Three days after the incident in the Abyssal Demonic Zone, Mengxuan was back in his room. Though he was already perfectly fine, he stayed under the pretense of still recovering from his injuries.
Xiao Long had visited him, and he'd gotten some information about Ji Baxi and Lifeng. They were transfer students from another city, and ever since the incident at the spider demonic zone, they hadn't come out again. The academy had assumed they were dead.
Dead or alive, he didn't care. They were the kind who would always find trouble with him. He needed to grow stronger—or he would be killed without even knowing how.
He waited for the sky to drape its blanket of darkness over the world.
The moonlight passed through a narrow slit in the window, making shadows overlap inside the room.
This was the moment he had been waiting for—to cultivate, to wield power.
---
"Fiend Monk, are you sure using unrefined demonic cores won't have any side effects? I've heard of people being controlled by demons because of that," Mengxuan couldn't help but ask.
As the team leader, he naturally kept the cores they had gathered from the spider abyssal demonic zone.
He had saved some demonic cores for this moment. The rest, he had drop it at the counter for refining.
Since he didn't have an holy force,he would rather walk the demonic path to become stronger.
"Don't worry. You're completely different," Fiend Monk reassured, his voice steady. "Someone like you is destined to be a Demon Lord."
"My demonic energy once subdued a master-ranked Abyssal Spider," Fiend Monk continued. "Though it's weakened now, I can still help you nullify any kind of backlash!"
With that confirmation, he brought out two dark-blue, elliptical-shaped demonic cores—one in each hand.
The cores cracked.
"I'll help you initiate a holy cultivator soul vein for better experience—"
Before he could finish, dark energy burst forth from the shattered cores, surging into Meng Xuan like a flood of screaming spirits.
The energy invaded his body, racing toward his untapped soul vein.
Ethereal channels webbed through his flesh. They glowed faintly with a crimson light, pulsing erratically as the demonic energy coursed through them. The veins twisted, tightened, and re-aligned themselves, becoming more elastic as they adapted to the foreign force drawn into them.
Inside the direct mirror of his soul, the demonic energy poured in like a bloody rain, crashing down into an endless, misty-black ocean.
The sea churned beneath a red, pale moon, while a sinister mist surged beneath its surface, forming whirlpools and eddies.
Somewhere near the center, a dark core spun rapidly. It looked like two halves of a ball sewn together—one half slightly darker than the other. Without close inspection, the difference was nearly invisible.
His nascent soul core barely formed, fragile as breath itself.
Fiend Monk brought more demonic cores and dissolved the last of the tenth demonic essence into Meng Xuan's chest.
In his soul sea, the mist thickened—
BOOM!
A mighty shockwave burst outward.
The sea expanded. The pale-red moon pulsed with life.
Then something he had never seen before suddenly appeared.
Seven lanterns—shaped like ancient spirit vessels—emerged from the mist around the nascent core. They floated in a perfect circle, glowing faintly, each with a different inscription etched into its surface. Their flames were sealed, flickering weakly behind demonic runes and golden restraints.
Each lantern was connected to his nascent core by glowing threads of golden light, like spiritual chains holding them in place.
Suddenly, one of the lanterns flared to life, its crimson seal cracking open. A scarlet flame burst upward, revealing a phantom image of a dragon roaring in fury.
Its pressure alone could suffocate a mortal soul.
Compared to it, the other lanterns remained dim—sealed, silent, and waiting.
Meng Xuan's eyes flew open.
He sat upright in bed, drenched in sweat, his breathing erratic, heart pounding like a war drum.
"Fiend Monk..." he rasped. "Do you have any idea what just happened?"
"I saw... lanterns," Meng Xuan continued. "Seven of them. What does it mean?"
After a long silence, the Fiend monk finally spoke.
"I saw it too," he admitted. "The 7 laterns... the runes... That wasn't supposed to happen."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't understand it myself. This isn't what I expected... or... could it be—" He stopped, hesitating.
"Could it be what?"
"I don't want to make random guesses," Fiend Monk replied slowly. "But Master… don't worry. You'll understand in time."
Before he could say more, the holographic flame from the lantern shimmered.A picture of a dark, fiery dragon shot out from his body. The dragon spread its wings wide, soaring high into the sky.
Its aura was majestic—and proud—radiating an oppressive dominance that overshadowed everything.
It danced around for a moment before diving downward. As soon as it made contact with Meng Xuan's body, it transformed into a wisp of smoky energy and entered his soul sea.
"What... what was that dragon?" He asked, startled.
"Have you ever heard of the seven deadly sins?" the other replied. "That's the Flame of Pride... one of the true primordial demonic flames said to belong to Lucifer himself. You could say the dragon is a direct manifestation of that part of his personality."
"Then does that mean..." the voice trailed off. "The remaining six latterns are also part of the seven deadly sins?"
"Yes."
"Master, you're truly special. I never thought you'd awaken the full Demonic Inheritance!"
"Full Demonic Inheritance?" Meng Xuan murmured, surprised.
But the other man didn't seem interested in explaining further.
...
Outside the Meng Xuan residence, two students stood quietly in the shadows. Dressed in black attire, they crouched low, carefully peeking through the narrow opening of the window.
"I think he's cultivating," one of them said with a sarcastic tone
"I thought he was weak... I never knew he was also delusional," the other sneered softly.
They stifled a laugh before the first one continued, "If not for the formation around the academy hostels, we would've burst in and beaten him up already. But now, we have to lure him out. Then we'll crush him so thoroughly he'll never show his face again—especially not in the upcoming tournaments. The mighty Jiao San deserves the Academy's Number One, not him."
"Where did he go?" one whispered as they peeped again, shocked to find the window empty. Meng Xuan was gone.
"Looking for me?"
A calm, cold voice rang out from behind.
The two boys spun around, startled to see Meng Xuan standing calmly in front of them. Just a moment ago, he had clearly still been in bed.
"You scared us! measly rat." one shouted nervously. "That's no way to treat someone who came to thank you for saving us the trouble of dragging you out!"
Meng Xuan clicked his tongue. "Measly ants... hmm."
He took a step forward. "Let me show you what a measly ant can do."
A cold glint flashed in his eyes. With a swift motion, he raised his hand.
A dark ball of flame began to form.