The woman in the air’s expression shifted slightly. She took a step forward and vanished into the void.

It was as if she’d never been there at all.

’That sound... was that from a Witch’s Flute of the Witch Race?’

Shen Lang sat in the wooden basin, his expression wavering.

’This is just the periphery of the Barbaric. The Witch Race is hidden deep within its heart. Why would they appear here?’

’The flames on that woman just now were incredibly intense, scorching the void as if boiling water. It wasn’t the result of a Cultivation Technique, but rather something innate, something she was born with. It was more like a Talent Ability of the Demon Race.’

’A flame of such extreme purity... In all the world, who besides the Vermilion Bird Race could conjure such a thing?’

Shen Lang hadn’t dared to use his Silver Eyes of Truth in her presence.

But after sensing the unique nature of her flames, he had instantly guessed her identity!

A Vermilion Bird, one of the Ten Divine Beasts, had appeared in a place like this...

Even with Shen Lang’s disposition, his gaze burned with intensity, and his heart surged with emotion.

The true power of his Chaos Divine Body had yet to be fully awakened.

Currently, whether he used Thunder Power, the Body Refining Technique, or medicinal liquids for Body Forging, it was all to increase the number of Ten Divine Beast Particles.

With every new Divine Beast Particle added to his cells, the strength of his physical body would reach a new height.

Yet, no matter how many Divine Beast Particles he added, he still hadn’t touched the forbidden power of the Chaos Divine Body!

The power of the Ten Divine Beasts dwelling within those particles!

The Divine Beasts within the particles he had accumulated so far were merely phantoms.

Only by obtaining the Divine Beast Essence Blood and refining it could the phantoms within the particles become real.

That would be the moment of transformation, when quantity became quality.

According to Li Su, once he activated even one Divine Beast within the particles, his power would increase not just by a hundredfold, but by a thousandfold.

Shen Lang desperately needed more power right now.

His thirst for power was stronger than anyone else’s.

Now, seeing a member of the Vermilion Bird Race right before his eyes, his heart churned like a stormy sea, unable to find calm.

After a long moment, Shen Lang sighed. ’Seeing her doesn’t mean I can have her. That woman’s Cultivation is unfathomably deep. Obtaining her Essence Blood would be harder than ascending to the heavens.’

With this in mind, Shen Lang asked inwardly, "Wentian, that woman from before, can you determine her Cultivation level?"

"Master, that woman’s Cultivation should be around the Quasi-Emperor Martial Realm Fifth to Seventh Heaven. The flames on her body are the Ziwei Celestial Fire of the Vermilion Bird Race," Zuo Wentian’s voice echoed in Shen Lang’s mind.

Shen Lang nodded slightly. ’So she really is from the Vermilion Bird Race. If she’s at the Quasi-Emperor Martial Realm Fifth Heaven or higher, that makes her even stronger than Xue Shiyin.’

After a brief moment of reflection, Shen Lang tilted the bottle in his hand, letting a single, crystal-clear drop of medicinal liquid fall.

The moment the drop hit the water, the contents of the wooden basin froze solid.

A bone-chilling frost crept up Shen Lang’s body, and in the blink of an eye, he was completely encased in ice, like a statue.

Within the ice, Shen Lang closed his eyes and began to endure the Purification of Essence and Marrow from the medicinal power of the Ice Soul.

Unlike the medicinal liquid refined from the Thousand-leaf Fruit, this new liquid, which used the Ice Soul Water Jade as its primary ingredient, didn’t produce that strange sensation of fluctuating temperatures.

There was only cold. A deep, bone-chilling cold.

The sensation was very similar to cultivating next to the Ice Soul Water Jade, yet profoundly different.

While using the liquid, the piercing cold wasn’t even as intense as that of the outermost layer of the Grand Array surrounding the Ice Soul Water Jade.

However, the concentration of Ice Soul within the frozen basin was ten, even a hundred times greater than in that final layer.

Furthermore, after being neutralized and fused with various herbs, it was perfectly suited for absorption by the human body.

The Ice Soul moved as if it had a will of its own, seeping through Shen Lang’s countless pores before converging on his Pill Sea and freezing it solid.

Then, a portion of the Ice Soul began to fuse with his Pill Sea, infusing his Spiritual Power with an Ice Attribute. The rest used the Pill Sea as a starting point, surging mightily through his countless meridians.

Wherever the Ice Soul passed, a layer of frost would form over his meridians, which then slowly melted and seeped into them, seemingly nourishing them.

As the frigid Ice Soul circulated, Shen Lang could feel his meridians constantly being strengthened. Impurities that even the Thousand-leaf Fruit’s medicinal power couldn’t expel were now encased by the Ice Soul and forced out of his body as tiny crystals.

He could also sense the number of his Ten Divine Beast Particles slowly increasing...

The rate of growth was nowhere near what he had experienced with the Thousand-leaf Fruit’s potency.

However, the strengthening of his bones and meridians was even greater than what the Thousand-leaf Fruit had provided.

More importantly, the sheer quantity of Ice Soul Water Jade was vastly greater than that of the Thousand-leaf Fruit.

There was only a single Thousand-leaf Fruit. The medicinal liquid created from it, even when combined with other Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, was only enough for Shen Lang to use for about three months.

The Ice Soul Water Jade, on the other hand, was enormous. Just a tiny piece, combined with various herbs and Spirit Fruits, had yielded this entire large bottle!

As long as he could gather the other ingredients, he could make enough for three years, let alone three months!

Moreover, since the Ice Soul Water Jade was placed within the Grand Array to absorb Spiritual Qi from Spirit Stones and Demon Crystals, it was renewable.

In this regard, the potential of this new medicinal liquid far surpassed that of the Thousand-leaf Fruit.

For a single drop of the liquid to have such an effect, Shen Lang was already overjoyed.

...

「Seven days later.」

When the others returned, they were all taken aback by the sight of the translucent ice statue.

Sensing their presence, Shen Lang immediately shattered the ice and emerged.

"Seven days, seven drops of medicinal liquid, and two hundred and thirty new Ten Divine Beast Particles!"

"In just seven days, my bones, muscles, and flesh have all undergone another qualitative leap! HAHAHAHA!"

Laughing wildly, Shen Lang stomped his right foot on the ground. Like a Wild Beast from a primeval era crossing time itself, he shot into the sky and slammed a fist into a massive boulder over twenty zhang high and ten zhang wide.

Under the terrifying force of a blow that could topple mountains and crush the very Azure Vault, the boulder let out a loud CRACK and shot forward.

A moment later, another deafening roar echoed through the air.

With a final BANG, the massive boulder exploded, showering the ground with a cloud of fine dust.

With a single punch, a boulder over twenty zhang high had been completely pulverized!

"My lord’s punch... he didn’t seem to use any Spiritual Power... Is his physical body really that strong?" Qian Luo stammered.

The man was, after all, a Master of One Peak from the Holy Light Sect and an expert at the Xuanwu Realm Fifth Heaven; he had at least that much insight.

Unfortunately, Tie Feng and the others knew just as little about Shen Lang’s true capabilities. They were just as shocked and had no answer for him.

Forget doing it without Spiritual Power—even *with* it, the strongest among them, Ying Huo, would find such a feat nearly impossible.

A zhang was about three meters, meaning the boulder was over seventy meters tall.

With a full-power punch, Ying Huo could shatter the boulder into countless fragments.

But to completely pulverize a boulder that large? As a Xuanwu Realm Seventh Heaven cultivator, he was absolutely incapable of that.

Concentrating all one’s power on a single point to shatter the structure of such a large rock wasn’t too difficult for a Xuanwu Realm Seventh Heaven Martial Artist.

But dispersing one’s power, completely enveloping the entire boulder and obliterating it in such a manner...

Not even a Xuanwu Realm Ninth Heaven expert could do that!

And yet, Shen Lang had done it without using an ounce of Spiritual Power...

The members of War Wolf all stared at him with burning admiration.

Even though they had willingly offered their Soul Blood to become his subordinates, most had done so for the opportunities he provided: the chance to learn peerless Cultivation Techniques and Combat Techniques, or to obtain Heaven-defying Magical Treasure Secret Artifacts.

It wasn’t because of his personal, overwhelming strength.

In their eyes, even though Shen Lang had learned powerful techniques, those came from the War God Hall, and he was still so young.

No one believed that at his age, he could be so powerful that they could only look up to him in awe.

As everyone stared in disbelief, Shen Lang slowly walked back.

He sized them up. Except for Ying Huo and three others who were in better shape, every single one of them was covered in blood and looked utterly wretched.

It seemed that even with the Demon Beast-repellent liquid Shen Lang had them apply to their Armor, they had still encountered numerous Demon Beasts and endured several unimaginable life-or-death struggles.

Yet, despite being drenched in blood and looking ragged, their auras were stable and powerful. Not a single one of them had sustained a fatal injury.

In fact, it was Qian Luo who needed to be supported just to stay on his feet.

Even Tie Feng, the weakest among them, was in far better shape than Qian Luo.

The strength of War Wolf was on full display.

"A few months of Cultivation isn’t enough for you to run rampant through the Barbaric with those two techniques. However, over these last few days, you should have gotten a much clearer sense of your own combat strength, correct?" Shen Lang asked calmly.

"Yes!"

Everyone, including Ying Huo, answered in unison. Their eyes burned with fervor, and their auras surged with power.

For the past few months, they had all been cultivating at the Profound Dao Sect. Even when they sparred, they rarely dared to use a swordsmanship as powerful as the Netherworld King’s Three Extremes Sword.

But here in the Barbaric, facing powerful Demon Beasts with their lives on the line, they had unleashed both the Thunder Control Divine Technique and the Netherworld King’s Three Extremes Sword with all their might.

The power of these two techniques, especially the Netherworld King’s Three Extremes Sword, had completely stunned them over the past few days.

It made them all eager to return to the Profound Dao Sect and throw themselves back into their Cultivation.

They all firmly believed that with more time to cultivate, their next trip here would not be nearly as pathetic.

Qian Luo hadn’t learned these two Heaven-defying Techniques, but the War Wolf members on his team had used them more than once.

His eyes darted around. He now realized the swordsmanship his teammates had been using was the Netherworld King’s Three Extremes Sword that Shen Lang had mentioned, and his expression filled with unconcealed excitement.

At that moment, Shen Lang nodded, took out a bottle of Elixir Pills, and tossed it to Ying Huo. "Distribute these Withered Wood Revives Spring Pills. One for each of you."

"Profound Level Third Grade Elixir Pills!" Qian Luo shrieked.

However, no one paid him any mind.

Shen Lang kept Qian Luo and Ying Huo with him, then sent the others into the Heaven-Sealing Cauldron.

Then, without further delay, he soared high into the air.

"My lord, what are we doing now?"

Qian Luo swallowed a Profound Level Third Grade Withered Wood Revives Spring Pill. Mere moments ago, he had needed help to stand, but after just five or six minutes, he was full of vigor. He spoke with immense excitement.

"What are we doing?" Shen Lang replied. "You’ve all worked so hard. It’s time to reap the rewards."

Shen Lang activated his Silver Eyes of Truth and began to scan the surroundings.

Before long, he let out a jubilant laugh. "We’ve struck it rich! HAHAHAHA!"