"Damn bald donkey, this demon warns you to stop your foolishness immediately, or this demon will devour you right now!"
"Bald donkey, stop! As long as you leave this secret realm, this demon will not pursue the matter of your visit."
"Young friend, let's take a step back, and in the future, we shall mind our own business."
The inner demon's words grew increasingly gentle, even changing its address to "young friend" by the end.
However, Yang Hong did not respond, seemingly oblivious to the inner demon's shift in attitude.
Outside the Enlightenment Tree forest before him, a wall of trees had already risen.
A wall formed from hundred-zhang long roots, their trunks still wildly flailing, emitting piercing sonic booms as they cut through the air.
This hundred-zhang distance was enough to reach Yang Hong. The roots formed a circle, enclosing Yang Hong and continuously battering his domain, restricting it to an area of about forty zhang and making it difficult to expand.
While the inner demon was trying to persuade Yang Hong, it had not ceased its attacks. This hardly looked like a negotiation.
However, Yang Hong's formation was complete.
"Buddha Burns Yang Fire~ Go!"
He rapidly formed hand seals, conjuring layers of illusions. The Golden Flame Buddha on his body slowly separated, landing nine zhang to his right according to his hand seals.
As his magical power poured in, a golden, flame-like figure resembling his own appearance slowly solidified.
This figure, this time, had hair.
"Immortal Points Yin Flame~ Set!"
As soon as the Golden Flame Buddha stabilized, Yang Hong, after a brief moment to catch his breath, immediately formed hand seals again like a gale. A silver-white, immortal-energy emitting flame-like figure slowly appeared and solidified above him.
Finally, under his command, it accurately landed in a position to his left.
"Yin-Yang Two Poles Spirit Transformation Formation~ Rise!"
The two flame-like figures landed and solidified. Yang Hong quickly took out eighteen top-grade spirit stones and flung them out. His hand seals rose again, completing the final activation of the formation.
A golden and silver light-flame swirling sphere, thirty-six zhang in diameter, appeared in the dim, chaotic cave secret realm.
Having accomplished this, Yang Hong collapsed onto the ground, looking at his red, smoking hands, and forced a bitter smile.
"My hand speed is truly something. It's smoking. This kind of speed is enough to keep me single for eighteen lifetimes."
He circulated his magical power to cool and heal his hands, but they remained uncomfortably hot. Even applying spirit medicine couldn't fully alleviate the burning sensation.
This was the result of rapid casting, akin to a rule-based damage that even a cultivator at the ninth level of the Mahayana realm could not avoid.
However, it was all worth it.
As the Yin-Yang Two Poles Spirit Transformation Formation operated, the demonic energy outside the formation was continuously burned by the immortal flame and Buddha fire, transforming into pure spiritual energy that flowed into the formation.
Most of this spiritual energy maintained the formation's operation, with a smaller portion remaining, which could be stored or used by those within the formation for absorption and cultivation.
"Bald donkey, your formation is quite interesting, but can your formation withstand this demon's attacks?
Naive!"
The inner demon continued to chatter incessantly, as if its rambling was also a form of attack.
Yang Hong remained silent, taking out top-grade spirit stones to quickly recover his magical power, while simultaneously activating his Sword Domain.
This time, his Sword Domain no longer blocked demonic energy but began to exhibit the pure offensive aspect of a sword cultivator, the power of sword intent!
*Hummm~ Hummm~*
Sharp sword intent, carrying an indomitable will that aimed to destroy everything, shredded the Enlightenment Tree roots that surrounded Yang Hong.
Surpassing spirit plants, with hardness comparable to ninth-grade spiritual gold, the roots of the Enlightenment Tree were merely stiff in the face of Yang Hong's sword intent. With ten breaths' time, they could be ground into pieces, then further pulverized into dust by more sword qi.
The scattered dust, containing demonic energy, was transformed by the Yin-Yang Two Poles Spirit Transformation Formation back into spiritual energy to replenish Yang Hong.
"Damn it!
You little brats, I should kill this ant! Attack with all your magic!"
Seeing the power of Yang Hong's Sword Domain, the inner demon swiftly retracted the roots, revealing the various demonic beasts it had summoned.
*Roar~ Roar~*
Amidst the deafening roars of the demonic beasts, countless greyish spells shot forth in unison. Poisonous liquids, gases, and blood followed as ranged physical attacks.
Demonic beasts, though perhaps less intelligent, often possessed innate spells, making their attacks far more potent than those of demonic beasts.
"Sword Domain~ Circular Flow!"
Seeing the incoming spells, Yang Hong's heart tightened. His Sword Domain was best at offense, especially against tangible targets;
however, its defensive capabilities against spell attacks were considerably weaker.
He could only rotate his entire Sword Domain, turning it into a giant grinding disc to grind away or weaken the incoming spells.
*Rumble~ Rumble~*
Terrifying explosions unleashed tremendous waves of energy, even bending the Enlightenment Trees, making them seem on the verge of snapping.
This inner demon was truly ruthless, showing no concern for the safety of its hiding place.
Yang Hong, at the center of the Sword Domain, paled slightly, his magical power consumption soaring instantly.
Although his current combat power could contend with ordinary immortals, some of the demonic beasts here were powerful beings at the immortal level, and their attacks, combined with the sheer number of various demonic beasts, were overwhelming.
He could directly grind and decompose tangible attacks, but energy-form spell attacks required a certain amount of time to neutralize.
His Sword Domain, which had previously expanded to two hundred zhang, was once again compressed, slowly shrinking.
The fact that he hadn't been instantly killed was a testament to his Sword Domain's strength.
"Damn it! This inner demon is truly tenacious. I wonder if this little bit of spiritual energy is enough for me to imbue spirit plants?"
Yang Hong maintained his Sword Domain while taking out a ninth-grade Sword Heart Grass.
"Ding~ You imbued the ninth-grade spirit plant Sword Heart Grass with three days of cultivation, receiving a onefold return in cultivation, gaining three days of cultivation."
Hearing this notification, Yang Hong could only sigh inwardly.
Unless he was willing to absorb demonic energy and imbue it into the Sword Heart Grass, he had no way to directly imbue spirit plants with spiritual energy in an environment devoid of heaven and earth spiritual energy.
This was like a 'clever cook unable to cook without rice.'
To imbue spirit plants with spiritual energy, there must first be spiritual energy in the world, even if it's scarce.
In the current chaotic cave secret realm, spiritual energy was almost extinct, which led to Yang Hong only being able to imbue three days of cultivation and receive only three days of return.
"Hahaha~ Bald donkey, so this is your weakness! Now let's see how this demon plays with you.
Little brats, all attack with spells! Those useless ones who can't cast spells, get out of the way!"
Seeing that the spell attacks were effective, the inner demon excitedly adjusted its attack strategy.
Yang Hong's pressure increased dramatically!
However, he did not despair. As the demonic beasts' spell attacks intensified, the spiritual energy converted by the Two Poles Formation also slightly quickened;
as long as he persisted for a while, regardless of how much spiritual energy existed in the world, once the spiritual energy within the formation space reached a certain level, he could begin to use the [System] to imbue spirit plants,
and then gradually drain the origin of this secret realm!
This was now a battle of patience and endurance between him and the inner demon. It depended on who had more stamina and who could outlast whom!