The Situation in the Demon Realm, Three Qi Returning to Origin Gourd

However, the very moment their divine senses or gazes touched that area—

"Hum!"

An indescribable, ancient coercion and deterrence, originating from the deepest depths of their bloodlines and souls, struck their minds fiercely across the vast distance!

"Pfft!"

An ancient Demon Ancestor who was in secluded cultivation with an unstable aura groaned on the spot. A trace of golden demon blood spilled from the corner of his mouth, and the Dao rhythm around him fell into chaos.

"This... is this... the aura of a Primordial Divine Beast?!"

An experienced and knowledgeable matriarch of the Phoenix Clan cried out softly, her voice trembling with disbelief.

She felt the thin Primordial Phoenix bloodline within her body actually resonating faintly—and fearing—those phantoms in the distance!

"No, how could a divine-level bloodline appear in the Nine Heavens Realm?! Could it be replicated by some array? But what kind of array can summon ten fierce beasts at once?!"

"Fierce malevolence! The ultimate destructive malevolence! How can these two completely different powers... coexist so harmoniously?!"

Another hidden elder of the Dragon Clan had his pupils shrink to the size of needles, his dragon soul trembling.

At this moment, all the mighty figures who cast their gazes over felt that absolute suppression and vast heavenly might, which stood above all demon bloodlines and felt like directly facing the Ancestral Origin Laws from the dawn of creation.

Their gazes involuntarily shifted from that world-destroying array to a higher place, towards the eleven figures standing above the firmament.

They were not unfamiliar with the ten demonic figures exuding half-immortal auras and striking various poses—they were precisely the Ten Great Demon Ancestors of the Heavenly Demon Pavilion, who had risen to fame over the past millennium and drawn the attention of countless factions.

And looking at their current posture, faintly guarding and standing half a step behind the black-robed man with respectful expressions... all the pryers instantly arrived at the same earth-shattering conclusion in their hearts:

This black-robed man with an unfathomable aura was likely the mysterious and unpredictable Pavilion Master of the Heavenly Demon Pavilion, who had never truly shown himself to the public in the Demon Realm for a thousand years.

Over the past millennium, they had guessed the identity and strength of this Heavenly Demon Pavilion Master countless times. Some said he had long perished, some said he was in bitter secluded cultivation, and some said he had already left the Nine Heavens Realm, but no demon had ever seen him truly reveal himself.

No one could have imagined that this legendary Pavilion Master's first appearance would bring about such a world-shaking commotion.

As soon as he made a move, it was two great ancient killing arrays, summoning the phantoms of ten divine beasts, directly crushing the entire Ten Thousand Demons Alliance.

The oppressive feeling and destructive power brought by the six divine beasts summoned by these two great arrays were several times, even a hundred times stronger than all the ancient arrays and secret sect arrays they knew of.

A cold and despairing realization surfaced in the minds of these mighty figures:

Let alone the superposition of this dual array, even if just one of them was placed in the core ancestral land that their own clans had operated for ten thousand years, and the clan-protecting array was activated with the power of the entire clan, they probably wouldn't be able to withstand it.

The origin Dao marks and destructive power contained within that array were simply beyond the imagination and resistance of any faction in the current Demon Realm.

This was exactly the effect Gu Changyuan wanted.

Not only did he want to completely eradicate this constantly provoking Ten Thousand Demons Alliance, but he also wanted to use this opportunity to show the entire Demon Realm what untouchable Heavenly Might was, establishing an unspoken rule.

Finally, under the world-destroying might of the dual arrays and the focus of the entire Demon Realm's gaze, the surviving elders and managers in the Ten Thousand Demons City, who had just been clamoring for a resolution, completely broke down.

Dignity, power—in the face of life and death and the absolute gap in strength, they were worthless.

However, regarding these belated pleas and submissions, Gu Changyuan did not even let his gaze waver.

He willed it in his mind.

"Boom—!!!"

The pressure of the dual arrays suddenly surged to an indescribably terrifying extreme.

The demon cultivators of the Ten Thousand Demons Alliance below, whether they were the elders and managers begging for mercy, or those ordinary demon cultivators, all had their souls shattered and demon cores exploded under this terrifying pressure, instantly killed by the array.

In the blink of an eye, the once arrogant and domineering, massive Ten Thousand Demons Alliance was completely reduced to ruins, without the slightest trace of life remaining.

Gu Changyuan remained expressionless and casually waved his right hand.

A giant gourd, pitch-black all over and flowing with dark golden profound patterns on its surface, appeared out of thin air directly above the ruins of the Ten Thousand Demons City.

The mouth of the gourd faced downward and vibrated gently.

"Hum..."

A massive, pure, yet incredibly gentle suction force enveloped the area below.

In an instant, the vast energy permeating the entire ruins began to be methodically extracted and separated.

That was the massive legacy left behind after the fall of countless demon cultivators of the Ten Thousand Demons Alliance:

The spiritual energy condensed by the cultivators, the rich life blood vitality, and those soul energies that had not yet completely dispersed.

The interior of the gourd contained its own universe. The spiritual energy, blood vitality, and soul energy were completely separated and stored, not interfering with each other, without a single trace being wasted.

Gu Changyuan watched the gourd slowly absorb the three energies, a faint curve curling up at the corner of his mouth.

He thought of his disciples in the Heavenly Devil Sect of the Devil Realm. These spiritual, blood, and soul energies were undoubtedly the most precious cultivation resources for them.

The environment of the Devil Realm was special, mainly composed of three races with vastly different innate physiques: the Human Race, the Ghost Race, and the Soul Race.

Among them, human devil cultivators absorbed and refined spiritual energy to strengthen their own devil essence; the Ghost Race devoured blood vitality to temper their ghost bodies and advance their cultivation; the Soul Race relied on absorbing pure soul energy to nourish their soul cores and raise their realms.

And the source of these three energies was all cultivators.

The races of the Devil Realm were not inherently evil, nor could they simply be equated with evil cultivators.

They were born with special physiques and had to convert one of the three energies—spiritual energy, blood vitality, or soul energy—into unique devil energy for cultivation. This was their way of survival and evolution.

Take the human race of the Devil Realm for example. At first, the Devil Realm only had the Ghost and Soul races.

The human race moved in later due to various reasons.

When human cultivators were born, their physical talents varied greatly. Naturally, there would be those with special physiques who had an affinity for devil energy, or even relied on it to grow.

These children were often regarded as anomalies and ominous, abandoned or persecuted. With nowhere else to go, they eventually fled or were guided into the Devil Realm.

They multiplied and thrived in the Devil Realm, gradually growing stronger, and eventually became the new Devil Race.

But later, due to differences in cultivation philosophies and conflicts of interest, they split into multiple human factions, fighting each other in endless chaos.

And the Heavenly Devil Sect was founded by Gu Changyuan himself when he descended ten thousand years after the Devil Realm's landscape had formed.

From the very beginning of its founding, he laid down an ironclad rule: do not slaughter the innocent, do not harm living beings indiscriminately.

Then, where did the cultivation resources for the disciples of the Heavenly Devil Sect come from?

The answer was simple: take from the un-innocent, take from those who deserve to die.

For this reason, when founding the Heavenly Devil Sect, the system rewarded a special standard magical artifact tailored specifically for the Heavenly Devil Sect—the Three Qi Genesis Gourd.

This gourd had miraculous effects. After a living being died, it could separately absorb, purify, and separately store the spiritual energy, blood vitality, and soul energy within their bodies.

Afterward, the disciples only needed to bring the gourds back to the sect and transfer the absorbed Three Qi into the corresponding Three Qi Vaults. They would then be awarded contribution points based on the volume they collected.

Alternatively, they could refine the specific Qi they needed for their own cultivation and trade the remaining two types of Qi with other disciples who required them.

In contrast, the methods used by many other races and factions in the Demonic Realm to acquire resources were often far more direct and brutal.

They would either hunt and absorb the energy on the spot, or capture living beings to keep in captivity, slowly extracting their energy over time.

Naturally, their efficiency was far inferior to the model established by the Heavenly Demon Sect.

Because of this system, disciples of the Heavenly Demon Sect frequently chose to accept sect missions that took them to secret realms, ancient battlefields, or chaotic territories known for brutal slaughter and heavy casualties.

There, whenever they stumbled upon unclaimed corpses, they would directly harvest the Three Qi. If they encountered ruthless evil cultivators robbing or bullying the weak, they would decisively intervene. After slaying the wicked and eradicating the evil, they would use their gourds to collect the villains' "legacy."

Over time, while the countless cultivators of the Nine Heavens Realm still maintained a general wariness toward demonic cultivators, their reactions shifted when they encountered disciples wearing the Heavenly Demon Sect insignia and carrying those iconic black gourds.

Many orthodox and neutral cultivators would actually feel a sense of goodwill toward them, sometimes even taking the initiative to offer clues or propose cooperation.

Eventually, an unwritten rule began to circulate among the cultivators.

If you meet a disciple of the Heavenly Demon Sect, you can travel alongside them with peace of mind. They never go out of their way to cause trouble, but they never back down from it either.

Many cultivators had even metaphorically given the Heavenly Demon Sect a five-star review, hailing them as a true breath of fresh air within the Demonic Realm.