In the past, when Qin Sang saw that the two-headed hou was stubbornly unwilling to yield, he had abandoned the idea of taming it completely, promising that once he broke through to the late Core Formation stage, he would release it back to the Demon Sea.
Perhaps because Qin Sang had been unable to make that breakthrough for so long, the two-headed hou could wait no longer.
"Taking the fire curse into your body to buy as much time for me as possible will be dangerous," Qin Sang warned the beast.
The two-headed hou growled repeatedly in a low rumble, its resolve firm.
"All right!"
Qin Sang took a deep breath, hesitating no further.
A peculiar look flashed through Bai's eyes as he glanced at the two-headed hou. Then, giving Qin Sang a nod, he returned to studying the fire curse and refining his sealing art.
Qin Sang looked at the two-headed hou, his lips moving slightly.
A moment later, the treasure collar around the beast's neck loosened, slipped off, and transformed into a streak of light that vanished into Qin Sang's palm.
The two-headed hou shook its heads and paced back and forth in midair.
With the shackles finally removed and its freedom regained, the two-headed hou felt an overwhelming sense of lightness wash over its entire body. It threw its heads back and unleashed a prolonged roar that echoed endlessly across the sky, overflowing with unbridled joy.
Seeing the excitement pouring out of the two-headed hou, Qin Sang felt deeply moved as well.
Then, he retrieved the remaining two Tyrant Blood Fruits from his Qianjun Ring and handed one to the beast.
"Refine the Tyrant Blood Fruit right here. I'll protect you while you cultivate. Hopefully, you can break straight through to the late Demon Core stage..."
He had only two Tyrant Blood Fruits left.
Qin Sang had originally planned to save one for the two-headed hou, intending to gift it to the creature when he set it free.
The other had been kept for himself.
If the two-headed hou failed to break through, he would have no choice but to give it the second one as well.
Although the two-headed hou had already touched the bottleneck and had nearly succeeded when it consumed a Tyrant Blood Fruit before, breakthroughs in cultivation could not simply be had for the asking. Otherwise, the creature would not have been trapped at this stage for so long.
It was hard to say what unexpected mishaps might arise.
To aid the two-headed hou, he would not hesitate to give it both fruits if necessary.
Upon stepping into the late Demon Core stage, the two-headed hou's cultivation would surge, and its innate divine ability would grow stronger. It was naturally adept at wind escape techniques; after breaking through, its speed would be even faster, allowing it to buy far more time.
The two-headed hou gazed at the Tyrant Blood Fruit with fiery eyes. It swallowed the fruit in a single gulp, tightly shut its demonic eyes, and devoted all its power to refining the medicinal efficacy.
Qin Sang slowed his pace, using his true essence to carry the two-headed hou along as he flew.
After a brief moment of calm, the two-headed hou suddenly arched its entire body and let out a roar drenched in agony. Its fur quivered, and a faint blood-red glow surged across its skin.
Then, the domineering medicinal potency began thrashing wildly within its body.
The flesh and blood of the two-headed hou writhed ceaselessly, and the crisp sound of bones shifting out of place rang out, sounding as though they were about to snap—a chilling noise to hear.
Both Qin Sang and the two-headed hou had experience taking the Tyrant Blood Fruit, so neither panicked.
The two-headed hou's cries grew increasingly urgent as it curled into a ball, enduring immense pain, though it was in far better shape than during its first time consuming the fruit.
This state persisted for an entire quarter of an hour, with no sign of a breakthrough.
Qin Sang frowned secretly.
Right at that moment, an abrupt change occurred.
A bulge swelled between its two heads, and the two-headed hou's cries deepened into a low rumble. The overt pain faded, and its state gradually leveled out until it seemed to fall into a deep slumber.
Eventually, the swelling formed a distinct lump—the embryonic form of a third head.
The next instant, the two-headed hou snapped its demonic eyes open and sprang to its feet, a sharp gleam bursting from its vertical pupils.
Its fur danced wildly in the air as wisps of azure aura coiled around its body, carrying an exceedingly pure and refined power.
These azure wisps multiplied rapidly, growing denser and deeper until they seemed to coalesce into a massive azure wind cocoon, enveloping the two-headed hou entirely.
"Roar!"
A mighty roar suddenly tore out from within the wind cocoon.
*Boom!*
The wind cocoon shattered violently.
A powerful wave of energy swept out in every direction.
As the chaotic azure aura scattered, Qin Sang withdrew his true essence and pulled back to a safe distance.
The sea below was roiled by the blast, kicking up surging waves and towering swells that took a long time to settle.
When the azure aura completely dispersed, a burly figure stepped out, surveying everything around it with haughty pride.
The two-headed hou had grown a size larger, and the lump at its neck was unmistakable.
Once that third head grew out, the time for its transformation would arrive.
Its aura had surged; it had successfully broken through to the late Demon Core stage.
Excitement burned brightly in the two-headed hou's eyes. The bottleneck that had plagued it for decades was finally shattered. Its gaze swept around before settling on Qin Sang, its posture brimming with eagerness, clearly itching to test its strength against him.
"Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't mind playing around with you," Qin Sang said, reading the beast's little thoughts. "Even without using my demon banners, you still wouldn't be a match for me. Stop showing off and hurry up to stabilize your cultivation!"
The two-headed hou let out a snort, crouched down beside Qin Sang's feet, and closed its eyes to meditate in silence.
Qin Sang looked at the two-headed hou for a moment, an indescribable mix of feelings stirring in his heart. Shaking his head, he continued flying forward.
Two hours later, an edge of anxiety crept onto Qin Sang's face, and he glanced toward Bai from time to time.
He had noticed that, thanks to whatever secret technique Old Devil Mou had employed, the intensity of the fluctuations with each flare-up of the fire curse had increased over the same span of time compared to before.
This indicated that Old Devil Mou's flight speed had increased, meaning time was likely far more pressing than they had anticipated.
After another two hours, good news finally came from Bai.
Overjoyed, Qin Sang immediately summoned his demon banners to assist Bai in executing the sealing art.
Repeating the previous trick, Bai first drove a trace of the fire curse into the two-headed hou's body. Then, combining his own soul power with demonic fire, he constructed the seal.
In the end, the demonic fire morphed into a dark shroud that draped completely over Qin Sang.
When the fire curse erupted once more, Bai poured every ounce of his strength into sustaining the seal, finally suppressing the curse successfully!
At the sight of this, Qin Sang felt a sudden surge of relief.
The two-headed hou gave a low call toward Qin Sang; the time for it to depart had arrived.
"Wait..."
Qin Sang stopped the two-headed hou and extended his palm, shooting forth a streak of light.
The streak sank into its body. A moment later, the beast's eyes went wide as saucers, filled with utter disbelief.
Within that streak of light were the contents of the first four layers of the *Heavenly Demon Form Refining*.
Qin Sang was passing this cultivation method to the two-headed hou.
Because Qin Sang was human, he had relied on the jade Buddha to forcefully practice the body-refining portion and had required external assistance—namely, an astral essence body infusion—to break through. The two-headed hou, however, was inherently of the demon race. It could cultivate the complete art, achieving breakthroughs by continually purifying and refining its bloodline power without needing to seek out places for astral essence body infusion.
The two-headed hou naturally understood the immense value of this cultivation method. Certain lingering doubts it had held were finally answered upon seeing it.
*No wonder this human could sprout wings and reek of a demonic aura.*
It stared at Qin Sang with a trace of confusion, unable to understand why he was showing such benevolence.
Qin Sang sighed softly and said, "That Tyrant Blood Fruit was meant for you from the start. You've followed me for so long and rendered great service; consider this technique your compensation. It is an incomplete manual, and I possess only the first four layers, but that is enough for you to cultivate up to the late Transformation stage. How great an achievement you attain in the future will depend entirely on your own fortune..."
Aware of the two-headed hou's yearning for freedom, Qin Sang set no date for them to meet again.
The martial world was vast and long, with no promises of reunion.
The two-headed hou took a deep, lingering look at Qin Sang, then threw its heads back and let out a long cry that soared straight into the clouds.
Turning decisively, it stepped onto the wind and galloped away.
Chapter 990