Chapter 1282 Demonic
Days later, the Gorge had finally been cleared. After setting a concealment array that darkened what was happening below, Dyon took Madeleine in his arms again. She seemed to still be taking a content nap.
"Big brother, isn't it safer to keep sister-in-law in the tower?" Biibi asked.
Dyon shook his head. "Her life is still hanging on by a thread. As things stand now, things could go very badly very quickly at any moment. I have to be there to stabilize it if that happens, even a split second could be the difference between life and death.
"Oh…" Biibi suddenly felt sorry for asking. Although they hadn't known this sister-in-law for long, Madeleine was the type of person who everyone took a liking to quickly. Seeing her so grey and weak made them feel uncomfortable.
Dyon had only laid her to rest before fighting the demon tigers because it couldn't be helped. But, as things stood now, he felt better with her in his arms.
"Don't worry about it so much, she'll push through this." Dyon said with a smile. "Let's go and see what this Demonic Gorge has to offer."
"Hard rocks, lots of hard rocks!" Little Rain flipped around in Dyon's inner world, forcing him to release the little guy for fear he might accidentally harm the Heaven's Selfless Breath bushels.
Dyon laughed slightly.
"Who's this?" The four beast babies blinked, Biibi, Linlin and Shere having returned to their adorable toddler forms.
"He's our money maker." Dyon said mysteriously. Who knew that Little Rain, who had been completely knocked out for the past more than month, would suddenly awaken with such vigor?
Still, this was good news. The Demonic Gorge was large, who knew how many mineral deposits they had sitting around? Although Dyon was very interested in the concentration of demonic and devil qi, he was even more interested in just what kind of minerals would be formed after trillions of years bathing in such conditions…
Demonic and devil qi had similar characteristics, but, branched along separate paths. The largest difference would have to be the fact that demonic qi was capable of effecting the mind, while devil qi had stronger enhancement abilities. Its these differences that led to one becoming a cultivation path, while the other became a will path.
If Dyon had to describe his [Judgement] technique – his current strongest attacking ability if one ignored Titan Emperor's Will – he'd say that it fell into the demonic category as it attacked on two separate planes.
As for Titan's will, although the records described it as a higher form of demonic will, Dyon was skeptical of this assessment. This was because, unlike his demonic will, titan will didn't directly infect an opponents mind. Instead, it enhanced to the body to a realm where its user's presence itself could do so.
In simple terms, demonic will forced one to rely on it for strength. However, titan will allowed one to strengthen themselves and thus rely on themselves. In fact, in Dyon's opinion, it was far more similar to devil qi in that respect.
These thoughts that floated in Dyon's mind made him extremely curious about the source of these energies, and Demonic Gorge gave him the perfect opportunity to assess his hypotheses.
With Little Rain's help, it wasn't very long before they found their first deposit of demonic essence. It seemed that there were different entrances to the very same connected mine.
Stones of black stood etched in an open vein, stretching down below farther than Dyon could see. In fact, the truth was that if it wasn't for his divine sense, he wouldn't be able to see more than a few feet into the open mine. This was likely why the tiger beasts hadn't dared to explore much.
"The history on this is vague even for us," Little Yang spoke, "The age of such cultivation came before our species was birthed. Although, as historians, we've done our best to collect records of this time, they aren't infallible."
Dyon nodded. "What do you know then?"
"We're certain the open pit mines like this, filled with demonic essence were far more common several eras ago. In all likelihood, humans realized how much certain beasts gained from such areas and soon realized they could strengthen themselves as well.
"This led to two diverging paths. The first to appear was the demonic path, thus why these stones are known as demonic essence. Much later, when humans began to study their meridians to step away from the body refinement path and begin to follow the body and energy paths, this was when devil cultivators were born."
"Mhm." Little Yin nodded a bit more passionately than one might expect. "Devil Cultivators were known for the overwhelming bodily strength, just like demonic path cultivators, but they had a dark edge to them that made them devilish.
"Back then, there weren't just devil cultivators either. There were Light Cultivators, known for their quick flowing energy and speed. There were Holy Cultivators, known for their great recovery speeds and healing capabilities, not to mention near endless stamina. There were Bold Cultivators, known for being the polar opposite of light cultivators. They had energy so heavy that they weighed sometimes five to even ten times heavier than those of their size. They had great strength and defensive abilities."
"Even within these cultivator groups there were endless branches as well." Little Yang agreed with his little sister. "Many had different requirements for becoming a part of their factions while many disagreed on the exact type of energy should be used. As one might expect there were more than one 'light' or 'bold' or 'holy' type of energy, each varying to minute degrees."
"In the end though, all of these factions became obsolete when conventional energy was found. Although those who followed the conventional path could never defeat those factions in their lanes, when it came to overall fighting ability, the conventional path always wins out. They're simply more balanced."
Dyon nodded. When he faced True God Falkor just months earlier, the reason he had deflected his attack so resoundingly was because he had used 'Bold' type energy. He had realized long ago that those heavy flowing and dense energies raised his silver mirror constitution to an all new height.
However, Dyon wasn't worried about becoming obsolete like those factions. Why? Because unlike them, he could use all of their abilities freely. This was also why the devil cultivators had survived to this day. They could wield both conventional and devil qi. Well… As long as the energy he took from the beast dung lasted. He had already run out of 'Holy' type energy, so it was only a matter of time before he ran out of the others.
It was because of this that he knew he had to re-connect with his constitution's world quickly. Only it had an abundance of these energies. But, he had to be strong enough to take it for himself. This was why this open pit mine was so important to him. If he directly used demonic essence to refine his body, the process should be much quicker.
As things stood now, Dyon was on the precipice of reaching the 20 million jin body weight. He could sustain just under that comfortably now. But, he had to make to 100 million to re-enter the world. So, he had a lot of work to do.
"Let's start by seeing what at the bottom of this mine. Then, we'll see what other veins we can find." Dyon smiled lightly, hopping into the dense black with little to no hesitation.
As he did so, interested parties started converging on the Demon Gorge. Just days ago, the first phase sky castles had closed and the second phase would begin in just a few months. In that time, those who entered the mystical world had nothing better to do that explore the ground below…
What better sounded the location of a treasure than the mourning cry of a dying peak celestial transcendent grade beast?
Dyon bounced lightly from wall to wall along the deep shaft, slowing his descent. Since he couldn't fly, he couldn't simply entrust his fate to his strong body.
Soon, with a crashing boom, he landed at the bottom. Still, he made sure that none of the shock or noise made its way to the sleeping Madeleine.
His body flickered and disappeared, soon coming to a vast expanse of black. His eyes, despite his cultivation, couldn't see a single thing. However, his divine sense picked up a scene that should have made his heart drop to his stomach.