Chu Li replied, "It's up to you whether or not you choose to believe me. I can't possibly create the Heavenly Demon Scripture out of nowhere anyway. I can recite a few lines for you to listen to. The Heavenly Demon is free and unrestrained in nature. Heaven and Earth exist without consciousness while the Heavenly Demon is a conscious being. Heaven and Earth exist without emotions while the Heavenly Demon is driven by emotions…" 

"Argh!" Chu Li suddenly gave a loud cry, and his complexion instantly became as pale as paper, a sheen of cold sweat covered his forehead.

Zhe Ying was startled and quickly withdrew his hand from Chu Li's chest.

Chu Li's eyebrows were knitted together as a grim expression appeared on his face, his body began to tremble. 

Zhe Ying anxiously asked, "What's wrong?"

Chu Li shook his head and did not reply.

Zhe Ying quickly understood what had happened and asked, "Does your head hurt?"

Chu Li replied, "It hurts whenever I try to recall something! … I dare not recite the Heavenly Demon Scripture anymore!"

"Don't try to trick me. In any case, you won't be getting out of this situation alive!" Zhe Ying muttered coldly. "If you recite the Heavenly Demon Scripture for me, I promise to not only leave your women alone but to also take good care of your friends!"

Chu Li frowned and closed his eyes, refusing to speak.

Zhe Ying said, "I can take an oath!"

Chu Li gritted his teeth and struggled to reply, "My mind has gone blank. I can't even remember a word!"

"Huh?" Zhe Ying felt unsettled as curiosity rose in him.

He thought about how he might actually be capable of cultivating the remaining levels and achieving perfect mastery in his cultivation once he managed to acquire the Heavenly Demon Scripture. If he really achieved perfect mastery in his cultivation, he would enter the Enlightened Master's Boundary. From then onward, he would be able to go anywhere he wanted. What women would turn him down? How much power would he have then? 

Zhe Ying touched his chin and tried to think of a way to deal with this situation.

It seemed like Du Feng was not trying to trick him after all. The Heavenly Demon Statue had probably wounded Du Feng's soul. A person's memory could be damaged because they would not be able to strain their mind too much when their soul became injured. Thus, it was possible that Du Feng was unable to recall the Heavenly Demon Scripture anymore!

In any case, it would be best to treat his injury first. Otherwise, Du Feng would certainly find excuses to delay the matter, letting him live for a few more days. 

After treating his injuries, he could threaten Du Feng again and force him to recall the Heavenly Demon Scripture. He would make Du Feng recite it more than ten times to check and see if he was playing tricks on him.

If Du Feng were to purposely make a few mistakes while reciting the Heavenly Demon Scripture, all of Zhe Ying's efforts would be in vain!

"Give me a moment. I'll try to think of something!" Zhe Ying rose to his feet and left the stone chamber.

Chu Li sighed in relief, not at all upset as he stared calmly at Zhe Ying's retreating figure.

The stone chamber was extremely quiet now that he was left alone. It felt as though time had come to a standstill and nothing else was going on in the outside world.

Chu Li lifted his head to look at the ceiling of the stone chamber. This was clearly an underground stone chamber since the air felt slightly humid and stagnant.

Would Zhe Ying find him something that could help him recuperate just as Chu Li expected?

An injury of the soul was a scary thing to deal with. Chu Li had read about spirit pills that could be used to treat the soul in the Treasured Pill Scripture, but almost all the herbs needed to refine and produce such pills were extraordinarily rare and uncommon. These herbs could hardly ever be found outside the Hundred-Thousand Hills. Thus, it was very difficult to find medications that could treat an injury of the soul.

Nonetheless, the Heavenly Demon Scripture had piqued Zhe Ying's interest, so Chu Li was not worried that Zhe Ying would not take the bait. 

After thinking for a while, his head started to hurt again. Chu Li would be in pain whenever he strained his mind too much, so he stopped himself from thinking and silently chanted MahVairocana's Immobility Scripture.

Once he started chanting MahVairocana's Immobility Scripture in silence, the pain in his head gradually eased. He never knew that MahVairocana's Immobility Scripture was capable of treating injuries in the soul before this. 

After a while, Chu Li heard the sound of footsteps approaching as Zhe Ying returned to the stone chamber.

Zhe Ying took out a jet-black stone pillow from inside his sleeve. It was roughly two-palm long and one-palm wide, and looked so dark that it did not reflect any light. Instead, its shade of black seemed like an endless pit of darkness. 

"This is the Heavenly Demonic Stone." Zhe Ying's eyes flickered around the room as he lowered his voice and said, "I heard that it has the effect of healing the soul. Give it a try." 

He lifted Chu Li's head as he spoke and placed the stone pillow underneath his head.

When the back of Chu Li's head touched the stone pillow, Chu Li frowned and remained silent.

"How is it? Is it working?" Zhe Ying asked anxiously.

Chu Li shook his head.

Zhe Ying frowned and warned, "You better not lie to me. There are many ways I can get back at you…"

"Hey, I think it's working now," Chu Li spoke and interrupted him.

Zhe Ying hurriedly asked, "It's working?"

Chu Li nodded and replied, "It feels like something cooling is seeping into my head!"

Zhe Ying smiled and said, "That's good!"

He had gone to great lengths to get his hands on this Heavenly Demonic Stone Pillow.

Chu Li asked, "Where did you get this wonderful item?"

"That's none of your business. Just be grateful that it's working!" Zhe Ying waved a hand and smiled. "You can recite the Heavenly Demon Scripture now, right?" 

Chu Li shook his head. "You need to wait for a while. This stone pillow isn't going to take effect so quickly. You should come back tomorrow to see if it's really effective."

Zhe Ying's expression turned cold. "Tomorrow?"

Chu Li said, "I'm not even sure if I'll be well enough tomorrow. It's very hard to treat a wound of the soul." 

"... I don't care whether or not you manage to recover well. If you can't recite the Heavenly Demon Scripture tomorrow, don't even think about having anything to eat or drink!" Zhe Ying laughed cruelly. "Would you like to die with a full stomach or an empty one?"

Chu Li stared at him calmly. "It's useless even if you threaten me. It all depends on how effective this stone pillow is. If I really can't recite it, you won't be able to achieve anything by killing me."

"Humph!" Zhe Ying turned around and left.

He had already advanced to the sixth level, so he was not in a hurry to devour the rest of Chu Li's Heavenly Demonic Orb. It would not be too late for him to devour it after acquiring the Heavenly Demon Scripture. Perhaps he might even be able to achieve the seventh level with the help of the scripture! 

As a cooling sensation flowed continuously into his head, Chu Li felt inexplicably comfortable, as though he was bathing in a cold spring of water during a hot summer day. It was such a pleasurable feeling that he could barely stop himself from moaning in comfort.

Chu Li became so lost in this pleasurable and intoxicating sensation that he lost track of how much time had pa.s.sed.

It felt like only a few moments had pa.s.sed before he heard the sound of footsteps approaching again. Zhe Ying had changed into a green tunic when he appeared before Chu Li with a wide smile and said, "Brother Du, how's the condition of your injury? Are you feeling better?"

Chu Li turned his head to look at Zhe Ying. "It's been a day already?"

Zhe Ying became impatient as he replied, "Why would I lie to you about that? Start reciting the scripture!" 

Chu Li frowned and said, "I'm still far from being fully recovered though!"

"Stop wasting my time. Hurry up and recite it!" Zhe Ying stopped smiling and muttered coldly, "If you refuse to do so, don't even think about getting any water to drink from now on!" 

Chu Li sighed and said, "Fine, I'll give it a try…"

He started to recite the Heavenly Demon Scripture. Zhe Ying had a writing brush in his hand and told Chu Li to recite it slowly so that he could record it word for word.

Chu Li recited the scripture patiently. When he had reached around five hundred words, he suddenly cried out in pain. His face had become as pale as paper and his forehead was covered in cold sweat again. This time, his gaze seemed unfocused as well.

When Zhe Ying placed a hand on Chu Li's chest and felt his body trembling, he realized that Chu Li was not lying about not reaching full recovery yet.

Zhe Ying had asked around about this and found out that it was indeed harder to recover from a wound of the soul than an internal injury. Some people had reportedly remained in the process of recovering for the rest of their lives. Thus, although the Heavenly Demonic Stone was said to be very magical, he could hardly expect it to be capable of rapidly healing a wound in the soul caused by the Heavenly Demon Statue. Indeed, it would take some time for such an injury to recover fully. 

Zhe Ying glared at Chu Li, who had knitted his brows into a deep frown, and let out a scoff as he decided not to push Chu Li any further. "Alright then. We'll stop here today and continue tomorrow!" 

A faint smile appeared on Zhe Ying's face when he looked down at the Heavenly Demon Scripture he had recorded thus far.

Although this Heavenly Demon Scripture was incomplete, he could already sense the profound mysteries contained within it and was starting to arrive at some realizations. This was really the Heavenly Demon Scripture. Before this, he had been struggling to figure out certain important elements about cultivating the Heavenly Demonic Power. Presently, he had managed to figure these things out in an instant.

Zhe Ying muttered coldly, "Tomorrow. I'll give you until tomorrow to recover. If you fail to recite the Heavenly Demon Scripture in its entirety tomorrow, I'll chop off your arms. If you manage to do it, I'll bring you good food and wine so that you can enjoy a fine meal before you die."

Upon hearing the sound of Zhe Ying's retreating footsteps, Chu Li opened his eyes and smiled faintly before recomposing his expression.

He allowed his body to relax as he stopped pretending to be suffering a recurrence of his injury. He continued to take in the cooling sensation from the Heavenly Demonic Stone. 

As this cooling sensation flowed into his mind, he began to have a feeling that the void of his mind was in the process of being reconstructed. Just as a caterpillar would break through its coc.o.o.n and emerge as a b.u.t.terfly, the void of his mind would become much stronger after going through reconstruction.