115: Chapter 115 Refining the Demon Transformation Fruit

Lu Hu returned to Tianduan Mountain carrying the dying demon.

After setting up a Five Elements Array and planting two circles of dream-entering fruits around it, Lu Hu tossed the demon inside. This formation could not actually trap the demon; it was merely used to contain the demonic energy he released.

After all, such energy had a significant impact on the living beings of Tianduan Mountain.

As for how to make the demon stay quietly inside the formation, it was simple: Lu Hu planned to give him a beating once a day.

If he was beaten until he couldn't move, the demon wouldn't be able to come out.

For three consecutive days, having suffered three brutal beatings from Lu Hu, the demon could take it no longer. His mental state collapsed; this tiger clearly had the strength to kill him, yet chose to humiliate him like this.

"Aaaah! You beast! If you want to kill me, then kill me! Why torture this seat like this?!"

Looking at the demon curled into a ball in the formation with only a faint breath remaining, Lu Hu felt a twinge of pity and said,

"If you can produce one of the demon fruits that caused your demonization back then, I can give you a swift end."

"Heh... This seat was born because of the demon fruit. Handing it over? You might as well let this seat end his own life."

"Is your life very comfortable right now?" Lu Hu asked in return, sneering.

"If there's no other way, then I can only continue like this every day."

"..." The demon fell silent. Being beaten every day was indeed worse than death.

After a long silence, the demon smiled coldly. "Do you really want it?"

"It's a treasure that can make one stronger. It would be foolish not to want it."

"Heh..." The demon let out a cold huff. To think he wanted to consume a demon fruit; he truly didn't know the heights of the heavens.

Fine, since things had come to this, there was no point in living anyway.

He would create an even stronger demon to destroy this boring world.

"Fine, I'll give it to you."

The demon agreed, but he couldn't hand over the demon fruit immediately.

Back then, his predecessor had given birth to him only after eating a demon-transforming fruit.

In other words, he was essentially that demon fruit.

To obtain the demon fruit, it had to be refined from his body.

At the same time, once the demon fruit was refined out, he would inevitably die.

The demon was unwilling to reveal the method of his own death, but dying was better than living like this.

The demon explained the method for refining the demon fruit. In the following days, Lu Hu stayed behind closed doors, refining the fruit according to the demon's instructions.

In the blink of an eye, eighty-one days passed.

On this day, a strange light of intertwined black and white suddenly erupted from the peak of Tianduan Mountain. The light shot straight into the clouds, terrifying living beings within a ten-thousand-mile radius.

In the sinkhole, Lu Hu dispelled the Five Elements Array, holding a fist-sized fruit in his palm. The fruit was dark purple-black all over, emitting pure demonic energy—it was the demon-transforming fruit he had spent three months refining from the demon's body.

[Ding! Discovered demon-transforming fruit. Obtained a wisp of devil heart source.]

A speck of light as black as ink flashed through Lu Hu's eyes; he had just gained a preliminary understanding of the demon-transforming fruit's power.

Lu Hu also grasped a bit of the essence behind that inscrutable demonic energy.

"The Demon Heart feeds on demonic nature; it is immortal and indestructible, ignoring the vast majority of powers in the world. Combined with the Creation Physique... this is the rhythm of becoming invincible."

Just a wisp of devil heart source had doubled Lu Hu's life-saving capabilities.

The power of the demon-transforming fruit's laws was a pleasant surprise.

Lu Hu became even more eager to grow the demon-transforming fruit to obtain the corresponding constitution.

He carefully buried the demon-transforming fruit in the spiritual field. The demonic nature in the hearts of living beings was the most suitable nourishment for its growth, but Lu Hu knew he couldn't bring himself to intentionally provoke the demonic nature of the world's creatures just to cultivate a fruit.

Since he couldn't find nourishment, he could only temporarily use the wisp of devil heart source rewarded by the system to cultivate the fruit, providing a small amount of nourishment daily while spending the rest of his time researching other cultivation methods.

...

While Lu Hu stayed behind closed doors researching farming, the appearance of the outside world changed day by day.

The calamity of the demon had been easily resolved by Lu Hu, and with the Xuan Kingdom no longer under threat, Prime Minister Li Jiao acted with a free hand. He took bold, multi-pronged measures—cutting taxes here, raising them there, ordering demolitions in one place, and land reclamation in another. He would finish tossing things around in one area today and move on to another tomorrow.

Every time he took over the territory of a new small nation, Li Jiao generally wouldn't follow a set routine or use the same methods for governance.

He enjoyed experimenting and trying various approaches.

So far, the data from all his experimental results was quite good; at least eight out of ten cases would develop in a positive direction.

As for the remaining ones that fell into a chaotic mess due to incorrect strategies, the Xuan Kingdom's army would move in and forcefully start over.

This was the advantage of possessing absolute martial force. Backed by the various immortals, Li Jiao could boldly experiment with all sorts of statecraft.

Even if he failed, he could quickly suppress the hidden dangers following the failure with absolute power and re-establish new rules and laws.

Under these circumstances, the Xuan Kingdom's national strength flourished, the people lived in peace and happiness, and talented disciples from various sects emerged in an endless stream.

Golden National Providence gathered from all directions of the Xuan Kingdom, enveloping the Imperial City. It was so thick it seemed almost tangible, even condensing into a golden sea of clouds above the palace that refused to dissipate, remaining bright even at night.

A great change had occurred in the National Providence, becoming profound, mysterious, and unpredictable. Even Emperor Xuan could not predict what kind of qualitative change it was about to undergo. For this reason, he specifically came to Tianduan Mountain to invite Lu Hu to observe it.

"The National Providence has actually accumulated to such a thick degree."

Lu Hu was astonished. It was too thick; it was no longer an invisible, intangible thing. Even an ordinary citizen could see it with the naked eye and touch it with their hands.

"The National Providence comes from everyone across the Xuan Kingdom, complex and manifold. This power is similarly all-encompassing; whatever you can think of, it possesses."

After two days of meditating beside the providence, Lu Hu reached a conclusion.

The original National Providence was already very powerful, ensuring the area it covered was unaffected by the world's decline, but the rules of operation had not changed—only the energy maintaining that operation had shifted from the world to the Xuan Kingdom's providence.

Now that the providence was transforming, if it truly succeeded, Lu Hu guessed that perhaps the rules could be changed through the providence. One might even be able to actively control the power of providence to nurture Immortal Path spiritual treasures within mountains, rivers, the sun, moon, and stars.

Artificially creating the world's rare treasures.

Hearing Lu Hu's answer, Emperor Xuan also agreed. "What Fellow Daoist says is exactly what we were thinking. It's just that this providence is too majestic now; if it can transform, it is naturally a good thing."

"But if an accident occurs and it spirals out of control, the power is not something we can withstand."

So you just want me to keep an eye on things.

Lu Hu curled his lip; they really knew how to put people to work.

But Emperor Xuan and the others were right to worry. With such a massive amount of providence power, if it went out of control, even a slight leak of energy would cause terrifying casualties.

"We ask for Fellow Daoist's indulgence," Emperor Xuan pleaded. "It is truly because our strength is meager and insufficient to withstand the risk of the providence going out of control. We truly dare not gamble with the lives of the hundreds of millions of citizens of the Xuan Kingdom."

"Fellow Daoist Lu Hu has heavenly methods and peerless divine abilities. Only with you presiding over this can our hearts be at ease."

"It's a small matter. I will stay here until the providence transforms." Lu Hu accepted Emperor Xuan's request.

Firstly, it was indeed better to keep an eye on it.

And secondly, it was Lu Hu's curiosity; he wanted to see the process of the providence's transformation.

Emperor Xuan and the others were overjoyed to receive Lu Hu's affirmative answer. They thanked him repeatedly and then led him to the pre-prepared Heavenly Tiger Immortal Abode.

Hmm... these guys have wanted me to stay here for more than a day or two.

Lu Hu muttered to himself, then moved into the Heavenly Tiger Immortal Abode with a clear conscience.

...