Chapter Thirty-One: Perilous Journey Through the Heart of Demons

  Whoosh!

  A faint cry broke into Li Chen's meditation, and when he turned his head to look, he saw a young bird about the size of a hen, its entire body a dull grey, crouching on the ground with blood oozing from the corner of its mouth. It was the same young eagle that he had subconsciously shooed away when he woke up earlier.

  Look at its weak and miserable appearance, it's either been starving for a few days or was injured by Li Chen's slap.

  "Hey, let's have braised young eagle today, to dispel the bad luck!"

  Li Chen rubbed his belly, gave a cruel smile, took big strides forward, and grabbed the young eagle with one hand, about to throw it to the ground.

  But in an instant, his body trembled slightly, and a faint light flashed through his mind. He gently raised it to the front, "You are also without father or mother, and you can be considered as having the same misfortune as me. If we can survive, let's be companions!"

  As he spoke, he held it in his arms, and with one hand, he took off the leather bag and turned it upside down. With a rustling sound, out fell broken bottles and jars, apparently caused by the giant eagle's grasp when he was caught.

  He picked out a fine porcelain bottle from among them, bit off the cork with his teeth and poured some into the beak of the languid young eagle.

  Whoosh!

  The young eagle sniffed unconsciously, tilted its head to glance at Li Chen, then opened its pale yellow beak and swallowed a few grains of the dan medicine. Its head tilted to one side as it fainted.

  Although it was a demon beast, after starving for several days and being injured by Li Chen, its body was weak and unable to recover, this situation was also unavoidable.

  But even if he knew, at this moment, Li Chen had no other choice but to pin his hopes on the young eagle's good fortune and longevity, hoping it would pull through.

  "Ah!"

  Li Chen held the young eagle and walked to the nest, putting it down. As he stood up, he suddenly stopped, stretched out his hand and picked up a round bead that was exceptionally lustrous, emitting a faint golden glow.

  Her gaze shifted, and she saw the round bead in the mouth of the giant eagle beside the nest. Her body stiffened slightly as she turned around, scanning the hole on the chest of the giant eagle's corpse at the entrance of the cave. Her eyes were slightly moist: "Alas, the hearts of all parents under heaven, why... did you abandon me? Was it... just because I'm ugly?"

  Muttering to himself, his palm unconsciously rubbed the ugly scars on his face. Although Old Lei had never said that he was adopted, after all these years in the Li family, he had heard too many whispers and rumors. He wasn't a child anymore, so he naturally understood his origins.

  He was very filial, after asking once, Old Lei sighed for a whole night and never asked again.

  But... having no father and no mother has always been a pain in my heart!

  "Why?"

  He threw back his head and let out a long, mournful howl. In the early morning light, his eyes gleamed with a fierce, crystalline intensity, and the veins on his face stood out in bold relief, an ominous sign that his heart demon was stirring.

  Innumerable scenes of slaughter appeared in his mind, with bloodstains filling the sky!

  A warrior's path is most afraid of giving rise to demonic obstacles, falling into madness and having one's mind controlled by demonic obstacles, ultimately exhausting one's energy and dying in a state of being unable to control oneself.

  It is said that to have a demon in the heart, one must at least be in the true boundary, and only then can the martial soul be formed. However, Li Chen was raised by Old Man Li since childhood, despite being pampered in every way, but as a slave with physical defects, he had suffered all sorts of hardships and cold eyes.

  At this time, Wu Dao's progress was too fast, and after several twists and turns, he had a great rise and fall, which finally stirred up his heart demon.

  Evil spirits stir, countless thoughts arise, and the mortal world buries bones endlessly.

  Even a powerful warrior, being lured out of his guard and into the heart demon's trap without any defense, would absolutely meet a dead end. What about Li Chen, who has little experience in martial arts?

  To know, a powerful martial artist may not even know when their heart demon will arrive, because this demon is formless and intangible, existing only in the void of the mind, but most will prepare a few treasures that can make themselves clear-headed, to mobilize their true yuan, and protect their martial soul.

  Pfft!

  In his chest, the air and blood were churning, his internal breath was in disarray. The demonic pellet in his hand suddenly flashed with a streak of lightning, clearing Lei Chen's mind. He bit the tip of his tongue fiercely, opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. Borrowing the sharp pain to momentarily clear his head, he sat down cross-legged on the ground without hesitation, circulating the "Fengyang Formula".

  The Lei Ying Yao Dan that hadn't been thrown away yet was emitting waves of alluring light in his hand, as if there was a faint glow seeping into his palm.

  With its extremely strong and masculine technique, combined with the thunder attribute demon pill in hand, it can already counter the extremely yin and evil formless heart demon. At this time, with Li Chen's firm and resolute heart, he finally grasped a thread of initiative.

  As the inner breath in the meridians gradually returned to its normal path and was guided into the various major meridians, the faint red mist that had spread out all over Li Chen's body at dawn began to slowly contract and eventually disappeared entirely into his skin.

  With his eyes closed in meditation at dawn, he didn't notice that the demonic pellet in his hand was slowly releasing a wisp of demonic energy into his palm.

  A faint crimson birthmark on his forehead seemed to have a life of its own, slightly bulging and throbbing as if it was a seal that could burst open at any moment.

  But for some reason, perhaps because of that golden seal or other reasons, it never appeared again.

  Two hours had passed, and Lei Chen's pale face finally slowly opened his eyes. A sharp gleam flashed across, obviously his cultivation had improved again, but on his face there was no longer the joy of surviving a disaster, instead there was a hint of desolation.

  "Whatever!"

  She slightly shook her head, and Li Chen gazed out of the cave in a daze. A strand of golden sunlight was projected onto her face, as if a thin layer of gold dust had been sprinkled on it.

  It was as if he had seen some beautiful scenery or was immersed in a certain memory, Li Chen suddenly looked a bit dazed.

  Hiss!

  A shrill cry, made Li Chen wake up with a start. He lowered his head to look and found that the young eagle had woken up at some point, was tilting its head, and was pulling on his sleeve, but unlike before when it was dazed, there was no attempt to peck at him this time.

  "Go away! I'm busy!"

  Just having gone through a demon in the heart, Li Chen's mental energy was greatly consumed, and he was extremely tired. He had no mood to play with it, so he stretched out his hand and pushed it away.

  Hiss!

  But the young eagle was relentless, still pecking at his sleeve, with a hint of dependence in its bright eyes.

  "Must be hungry?"

  Li Chen scratched his head, really annoyed by it, put down the demon pill, and with a serious face said: "We two are also considered to be in the same boat, what you want to eat is here, I'm also helpless."

  Hiss!

  The young eagle spat out a thread of saliva, which landed right on Li Chen's cheek. The little head kept twisting and turning, looking at the pile of bottles not far away.

  "So it's this one after all!"

  Li Chen shook his head, forcing himself to walk up to the scattered pile of jade bottles, only to find that the medicinal powder had already disappeared without a trace, clearly eaten by the young eagle.

  "What a big eater!"

  Although he was astonished that the young eagle could withstand the impact of the elixir's energy, Li Chen still picked up the remaining bottles, pulled out the corks, and fed the elixir to it.

  It turned out that the young eagle had just swallowed a few grains, and its body shook violently, like it was drunk and fell to the ground. Li Chen was shocked, but when he saw that it was breathing steadily, he felt relieved. He made a silent decision not to give it too much to eat, lest something unpredictable happened.

  Put the eaglet back in the nest, took down the demon pill from the giant eagle's mouth, thought for a moment, put the two demon pills that warriors regarded as precious treasures beside the sleeping eaglet, and only then began to consider his own situation.