The Results of a Month's Hard Practice

A month later.

Inside Prince Gu's Mansion.

Gu Qingfeng reclined leisurely as maids massaged his shoulders, while he reviewed the fruits of his arduous month-long cultivation.

First was his cultivation level—he had now reached the Tough Qi Realm!

Given that the quality of Inner Qi rivaled that of a Grandmaster, and True Qi was comparable to a Dragon Transformation expert, the potency of Tough Qi was not hard to imagine.

Though Gu Qingfeng had never witnessed a deity in action, he surmised that his Tough Qi, even if not quite on par with divine power, couldn’t be far off.

Reaching the Tough Qi Realm had been no easy feat. Even with the aid of demonic creatures to accelerate his cultivation, it had taken Gu Qingfeng a full month. In truth, he had reached the peak of the True Qi Realm in just three days—the remaining twenty-seven were spent breaking through the bottleneck.

The qualitative leap from True Qi to Tough Qi was excruciatingly difficult.

Even after repeatedly grinding through the demonic prisoners in the Demon Suppression Prison, it still took him twenty-seven days to achieve the breakthrough.

This alone spoke volumes about the sheer might of Tough Qi.

Unfortunately, after reaching the first level of the Tough Qi Realm, further progress became nearly impossible. Even when facing a formidable demon like the Evil Buddha—a Dragon Transformation expert at the eighth level—each full-power strike only yielded a minuscule gain. The second level remained a distant dream.

It seemed that from now on, only divine-level demons could aid his cultivation.

Beyond his cultivation, Gu Qingfeng’s physical prowess had also improved significantly. His strength and speed now matched that of a seventh-level Dragon Transformation expert. However, his Black Dragon Indestructible Body remained stagnant at the advanced stage, refusing to ascend further.

Though the Demon Suppression Prison lacked truly powerful demons, the cumulative gains from weaker foes had still bolstered his defenses considerably.

Additionally, he had acquired several new abilities:

- Flesh and Blood Transformation Art

- Illusory Demon Pupils

- Mastery of the Five Elements

- And a handful of miscellaneous minor skills.

The Flesh and Blood Transformation Art was obtained from a Grandmaster-level White Bone Spirit, a creature skilled in metamorphosis. Unlike mere illusions, this technique allowed the Bone Spirit to manipulate its flesh and blood, reshaping itself into any living form with flawless realism.

The power of this art was undeniable—such a complete and genuine transformation of flesh would likely deceive even a deity, unless they peered into the soul itself.

The Illusory Demon Pupils came from a Painting Demon, a creature with little offensive power but formidable illusionary techniques, relying on its painted realms to ensnare victims.

This ability was essentially an enhanced version of his previous Pupil Technique: Illusory Gaze. Before, his illusions could outright control those below the Dragon Transformation Realm, while against Dragon Transformation experts, they could only induce momentary dazes. Now, with the Illusory Demon Pupils, even average Dragon Transformation cultivators would struggle to resist.

Mastery of the Five Elements was less a single ability and more a fusion of five distinct powers.

Gu Qingfeng had repeatedly battled demons aligned with each of the five elements—Water, Earth, Metal, and Wood—extracting their respective control abilities.

As for Fire, he hadn’t needed to grind for it—his Flame God Body had already evolved beyond mere fire manipulation.

After gathering the five elemental attributes, these skills unexpectedly fused together, transforming into the ability to Command the Five Elements, granting him free control over metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.

As for the remaining miscellaneous minor skills, they were as useless as chicken ribs—hardly worth mentioning.

Over the past month, Gu Qingfeng's strength had surged dramatically once again. He estimated that, aside from peak Dragon Transformation-level human experts, no one could stand against him now. Perhaps he could even test his mettle against those at the peak of Dragon Transformation.

Such tremendous progress deserved gratitude toward the demons and monsters imprisoned in the Demon Suppression Tower. They had made an indelible contribution to Gu Qingfeng's growth.

The most obvious evidence of this was that the number of demons in the tower had been halved.

Some had been worked to death, some had succumbed to torture and taken their own lives, and others had perished attempting to escape the hellish conditions. Of course, the majority of deaths were due to the porcupine demon.

Ultimately, it was all the porcupine demon's fault. Who told it to provide the Thorns of Retribution ability? As a result, a great number of perfectly fine demons had been killed by the reflected damage.

Another noteworthy point was that, under Gu Qingfeng's month-long nurturing, the porcupine demon had feasted on the corpses of the fallen demons, its strength skyrocketing to the second level of Dragon Transformation. Its Thorns of Retribution ability had also grown stronger, now reflecting 20% of the damage dealt.

Note that this was not damage reduction—Gu Qingfeng still took the full brunt of attacks, but the attacker would also suffer 20% of the damage in return. It was akin to Newton's third law: if you punched someone, they would be hurt, but your fist would also feel the recoil. The Thorns of Retribution simply amplified that recoil.

Beyond his personal growth, Gu Qingfeng's demon army had also grown significantly.

Every single demon in the Demon Suppression Tower had sworn allegiance to him—because those who refused were all dead.

Additionally, Qiu Qianren and the Fire Crow Taoist had not been idle this past month, raiding over a dozen Demon Suppression Prisons and capturing numerous demons.

After a careful count, Gu Qingfeng found that his demon army had now reached fifty thousand strong.

Naturally, such a massive horde couldn't fit in the pocket dimension. Fortunately, a few of these demons possessed their own shadow realms.

Gu Qingfeng unceremoniously shattered their shadow realms to expand his pocket dimension, barely managing to accommodate all fifty thousand demons.

A purge was still underway, with weaker demons being ruthlessly culled and devoured by the stronger ones.

Gu Qingfeng's goal was clear: no demons below the Tough Qi Realm were worth keeping. They were just a waste of air.

After reviewing his cultivation progress, Gu Qingfeng suddenly felt a sense of aimlessness and emptiness. He realized he had nothing left to do.

He had already farmed every demon he could. Stronger ones were nowhere to be found, and his progress had hit a bottleneck. Yet, the sense of impending danger in his heart hadn't lessened—if anything, it had grown stronger with time.

After slaughtering so many demons and still not ascending to godhood, what was he to do?

It seemed he needed to find an opportunity to venture outside.

"Enough massaging. Go and make the arrangements—this prince will dine outside for today's midday meal."

Feeling somewhat restless, Gu Qingfeng gave his orders.

He decided to take a stroll to clear his mind.

After a month of arduous cultivation, he hadn’t truly explored the imperial capital. His days had been a monotonous cycle between Prince Gu's Mansion and the Demon Suppression Prison, with only occasional visits to places like the House of Blossoms, the Drunken Life Pavilion, the Fragrant Charm Pavilion, the Red Dust Pavilion, the Warm Abode, and the Moonlit Tavern.

Life had become unbearably dull.

Shortly after, the procession of the Prince of Equal Honor set off, heading straight for the largest tavern in the capital—Nature’s Abode.

Two teams of guards cleared the way ahead, followed by a lavish carriage the size of a small house, pulled by six towering steeds. Behind the carriage trailed over a dozen servants, ready to attend to their lord’s every need.

"Make way! Clear the road!"

The pedestrians took one look at the grand spectacle and, without waiting for the guards to shoo them away, immediately scattered like startled birds, terrified of offending the noble.

They fled with practiced ease—one advantage of living under the emperor’s rule was the frequent opportunities to exercise one’s legs.

Only after Gu Qingfeng’s entourage had passed did the crowd cautiously return to the center of the street, clustering in small groups and murmuring among themselves.

"Whose carriage was that? Such extravagance!"

"The Son of Heaven rides with six horses—was that the emperor himself?"

"Wrong, wrong! If it were the emperor, the Imperial Forest Army would’ve sealed off the entire street."

"Gasp! If not the emperor, yet daring to use six horses... could it be... the Prince of Equal Honor!?"