CHAPTER 663: Omen Realm

The vast amount of mystical yin aura inside the Myriad Demon Cauldron was condensed into a gaseous state before gently flowing into Han Shuo through his mouth and nose.

The Mystical Yin Aura that had been collected by the enormous Ninth Realm Mystical Yin Harvester all these years was rapidly passing through his countless meridians from head to toe before flowing into his demonic infant.

Following the Cauldron Spirit's instructions, Han Shuo opened his soul and let his consciousness go blank. He stopped thinking about anything. Han Shuo had discovered some time ago that his demonic infant would work better if he didn't actively micromanage it. Therefore, after opening his soul, Han Shuo would only perform any action with his subconscious mind and not actively control it.

This was the optimal state that would allow Han Shuo's demonic infant to operate at its full capacity. Needless to say, the Cauldron Spirit also played an important role at this moment. It gathered the mystical yin aura in the air, condensed the energy, and fed it to Han Shuo's demonic infant.

Han Shuo felt as if his consciousness was floating, fluttering in the breeze. Without him being fully aware of it, the demonic infant inside his body was automatically gathering the vast amount of mystical yin aura to replenish itself, and transforming it into demonic yuan before depositing it into every single cell of his body.

Time passed quickly and silently. Han Shuo's consciousness was in an empty state. Under the stimulation of the demonic yuan, his body began to crackle and rattle. It was undergoing another metamorphosis. The same gradual process of transformation began on the demonic infant inside his body. The demon infant was no longer blurred and indistinct, but completely visible as a carbon copy of Han Shuo.

As the metamorphosis continued, Han Shuo's consciousness suddenly shook as a wave of disordered information surged into his mind.

Han Shuo was instantly awakened from this empty and unthinking state. The piercing pain from the transformation overtaking his body and the demonic infant immediately rushed to his head. He almost couldn't stop himself from howling loudly in pain.

"I think you should know that transformation is always accompanied by pain. Not only must you continue to endure this pain, but you must also carefully comprehend the things that the Exalted Demonlord has left for you in your consciousness. If your realm state does not progress with the growing energy in your body, it will be detrimental to you in the future," the Cauldron Spirit told Han Shuo.

Han Shuo understood what was happening to him in an instant. The moment his consciousness awakened, he could clearly feel the transformation happening to his body and the demonic infant. He could feel that the enormous amount of Mystical Yin Aura was still madly rushing into his body, flowing through his demonic infant, being transformed into demonic yuan, and subsequently nourishing his body.

The immense amount of demonic yuan he had gained by absorbing and transforming that mystical yin aura could not only metamorphose Han Shuo's physical body and the demonic infant, but it could also help Han Shuo break through to the next realm, with one condition - Han Shuo's realm state had to be in coherence with the energy his body possessed.

This meant that Han Shuo had to carefully decipher and comprehend the understanding of the Exalted Demonlord that had been injected into his consciousness. He had to raise his realm state to the advanced level required by his physical body and demonic infant. Only then could he reap the full benefits of these energies. On the contrary, if too much energy was injected into him while his realm state was not advanced enough to support the energy, it could backfire and cause him harm.

Having understood this, Han Shuo took the initiative to break off communication with the Cauldron Spirit, ignoring the pain and transformation to his body and the demonic infant and focusing his full attention on carefully comprehending the enigma that was being inserted into his consciousness.

Gu Tian Xie's knowledge of demonic arts was many levels higher than Chu Cang Lan's. They were completely different classes of existences.

The mystery that filled Han Shuo's consciousness was like a lump of violently distorting cloud that contained not a single word or letter. Han Shuo had to feel and observe the changes in the cloud in order to find the understanding of Demonhood that Gu Tian Xie, the Exalted Demonlord, had left for him.

At first, Han Shuo had no idea how to proceed. He tried to sense everything inside the cloud using the energy of his consciousness, but he quickly realised that this method was ineffective. However, Han Shuo was not anxious at all as he knew that the transformation into his body and demonic infant would definitely not be completed in a short period of time. He calmly but fully focused his mind on solving the puzzle.

After an unspecified amount of time, Han Shuo tried to open his soul and shed all distracting thoughts. He sank into a kind of transcendental state. An abstruse connection was formed between him and the erratically spinning cloud.

A whirlwind of disordered thoughts shot from the cloud in all directions. Like needles piercing his mind, they caused immense pain and injury to his consciousness.

As the piercing pain hit his consciousness, the pain from his metamorphosing body and the demonic infant simultaneously increased tenfold. Han Shuo nearly fainted from the pain.

As he endured and resisted the torment to his body and mind, Han Shuo began to reassemble his consciousness. He was astonished to discover that the jumbled thoughts that were being launched all around his consciousness began to rhythmically recombine. His consciousness was beginning to comprehend - something.

Han Shuo, whose face was twitching from the immense pain, suddenly became calm and peaceful. He became as still as a rock as he sat cross-legged. It was as if he had turned to stone.

Han Shuo's body glowed with a magnificent radiance the whole time.

After an indeterminate amount of time, the extremely rich mystical yin aura within the Myriad Demon Cauldron began to thin and flow into Han Shuo at a slower rate. After some more time, all of the mystical yin aura within the Myriad Demon Cauldron seemed to have been washed away by a strong breeze, and Han Shuo's body stopped glowing.

Han Shuo, who had been completely still for who knew how long, began to move his finger. Moments later, his eyebrows began to twitch and he finally opened his eyes, waking up from this hypnotic state.

"Congratulations, Master. You have directly broken through an entire realm!" the Cauldron Spirit's voice rang out in Han Shuo's consciousness.

Han Shuo's eyes were filled with emptiness. He felt as if he had just woken up from a long, long dream and was unaware of his current state. Han Shuo's eyebrows were furrowed and he slowly began to remember everything that had happened to him.

Gradually, Han Shuo smoothed his eyebrows. It was as if he had grabbed onto something and fallen into contemplation along this path.

After some time, Han Shuo took a deep breath. He rose from his cross-legged position, stretched his body, clenched his fists and felt his transformation.

"Your body has metamorphosed once again, as has your demon infant. You are now much more powerful than before!" Cauldron Spirit transferred into Han Shuo's consciousness.

Without needing Cauldron Spirit's explanation, Han Shuo could feel his newfound power. The demonic yuan circulating through his body seemed to have transformed into a different state. They gradually flowed through his limbs and bones like tiny streams of water. Every cell and bone in his body felt as if it were brimming with boundless energy, ready to burst forth with a single thought.

The demonic infant did not appear to have changed much. However, when Han Shuo examined it carefully, he saw that the demonic infant, his source of energy, had gone from blurry to incomparably clear. It looked exactly like a newborn baby!

Han Shuo had yet to fully adjust to the sudden changes. There were significant changes that he could not fully familiarise himself with in such a short amount of time.

"Master, you have now reached the Omen Realm. I think you should know how to continue cultivating in this realm!"

Han Shuo stared blankly for a moment and exclaimed, "Huh?"

"Carefully comprehend the things that the Exalted Demonlord has left in your consciousness, and you will understand," the Cauldron Spirit reminded him.

As Han Shuo concentrated, he discovered that there was indeed an indescribable understanding in his mind that he had never had before. In the next instance, Han Shuo suddenly remembered some of the knowledge about the realm of the Nine Changes that he had gained in this wonderful state just moments before.

"I got it! Haha, I have actually reached the Omen Realm! This Chu Cang Lan had painstakingly tried to break through the Nine Changes Realm and reach the Omen Realm, but he had never managed to advance. I really did not expect to be able to break through that great barrier in one giant leap! You say that you can only ascend to the Omen Realm. Doesn't that mean that I'm now a so-called god back on the world we came from?" Upon regaining his senses, Han Shuo roared with laughter and cheered loudly inside the Myriad Demon Cauldron.

Naturally, Han Shuo was excited. Back then, Chu Cang Lan had fought a monk and a Taoist priest precisely because he was trying to make a breakthrough in his stagnant cultivation and reach Ascension. But in the end, Chu Cang Lan lost everything, and instead of using the captured Han Shuo as a lifeboat, Han Shuo ended up in this parallel universe.

It was as if the heavens had been predestined all along. Han Shuo was now in a realm that even Chu Cang Lan could not touch, surpassing him in strength. He had finally stepped out of Chu Cang Lan's shadow.

"I have just used up the Mystical Yin Aura that the Ninth Realm Mystical Yin Harvester has been collecting on you for all these years. I'm afraid it won't last much longer," the Cauldron Spirit suddenly said after Han Shuo had gradually calmed down from his excitement.

"What do you mean?" Han Shuo was startled.

"Everything here can and must be destroyed. Otherwise, there will be a constant stream of experts coming to investigate. Right, those who came with you are probably just the scouting units. If this place isn't destroyed, more will come and investigate after them. I have been maintaining this place for a long time and I know their work ethic," Cauldron Spirit calmly explained.

Han Shuo was immediately enlightened by the Cauldron Spirit's words. He was indeed right. The Ninth Realm Mystical Yin Harvester was a mysterious place. Many high-level material plane experts had disappeared in this place for no apparent reason. Surely, their interest in this place would do anything but diminish.

Donna and the others should be the first group of experts sent to investigate this place. If they did not hear back from Donna, Emperor, and the others, they would surely send more experts. Even if Han Shuo destroyed the only remaining interplanar transport matrix on the Profound Continent, they would find another way, just like Olde had. The only surefire way was to destroy everything there and not leave a single remnant for them to marvel at. Only then would these experts give up their missions to explore this place, and the Profound Continent would truly see peace, no longer disturbed by experts from distant material planes.

"Fortunately, you have come and made contact with me. In fact, the existence of this place is no longer necessary. With the two of us, we can rebuild everything here. And if you have enough power, you'll be able to use your own power to build anything here, anywhere.

"However, before you have that kind of power, you must hide the fact that you are cultivating demonic arts as much as possible. The being who fought the Exalted Demonlord is extremely powerful. If they found out about your existence, they would surely destroy you. Even if that being had not yet recovered from its injuries, it could still kill you in a heartbeat. Therefore, from now on, you should not reveal to anyone that you practice demonic arts, lest they find out," the Cauldron Spirit reminded Han Shuo. It seemed to be very worried about the expert who had fought Gu Tian Xie, the Exalted Demonlord

After hearing these words, Han Shuo nodded solemnly and said, "Understood. From now on, as much as possible, I will not use demonic arts in front of others. But if I do use demonic arts, I will make sure that my opponents don't live to tell about it!"

"It's good that you understand. In addition, now that your body has transformed, you can use the energies of your two avatars to hide the fact that your main body is cultivating the demonic arts. You may try it."

Han Shuo was pleasantly surprised to hear this. He immediately experimented with moving the energy of his Death Avatar. The next time, Han Shuo exclaimed in surprise, "You're right! It flows smoothly!"

Han Shuo sensed that the energy of death within his skeletal staff avatar could circulate freely throughout his main body. Han Shuo's aura transformed instantly and his main body seemed to have turned into his avatar cultivating in the energy of death. However, Han Shuo clearly realised that this energy was all coming from the skeletal staff inside his body, and his main body had merely borrowed the energy inside the skeletal staff.

"You can use both energies of your two avatars. As long as you do not use demonic arts, no one will be able to tell that you are cultivating in them. Besides, the avatar you formed with the demonic weapon contains too many impure souls and even carries a demonic aura. I will help you remove the negative energy and the weak souls of the deceased. Otherwise, it will affect your avatar's understanding of the energy in this world! The Cauldron Spirit continued.

Han Shuo suddenly remembered that the Demonslayer's Edge had absorbed some negative energy and deceased souls. After hearing Cauldron Spirit's reminder, Han Shuo suddenly realised that the reason his Avatar of Destruction couldn't make much progress in cultivating the Edict of Destruction could be because it contained too many impurities and the energy wasn't pure enough!

However, all that negative energy and those dead souls were also a form of energy. Han Shuo was rather reluctant to let the Cauldron Spirit erase them.

"Don't worry, the three spirit demons you have refined can completely take over these energies. I will help you finish everything. That way, your spirit demon will grow, and your Avatar won't be hindered in understanding the energy it cultivates. Everyone's happy!" the Cauldron Spirit said as if it could read Han Shuo's mind.

"That would be wonderful!" Han Shuo was overjoyed and laughed out loud. He thought that with this Cauldron Spirit as his assistant, he could really save himself a lot of trouble.