Nuwa, the goddess of immortality, said that cultivating immortality does not require spiritual energ

"Here you go, thanks to you just now."

Qin Le handed the ancient Xuanyuan Sword to Youxiong Yaoyao with a sincere smile on his face.

It must be said that Xiong Yaoyao's decision to throw the Xuanyuan Sword to him at the crucial moment was a stroke of genius; otherwise, the battle could never have ended so smoothly.

Looking at the Xuanyuan Sword handed to her, Xiong Yaoyao did not immediately take it.

She looked at Qin Le seriously, thought for a moment, and said, "How about... you take it and use it for now? Anyway, it's just a decoration here with me."

In her hands, the Xuanyuan Sword was no different from ordinary iron.

But in Qin Le's hands, it could become a terrifying trump card capable of turning the tide of battle.

After all, there's probably no other freak like him in the Three Realms who can casually sacrifice an entire Great Dao to power the Xuanyuan Sword.

Even a saint might not be willing or able to do it.

Upon hearing this suggestion, Qin Le smiled and shook his head: "No, let's return it to its rightful owner. If I ever need it again in the future, I'll just borrow it from you."

"Alright."

You Xiong Yaoyao stopped insisting, reached out and took the Xuanyuan Sword, skillfully fastening it back to her waist.

After a brief chat, Qin Le took her leave and returned to her quiet little courtyard.

Time flows quietly, and a few days pass by leisurely.

That morning, Qin Le was comfortably lying on a rocking chair in the courtyard, enjoying the rare warm sunshine.

Suddenly, Nuwa's voice echoed from the depths of her consciousness, her tone tinged with a strange excitement:

"Little Lele, come in quickly! Your 'inner demon' is about to take shape!"

Qin Le was taken aback upon hearing this, but then he didn't hesitate any longer and his consciousness instantly sank into his own sea of ​​consciousness.

As soon as his consciousness began to take shape in his sea of ​​consciousness, Qin Le saw a palm-sized clay figure of Nuwa, hovering in mid-air, watching with great interest a surging mass of dark negative energy not far away.

The energy was writhing violently, its outline gradually becoming clearer, vaguely sketching out a human figure.

"Mother Nuwa, how do we deal with this inner demon?" Qin Le leaned closer and asked curiously.

He had a smooth and successful life, and his mind was clear and enlightened, so he was not destined to be afflicted by inner demons.

The birth of this inner demon is purely a side effect of awakening the inner demonic will of Chi You within the evil weapon.

Therefore, he had absolutely no experience in dealing with his inner demons.

At the same time, he couldn't help but wonder: what would his inner demons look like?

"There are many ways to deal with inner demons." The little clay figure Nuwa turned her head, looking at him with a smile, but her tone was somewhat meaningful: "What you should be considering now is not how to 'deal with' it, but... how to 'use' it."

"How would you use it?" Qin Le blinked, thought for a moment, and said, "For example... to refine weapons?"

The only advanced way he knows of to utilize inner demons seems to be the path of the War God Chi You—using inner demons as top-grade materials to refine divine weapons, thereby increasing their ferocity and spirituality.

"That's such a waste!" The little clay figure Nuwa immediately shook her head, rejecting the idea: "Besides, your inner demon is not the same as the 'killing inner demon' that Chi You specially raised for refining weapons. It's just an ordinary inner demon. Using it for refining weapons would only provide limited improvement and would be a complete waste."

Chi You deliberately cultivated the demonic path, using a portion of his own killing essence as nourishment to carefully nurture a top-tier inner demon at the saint level, which was originally the core material prepared for forging an unparalleled weapon.

Qin Le's inner demon, which was born naturally due to side effects, is far inferior to it in terms of both quality and attributes.

Just as the two were talking, the surging black energy finally stabilized and took shape.

A figure that was exactly the same as Qin Le's original appearance, figure, and even clothing slowly solidified in his sea of ​​consciousness.

With the same black hair and black eyes, and the same stunningly beautiful face, only the depths of those eyes lacked the warmth and brightness of Qin Le's true form, and instead held a hint of the darkness and aloofness of a demon.

After the inner demon Qin Le took shape, it first looked at its own true form, then glanced at the tiny clay figure of Nuwa beside it, whose aura was unfathomable despite being only the size of a palm, and then...

He spoke very decisively, even with a hint of relief in his voice:

"Um... there's no need for you two to do it. I'll do it myself and leave now."

Before he finished speaking, his feet, which had just solidified, began to slowly turn into black specks of light from bottom to top and started to dissipate on their own!

He actually wants to deliberately annihilate himself!

Seeing this, the little clay figure Nuwa showed an undisguised look of regret.

Qin Le's lips twitched involuntarily, feeling a sense of absurdity.

"No..." Qin Le looked at his inner demon threatening suicide and couldn't help but retort, "Do I look that fierce? Is it really necessary to try to kill myself the moment we meet?"

Upon hearing this, the inner demon Qin Le rolled her eyes at her true form, annoyed: "You're not fierce, and you're certainly not a bad person. But will you go easy on me? No way!"

As an aggregate of all of Qin Le's negative and dark subconscious thoughts, he knew his true self all too well.

Qin Le is indeed a good person. If his inner demons behaved themselves and didn't cause trouble, Qin Le might not have gone so far as to eliminate them completely.

But the problem is—to make a demon in your heart behave itself and not cause trouble is as absurd as trying to stop a fire from burning!

Is that still an inner demon?

Moreover, even if they manage to survive by sheer luck, they will most likely be imprisoned by the main body or sent to do all sorts of hard labor.

What's the point of this demonic existence?

Rather than living such a stifling life, or waiting for the original body to need it someday and then casually dispose of it, it's better to leave with dignity now.

At least, the initiative is in our own hands.

"Sigh..." The little clay figure Nuwa sighed as she watched the inner demon dissipate rapidly, her regret deepening. "The inner demon is too sensible, too clever... sometimes that's not good either."

"Huh? Mother Nuwa, what do you mean by that?" Qin Le asked, puzzled.

Even Qin Le, whose inner demons were dissipating, cast a questioning glance. Although he felt he had made the right choice, he was still a little curious about the original plan of this saintly empress.

The little clay figure Nuwa pointed to the inner demon, whose body was now only half its original size, and said earnestly, "Originally, I wanted to lock him up and 'nurture' him for a while. Once his strength had increased sufficiently, I could find a way to transfer some—or even most—of the 'karma of all living beings' that you were carrying onto him. At that time, the karmic burden on you would be greatly reduced, and you would naturally have the possibility of challenging for the Sainthood."

This plan was not a spur-of-the-moment decision.

As early as when Qin Le decided to use the deadly weapon and awaken Chi You's inner demon, she was already thinking about how to utilize this inevitable byproduct.

Looking across the three realms, apart from his own inner demon, who was born from the same source, there is almost no other being able and suitable to bear Qin Le's complex karma.

Others either couldn't handle it or were unwilling to, and Qin Le herself was absolutely unwilling to pass this burden on to innocent people.

The inner demon is an integral part of him, making it perfectly suited to bear this cause and effect.

Unfortunately... despite all her calculations, she never anticipated that Qin Le's inner demon would be so cunning and insightful, choosing the most decisive way to exit the stage from the very beginning.

Once an inner demon is determined to annihilate itself, the process is almost irreversible unless it is forcibly suppressed or stopped by absolute power.

At this moment, Qin Le was powerless to stop it. The power of her wisp of soul had been exhausted when sealing the heavens, and she could only watch helplessly as the plan failed.

After hearing Nuwa's explanation, Qin Le suddenly understood. So that's how it works! Even though he doesn't need it now, he's still learned something new.

On the other hand, Qin Le, the inner demon, displayed a clear expression of relief on the remaining half of his face, even inwardly giving himself a thumbs up:

That was close! I almost became a stepping stone!

As a demon, it's already shameful enough that it hasn't caused trouble for its main body; if it were to become a tool to pave the way for its main body's enlightenment...

Then he would truly lose all face in the realm of inner demons!

Choosing to end my own life now, while not exactly honorable, at least... isn't so humiliating, and it's not so shameful!

With this last thought, the inner demon Qin Le completely transformed into countless black specks of light. Then, the specks of light quickly dimmed and dissipated, ultimately leaving no trace in his sea of ​​consciousness, as if they had never existed.