Chapter 35: The Correct Way to Use the Devouring Core
After the Blade Demon's phantom swallowed the head of the White Light phantom in one gulp, this deep-blue phantom began to twist, forming a vortex before disappearing completely.
Su Xiao, whose half of his body was emitting blue smoke, immediately noticed this scene. He closed his eyes to sense. In the past, when activating the Devouring Core to absorb biological energy, the Blade Demon phantom would always appear.
The Blade Demon phantom was not some "external evil invasion." When Su Xiao generated the Devouring Core within his body, the Blade Demon phantom appeared simultaneously. It seemed to have a symbiotic relationship with the Devouring Core.
Whenever Su Xiao used the Devouring Core, the Blade Demon phantom would attempt to surge into Su Xiao's body. In principle, the Blade Demon phantom was merely a mass of energy, and it was also subject to the attraction of the Devouring Core. If Su Xiao did not use the Devouring Core, the Blade Demon phantom would never invade his body.
Therefore, it was the Devouring Core actively attracting the Blade Demon phantom, not the Blade Demon phantom having subjective consciousness and intending to seize Su Xiao's body. In fact, even if the Blade Demon phantom surged into Su Xiao's body, at worst, he would lose his mind, falling into a deep slumber for a long time, with no guarantee of ever waking up.
Because of this, the Void races feared the Blade Demon so much. The Blade Demon acted without consciousness, distinguishing neither friend nor foe, good nor evil. Its behavioral principles were mostly determined by the original personality of the Shadow of Law Destruction it possessed.
Take Su Xiao, for example. If he were suppressed by the Blade Demon phantom, even if he didn't slaughter his way through the entire world he was in, he would still be an extremely dangerous existence.
Although the Void races were wary of the Blade Demon, no one joined forces to besiege it. The reason was that it wasn't worth it. Not to mention that the mindless Blade Demon was absurdly strong, even if they managed to surround and kill it, what would the Void races gain? The Spellcasters had already confirmed that the subjective consciousness of that Blade Demon was dead—meaning the consciousness of the Shadow of Law Destruction within that Blade Demon had dissipated.
Su Xiao had asked Mawen Hua'erzi about the Blade Demon phantom. Mawen Hua'erzi's answer was quite interesting. His exact words were: "The Blade Demon spirit isn't dangerous. If you're strong enough, it becomes one of your abilities—a very important one at that."
Because of this, Su Xiao's impression of the Blade Demon phantom changed drastically. He had known before that this thing was just an unknown energy. After Mawen Hua'erzi's confirmation, he roughly understood what it was.
To suppress the Blade Demon phantom, one didn't need a heart as hard as iron. Even swapping in a "steel heart" wouldn't prevent the Blade Demon phantom's invasion.
There was only one way to stop the Blade Demon from invading the body: Cyan Steel Shadow energy. As long as the Cyan Steel Shadow energy was stronger than the Blade Demon phantom, this energy wouldn't cause Su Xiao any harm—provided he didn't overuse the Devouring Core.
Now that the Blade Demon phantom had suddenly disappeared, Su Xiao's expression wasn't good. He had already sensed the Blade Demon phantom's location. It was inside the Devouring Core, condensed into a pinpoint of dark-blue energy that showed signs of slowly expanding.
Clearly, the Blade Demon phantom had improved after devouring the White Light phantom. If the degree of improvement exceeded the Cyan Steel Shadow ability, then this energy would directly surge into Su Xiao's body. Once that happened, Su Xiao's consciousness would become groggy, and in the perilous Reincarnation Paradise, that would mean death.
If Su Xiao transformed into the Blade Demon, he wouldn't heed any tasks issued by Reincarnation Paradise, and he would be as good as dead.
After Su Xiao closed his eyes to sense the intensity of the Blade Demon energy within him, his brow raised slightly. The energy base of this thing... seemed rather pathetic.
The purity of the Blade Demon's energy was astonishing, dozens of times greater than Cyan Steel Shadow energy. But as for the total energy sum...
Based on Su Xiao's estimation, even if the Blade Demon energy completed its enhancement, Cyan Steel Shadow energy at Lv.35 or above would be enough to suppress it.
Currently, Su Xiao's Cyan Steel Shadow ability was more than capable of pinning the Blade Demon energy down inside the Devouring Core and beating it. In fact, without the Devouring Core's protection, over time, the Cyan Steel Shadow energy might even be able to devour and annihilate this energy.
The situation wasn't critical right now, but Su Xiao didn't dare let his guard down. The reason was simple: before, only about Lv.20 of the Cyan Steel Shadow ability was needed to suppress the Blade Demon energy. But after the Blade Demon energy devoured the White Light phantom's head, its energy base had increased significantly, requiring about Lv.35 of the Cyan Steel Shadow ability to suppress.
If the Blade Demon energy devoured another life energy, the current level of the Cyan Steel Shadow ability wouldn't be able to suppress it, and that would basically mean death.
Su Xiao had no idea what had gotten into the Blade Demon energy today, that it would actively bite off an enemy's head.
Inside the fifth layer of the fortress, blue smoke enveloped the White Light phantom. The blue smoke twisted, and a massive amount of energy surged into Su Xiao's left arm, then into the Devouring Core at his chest. It was transformed, refined, purified, and filtered, turning into a colorless, attribute-less energy that was devoured by the Cyan Steel Shadow energy.
The Cyan Steel Shadow energy rapidly expanded, and the blue smoke in Su Xiao's hand grew stronger.
Whoosh~
Blue smoke surged over Su Xiao's body. He seemed to have discovered something interesting. Suddenly, blue smoke began to emanate from every part of his body, like burning flames.
This was the first time Su Xiao had enveloped his entire body in blue smoke. The scene before his eyes changed drastically. The world around him turned into black and white. Not far away, there were four clusters of red energy, each the size of a fist. These red energies seemed tainted, as if they were frequently mixed with some high-level energy.
Su Xiao instinctively felt repulsed by these four energy clusters. Those four things were disgusting and couldn't be "eaten."
Su Xiao shifted his gaze. A pink energy cluster floated beside him. This energy looked sweet, but it also couldn't be eaten. Reason told Su Xiao that he couldn't devour this thing—it was the same type of energy as his own.
This pink energy cluster was actually the Little Assistant. She stood frozen in place, swallowing hard as cold sweat dripped down her forehead. A few seconds ago, her superior had been enveloped in blue smoke, his pupils turning blood-red, and the blue smoke drifting from his body surface looked like demonic flames burning.
"Sir...?"
The Little Assistant's legs were trembling. She could suppress the fear in her heart, but her instincts were telling her to run—now!
"Hm?"
Su Xiao was very clear-headed now. In fact, he had never observed this world so clearly before.
"Phew... I thought you had a genetic mutation."
"..."
Su Xiao raised his right arm. The reason he was completely enveloped in blue smoke was that he had fully activated the Devouring Core ability. In the past, he had at most activated the Devouring Core to 15% to 20%. But now, he had fully activated it. The reason he dared to do this was simple: the Blade Demon phantom was in a "hibernation" state, and the vitality of that energy had greatly decreased.
Only now did Su Xiao realize that the Devouring Core could be used this way. He saw many things—for example, an extremely powerful life energy in the deepest room of the fifth layer. That energy hadn't attacked proactively, as if it was guarding something.
Not only that, but he also saw things inside the alternate space. Although he couldn't enter there, he saw a large mass of golden energy inside the alternate space. That golden energy was like an ice cream on a scorching summer day—it made one want to take a big bite.