Nine Transformations of the True Spirit.

Chen Yuan stared at the vanished Ruyi clone, a look of astonishment on his face.

He had only just entered the Demon Burning Realm when his Ruyi clone shattered on its own. Could it be that Qin Wuyai used some kind of supernatural power?
Chen Yuan frowned and muttered, "Qin Wuyai went to great lengths, expending the power of his spiritual treasure and his essence blood, to condense the Ruyi clone. There's no way he would let it dissipate on its own. Could it be that something unexpected happened?"

"Although his cultivation level is low, his soul is no different from that of a Void Refinement cultivator."

"Only a demon king, or even a legendary demon saint, could take his life or destroy his jade ruyi in such a short time. Could his luck really be so bad..."

Chen Yuan's expression shifted between anger and uncertainty. Suddenly, he increased his speed and flew towards the level seven demonic beast.

Whether Qin Wuyai was deliberately making a fuss or was truly extremely unlucky and encountered some formidable enemy as soon as he entered the Demon Burning Realm, resulting in the destruction of the Jade Ruyi and even his life being in danger, and the Ruyi clone being shattered.

He could no longer sense the approximate location of the other three people, only knowing that their vague directions made it difficult to reunite with them.

The immediate priority is to scout out the surrounding area and find a place to settle down.

Although he had disguised himself as a demon general, the demon race has never been benevolent, and the infighting among demons is even more intense than the struggles with humans.

Only by truly merging into the Demon Realm and transforming into a drop of water in the ocean can one preserve their life, find an opportunity to reunite with the three, and devise a plan to return to the Spirit Realm.

Chen Yuan was extremely fast, covering a distance of over four hundred miles in an instant.

During his flight, he encountered several gusts of wind that rose and fell suddenly and were extremely fierce. Some level-one demonic beasts were swept up hundreds of feet into the sky and fell to their deaths.

He landed, revealing a hole several meters in size on the ground. Deep inside the hole, a giant rat the size of a yellow ox was sleeping soundly.

Without pausing, Chen Yuan flew into the cave. A wisp of divine soul power spread out, and before the giant rat could awaken, the demon soul fainted amidst the tremors.

He raised his hand and captured the giant rat's demonic soul in his grasp, then used his soul-searching technique to examine it.

This giant rat had mediocre bloodline and average intelligence. In no time, Chen Yuan had examined all of its memories.

After eliminating the useless memories, Chen Yuan indeed found the location of a low-level demon general nearby.

This grassland stretches for 30,000 li and is called the Wild Wind Grassland. In the Ten Thousand Demon Continent, it is a rare spiritual land.

However, in the Demon Burning Realm, it is quite barren, merely the territory of a low-ranking demon general.

This giant rat was his subordinate, but this low-ranking demon general usually just cultivated in his cave.

In his spare time, he would casually hunt and kill a few low-level monsters for a snack.

He did not prohibit his subordinate monsters from fighting each other, and his discipline was quite lenient.

Only when competing with other demon generals for treasures or territory will this low-ranking demon general summon his demon beasts and start a great battle.

The giant rat has lived for over a thousand years, and its strength is only mediocre among seventh-level demonic beasts. It has experienced more than a dozen battles, but has failed to win against demonic beasts of the same level.

However, he relied on a special talent—the ability to dig holes and burrow underground—to save his life on numerous occasions. Unfortunately, he was targeted by Chen Yuan and lost his life there.

Chen Yuan casually crushed the demon soul, and the giant rat died as a result.

He flew out of the cave, determined the direction, and then turned and flew towards the cave of the low-ranking demon general.

An hour later, Chen Yuan flew more than 10,000 miles and arrived at a low mountain of about 200 feet, where he landed with his escape light.

Halfway up the mountain, on a cliff face, two stone doors are tightly closed.

Elsewhere, a low-ranking demon general would never open a cave on such a small mountain peak.

But on this flat grassland, this low hill is unique and stands out from the crowd.

Moreover, in Chen Yuan's divine sense, there was a medium-sized spiritual vein beneath the low mountain, enough for a low-level demon general to cultivate.

There was a formation set up on the low mountain, but it was extremely rudimentary and could only block the attacks of Core Formation cultivators at most. It was probably only used to shield the soul.

Chen Yuan naturally wouldn't waste words with a low-level demon general. With a flick of his finger, a firebird flew out and grew to about ten feet in size as it faced the wind.

With a sharp cry, the firebird flapped its wings and flew down, crashing into the array barrier and igniting a raging fire that destroyed more than a dozen array flags around the low hill.

The formation was broken, spiritual light flickered, and the energy flow became chaotic, alarming the low-level demon generals who were cultivating in the cave.

A furious roar soared into the sky: "Who dares to run wild on my turf..."

The two stone doors swung open with a bang, and a figure rushed out, shouting and cursing as he flew into the sky, only to stop abruptly.

Chen Yuan's aura dissipated, and the pressure of a mid-level demon general pressed down like a mountain, forcefully silencing the low-level demon general from saying the rest of his sentence.

Chen Yuan narrowed his eyes: "You dare to disrespect the Demon Commander?"

This low-ranking demon general was shirtless, with a piece of dark gray animal skin haphazardly wrapped around his lower body. His withered yellow hair was disheveled, and four fangs protruded from his mouth, giving him a savage and ferocious appearance.

But now he had a forced smile on his face: "This humble servant wouldn't dare, this humble servant didn't know it was an esteemed person arriving, how could I dare to offend an esteemed person..."

He secretly groaned in his heart. This desolate grassland was remote and barren. Apart from a medium-sized spiritual vein, there were only two or three small spiritual material mines. Otherwise, it would not have fallen into the hands of him, a low-level demon general who had luckily survived the tribulation of transformation.

In the past, even mid-level demon generals wouldn't give it a second glance, so how could a demon commander have arrived?

Before the burly man could finish speaking, Chen Yuan coldly said, "Since you have offended the Demon Commander, you can only atone with your death!" With that, he suddenly disappeared from his spot and appeared in front of the burly man, reaching out to pierce his vital point in the heart and snatching out his demon core!

Caught off guard, the burly man had his demon core taken by Chen Yuan, his face still showing a look of astonishment as his life force dissipated.

His body fell downwards, transforming into a giant wild boar thirty or forty feet in size, with four long tusks protruding. He crashed heavily onto the low mountain, causing the entire mountain to tremble and rocks to tumble down.

Chen Yuan spread his divine sense to imprison the demon soul within the demon core, preventing it from self-destructing. Then, he used the Soul Searching Technique to examine the memories of this burly man.

Fifteen minutes later, he withdrew his divine sense, looking thoughtful.

Chen Yuan raised his hand and made a hand seal, releasing a beam of black spiritual light. The boar carcass on the low hill slowly shrank to a size of several feet and was stored in the mustard seed ring.

After refining that drop of Kunpeng's true blood, his use of spatial power became even more profound.

Chen Yuan then crushed the demon soul of the burly man, who had become mentally impaired, put away the demon core, took to the air, and turned to flee eastward.

Although the burly man had low cultivation and mediocre bloodline, and no powerful clan behind him, he was, after all, a demon general who had successfully transformed, and his knowledge far surpassed that of those low-level demon beasts who had not yet transformed.

Chen Yuan learned from his memories that there were thirty-seven Great Saints in the Burning Demon Realm, whose fame spread throughout the three continents of the Burning Demon Realm.

Below the thirty-seven Great Sages, there are hundreds of Demon Saints, countless Demon Kings and Demon Generals, and a multitude of Demon Generals.

The birth or fall of each Great Sage causes a tremor throughout the entire Demon Realm and is celebrated by all demon races.

Even a lowly demon general like the burly man knew the names of the thirty-seven Great Sages like the back of his hand.

This desolate grassland is located in the southern part of the Tianhai Continent, the northernmost of the three continents, and is under the jurisdiction of the Great Sage Moving Mountains.

The origins of this Mountain-Moving Sage are mysterious and unpredictable. No one knows what kind of monster he was who became a sage, and even the rough and burly man has never seen this sage before.

However, in his memory, the land ruled by the Great Sage Moving Mountains was vast and boundless, spanning hundreds of millions of miles. He possessed boundless magical power, the ability to pluck stars and seize the moon, and the might to recreate mountains and rivers. He revered him as the number one Great Sage of the Demon-Burning Realm.

However, the truth remains unknown.

As for how many demon saints and demon kings the Great Sage Moving Mountains had under his command, the burly man was engrossed in his cultivation and knew nothing of the details.

He only knew that he was under the command of the Iron-Winged Demon General, who in turn obeyed the Thunder Mountain Demon King, and above the Thunder Mountain Demon King was the Bloodtooth Demon Saint.

The Burning Demon Realm differs from the Myriad Demon Continent in that it is not divided by demon race, but rather by the Great Sage, with demon saints, demon kings, demon generals, and demon commanders ruling from top to bottom.

From the Demon General upwards, every Demon General, Demon King, and Demon Saint will establish a mansion in the mountains, using the mansion as their name.

The names of these cave dwellings were chosen by the various demon generals, demon kings, and demon saints themselves.

For example, the Iron-Winged Demon General was named after his famous Iron-Winged Divine Power, while the Thunder Mountain Demon King was named after Thunder Mountain, where his cave was located.

Although the burly man was under the command of the Mountain-Moving Great Sage, he only obeyed the orders of the Iron-Winged Demon Commander. Even with the Thunder Mountain Demon King in front of him, no one could give him orders directly.

The same applies to Ironwing Demon General. He is a demon general under Thunder Mountain Demon King. Even if Bloodtooth Demon Saint gives an order, it must be approved by Thunder Mountain Demon King before he will obey.

However, the Demon King usually does not give orders to the Demon Generals, and even the Iron-Winged Demon General does not strictly control his Demon Generals, just as the rough and burly man does not care about the low-level demon beasts fighting and killing each other on the Wild Wind Grassland.

In the rough and burly man's memory, the Iron-Winged Demon General ruled over a million miles of land, with nearly a hundred demons under his command.

Apart from a few high-ranking demon generals, it is extremely difficult for other mid- to low-ranking demon generals to meet the Iron-Winged Demon Commander.

The last time the burly man paid his respects to the Iron-Winged Demon General was more than six hundred years ago. The Iron-Winged Demon General had a conflict with another demon general, summoned most of his demon generals, gathered a massive beast tide, and started a great war that lasted for seventy years.

During that great battle, the burly man narrowly escaped death several times, managing to save his life by sheer luck.

They were also extremely fortunate to encounter a low-level demon general who was seriously injured and on the run, and killed him with all their might.

After achieving this feat, the Iron-Winged Demon General bestowed this desolate grassland upon him, making him the ruler of this burly man.

The burly man was overjoyed. Before that, he was just a "wild demon," a demon general who had no clan or lineage, cultivated on his own, and had luckily survived the tribulation of transformation.

If the giant rat killed by Chen Yuan were to survive the tribulation and transform into human form, it would become this kind of wild demon.

As for low-level demonic beasts that have not yet taken human form, they don't even qualify as wild demons.

Wild demons have no clan support and mediocre bloodlines. For them to become demon generals is already one in ten thousand, a stroke of incredible luck.

On the Tianhai Continent, there are wild demons who have achieved the status of Demon General, Demon King, Demon Saint, or even Great Saint. However, among the countless demon races in the entire Burning Demon Realm, there are very few such wild demons. Every time one appears, it is widely praised.

As for the burly, unremarkable wild demon, after he transformed into human form, the Iron-Winged Demon General would not immediately bestow upon him a territory. Instead, he would cultivate on the edge of the Iron-Winged Cave, waiting for an opportunity.

The Iron-Winged Demon General commands a million-mile territory, of which two hundred thousand miles are the most fertile and are directly under his control. Apart from his own kind, he also allows wild demons in the territory to use the land for cultivation.

They could only wait for the Iron-Winged Demon General to clash with other Demon Generals, or participate in the war between the two realms and make meritorious contributions in the war, or wait until other Demon Generals who ruled over territories died before they could be granted a territory and have a place to settle down.

But very few of these lucky, burly men survived; most wild demons perished in the battle, their fates ignored.

Even if one is granted territory, it doesn't mean they can cultivate in peace from now on. (End of Chapter)