Chapter 717: Divided Mind

After much deliberation, Qin Sang arrived at a bold idea.

Can I rely on both my Golden Core and corpse core to simultaneously activate two astras?

If he could pull this off, then during battle, while wielding one astra against his opponent, he could seize the right moment and suddenly strike with the second. Such an unexpected move would surely throw his enemies into disarray.

With this thought, Qin Sang embarked on a long journey of experimentation.

Simultaneously activating two astras was far from a simple matter of multitasking. It placed tremendous strain on both spiritual consciousness and true essence. With his current cultivation, it was extremely difficult to achieve.

The corpse core contained abundant true essence, so the problem was not in supply. The difficulty lay in how to prevent the two streams of true essence from clashing after unsealing the corpse core. He needed them to coexist in harmony, so that there would be no disorder when channeling them into different astras.

In the beginning, Qin Sang was at a complete loss.

Each time he unsealed the corpse core and attempted to use both streams of true essence, his dantian and meridians turned into a battlefield. In the most dangerous attempt, he had nearly suffered severe damage to his dantian.

Still, Qin Sang did not give up. He tried every possible approach. After an exceptionally long period of trial and error, he finally discovered a glimmer of opportunity and caught sight of hope.

He realized that in order to control two streams of true essence at once, spiritual consciousness had to be powerful enough. That had become the greatest bottleneck.

Even though the

Primordial Spirit Sword Nourishment

gave him an advantage over cultivators of the same realm, it was still not sufficient.

Moreover, spiritual consciousness not only affected the control of true essence, it also played an even more critical role when managing two astras at the same time.

Excited by the revelation, Qin Sang devoted even more energy to this pursuit. He set aside part of his training time and went through every spiritual-consciousness-forging technique he had collected over the years, testing them one by one. Unfortunately, none of them were particularly profound, and the effects were limited.

Even so, with time, he eventually succeeded in allowing both types of true essence to coexist within his body.

Though they still could not merge, as they were fundamentally different in nature, this was enough to greatly encourage Qin Sang. He immediately began practicing the art of using two astras simultaneously.

By now, he had made noticeable progress.

Just earlier, when he used the ebony sword to besiege the Two-Headed Hou, he had already prepared the Yan Luo Banners of Ten Directions in advance.

At present, he still could not wield two astras to face an enemy directly. However, while engaging the enemy with the ebony sword, he could now silently deploy the Yan Luo Banners of Ten Directions and launch it in an instant.

In the past, such preparation would have required time, giving his opponent a chance to interrupt or counter.

This time, thanks to his new ability, Qin Sang had waited for the perfect moment. He pushed the Two-Headed Hou to the brink, forcing it to attempt self-destruction. In that instant, he released the demonic banner, and the Devilish Flames of Nine Hells surged toward the azure light and the demonic core.

The moment it sensed the aura of the Devilish Flames of Nine Hells, the Two-Headed Hou was filled with unease.

For a beast that had already resolved to die, such dread could only signal an even more miserable fate.

It still tried to self-detonate its demonic core, but it was too late. The Devilish Flames of Nine Hells pierced through the azure light without resistance and struck the demonic core. Its glow immediately dimmed.

Having suffered a direct blow to its vital demonic core, the Two-Headed Hou let out a pained scream. The Azure Shark and the flying yaksha seized the moment, attacking from both sides with ruthless efficiency.

Sorrowful roars echoed amidst the crashing waves.

When the winds and waves finally subsided, the Two-Headed Hou had been subdued. The flying yaksha held it by the nape and pinned it to the surface of the water. Its body was battered and bloodied. Though still breathing, it had not been killed. Both of its heads stubbornly lifted, glaring at Qin Sang with hatred, as if wishing to devour him alive.

Qin Sang flashed forward and appeared in front of the beast.

The waves stirred. The Azure Shark swam up beside Qin Sang, watching him with uncertainty.

Qin Sang cast a sidelong glance at the Azure Shark. He raised a hand and struck his dantian. A crisp chime echoed. The yang ring around the Azure Shark’s neck quivered lightly, detached itself, and flew back into Qin Sang’s palm.

The Azure Shark shook its head and suddenly felt the restraints on its body vanish.

It could hardly believe it. The shackle it had believed would remain on it forever had been lifted so easily.

It dove into the deep sea and soon surfaced again in the distance. Seeing that Qin Sang had not pursued and was merely watching in silence, it finally believed that it had truly been set free.

The Azure Shark looked back at Qin Sang with a deep gaze and let out a long cry. Only its sharp dorsal fin remained visible as it swam away. It gradually disappeared across the water's horizon.

Qin Sang stood and silently watched it go.

He had chosen to spare it for two reasons. First, the Azure Shark had served him faithfully for many years. Second, with the gains he had made over time, an extra demonic core meant very little.

The Two-Headed Hou, with its relatively high intelligence, quickly grasped the significance of the Primordial Unity Ring after witnessing the scene.

It began struggling violently, but its strength had already been exhausted. The flying yaksha suppressed it effortlessly.

Qin Sang looked around. The surrounding waters were calm, and there was no sign of any powerful beasts nearby. Still, he remained uneasy.

From last night until now, he had been chasing the Two-Headed Hou relentlessly, and had just fought a fierce battle here. There was no telling if another great demon had taken notice.

Qin Sang did not dare remain in the area any longer. He ordered the yaksha to seize the Two-Headed Hou and swiftly retreated. Only after finding a calm stretch of sea far from the battlefield did he finally stop to begin the process of subduing it.

With a wave of his hand, the yang ring flew into the air and hovered above the Two-Headed Hou's heads.

𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

At the same time, Qin Sang sat cross-legged in mid-air, chanting under his breath. The yang ring trembled, and from it, a series of glowing ring projections shot out, descending onto the Two-Headed Hou's body.

Suddenly, all of the beast’s resistance ceased. Its form stiffened, frozen in place.

But the real struggle was only beginning.

Qin Sang closed his eyes, fully focused on controlling the astra. As more and more ring projections entered the Two-Headed Hou’s body, its spirit began resisting more fiercely. The backlash grew increasingly violent, leaving Qin Sang no room to relax.

A silent battle raged between them. In the vertical pupils of the Two-Headed Hou, a fiery glow surged wildly.

As time ticked by, its once-fierce gaze began to lose its edge. Signs of distraction began to appear in its expression.

If I hadn't trained my spiritual consciousness beforehand, I might not have been able to suppress this beast.

Qin Sang thought.

He opened his eyes and saw that the Two-Headed Hou now looked dazed and bewildered. Smiling faintly, he let out a low shout, “Drop.”

The yang ring trembled, then without warning, dropped straight onto the Two-Headed Hou’s neck.

In that instant, the final traces of resistance vanished completely. The Two-Headed Hou collapsed onto the sea surface, motionless.

Qin Sang raised his hand, and the yaksha flew back into the Corpse Puppet Pouch. He then moved to stand in front of the beast and found it had passed out. It had pushed itself far beyond its limits, suffered grievous injuries, and taken heavy blows from the Primordial Unity Ring.

After examining its wounds, Qin Sang retrieved a healing pill and stuffed it into the beast’s mouth. Then, with a single thought, the yang ring released a gentle white light.

In the next instant, the Two-Headed Hou disappeared, and a slender bracelet materialized on Qin Sang’s wrist.

Its injuries were severe, but fortunately Qin Sang still had plenty of unused pills. As long as the beast rested quietly for a while, it would recover fully.

From now on, he would have a mount at the middle stage of the Demonic Core Realm.

Even with Qin Sang’s composed temperament, he couldn’t help but smile slightly. He gave his wrist a light shake, rose into the air in a streak of evasion light, picked a direction, and flew off into the distance.