Unlike the other Evil Owls, its claws shimmered with a dark, spiritual light.

In the next instant, the Golden Core Demon King flew before the Water Dragon. With a single grasp of its iron claws, it squeezed the mighty Water Dragon until it burst.

BOOM!

The Demon King stared in confusion at the Water Dragon, which had dissolved back into water.

’From what it remembered, these Human Race Cultivators always relied on Magical Artifacts to fight. How could there not be a Magical Artifact inside this Water Dragon?’

The next moment, the dissipated Water Dragon re-formed, letting out a roar as it coiled tightly around the Demon King’s body.

The sharp Sword Gang scraped against the Evil Owl Demon King’s iron-like feathers, producing a harsh, grating sound but failing to cut through them.

The Demon King roared in fury. In just three breaths’ time, it strained and tore apart the Water Dragon coiled around it.

But it was too late. A Flying Saber, shimmering with the Five Elements Profound Light, flashed past in an instant before returning to Zuoqiu Feng’s hand.

The Demon King froze for a moment, then its head tumbled from its neck.

Seeing that their Demon King was dead, the remaining Evil Owls were scared witless and fled in all directions. Even the four remaining Great Demon Evil Owls couldn’t stop their kin from scattering.

BOOM! BOOM!

Yang Jing formed his Metal Element Magical Sword and shot into the sky. He sliced through the air, shaking the very clouds, and with the extreme speed of the Sword Qi Thunder Sound technique, he hunted down the fleeing Great Demon Evil Owls one by one, slaughtering them all.

Before the sharpness of the Metal Element Magical Sword, these Great Demon Evil Owls that had lorded over the sea were sliced in two with a single pass of the blade.

Before setting out to sea, Yang Jing had gained a basic understanding of the conditions in the outer seas.

These Evil Owls were known for holding grudges. If they weren’t eliminated completely, they could remember the events of this day and hold a grudge for several hundred years.

After directing the Magic Sword to slay several dozen more Evil Owls along the way, Yang Jing finally recalled it.

He then used his Magical Power to retrieve the corpses of the Great Demon Evil Owls he had slain.

Since the originally designated route was supposed to take only seven days, the Flying Boat wasn’t carrying many provisions—only enough to last for about thirty days.

The Demon Suppression Army soldiers, who were only at the Qi Cultivation level, had not yet achieved Fasting.

Not only were the feathers and bones of these Great Demon Evil Owls valuable Spiritual Materials, but their flesh could also be eaten by the soldiers.

When the massive Golden Core Evil Owl landed on the deck, the whole vessel shuddered from the impact.

"Get the Flying Boat moving. We need to leave this place as soon as possible," Yang Jing said to Iron Head.

In that last battle, over a thousand Evil Owls were slain. It was one thing for the ones incinerated to ash by the Fire Crows, but the other corpses had already attracted large schools of Demon Fish, which were devouring the free meal.

The spilled Essence Blood of the Golden Core Evil Owl, in particular, had driven the Demon Fish below into a chaotic frenzy.

Sooner or later, these Demon Fish would attract an even larger Sea Monster.

BOOM!

Sure enough, before the Flying Boat had even flown twenty li, a colossal, mountain-like head suddenly rose from the surface. It opened its massive maw and swallowed tens of thousands of pounds of seawater, along with the Demon Fish and Evil Owl corpses within.

BOOM!

Its immense body crashed back into the water, sending up waves the size of mountains. The impact was like the heavenly river falling into the ocean, the sound echoing for a hundred li.

Several breaths later, an equally enormous whale’s tail rose from the sea and slapped down hard upon the surface.

A long, drawn-out whale song echoed across the sea.

"It’s a Profound Whale!"

Yang Jing said with a sigh.

"This whale is one of the most common Demons that cultivators sailing the seas encounter. It’s ferocious by nature and exceedingly greedy."

He used his Bright Qi Talent to inspect it. The Demon Qi within the whale was as vast as the ocean, practically endless.

[Name]: Profound Whale (West Sea Species)

[Species Level]: Legendary

[Power]: Demon King

[Talent]: Qi Blood Abyss (Legendary), Overturning Rivers and Seas (Legendary), Profound Whale Body (Legendary)

[Cultivation Technique]: Profound Whale Submerging Sea Scripture

[Affinity]: 0

’If I could take this Profound Whale as my Guardian Beast, this vast ocean would instantly change from a natural moat into a wide, open road,’ Yang Jing thought to himself.

「The next moment.」

"Accelerate! Raise our altitude! It’s chasing us!"

At Yang Jing’s command, the Array Master piloting the Flying Boat hurriedly increased the output of Spiritual Qi. The vessel surged forward, climbing high into the sky.

A vast shadow suddenly rose from the sea below as the Profound Whale burst from the water.

This leap was much higher than before; its entire body, as massive as a small island, cleared the water’s surface.

Its massive maw, filled with sharp fangs, was now barely a li away from the Flying Boat.

The Profound Whale’s eyes, which seemed small in its enormous frame, flashed with a greedy light.

The next moment, a whistling column of water shot from its mouth.

The Flying Boat’s sudden acceleration caused the whale’s hastily fired jet of water to go wide, sending it whistling high into the sky.

Still unwilling to give up, the Profound Whale chased the Flying Boat for nearly a hundred li before letting out a frustrated cry and diving deep into the water.

"A beast of that caliber... is truly terrifying," Zuoqiu Feng said, her expression grave.

"Although we’re both at the Golden Core Realm, that Profound Whale’s Demon Qi is over ten times greater than mine. At sea, I would be absolutely no match for that behemoth."

"Only a vast and boundless ocean like this could sustain a Demon like the Profound Whale," Yang Jing said.

The Flying Boat continued on its course, and the soldiers, still a bit shaken, began to process the Evil Owl corpses on the deck.

As for the Golden Core Demon King, their Magical Artifacts couldn’t even cut through its hide, so they had no choice but to leave it for Zuoqiu Feng to deal with.

Zuoqiu Feng activated her Five-Colored Flying Saber and began to dissect the Demon Bird’s corpse.

The Flying Saber was called the Five Evils Demon-Slaying Flying Saber, a Magical Treasure recorded in the Tai Shi Five Elements True Talisman Scripture.

The Five Evils Demon-Slaying Flying Saber cut through the Golden Core Demon King’s body as if it were rotten wood.

After slicing open the Evil Owl’s abdomen, Zuoqiu Feng found a Pill Pearl inside that resembled gold and jade.

"Found it. The Demon Pill."

Aside from a few unique species with special Cultivation Techniques, most Demons that advance to the Demon King realm will form a Demon Pill.

This pill has significant uses. It can not only be used in Artifact Refining, but also as a primary ingredient for Foundation Establishment Pills, replacing rare and precious Spirit Medicines.

However, this Demon Pill had another use: it could be refined into a Fake Pill.

When a cultivator at Foundation Establishment Perfection consumes a Fake Pill, the pill can emulate the function of a true Golden Core within their Dantian. This allows the cultivator to cross the seemingly insurmountable barrier and elevate their Magical Power to the Golden Core Realm.

Although this makes them the weakest among Golden Core Cultivators, they can still utterly dominate any Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

Noble Families like hers loved to collect Demon Pills, refine them into Fake Pills, and store them away in their secret vaults.

When a Noble Family found itself in a transitional period with no true successors, they could have a clan member at Foundation Establishment Perfection refine a Fake Pill. This would grant them a semblance of Golden Core power, allowing the family to weather the difficult times.

Of course, Fake Pills came with side effects. First, a cultivator who refined one would be actively drawing Foreign Qi into their Dantian, thereby forfeiting any future chance of achieving true Core Formation. Second, a Demon Pill was ultimately a condensation of Demon Qi, containing immense amounts of Muddy Qi and Evil Qi.

Even a master of Alchemy, when refining it into a Fake Pill, would inevitably leave behind some residual Dirt Demon Qi.

Cultivators who refined a Fake Pill would have their bodies invaded by Demon Qi, causing their lifespan to be drastically reduced.

After assimilating a crudely refined Fake Pill, a cultivator might even be left with only six or seven years of life.

The path of cultivation prizes life above all. Therefore, even though a Demon Pill could grant a cultivator the combat power of the Golden Core Realm, its price was never too outrageous.

"If you were to offer this pill to the Sect, you could exchange it for three Foundation Establishment Pills. You have many disciples, so you should keep it."

Yang Jing explained that he had already prepared Foundation Establishment Pills for his disciples, but Zuoqiu Feng, believing it was better to be safe than sorry, insisted with a smile that he take the Demon Pill anyway.

A thought suddenly struck Yang Jing. ’Cultivators who assimilate a Fake Pill suffer the consequences of being unable to achieve Core Formation and having their lifespans shortened.’

’But what if a Demon assimilated it? Wouldn’t that at least negate the side effect of a shortened lifespan?’

At this thought, he accepted the Demon Pill.

His four current disciples all had the potential to reach the Golden Core Realm, so he naturally couldn’t use them to test the feasibility of this method.

But he could always subdue a new Guardian Beast and have it attempt to assimilate the Demon Pill.

At this thought, Yang Jing felt a pang of regret. He shouldn’t have slaughtered all those Great Demon Realm Evil Owls—they would have been the perfect test subjects.

’If he used a Demon of the same species, it might even be possible to avoid the side effect of being unable to achieve Core Formation.’