Bai Qi originally intended to use one complete ring and three ring fragments in his possession to forge a brand-new, more powerful ring.
However, while modifying it with the Hourglass, he was informed that one more element was missing: Green Lantern energy. The ring Bai Qi controlled had already depleted its Green Lantern energy during its confrontation with him.
Helpless, Bai Qi had no choice but to gather Green Lantern energy again.
This was also why Gluttony went mad and attempted to possess Hal upon seeing him.
Now that the Green Lantern energy was acquired, he could finally commence his plan.
Under the operation of the Hourglass, all materials in Bai Qi's hands began to decompose and recombine, ultimately condensing into a brand-new ring.
However, this ring was unlike the Green Lantern ring, nor any other known ring. It was entirely black, with red dragon patterns imprinted on it.
Bai Qi toyed with the ring in his hand and said, "It's too beautiful. I shall call you the Dragon-Patterned Ring."
The Dragon-Patterned Ring Bai Qi had created not only inherited all the abilities of the Green Lantern ring but also demonstrated three times the overall power. More importantly, after Bai Qi's intentional modifications, the Dragon-Patterned Ring no longer solely provided physical reinforcement; it also gained the ability to enhance and store magic power.
This meant that even ordinary individuals without magical abilities could use magic by leveraging the stored magic power simply by wearing this ring.
Unlike the Green Lantern ring, the Dragon-Patterned Ring did not require regular replenishment of specific energy. It could absorb all surrounding energy and convert it into its own stored energy, with the exception of magic power.
Magic power, being different from ordinary energy, could only be replenished by the user. If the user was merely a mortal, they would have to rely on other mages for replenishment. Of course, this replenishment was not limited to voluntary means; it could also be forcefully absorbed.
Bai Qi certainly would not readily hand over such a useful Dragon-Patterned Ring to others. He was even reluctant to give it to his own subordinates. More importantly, like the Green Lantern ring, the Dragon-Patterned Ring autonomously chose its master. Its immense power made the ring extremely discerning in its selection of a master; ordinary individuals simply wouldn't catch its eye.
Ultimately, Bai Qi placed the Dragon-Patterned Ring on his hand, becoming its first master.
Looking at the Dragon-Patterned Ring on his finger, Bai Qi nodded in satisfaction and then unleashed its newest and most powerful ability.
As Bai Qi poured a large amount of magic power into the Dragon-Patterned Ring, it began to tremble violently. In the next moment, it split into an identical ring.
Then, a second, a third, a fourth...
With Bai Qi's continuous infusion of magic power, the Dragon-Patterned Ring kept splitting, and in the blink of an eye, five sub-rings were created.
Bai Qi weighed the five sub-rings in his hand and then tossed them casually.
The Dragon-Patterned rings in the air seemed to respond to a summons, scattering in all directions and flying to various parts of the world to find their chosen hosts.
Bai Qi did not inject magic power randomly to create these five sub-rings. After these sub-rings found their hosts and were worn, they would establish a connection with the main ring. Without harming themselves, they would transmit surplus energy and magic to the main ring. Moreover, the sub-rings would be utterly powerless to resist their main ring.
This meant that no matter how high the caliber of the host of these five Dragon-Patterned Rings, even if they mastered the ring's power in every conceivable way, Bai Qi could instantly disable their rings.
Once the other party became uncontrollably addicted to the ring's power, to preserve their own strength, they would have no choice but to obey Bai Qi's every command.
Of course, just as the main ring could create sub-rings, it could also destroy them. Well, "destroy" might not be the most appropriate term; perhaps "nourish" would be more fitting.
Sub-rings could continuously grow stronger in combat, while the main ring could achieve rapid growth by consuming its sub-rings.
This was why Bai Qi expended a large amount of magic power to create the sub-rings. Not only would he gain a large group of capable subordinates for free, but he would also be raising a large flock of leeks to be harvested once they matured. Incidentally, sub-rings also had the opportunity to split further into lower-tier rings, and sub-rings could also consume each other to achieve rapid growth. After all, only those who fought their way through a thousand troops and horses were the highest quality leeks.
The Dragon-Patterned Ring in Bai Qi's hand possessed extremely strong growth potential.
Putting aside its inherent strength, as long as it continued to devour, it could one day grow to the level of a divine artifact.
Some might ask: if collecting Green Lantern energy was for creating the Dragon-Patterned Ring, then why control Hal to collect the black energy from Lyssa? Was it purely to weaken Lyssa's strength?
That wouldn't be correct either. If Bai Qi wanted to weaken Lyssa, why would he have given those pills that restored black energy?
The answer was simple: Bai Qi was laying the groundwork.
Bai Qi was planning a grand scheme: the unification of the eight discs.
As everyone knows, each of the eight demons corresponds to one of the eight trigrams of the I Ching. For example, the Holy Lord corresponds to the trigram Li, Xi Mu represents the trigram Qian, Bo Gang represents the trigram Gen, and so on.
Initially, Bai Qi's idea was to bring out these bothersome brothers and sisters, retrieve the fire energy to reap some benefits, and then cast them back into hell.
Furthermore, absorbing mixed energies would render him impure, instead of being a thankless task that would weaken his strength.
But as Bai Qi's strength grew, surpassing that of all his siblings by a wide margin, and as his vision broadened, Bai Qi realized that it was too cruel and wasteful to cast his siblings into hell to fend for themselves.
Absorbing a single type of demonic energy or a little bit of each type would indeed make the energy within Bai Qi too chaotic and difficult to control, especially the most volatile lightning energy and the water element that clashed with him.
But now it was different. Bai Qi was incredibly powerful, having surpassed the Holy Lord in his prime, and was fully capable of controlling multiple energies.
Moreover, by simply adjusting the order, some problems could be easily resolved.
For instance, he could first subdue the relatively stable and heavy forces of mountains and earth, followed by Zhulan's gravity and Xiaofeng's hurricane power, and then absorb the most violent lightning energy and water element last.
Once all these forces were absorbed, combined with the fire energy already within Bai Qi, the eight different forces would achieve a balance within his body, complementing each other, leading to the unification of the eight discs.
At that time, his power would increase exponentially.
However, completing this grand absorption plan was not easy, as any move would mean making enemies of the other seven demons.
Even though they all harbored their own agendas, once an external enemy like Bai Qi appeared, disrupting this balance and even threatening their very existence, Bai Qi was sure that the seven demons would unite and collectively oppose him.