"Is it because I'm weak?" The demon Li Chong's obsession was twisted and blurred, already unstable. He suddenly looked up at Xu Jingming, roaring, "I've been carefully eking out a living, afraid to offend anyone, just because I'm weak? Do I deserve to die? Do I deserve this fate?"

"Just because I'm weak, my wife should be taken, my children killed, and I should die unjustly in prison?" The demon Li Chong became even more crazed. "I'm not convinced! I'm not convinced!"

During the collision of their minds, everything the demon had experienced, his obsessions, merged into Xu Jingming's consciousness, constantly impacting him, trying to shake Xu Jingming's mental understanding with his obsessions.

"Alas."

Xu Jingming sighed softly, "I admit, you are very pitiful, and I sympathize with you."

The twisted demon Li Chong stared at Xu Jingming.

"If it were a peaceful and prosperous era, with strict laws, even if you were weak, you could be protected by the law. If you encountered evildoers, you could use the law to deal with them," Xu Jingming said. "But what if there is no legal protection?"

"In times of war and chaos, people will kill for a bite to eat. At that time, the weak will be eliminated."

"In ancient times, during the tribal era, people fought with beasts for the right to survive! If you were weak, the entire tribe wouldn't even have the right to survive."

"So, how you should survive depends on what era you live in."

Xu Jingming looked at him. "Now that demons are rampant, almost every young person is learning martial arts. Look at those who have 'entered the Dao of martial arts'; even if they encounter a demon, their escape speed is much faster than ordinary people. How many gangs dare to bully you, and how many dare to bully martial arts experts?"

"'Martial arts entry'..." The demon Li Chong murmured, "Entry is too difficult."

When he was young, his father had also made him practice martial arts. But he was used to being lazy, and couldn't endure the hardship.

"From everything you've experienced, when your father was around, your family hired many guards," Xu Jingming said. "But in your hands, the number of guards decreased."

"Is it easy to run a medicine shop? Is it easy to make money?" The demon Li Chong roared, "Where would I get so much silver to support so many guards?"

"You were weak, just an ordinary person, without powerful guards, and not even enough guards," Xu Jingming said. "Do you really think that Master Wang killed you because of your wife? There are many beautiful women in this world! Your wife was already over thirty, and had two children. Would Master Wang really go to such lengths as to collude with the magistrate for her? Master Wang was after your family fortune!"

"Master Wang and the magistrate were both after your family fortune. They joined forces to squeeze you dry. As for taking your wife? That was just Master Wang's reason to legally swallow your family property." Xu Jingming looked at the demon Li Chong. "So I say, I sympathize with you. There's a saying, virtue is not matched with position! And... it's that your strength couldn't support such a fortune, and you suffered the backlash from it."

"For the family fortune?" The demon Li Chong's figure became even more distorted as he murmured, "That's right, my wife was already over thirty, the magistrate squeezed all my cash, and Master Wang seized my family property."

"Father said..."

At that moment, the demon Li Chong remembered his father's instructions before his death.

"Son, remember to send five hundred taels of silver to Dongming Mountain outside the city every year before the New Year. In previous years, I took you there. In the future, you have to go yourself!"

"Dad, we pay money every year, but those officials and gangs still come to ask for kickbacks. It's useless."

"If you don't pay, there will be trouble! You must believe me."

"But my friend Luo's family didn't pay, and nothing happened to them, did it?"

"You must pay, you must pay, remember that for me, cough cough cough..."

"Yes, yes, I remember."

Li Chong naturally agreed with his father at the time.

But after his father died, he took over the family business, and he went to pay the money the following year. But after paying the money, he didn't feel any benefit. He still encountered various extortionate situations.

So from the second year, he stopped paying.

Wouldn't it be better to keep five hundred taels of silver in his own pocket every year? Li Chong found that not paying didn't change anything in his life, and he even thought his father was stupid and had been deceived.

"What exactly is Dongming Mountain?" The demon Li Chong stared at Xu Jingming.

"Dongming Mountain is a demon."

Xu Jingming looked at him. "There are many mountains called Dongming Mountain within Cheng'an Prefecture! They all belong to the most terrifying 'demon' in the entire Cheng'an Prefecture. If you obediently pay the money, you'll be on the protected list! If you don't pay, you're on your own."

"A demon, protecting us?" The demon Li Chong couldn't believe it.

"Ordinary people hardly know what Dongming Mountain is, but generations of experience have taught them to pay obediently," Xu Jingming said. "This is the environment in which the people of Liu County, your hometown, survive. You must follow this environment."

"You didn't even understand the survival environment - first, you didn't pay the demon; second, you were weak; third, you didn't hire powerful guards; fourth, you had a lot of money. In this kind of world, do you think you would have a good end?" Xu Jingming said.

"Laughable, laughable."

The demon Li Chong was completely convinced, and completely understood. He laughed loudly. "In this chaotic world, you actually have to pay a demon."

"People have to pay demons, how laughable."

The blurred and twisted obsession completely collapsed, impacting Xu Jingming's mind and consciousness. But this washing only made Xu Jingming's mind and consciousness even more firm.

The mind, cognition is one aspect, practice is another level.

Xu Jingming read books on humanities, and some trials in the mysterious place, he understood a lot of principles! But these principles need to be thoroughly ingrained through repeated practice.

Mind refining is letting the demon's obsession merge into one's own consciousness, as if experiencing everything the other person has gone through. Demons can form obsessions, so they naturally have a relatively strong impact. Once the obsession impacts the demon hunter's mental cognition, and there are flaws and loopholes in their own mental cognition, then there's a big problem.

Xu Jingming experienced such an impact and washing, but his mind became more firm.

"Different environments have different rules of survival."

"This demon Li Chong violated the rules of survival in the demon subduing world in all aspects, so he had a tragic ending." Xu Jingming said silently, "The demon subduing world, first, is for the mental tempering of us demon hunters; second, it's also to force countless mortals with a dangerous survival environment, so that 'demons' appear among the mortals; third, it's also to force these countless mortals who have had their memories erased to practice martial arts. If they enter the Dao of martial arts, then there will be one more cosmic life!"

In the demon subduing world, almost every eighth-order cosmic being has a registered account here. The natives here are naturally real humans who have entered with their memories erased!

Every county town has a martial arts school! Giving them the opportunity to learn martial arts. And forcing them to learn martial arts in various ways.

When they can't cultivate to become demon hunters, learning martial arts is almost the only way out for the natives.

"In the demon subduing world, even if you die here, you wake up in reality," Xu Jingming thought to himself. "In this kind of world, you will naturally be forced to cultivate."

"I hope this experience in the virtual world will give you some understanding."

In reality, many people will get bloodied and bruised. But in the virtual world, the 'price' of getting bloodied and bruised is much lower, which is also the benevolence of the Cosmic Human Alliance.

The next morning.

Xu Jingming was eating breakfast when he saw Wu Qi sweeping the floor.

"Uncle Qi," Xu Jingming called out.

Wu Qi immediately put down his broom and walked over. "Young Master, is there anything you need?"

"There are people to do the chores, so you should rest more," Xu Jingming said.

"It's boring to be idle," Wu Qi said with a smile.

Xu Jingming nodded. "If you have nothing to do, Uncle Qi, you can go out and walk around more. If you find any news about demons, come back and tell me."

"News about demons?" Wu Qi was taken aback.

"Now that I've become a demon hunter, I naturally have to refine more demons," Xu Jingming said. After refining the demon 'Li Chong,' Xu Jingming could feel that his mental understanding had become much firmer in some aspects.

The mind is like this, it needs to practice its own cognition again and again! Refining demons is a method of practice that goes deep into the mind.

"I heard that dealing with demons is also very dangerous," Wu Qi said with some worry.

"Don't worry, Uncle Qi. Just like the last time the caravan encountered one, I took it down easily," Xu Jingming said.

Wu Qi nodded slightly. "Okay, I'll go out and wander around more. If I hear any news about demons, I'll tell the Young Master immediately."

"Thank you, Uncle Qi," Xu Jingming said.

"It's my duty, I'll go now." Wu Qi set off immediately. As a little beggar, he was saved by the Wu family's daughter. Later, the Wu family's daughter married into the Chen family, and he followed along to be the steward.

In his life, the young lady was the one he was determined to protect with his life.

Now that the young lady was dead, all of Wu Qi's thoughts were naturally on the Young Master.

"The prefecture city has a population of several million, so the probability of demons being born is much higher," Xu Jingming thought to himself. "But I can't afford to provoke those that are too powerful."

The more powerful the demon, the higher the intelligence, and the more they can control themselves.

The Dongming Mountain force is all over Cheng'an Prefecture, and even collects protection fees for a long time! Whether it's official demon hunters, demon hunters from large families, or demon hunters from sects... all sides of demon hunters can't do anything about this demon force.

Xu Jingming knew his own limits. Before becoming an eighth-order, he still had to keep a low profile.

In the blink of an eye, more than half a month passed.

"Uncle Qi wanders around the city every day, and also inquires about a lot of news about demons in teahouses and other places where people gather." Xu Jingming was sitting in the artificial mountain pavilion in the back garden. "However, the official demon hunter information network covers the entire city, and they usually arrive at the first time! Some family demon hunters also arrive quite quickly. The weaker 'demons' are solved by these demon hunters as soon as they appear."

Those seventh-order cosmic lifeforms who descend into the demon subduing world like to deal with some weak demons. Those weak demons are relatively safer to refine.

After all, Xu Jingming had experienced the trials of the mysterious place, such as the hundred kinds of life dilemmas on the sixth planet. Being able to pass these trials meant that at the level of humans and demons, the probability of 'obsessions' being able to threaten Xu Jingming was extremely low.

Ordinary demon hunters don't have Xu Jingming's courage. They avoid the strong demons. But they solve the weak demons as quickly as possible.

"I haven't found a suitable demon yet."

"As for some of the famous ones in Cheng'an Prefecture, those are at least earth demon level, and I don't dare to touch them." Xu Jingming looked at the moon in the sky, then pinched a dharma seal with his left hand and softly shouted, "Descend!"

Two intertwined lightning bolts struck down. One lightning bolt was dazzlingly white, and the other was restrained and dark, perfectly combined with each other.

"Bang."

The sound was very deep, and the pit in the ground was already bottomless.

Xu Jingming watched.

"I've been studying the 'Primordial Star Conjecture Light Ray Chapter' for more than three months, and I've gained more and more insights. I've finally raised the 'Thunder Method' to the supernatural level, barely considered an entry-level supernatural power, and it's also the first supernatural power I've mastered," Xu Jingming thought.

The spell 'Thunder Method' transforming into a supernatural power is the Five Thunder Method recorded in the *Myriad Stars Demon Refining Scroll*.

For the supernatural power 'Five Thunder Method' to enter the door, it requires the perfect cooperation of two different kinds of lightning! Its power increases several times compared to a single lightning bolt.

For Small Success, it requires the cooperation of three different kinds of lightning, and its power increases several times more than the entry level.

For Great Success, it requires the cooperation of five different kinds of lightning, and its power is dozens of times stronger than the entry level. This Five Thunder Method requires a very vast knowledge of the *Light Ray Chapter* as a foundation to cultivate. Xu Jingming can be said to be a peerless genius in the *Light Ray Chapter* lineage, and it took him more than three months to barely enter the supernatural power 'Five Thunder Method', which shows how difficult it is.

"Two lightning bolts cooperating can increase the power several times." Xu Jingming thought, "The supernatural power is just beginning to take shape, but unfortunately, there is no suitable demon for me to practice with."