Not enough?
Eligos's previously excited heart immediately sank.
"Although the Demon Gods are the controllers of the Demon God Pillars, they are merely controllers. The essence of the Demon God Pillars within your bodies is far too little."
Xu Yuan's words were like a bucket of cold water, harshly dousing Eligos's just-warmed heart.
"However, rest assured, it is still the essence power of the Demon God Pillar; the quality is sufficient. I simply can't help you nurture a complete Spiritual Furnace. Only through repeated evolutions of the Spiritual Furnace will you have the chance to recreate the glory of the Demon God Pillar."
Eligos's heart remained heavy.
Only through the evolution of the Spiritual Furnace could they restore the power of the Demon God Pillar from back then.
How many evolutions would this process require?
The demons had seventy-two Demon God Pillars.
If each Demon God Pillar needed to evolve again after transforming into a Spiritual Furnace, how long would it take?
Nevertheless, this was the hope for the demons. At least, they wouldn't disappear completely from this world.
However, Xu Yuan's next words caused his heart to sink once more.
"The essence power is still too insufficient. It's still too difficult to nurture a fully-formed Spiritual Furnace. You should be able to feel that it already has a rudimentary form now. It needs time and investment, or even more input from you."
Eligos remained silent for a long while before speaking, "What should we do?"
He could also sense the change in the essence of the Demon God Pillar. Although it was merging with heaven and earth, the process was too slow.
"Contribute all your power." Xu Yuan said coldly, "Completely integrate your power into this Spiritual Furnace. I can stabilize it and fuse it into your spirit node. You will lose all your cultivation, but you can start over. When you re-cultivate your spirit power, you will become a native cultivator of the Holy Demon Continent. After reaching the peak of the fifth rank, use spirit power to nourish the Spiritual Furnace. When you successfully condense a spirit node, it also means the Spiritual Furnace will be fully nurtured."
All of Eligos's fantasies were shattered.
The resurgence of the demons' glory was impossible.
Xu Yuan's words clearly indicated that even if the demons could continue, it would inevitably require a long time.
From another perspective, not being exterminated in that war was already fortunate for the demons.
"I've already informed Agares. If you agree, she will come soon to take you away."
Eligos gritted his teeth and said, "Do as you say."
"A wise choice."
The heaven and earth of the Holy Demon Continent were also digesting the power of the Demon God Pillar, so nurturing the Spiritual Furnace of the Demon God Pillar was imperative; otherwise, it would be a loss for all the demons.
Transforming the residual essence of the Demon God Pillar into the rudimentary form of a Spiritual Furnace, in the future, it could rechannel the power of the Demon God Pillar digested by heaven and earth, using the Spiritual Furnace as the source—this exchange wouldn't be a loss.
Especially during the period when heaven and earth were digesting the Demon God Pillar, it was necessary to nurture and evolve the Spiritual Furnace as much as possible.
When Agares arrived, Xu Yuan had already completed everything, sealing the rudimentary form of the Spiritual Furnace into one of Eligos's spirit nodes.
"Now, I am a completely ordinary person." Eligos felt his body devoid of any strength and smiled bitterly at Agares.
Agares also looked silently at Eligos.
"Although you've lost your previous strength, you and the Snake Spear Spiritual Furnace complement each other. Your cultivation talent won't be bad. Whether you can reach or even surpass your previous peak depends entirely on you." Agares thought for a long time before speaking to Eligos, "Success and failure both lie with the Demon God Pillar. Without the Demon God Pillar, we lost all our power. Now, it's as if we've broken free from the shackles of the Demon God Pillar, yet we haven't lost the qualification to regain its power."
Agares, known as the brain of the demon race, quickly weighed the pros and cons.
"By the way, remind you, in a sense, the demons have disappeared. Now, you are merely a native race inheriting the power of the demons."
Xu Yuan's words made Agares pale.
Eligos looked up at Agares.
He didn't understand Xu Yuan's meaning.
Agares sighed bitterly, "The power of the Demon God Pillar has transformed into a Spiritual Furnace. So, anyone who can fuse with the corresponding Spiritual Furnace can wield its power, which is the power of the Demon God Pillar. The demons are no longer demons but cultivators gaining power through new Spiritual Furnaces. Cultivators from the Federation can also seize our Spiritual Furnaces."
"Not only the people from the Federation?" Eligos's pupils contracted, feeling a wave of oppression.
Perhaps betrayal from their own kind was the most terrifying.
"That's right. Many of us demons evolved from humans. After losing the power of the demons, we can still have nine spirit nodes and fuse with nine Spiritual Furnaces. Therefore, the seventy-two Demon Gods might have someone trying to collect nine Spiritual Furnaces, gathering the power of nine Demon God Pillars. Perhaps—"
Agares hadn't finished speaking when Xu Yuan interrupted her.
"So, I suggest you separate from the demons now. When you have the ability to protect yourself, you can return to the demons." Xu Yuan said to Eligos.
This Eligos, as a Demon God, was relatively responsible and a notable figure. Xu Yuan didn't mind pointing out a clear path for him.
"The demons have ultimately fallen." Eligos's eyes were lifeless as he sighed and walked away alone.
He didn't let Agares take him away but set off aimlessly on his own.
"The other Demon Gods, try to gather them. My time is limited; at most, I will enter seclusion in a month."
Agares nodded and left.
Though this outcome was vastly different from what she had imagined, Xu Yuan hadn't violated the content of the original deal. She just hadn't realized that basing the demons on Spiritual Furnaces meant they were no longer demons.
After a long while, the second Demon God arrived.
Xu Yuan again nurtured a rudimentary form of a Spiritual Furnace according to Eligos's plan.
Time passed.
Initially, Xu Yuan would transform the essence of three Demon God Pillars daily, condensing the corresponding rudimentary forms of Spiritual Furnaces. These were the lower-ranked Demon Gods.
After half a month, it finally came to other Demon Gods ranked within the top twenty, and Xu Yuan began to slow down, condensing at most two Spiritual Furnaces per day.
In the frequent nurturing of Spiritual Furnaces, Xu Yuan sought that elusive trait of the Spiritual Furnace.
Evolution
"Evolution, I've finally grasped you."
A corner of Xu Yuan's mouth lifted.
His three spirit nodes inside his body operated, and his will had merged into heaven and earth.
Though this state couldn't control heaven and earth, it could better perceive changes in heaven and earth.
With this state, combined with his understanding of rules, Xu Yuan finally found the rule fluctuations corresponding to evolution after seventy condensations.
The Star Demon God watched Xu Yuan reveal a strange smile and adopted a defensive stance.
"Don't move recklessly; otherwise, I can't guarantee whether the rudimentary form of the Spiritual Furnace will be damaged." Xu Yuan coldly reminded.
This Star Demon God was the most talkative.
After arriving here, the Star Demon God asked too many questions, annoying Xu Yuan.
From the reaction of the Star Demon God, it wasn't hard to see that he had thoughts of killing and seizing the Spiritual Furnace, targeting the previous Demon Gods who became carriers for nurturing the Spiritual Furnace of the Demon God Pillar.
There were quite a few Demon Gods similar to the Star Demon God, but the Star Demon God was the craftiest. During the transformation of the Spiritual Furnace, he played numerous tricks, interrupting Xu Yuan's senses multiple times.
The Star Demon God said nothing and silently continued to cooperate with Xu Yuan.
His defensive mentality remained.
Only after his strength was exhausted and the Spiritual Furnace sealed within his body did he breathe a sigh of relief.
"Leave." Xu Yuan said coldly.
The Star Demon God took a deep breath and said, "Thank you, Senior."
After speaking, he turned and left.
Xu Yuan stared at the back of the Star Demon God, sensing a peculiar force.
"Really not honest."
Shaking his head, Xu Yuan paid no heed.
If he secretly retained some of his power, the Spiritual Furnace might proportionally lose some power, and the future power of the Star Demon Spiritual Furnace would also be impaired.
"The opportunity for evolution."
Without dwelling on the actions of the Star Demon God, Xu Yuan instead focused on the rule of evolution he had finally verified.
"The Great Origin Technique is indeed a good forbidden spell."
Xu Yuan closed his eyes, activating a forbidden spell belonging to the Sacred Heart Plane.
As a system for researching, analyzing, and applying rules, the mages of the Sacred Heart Plane also had their methods for perceiving rules.
Among them, low-level divine mages relied on opportunities and insight, but at the level of main gods, to deeply perceive the power of rules, auxiliary means were needed.
This Great Origin Technique was a forbidden spell to assist in sensing rule fluctuations, obtained by Xu Yuan from the Master of the Ten Thousand Stars Guild.
With the help of the Great Origin Technique, Xu Yuan could clearly capture the rule changes when the essence of each Demon God Pillar condensed into the rudimentary form of a Spiritual Furnace.
Every fluctuation was within his perception.
Through continuous comparison and elimination, he found the branch belonging to evolution.
Using spirit power to trigger that wisp of fluctuation, then allowing this wisp to expand and spread—ultimately, the complex and intricate rule of evolution appeared in Xu Yuan's vision.
"I don't need to analyze this rule or continue searching for techniques to apply this rule." Xu Yuan wasn't troubled by the complexity of this rule.
"I only need to activate this rule when nurturing my own Spiritual Furnace."
About half a day after the departure of the Star Demon God, Agares, as the last Demon God, arrived here.
"Senior, thank you for your trouble."
Agares bowed deeply, respectfully.
Xu Yuan waved his hand.
He looked at Agares and said, "Let's begin."
This time, he would trigger the rule of evolution to see the effect.
Agares released the essence of the Moon Demon God Pillar within her body, transforming the essence into a bright moon.
The bright moon transformed into a pattern, evolving into a Spiritual Furnace engraved with the image of the bright moon.
Agares felt all this.
Suddenly, a special fluctuation erupted from the Moon Demon Spiritual Furnace.
Agares' emotions surged.
She sensed a familiar power.
It was the power of the Moon Demon God Pillar!
At this moment, she actually felt the nearly complete power of the Moon Demon God Pillar once again.
She opened her eyes, looking at Xu Yuan, her expression filled with shock.
However, at this moment, Xu Yuan didn't notice her change but was immersed in this unexpected occurrence.
"The rule of evolution works like this."
Communicating with its most essential power and deepening this communication, thereby granting the Spiritual Furnace the ability for multi-stage evolution.
Because of this, the Moon Demon Spiritual Furnace might become the fastest among the Spiritual Furnaces Xu Yuan transformed to restore to the full power level of the Demon God Pillar.
Of course, these weren't what attracted Xu Yuan's attention the most.
What intrigued him was the power of the Moon Demon God Pillar.
"Demon Emperor, your will is indeed still within this heaven and earth."
Xu Yuan sensed another power of the Demon God Pillar.
The Demon God Pillars complemented each other. Xu Yuan had already nurtured seventy-one Demon God Pillar Spiritual Furnaces here. The fluctuations left behind, plus the power of the Moon Demon God Pillar drawn out by the Moon Demon Spiritual Furnace this time, allowed Xu Yuan to glimpse the power of the Rebellious Heavenly Dragon Demon Pillar.
"Though he didn't become part of heaven and earth after ascending to godhood, after his death, the Rebellious Heavenly Dragon Demon Pillar was integrated into this world, and his power was also becoming part of heaven and earth."
Continuing to seal the rudimentary form of the Moon Demon Spiritual Furnace into Agares' body and sending her away, Xu Yuan continued to capture the power belonging to the Rebellious Heavenly Dragon Demon Pillar and sense the will of the Demon Emperor.
"Hó% Đạo..."
This will was completely dormant, as if completely shut down, leaving only his power as part of heaven and earth.
"In this state, maintaining consciousness would be truly extraordinary."
Xu Yuan sighed.
He waved his hands, releasing spirit power, triggering the wisp of power of the Rebellious Heavenly Dragon Demon Pillar and the consciousness of Feng Xiu.
A faint outline of a Spiritual Furnace wrapped in a dragon emerged.
Without the personal provision of essence power by the Demon Emperor, Xu Yuan only captured a trace of qi, unable to stabilize the true form of this Spiritual Furnace.
However, he had his own methods.
He searched around, capturing traces of residual power left behind by the seventy-one Demon God Spiritual Furnaces.
Using these traces as a guide, he locked onto the illusion of the Rebellious Heavenly Dragon Spiritual Furnace.
"This Spiritual Furnace doesn't need to be condensed urgently. Even if it naturally nurtures after thousands of years, it counts as a success."
Xu Yuan chuckled softly and deeply buried this illusory Spiritual Furnace under the earth.
Having come, he must leave some footprints.
Who knows, hundreds of years later, when the Rebellious Heavenly Dragon Spiritual Furnace nurtures, whether there will be a lucky individual to become its master, becoming the true new Demon Emperor of the demon race.
This was the most incomplete of the Demon God Pillar Spiritual Furnaces, but also the one with the highest potential.
Casually setting up an 'opportunity,' Xu Yuan finally left this desolate cliff.
Having successfully captured the rule of evolution, the next step was to nurture the Spiritual Furnace he desired the most.
"Jue, are you ready?"
In a spatial rift of the Holy Demon Continent, Xu Yuan stood holding his spear.
He released Jue from his hand, letting it hover in front of him.
"The rule of evolution is merely a mechanism, not a fixed ability. Therefore, we can only utilize it on the Holy Demon Continent and must apply it to you. Randomly creating small worlds won't provide feedback to you. Thus, you must evolve the Spiritual Furnace yourself."
The spear vibrated, seemingly echoing Xu Yuan.
The rule of evolution acted on the Spiritual Furnace, connecting the Spiritual Furnace and the corresponding rule, thus creating the opportunity for evolution.
Therefore, the final Spiritual Furnace Xu Yuan needed must be evolved from Jue's own power.
"Stellar power, then." Xu Yuan said, "This time, let's evolve your stellar attribute."
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