It differed from the Soul Sea Cordyceps.
The Soul Sea Cordyceps had also been continuously effective.
However, it was merely an addition that could not be integrated into the Soul Sea, whereas the changes brought to Mo Qi by the Red Cloud Returning Immortal Fruit were as if his person or soul had undergone a qualitative transformation.
Or rather, he had reached another realm.
This realm was one that was difficult to describe, or rather, based on Mo Qi's current understanding, he could not yet articulate what kind of realm it was.
But he vaguely felt that he was much stronger than before. Even if his cultivation had not improved at all, he was much stronger. Perhaps, as the Fire Demon had said, his strength was reflected in his penetration.
But he was not satisfied with this either. He began to guide spiritual energy, circulating it through his body in a cycle. His meridians were constantly impacted, and low rumbling sounds echoed from various parts of his body.
Externally, Mo Qi's body was visible, enveloped in a red light that flickered, dimming and brightening.
The moment it lit up, a phoenix figure appeared against the red light, its wings spread, as if ready to soar into the sky at any moment.
After completing one major cycle, Mo Qi's cultivation advanced to the True Immortal realm.
He was still not satisfied. He ate several more Spirit Beast Pills, countless Spirit Energy Pills, and drank a bottle of Nine Heavens Jade Dew. He then activated the power of the Soul Sea Cordyceps and completed another major cycle, raising his cultivation to the middle stage of True Immortal.
Then, he continued to energize the Soul Sea, using it to temper the Sky Bow, Earth Arrow, and Pangu Divine Power!
The current Soul Sea was one infused with the Red Cloud Returning Immortal Fruit, a qualitative change from the previous Soul Sea. It could serve as a vessel for life and spiritual energy, or as a hammer for refining and strengthening.
At this moment, it acted as a hammer, continuously strengthening the various divine abilities within his body. The Fire Demon had once said that strengthened divine abilities could increase their destructive power by at least tenfold. Mo Qi could vaguely feel it.
After tempering, the divine abilities within his body rampaged, thrashing about wildly. He felt as if he could no longer contain them, as if they had become much more arrogant. This was the manifestation of power, perhaps.
After concluding his practice, he thought of the Fire Demon!
My heavens, he had completely forgotten about it! It was still locked away in the storage bag!
He had promised to release it after sending it out of the Spirit Beast Mountain, but he had completely forgotten about it!
At this moment, Mo Qi quickly released the Fire Demon.
As soon as the Fire Demon emerged, it began to complain, "You almost suffocated me to death. Did you do it on purpose?"
Mo Qi apologized with a contrite expression, "I absolutely did not do it on purpose. I simply forgot."
Then, he said with utmost sincerity, "You can go wherever you want now. I won't stop you."
The Fire Demon snorted coldly and left without hesitation.
Mo Qi breathed a sigh of relief. It was good that it left, lest others accuse him of harboring a demonic creature.
However, moments later, a commotion erupted outside: "Slay the monster! Slay the monster!"
This was followed by the sounds of footsteps, shouts, explosions, and collapsing buildings.
Mo Qi's eyelids twitched. It had caused trouble again!
He stood up, about to go out and investigate, when the door opened and then slammed shut.
The Fire Demon's round body rolled in, panting heavily on the ground, "I was so scared, so scared. It was too terrifying!"
Footsteps from outside approached and then receded!
It seemed they had not discovered the Fire Demon entering this room.
Mo Qi felt a headache coming on and looked at the Fire Demon, "You didn't leave!"
Wasn't that a question with an obvious answer?
The Fire Demon became angry, "If I could leave, why would I come back here?"
Then, it asked imperiously, "Where is this?"
"Sky City!"
The Fire Demon collapsed onto the ground!
"You definitely did it on purpose!"
"No," Mo Qi shook his head, "I have no reason to do it on purpose."
The Fire Demon sat on the ground, sulking.
Mo Qi sighed and walked over, handing it a few Spirit Beast Pills, "As compensation, I'll give you some pills."
The Fire Demon accepted the pills without politeness, but remained dejected.
Mo Qi's eyes darted around, "I'll find a companion to play with you."
As he spoke, he released Little Dot.
Upon seeing the Fire Demon, Little Dot became exceptionally interested. Looking at the round fireball, it couldn't resist wanting to take a bite.
The Fire Demon, terrified, scrambled away, "Go away, you damn dog! I don't like you."
It actually called him a dog!
Hearing this, Little Dot became somewhat angry and pounced even more ferociously.
The Fire Demon swayed its body and flew up, hovering in the air.
Little Dot tilted its head but couldn't reach it at all.
The Fire Demon became somewhat smug, "Damn dog, bite me! You can't reach me, can you? Go eat shit, damn dog."
Little Dot suddenly pounced and also flew up.
The Fire Demon was greatly startled and quickly flapped its wings, accelerating its escape in a clumsy manner. Little Dot pursued relentlessly from behind. They moved back and forth, sometimes on the ground, sometimes flying into the air.
Sparks fell from the Fire Demon's body, making it look disheveled.
Mo Qi wanted to help but couldn't intervene.
"Damn dog, that's enough! Don't think I'm afraid of you. I just don't want to hurt small animals. When I get angry, the heavens and earth will darken," the Fire Demon said angrily as it fled.
Little Dot continued to chase with enthusiasm.
It actually had no malicious intent, it just wanted to play with it.
Mo Qi was worried that the Fire Demon would actually resort to fighting, and then the house would be burned down.
"Little Fire, don't get angry. Calm down and talk to it nicely. Tease it a little, and it won't do anything to you," Mo Qi said.
The Fire Demon roared, "I tease it? I, a dignified Demon King..."
"Who? Who dares to call themselves a Demon King? Where does that put me?" A pair of eyes emerged from Mo Qi and floated in the air.
It was the Demon King!
Mo Qi felt quite perplexed. He had checked every storage bag and found no trace of the Demon King. He thought the Demon King had definitely not followed him this time, but unexpectedly, she was still lingering.
For some reason, he felt a little happy.
Perhaps it was because in Longdong City, the Demon King had stepped forward to block the Demon Emperor for him.
The Fire Demon had heard of the Demon King in the Spirit Realm Mountain before and knew that fellow was powerful. However, it also knew that she dared not injure others casually, as doing so would cause her self-harm. Therefore, it had not taken her seriously at all.
Unexpectedly, as soon as Little Dot saw her, it became interested. At first, it thought the Fire Demon was quite fun, but now there was someone even more fun. So, it turned around and chased after the Demon King. The Demon King, startled, turned and ran, shouting, "Brother, control it! Don't let it bite people everywhere."
Mo Qi then remembered that last time, at the family recognition ceremony with Xin'er, this fellow had also gotten involved, and she had called him brother, which he had agreed to at the time.
Mo Qi felt a headache coming on and had to scold Little Dot, "Little Dot, stop playing. You're scaring people."
Little Dot wagged its tail, looked back at Mo Qi with a coquettish expression, and then chased after the Demon King.
Mo Qi understood its expression immediately.
Indeed, Mo Qi had kept it confined for so long, and it must have been bored. Now that it was released, it naturally wanted to play to its heart's content.
"Eyes, it's not that I'm not helping you. You can see, it's disobedient," Mo Qi said with a feigned helplessness.
The Demon King had no choice but to continue fleeing, shouting, "What kind of damn dog did you raise? It's so disobedient! Just kill it and eat its meat. Also, I'm a girl, how can I be called Eyes, such a strange name?"
Little Dot stopped chasing the Fire Demon, and the Fire Demon finally stopped with relief, perching on the roof beam to watch the show.
When it reached a particularly exciting part, it couldn't help but shout loudly, "Good, bite her, bite her!"
Hearing the sound, the Demon King suddenly turned, sweeping past the Fire Demon.
Little Dot indeed lunged towards the Fire Demon's direction.
The Fire Demon was greatly alarmed and immediately used its movement technique to dodge. However, due to its excessive plumpness, it got stuck in the roof beam.
This was truly life-threatening.
It could only scream and forcefully squeeze, squeezing its body until it deformed, changing from round to elongated.
With a "thump," the part stuck in the roof beam was finally pulled out.
Due to the elastic recoil from being stretched and restored, the rear part collided with the front part, twisting its entire body like a ball of dough being wrung out.
It didn't care about the soreness from the twisting and rushed away, shouting, "Damn Eyes, you framed me!"
The Demon King hid to the side, "Damn Fire, don't call me Eyes. I'm a girl, a beautiful girl!"
The room suddenly became lively. Mo Qi also found it quite amusing and decided to release Little Blood Man as well, letting it get some fresh air.
Little Blood Man had always accompanied him. Besides Little Dot, it was his longest-standing companion.
In the beginning, he found this thing quite evil and treated it purely as a weapon. An evil weapon in the hands of a righteous person was the embodiment of justice.
Later, with Mo Qi's careful nurturing, it gradually grew to have a more human-like form and developed more spiritual awareness. He gradually began to regard it as his companion.
At this point, Little Blood Man had a complete human silhouette, with a naive face, clear eyes, nose, and ears. Its features were extremely delicate and lively, making it look very amusing.
Mo Qi gave it a few pills, which it put into its mouth and crunched, just like eating peanuts.
After eating, it looked at Mo Qi expectantly. Mo Qi threw it a few more pills. After eating them, it looked at Mo Qi again.
Mo Qi's mouth twitched slightly, and he pointed in the direction of the other three, "Go play."
Little Blood Man shook its head and continued to look at Mo Qi expectantly.
Mo Qi's forehead was covered in black lines. This was a glutton!
At this moment, Little Dot, seeing that there was food, stopped playing. It hopped to Mo Qi's feet, looked up at him pleadingly, and wagged its tail.
Mo Qi casually gave it a few Spirit Energy Pills and Spirit Beast Pills. Little Dot also swallowed them down with a few crunches.
The Fire Demon floated diagonally above Mo Qi, "Everyone who sees should get a share. You can't favor one over the other!"
Mo Qi rolled his eyes. So, everyone around him was a glutton!
The next day, the New Savage Heaven's Chosen competition proceeded as scheduled.