The Devil Hunting Expedition had started. All the participants were rushing toward the depths of the Devil Domain's first layer. Most were Soul Foundation Realm cultivators, so they didn't care about regular devils that only offered a few contribution points. They were aiming for stronger devils because stronger devils would grant them more points.

Xiang Shaoyun, Gong Qinyin, Han Chenfei, Pan Yun, and the others headed in a certain direction leisurely instead of rushing toward the depths like everyone else. They moved at a regular speed and would kill any devil they encountered regardless of the devil's rank.

Xiang Shaoyun rarely made a move. He silently immersed himself in the surrounding devilish energy, finding that his affinity with the devilish energy was constantly improving. It was as though absorbing the devilish energy could strengthen his Nether Soul Domain. The ghostrunes within his Nether Soul Domain also had a good time.

Eventually, Xiang Shaoyun released the ghostrunes, allowing them to freely absorb the devilish energy around them. The people around him from the Overlord Legion were astonished. They didn't know where the ghostrunes had come from, and their shock deepened when they realized that the ghostrunes belonged to Xiang Shaoyun.

Recently, Xiang Shaoyun had been busy constructing the teleportation formations and hadn't had much time to cultivate. This expedition was an excellent opportunity for him to take some time to think about his next steps.

As someone with two lifetimes of memories, he had to reorganize his memories and adapt them to his current path of cultivation. Ever since he had comprehended nine profundities, his cultivation speed had increased significantly. However, it was incredibly hard to fuse them, and he failed to grow all nine powers at an even pace.

A situation where some powers would be ahead of the others constantly happened, and it greatly impeded his growth speed. If this continued, it would be more difficult to advance in the future because he would need much more energy for breakthroughs.

Only by gathering nine origin energies to rapidly replenish his stars would he be able to advance rapidly. His other option was to fuse the nine profundities. There was no other option. However, every single origin energy was incredibly rare. It hadn't been easy for him to gather the dark and lightning origin energies.

Also, the mystic earth essence energy and the flux goldthorn energy weren't origin energies. However, the two were comparable in quality with origin energies and had helped him greatly.

As for the wood, water, flame, wind, and light energies, he did not have any unique energies of those elements to assist him. He could only rely on absorbing regular energy and spirit crystals. Thus, they grew much slower than the other powers.

In truth, Xiang Shaoyun's advancement speed was already incredibly fast, to the point even other prodigies would feel ashamed of themselves. And yet, he still wasn't happy with it. If the others knew this, their confidence would be shattered.

Although Xiang Shaoyun also had devil blood flowing in his veins, the devilish energy couldn't increase his cultivation since he couldn't combine it with astral energy. His only option was to temper his battle techniques and further familiarize himself with the profundities of powers so that he could one day fuse the nine profundities.

Currently, the fusion techniques he had comprehended consisted of Wind and Lightning, Lightning Calamity Fiery Star, Golden Fury, Flamewater Discordance, and Yin and Yang. All those were fusions of two powers. If he used them regularly and increased his understanding of them, his comprehension of their profundities would also deepen.

As the group traveled through the Devil Domain, Xiang Shaoyun constantly studied the fusion techniques and practiced them in real battles. As he trained, the strength of his techniques increased steadily. It was a pity that they only encountered minor devils that couldn't even pose them a challenge.

Han Chenfei was dissatisfied that Xiang Shaoyun had given her the cold shoulder during this trip. However, she couldn't bring herself to disturb him, seeing as he focused so hard on cultivation.

As for Gong Qinyin, she didn't really mind. Like Xiang Shaoyun, she contemplated her cultivation path as they traveled. She also learned that her Seven Severing Tune seemed related to the Devil Domain's devilish energy, which was especially true for the negative emotions the devilish energy could evoke in a person. Such evocation could help the Seven Severing Tune fully exhibit its strength.

If she could incorporate this concept into her playing, the resulting devilish tune would be capable of great destruction. She thus fully immersed herself in comprehending the dao of the zither, forgetting all that was happening around her. Even Han Chenfei looked at her in a new light upon realizing what Gong Qinyin was doing.

Initially, Han Chenfei didn't care much for Gong Qinyin. Regardless of whether it was looks or strength, she believed she was superior. But after witnessing how much focus Gong Qinyin was putting into comprehending the dao, she finally saw Gong Qinyin as a true opponent.

Looks like not one woman by his side is a regular person. I need to work harder, thought Han Chenfei.

Her talent was comparable with Ouyang Chuanqi's, but her cultivation speed was slower, which she couldn't accept. Thus, she had to work harder.

In the past, the Devil Domain's first layer was mainly occupied by some weak devils and a few occasional Devil Kings. But now, there was a large number of powerful Devil Kings. Even Devil Emperors appeared.

These devils weren't brainless beasts. When encountering a powerful group like the Overlord Legion, they would mostly choose to attack with greater numbers or hide. They wouldn't foolishly charge to their deaths alone.

Along the way, Xiang Shaoyun's group didn't encounter much trouble. Slowly but surely, they advanced deeper into the first layer, while many experts had already reached the second layer to hunt stronger devils. Only this group still advanced at their own pace.

One day, the group encountered some sort of reptilian devil that looked like lizard demons but were devils. The reptilian devils seemed to have merged into a black mountain ridge, making them almost impossible to detect. If it wasn't for Xiang Shaoyun's sharp senses, they would have directly stumbled into an encirclement.

"These devils are very powerful. Be careful," warned Xiang Shaoyun solemnly.

He could sense a super powerful expert hidden among the lizard devils but couldn't ascertain the direction. He sensed no fewer than 50 Devil Emperors in their vicinity.

A powerful devil group like this was extremely rare in the first layer. With such a group appearing before them, it became obvious how much the Devil Domain had changed. There were about 2,000 lizard devils in total. When they found that the humans hadn't entered their ambush, they charged madly at the humans.

Xiang Shaoyun didn't intend to make a move, but his hand was forced when he noticed a Devil Sovereign among them.