A month had passed, and despite his careful rationing, the last piece of tiger meat settled in Xu Yunfan’s stomach today. As he felt the warmth spread from his gut throughout his entire body, he couldn’t help but sigh. He stood, took a breath of the Ginseng Child’s Qi, and began cultivating the Pure Yang Qi Skill.

’Your Pure Yang Qi Skill has completed nine full Circulations. You have successfully absorbed the Demon Flesh and Blood Essence Qi and the Ginseng Qi-Refining Spirit Marrow. Your Skill Level has increased significantly.’

’You have diligently cultivated the Thousand-Pound Mountain-Shaking Hammer Technique. The refinement of your Profound Steel Hundred-Forged Body seems to have reached a new level. Your Skill Level has increased.’

’...’

By the time the warmth in his stomach had completely faded, the Skill Level notifications that had been popping up in his vision slowed their frequency. After nearly an Hour of cultivation, the Skill Level for his Thousand-Pound Mountain-Shaking Hammer Technique had only increased by a single point.

Xu Yunfan: "..."

He stopped, slowly concluding his form. Xu Yunfan walked out of the grotto, crossed the waterfall, and made his way to the mountain’s peak. He gazed into the distance at the nearest Spiritual Energy Node, which was plagued by Demon Qi.

Once you’ve tasted luxury, it’s hard to go back.

Without the boost from Demon and Monster Essence Energy, relying solely on the Qi of Ginseng and the gathered Spiritual Qi from the mountain’s node wasn’t slow, but he had already experienced the feeling of maxed-out cultivation speed with all three. Naturally, Xu Yunfan didn’t want to let his progress slow down.

Tomorrow. Once today was over, he would go check out the nearest Spiritual Energy Node.

He stretched his arms and legs, then looked down at the Dragon Scale Armor he wore. He reached out and brushed a hand over the scales.

His fingertips felt a texture that was mild and smooth as jade.

It was a good thing he had this Dragon Scale Armor. Otherwise, after so many battles, his clothes would have long been torn to shreds by the force of his own Strength.

’Tonight, I have to get some sleep.’

He had been sleepless for over a month, relying entirely on the Linn Character Technique to maintain his mental vigor.

But going so long without rest had inevitably left a layer of exhaustion deep within his mind.

’Next, I can try fighting that wicked woman in my dreams and see just how far my strength has come.’

BOOM!

A massive, explosive sound, like muffled thunder, suddenly erupted in the distance, its shockwave rippling far and wide.

Xu Yunfan raised an eyebrow. He had just been about to move, but his feet froze in place. He stared in the direction of the sound. It was coming from the nearest Spiritual Energy Node—the very place he had just been scouting—no more than a hundred li away.

’Someone beat me to it?’

He didn’t hesitate. With a single stomp, he tore through the air and shot off with a howl.

Forty-five minutes later, the sharp whistle of the Thunderfire Qilin Hammer breaking through the air came to a sudden halt.

Xu Yunfan landed on a single foot atop a rocky spire of Broken Dragon Cliff. The vibrations of his fascia, a result of his Profound Steel Hundred-Forged Body, caused the seven-foot Heavy Hammer to hum, the sound ringing out into the distance.

A bright light flashed in his eyes. His Pure Yang Inner Breath surged along with his Blood Qi, and his vision instantly pierced through thirty li of mist.

He saw two plumes of scarlet Evil Qi tangled together like a pair of malevolent, intertwining dragons. Wherever they passed, ancient trees turned to dust and the ground cracked and fissured. Every collision sent massive chunks of earth and rock flying, snapping trees and uprooting plants.

What was even more startling was that one of the sources of Evil Qi, the slightly dimmer of the two, pulsed with a familiar Blood Qi rhythm.

It felt like the Blood Qi signature that could only be forged through the Martial Arts of the Celestial Craft Cave.

Xu Yunfan’s gaze hardened. ’Could there be outsiders in this Divine Weapon Secret Realm?’

But what truly excited him was the other Demon Fiend—it had an Elephant Body.

’How long will this last me?!’

As long as he processed it properly, he wouldn’t have to worry about a source of Demon Flesh and Blood Essence Qi for a short while.

He hesitated no longer. He pushed off explosively from the arch of his foot, and the entire block of Profound Iron Rock shattered in response.

His muscles knotted and bulged. As his Blood Qi surged with the Red Flood Dragon Coiling Mountain Strength, the instantaneous high pressure erupting inside his body forced his pores to open, spewing a golden-red mist. The Dragon Scale Armor reacted, its 1,720 Red Flood Dragon Scales opening and closing as if breathing, dissipating the scorching heat.

By the time his seventh step shattered a river stone, his Red Flood Dragon Mountain Coiling Strength had already charged the Thunderfire Qilin Hammer with a Sevenfold Hidden Force. The head of the hammer glowed an incandescent, molten white from the intense friction.

In the center of the battlefield, a sixty-foot-tall giant elephant was lashing the ground with its trunk. Though it was called an elephant and had a trunk and elephantine ears, its four feet were not those of an elephant. They were like a chicken’s claws, and its skin, tough as iron, had a metallic sheen.

The figure grappling with it drew more of Xu Yunfan’s attention. The upper half of its body was covered in Cyan Scales. A blood-red ox horn on its forehead was broken in half, and the fractured tip continuously dripped a black liquid that corroded the rock below.

To call it human was less accurate than calling it a humanoid Demon Fiend.

Its hands were abnormally tough. Each time they collided with the giant elephant’s trunk, transparent, spiderweb-like ripples would explode in the air.

CLANG!

Three hundred paces out, Xu Yunfan suddenly changed his attack.

The heavy blow, originally aimed at the elephant demon’s skull, was abruptly twisted into a massive horizontal sweep the moment he got a clear look at the humanoid Demon Fiend’s face.

The instant the Sevenfold Hidden Force of his Red Flood Dragon Mountain Coiling Strength stacked, the air in a thirty-foot radius was compressed into a liquid state. The Thunder Fire sheathing the hammer’s edge trailed a series of sonic booms as it smashed heavily into the unprepared elephant demon’s abdomen.

Three of the Elephant Demon’s ribs instantly shattered.

Xu Yunfan used the recoil to flip in mid-air. His shoulder blades, part of his Profound Steel Hundred-Forged Body, rumbled like shifting tectonic plates as he channeled seventy percent of the backlash into the rock formation beneath his feet.

When he confirmed that it was indeed Qi Huan, he was inwardly shaken.

Back then, Qi Huan had followed Pei Yan to the Profound Daoist Sect to participate in the Lingnan Dao’s Various Sects Martial Arts Performance, where he had won a top-twenty spot to enter the Profound Daoist Secret Realm.

The news from the Profound Daoist Sect was that Qi Huan had died inside the Secret Realm. Why would he suddenly appear here in the Divine Weapon Secret Realm now?

’Could it be that the Secret Realms of the various sects are all connected?’

In an instant, a thousand thoughts raced through Xu Yunfan’s mind, and doubt clouded his heart.

"Senior Brother Qi, wake up!"

With a deep shout, the Thunderfire Qilin Hammer suddenly flew from his grasp, spinning through the air.

Xu Yunfan pressed both palms against the end of the handle, his Great Tendons undulating like Dragon Veins as he swung the weapon—weighing nearly four hundred fifty pounds—into a circular afterimage.

The scorching waves erupting from his Dragon Scale Armor combined with his surging Pure Yang Inner Breath to form a suit of Qi Armor as he forcefully crashed into the center of the duo’s battle.

It wasn’t that he was kind-hearted; he simply wanted information and thought he might be able to wake Qi Huan.

A flicker of clarity flashed through Qi Huan’s murky, beast-like eyes.

His demonized right hand instinctively thrust out in a Sword Point, yet his left hand, defying his body’s logic, formed the concluding stance of the Reversing Spear technique.

In Xu Yunfan’s eyes, this contradiction was as clear as a signal fire in the dead of night. The Combat Techniques of a Martial Artist, branded into the very marrow of his bones, were locked in a brutal struggle against the Demon Fiend power eroding his flesh.

He pondered for a moment, then came to a decision.

Qi Huan was more valuable alive than dead. Right now, he was completely in the dark and needed answers from someone who had been here for a long time.

"Forgive me."

An expression of self-righteousness suddenly appeared on Xu Yunfan’s normally indifferent face. He abruptly abandoned his hammer and closed the distance.

Pushing his Profound Steel Hundred-Forged Body to its absolute limit, he became like a piece of red-hot Meteorite Iron, slamming into Qi Huan’s chest.

The instant their two bodies, each forged through countless trials, collided, a deafening boom like the tolling of a great bell erupted.