Chapter 111: Offering Oneself to the Demon

Xu Zhong did not need to devise a plan himself.

He was not alone in this body.

So he turned inward, reflecting on the core of his being, illuminating the Mud Pellet with the mirror heart, revealing that towering palace.

Since the last time his mind had opened wide, when he was implanted with the Dao Tree, the Heavenly Dao Demon Aspect had become unusually weak.

But this weakness was only relative to its previous state.

Even now, it remained stronger than Xu Zhong.

It sensed the probing from the mirror heart and opened its eyes.

The surrounding demonic energy surged outward, only to be fiercely suppressed by the White Marsh Diagram.

"You finally thought to come find me," it said.

The grand palace was engulfed in roaring flames; silver Samadhi True Fire pierced through the White Marsh Diagram and struck the Heavenly Dao Demon Aspect directly.

Its limbs were shackled and pierced by chains forged from the Samadhi True Fire, blood flowing freely, presenting a pitiful sight.

Though the Mud Pellet was calm on the surface, the temperature within the Mud Pellet’s sealing ground kept rising, as if submerged in an ocean of Samadhi True Fire.

The power of the Heavenly Dao Demon Aspect was being gradually melted down by the Samadhi True Fire into golden elixirs, falling from the Mud Pellet into the Dao Tree nestled in the dantian.

The Dao Tree absorbed these golden elixirs, refining them into streams of radiant light that extended along its branches, fluttering in the wind, transforming into illusory Reincarnation Halls resembling Dao Fruits.

"Indeed!" Xu Zhong’s soul spoke aloud, revealing his thoughts. "I can think of no other way, so I have come to you."

Since he had guarded the ‘One’ within the Mud Pellet, his thoughts no longer echoed within it.

The Heavenly Dao Demon Aspect’s own power could not penetrate the chaotic cage to directly affect Xu Zhong.

Thus, only when Xu Zhong reflected the Mud Pellet could they communicate.

"I suppose you don’t want to be refined to death by the Faceless One either!" Xu Zhong smiled gently. "We are one entity; if I perish, you become rootless driftwood, with nowhere to cling."

Yet if the Heavenly Dao Demon Aspect died, Xu Zhong would remain unaffected—they were not truly one and the same.

"But I have no other means either," the Heavenly Dao Demon Aspect sighed. "Do you know why it smeared the blood of many gods on the surface of the alchemy cauldron?"

"Using blood as a guide and soul as a spell, it painted a talisman with the heartfelt blood of twenty-one innate deities, suppressing me—preventing my escape and locking away my power."

Upon saying this, it symbolically attempted to move a finger.

Yet as soon as it moved one finger, a blood-red chain shot out from the void, binding that very finger.

"What makes you think I have a solution now?"

"Because you still have the leisure to explain it to me," Xu Zhong’s soul replied emotionlessly.

"If there truly were no way, you wouldn’t waste time talking nonsense here."

"Speak, what do you want?" Xu Zhong cut to the chase. "Apart from releasing you, everything is negotiable."

The Heavenly Dao Demon Aspect smiled wryly. "Impossible!"

Before Xu Zhong could question, it continued, "To escape the current predicament, you must release me."

"Without harnessing the power of the Heavenly Dao, do you think you alone can resolve this situation?"

Xu Zhong was silent for a moment, then said, "I can, but how do I let you leave?"

"Come inside."

"But I have not yet condensed a divine soul; how could I control the human soul?"

Before the three souls and seven spirits fuse into a divine soul, human effort cannot influence them, for a chaotic void separates them.

Though Xu Zhong had expelled impurities from all the apertures in his skull, he had yet to open the Mud Pellet.

"Open your heart and mind; let me lend you an arm."

Like a cicada shedding its shell.

From the Heavenly Dao Demon Aspect emerged another form of itself—this deity, born from swirling demonic energy, stood a staggering sixteen thousand zhang tall within the Mud Pellet world.

It strode forward.

One array after another activated, countless forces roiled, the entire Mud Pellet realm resisting the Heavenly Dao Demon Aspect’s advance.

In an instant, the divine pillars transformed from the White Marsh Diagram awakened, becoming innate divine beasts and birds, sweeping forth streams of Dao resonance and divine light to seal the Heavenly Dao Demon Aspect.

But those seals were easily ignited by the Samadhi True Fire.

The arrays themselves were suppressed by the Samadhi True Fire.

If not for the Dao Tree’s golden elixirs having absorbed much of its strength, these flames would never have shaken its foundation.

With each step the Heavenly Dao Demon Aspect took within the sealed land, a whip formed from the White Marsh Diagram and countless seals lashed behind it.

Crack!

Each lash shrank this incarnation by a third.

With every strike, chunks of flesh and blood fell away, turning into surging demonic energy, ignited to wisps of azure smoke drifting into the chaos.

Crack! Crack!

The sounds echoed, until the demonic incarnation that finally reached Xu Zhong’s soul was no larger than a fingernail.

It hovered at Xu Zhong’s brow, saying, "Open your heart and mind; let me in."

Xu Zhong complied.

That fingernail-sized incarnation advanced, slipping directly into the soul at the brow.

Once inside Xu Zhong’s body, a surge of demonic energy erupted like a beacon, spanning the Mud Pellet, resonating with heaven and earth.

In an instant, Xu Zhong felt boundless demonic energy and radiance rolling around him—an infinite sea layered thirty-three fold.

Within these oceans of demonic energy were myriad thoughts of all beings: extreme malice, greed, lust—a blend of all dark forces.

From these mixtures, heart demons were born.

These heart demons sank into the ocean of demonic energy, treading on bones as they melted, grasping the restless heart monkeys and wild horses.

Where their gaze fell, various thoughts took form, breaking free, seeking to entangle Xu Zhong and parasitize within his mirror heart.

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