The Heavenly Demon fell into deep contemplation.
This situation was truly unusual.
It was equivalent to someone from the outside world calling for Sima Nan to awaken, but ordinary people simply couldn't interfere with a Mixed-origin level Heart Demon Tribulation. Even Primordial Supreme Great Luo Golden Immortals found it extremely difficult to intervene, yet Su Yuan had somehow managed to interfere.
What was even more bizarre was that Su Yuan clearly hadn't intended to interfere—it was merely an additional side effect.
Sima Nan detected a faint sense of discord.
A subtle alertness began to stir within him.
"Your condition seems like external demonic invasion. This isn't a major issue. You just need to recuperate here with me for some time!" the Heavenly Demon stated.
Sima Nan breathed a sigh of relief. "Then I'll trouble the Medical Saint!"
"Hehe, being able to assist the Sword Saint brings me great joy!"
In this Heart Demon world, Sima Nan had already become a Primordial Supreme Great Luo Golden Immortal, a Saint of the Sword Path!Sima Nan set his mind at ease.
While treating Sima Nan, the Heavenly Demon suppressed his abnormalities, gradually making Sima Nan forget about the strange changes.
Meanwhile, in the external world, Su Yuan's corruption continued unabated. With the Heavenly Demon's "cooperation," Su Yuan's corruption of Sima Nan gradually deepened.
It quickly reached twenty percent completion, with two percent of his true spirit already mutated into the form of an Abyssal Demon Seed.
A pleased expression appeared on Su Yuan's face.
At this stage, Sima Nan's abyssal transformation had become irreversible. As time passed, this process would automatically descend into the abyss, turning him into a servant of the depths until eventually his entire being became an "appendage" of the abyss—existing unconditionally for the abyss, which meant for Su Yuan.
In the Heart Demon world.
Visible mutations once again appeared on Sima Nan's body. His mental form wasn't just sprouting tentacles anymore—it was transforming entirely into the initial form of an abyssal demon.
Demonic keratinous skin gradually emerged across Sima Nan's body.
"This isn't my body! Wrong! Who am I? I'm not the Sword Saint! I am... I am Sima Nan! The Sword Demon Sima Nan!"
Stimulated by the abyssal mutation, Sima Nan's consciousness finally cleared as he jolted awake from the Heart Demon world.
He fixed his gaze on the Medical Saint and struck out fiercely.
The Medical Saint sighed and engaged in combat.
After his abyssal transformation, Sima Nan's power surged severalfold. He actually managed to defeat and kill the Heavenly Demon Lord within the Heart Demon world.
Sima Nan's mental state achieved some improvement, becoming much more stable.
Subsequently, Sima Nan tore open a spatial rift in the Heart Demon world and stepped into the next layer.
The abyssal-transformed Sima Nan broke through layer after layer of Heart Demon worlds, achieving consecutive victories as if using cheats, showing clear signs of breaking through the Mixed-origin Heart Demon Tribulation.
The Heavenly Demon Lord stared in stunned disbelief. "Is this even possible?"
Su Yuan also noticed Sima Nan's tendency to awaken. The soul corruption was becoming increasingly difficult as the uncontaminated parts of his soul began glowing with golden light, with Mixed-origin intent starting to circulate.
Su Yuan was greatly surprised. "No way, this guy might actually break through? It seems I've truly underestimated the heroes of this world!"
Su Yuan couldn't help but acknowledge the impressiveness—the worse Sima Nan had performed before, the greater the shock his breakthrough now delivered!
He truly was an old schemer.
Su Yuan intensified his corruption of Sima Nan, determined to corrupt as much as possible.
Time seemed to be racing against them.
The faster Su Yuan accelerated the corruption, the quicker Sima Nan broke through the barriers.
The quicker Sima Nan broke through, the more urgently Su Yuan focused on corrupting him.
The two formed a perfect cycle of mutual acceleration.
Only the Heavenly Demon Lord remained stuck between them, utterly speechless at their actions.
In the blink of an eye, another two months passed.
Su Yuan's corruption progress on Sima Nan had reached the astonishing levels of forty percent of his soul and ten percent of his true spirit. This was nearly complete abyssal transformation—once it exceeded fifty percent, the remaining half would rapidly fill in. So in reality, Sima Nan didn't have much time left.
But at this critical moment, Sima Nan finally broke through the final layer of the Heart Demon world. All his mental consciousness converged, condensing into a Mixed-origin Spirit Core that descended into the center of his mental sea.
The mental island at the center of the mental sea solidified, governing the entire mental ocean. From this point, Sima Nan's mind became indestructible and impervious to all arts.
Sima Nan couldn't help but laugh triumphantly. "I've broken through! Mixed-origin mental state, perfectly unified! I... huh?"
He suddenly noticed something discordant—the newly formed mental island was forty percent pitch black, and forty percent of his mental sea resembled black ink, continuing to spread into the normal mental sea.
Sima Nan immediately performed internal observation, realizing that everything he experienced in the Heart Demon world wasn't false but had actually happened to him.
The mutation still existed!
When Sima Nan gazed at that portion of the mental sea, he involuntarily felt a sense of submission toward some existence, as if he were naturally born to be that being's servant.
"No, I refuse!"
Golden light erupted from Sima Nan's mind, shining upon the black sea. The black energy spread and was infinitely suppressed, spreading through the mental sea at an extremely slow pace—so slow it appeared almost stationary. But no matter how slow, the day would eventually come when the entire mental sea would turn completely black!
"What exactly is this thing?"
Sima Nan opened his eyes. In one eye flashed sacred Mixed-origin spiritual light, while the other eye shimmered with profound darkness.
Sima Nan felt his power inexplicably increase by fifty percent. Both his magical power and physical body had become much stronger than before, but this wasn't due to his Mixed-origin mental breakthrough—it came from the mutation!
He didn't want this mutated power!
When his gaze habitually swept around and landed on Su Yuan, a terrifying sense of submission surged from the depths of his heart. He felt an impulse to immediately kneel and pay homage.
Sima Nan glared furiously. "So it's you! What have you done to me?"
Su Yuan raised an eyebrow. "Is that how you speak to your master?"
"Master? You?" Sima Nan said disdainfully.
"Stand up!" Su Yuan suddenly commanded.
Sima Nan looked at him coldly, but soon looked down at his own feet in disbelief.
He had stood up from his cross-legged sitting position!!!
Sima Nan turned pale with horror, finally realizing the severity of the situation.
He immediately closed off his perceptions and examined his inner self.
But a thought abruptly sounded in his mind.
"Stop struggling, Sima Nan. You are already my servant, my sharpest claw. I will grant you powerful strength—accept it! Once you accept this power, you will become even stronger!"
Su Yuan's voice, like demonic whispers, made Sima Nan's face darken like the bottom of a pot.
He knew he had been tricked—he had been too careless!
But he couldn't understand how a mere Great Luo Golden Immortal could affect him like this?
He believed there must be a solution. He hadn't been completely enslaved yet—he still maintained his original self!
In the Demon Realm.
His clone quickly found the Lord of the Demon Realm!
"Demon Lord Master, your disciple has broken through to the Mixed-origin mental state!" Sima Nan first reported the good news.
The Lord of the Demon Realm praised approvingly, "Excellent! No wonder Ancestor Heavenly Demon praised you. Well done!"
Sima Nan paused. Ancestor Heavenly Demon praised him? Was it because he broke through the Mixed-origin mental state?
But this wasn't the time to concern himself with that.
He said gravely, "However, I've encountered a small problem. During my breakthrough, someone laid a hidden hand on me. Now I'm half-controlled by the other party! I beg Master to save me!"
The Lord of the Demon Realm immediately placed a hand on Sima Nan's clone's shoulder, sending a massive holy consciousness sweeping through Sima Nan's mind.
Thus he witnessed the terrifying scene within Sima Nan's mind—nearly forty percent of his mental sea had been contaminated by some power that appeared evil, dark, filthy, and full of seductive and corruptive aura!
When his consciousness contacted the abyssal aura, the Lord of the Demon Realm sensed an extremely profound essence of power—a supreme power that surpassed the Primordial Supreme Great Luo Golden Immortal!
"How is this possible?" The Lord of the Demon Realm was greatly surprised.
"Master, is there a way to eliminate this power?" Sima Nan asked eagerly.
The Lord of the Demon Realm frowned. "This sovereign needs to study it!"
Sima Nan panicked. His master was the Lord of the Demon Realm—even such a powerful being needed to study it? This power seemed to have more profound origins than he had imagined.
Su Yuan's voice suddenly sounded again in Sima Nan's mind: "Continue competing for the benefits of the Heart Refinement Path. Now that you have a Mixed-origin mental state plus my enhancements, you have great hope of claiming first place. After obtaining the opportunity, give the item to me!"
Su Yuan's voice fell into Sima Nan's mind like successive commands.
Sima Nan absolutely didn't want to respond, but his body began moving with utmost loyalty.
He quickened his pace, heading toward the end of the Heart Refinement Path.
To Sima Nan's surprise, it seemed that because nearly half of his mental sea was occupied by abyssal power, half of the Heart Refinement Path's damage was being borne by the abyssal power. This significantly reduced the mental refinement difficulty Sima Nan endured, while his mental state had also improved. With this combination of increase and decrease, his progress speed had increased by more than ten times compared to before!
His actions immediately attracted the attention of Zhuge Tao, who was walking ahead.
Others also focused their attention on Sima Nan.
Everyone noticed that Sima Nan's current speed was several times faster than Zhuge Tao's!
"You actually broke through?!" Zhuge Tao said in surprise.
Sima Nan snorted coldly. "Just the Mixed-origin mental state—nothing special!"
Zhuge Tao said gravely, "I admit I underestimated you before, but thinking you can catch up to me in such a short time is wishful thinking."
"That might not be certain!" Sima Nan sneered, his steps so fast they seemed to ignore the surrounding Heart Refinement Flames.
At this moment, Su Yuan sent another mental message to Sima Nan: "Sima Nan, transmit your insights on breaking through to the Mixed-origin mental state to me!"
Sima Nan said coldly, "Impossible! Unless you return my top-grade Acquired Spiritual Treasure to me!"
Sima Nan struggled to resist Su Yuan's mental command.
Su Yuan casually tossed the sword he had previously taken back toward Sima Nan.
Sima Nan stared in shock, then involuntarily transmitted his breakthrough insights to Su Yuan.
A thought flashed through Sima Nan's mind: "He returned my precious sword to me. Maybe following him isn't so bad after all!"