Su Yuan sank deep into the depths of his heart.
His consciousness arrived at his heart sea, where countless thoughts transformed into seawater, gathering into a magnificent and vast ocean!
As Su Yuan's consciousness beheld the heart sea, he saw that half of the seawater appeared pitch black, another third was turbulent and constantly surging, while another portion remained stagnant like dead water. Only a small area remained pure and flawless, completely calm.
Su Yuan frowned, surprised by how bizarre his own heart sea appeared.
From that half of the pitch-black heart sea, large amounts of dark water coalesced, forming a black-styled Su Yuan who looked at him with a sinister smile.
Standing on his relatively pure portion of the heart sea, Su Yuan looked at the black version of himself and suddenly realized: "You're a Heavenly Demon from the demon realm, aren't you? And you've taken on my form."
"I am the dark side of your heart! Where there is light, there is darkness; where there is justice, there is evil. I am a living being of flesh and blood—I am the dark you, and you are the light me!" the black Su Yuan said slowly.
Su Yuan shrugged: "I don't consider myself particularly bright. On the contrary, I feel more like a demon lord myself. If you're my opposite, please change your expression!"
"Heh, face your true self, Su Yuan!" the black Su Yuan continued.
Seeing that he wasn't being believed, Su Yuan released his third Nascent Soul.An evil, dark, fierce, and bizarre demonic aura flooded into the heart sea, causing the black Su Yuan who sensed this to immediately freeze in place.
That utterly authentic dark aura was unmistakably that of a demonic cultivator. To achieve this level of demonic cultivation, one would need to slaughter trillions of living beings and destroy several worlds!
How could someone capable of such deeds be considered a person of light?
The black Su Yuan fell silent, momentarily unsure how to express his emotions. This didn't make sense—he had sensed the will and emotions in Su Yuan's heart. While not overflowing with righteousness, they still belonged to the orderly faction. How could this person be such a great demon lord?
Where exactly had things gone wrong?
The problem naturally lay with the third Nascent Soul. Su Yuan had concentrated all the mental incarnations of fallen demonic cultivators into his third Nascent Soul.
Thus, the third Nascent Soul could be considered an aggregate of demonic paths. Although the third Nascent Soul hadn't actually done anything, it had become the ultimate embodiment of demonic cultivation, even reaching the early Great Luo realm.
"Stop pretending. We're all on the same side here. I'm also a demonic cultivator from the demon realm. Why are you testing me? I'm just trying to break through to the Primordial mental state!" Su Yuan explained to him.
The black Su Yuan's expression returned to calm: "According to the rules, I must prevent your breakthrough!"
Su Yuan was taken aback—he actually admitted it? Was this some kind of joke? Please, he was attempting to break through to the mental cultivation of a Primordial Great Luo Golden Immortal, not some mere mortal realm inner demon trial.
But since they could communicate, maybe there was still room to maneuver?
Su Yuan suddenly added: "Do you know about Primordial Isle?"
The black Su Yuan said calmly: "Naturally I know!"
"I'm currently undertaking an inheritance mission from Primordial Isle. The Demon Lord sent me to compete, but my current advantage isn't great. I particularly need to break through to the Primordial realm to have confidence in obtaining the rewards!"
Su Yuan immediately projected the situation on the Heart Refinement Path while simultaneously taking out a top-grade acquired spiritual treasure!
"Eh? True Demon Sword? This is the sword the Demon Lord used to wield. It's actually in your hands?" The black Su Yuan was shocked.
Then, borrowing Su Yuan's perception, he saw the scene on the Heart Refinement Path—the nine great supernatural beings competing on the path.
Su Yuan's mind stirred, and he immediately used his [Great Being's Form] and [Mimicker] abilities to simulate one-third of the Lord of the Demon Realm's aura.
Although the Lord of the Demon Realm kept deeply hidden, Su Yuan still knew about him. The more powerful such big shots were, the more information they naturally controlled. Thus, the Lord of the Demon Realm had long known about some of Su Yuan's deeds, such as the Seven Stars Market. Consequently, Su Yuan had already left a mental incarnation in the Lord of the Demon Realm's mind, though he hadn't dared make any unusual moves.
When the black Su Yuan detected the familiar scent from Su Yuan, his expression froze once more.
"You're the successor the Demon Lord has been cultivating? And you actually practice both spiritual and demonic cultivation!" The black Su Yuan began to somewhat believe Su Yuan's words.
Su Yuan nodded with a calm expression, his heart sea placid like water without the slightest abnormal fluctuation. Whether he could deceive the Heavenly Demon didn't concern him—success would be best, failure wouldn't matter.
The black Su Yuan's expression changed considerably, his demeanor softening somewhat: "So it's a junior from the demon path, heh! I'm somewhat disappointed that the Demon Lord found someone like you as his successor!"
Su Yuan raised an eyebrow: "Senior thinks I'm inadequate?"
"Your magical power cultivation is only at the Great Luo realm. What do you think?" the Heavenly Demon said disdainfully.
Su Yuan spread his hands: "Senior, that's rather shallow of you. Magical power cultivation is something that can gradually improve over time. What's most important is having sufficiently high comprehension of the laws!"
"Your law comprehension isn't particularly high either!" the Heavenly Demon said.
Su Yuan smiled lightly and immediately manifested the thirty-one-petaled great golden lotus above his head.
"Hmm?" The Heavenly Demon stared in surprise. "You're actually pursuing the ancient Primordial path? Good lad, I underestimated you! You've refrained from further cultivating your magical power because you're afraid your cultivation would advance too quickly, right? Great perseverance! Great wisdom! Excellent! Excellent!"
Su Yuan smiled faintly: "Senior flatters me too much! What about this Primordial mental state test..."
The Heavenly Demon waved his hand: "This cannot be exempted. Mental cultivation is your own matter—you must seek it within yourself. Although I'm here to test you, I fundamentally cannot go easy on you. Otherwise, your mental state wouldn't be able to break through!"
Hearing this, Su Yuan was speechless. After all that effort playing the humble junior, there were actually no benefits to be gained?
"That's truly..." Su Yuan showed a regretful expression.
"However..." the Heavenly Demon suddenly added, "I am the previous Demon Lord, having transformed myself into the heart demon rule. The great path of mind also falls under my control. Since you're the next successor, I'll teach you the great path of mind!"
Su Yuan was taken aback: "So casually?"
The Heavenly Demon said proudly: "I've always followed my whims freely. Everything in the world cannot escape my mental perception. I did hear that the Demon Lord sent his successor into Primordial Isle—I just didn't expect you to still be at the Great Luo stage!"
Su Yuan glanced sideways at Sima Nan, saying somewhat strangely: "Senior, I cannot repay your great kindness. I will definitely pass on your great path of mind and make it shine brightly!"
"Mm, good, good!" The Heavenly Demon Su Yuan showed a satisfied smile.
Then the Heavenly Demon Su Yuan transmitted streams of mental thoughts directly into Su Yuan's mind through the heart sea's waters.
In an instant, the vast inheritance of the great path of mind completely entered Su Yuan's consciousness.
The inheritance of the great path of mind reached the Primordial Supreme Great Luo Golden Immortal level. Cultivated to its highest realm, one could replace the will of the rules with their own will, becoming the will of the realm sea's rules, thereby achieving the great level of indestructibility and eternal immortality.
The Heavenly Demon had reached the perfect level and transformed his own will into the will of the heart demon rules of the Immortal-Demon Realm Sea. Although he lost the opportunity to advance further, he had truly reached the level of indestructibility and eternal immortality. Unless a Primordial Ultimate Great Luo Golden Immortal appeared, he would never need to worry about falling again.
Su Yuan was shocked inwardly—no wonder the Heavenly Demon was so capricious, doing whatever he wanted. He was truly one of the hidden big shots of the three realms.
Su Yuan suddenly felt he had been too bold—daring to deceive such a great being was practically seeking death!
Who knew this guy would be so terrifying? He had just wanted to boast a bit, never expecting this guy would believe him. Believing was one thing, but actually teaching him the inheritance—this was downright simple-minded!
"Once you grasp the basics of the great path of mind, passing the Primordial mental state test will be effortless. Crossing this Heart Refinement Path won't pose any major problems either!" the Heavenly Demon said casually.
Su Yuan showed gratitude: "Thank you, Senior!"
"Don't rush to break through to the Primordial mental state now. With your current mental cultivation, you only have a ten percent chance of success! Your foundation isn't sufficient yet!" the Heavenly Demon said.
"Oh, thank you for your guidance, Senior. This junior will withdraw from the breakthrough now and properly contemplate the great path of mind!" Su Yuan nodded.
"Mm." The Heavenly Demon said calmly, "I'll release it now."
The black Su Yuan gradually dissipated.
The originally pitch-black heart sea became pure again, merging with the other components.
Su Yuan's heart sea immediately became one-third turbulent, one-third dead silent, and one-third peaceful and harmonious.
Su Yuan scratched his head and began contemplating the great path of mind.
The great path of mind was a rule-based great path composed of numerous laws including mind law, heart demon law, heart sage law, soul law, spatial law, time law, evil law, dream law, five elements law, and illusion law.
The primary requirement for grasping the basics was achieving Great Luo level in all the above rules, then using the composition from the inheritance to form the great path of mind—an absurd difficulty level of nine stars.
For other cultivators, this was practically an impossible task—the entry difficulty was too high. They couldn't achieve entry even after cultivating for hundreds of millions of Yuan Assemblies.
Su Yuan suspected that the Heavenly Demon hadn't only given the inheritance to him but had taught others as well—just that nobody had managed to comprehend this great path.
Clearly, the Heavenly Demon had seen that Su Yuan had already elevated time law and spatial law to the Great Luo level, believing Su Yuan had a chance to successfully cultivate it, and then casually taught it to him.
On the other side.
The Heavenly Demon found the Demon Lord.
"That disciple of yours has some capability! Not bad!" the Heavenly Demon said.
"Oh? He's worthy of Master's praise?" the Demon Lord said surprised.
"He was on the Heart Refinement Path at Primordial Isle, just attempting to break through to the Primordial mental state. I advised him not to advance recklessly and even taught him the inheritance of the great path of mind!"
The Demon Lord was genuinely surprised this time: "His mental state has actually reached this level? This exceeds my expectations. It seems he's been hiding something from me too—he almost deceived me!"
"Heh, cultivators naturally need to learn to conceal things—demonic cultivators even more so. It would be strange if he truly had no concealments!" the Heavenly Demon said indifferently.
The Demon Lord laughed: "Originally I planned to have Master evaluate him when he breaks through to the Primordial stage. I didn't expect Master to encounter him in advance! Consider it that kid's good fortune!"
The two demons conversed happily, their dialogue showing no intention of verifying names, appearances, or similar information.