Then he activated the Nightmare Demon Pot, and inside, the ten ordinary-grade Dragon Blood Demon Spirits began devouring one another ceaselessly.
Prior to this, Nie Li had tried fusing Dragon Blood Demon Spirits with ordinary Demon Spirits and found that the Dragon Blood ones quickly consumed the ordinary ones. However, after devouring them, the Dragon Blood Demon Spirits didn't undergo any evolution. This proved that, in terms of bloodline, Dragon Blood Demon Spirits were indeed far more powerful than ordinary ones.
As time passed, Nie Li monitored the changes among the Dragon Blood Demon Spirits within the Nightmare Demon Pot. One of them was clearly stronger than the others, continuously devouring and growing ever more formidable.
When the Dragon Blood Demon Spirits fused together, they erupted with a scorching burst of power, like a raging flame.
The entire Nightmare Demon Pot glowed a brilliant crimson, with waves of violent energy swirling endlessly inside.
After absorbing those slivers of power, a mysterious pattern gradually formed on the exterior of the pot — somewhat resembling a dragon with outstretched wings, though it flickered in and out of visibility and wasn't particularly distinct. Nie Li wasn't sure what this change in the Nightmare Demon Pot signified.
But at last, the refinement was a success!
Nie Li extracted the fused Dragon Blood Demon Spirit. A good-grade Dragon Blood Demon Spirit was worth several times more than an ordinary-grade one.
He placed another ten ordinary-grade Dragon Blood Demon Spirits inside and continued refining.
Refinement successful!
Refinement successful!
Refinement failed!
Nie Li did the math — the failure rate was only about one in ten. The Nightmare Demon Pot's success rate for refining Demon Spirits was genuinely much higher than before.
He repeated the process over and over. Around the fiftieth refinement or so, the Nightmare Demon Pot suddenly erupted with a scorching radiance so blinding that Nie Li had to squint, sensing the astonishing power contained within.
But the light vanished in the blink of an eye, fading away almost immediately.
Streams of iridescent light swirled at the bottom of the Nightmare Demon Pot.
Nie Li couldn't help but feel curious — what was going on?
He took out the Dragon Blood Demon Spirit from the bottom of the pot and examined it. This Dragon Blood Demon Spirit was far more powerful than a typical good-grade one — it had already completed its first mutation!
Generally, even a divine-grade Demon Spirit started off weak. Demon Spirit Masters had to nurture it constantly, feeding it with the power of the Heavenly Dao, even refining and absorbing Demon Spirit essence to make it grow stronger and climb in rank.
The higher a Demon Spirit's growth potential, the greater its power boost after advancing in rank compared to one with lower potential.
For example, at the same Three-Life realm, a divine-grade Demon Spirit's combat power could be dozens of times greater than that of an ordinary-grade Demon Spirit!
But a Demon Spirit's growth wasn't limited to rank advancement alone — sometimes mutations occurred. Each time a Demon Spirit mutated, its combat power skyrocketed.
The Tiger Tooth Panda and Shadow Demon Spirit that Nie Li had fused had each undergone one mutation. The more times a Demon Spirit mutated, the more precious it became!
Most Demon Spirits could only mutate with a certain probability upon advancing to the next rank. But this Demon Spirit had actually mutated during the fusion process itself. A mutated Demon Spirit like this would see its value increase tenfold, if not more!
Whether this was due to some intrinsic change in the Dragon Blood Demon Spirits or the effect of the Nightmare Demon Pot, Nie Li couldn't say for certain — but it was undoubtedly a good thing.
He continued refining. By the time a second mutated Dragon Blood Demon Spirit appeared, then a third... Nie Li was certain — this had to be the effect of the Nightmare Demon Pot!
Over thirty thousand ordinary-grade Dragon Blood Demon Spirits ultimately yielded more than twenty-five hundred good-grade ones, twenty-three of which were mutated.
Nie Li then moved on to refining the good-grade Dragon Blood Demon Spirits, trying a batch of nine ordinary ones alongside one mutated variant for fusion.
A moment later — boom — all ten Demon Spirits dissipated. Refinement failed.
Was this just bad luck, or were ordinary Dragon Blood Demon Spirits fundamentally incompatible with mutated ones for fusion?
Nie Li pondered briefly, then decided to keep trying. If he didn't attempt it a few more times, how would he know?
Second attempt — boom. Still a failure.
The third attempt finally succeeded. Nie Li produced an excellent-grade mutated Demon Spirit.
Fusing ordinary Dragon Blood Demon Spirits with mutated ones had a much lower success rate, but the rewards were correspondingly greater!
Nie Li refined batch after batch, searching for the optimal fusion method. He could feel the Nightmare Demon Pot's aura growing ever more powerful. Suddenly, it burst forth with a dazzling golden light, and the Wing Dragon pattern on the pot's surface grew sharper and more defined.
The Nightmare Demon Pot seemed to have ascended to an entirely new level!