"Damn it! What kind of demon is this? Is it a true demon?"
Seeing his domain compressed to less than thirty feet, Yang Hong couldn't help but curse.
He was starting to regret his choices, even considering running away!
The demons in this Hongdong Secret Realm were far more powerful than he had ever imagined.
"Heh heh~ You human actually have some insight. You know I'm a demon. Now, I'll give you a chance. Surrender to me, and I won't eat you."
The strange voice enveloped Yang Hong once more. Fortunately, he was mentally prepared and used his domain to filter out the demonic energy in the voice, which didn't affect him much beyond being unpleasant to hear.
While taking out two new top-grade spirit stones to recover his spiritual energy, he tried to inquire:
"Then may I ask what kind of demon you are? What clan, and what are your abilities?"
"Heh heh~ Heh heh~ I am a Heart Demon, from the formless celestial demon clan. As for my abilities, you'll know them once you merge with me."
Surprisingly, the demon hidden in the spiritual enlightenment tree forest answered Yang Hong's questions. Whether he was telling the truth or not was hard to tell.
However, this gave Yang Hong some room for speculation.
"A Heart Demon? Aren't you only supposed to appear when cultivators undergo tribulation? Could this be your stronghold, your nest?"
"Heh heh~ I am merely one of the formless celestial demons. I have countless kin. Once you merge with me, you will also become one of the formless celestial demon clan.
Come, come, merge with me.
You will immediately possess eternal life, supreme power, and control over the emotions of all living beings. You will..."
The Heart Demon's voice from the shadows suddenly became gentle and ethereal, filled with temptation, making Yang Hong feel drowsy.
"Is that so? Show me your strength, let me see what abilities and benefits I'll gain after becoming a demon."
His words carried a clear tone of anticipation and longing, as if he were genuinely tempted and yearned to become a demon.
However, his hands absorbed spiritual energy even faster.
"Hahaha~ Hohoho~ Gahaha~ Hee hee~"
As if to answer Yang Hong's request, a group of people emerged from the forest before him. They were men and women, young and old, handsome and beautiful, all exuding extraordinary aura and immortal bearing, radiating an ethereal, immortal presence.
"Young friend, welcome to the immortal realm. We immortals welcome you to your rightful place."
The group, riding on pure white clouds, slowly flew over, truly like true immortals descending to guide Yang Hong to ascension.
However...
Looking at these 'immortals' with their revealing attire and alluring charm, Yang Hong's eyes twitched. Did this demon have a fundamental misunderstanding of immortals? Immortals didn't dress like this.
But no matter, a burst of fire would take care of it.
"Immovable Wisdom King's Fury!"
With Yang Hong's furious roar, golden Buddhist flames erupted, soaring into the sky and forming a golden Buddha figure of light and flame.
Although the radiant Buddha was only thirty feet tall, the moment it appeared, it instantly incinerated the demonic energy within a thirty-foot radius.
Ah~ Aaaah~ Oooooh~
With the appearance of the radiant Buddha, the group of 'immortals' who had been within thirty feet of Yang Hong were instantly reduced to ashes, leaving only withered branches and fallen leaves on the ground.
It turned out that these 'immortals' were merely illusions conjured from the branches and leaves of the spiritual enlightenment fruit trees.
"Bald donkey! You're a bald donkey! You have hair, how can you use a bald donkey's technique?"
The Heart Demon's terrified and angry voice echoed from the forest, clearly astonished by Yang Hong's sudden use of Buddhist techniques.
"I'm not a bald donkey. As for this technique, if you like it, I'll teach you."
Yang Hong chuckled and began to advance, simultaneously expanding his Sword Domain and the radiant Buddha.
Was it strange that he knew Buddhist techniques?
He shouldn't forget that he not only knew the high-level technique "Immovable Joyful Buddha" from the Immovable Temple, but he had also improved it. It was undoubtedly a top-tier Heavenly-grade cultivation technique.
He just disliked Buddhism and didn't usually use it; now, it was a life-or-death struggle. What did it matter whose technique it was? As long as it was useful, he would use it!
"Bald donkey~ You think this little bit of Buddhist flame can harm me? Hahaha, you are too naive.
Since you refuse to merge with me and wish to retreat, then you shall not leave."
"Senluo Demonic Domain~"
The Heart Demon's voice came from all directions. At some point, all the nearby demonic beasts had been wiped out, and strange, terrifying demonic plants had sprouted from the ground.
At the Heart Demon's command, countless demonic plants suddenly grew explosively. In just a few breaths, they sealed off a large area of space where Yang Hong was.
Pure demonic energy surged towards Yang Hong, seemingly intending to corrupt him into a demon.
"Hmph, demonic energy? It's not like I haven't purified it before.
Tranquil~ Glazed Fire~"
Yang Hong used his mind in two ways, once again employing a fire-attribute technique from the immortal sects, a secret art from the Blazing Fire Sect, one of the Ten Great Immortal Sects.
How did he get it?
It was a reward for helping immortal sect cultivators improve their cultivation and undergo tribulations back then. He knew many other secret arts but had no opportunity to use them.
Now, the opportunity had arrived.
Within the golden Buddhist flames, a layer of tranquil, translucent white flames ignited. The originally dazzling golden Buddhist flames dimmed slightly, losing some of their ferocity and gaining a touch of softness.
However, the combined white and gold flames burned through the demonic energy even faster.
"Oh, such an unexpected bonus?
Not bad, not bad. I can fight and replenish myself again."
The white and gold flames, while burning demonic energy, actually returned a small amount of spiritual energy to Yang Hong. Although it was not much, only enough to replenish one-tenth of his spiritual power consumption, it was still huge good news.
At least it allowed him to conserve some energy and gave him hope of purifying the entire Hongdong Secret Realm.
"Bald donkey, you think purifying a little demonic energy is such a great feat?
Do you know how vast this secret realm is? Do you know where this secret realm leads? I will wear you down to death!"
The Heart Demon, hidden in the shadows, also realized Yang Hong's intentions. It laughed maniacally, summoning more demonic energy to gather, as if it were determined to infect Yang Hong with demonic energy and transform him into a demon.
But Yang Hong was not so naive. In his spiritual sense, he could see that demonic beasts from three hundred miles away were charging in orderly ranks under the Heart Demon's command.
Furthermore, even more demonic plants were uprooting themselves and moving towards him in various bizarre ways.
Some rolled into balls and tumbled over; some wriggled on the ground like snakes; some used their trunks as limbs and crawled on the ground like animals; and a few, like humans, transformed their roots into legs and ran on the ground.
The various methods of locomotion were peculiar and astounding, even to Yang Hong.
Clearly, the Heart Demon was preparing a multi-pronged attack to subdue Yang Hong.
"Demons are indeed treacherous, but I don't have just one trick up my sleeve."
Yang Hong's lips curled upwards. Simultaneously, he raised both hands, throwing out array materials one by one. Golden yang energy and wisps of silver yin energy slowly flowed.
However, the Heart Demon's senses were extremely sharp. The yin and yang energies were detected the moment they emerged.
"Damn bald donkey, you can set up arrays too? This is yin and yang energy, what are you trying to do?"
Yang Hong did not answer, but instead accelerated his actions, even sacrificing spiritual power. Every array he set up, he immediately consumed spiritual power to activate it.
Now, it was a race against time, a test of whose methods were faster!