"Rustle, rustle!"

The gray powder trembled incessantly, and the Inference Daoist Statue shed its stone shell, transforming into a human figure, sitting cross-legged in front of Gu Yuan.

"Absorb the sun and moon, refine the circulation..."

"Comprehend the two techniques, a pill is born in the abdomen..."

Gu Yuan’s lips lightly moved, continuously reciting the technique from the Six Ren Golden Book of Alchemy, and the Inference Daoist Statue’s ears perked up, its gaze gradually brightening. The spiritual light within it flickered incessantly, then a strange Demon Pill, from illusion to reality, slowly appeared in its belly.

"Swish, swish!"

From the sky above, moonlight constantly fell, absorbed by the Demon Pill, then transformed into thick mana, stirring restlessly within the statue.

"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle!"

As the mana continued to condense, strands of demon qi slowly emerged in the statue’s dantian, the deeper the mana, the thicker the demon qi grew.

However, the statue and Gu Yuan share the same origin, being his replica. With the emergence of demon qi, the Moonlight Heart Seal and Evil Absorption Seal automatically activated, starting to eliminate and absorb the demon qi.

Everything mirrored the last inference technique; everything was normal initially, but as mana approached a breakthrough into Mid-Stage Foundation Establishment, the Moonlight Heart Seal and Evil Absorption Seal began struggling to suppress the demon qi.

But just at this moment, inside the statue’s dantian, a tiny blue figure identical to Gu Yuan suddenly opened its eyes, seemingly flashing a disdainful smile at the Moonlight Heart Seal and Evil Absorption Seal beside it.

"Thunder!"

The tiny figure whispered lightly, and in an instant, countless bolts of thunderlight sprouted within Gu Yuan’s body, resembling thousands of thunder dragons, swirling endlessly in his meridians and sea of consciousness. Any demonic and evil qi would vanish instantly upon lightly touching this thunderlight.

"Huff!"

The tiny figure seemed unsatisfied, opened its mouth and spat out a blue aura, accompanied by crackling electric light, directly enveloping the Dharma Pill.

"Crackle, crackle, crackle!"

The demon qi within the Dharma Pill, just spilling out from the pill, was immediately powdered by the blue aura, leaving the Dharma Pill bright and jade-like, as if no demon qi ever existed within it.

"Boom!"

Surging mana erupted, roaring inside the statue, and then abruptly shattered the bottleneck, advancing to Mid-Stage Foundation Establishment.

"Bang!"

But with the breakthrough, the spiritual light within the statue completely dimmed, the divine light in its eyes faded, and its entire body suddenly exploded, scattering into powder, dissipating between heaven and earth.

Yet, a smile already emerged at the corner of Gu Yuan’s mouth.

"Succeeded!"

Having spent ample time and effort, the near Pure Silver Opportunity side practice could finally be cultivated.

Side practice values speed, the mana lying dormant for a long time should now be elevated!

...

...

Time flies, seasons change, and in the blink of an eye, two years have passed.

The sky was utterly dark, the moonlight shining down.

A handsome Daoist, dressed in a white Daoist Robe, was seated cross-legged atop a stone on the island.

His eyes closed, seemingly practicing breathwork.

The island’s Spiritual Qi continuously flowed into his body, transforming into mana and integrating into his dantian.

This was a Tier Two Middle-grade Spirit Island, rich in Spiritual Qi but the amount absorbed by the young man seemed limited.

Most of the Spiritual Qi gradually dispersed after entering the Daoist’s body, and even a small fraction entering the body, transforming into mana, was a mere drop, barely raising the "water level" in his vast dantian’s mana lake.

"Swish! Swish!"

But atop the Daoist’s head, a blue, rounded object floated ceaselessly.

This rounded object, the size of a fist, pure blue and glowing brightly, faintly revealing threads of electric light.

It resembled the legendary Demon Pill.

The Demon Pill devoured continuously, and from the sky, vast amounts of moonlight cascaded, merging into the Demon Pill, then absorbed by it slowly.

The Demon Pill absorbed moonlight, condensing mana at a pace far surpassing the Daoist beneath.

Moonlight poured down like a syrup, cascading into the void, even causing some anomalies to arise.

"Buzz, buzz!"

Unnoticed, the Demon Pill expanded a circle larger, seemingly filled with Sun and Moon Essence.

"Gulp!"

Upon seeing this, the Daoist opened his mouth and swallowed, directly absorbing the Demon Pill into his belly.

"Whirr!"

In an instant, surging mana erupted from the Demon Pill, integrating into the Daoist’s dantian, refined and absorbed by him, becoming part of his cultivation.

After a long while, the Daoist finally opened his eyes, with a sense of reflection in his gaze.

"It’s not in vain that I’ve spent so much effort; this Dharma Pill Technique is indeed unique and greatly benefits cultivation!"

Over the two years, Gu Yuan has fully adapted to the cultivation of the Dharma Pill, appearing as though he truly became a part of the Demon Race, with the ability to absorb the sun and moon, refining profound mysteries.

Only two years of practice equaled over five years of past diligent cultivation.

How much has the cultivation speed more than doubled?

He can barely match the cultivation speed of ordinary cultivators now.

"But it’s still not enough; the One Ren Pill still can’t compare to those Dao Bodies in cultivation speed..."

Gu Yuan introspected into his dantian, seeing only the Dharma Pill with One Ren Dao Pattern, slightly sighed.

The Six Ren Golden Book of Alchemy, achieving the Great Success Realm, is the Six Ren Dao Pattern, a cultivation speed beyond that of heaven’s prodigies, potentially reaching the Golden Core Realm.

Gu Yuan now, is merely entering the initial phase.

But he wasn’t anxious; over the past two years, he hasn’t been practicing blindly; he already arranged for the subsequent cultivation matters.

As he gestured, a short figure swiftly moved from the island, landing before him.

"Master!"

The Golden Toad respectfully greeted Gu Yuan.

But as Gu Yuan gazed at the Golden Toad, his brows involuntarily furrowed.

The prior Golden Toad, though short, had a solid aura, glowing skin, real Mid-Stage Earth Demon cultivation. But now, the Golden Toad was haggard, pale, its aura unstable, seemingly unable to maintain Mid-Stage Earth Demon realm.

"I apologize, Master, this Golden Toad’s poor talent causes its daily absorption of demonic power insufficient for my consumption, over time, inevitably harming its primordial qi!"

The Golden Toad knelt and quickly explained upon seeing this.

Gu Yuan shook his head slightly at the words, but did not say much more.

The Heart-devouring Insect is a Heaven-Earth Exotic Species, the cultivation method is "hosting."

If the host’s body has excellent cultivation aptitude, absorbing enough Spiritual Qi daily to satisfy the Heart-devouring Insect’s cultivation, balance can be maintained.

If the host’s body lacks aptitude, unable to meet its daily Spiritual Qi needs, it can only consume the host’s primordial qi to survive.

Even if that body has superb root bone, all its daily absorbed Spiritual Qi is taken by the Heart-devouring Insect. Over time, when the Heart-devouring Insect breaks through, it marks the host’s death.

Any Heart-devouring Insect wanting to grow leaves behind a trail of bones.

Since Gu Yuan opted to keep this Heart-devouring Insect, he must accept this.

Regarding the future, let’s discuss it later.

The cultivation path must inevitably have adversaries.

Currently, the Heart-devouring Insect still has significant use.

"How is the search for the Demon Pill progressing?"

Gu Yuan asked.

Over the past two years, Gu Yuan was focused on cultivation, yet the Heart-devouring Insect never rested, always bustling about.

"Reporting to Master, I’ve exerted every effort and finally located the lairs of two Mid-Stage Earth Demons possessing Demon Pills."

"Yet the Golden Toad’s weak strength prevents reckless action, so I set up means for distant monitoring. Now that Master is out, we can hunt and reel them in!"