Ask! You must ask quickly! You must make it clear that Qian Jin felt a vague sense of unease; that magic array always gave off a chilling feeling, especially when it appeared on Hai Qing'er's forehead, creating a sense of absolute despair.

"Qian Jin..." Duan Feng Bu'er asked softly, full of concern, "Are you alright?"

Qian Jin shook his head weakly—alright? How could he be alright? The electric shock from the Golden Roc Thunder Sculpture had already served as a sufficient warning. Even if he pursued them now, it would be useless. Never mind the Golden Roc Thunder Sculpture, he stood no chance against Hai Qing'er either.

To figure all this out, one way was to ask Teacher Ming Wen. The other was to capture her alive!

Capture the woman who looked exactly like Hai Qing'er, alive, using specialized tools. Capturing her in a fight was simply impossible.

A reckless battle, completely disregarding life and death, would only result in life or death; there would be no possibility of taking her alive.

"I'll go practice alone." Qian Jin dug a sand pit, jumped in, and looked up at Duan Feng Bu'er outside the hole, "Don't worry. I'm fine."

Luci'er flowed out a light chuckle. And he calls this 'fine'? That woman just now... why did she look so strange? It seemed like she wasn't even alive at all!

The dry, golden sand buried Qian Jin once again. Pan Hongji frowned deeply. This kind of suicidal training method was effective for Fen Tu Kuang Ge and Duan Feng Bu'er, but surely it wasn't enough for Qian Jin?

Demon Subduing Warrior! Pan Hongji watched Fen Tu Kuang Ge burrow into the sand and softly shook his head. Was this the determination of an ordinary warrior striving to surpass a bloodline warrior? A Demon Subduing Warrior realm practitioner burrowing into the scorching daytime heat and the freezing cold desert night of the Ancient Desolate Sand Sea?

Even the young bloodline warriors of the Pan family wouldn't dare attempt such a thing casually. This insane training method might rapidly boost strength, but it would damage the body! When they reached middle age, their bones, muscles, and other organs would age prematurely because of this suicidal training in their youth.

Never mind rain, even just a cloudy day... Pan Hongji shook his head slightly. Perhaps by then, the bodies of these young people would be wracked with pain, as if sliced by knives. They were overdrawing their bodies... No!

Pan Hongji’s gaze returned to the spot where Qian Jin was buried in the sand. They had Qian Jin! The reason they dared to push themselves so hard was entirely because Qian Jin was an alchemist! And a high-level alchemist across all disciplines!

Every day, besides specialized training, as long as they consumed large amounts of beneficial elixirs, they could eliminate the hidden damage to their bodies.

An ordinary high-level alchemist could only prepare the necessary elixirs for warriors and mages using extremely rare medicinal ingredients. This restricted the possibility of mass-producing high-level elixirs. Even if a bloodline warrior family could hire guest elders capable of concocting high-level potions, the materials they possessed made mass production impossible.

Without the ability to mass-produce high-level elixirs, bloodline warriors likewise couldn't use this self-mutilating method for specialized training.

Pan Hongji smiled. It wasn't that he hadn't considered this self-mutilating approach. In fact, many prominent bloodline families had thought about harnessing nature's ferocious power for the most arduous training and tempering, elevating themselves from the very edge of death.

However, the inability to mass-produce many high-level elixirs had caused countless ambitious bloodline families and non-bloodline warrior/mage families to abandon this tantalizing training method.

Now? Pan Hongji smiled widely. Qian Jin's appearance had, to some extent, solved this headache plaguing all the great families. He could now use ingredients of a slightly lower standard to concoct even higher-level elixirs.

Even if large-scale production wasn't feasible... Pan Hongji calculated inwardly. Could Qian Jin manage to prepare a hundred portions of various body-replenishing elixirs for a month or two?

"Truly an ally who continuously surprises me," Pan Hongji flipped over and gazed up at the stars in the sky. "Ancestors of the Pan family who have returned to the stars! Watch from above! I, Pan Hongji, will become the most outstanding family head in the history of the Pan family! The Nine-Headed Serpent bloodline family, under my leadership, will soar to unprecedented heights!"

One or two hundred of the Pan family’s most promising and elite bloodline warriors would all be recalled from the Human-Demon Battlefield, equipped with sufficient high-level elixirs, and sent into this mysterious Ancient Desolate Sand Sea. This kind of prolonged, nature-defying special training once every year or two... Pan Hongji felt an uncontrollable surge of excitement within him just thinking about it. By then, even if the Nine-Headed Serpent bloodline family failed to awaken the ultimate bloodline power, they would still become the strongest legion in the Zhence Dynasty!

Furthermore... Pan Hongji glanced towards the sand pit where Qian Jin was located. This mysterious alchemist boy always created miracles. Duan Feng Bu'er was by his side. If he truly reached the Celestial Apex Awakening and encountered an insurmountable bottleneck, would Qian Jin refuse to help?

"It’s a pity I cannot leave here to secretly protect Qian Jin, otherwise..." Pan Hongji’s eyes drifted towards the deeper reaches of the Ancient Desolate Sand Sea as he muttered softly, "I have ventured nearly a thousand kilometers into the Ancient Desolate Sand Sea before, but I’ve never encountered anything like today. Why does that girl give me such a strange feeling? Why, when I saw her, did I have an immediate urge to kill her?" Pan Hongji flipped over on the sand, looking at the sky, confusion etched on his face. Was it a feeling of apprehension? Ridiculous! The foremost powerhouse of the dignified Nine-Headed Serpent bloodline family being afraid of such a little girl?

But what was that ability of hers? Why had he never seen it before? The Dou Qi she released carried a deeply unpleasant aura. And what exactly was that magic array on her forehead?

"What is it?" Akenash, holding a carving knife, swiftly etched various complex runes onto a metal shield forged by Uncle Black, speaking without looking up, "Draw it out for me first..."

The magic array on Luci'er Ni-han's forehead was an extremely intricate and detailed formation.

Qian Jin had studied this magic array for some time, knowing that even a slight deviation in shape could mean an entirely different array to the eyes of a master runemaster.

One minute... ten minutes... one hour... two hours... Akenash curiously set down the carving knife he was holding. Akenash knew Qian Jin's control and memory; an ordinary magic array wouldn't take this long to draw.

There was only one possibility: the complexity and intricacy of this magic array exceeded the limits of Qian Jin's control.

Qian Jin drew with extreme caution. Even though he wasn't carving metal, merely drawing on the practice sand tray used by apprentices, this magic array was incredibly difficult to render. It would be even harder to engrave on metal.

"This..." A flicker of solemnity crossed Akenash's curious eyes as he squatted down beside Qian Jin.

He reached out, snatched the drawing tool from Qian Jin's hand, and rapidly began sketching along the magic array that would still take a long time to complete.

One drawing, two drawings, three drawings... Magic arrays that were extremely similar, yet each containing a different configuration, appeared one after another before Qian Jin.

The fifth one... Qian Jin's eyes lit up brightly. Yes! This was it! The magic array on Luci'er Ni-han's forehead was this one! Not a single mistake!

The seventh one... A cold sweat broke out on Qian Jin's palm. This... this was the magic array on Hai Qing'er's forehead! Judging by the technique displayed by Teacher Akenash, the level of the magic array on Hai Qing'er's forehead was far higher than the one on Luci'er Ni-han's forehead.

"What? Is it this one?"

Akenash’s young face shone with a caution and gravity usually only seen when adults face major issues. He pointed to the seventh magic array.

Qian Jin nodded, and then pointed to the fifth one as well, referencing the array on Luci'er Ni-han's forehead: "And this one."

"You want to know what these are?" Akenash's eyes were sharp as a carving knife, and there was not a trace of a child's demeanor on his face. "Have you seen them? One appeared on a skeleton's forehead? The other on someone who appears to be alive?"

Appears to be alive? Qian Jin's scalp tingled. 'Appearing to be' and being a true living person were two different concepts. He could distinguish that much.

Akenash observed Qian Jin's reaction, muttering to himself, "It seems you have truly seen this kind of thing."

"What... what are these?" Qian Jin asked softly, worried.

"What do you think?" Akenash shot Qian Jin a look, countering the question: "What do you think these are? Undead! They are Undead!"

"Undead?" Qian Jin's reaction was the same as the Pan family members when they witnessed his actions—staring at Akenash in shock. "Impossible! There are no true Undead! Once people die, they return to the embrace of the stars... Impossible..."

Akenash watched Qian Jin quietly. "Are you trying to deny the existence of the Undead? Or have you accepted their existence but are desperately trying to deny that thought?"

Qian Jin stared blankly at Akenash’s immature, doll-like face, his body trembling slightly.

If he had only encountered Luci'er Ni-han, perhaps he would have happily acknowledged the existence of the Undead. The mysterious Undead, though constantly branded as evil by wandering bards, were also so mysterious that they inspired a desire to touch upon forbidden things.

Now, Qian Jin truly did not want to believe that the Undead existed in the world. If the Undead truly existed! If this magic array represented the Undead, then what did Hai Qing'er represent!

"Each of these magic arrays represents the power of a type of Undead," Akenash pointed to the first drawn array. "This is the weakest Undead magic array, called the lowest tier among the Undead, usually found on skeletons that are missing many bones."

"This one is slightly better than the lowest tier. As for the fifth one you recognized, it's actually not very good. It belongs to a failed creation. It was supposed to eternally preserve the power the deceased held in life, but this creation failed; it causes the deceased's life force to dissipate over time."