The Heavenly Demon Lord sensed something was amiss.
"Why is the Heart Demon Rule essence being consumed so quickly!"
The Heavenly Demon Lord, who had transformed into the will of the Heart Demon Rule, didn't possess his own physical body—or rather, the Heart Demon Rule itself was his body, and the Heart Demon Rule essence was his source of power.
He was an immortal and indestructible existence; as long as the Heart Demon Rule existed, he existed. But in reality, the Heart Demon Rule could also be extinguished, especially when the rule essence was completely depleted. That would be the most vulnerable time for the Heart Demon Rule.
Therefore, the Heavenly Demon Lord paid close attention to changes in the rule essence. Even though it had only decreased by a tiny amount, it still alerted him.
In an instant, he identified where the Heart Demon Rule essence had disappeared—it was in one of the countless Heart Demon Tribulations!
The Heavenly Demon Lord paused in surprise, and his consciousness descended once again upon Su Yuan's mental sea.
He saw an extremely massive mental island, whose stability and size clearly didn't resemble that of someone who had just advanced!
The Heavenly Demon Lord widened his eyes: "No way, this is already mid-stage Primordial Great Luo Golden Immortal level mental cultivation? What kind of monster is this kid? Something's wrong! Very wrong!"
His consciousness plunged into the waters of the mental sea, and then he saw that among countless heart demon worlds, Su Yuan's consciousness remained lost within the heart demon world.But because Su Yuan's mental will had already reached mid-stage Primordial Great Luo Golden Immortal level, the rule essence required to influence him naturally increased, which reflected back to the Heavenly Demon Lord, alerting him.
"Wait, he hasn't completely succumbed!"
The Heavenly Demon Lord quickly discovered that Su Yuan hadn't fully fallen into the heart demon world. Otherwise, Su Yuan's consciousness would have become part of the Heart Demon Rule, dissolving into the Dao and vanishing. That wouldn't consume the Heart Demon Rule's essence but would instead strengthen it.
Yet Su Yuan hadn't broken free from the heart demon world's influence either—it was as if he was deliberately immersing himself in it!
The Heavenly Demon Lord frowned: "With mental cultivation already at mid-stage Primordial Great Luo Golden Immortal level, breaking through the heart demon world should be effortless. Why hasn't this guy broken free yet, instead choosing to deliberately immerse himself in it!"
The Heavenly Demon Lord was beginning to find Su Yuan unfathomable.
He immediately took control of the Heart Demon Tribulation and reduced its potency, attempting to let Su Yuan leave the heart demon world.
But to the Heavenly Demon Lord's astonishment, even when the difficulty decreased tenfold, Su Yuan showed no intention of waking up.
This confirmed it—this guy really wanted to make a home in the heart demon world! The key was that this bastard didn't want to completely succumb either, so what exactly did he mean?
The Heavenly Demon Lord directly located one strand of Su Yuan's consciousness.
"You should wake up now!"
Before Su Yuan's consciousness, a black Su Yuan materialized out of thin air.
Su Yuan said in surprise: "Senior, what brings you here? Hahaha, then I must perform my duties as host! Please come in!"
Su Yuan enthusiastically invited the Heavenly Demon Lord into his super palace.
The black Su Yuan remained silent for a moment before asking: "It's all just illusion, no need to enter!"
Su Yuan immediately shook his head: "Not so, not so! Senior, what is illusion? What is reality? I think, therefore I am. Wherever my consciousness exists, everything I contact and perceive is substantial—that makes it a real and undeniable world!"
The Heavenly Demon Lord felt stifled. These were words he usually said to others, and now someone was suddenly saying them back to him, making him extremely uncomfortable!
"Hehe, with your mental state, you should understand that this place is all false. Why cling to it?"
"What's so bad about here? I can have whatever I want! I can become the master of all realms, enjoy all the women in the world, obtain supreme power—I can do whatever I please here! Why would I want to leave?" Su Yuan's face was full of confusion.
The Heavenly Demon Lord gritted his teeth. If not for the fact that the Heart Demon Tribulation was supervised by the will of the Great Dao, and he had no authority to cancel it at will, he would have thrown Su Yuan out long ago!
"Hehe, in that case, why not enter eternal oblivion? Why deliberately maintain awareness?" the Heavenly Demon Lord said.
"If I completely succumb, then it's no fun anymore. My consciousness wouldn't be under my own control—what meaning would there be in enjoying all this? Senior, no need to say more. Let me continue immersing myself! Take care, Senior! I won't see you out!"
Su Yuan waved his hand, indicating that the Heavenly Demon Lord could leave!
"You should think carefully. If you don't leave the Heart Demon Tribulation now, when I personally take action, you won't have another chance to break free!" the Heavenly Demon Lord said solemnly.
Su Yuan said calmly: "Then I thank Senior for your generous hospitality!"
The Heavenly Demon Lord gave him a deep look, then turned and left.
He wouldn't allow Su Yuan to continue experiencing the Heart Demon Tribulation.
Su Yuan's Heart Demon Tribulation was doubled—Su Yuan undergoing tribulation alone was equivalent to 129,600 mid-stage Primordial Great Luo Golden Immortal mighty beings undergoing tribulation simultaneously. The consumption of Heart Demon Rule essence was naturally terrifying!
How many mighty beings were there in the entire Three Realms?
Fifty? Or a hundred?
Certainly not even a fraction of 129,600!
The Heavenly Demon Lord never expected that a moment of impulse would plant such a massive landmine!
Su Yuan naturally refused to leave—the cultivation environment here was just too excellent!
If he left now, he might never find such an opportunity again.
The Heart Demon Tribulation automatically excavated Su Yuan's mental weaknesses for testing. This method of testing was extremely helpful for mental cultivation growth. Plus, with time accelerated by hundreds of millions of times here, there was no better place to train mental fortitude.
The Heavenly Demon Lord personally took control of the Heart Demon Tribulation. A supreme heart demon power enveloped Su Yuan's consciousness.
It was an unimaginably terrifying force. The slightest contact would plunge one into the deepest levels of oblivion.
In countless heart demon worlds, Su Yuan's consciousness instantly became dazed. He looked blankly at his surroundings, then recalled his recent "memories" and laughed wryly: "I actually spaced out!"
Su Yuan remained unaware that he had completely integrated into the heart demon world and was gradually succumbing to it.
The Heavenly Demon Lord watched Su Yuan coldly. He could already declare that Su Yuan's final outcome would be mental oblivion, never to awaken again!
But just then, Su Yuan's consciousness in the God Realm Sea and Abyss Realm Sea awakened and quickly activated his innate trait [Great Being's Form]!
[Mimicker] effect activated—imitation target: Heavenly Demon Lord!
Su Yuan, immersed in the heart demon world, regained consciousness from oblivion.
[Great Being's Form] inherently weakened the oblivion force. Combined with imitating the Heavenly Demon Lord's methods, he seemed to have stolen some authority over the Heart Demon Rule. His resistance to mental oblivion power instantly increased a millionfold!
However, Su Yuan didn't choose to break free from the oblivion state but continued pretending to be succumbed.
Several months passed like this.
The Heavenly Demon Lord felt intense heartache. During this period, the Heart Demon Rule's essence had been depleted by a full one-thousandth!
One-thousandth!
This was rule essence accumulated over endless eons, yet it had been depleted by one-thousandth in such a short time. This was truly terrifying!
Fortunately, Su Yuan was about to fall into eternal oblivion. When Su Yuan merged with the mental rule, the lost essence would naturally return.
However, just as Su Yuan was about to completely succumb...
Suddenly, Su Yuan's mental cultivation completed a transformation.
His mental cultivation level actually advanced from mid-stage Primordial Great Luo Golden Immortal to late-stage Primordial Great Luo Golden Immortal!
Su Yuan's will erupted with endless golden light, instantly piercing through the heart demon world.
Su Yuan's trillions of consciousness strands successively penetrated through 100,000 layers of heart demon worlds, reforming into one entity within the mental sea.
Su Yuan decisively broke through the Heart Demon Tribulation!
Instantly transcending tribulation!
Su Yuan had accomplished the impossible.
The Heavenly Demon Lord only felt his consciousness shudder before being thrown out of Su Yuan's body, returning to the Heart Demon Rule.
Su Yuan's main body flashed in place and then teleported away, disappearing.
Without the Heart Demon Tribulation as a bridge, the Heavenly Demon Lord could no longer locate Su Yuan.
As he looked at the permanently lost one-thousandth of Heart Demon Rule essence, his rage meter skyrocketed!
"Damn bastard, how dare you play me!"
The Heavenly Demon Lord raged repeatedly, roaring in countless cultivators' Heart Demon Tribulations, shockwaves killing innumerable practitioners!
On this day, myriad realms wailed in agony. Countless cultivators who happened to be breaking through barriers and advancing on this day suffered disaster, with heart demon potency generally increasing two to threefold. Some who were merely cultivating normally consequently suffered deviation and went mad.
After raging for a while, the Heavenly Demon suddenly burst into loud laughter: "Good, good, good! Impressive, very impressive! A mere Great Luo Golden Immortal actually played me for a fool! The demon path has an heir! The demon path has an heir! Not a loss! Huge profit! Hahahaha!!"
Su Yuan, hidden away, heard the Heavenly Demon Lord's words through his mind incarnation.
He couldn't help but say speechlessly: "Could it be that he still hasn't realized I practice the immortal path? The demon path is just my side job!"
Su Yuan shook his head.
His consciousness descended upon his clone on the Primordial Isle.
The clone awoke from its meditative state.
Su Yuan stood up and looked ahead. At this point, Zhuge Tao and Sima Nan had reached the 8,000-mile mark, leaving only 2,000 miles to complete the Heart Refining Path.
Zhuge Tao and Sima Nan were racing against each other while simultaneously trying to recruit cultivators behind them, wanting to draw them to their respective sides.
Sword Immortal Wine currently stood at the 5,000-mile mark, regretting that he couldn't compete for first place on the Heart Refining Path, but he could gain benefits from Zhuge Tao.
Following White Tiger's approach, he obtained a top-grade acquired spiritual treasure from Zhuge Tao in advance as payment!
Even though it was a relatively inferior top-grade acquired spiritual treasure, it was still a top-grade acquired spiritual treasure.
If he couldn't obtain the opportunity, he might as well secure benefits first!
Zhuge Tao had distributed a total of four top-grade acquired spiritual treasures, gaining support from Sword Immortal Wine, Wind-Winged Divine Bird, White Tiger, and a Vermilion Bird that arrived later. His advancement speed was much faster than Sima Nan's.
Sima Nan only gained support from two cultivators, which made his expression very unpleasant.
He couldn't help but look toward Su Yuan, intending to seek Su Yuan's assistance.
However, when he looked toward Su Yuan's location, he saw that Su Yuan was already moving swiftly along the Heart Refining Path, his speed a hundred times faster than before!