Mo Tianheng and the others were intrigued by the still-beating demonic heart they had found. Neither Mo Shaowen nor Liu Yang, being soul cultivators, had any interest in it, so in the end, it was given to Mo Tianheng.

The alliance had no shortage of demonic cultivators, and with a deputy leader who was a demon himself, martial cultivators within the alliance no longer harbored any aversion to demonic techniques or demonic energy. Especially with someone like Ye Liuyun as a prime example, opinions on demons and demonic cultivation had become quite neutral.

"I’ll try refining it—who knows, maybe I’ll develop demonic energy!" Mo Tianheng was eager to experiment. Desperate to grow stronger without relying on Ye Liuyun, he was willing to seize any resource that could boost his power, no matter the source.

Mo Shaowen and Liu Yang fully supported him. "Go ahead and focus on refining it. We’ll take care of piloting the battleship."

With their encouragement, Mo Tianheng immediately began refining the heart. To his astonishment, his cultivation level surged, breaking through to the third level of the Heavenly Realm in an instant, leaving Mo Shaowen and Liu Yang green with envy.

Soon after, Mo Tianheng started hearing an unfamiliar voice in his mind, guiding him on how to cultivate and improve.

At first, he noticed nothing unusual. Under the voice’s instruction, his strength grew rapidly. Occasionally, he sensed that his energy was depleting faster than usual, and even his soul force was gradually weakening.

But the voice assured him it was merely the immense power of the heart consuming more resources. He dismissed his concerns—after all, the benefits of his rapid progress far outweighed the costs.

His spatial abilities, in particular, advanced the fastest. Once they improved, the voice instructed him to expand his spatial world and absorb several floating islands into it.

During this process, the voice then guided him to replenish his soul force by devouring the spiritual energy of others. Following its advice, his soul force recovered swiftly, and from then on, he paid little attention to the minor losses of soul energy and true essence.

Once his soul force had strengthened, the first thing he did was sever the contract binding him to Ye Liuyun. Since Ye Liuyun had never exerted control over him and had numerous such contracts with others, the break went unnoticed.

What Mo Tianheng didn’t realize was that half of the power he gained was secretly siphoned off by the heart—and the ancient demonic soul lurking within it.

Naturally, this ancient demonic soul also became aware of Mo Tianheng’s connection to Ye Liuyun.

*"Heh, the heavens are on my side! I thought it’d be hard to track that brat down, but here he is, handed to me on a platter. This body’s cultivation talent isn’t bad either. I’ll bide my time here, grow stronger, and then find a proper ancient demonic vessel."*

Driven by vengeance against Ye Liuyun, the ancient demonic soul concealed itself within Mo Tianheng’s body, quietly amassing power in the shadows.

Although Mo Tianheng had been somewhat ruthless in seizing the islands, Mo Shaowen and Liu Yang initially dismissed it as mere eagerness to grow stronger, paying it little mind.

Mo Tianheng himself had never been one to care much about outsiders. Coupled with the mysterious voice urging him to enhance his power swiftly, he saw no issue with his actions.

As time passed, Mo Tianheng’s methods grew increasingly brutal, and his strength surged at an alarming rate. Whenever resources were discovered, he no longer bothered to consider Mo Shaowen and Liu Yang’s share, claiming everything for himself.

At first, the two didn’t think much of it. But as the days wore on, they gradually realized just how selfish Mo Tianheng had become.

"Who would’ve thought he was like this? We never saw it before!" Mo Shaowen grumbled to Liu Yang.

"True enough—time reveals a man’s heart. If we stick with him, we’ll end up with nothing," Liu Yang agreed.

"If we can’t work together, why not go our separate ways?" Mo Shaowen suggested.

After some discussion, they both decided to part ways with Mo Tianheng.

"Should we at least tell the boss?" Liu Yang asked hesitantly.

Mo Shaowen thought for a moment before shaking his head. "How do we even explain this? Maybe Mo Tianheng is only like this with us. If we complain, the boss might just think we’re being petty. If we can’t get along, we’ll just go our own way—no need to badmouth anyone."

"Besides, the boss is always busy with bigger things. If we bother him with something like this, he’ll just think we’re useless—can’t even handle a simple friendship!" 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Liu Yang nodded. "You’re right."

So they discussed it with Mo Tianheng, used a teleportation array to send their falcon back to the alliance, and exchanged it for two smaller falcons, each seating only two.

The alliance didn’t have many falcons to spare—had it not been for their connection with Ye Liuyun, they wouldn’t have gotten replacements so easily.

With that settled, they went their separate ways from Mo Tianheng, setting off to find resources on their own.

At first, Mo Tianheng felt a pang of guilt, realizing he might have gone too far.

But the ancient demonic spirit whispered to him, "Your strength now far surpasses theirs. Traveling together was never the right path. This separation is for the best—it frees you to seize more resources and grow stronger, faster."

"Fine. Since we’ve already parted ways, I might as well focus on improving my power. I can make it up to them later if the chance arises."

Under the demon’s persuasion, Mo Tianheng had no choice but to continue his ruthless cultivation.

His methods of seizing resources grew increasingly brutal. He no longer cared about others—anything of value became his. Worse still, lured by the demon, he began using human martial cultivators as fuel for his growth. He absorbed their souls and power of bloodline, refining their flesh to strengthen his own body, and devoured their core essence and true energy to break through realms.

This accelerated his progress dramatically, but it also dragged him deeper into the abyss, eroding his humanity bit by bit.

All along, Mo Tianheng had seen Ye Liuyun as his rival and benchmark. While having a goal was normally beneficial for a martial cultivator, the demon twisted this ambition, constantly urging him to grow stronger by any means necessary and poisoning his mind against Ye Liuyun.

What should have been a healthy rivalry warped into bitter enmity under the demon’s influence. Mo Tianheng’s temperament darkened—his indifference toward others turned to outright cruelty, and his actions grew increasingly merciless.

Of course, his strength skyrocketed. Within half a year, he broke through to the first level of the Dominator Realm.

"Will advancing this fast hinder my future breakthroughs?" Mo Tianheng once voiced his doubt.

"Don’t worry," the demon soothed. "Demonic cultivation isn’t like martial cultivation—there are no such restrictions. You’re still shackled by your old mindset. Cast it aside. Focus only on gathering resources and growing stronger. Nothing else matters."

And so, the demon’s seduction continued.