chang’s body—his meridians, even his bones. It was as if it were trying to replace the flesh and bone beneath his skin with those of another person.

As for whose, the answer was self-evident.

It was Han Chang’s father, the Palace Master of the Original Demon Palace, ‘Demon Venerable’ Han Guang!

Han Guang had actually been active a century ago. He had taken charge of the Original Demon Palace, reached the Peak of the Nine Realms Celestial Profound, and roamed the Jianghu, earning his title as the ‘Demon Venerable’. At his zenith, he was even ranked ninth on the Lingxiao Rankings, a titan of the Demon Dao in his era, his glory boundless.

That was also the Original Demon Palace’s most glorious period; it was even rumored to be the foremost Major Sect of the Demon Dao.

But thirty years ago, for reasons unknown, Han Guang made an enemy of the ‘Sword God,’ Xie Kunwu. He was gravely wounded by a single sword strike from Xie Kunwu, who had just entered the Ninth Realm Celestial Profound. From then on, he lived in seclusion within the Original Demon Palace, rarely setting foot in the Jianghu. His ranking on the Lingxiao Rankings was even removed due to his long absence from battle.

Thus, many Jianghu People rumored that Han Guang had been so severely wounded by Xie Kunwu’s blade that he had even fallen from the Ninth Realm Celestial Profound.

Of course, others claimed Han Guang had entered secluded cultivation to break through the limits of the Ninth Realm Celestial Profound and step into the Venerable Realm, so that he could one day seek revenge on Xie Kunwu.

But now, it seemed to Chen Yuan that Han Guang’s grievous injuries had truly never healed. In fact, they were even more severe than what the people of the Jianghu imagined—so severe that they had affected his lifespan!

Han Guang’s true age was only a little over one hundred, far from his natural lifespan’s end. But the image of his Primordial Spirit already showed signs of life force depletion.

One’s physical appearance can be faked, but the Primordial Spirit cannot lie. His lifespan had likely been truly damaged; he might not have much time left.

Thus, Chen Yuan guessed that Han Guang hadn’t placed the Original Demon Pill in Han Chang’s body to cultivate his son. Instead, he was using that sliver of his Primordial Spirit to control the pill and modify his son’s body, reshaping it until it was a perfect match for his own.

Once the time was right, he could seize Han Chang’s body and live a second life!