Seasons came and went, the rivers continued flowing, and the mountains witnessed the rise and fall of countless cultivators, yet in a secluded cave somewhere within the Eastern Region, a man had spent the past three years struggling with a transformation that would eventually change his fate forever.
The cave was hidden beneath an unremarkable mountain, its entrance concealed behind layers of rock and overgrown vegetation, while several crude concealment formations prevented spiritual sense from easily penetrating the surrounding area. Deep within the cave, a circular stone platform had been covered with intricate blood-coloured formations, their twisted patterns resembling countless veins spreading across the ground, and the blood that filled those patterns had long since dried into a dark, almost black substance. At the centre of the platform sat a man with dishevelled hair and a gaunt face, his upper body bare, his legs crossed, and his hands resting upon his knees, although the violent trembling of his muscles made it difficult to believe that he was truly meditating.
It was He Jinfeng.
Countless years ago, he had still been a cultivator struggling to survive in the Eastern Region, carrying the resentment of his defeat and then later the humiliation of being injured by an unknown Golden Core cultivator. Then, through a combination of desperation and terrible fortune, he had obtained a mysterious finger wrapped in talismans, an object whose origin he had never been able to determine, yet whose demonic aura had immediately attracted his attention. At the time, he had believed that the finger might become the foundation of his rise, a rare treasure capable of helping him overcome the obstacles that had hindered his cultivation.
He had not been entirely wrong.
The finger had indeed changed his fate, but the price of that change had been far greater than he had imagined.
The first few years had been spent adapting to the Demonic Arm that had formed after he fused the mysterious finger with his severed limb, learning to control the unfamiliar strength that surged through it while suppressing the strange impulses that occasionally emerged from its depths. The years after that had been far more dangerous, as his cultivation began accelerating whenever he slaughtered other cultivators, their remaining essence being absorbed by the Demonic Arm and converted into nourishment for his body and cultivation. After that the distinction between ordinary cultivation and bloodshed had almost disappeared from his mind, because every successful hunt brought him closer to the power he desired, while every period of restraint left him feeling as though he were deliberately abandoning an opportunity to grow stronger.
The more he killed, the more pronounced the demonic rhyme emanating from the finger became, and the more pronounced that rhyme became, the more difficult it was for him to resist the urge to continue killing.
At first, He Jinfeng had remained cautious.
He targeted isolated cultivators whose cultivation was weaker than his own, beginning with those at the early stage of the Purple Palace Realm, and he carefully concealed his tracks after every attack. He understood that the Eastern Region was filled with powerful sects, ancient families, and cultivators who could easily crush him if they discovered his activities, so he had initially limited himself to a small number of victims, absorbing their essence before retreating into the wilderness to refine the gains.
However, the turning point had arrived when he killed several Purple Palace cultivators in quick succession.
The mysterious finger had suddenly released a demonic rhyme far more profound than anything he had sensed before, and for a brief moment, his consciousness had entered a state resembling enlightenment. Countless strange characters had appeared within his mind, accompanied by images of an endless abyss, iron chains stretching across a dark underworld, and innumerable figures struggling beneath an invisible prison. He had been unable to comprehend the full meaning of those visions, yet a portion of the mysterious knowledge had entered his consciousness and remained there even after the strange state ended.
It was a cultivation method.
The Underworld Prison Demonic Scripture.
He Jinfeng had nearly laughed himself hoarse when he first realised what he had obtained. Although he had never seen such a method before, its profoundness was immediately apparent, and the moment he began cultivating it, he discovered that it was not limited to refining spiritual Qi. It also used the essence of other cultivators to strengthen his physical body, allowing the energy he absorbed to nourish both his cultivation and his zombie physique, creating a path in which every successful hunt contributed to his overall advancement.
The method was sinister, but its effectiveness was undeniable.
His zombie physique, which had previously struggled to progress despite the resources he invested in it, began strengthening at an astonishing rate, eventually advancing to the late stage of Rank 3. His spiritual cultivation also improved, and after three years of relentless hunting and cultivation, he had reached the extreme stage of the Purple Palace Realm, standing only a short distance from the Golden Core Realm.
Naturally, such rapid advancement could not remain unnoticed forever.
The major sects of the Eastern Region had begun receiving reports of missing cultivators, and at first, the incidents were treated as isolated cases involving conflicts between independent cultivators. That changed when several Purple Palace experts disappeared within a relatively short period, leaving behind traces of blood and demonic energy that were difficult to conceal. As the number of victims increased, the surviving witnesses and the investigators sent by the major factions gradually pieced together the existence of a mysterious killer.
They began calling him the Devil Head.
The name spread quickly, especially after He Jinfeng's latest victim turned out to be a peak Purple Palace cultivator whose strength and background should have made him a difficult target. The death of such an expert finally forced the major sects to take the matter seriously, and several factions began organising secret ambushes, attempting to lure the Devil Head into locations where their experts could surround him and prevent his escape.
He Jinfeng had narrowly avoided several of those traps.
His cultivation had slowed as a result, since he could no longer hunt as freely as he had during the early stages, but the loss of opportunities had not discouraged him. He had already reached the extreme stage of the Purple Palace Realm, and with the mysterious finger gradually revealing more of its power, he believed that the remaining distance could be overcome through one final gamble.
He intended to fuse completely with the finger.
Once the fusion was complete, he would use the accumulated essence within his body, together with the enormous demonic energy contained in the mysterious object, to force his cultivation through the final barrier and establish his Golden Core. As for the lightning tribulation that would accompany the breakthrough, He Jinfeng considered it a manageable obstacle. His zombie physique had already reached the late stage of Rank 3, and he believed that the completed fusion would strengthen his body even further, giving him enough resistance to survive the tribulation without suffering serious consequences.
After reaching the Golden Core Realm, he planned to return to the Lin Family's territory and investigate the identity of the unknown Golden Core cultivator who had once injured him.
The thought alone made his expression twist into a cruel smile.
He still remembered the humiliation of that encounter, the helplessness he had experienced when his opponent demonstrated a strength he could neither understand nor resist, and the rage that had continued burning within him long after he escaped. He had spent years imagining the moment he would finally stand above that person, seize him, and repay every injury with interest.
Once he reached the Golden Core Realm, he would find that man.
He would capture him alive, destroy his cultivation, and make him experience a level of suffering that would ensure he never forgot He Jinfeng's name.
"Heh... heh heh..."
A low chuckle escaped his throat as he imagined the scene, but the sound quickly dissolved into a painful groan when the Demonic Arm suddenly trembled.
The finger embedded within it began to move.
No, it was not the finger itself moving, but something deep within it responding to the circulation of his cultivation method. The blood-coloured formations beneath He Jinfeng's body suddenly illuminated, their dark patterns flowing with a faint crimson radiance as the energy gathered around the platform began converging towards his right arm.
He Jinfeng's expression immediately changed.
"It's beginning."
He had been preparing for this moment for months, gradually directing the essence accumulated within his body towards the Demonic Arm while using the Underworld Prison Demonic Scripture to weaken the boundary separating his flesh from the mysterious finger. Until now, he had only managed to fuse with a portion of its power, leaving the deeper essence sealed within the object untouched, but the present attempt was different. The formation beneath him had been designed to stabilise his body during the process, while the accumulated blood essence would provide the nourishment needed to sustain the transformation.
He drew a deep breath and began circulating the Underworld Prison Demonic Scripture at full power.
The blood formations trembled.
A dark-red glow spread from the platform and climbed along his legs before converging around his abdomen, where it merged with the demonic energy already circulating through his meridians. He Jinfeng's body shuddered violently as the two forces collided, his muscles swelling beneath his skin while the bones within his right arm produced a series of sharp cracking sounds.
Crack!
Crack, crack!
His fingers curled involuntarily, and the skin around his wrist split open as dark blood seeped through the gaps. Instead of flowing down his arm, however, the blood was drawn back towards the mysterious finger, disappearing into its surface as though the object were absorbing the very substance from which his body was made.
Pain tore through him.
His teeth clenched so tightly that they nearly cracked, and the veins across his forehead bulged as he forced himself to maintain the circulation of the scripture. He had endured countless injuries during his three years of cultivation, but the pain he experienced now was entirely different, because it did not merely affect his flesh. Something seemed to be reaching into the deepest parts of his existence, pulling at the connection between his body, his spiritual cultivation, and his consciousness.
For a moment, he nearly lost control.
Then the finger released a surge of energy.
Pure demonic energy flooded through his Demonic Arm, pouring into his meridians before spreading throughout his entire body, and the moment it entered his system, the pain abruptly weakened. The energy was thick and profound, carrying a mysterious quality that seemed to surpass the demonic Qi he had absorbed from his victims, and as it circulated through his body, his cultivation began to rise.
He Jinfeng's eyes widened.
His spiritual Qi surged.
The bottleneck that had restrained him at the extreme stage of the Purple Palace Realm began to tremble, while the essence accumulated within his body was drawn into the circulation of the Underworld Prison Demonic Scripture. At the same time, his zombie physique underwent another transformation, the muscles and bones throughout his body becoming denser as the mysterious energy reinforced the foundation he had spent years developing.
A wave of euphoria washed over him.
It was as though he had spent his entire life struggling beneath an enormous weight, only for someone to suddenly remove it from his shoulders. His body felt lighter, his mind clearer, and the demonic energy flowing through his meridians responded to his will with unprecedented ease.
"So this is the power hidden within you!"
He Jinfeng laughed, his voice echoing through the cave as the crimson formations beneath him brightened further.
He could feel it.
The fusion was progressing.
The mysterious finger was finally revealing the power he had spent three years trying to obtain, and with every breath, the energy entering his body became more substantial. He Jinfeng's lips curled upwards as he imagined the moment his Golden Core took shape, followed by the freedom to hunt without constantly worrying about the major sects that had begun pursuing him.
Once his breakthrough was complete, those people would discover that their efforts to eliminate the Devil Head had come too late.
He would no longer need to hide in caves or flee whenever a powerful aura appeared nearby. With his Golden Core cultivation and strengthened zombie physique, he would possess the power to crush most of the cultivators who had previously threatened him, and the essence of those he killed would allow him to progress even further.
His laughter grew louder.
"Jie jie jie...!"
The strange sound echoed through his mind.
He Jinfeng barely noticed it.
He was too absorbed in the surging power to recognise that the laughter had not come from his own mouth, nor had it originated from anywhere within the cave. It had appeared directly inside his consciousness, faint at first, almost indistinguishable from the excitement flooding his mind, but it gradually became clearer as the mysterious finger continued releasing its demonic energy.
"Jie jie jie..."
The laughter repeated itself.
This time, He Jinfeng's smile faltered.
Something was wrong.
He had heard the strange sounds before, occasionally catching faint whispers during his cultivation, but he had always assumed they were remnants of the demonic rhyme emitted by the finger. Since the sounds had never directly interfered with his cultivation, he had ignored them, believing that whatever consciousness might remain within the object was either dormant or too weak to threaten him.
Now, however, the laughter carried an unmistakable sense of mockery.
It was not the meaningless echo of an ancient remnant.
Someone was laughing at him.
Before He Jinfeng could investigate, the energy flowing through his body suddenly changed direction.
The demonic Qi that had been circulating according to his will twisted violently, rushing towards his Demonic Arm before surging back through his meridians in a pattern he had never practised. His spiritual Qi immediately became chaotic, and the blood formations beneath him began pulsing at an irregular rhythm as though the entire arrangement had fallen under the control of another will.
He Jinfeng's expression changed drastically.
"What are you doing?!"
He tried to interrupt the circulation of the scripture, but his body no longer obeyed him.
His right arm rose on its own.
His fingers spread apart, and the Demonic Arm began emitting a dark radiance that travelled from the mysterious finger towards his shoulder. At the same time, his left hand lifted from his knee, followed by his legs, and the carefully maintained posture that had allowed him to control the fusion collapsed as his limbs moved without his permission.
He Jinfeng's heart sank.
He attempted to force his body back under control, drawing upon the spiritual Qi within his Purple Palace and commanding his zombie physique to resist the foreign influence. His muscles tightened, his bones groaned, and the energy within his body surged against the force controlling him, but the struggle only lasted for a few breaths before the opposing power pressed down with terrifying ease.
It was like trying to stop a river with his bare hands.
"No...!"
His eyes widened as his body slowly rose from the stone platform, his limbs stretched outward by an invisible force. He could still perceive the cave around him, the crimson formations beneath his feet, and the demonic energy flowing through his arm, but his connection to his own flesh had become strangely distant, as though his consciousness were trapped inside a body that no longer belonged to him.
Then he sensed something within his Sea of Consciousness.
A presence.
He Jinfeng's face turned pale.
He immediately tried to withdraw his spiritual awareness, but the moment his consciousness turned inward, he discovered that a dark humanoid figure was floating deep within his upper dantian, directly above the region where his true spirit resided.
The figure possessed no discernible facial features, only a vaguely human outline formed from dense black mist, its body surrounded by twisting strands of demonic energy that resembled countless living chains. Its presence was so deeply concealed that He Jinfeng could not understand how it had remained hidden within him for three years without being detected.
For the first time since obtaining the mysterious finger, genuine fear overwhelmed him.
"You...!"
His voice trembled despite his attempt to maintain his composure.
"How dare you sneak into my Sea of Consciousness?!"
The dark humanoid tilted its head.
Then it laughed again.
"Jie jie jie! Sneak into your Sea of Consciousness? What an amusing way to describe it."
Its voice was strange, neither male nor female, and seemed to emerge from every direction at once, causing He Jinfeng's spiritual form to tremble despite himself.
The humanoid continued in a mocking tone, "Perhaps you should have considered the risks before fusing an unknown object into your own body. You were so eager to obtain its power that you never once stopped to wonder why a finger capable of emitting such a profound demonic rhyme had been sealed away in the first place."
He Jinfeng's expression twisted.
He wanted to refute those words, to insist that he had taken every necessary precaution and that the finger had been the only path available to him, but the truth was that he had never possessed a complete understanding of the object. He had examined it, tested its energy, and attempted to determine its origin, yet every investigation had led to the same result, an unfathomable depth that seemed to extend far beyond his own knowledge.
He had known that the finger was dangerous.
He had simply believed that the danger could be controlled.
Now he finally understood how foolish that assumption had been.
"You... you're the consciousness hidden within the finger!"
He Jinfeng's voice rose sharply as he forced himself to confront the dark humanoid.
The figure did not bother denying it.
Instead, its vague head turned slightly, as though it were examining a particularly amusing insect.
"Consciousness? If that is the word you wish to use, then so be it."
Its tone became colder.
"Regardless, this body will suit me rather nicely."
The moment those words entered his ears, He Jinfeng's fear turned into desperation.
He immediately abandoned any attempt to control his physical body and concentrated his remaining spiritual strength upon his true spirit, attempting to escape the Sea of Consciousness before the dark figure could reach him. His spiritual form shot backwards, tearing through the surrounding darkness as he tried to retreat towards the deepest region of his consciousness, where he hoped he might find some remnant of control over his own existence.
He had barely moved when the humanoid disappeared.
He Jinfeng's pupils contracted.
The next instant, the dark figure appeared directly before him.
Its hand closed around his throat.
The grip looked almost casual, as though it had caught a small animal attempting to flee, yet the moment its fingers touched He Jinfeng's spiritual form, an overwhelming force descended upon him. His retreat stopped abruptly, and the spiritual energy surrounding his body began to collapse inward as countless black strands wrapped around his limbs.
He Jinfeng struggled violently.
"Let go of me!"
He summoned every trace of spiritual strength he possessed, forcing his Purple Palace to tremble as he attempted to unleash the power he had accumulated through years of cultivation. In the outside world, his body convulsed upon the stone platform, and the crimson formations beneath him erupted with light as his cultivation surged in a final, desperate attempt to resist the invasion.
The cave shook.
Stone fragments fell from the ceiling, and the concealment formations surrounding the entrance flickered as the spiritual energy within the cave spiralled out of control. He Jinfeng's zombie physique strained against the force controlling it, his Demonic Arm glowing with dark radiance as the mysterious finger continued pouring energy into his body.
For a brief moment, he believed he had found an opportunity.
His spiritual strength surged, and the Underworld Prison Demonic Scripture began circulating instinctively, drawing the essence accumulated within his body towards his Sea of Consciousness. The power rushed inward, forming a desperate barrier around his true spirit as he tried to break the dark humanoid's grip.
The humanoid merely watched.
Then its fingers tightened.
Crack!
The sound echoed through He Jinfeng's consciousness.
His spiritual barrier shattered.
The accumulated essence that had taken him countless years to gather was swept aside as though it were a thin sheet of paper, and the dark humanoid's presence expanded, filling the surrounding Sea of Consciousness with an overwhelming pressure that made every attempt at resistance seem meaningless.
He Jinfeng's expression became one of pure horror.
"No... wait!"
For the first time, his voice lost every trace of arrogance.
"Senior, spare me! I can help you! I know the Eastern Region, I know the major sects, and I can provide you with—"
The humanoid laughed.
"Provide me with what? Your knowledge? Your cultivation? Your body?"
Its grip tightened again, and the spiritual form of He Jinfeng began dissolving from the throat downwards, breaking apart into countless fragments that were drawn towards the dark figure's palm.
"Everything you possess already belongs to me."
He Jinfeng's eyes widened as he felt his consciousness being torn apart, each fragment of his spiritual form stripped away before it could escape. He attempted to scream, but the sound emerged only as a muffled gasp, his remaining spiritual strength rapidly fading beneath the overwhelming force of the dark humanoid.
"No—!"
The final cry barely escaped him.
His spiritual form disintegrated completely, scattering into countless luminous fragments that were immediately absorbed by the dark figure. The fragments vanished into its body, and with each one consumed, the humanoid's previously indistinct outline became slightly more substantial, its shoulders gaining definition while faint traces of a face began emerging beneath the surrounding black mist.
Then silence returned to the Sea of Consciousness.
He Jinfeng was gone.
The dark humanoid remained suspended above the empty space where his true spirit had once resided, its head slowly turning as it examined the surrounding consciousness. Outside, the body that had belonged to He Jinfeng remained seated upon the blood-soaked platform, but the tension that had once filled its muscles had disappeared, replaced by an unnatural stillness.
For several breaths, nothing happened.
Then the figure's consciousness shifted towards the Demonic Arm.
The mysterious finger had stopped releasing its energy.
Instead, the dark humanoid's will spread through it, and the connection between the object and the body gradually stabilised, as though the two had finally found their rightful master.
A faint smile appeared upon the figure's newly forming face.
"Thousands of years..."
Its voice was quiet, yet the sound carried a satisfaction that had been absent from its earlier laughter.
"These years of nourishment, and you have finally helped me recover enough to move beyond this wretched seal."
The figure paused, its attention turning towards the distant world beyond the cave.
The Eastern Region was vast, filled with countless cultivators and ancient factions, and somewhere within that world existed people who had once believed the mysterious finger could be locked away forever. They had apparently underestimated how much could be accomplished through patience, especially when a foolish cultivator willingly supplied the blood, essence and cultivation needed to weaken the restraints.
The dark humanoid lowered its gaze towards the body.
It flexed the fingers of its right hand, then slowly clenched them into a fist, testing the strength of the late-stage Rank 3 zombie physique and the cultivation that had reached the extreme stage of the Purple Palace Realm. The body was not perfect, and the cultivation foundation contained flaws accumulated through years of consuming other cultivators, but it was more than sufficient for its present needs.
As for the Golden Core Realm, there was no need to rush.
The body had already been prepared, the Underworld Prison Demonic Scripture remained within its consciousness, and the mysterious finger was now fully under its control. With time, it could refine the remaining impurities, repair the weaknesses in the foundation, and decide whether to advance immediately or gather more resources before attempting the breakthrough.
The figure's smile widened.
"Let us see how much this world has changed."
It slowly rose from the stone platform, the blood-soaked formations beneath its feet fading as the remaining energy was absorbed into its body. The concealment formations around the cave trembled, then gradually settled as the dark humanoid turned towards the entrance.