"Then let's keep it on the outermost layer," Duan Feng Buer pointed at the sand beneath his feet. The heat preferred to surge upwards, with only a small amount trickling down. "If that doesn't work, we'll just move a bit farther away from it."

The searing Nine Yang True Flame Iron shifted slightly in the sandy ground, and the surrounding golden sands instantly flushed a fiery red.

Fen Tu Kuangge, estimating his own strength, slowly retreated toward the outer perimeter. Duan Feng Buer, gripping his long spear, also chose a position, one even closer to the Nine Yang True Iron than Fen Tu Kuangge’s.

Chek glanced at the positions chosen by Fen Tu Kuangge and Duan Feng Buer, then silently positioned himself three meters closer to the Nine Yang True Flame Iron than Duan Feng Buer.

Duan Feng Buer stared blankly at Chek. They had all undergone their second awakening, and all were Demon-Subduing Warriors. The difference in strength between them was now negligible.

"Damn it! I chose the wrong spot just now." Duan Feng Buer jammed his spear parallel to the ground right next to Chek, adopting a posture that dared anyone—man or not—to challenge him.

Fen Tu Kuangge frowned, then silently advanced his position by three meters as well.

Chek rolled his eyes at Duan Feng Buer, placed his hands behind his back, and strolled forward another three steps as leisurely as if he were taking a walk after a meal.

Duan Feng Buer decisively yanked his Buer Spear from the ground and kept pace with Chek, displaying an attitude of, "Wherever you bury yourself today, that’s where I’ll be buried too."

Qian Jin recalled the time the three of them had a competition drinking elixirs in the ruins and shook his head repeatedly. Why did they have to compete over everything? Sooner or later, if they cooked themselves to death, the competition would finally end!

"How old are you all, seriously?" Lucifer Flowing Water crossed his arms and shook his head repeatedly. "Can the three of you be any more childish? Can you be any more childish?"

"Beauty Demon, that’s something you wouldn't understand," Duan Feng Buer said slowly as he followed Chek. "A man as manly as I am shouldn't lose to some pretty boy in this regard, right?"

Pretty boy? Lucifer Flowing Water chuckled softly as he looked at Chek. This young man, whose stunningly handsome face could make every woman and demoness feel inadequate, did seem a little effeminate after Duan Feng Buer’s remark.

Qian Jin couldn't be bothered with the three men’s death-defying contest. As long as they didn't actually burn themselves to death, it wasn't a huge problem. This time, he hadn't just brought some prepared potions from the Pan family; he had taken a stock of their ready-made elixirs.

Once he reached the level of an Elixir Master... Qian Jin smiled and sank into the sand. Then he could mix these elixirs together to formulate new, more potent ones.

Pan Hongji slowly began to grasp—fully grasp—why this small team’s strength had improved so rapidly. It wasn't just because Qian Jin possessed healing potions; it was because of the competitive spirit between them—a bond filled with friendship, yet one where none would willingly concede to the other.

This kind of competition was rare in the Pan family. Many relationships there were rooted in pure jealousy, rather than this completely benign rivalry.

"I truly never imagined..." Pan Hongji sat cross-legged on the ground, gazing at the sky in deep contemplation. "I can use strong dominance to mold the Pan family into a smoothly functioning whole, but I can’t achieve what Qian Jin has..."

No hierarchy, complete equality, seamless coordination, forming a virtuous cycle of competition.

"Affinity is something tied to the heart of people," Pan Hongji sighed softly. "I must pull Duan Feng Buer back to the Pan family. Then I can assemble a group of elite young Hydra bloodline warriors and form a special small unit, teaching them under Duan Feng Buer’s guidance..."

Pan Hongji then turned back toward the spot where the others had already buried themselves alive. Handing them over to Duan Feng Buer was equivalent to handing them over to Qian Jin. If that same atmosphere of positive competition could be cultivated, the combat effectiveness of the small unit would greatly increase.

When they had all matured, they could be sent back to the Pan family to lead the elites again, establishing a very beneficial competitive development environment. For the next hundred years, as long as the Pan family didn't encounter any bizarre natural disasters, the martial world would remain exceedingly strong.

The Ancient Desolate Sand Sea defies the passage of time. While it can manifest temporal power in any location, against a realm that has remained unchanged for tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions, or even tens of millions of years, it appears utterly impotent.

A month’s time in the long history of the Ancient Desolate Sand Sea was, at most, a single grain of sand within the sea, perhaps even less significant than a single grain.

Eat, sleep, special training!

Duan Feng Buer, Chek, and the other two did nothing but these three things. Under conditions so harsh they drove one to madness, and through their mutual competitive drive, their strength had all seen individual improvements.

Qian Jin took off his hat and yawned. For the past month, it had been nothing but special training or existing within the Endless World. Sleep? What was that?

Qian Jin was almost forgetting how to sleep. He dared not close his eyes; every time he did, he saw his father working as a stable boy, or the terrifying Queen of the Undead Sigil etched on Hai Qing’er’s forehead. Every time he closed his eyes, he would break out in a cold sweat.

If he couldn't sleep, then train! Qian Jin cast aside all other thoughts, focusing all his attention on the special training. His Martial Heart had managed to refine four techniques to the verge of forming perfect Martial Seals, yet he still couldn't determine the correct sequence for the Eighteen Strikes of Ascending Peaks.

The true power of the Eighteen Strikes of Ascending Peaks was unleashed through the "Iron Forging Breathing Technique," but that technique belonged to the 108 Death Battle Apertures—and he had no such apertures here.

"Qian Jin, how is it going?" Duan Feng Buer asked with a grin. "I'm at the peak of Demon-Subduing Three Battles now, about to hit Four Battles. Watch out, I’m catching up to you! I’m almost neck-and-neck with the pretty boy..."

Chek let out a cold snort through his nostrils. Without saying a word, he activated his Fallen Angel Bloodline Battle Form. The surging Dou Qi proclaimed that he had already reached Demon-Subduing Four Battles, and he was nearing the peak of that stage.

Fen Tu Kuangge looked at the two with envy. That was the power of a bloodline warrior. Once they broke through to a new level, their strength surged rapidly.

This speed... Pan Hongji clicked his tongue softly. Even though the bloodlines within these two young bloodline warriors were among the finest of the era, this rate of increase was still astonishingly fast. This was all achieved through desperate effort in a special environment, relying on resources unavailable to others.

"Demon-Taming Seven Battles."

"What?!" Hearing Fen Tu Kuangge's statement, Qian Jin jumped straight up in shock. This speed... this speed... Even if he had crippled his Dou Qi and was retraining, even if he possessed the practice experience of a Demon-Taming Warrior and enjoyed a period of rapid Dou Qi increase after reverting to the Demon-Taming realm, this speed... A month ago, Fen Tu Kuangge was only at the Demon-Taming Two or Three Battles level! Qian Jin distinctly remembered taking two full years in the Four Seasons Valley to reach Demon-Taming Nine Battles. This speed...

"I don't know why either," Fen Tu Kuangge enjoyed the surprised expressions of the crowd. "Before coming to the Ancient Desolate Sand Sea, I felt the speed of my Dou Qi increase beginning to slow. But when I buried myself alive to cultivate, the metallic essence I inhaled seemed to melt, making it incredibly easy to absorb..."

Qian Jin stared at Fen Tu Kuangge, dumbfounded, then suddenly slapped his forehead. "I get it! It’s the heat here! It’s the high temperature!"

Fen Tu Kuangge understood first. That was right! The metal he held in his hands, stimulated by the high heat in the desert, truly seemed on the verge of melting. The metallic essence inhaled into his body was the purest part of the metal; the heat currents made it soft and much easier to absorb.

And then there was the Nine Yang True Flame Iron! Qian Jin had specifically researched the Nine Yang True Flame Iron with Uncle Black these past few days, trying to find a way to melt it. He discovered that melting this thing was incredibly difficult, requiring the Soul Fire of a Fire-Attribute Soul Sage. If it were the Soul Fire of a Fire-Attribute Saint, the effect would be even better.

The Nine Yang True Flame Iron had another property that was often overlooked: it could melt metal!

If metal was placed on it, it could melt most common metals, absorbing the most refined metallic essence into itself to strengthen its own quality.

After reading about the properties of the Nine Yang True Flame Iron, Qian Jin understood why the Zhanmadao felt strangely different after just grazing the Nine Yang True Flame Iron that day.

In that mere instant of contact, the Nine Yang True Flame Iron had siphoned off a significant amount of excellent essence from the Rank Ten Battle Soldier Zhanmadao.

The once Rank Ten Battle Soldier instantly dropped to the peak of Rank Nine Battle Soldier status after that single collision.

Given enough metal and magma, Qian Jin was confident he could nurture another rare metal to advance in rank. However, at that stage, even the Soul Fire of a Saint-level Fire-Attribute Soul Sage couldn't melt this new metal; only a Fire-Attribute Saint with a Soul Domain could accomplish that.

"It's still too fast..." Qian Jin shook his head repeatedly. Even with the Nine Yang True Flame Iron helping to melt the metallic essence in Fen Tu Kuangge's hands, this speed was excessive.

"He's fighting harder than I am," Chek retracted his Fallen Angel transformation and shook his head slightly. "He pushes himself too hard." Duan Feng Buer nodded in agreement. This month, Fen Tu Kuangge had been dug out of the sand at least ten times by the others, and there were genuinely patches of his flesh that smelled cooked. If it weren't for the variety of potions Qian Jin possessed, Fen Tu Kuangge, who gambled with death daily, would have lost his life several times over.

"I don't have a bloodline... and I'm not a freak like Qian Jin," Fen Tu Kuangge’s expression held a shade of suppressed emotion. "I can only fight with what I have. What do I have? Heh... a worthless life."