This is Swallowed Star, not Resident Evil.

Chapter 210 The Inner Demon of the Outer Heavens

Chapter 210 The Inner Demon of the Outer Heavens

As Ye Yang's consciousness gradually left the illusion and returned to his original body, the demonic thoughts that had been suppressed before, seemingly scattered throughout the human world in the illusion, launched the fiercest attack on Ye Yang at the same time!

"Hmph, a mere trick."

Ye Yang snorted coldly.

This is just a trick used by inner demons to buy time.

"Are you trying to use this shock to distract me and then pull me into the next illusion?"

His will was focused, and as the demonic thought surged towards him, it struck his Dao heart like waves crashing against rocks, completely unshakable!

He could suppress these demonic thoughts for over two hundred years in the illusion, and it was even easier in reality!

Ye Yang has already unleashed his Dao Domain.

After a confrontation with this inner demon, he had grasped a trace of the profound mystery of the relevant laws, and thus he expanded his Dao Domain, incorporating his understanding of this profound mystery.

As the Dao Domain unfolded, the yellow shadow in Ye Yang's sea of ​​consciousness, which was originally trying to pull him into the illusion, seemed to have hit an invisible wall. After twisting, it was bounced back and remained in place.

Seemingly sensing its precarious situation, it quickly flickered, trying to leave the area.

"Useless." Ye Yang sneered, circulating the power of his Dao Domain to grasp the shadow and extract it from his sea of ​​consciousness.

Before he could sense the special laws governing this world, he would never have been able to manipulate the inner demons of this world as if they were physical objects.

But now he can manipulate things at will.

Once pulled out of his sea of ​​consciousness, the light representing the inner demon twisted and flickered, growing weaker and weaker under the perception of Ye Yang's Dao Domain power.

It grew dimmer and dimmer, until it finally vanished into nothingness.

"It just evaporated as soon as it left my sea of ​​consciousness?"

Ye Yang wanted to study the inner demons of this world more thoroughly, but since they couldn't exist in a normal environment, he decided to give up on that idea.

Now, recalling everything from the illusion feels like looking through a veil, becoming unreal, as if it were all a dream.

The more than two hundred years that have passed have also become blurred.

Only in that final moment, when countless lives suffered and the scene of endless torment in the illusion was reenacted, did it seem to be etched deep into Ye Yang's memory, unforgettable.

That feeling of despair, pain, and being trapped in a sea of ​​suffering, unable to escape, was incredibly vivid!

"What's going on?"

Ye Yang frowned. It felt like someone had broken into his house and made a mess, which made him very unhappy.

He immediately shifted his focus, tempering his heart, and through repeated tempering, quickly erased this stubborn sense of pain.

If cultivators from the dual world of immortals and demons were to see Ye Yang so easily refine the lingering demonic thoughts that would take them decades to erase, they would surely feel that their entire life of cultivation had been for nothing.

After this first inner demon tribulation, Ye Yang meditated for another half month, repeatedly examining himself to confirm that his Dao heart remained unchanged, and completely sorting out and digesting everything he had encountered in the inner demon tribulation.

Throughout this process, Ye Yang could feel his Dao Heart gradually becoming more refined.

"It seems that this inner demon tribulation is still somewhat beneficial. Although the lowest level of inner demon is not very useful to me, it can still help me advance a little bit, which is quite remarkable."

He grinned, quite pleased with this welfare world.

"Inner demons, inner demon tribulations, continue to aid my cultivation!"

He began to cultivate the special technique given by the Devouring Demon and Refining God Dao Vein. This special technique could rapidly improve the cultivation level of Immortal Alliance cultivators in this realm, but the foundation was not very stable, and he could only barely cultivate all the way to the fourth realm, "Refining Emptiness and Merging with the Dao".

There is no possibility of ascending to immortality in this world through this method.

But that's irrelevant. Cultivation in this realm is just a minor matter; the path to immortality in the heavens is the true foundation!

Ye Yang could abandon his cultivation level in this realm at any time.

With his foundation in cultivation, Ye Yang broke through from the second realm to the third realm after a month.

When one enters the "Refining Spirit and Returning to Emptiness" stage, the second tribulation of inner demons descends!

This time, the intensity far exceeded the previous inner demon tribulation.

Furthermore, after the illusion of the first life ended, Ye Yang did not stop the inner demon from pulling him into the illusion of the second life, but instead took the initiative to enter this illusion.

Reincarnating ten times in the illusion felt like a thousand years, yet also like a fleeting moment.

When he returned to reality, there was a hint of weariness in his eyes.

However, the effect only lasted for less than a second after his return. The torment of these ten lifetimes of illusion was far from enough to make Ye Yang succumb; it only gave him many more feelings.

"I have carefully reviewed all the human emotions, including kinship, love, friendship, and gratitude, which has made my understanding of the Tao even clearer."

"Refining the heart in the mortal world—the inner demons of this realm can actually help me complete the refinement of the heart in the mortal world, that's truly remarkable."

The weariness in his eyes vanished instantly, replaced by his usual radiant spirit and boundless hope.

Within his sea of ​​consciousness, Ye Yang's power of the Great Dao had already bound the purple shadow, rendering it unable to move.

Even if the inner demon tribulation ends, Ye Yang's True Meaning Dao Domain will prevent it from returning to the Outer Heaven.

"Can it come a second time?" Ye Yang looked at the purple shadow with curiosity, trying to make it come into contact with his soul again.

Ye Yang wasn't worried at all, because he had already overcome this inner demon once, and he would definitely not lose the second time!

As for its impact on consciousness and will, this inner demon's ability doesn't even reach the level of a domain lord. Its only strength is to distort people's hearts and guide human nature.

In this respect, he is comparable to a peak Realm Lord who focuses on the study of illusion.

But it still posed no fatal threat to Ye Yang; he was confident he could handle it.

When Ye Yang's soul touched the purple shadow representing his inner demons, it immediately began to writhe.

Ye Yang then felt a unique law of this world being activated once again, and his consciousness was pulled into a new illusion.

It went through 5 more generations—

"Interesting." Ye Yang's consciousness returned to reality. Looking at the purple shadow that seemed to have faded a bit, he chuckled, "Why do I feel like I could squeeze every last drop out of it?"

Ye Yang then used his divine soul to contact this inner demon for the third time.

Lifetime after life, yet Ye Yang's ability to sense the inner demon's influence on his emotions and its impact on his will grew weaker and weaker.

The illusions kept repeating themselves, and the repetitive elements became more and more numerous, gradually losing their novelty.

This inner demon—it's probably over.

Finally, after Ye Yang emerged from the illusion for the seventh time, the inner demon shrank and disappeared from his perception.

At the same time, an incomparably pure divine soul power appeared in his sea of ​​consciousness, which surprised Ye Yang.

These spiritual powers are not peripheral spiritual powers like divine consciousness or spiritual thoughts, but rather a very pure, stable, and fundamental spiritual power.

That is, the power that constitutes the core of the soul.

"Could this be the Devouring Demon and Refining God technique?" Ye Yang felt a longing deep within his soul, like a hungry person smelling the aroma of rice.

However, he dared not directly absorb the things left behind by the inner demon, so he hurriedly went to the "Nameless Cave" office to inquire with the staff of the Devouring Demon Refining God Sect.

"Oh? Senior brother is really amazing, he was able to completely refine a purple-level inner demon." The staff member looked surprised and said, "It's like this, the inner demons wandering in the Outer Heaven are divided into four levels: yellow, purple, black, and formless."

"The Formless Heart Demon, also known as the Formless Heavenly Demon, is the most terrifying existence. Even celestial beings may be bewitched by it and lose their Dao heart."

"The purple and black level inner demons correspond to the two realms of Refining the Spirit and Returning to Emptiness and Refining Emptiness and Merging with the Dao, respectively. As long as these two levels of inner demons are completely worn away and refined, one can obtain the purest divine soul essence, which can strengthen oneself."

According to the sect's mission rules, the local cultivator reminded Ye Yang, "Senior brother, once your cultivation reaches the third realm, you can separate your soul from your body and ascend to the Outer Heavens."

"But there are many inner demons roaming in the Outer Heavens, and the souls of us cultivators are like delicacies with the finest aroma to them, so the inner demons from all around will swarm to us."

"Only by tempering one's Dao heart in the third realm can one resist the onslaught of inner demons and acquire a large amount of divine soul essence to prepare for advancing to the fourth realm."

"Even you core disciples who came from the 'Nameless Cave' must be careful. You absolutely cannot enter the Outer Heavens without being absolutely certain!"

As he spoke, he handed Ye Yang a booklet containing information about "Tianwaitian".

Ye Yang nodded and began to examine it.

It turns out that after the Heavenly Demon Realm was destroyed, a large amount of demonic energy dissipated and formed countless wandering evil creatures in the empty outer heavens.

In that battle, the strongest ancestor of the Heavenly Demons shattered a large section of the outer sky of the Demon Realm.

Even after repairs, abnormalities still occurred from time to time, resulting in a large number of evil spirits and demons from the demon realm being banished to the outer heavens.

But among the countless demons who perished, the most cunning "Formless Demon" survived.

In order to avoid being eradicated, it split into countless forms, combining with numerous demonic thoughts, evil spirits, vengeful ghosts, and malevolent spirits, gradually forming the massive group of inner demons we see today.

As time passed, a powerful formless celestial demon was born from these inner demons!

The inner demons have now taken over the outer ruins, which were formerly the Heavenly Demon Realm.

The reason why cultivators today have to overcome the tribulation of inner demons is because the laws of the Outer Heaven are damaged, which gives these inner demons the opportunity to take advantage of the situation.

There are nine heavens beyond the heavens. Except for the 'Celestial Realm' which occupies the entire ninth heaven, the other eight heavens are plagued by inner demons.

The first level mainly consists of Yellow-level inner demons, the second level has a small number of Purple-level inner demons, and the third level features a large number of Purple-level inner demons.

The Fourth Heaven.

After reading the introduction in the booklet, Ye Yang seemed to be thinking: "So inner demons have existed since ancient times, but they mainly invade high-level cultivators and are a tribulation on the path to immortality."

"After the Devouring Demon Refining God Dao Vein intervened, the Heart Demon Tribulation became the norm in this world, and not only high-level cultivators, but even low-level cultivators could not escape it."

"Could this be considered a way to control the number of local cultivators?"

"Moreover, those who can overcome all tribulations are elites, and can be directly absorbed and integrated into the Immortal Alliance."

Having figured this out, Ye Yang tried to absorb a small portion of the divine soul essence in his sea of ​​consciousness.

Like sucking on jelly, Ye Yang gradually felt a faint sense of fulfillment.

A few days later, feeling that there were no major problems, Ye Yang's soul actually grew stronger by absorbing this source, so he absorbed the rest.

"From beyond the heavens?"

He couldn't help but mutter to himself, "The process of refining one's inner demons is also a process of refining one's heart."

"The struggle against inner demons is essentially a struggle between the Daoist heart and demonic thoughts. And this struggle is presented through illusions."

"The inner demon itself carries a certain demonic thought and a large amount of memory information. This memory information either comes from people who have been devoured by the inner demon, or from the vengeful spirits and ghosts who entered the demon realm and were sucked up to the outer heavens."

"The inner demons then use these memories, combined with my memories, to construct illusions, and then use their demonic thoughts to erode and assimilate me at crucial moments in the evolution of these illusions."

"But if I can resist demonic thoughts and maintain my Daoist resolve, I can actually diminish and purify them. When the demonic thoughts within are diminished by me..."

After being purified, I can fully digest the memories and information from this process, making them a part of my life experience.

"That's why it has the same effect as 'Refining the Heart in the Mortal World'!"

Having figured all this out, Ye Yang decided to go to the Outer Heavens to hunt down his inner demons.