Chapter 850: Hibernation

"The answer is… go fuck yourself." One of the eight demons cursed out loud in response to Yuan's question.

"…"

Yuan merely shook his head and said, "I will ask you again. How long have you been hiding in this underground city?"

"I might consider answering if you throw one of your friends in here. I'm too hungry to answer your questions, after all." Another demon answered.

"Hahaha! Good one! That's right! We'll answer your questions in exchange for those women behind you! How about a limb per question?"

Yuan sighed at their response.

"We can do this the easy way… or the hard way."

[Swords of Eternal Torment.]

With the snap of his fingers, three golden swords appeared above the demons.

"What the heck is that?" The demons tilted their heads to look at the swords.

"I will not repeat myself." Yuan said to them with a solemn expression on his face.

The demons swallowed nervously.

Although the demons didn't recognize the technique, they instinctively feared it.

"And we will not repeat ourselves! Fuck yo—"

Yuan moved his finger in a downward motion, and before the demon could even finish its sentence, one of the golden swords fell from the sky and stabbed itself right in the center of the demon's chest.

"AAAAAAAAAAH!"

The demon suddenly roared in a painful voice, startling the other demons.

"Hey! What's wrong?!" The demons immediately knew that something was off. After all, they shouldn't feel pain as demons, yet their buddy that just got struck was definitely screaming in pain, and it appeared to be suffering excruciating pain.

"That technique removes your pain tolerance, so you'll feel pain just like the rest of us." Yuan explained to them the effects of the technique, which only terrified them even more.

Regardless of their rank, demons greatly depend on their insane regenerating ability and lack of ability to feel pain, as these two talents allow demons to become fearless creatures.

However, without even one of these techniques, the demons immediately become a flawed existence.

"PLEASE! GET THIS THING OFF ME! AHHHHHH!" The demon pleaded as blood flowed from its eyes.

However, Yuan merely stood there and silently watched with a nonchalant expression on his face. He clearly couldn't care less about the demon nor the pain it was feeling.

After torturing the demon for a few more minutes while ignoring the other demons the entire time, Yuan finally spoke, "My questions, do you feel like answering them now?"

"Millions of years! We have been down here ever since the Demon Sealing Clan defeated the Demon Clan!" The demon with the golden sword stuck between its chest answered.

"Very good."

Yuan removed the golden sword from the demon afterward, and he continued to ask, "So you stayed down here for millions of years without leaving this place even once? How do you stay sane?"

"We hibernate." The demon quickly responded to his question again, and it continued, "We demons can hibernate for tens of thousands of years at once. However, that doesn't mean we can sleep for millions of years without any breaks. When we come out of our hibernation, we will leave this place briefly to hunt for food in the surrounding areas. Once we're full, we will hibernate again."

"Hibernation, huh. If I recall correctly, this is also how you demons increase your strength." Yuan said.

"That's right, but we only resort to that when we cannot acquire enough resources to strengthen ourselves." The demon nodded.

Yuan laughed out loud after hearing its words, and he said in a mocking tone, "The eight of you have hibernated for millions of years, yet this is the level of your strength? Were you Spirit Apprentices before you decided to live here? How pitiful! I guess this is because of your immortality. After all, you can't be immortal and have a fast growth rate, or that would be utterly broken."

The demons gritted their teeth in anger after hearing Yuan's words, but they couldn't rebuke his claims, as it was true. In exchange for their immortality and talents, demons are at the rock bottom when it comes to growth.

For example, if an ordinary human cultivator at the first level Spirit Apprentice wanted to reach the second level, they would need at least a couple of weeks if not months. Meanwhile, demons at the same level would require lo times the amount of time if not more to achieve the same results.

Of course, this restriction only exists in low-ranking demons like these 8 demons. Higher ranking demons would require much less time, and some of them even outright lack this restriction.

"Anyways, since you have answered my questions, I will now let you out of the Demon Sealing Zone." Yuan suddenly said.

"R- Really?" The demon was in disbelief.

"Yes, but you're not completely free just yet." Yuan said, and he turned to look at Lan Yingying.

"You wanted to test yourself, right? I will let you have this one."

"Are you sure?"

He nodded at her before returning to the demon, "If you can defeat my friend, I will let you live. I also won't interfere with your fight… even if you kill her."

A wide grin appeared on the demon's face after hearing Yuan's words.

"Say no more."

Yuan flicked his sleeves, pulling the demon out of the Demon Sealing Zone.

This demon was at the peak of Spirit Lord while Lan Yingying was only at the first level of Spirit Lord. However, Yuan wasn't feeling worried at all, as he was confident in Lan Yingying's ability.

"Young Master, are you sure this is a good idea…?" Feng Yuxiang, on the other hand, didn't have the same confidence as him.

Although she has seen Lan Yingying fight magical beasts before during their little journey in the Lower Heavens, that was not nearly enough to convince her that Lan Yingying will be okay in this fight.

"She'll be fine. Have some faith in her." Yuan smiled.

"…"

'The Divine Paragon's memories are clearly affecting him. If this occurred a month ago, the Young Master would not have allowed her to be in such a risky situation. However, this is the kind of characteristic that is required to survive in the cultivation world, especially once he traverses the upper heavens.' Feng Yuxiang sighed inwardly.

On one hand, she was relieved that Yuan was finally growing up to be more like a cultivator just like how she always wanted, but on the other hand, she was worried that he might be changing too fast, as it could have negative effects on him..