Chapter 214: [three-phase Ritual]
After taking stock of the five pieces of ‘Pollutants’, the Tiger Demon King first selected the 【Worm Pillar】 and placed it directly in the corner of the Attic.
It planned to refine all the ‘Shadow Magic Worms’ into 【Insect Pillar Town Stones】, then venture deep into the 【Misty Mountains】 to attempt recreating the final ‘Ultimate Skill’ of the 【Boss Template】 and restore it to the Human World.
As for the one completed in the ‘Underground World’ (【Shadow Dream Hole】 version), looking back now, no matter how he savored it, it just didn’t taste right.
That 【Demon Realm】 was completed when he was bewitched by the 【World Will】 of the Bubble World, in a state of joint investment by both parties. It was both a dojo opened by the Tiger Demon King and the Bubble World’s attempt at a new path to self-salvation.
As for the final product 【Domain】, how much of it truly belonged to him was still questionable.
After storing the 【Worm Pillar】, the Tiger Demon King regarded the 【Shadow Armor】 as the most valuable ‘treasure’ and kept it by his side, planning to switch back to Human Stance and directly store it in the 【Soul Space】.
The second most valuable was naturally the 【Mutated Pollution Organization】 transformed from that lump of ‘Earth-Tier Qi Refiner’. Such a large mass was enough to divide into many portions. Yuan Zhu planned to use ‘them’ for some 【Frog-Type】 biological experiments and modifications.
…
Now his horizons had broadened, and he realized that simply tapping into the potential of 【Ghost Companions】 offered little future.
‘Act as a Tiger’s Henchman’ was indeed an excellent ability, yet it was ranked second in the 【Boss Template】, only after 【Shadow Manipulation】, which was enough to show that its value and potential were not high.
Because in the talent database of the orthodox 【Tiger Demon Spiritual Root】, 【Ghost Companion】 referred to the souls of unjustly deceased humans swallowed, digested, and absorbed by the Tiger Demon King, combined with the Tiger Demon King’s own Demonic Power, and reforged into ‘Ghost Companion Specters’. Controlled by the Tiger Demon King, they became servants who labored for it.
The strength of such ‘Ghost Companions’ was often not high.
The raw materials were mainly humans who mistakenly entered the deep mountains and old forests and were eaten by the Mountain Lord. Only those with strong obsessions after death, with remnants of intelligence in their souls, would be transformed into Ghostly Creatures with a small amount of ‘intellect’.
Ghost Companions themselves were not strong, merely serving as the Mountain Lord’s lackeys, offering strategies, and tending to daily meals and living. They could detach from the Tiger Demon King to a certain extent, entering human villages or roads to lure more food into the mountains for the master to eat and drink, or clean the mountain cave, light fires, and cook for the master.
Now this ‘Supernatural Ability’ had been excessively exploited and developed by Yuan Zhu, charging madly down the path of ‘combat’. He wanted to refine extremely powerful ‘Summoned Demonic Creatures’, comparable to or even surpassing their ‘state before death’.
After reading the 【Immortal Scripture】’s log feedback, the Spicy Stick pointed out Yuan Zhu’s unrealistic delusions about 【Ghost Companions】: “Are you also planning to cultivate a group of 【Henchmen】 stronger than the 【Tiger】, and simply turn around and eat the Tiger Demon King? This is simply wishful thinking and brings a huge burden.”
Act as a Tiger’s Henchman doomed the 【Henchman】’s upper limit to never threaten the 【Tiger】. In true life-and-death Fierce Combat crises, the Tiger Demon King would always charge at the forefront slaughtering wildly, while Ghost Companions could only cower in the rear cheering for ‘Tiger Demon King’.
The sight of the Tiger Demon King directing Ghost Companions to slaughter wildly would forever only occur in crushing low-end matches, like blowing up fish in kindergarten or showing off BOSS flair in front of weak protagonists.
Now, pairing 【Ghost Companions】 with the Snake Demon’s Ultimate Skill 【Universe Within The Belly】 had elevated the strength of 【Ghost Companion Divine Ability】 by several levels. Allowing the refinement of stronger ‘Ghost Companions’ beyond levels, or even if refinement failed, still extracting ‘Extraordinary Pollution Crystals’.
This was not due to the merit of 【Ghost Companions】, but more from the Ultimate Supernatural Ability 【Universe Within The Belly】 at the level of an Alchemy Furnace.
Increasingly aware of the limits of 【Ghost Companions】, Yuan Zhu decided to shift his work focus, breaking out of the 【Boss Template】 rut. Using the ‘Shadow Pollution’ refined from 【Ghost Companion + Universe Within The Belly】 as the Tiger Demon King’s personal 【Brand】 to cultivate more independent individuals (normal humans), infiltrate more pollution domains, invade other tracks, and engage in direct vicious competition with other ‘Pollution Sources’.
For example, investing in developing the 【Shadow Knight Order】, or cultivating 【Extreme Strength】 fighters… even 【Sword Immortals, Rogue Immortals, Corpse Solvation Immortals】… these professions could all be infiltrated.
And this was the essential path to strengthening 【Shadow Pollution】. It was also leveraging the value of the 【Great Desolation Immortal Scripture】, collecting intelligence data, researching and exploring unknown Power Systems, and demon-modifying them for use.
…
Swallowing the ‘Insect System. Mutated Pollution Organization’ into its belly, the Tiger Demon King looked at the last lump, barely classified into the 【Shadow System】 treasures: the 【Demonic Root Tendril】.
Even if refined, this thing remained extremely dangerous.
So Yuan Zhu switched back to Human Stance, raised his hand for 【Sanctuary. Manifestation】, sealing it into the ‘Sanctuary Space’ and subjecting it to brutal Holy Light Purification, continuously burning away the Vitality within the ‘Demonic Root Tendril’.
Because it was a ‘Product’ produced in-house, Yuan Zhu retained the complete 【Tiger Demon King】 Memory, fully aware of the attribute data of the ‘Demonic Root Tendril’.
Thus, he struck ruthlessly, precisely and efficiently. Releasing Holy Light without restraint to destroy, yet accurately stopping at the ‘life line’, neither eradicating nor damaging the root, but severely wounding the Vitality, forcing it into weakened dormancy.
Finally, raising his hand for another ‘Holy Light Barrier’, forcibly sealing it, and saying: “Someone come, move it to the Kitchen on the First Floor for suppression and guarding.”
Not leaving it in the 【Attic】 was to prevent the ‘Demonic Root Tendril’ from one day breaking free uncontrollably and drilling into the 【Disease Garden】 through the Mirror—that scene would be too beautiful.
Whether this lump of ‘Root Tendril’ was reverse-eroded and twisted by 【Disease Pollution】, or it gorged on Disease Plants, supplementing pollution and mutating out of control, either would become a major hidden threat.
But burning it directly like this was somewhat reluctant. Better to weaken it harshly, suppress it, and deal with it later.
As soon as he finished speaking, eerie ghostly cries and laughter of “Eggplant eggplant eggplant!” echoed in the Attic.
Four Eggplant Head Ghosts, their bodies stuffed full of various ‘Puppet, human, Goblin… arms’, happily drilled out from the Walls, ignoring the burns from the ‘Holy Light Barrier’ on their Shadow Tentacles, enduring the pain to drag away the shrunken-to-1/10 ‘Demonic Root Tendril’.
Now, even with their low Intelligence, the Eggplant Goblins equipped with external 【Brain Eggplant (CPU)】 also realized that ‘Holy Light. Yuan Heavenly Venerable’ was their own ‘Tiger Demon King’, so they carried out orders with utter devotion.
From this, the benefits of 【Ghost Companions】 were evident: solid loyalty + controllability.
Unfortunately, 【Ghost Companions】 were always positioned as menial servants, unable to overthrow their master. To create powerful and intelligent subordinates, he could only cultivate ‘outsiders’ with rebellious intentions.
After storing the 【Shadow Armor】 into the increasingly insufficient ‘Soul Space’, Yuan Zhu looked down at the ancient ‘Kunlun Immortal Zombie’ on the ground.
This thing was extremely sturdy, with ancient and stubborn internal pollution. After demonic reversal, it far exceeded the refinement limit of 【Universe Within The Belly + Ghost Companion】, so he ultimately gave up on collecting it and decided to sell it!
Next time returning to 【Happy Home】, bring it along and see if the Captain would take it? If the 【Mao Mao King】 didn’t want it either, hang it on the 【Space of Gods】’ second-hand goods trading network to chance upon a fated buyer.
…
After handling all the ‘Pollutants’, Yuan Zhu transformed again, returning to 【Tiger Demon Stance】, and issued a call to the dormant ‘Shadow Magic Worms’.
Rustle rustle rustle…
Soon, one by one, huge ‘Demonic Insects’ resembling oversized Trash Cans or small Three-Wheeled Carts climbed into the Attic, or hung upside down from the Roof, clung to the Walls, awaiting their master’s orders.
Only the half-bodied 【Snake Demon】 suddenly lunged out, opening its bloody maw, using the 【Universe Within The Belly】 Supernatural Ability to swallow them one by one, assigning new 【Human Pillar】 refinement tasks.
These Ghost Companions that originally should have occupied 【Ghost Companion】 quotas all severed their connections, and during refinement, re-established new links with the Ultimate Skill 【Shadow Domain】.
In other words, the 【Tiger Demon King】 could only carry a limited number of 【Ghost Companions】, but refining them further into 【Worm Pillars】 turned them into a kind of ‘Demonic Ritual Implement’, no longer occupying the limit, allowing infinite accumulation.
Because the number of 【Human Pillars】 determined the Scale and strength of the 【Domain】, they could be accumulated infinitely, expanding the Tiger Demon King’s Domain territory. And after the 【Domain】 established a city, it could affiliate, raise, and gather more 【Ghost Companions】, no longer occupying its own slots.
Thus, the Tiger Demon King swallowed 10 at once, still leaving 30% (【Universe Within The Belly】) space vacant, reserving seats (for 【Eggplant Goblins】).
After all this, the time had reached 11:30 PM.
At this hour, the Younger Brother had long gone to sleep, no need to go home, nor suitable to visit the 【Cat House】 to encounter pretty Misses. So Yuan Zhu returned to Human Stance, had the Eggplant Goblins bring a well-preserved recliner, held a 【Little Pumpkin】 in hand, and continued Cultivation.
After choosing 【Sanctuary】 for both seals, Yuan Zhu discovered the two 【Holy Seals】 were like dual-core processors, or more like dual gas stoves, able to operate two high-pressure cookers (Sanctuaries) of virtual and real simultaneously.
They could also stack, accelerating refinement speed. So he chose ‘physical Sanctuary’ nested in ‘virtual Sanctuary’ to co-refine one 【Little Pumpkin】.
The 【Little Pumpkin】 was not a living thing, with extremely stable Supernatural characteristics, so no backlash, easier than refining Demonic Creatures or Pollution Sources. But its interior formed its own Space, with extremely strong ‘Space Resistance’, increasing the difficulty.
Yuan Zhu continuously drew Holy Light from the 【Soul Crystal】, infused his own Vitality to catalyze and boost the 【Holy Light】, fiercely refining one 【Little Pumpkin】, with Vitality plummeting rapidly, soon entering a weakened state.
At this point, he switched to 【Tiger Demon Stance】, coiled on the ground, drawing endless 【Shadow Spiritual Energy】 from the Haunted House territory to restore blood for the Human Stance, while continuing to accelerate the 【Worm Pillar】 refinement.
Once the Human Stance was full health, he returned to the Holy Cultivator profession, casually grabbed a few well-marinated ‘Shadow Demonic Creatures. Eggplant Goblins’, ignited and purified them with Holy Light, extracting 【Holy Light】 to charge the Soul Crystal.
The ‘Soul Embers’ produced during this were all sifted out and tossed into the 【Soul Space】 for storage, not letting a single one slip through to mix into the 2 seals and pollute the 【Sanctuary】.
After charging, he casually collected the Eggplant Goblins’ ‘Holy Ashes’, then started the next round of refinement.
Compared to before with 【Seal Casting + Soul Crystal】, Yuan Zhu’s current ‘Holy Light’ was stronger, with higher refinement efficiency. By dawn, leveraging home ground advantage (Tiger Demon infinite health regen, Eggplant Goblins infinite mana/Holy Light supply), and 2 seals co-refining, he successfully refined 2 Little Pumpkins.
In the 2 seals, he clearly felt a brand new power distinct from 【Holy Cough, Holy Breathing】 slowly gestating in the Holy Seals. Still some distance from hatching, but at this moment, the embryo of the new ability had clearly formed.
And just like the kaleidoscope Sharingan awakening, where the user instantly knows the pupil technique’s content and usage, Yuan Zhu now clearly understood that the new ability of the 2 seals was absolutely closely related to ‘Space’!
Indeed, for any System to Get Stronger, besides deeply mastering the essence of ‘Polluting Energy’, it also needed to devour and plunder other pollutions as nutrients for its own Promotion.
Background-less ‘Pollution Systems’ could only inefficiently plunder and devour other pollutions, like the Tiger Demon King’s 【Ghost Companion Refinement】. But top-tier systems like Holy Light were different, using 【Holy Light】 to fiercely reject and destroy all pollutions, and while purifying cleanly, plundering a trace of the ‘Pollution Remnants’ purified by Holy Light, converting it in the 【Holy Seal】 into 100% ‘brand new Holy Light ability’.
But its essence was still plundering and digesting other ‘Polluting Energy’. Moreover, it required massively plundering the same kind of pollution to extract the essence and discard the dross, gestating pure-blooded ‘Holy Light System abilities’.
For example, 【Holy Cough】 massively absorbed the essence of ‘Disease Pollution (cough virus)’, yielding the absolutely sacred 【Holy Cough】. Another example, in the Underground World, continuously refining and absorbing Demonic Giant Insects yielded 【Holy Breathing】.
Now, specializing in Space System 【Little Pumpkin】, the new ability would inevitably lock onto the 【Space Range】, absolutely elevating the 【Sanctuary】’s strength to a new level.
…
Eight AM, calculating the time, A Miao probably hadn’t returned yet.
Should Yuan Zhu go to the 【Rain Courtyard】 to catch up with the Senior Student, continue ascetic Cultivation of the Holy Seal, or return to 【Happy Home】 for a stroll and call out Lu Rang…
After hesitating, he suddenly thought of the 【Three-Phase Power】. He realized the conditions were ripe: Human Stance had successfully reached the 【Seed】 realm, qualifying for a second 【Supernatural System】.
So he slapped his head and decided: “Let’s do it!”
He immediately retrieved the information on the 【Three-Phase Power Ritual】 from the 【Soul Space】 and began studying it.
【Three Phases】 differed from any ‘Supernatural Pollution System’ on the market. It had no thresholds, no high or low levels, no restrictions whatsoever.
As long as one wanted, anyone could learn it and instantly reach Great Perfection (three-phase concurrent).
Compared to the various ‘Pollution Systems’ on Du Ling Star, 【Three-Phase Power】 was more like an omnipresent cosmic rule: call it, and it responds. If unaware or unobserving, you pass by it forever without intersection.
But similar to ‘Pollution Systems’, it had strong Side Effects. Touching 【Three-Phase Power】 was doomed to birth an 【Instigator】. In this regard, it resembled a ‘top-tier Pollution Root’—and an extremely transcendent one.
Quickly browsing the 【Three-Phase Ritual】 content, Yuan Zhu confirmed this thing was utterly without taboos. As long as performing the most basic summoning of 【Three Phases】, no matter the location—Du Ling, Spirit Layer, Bubble Layer… 【Three Phases】 would descend and grant ‘concurrent profession’ qualification.
The ritual materials, settled in Real World currency, didn’t exceed 10,000 yuan. Sounded expensive, but for unlocking the 【Second System】, it was cheaply equivalent to free, and the materials weren’t precious, easy to gather.
This feeling was too eerie. As if deliberately arranged to be so cheap, so everyone could master 【Three-Phase Power】.
Snake Snake: “I think these materials are more like filing fees, registration fees for 【Three-Phase Power】. 【Three Phases】 is perhaps free inherently, but every ‘individual’ wanting to call and connect needs to pay some ‘phone fees, internet fees’, and have it register a qualification for you.”
Yuan Zhu agreed: “Same feeling, this thing is like a ‘Universe’ welfare gift. Unfortunately, this world is too filthy and evil; its ‘goodwill’ also contains malice.”
Snake Snake: “Register and get a free 【Inner Demon】, right?”
Retrieving the pre-prepared ‘ritual materials’ from the 【Soul Space】, Yuan Zhu followed the instructions, swiftly arranging and setting up right on the 【Haunted House】 Attic.
15 minutes later, without using any Supernatural Powers (Shadow/Holy Light), just with hands and feet, he smoothly completed the ritual setup. Simpler than cooking a home dish.
Because it was too easy, he even doubted and spent 20 more minutes double-checking. Results: whether himself, Snake Snake, or the rigidly mechanical 【Immortal Scripture】, all confirmed no issues.
Yuan Zhu: “Then let’s start?”
Snake Snake: “Start quick, I can’t wait!”
