"Damn you, Ke Honggu, you've killed me! Release me, and I'll help you break this formation's light screen."
"Liar, Wuxiang Zhaoxuan, your trap is quite good, but you seem to have forgotten, I am bone. My demonic energy is more solid than your heart demon's. If this trap continues, you will perish before I do."
"Damn it! Damn it! This is a formation set up by a human Buddhist cultivator, not my trap! Let me go!"
"Heh heh, heh heh, you liar, do you think I'll believe you again?"
"I swear—"
"Don't the vows of various creatures constitute one of the Wuxiang Heavenly Demon's meals?"
"I..."
Yang Hong watched with amusement as the heart demon, pinned to the formation's light screen by black lightning and having its demonic energy frantically siphoned, felt terribly wronged. Everything the heart demon said was true, but to the bone demon, it was just another deception, another lie, utterly unbelievable. The bone demon was convinced of one thing: this formation was a trap designed to absorb demonic energy from demons, a trap specifically for him. Now, he had turned this trap to his advantage, using it to drain the heart demon's demonic energy.
"Well done, Bone Demon! This is exactly how it should be. With your cooperation, the heart demon is doomed!"
Giving the bone demon a thumbs-up from within the formation, Yang Hong turned and sat back in the center of the formation, releasing the laws of creation and time to accelerate the growth of the immortal spiritual plants, speed up the digestion of spiritual energy, and enhance the entire formation's ability to absorb demonic energy. As soon as the power-up cooldown ended, he immediately used 27 power-ups on the 27 immortal spiritual plants forming the core of the formation, and the remaining three power-ups to cultivate new immortal spiritual plants.
Days flew by amidst the heart demon's explanations and the bone demon's daily cries of "I won't listen! I won't listen!" Yang Hong didn't meticulously count the time. All he knew was that the 999 spiritual plants within a one-mile radius had all evolved into immortal spiritual plants, and the 27 core immortal spiritual plants forming the Yin-Yang Two Principles Spiritual Transformation Formation had been raised to Grade Three. Although he couldn't see what was happening outside the formation, the spiritual energy return had already reached tenfold. He had an intuition that the world's origin energy within this secret realm was running low.
"Idiot Ke Honggu, you will regret this! I'll wait for you to perish in the Abyss of Hell!" With a weak curse, the heart demon's translucent silhouette, too weak to be seen, dissipated into the heavens and earth. It couldn't have been more dead.
"Heh heh, you Wuxiang Zhaoxuan are the real idiot. My soul origin isn't here. This Dharma body can be reformed if it's destroyed. Explode!" To Yang Hong's astonishment, the bone demon uttered words that even surprised him slightly, and then directly self-destructed its entire bone Dharma body.
Rumbling—
After a fierce wave of energy, a gap was blasted open in the Yin-Yang Two Principles Spiritual Transformation Formation. A palm-sized bone fragment, pure white like jade, seized the opportunity and shot into the gap, flying towards the formation.
"Eh, such dense immortal energy! What is this Wuxiang Zhaoxuan up to? Is he trying to burn me to death with immortal energy?"
"Haha! Fortunately, I was smart and killed him first! Haha! Haha—"
The bone demon was truly a good boy, even revealing the method of its own demise obediently. If Yang Hong didn't know what to do, he'd be letting it down. As the bone demon cackled, the gap in the formation swiftly sealed. The immortal energy within the entire formation rapidly coalesced into a giant hand made of immortal energy, which then grabbed the bone fragment.
"Hmph, I knew you liar weren't dead yet, but you won't burn me that easily. Let's see who can reform their true demonic body first, and who will be the one to kill whom in the end."
The bone fragment vibrated, resisting and continuously jeering at the heart demon. This bone demon was far more verbose than the heart demon. Yang Hong, however, had no intention of enduring the bone demon's incessant chatter. As the immortal energy hand tightened its grip on the bone fragment, the Red Lotus Karmic Fire from his mind floated out and enveloped the fragment.
"Eh—what is this fire? It's so hot! So overbearing! So..."
The bone demon Ke Honggu's fragmented demonic soul had no chance to spout more nonsense. It was directly burned into spiritual energy by the Red Lotus Karmic Fire and supplied to Yang Hong. Without the protection of a complete divine soul, it was merely a wisp of remnant soul, and it vanished with a single burning.
"This piece of bone is quite interesting. It carries no trace of demonic energy or immortal energy, just pure bone. Yet its quality surpasses that of a ninth-grade spiritual artifact. Truly magical."
He squeezed the bone fragment in his hand. It wasn't particularly hard, but it was incredibly tough. Yang Hong's strength couldn't destroy it, nor could he even break it.
"I can keep it to forge a magical artifact. I imagine a defensive artifact made from it would be exceptionally sturdy."
Smiling, he put the bone fragment into the scale-space on the back of his hand. Yang Hong then dispersed his divine sense to survey the situation outside the formation. He saw an endless plain where most of the original spiritual plants had withered. The few that hadn't withered had transformed into demonic plants that exhaled demonic energy. Small numbers of demonic beasts had also appeared on the plain, but their strength was weak, only at the Golden Core stage of the fourth order. Beyond the thousand-mile plain lay a forest filled with rampant, warring demonic beasts and overgrown demonic plants, where a constant struggle for survival erupted every moment. Without the heart demon's suppression and herding, the battles were even more intense and brutal. Within this secret realm, Yang Hong's divine sense could only extend three thousand miles; beyond that, he could detect nothing.
"With the heart demon and bone demon gone, these demonic beasts will become fertilizer for the spiritual plants." Looking at the battling demonic beasts, he grinned sinisterly. Then, forming a hand seal, he closed the Heaven, Earth, and Man Three Talents Stealth Formation. A surge of immortal spiritual energy shot into the sky and spread outwards.
The demonic plants on the thousand-mile plain, bathed in the immortal spiritual energy, began to fade and wither, then ignite. The weak demonic beasts, sensing the immortal energy, immediately bolted towards the edge of the plain. To them, this immortal energy was like the deadliest poison gas. However, before these weak demonic beasts could escape the plain, they were trampled to death by the powerful demonic beasts that had rushed in from outside, eager to seize and absorb the immortal energy. Countless powerful demonic beasts swarmed in like flies drawn to a stench.
Buzz—
Golden and silver flames covered an area of ten miles. Any demonic beast or demonic plant that entered this range was rapidly reduced to ashes, returning to the secret realm's world as spiritual energy.
"Silver Moon Jade Flowing Paste—Sun Creation Technique—" Silver and purple spell lights illuminated the area. Spiritual plant seeds, one by one, broke through the soil and grew rapidly. Under the influence of the laws of creation and time, a verdant green plain began to spread quickly within the dim洪洞 (Hong Dong) secret realm. This time, nothing could truly stop the spread of the green plain. To purify the demonic energy throughout the entire Hong Dong secret realm as much as possible, Yang Hong temporarily halted the spiritual plant power-ups. Instead, he used the spiritual plant technique in conjunction with the two laws of power to rapidly plant spiritual plants, purifying the entire secret realm. According to his investigations, this Hong Dong secret realm had merged with the Seal Demon Secret Realm and at least five other secret realms, covering a terrifying area of 700 million li, larger than a hundred Earths. Furthermore, the entire secret realm had been thoroughly infiltrated by demonic energy, and there was a rift to the demonic realm constantly spewing forth demonic energy. If this rift were not sealed, it would be impossible for him to completely purify all the demonic energy in the secret realm.