My Beasts Grind Proficiency For Me

Chapter 353 - 213: Celestial Demon Transformation

All captured Celestial Demons were temporarily imprisoned within the demon-sealing Magic Altars.

This was the traditional method used by the Six Sects to seal Celestial Demons. Before the Demon-Catching Tripod appeared, almost all captured Celestial Demons were temporarily sealed within Magic Altars. The power of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Veins was used to suppress the demons inside, and then, at an opportune moment, Celestial Thunder or Yang True Fire would be summoned to obliterate them.

But since Yang Jing was present, he certainly wasn’t going to let these captured Celestial Demons go to waste.

He stood before a Magic Altar. Inside, over two thousand Low-level Celestial Demons were already imprisoned.

Billowing Demonic Qi surged within the Magic Altar. As it was being suppressed by only a Tier Two Spirit Vein, the altar was already overwhelmed and on the verge of failing to contain the Celestial Demons.

The Demon-Catching Tripod’s efficiency at capturing Celestial Demons far exceeded expectations.

Yang Jing formed a hand seal for a spell, opening the Magic Altar’s restriction. The Low-level Celestial Demons suppressed inside immediately shrieked and poured out. But before they could wreak havoc, they were sucked into the Demon-Catching Tripod’s Pot World.

The moment the Wanhua Child activated the restrictions, the Celestial Demons began to wail miserably within the Pot World as they were refined.

Every little bit counts, especially when it’s free for the taking. The wisps of Essence Qi refined from the bodies of these Celestial Demons all surged into the Wanhua Child.

Yang Jing shrank the Demon-Catching Tripod and hung it on his belt.

Besides the Magic Altar within this Array, the other altars were also nearly full of Celestial Demons. He had to go and collect them as soon as possible.

He took flight. At that moment, outside the Demon Realm, a roiling tide of Spiritual Qi surged in from three sides. It converged into a single current at the defensive line of Arrays, pushing back against the Demon Realm.

The violent rush of Spiritual Qi stirred the winds and clouds, unleashing a torrential downpour.

Using Water Escape, Yang Jing became a blurry streak of water as he flew through the air. He looked out over the battlefield.

In row after row of Arrays, groups of Warriors shouted in unison, turning the winches to drag Demon-Catching Tripods filled with Low-level Celestial Demons out of the Demon Realm. It was a scene of bustling activity.

There’s strength in numbers. No matter how efficient Yang Jing’s Tier Three Demon-Catching Tripod was at capturing Celestial Demons, it couldn’t match so many of them working in unison.

Moving between the numerous Arrays to collect the demons, he amassed nearly seventy thousand Celestial Demons in less than a day—an efficiency that far surpassed anything before.

With such efficient capturing, the Demon Realm was shrinking at a rate visible to the naked eye.

As the sun set, following Yang Jing’s strict orders, all the Arrays pulled back their Demon-Catching Tripods and ceased capturing demons.

He returned to his Flying Boat and took out the Demon-Catching Tripod.

Having refined too many Celestial Demons and absorbed too much Essence Qi at once, the Wanhua Child was showing signs of indigestion. Its aura was unstable. Tainted by the Demon Nature within the Essence Qi, it had even begun to sprout Demon Horns and grow Demon Scales on its body.

After all, not even a Tier Four or Tier Five Demon-Catching Tripod had ever had the opportunity to refine seventy thousand Celestial Demons in a single day.

Yang Jing immediately activated the shared Skill.

[Celestial Demon Transformation (Epic): 8%]

The roiling Essence Qi instantly began to drain away as if through a funnel. As the Essence Qi and Demon Nature vanished, the Wanhua Child started to revert to its original form.

The amount of energy an Epic Talent required was truly extraordinary. Even though the Demon-Catching Tripod incurred massive losses during the refining process, this was the Essence Qi from seventy thousand Celestial Demons, after all!

That was enough energy for an ordinary Foundation Establishment Cultivator to advance an entire level in their Cultivation.

The Wanhua Child patted its chest in lingering fear. It had been so overwhelmed by the Demon Nature that its own being had nearly been altered.

"Thank you, Master!"

Yang Jing nodded.

"Your foundation is too shallow. If you try to force a breakthrough using Celestial Demon Essence Qi, you will only lose yourself."

Only after obtaining the Celestial Demon Transformation Talent did Yang Jing realize it wasn’t as simple as he had first thought. An Other-Transformed Self-Free Celestial Demon couldn’t just strip away the abilities of other Celestial Demons and Cultivators at will.

It had to capture the target and perform an extremely complex Ritual. Over seven days, it had to consume a different part of the target’s body each day, all while using various methods to keep the target alive. Only on the final day, after devouring the target’s head, could it completely seize everything the target possessed.

Unlike a Nine Illusion Mirage Demon, once an Other-Transformed Self-Free Celestial Demon completed the Ritual, it could completely replace its target. It could even continue to practice the target’s Cultivation Technique and increase its Cultivation.

This replacement could fool the very senses of the Nine Heavens World, as well as the various identification methods of the Six Sects. Not even the Soul Tokens kept within a Sect would reveal any flaw.

After fully understanding Celestial Demon Transformation, Yang Jing took a deep breath and resolved never to use this Divine Technique unless forced into a desperate situation. His wariness of the Other-Transformed Self-Free Celestial Demon increased severalfold.

"Iron Head, send a Transmission Talisman to all the Yu Hou. The roster must be checked and a headcount conducted daily. If anyone goes missing, it must be reported immediately!"

He issued the command. "Don’t worry about the consumption of Lesser Yang Exorcism Talismans. Even inside the Magic Array, everyone must wear an Exorcism Talisman and replace it daily."

Adhering to Yang Jing’s strategy of using solid formations and fighting a methodical war of attrition, the Celestial Demons in the Demon Realm found they had almost no way to deal with the Demon Suppression Army outside.

High Tier Celestial Demons had also attempted to trap the Demon-Catching Tripods within the Demon Realm, only to be slain from afar by Yang Jing controlling his Celestial Waterfall Sword.

Fueled by the massive supply of Celestial Demons, it took Yang Jing less than fifteen days to completely assimilate the Epic Talent, Celestial Demon Transformation.

Once he fully possessed this Talent, his aptitude for demon cultivation skyrocketed. The Nine Yin Blood Evil Scripture, which he had only skimmed before, suddenly surfaced in his mind. He understood all the key points of its cultivation instinctively, without needing a master.

If he wished, he could now summon a Nine Yin Blood Evil True Demon at any time to absorb Demonic Qi and cultivate the Demon Skill.

Progress with the Demon Skill was extremely fast. If he were to switch to cultivating the Nine Yin Blood Evil Scripture, he could likely condense a Demon Pill and reach the Golden Core Realm in less than twenty years. And thanks to the Tier Three Demon-Catching Tripod, he wouldn’t even have to fear Celestial Demons obstructing his path.

Yang Jing immediately activated his Sword Intent, slashing away the impulse.

’Everything has a price,’ he thought. ’The price for cultivating a Demon Skill is being forever unable to escape the control of the Celestial Demons. One would not dare disobey a command from an Outer Celestial Demon. Even Demon Sect patriarchs at the Divinity Transformation Realm cannot escape this fate.’

Thanks to Yang Jing’s caution, the operation went very smoothly. In fact, the Demon Realm was being pushed back so quickly that some Arrays even needed to be redeployed to make it easier to hurl the Demon-Catching Tripods.

While achieving such impressive results, the Demon Suppression Army’s losses were minuscule, with almost no casualties. The only injuries were a few Warriors who had sprained their arms while retrieving the Demon-Catching Tripods.

However, these great achievements came at the cost of massive supply consumption. In particular, more than half of the most-used items, the Lesser Yang Exorcism Talismans, had been depleted. The remaining Talismans would only last for another ten days.

But with the Seven Nations Ticket Shop providing support, logistics were the least of their worries. Soon enough, a Flying Boat arrived, fully loaded with supplies.

While the soldiers on the Flying Boat were unloading supplies, Yang Jing asked, "How is the situation on the Northern Line?" Although the official reports from the Northern Army Governor’s Mansion provided some news, an Inspector who frequently escorted military supplies to the Northern Domain would be far better informed.

"Minister Yang, the Four Demon Sects of the Northern Domain did indeed try to push south and ran right into our Northern Army. The two forces clashed briefly before disengaging. Our army sank three of the allied Demon Sects’ Flying Boats, while one of ours was destroyed and another heavily damaged. It can be considered a minor victory. Now the front has reached a stalemate, and both sides are constantly building military forts and tearing down the other’s," the Inspector escorting the supplies said to Yang Jing.

These military forts were like nails; if they could be linked together, they could severely restrict the enemy Flying Boats’ room to maneuver.

Yang Jing nodded.

’As long as the situation on the Northern Line is stable, I’m under no pressure at all,’ he thought. ’I just need to keep up this steady advance.’

「One month later.」

The Demon Realm had retreated nearly three miles. Millions of Low-level Celestial Demons had been captured and killed. If not for the rift in the Heaven and Earth Embryonic Membrane, which allowed a constant stream of Celestial Demons to pour in from the Outer Realm, the demon population within the Demon Realm would have been unsustainable.

Yang Jing hovered silently in the air. The land below had not seen the sun in a thousand years, and only today did it return to the Nine Heavens World.

Deep beneath the earth, a series of muffled, thunderous rumbles echoed—the sound of Spiritual Qi clashing violently with Demonic Qi.

The hills rolled on and on. The subterranean Demon Veins had not yet fully dissipated. Under the pressure of the scouring Spiritual Qi, Demonic Qi gushed from weak points in the veins, shooting into the sky in straight black plumes, like signal fires.

Having been steeped in and warped by Demonic Qi for so long, this land had become demonized. Even with the Great Sun shining down and Spiritual Qi washing over it, the Demonic Qi within the rocks and soil would not dissipate anytime soon.

Some of the dried-up Demon Veins had even given birth to large quantities of Demonic Materials.

"Even with a massive amount of Spiritual Qi washing over it day and night, it will take thirty-four days for the Demonic Qi in this land to dissipate. As for it birthing new Spirit Veins, that will take several years," a Capital City Commander remarked.

Without Spirit Veins, they couldn’t perform Array Formation, which meant they couldn’t advance any further.

Not even they had expected the battle to be this easy. They had advanced nearly three miles in just one month. The only reason they stopped was that the chains they had prepared were too short; they weren’t long enough to hurl the Demon-Catching Tripods across this stretch of Demon Soil and into the Demon Realm.

"That’s an easy fix. We just need to move to the western flank and continue the advance from there."

"In my opinion, we’d be better off splitting our forces to advance on three fronts. That would slow our progress on any one front, giving the Spiritual Qi plenty of time to convert the Demon Soil into Spiritual Soil."

A month of smooth progress had made everyone increasingly optimistic.

Even the normally cautious Wang Xu now believed the Celestial Demons in the Demon Realm were like fish in a barrel.

Only Yang Jing remained extremely cautious.

Canyuan True Monarch had clearly appeared on the Northern Line, but the Other-Transformed Self-Free Celestial Demon still hadn’t. This absence was a thorn in Yang Jing’s side.

"We will continue advancing in this direction. As for the Spirit Vein issue, go and retrieve the Qi-guiding Dragon-shaking Array from the Governor’s Mansion’s secret vault. We’ll alter the direction of the Spirit Veins and channel them directly into this patch of Demon Soil. I refuse to believe this Demon Soil can hold out under the scouring of Spiritual Qi from seven Tier Three Spirit Veins."