Gao Chuan could obviously mobilize the spiritual energy within a radius of a hundred meters, but it didn't even have an automatic recharge function. Gao Chuan couldn't help but feel a strange sense of absurdity, but he also understood that this setting was necessary.
If the core had a way to recharge its own energy, then what use would humans have for it?
If the core's powerful function was independent, it would be equivalent to a demon that could control spiritual energy, but had no regenerative ability. In any case, it could live well by itself, and there was no need for it to be used as a tool by humans.
Therefore, there must be a limit to its energy recharge channel — the spiritual energy it could control was of no use to its own survival, and could only be temporarily used. The only thing that could really support its survival was its vitality.
It was a large amount of vitality provided by its symbiont!
The flesh and blood of demons to ordinary people … No, even high level cultivators wouldn't gain any benefits from swallowing the demon's flesh and blood. They would only be seriously injured or killed by the highly toxic and corrosive liquid. Only the core's user could absorb the huge amount of distorted vitality through the act of "eating" and supply it to the core.
The demon crystal in his hand and the core in his chest were unexpectedly similar. They both looked like round gemstones, but one was black with a hint of red, and the other was blue.
But now, the core that was emitting red light gave people a sense of urgency, as if urging its symbiont to provide energy.
Stars flashed in front of his eyes.
The feeling of weakness that was slowly being drained was increasing, to the point where Gao Chuan's vision would occasionally turn black.
"No, even if I really ate this crystal, I can't go on like this!"
Gritting his teeth and making up his mind, Gao Chuan frowned and directly smashed the demon crystal in his hand on a stone on the ground.
But it was useless.
Thump!
With a crisp sound of collision, the stone turned into fragments, splashing everywhere, but the crystal didn't even have a scratch.
On the contrary, Gao Chuan felt dizzy because he used too much strength.
The sound he could hear was getting softer and softer, his senses were getting duller, and his breathing became labored. Even the thing in his hand was gradually becoming unclear.
A part of the spiritual energy that he used before didn't dissipate into the world, but was intercepted in the core as a buffer, but with the passage of time, it slowly began to dissipate.
Now, it had begun to slowly extract the vitality of its symbiont.
The hardness of the crystal was far beyond his imagination, but it was too late to say this now.
Gao Chuan wiped the cold sweat off his forehead. There was nothing he could do about it.
Originally, the Evil Devil's core was not a weakness, but a fatal point. Although it was not extremely hard, ordinary techniques could not easily break it. If Gao Chuan was at his peak, he might be able to destroy it with a full blow with a well-made weapon and his blood, Qi, and spiritual force.
But now, he had no physical strength, no weapon, and his Blood Qi and Spiritual Qi were almost exhausted. He really didn't know what he could use to destroy this Nefarious Demon Crystal.
The fire gradually extinguished, and the surrounding light slowly dissipated. All that was left was the flickering red light on his chest and the dark red light from the crystal. The two intertwined and reflected on the man's face, making him look particularly tense.
He slowly lifted the Demonic Crystal and stared at the strange light flickering within it, as if it was alive.
At this size, there was no way to stuff it into his mouth. Even if he could stuff it into his mouth, he wouldn't be able to swallow it.
Just like a light bulb, this kind of thing was hard to take out once it entered the mouth. He just didn't know if licking it would have any effect. If it did, it would be a great blessing.
"…"
Gao Chuan was silent. The hunger and weakness made him unable to think clearly. His expression was slightly distorted. He looked at the dark red crystal and then put it closer to his face little by little.
His eyes lit up.
It was not an exaggeration, but the world in his eyes suddenly became clear. It was as if the night had suddenly turned to noon.
In short, he suddenly felt a little sober.
The burning feeling in his abdomen gradually subsided. His sore and weak limbs also pulled themselves together. A cool feeling passed through his brain and spine. The condition of his internal organs and meridians no longer worsened.
Narrowing his eyes, Gao Chuan felt that he had discovered something. He tried to put the crystal a little further away.
Sure enough, as the crystal moved away, the comfortable feeling quickly disappeared.
But even so, his physical condition was much better than before.
"…"
The man who felt that his IQ was being mocked looked at the crystal in his hand with a look of disbelief.
"Don't need to eat it … just put it next to me?"
Gao Chuan whispered in surprise. Then his voice suddenly became louder, full of disbelief, "So simple?!"
As his energy gradually returned, he sensed a weak flow of energy emanating from the crystal. It seemed to want to dissipate between heaven and earth, but it was attracted by his body and absorbed all of it.
Deciding not to recall the shameful determination from before, he simply put the crystal close to the core of his chest without hesitation.
"Hiss …"
As if something was sucked away, or as if something leaked a hole. With this strange sound effect, Gao Chuan found that it was indeed effective.
No, it was not just effective.
The red light stopped flashing, and the core's radiance stopped for a moment. Then, it turned into a cyan light and reappeared. The Evil Demon Crystal seemed to have been sucked dry. The external black luster and the internal red light had completely disappeared, leaving only a transparent, round crystal, which proved its existence.
Countless solid rays of light, with the core no longer flashing as the center, turned into lines and covered Gao Chuan's body again. Then, they converged on his forehead to form a strange and exquisite pattern full of vitality.
Unlike before, there was no feeling of oppression, no internal organs slowly burning and collapsing, and no illusion of his heart being grasped. There was only endless joy.
It was not the same as physical joy. This was an instinctive reaction from the depths of his bloodline, called stronger joy!
He was becoming stronger.
Gao Chuan experienced what it meant to be reborn.
Starting from the sore muscle fibers, countless abnormally strong vitality entered his body along with the light patterns. Under the guidance of the core, all the previous injuries were repaired. Whether it was the muscle injuries from doing farm work when he was a child, or the qi and blood deficit from fighting wild beasts and demon beasts, everything was being repaired and strengthened. From the inside to the outside, he was completely renewed.
A long, long time ago, Gao Chuan discovered that he was born with divine strength, copper skin, and iron bones. His qi and blood were far stronger than anyone he knew. If it were not for malnutrition, he would be even more terrifying. But even so, his strength and tenacity were not inferior to those beasts that lived in the jungle.
Even if his qi and blood deficit during hunting and fighting were not able to affect his thick origin. However, this hindered his body's further development.
But now, after all the previous minor injuries were repaired, his qi and blood flow was no longer hindered. His origin was also strengthened. It was like a burning fireball, even surpassing the majority of demon beasts. One could see with the naked eye that there was a faint red light of qi and blood penetrating from the top of Gao Chuan's head.
But this was not the end.
With the strengthening of his qi and blood, his meridians were also expanding to bear this power. Correspondingly, his brain also began to be transformed by the impact of vitality. Countless traces of bioelectricity spread all over Gao Chuan's body and then gradually converged, turning into flashing electric arcs that shot on the surface of his body.
The world seemed to have stopped for a second, and the trajectory of everything seemed to have slowed down. Gao Chuan could even clearly see the appearance of the trees secreting resin in the distance. He could also see above the fire pit, the heated air surging up. He looked up and could even see the trajectory of the moon's movement. There was a slight difference between its previous position and its current position. Whether it was fast or slow, clear objects or transparent things like air, he could clearly distinguish and react.
"Administrator authority granted …"
Such a voice vaguely sounded in the depths of Gao Chuan's mind. However, because he was immersed in the pleasure of the improvement of his strength, he did not hear it.
At this time, the core was establishing a connection with the brain. Previously, because of the lack of vitality, the core was not complete and did not have this function. It could only passively sink a large amount of information into the subconscious mind. But now, as long as Gao Chuan was willing, he could mobilize the information stored in the core. As long as he wanted, he could give the keywords and extract the knowledge and information he wanted from the almost endless ancient database.
Although he was still limited by his spiritual power and could only mobilize a small amount of information every day, he could already search by name. It was much better than randomly rummaging through the information.
As for the core itself, the light that was dim and flickering red returned to its original cyan blue. The color was also deeper, and there were even some silver star-like light spots flashing in it.
Whether it was him or the core, both of them grew rapidly with the help of the large amount of vitality provided by the demon crystal. They began to evolve from the foundation of a living being.
It was no longer just to ensure the level of survival…
Gao Chuan clenched his fists and flicked his fingers one by one. Just this small action brought about the sound of a whip being whipped. Gao Chuan stared at his hand as if he was starting to recognize it again.
Without using blood, Qi, and spiritual energy, he could flick his fingers and make the sound of air being torn apart just by relying on the elasticity and strength of his muscles. Compared to before, he was more than a few times stronger.
As the spiritual patterns flickered, the calluses and dead skin on his hands that were caused by years of chopping wood and hunting, as well as drawing bows and swinging axes, completely fell off. His skin returned to its original white and tender state. Even so, the toughness of this new layer of skin far surpassed that of ordinary beast fur, let alone human skin.
Not only the skin, but the strength of the muscle fibers in his body also became tougher. His internal organs and bones began to be adjusted slightly under his control to arrange and distribute them in a safer and more reasonable way. His stomach also underwent a complete transformation. Now, even if Gao Chuan ate soil, he would be able to replenish calcium. Even if he chewed on tree bark, he would be able to obtain fiber. Biological toxins in his stomach would only be broken down into nutrients or trash, completely unable to threaten him.
His internal organs were optimized. He felt as if they were being swallowed by something and then slowly regrown. His bones were also optimized. As his perspective changed, he also knew that he had become shorter.
Somewhat uneasy and somewhat excited, Gao Chuan, who had sensed the great changes in his body, was worried about whether he was still human. At the same time, he was also thinking about something else.
The overall optimization this time was like a completely different person. If he really went to the Jade Capital and entered the Abyss Suppression Sect, would Gao Hong and the others notice these changes and become suspicious?
That shouldn't be possible, right? After all, he had only decreased from 1.8 meters to 1.7 meters. Normally, they would at most find it strange, but there wouldn't be any obvious differences.
Gao Chuan smiled and shook his head. He felt that his self-consciousness was simply too excessive. Why would others observe him so carefully? A hunter in the mountains with a woodcutter covered in blood and internal organs. Other than the general face and outline that he could remember, the other details should have long been forgotten.
The light was so dim, so it was normal for him to remember wrongly. There was no need to be overly suspicious.
Even if they did remember, so what? Who would care? Who would pay so much attention?
Consoling himself, Gao Chuan no longer worried about the distant matter and began to think about the present.
In truth, such matters were not worth worrying about. What he was most worried about at first was whether his body would mutate due to the impact of information from the Evil Demon's distorted lifeform. But now, it seemed that there was no such trend.
As a combat platform created by the Ancient to counter the Evil Demon, the core's functions were extraordinarily powerful. Whether it was targeted against the Evil Demon or its powerful self-evolving ability, it was far beyond Gao Chuan's imagination.
Apart from the fact that it was a lifeform with vitality and a symbiotic relationship with him, everything else could be considered perfect.
As he pondered, his heart and lungs began a new round of growth and strengthening. Now, the heart was not only an organ that transported blood, but also an extra atrium that was created to store vitality. His lung capacity was greatly enhanced and could spontaneously filter out toxic gases and dust. Even if he had to activate it after a while to cough out the filth, it was no big deal.
However, the rich vitality from the Evil Demon had begun to shrink, gathered by the core and placed in the heart.
Although the amount was still huge, it was not enough to trigger the next evolution. Instead of wasting it, it was better to save it and use it as a backup energy for the next battle or healing.