Upon sensing the West Sea Great Saint’s aura, the Demon Monsters and other Demons immediately scattered, not daring to cause any trouble.

At their current speed, it would only take them three more days to reach the Dong Kingdom—even faster than flying above the sea’s surface.

Yang Jing was adjusting his condition to its peak. If Canyuan True Monarch found them first, then all their worries would be over.

Canyuan True Monarch was a Great Cultivator at the Late Stage of Nascent Soul. Although the Human Demon was a difficult foe, it was highly unlikely to be a match for the True Monarch. But if the Human Demon caught up to them first, the situation would become dire.

’And if he doesn’t make it,’ he thought, ’we’ll have to make other plans.’

Sailing on the open sea was already tedious enough; the only sight was a vast, unchanging ocean. Traveling beneath the waves was even worse.

There was no light in the deep sea, and even schools of fish were a rare sight.

The soldiers of the Demon Suppression Army on the Flying Boat had no idea that Canyuan True Monarch was on his way. They were also unaware that a Human Demon of the Nascent Soul Realm was pursuing them. All they saw was the gloomy, oppressive deep sea around them.

If they hadn’t been long accustomed to sea voyages and possessed firm resolve, the strain would have snapped their nerves long ago.

Yang Jing was worried. ’In this state, they’re far more susceptible to possession through Demon Contamination by a Celestial Demon,’ he thought, but he had no good solution.

***

By now, the Demon Sect Flying Boat had undergone a heaven-and-earth-shattering transformation.

It had left the surface of the sea and was now flying through the sky. The windstorms were about to end, and the various astral winds had weakened significantly, but they were still extremely dangerous for Cultivators below the Golden Core Realm.

Yet the Flying Boat showed no fear of these howling astral winds, flying straight through the cyclones.

Unlike the West Sea Great Saint’s vessel, whose Water Escape was faster than flight, the Demon Sect Flying Boat was slower underwater. Thus, it braved the lingering gales of the storm to fly through the air.

The original Nine Nether Demon Iron hull had changed drastically. Countless fleshy tendrils now writhed across its surface, pulsing with a sinister aura. All its previous damage and wounds had already healed.

Fine Demon Scales began to grow and spread at an astonishing speed, covering the soft, fragile tendrils. The Scales themselves radiated an indestructible light.

The biting Sanmei True Wind scraped against the Scales, kicking up dazzling sparks but only leaving white scratches behind. The parts of the hull not covered by Demon Scales were flayed into a bloody mess, but the torn-off flesh grew back at an astonishing rate. The wind was unable to cause any substantial damage to the vessel’s body.

A massive, fleshy sac bulged from beneath the Flying Boat’s bow. It was swollen and pulsing with Demonic Qi, as if brewing something within.

Inside, the Flying Boat’s cabins and corridors had transformed into walls of flesh. To be within it was like stepping into the intestines of some colossal beast, and from time to time, a thunderous, squelching sound of peristalsis could be heard.

Blue-black veins, as thick as washbasins, bulged from the fleshy walls. Viscous, oil-like Demonic Qi surged through them at high speed.

The main veins branched into countless smaller capillaries that delved deep into the flesh walls, transporting Demonic Qi to every corner.

Celestial Demons in tall, pointed hats patrolled back and forth inside the Flying Boat. With their hands pressed together, they chanted twisted, bizarre Demon Sounds.

In time with the Demon Sound, the flesh walls automatically absorbed Demonic Qi and condensed it into Demon Script. Empowered by this script, the toughness of the walls increased dramatically.

They were like Artifact Refiners from the Taoist Sect, performing a ritual to refine the Human Demon’s body.

The entire Flying Boat had become the Human Demon’s living shell, brought to life by the stimulation of Demonic Qi.

As beings from the Outer Realm, Celestial Demons did not belong to the Nine Heavens World. By wielding Demonic Qi, they could often transcend the rules of the Nine Heavens World and accomplish feats that native Cultivators would find unimaginable.

For example, the Human Demon had used the Cyan Demon Ancestor as a medium to directly possess a Flying Boat—an inanimate object. This was something a Cultivator of the Nine Heavens World could never do.

Several Celestial Demons, inhabiting mortal shells, struggled to drag a hundred-foot-long deep-sea Demon Eel through the vessel’s fleshy corridors.

The fleshy walls inside the Flying Boat secreted a highly corrosive mucus. It made the Demon Eel’s hide, as tough as a Defensive Spiritual Artifact, sizzle. The skin quickly turned yellow and began to rot, exposing the flesh beneath.

Countless tiny tendrils sprouted from the walls, morphing into inch-long hands and arms. Their fingernails, sharp as hooks, clawed at the fish’s flesh, dragging it into the walls.

Some of the hungrier hands even tried to claw at the shells inhabited by the Celestial Demons.

The original cabins of the Demon Sect Flying Boat had all transformed into organs with different functions. The Celestial Demons were about to drag this deep-sea Demon Eel to the "stomach-cabin" to be converted into Demonic Qi.

The Human Demon’s body had not yet completed its transformation and was in dire need of massive amounts of Demonic Qi.

To prevent the captured Demon Eel from being reduced to a skeleton before it even reached the stomach-cabin, the Celestial Demons in their host bodies could only chant loudly from a Demon Scripture to appease the Demon King’s hungry flesh.

The flesh’s instinctive Refining process was nothing compared to the Demon Pool within the stomach-cabin.

At their loud chanting, the tiny arms reluctantly retracted, melting back into the fleshy walls.

The Flying Boat’s stomach-cabin, which had been the cargo hold, was now a Demon Pool churning with black Demon Liquid. Wisps of Demon Smoke occasionally rose from its surface.

The Celestial Demons carefully pushed the Demon Eel into the pool. Even they dared not touch the terrifying black liquid; the slightest contact would dissolve even a Celestial Demon into pus within seconds.

The Demon Eel slid into the pool and dissolved without a sound. Even its spine, which was hard enough to be refined into a Magical Artifact, didn’t last for long.

The Demon Pool absorbed the Demon Eel’s flesh and Demon Qi, converting it into roiling Demonic Qi that was then sent throughout the Flying Boat via the network of veins.

A ghastly white spine emerged from the base of one fleshy wall, plunged to the bottom of the Demon Pool, and resurfaced on the other side before disappearing into the opposite wall.

This had been the Demon Sect Flying Boat’s Dragon Bone. Under the corrosion of Demonic Qi, it had truly become nothing but White Bone.

Dense blood vessels clung to the spine’s surface, pumping viscous Demonic Qi into it. The section of White Bone exposed to the air seemed to be coated in a layer of glaze, shining with a brilliant luster.

The Flying Boat’s Power Cabin was even more unrecognizable.

The sealed chamber had become a giant vat, filled to the brim with viscous pus. And the Cyan Demon Ancestor’s physical body had long since mutated into a massive human brain.

The brain was nearly ten feet in diameter, its fleshy surface covered in countless grooves. The Cyan Demon Ancestor’s withered upper body drooped from the top of the brain.

His skin, soaked in the fluid, was white, wrinkled, and badly swollen, appearing almost translucent.

His eyes were vacant, like those of an imbecile. His mouth hung slightly open, his face frozen in an expression of utter despair.

Little was left of the Cyan Demon Ancestor’s Divine Soul, but the Human Demon could not yet completely erase it.

As long as it wore the Cyan Demon Ancestor’s "skin," the Heaven and Earth Embryonic Membrane of the Nine Heavens World would recognize it as a Golden Core Demon Cultivator who practiced Demon Skills. If the Cyan Demon Ancestor were to die completely, its identity as a Human Demon would be instantly exposed. It would be recognized by the Heaven and Earth Embryonic Membrane and be rejected by the Power of Heaven and Earth.

Countless roots sprouted from the bottom of the brain, embedding themselves deep within the Magic Altar. They merged with the Demon Script upon it, hijacking the Flying Boat’s original Restrictions for transporting Spiritual Qi to control the entire vessel.

The thought arose as the great brain squirmed. ’They didn’t split up to escape. That fool, the West Sea Great Saint, has gotten a little smarter.’

A Demon’s Divine Soul was weaker than that of a Cultivator at the same Realm, to say nothing of a Celestial Demon’s. The West Sea Great Saint currently only had his Divine Soul remaining at the Nascent Soul Realm; he was no match for it at all.

Having fully descended into the Nine Heavens World, the Human Demon could finally unleash its true, immense power. Even from thousands of miles away, it could still clearly sense the locations of the West Sea Great Saint and Yellow Foot.

The Celestial Demon Mark remained deeply rooted in their flesh.

Thoughts flashed rapidly through the massive brain.

’The boy is cautious enough, but it’s a pity he underestimated my methods.’

’Fleeing thousands of miles in a single day... do you really think you can escape my grasp?’