"Hey! Injured again? Oulala leaned against the doorframe, pushed up the pretty glasses on her nose, and raised a hand to rake through her messy hair. 'Just ran into you. Go get me some materials, you wait here.'"

Another list of materials! Qian Jin shook his head with a wry smile. These elders and masters truly doted on him—another set of body components from mid-to-high-tier savage beasts.

Blacksmith Blake's shop was as quiet as usual. The red flames in the furnace danced merrily, occasionally letting out sharp popping sounds.

Qian Jin stood outside the door, taking a deep breath, feeling the Dou Xin (Battle Heart) condensed within him from the Blacksmith Breathing Technique—the Zhu Mo Wu Zhan (Demon Slaying Five Battles)! It was stronger than the first Dou Xin! But...

"So fast?" Blake put down his pipe, his cloudy eyes curiously examining Qian Jin repeatedly. "Heart of Earth Fire, you condensed it this quickly?"

Heart of Earth Fire? Qian Jin's left leg, mid-step into the doorway, froze in mid-air. He looked down at the blazing second Dou Xin burning inside him. So that was its name. However, this powerful Heart of Earth Fire didn't seem very obedient.

Blake rose and approached Qian Jin, repeatedly stroking his body, nodding frequently. "Can't control it?"

Qian Jin slowly brought his stiff left leg down and nodded lightly. This blacksmith uncle, Blake, who radiated an aura of mystery, could know everything just by touching him twice. He was even more formidable than Uncle Pan Hongji's All-Seeing Eye of the Serpent Emperor; he could even discern the lack of control.

"Forging will always bring control," Blake yawned, completely lacking any sense of masterly guidance, and stopped explaining further. He returned to his usual spot to continue smoking. "At this level now, you can control it three times a day, perhaps..."

Qian Jin picked up his hammer, nodding in admiration each time. This mysterious old blacksmith was like an omniscient, omnipotent Star God; there was nothing he didn't know. This was his strongest trump card for the short term—the ability to unleash combat power beyond what others could imagine.

The scorching furnace seemed to share a peculiar tacit understanding with the Heart of Earth Fire. Though separated, an invisible line of heat connected them. The slumbering Heart of Earth Fire seemed to reawaken with a fervor, and the third strike of the Sheng Feng Shiba Chui (Eighteen Hammers of Apex Ascent) once again manifested in Blake's smithy.

The quiet courtyard was swept by a howl of hammers unlike any before. The brilliant, scalding sparks scattering from the white-hot iron billet were fewer than usual; faintly, one could see a hammer driving the sparks back into the raw iron.

"This is..." Qian Jin was astonished to find a faint ordering sequence within the Heart of Earth Fire, as if it was beginning to condense. This sequence was incredibly subtle, yet undeniably present.

The Sheng Feng Shiba Chui, which had never manifested in his first Dou Xin, now showed a nascent sign of ordering within this second Dou Xin, the Heart of Earth Fire.

Qian Jin let out a long breath. So, there was nothing wrong with his first Dou Xin; it seemed the ordering of the Sheng Feng Shiba Chui could only appear within the Heart of Earth Fire.

"Player Qian Jin, the proficiency of your third strike of the Sheng Feng Shiba Chui has increased by five hundred points..."

The system's dull notification sounded again. Qian Jin's wrist trembled slightly. "What? Five hundred points? That much? It used to only increase by a dozen points! Suddenly five hundred? Is the boost from the Heart of Earth Fire this massive?"

"Player Qian Jin, the proficiency of your third strike of the Sheng Feng Shiba Chui has increased by seven hundred points..."

Seven hundred! Hearing the proficiency figures reported time and again, Qian Jin felt an inexhaustible surge of energy. The Sheng Feng Shiba Chui, which he had previously found somewhat tedious, now seemed filled with boundless joy.

Five hundred... Seven hundred..., nine hundred... one thousand!

A nearly perfect strike increased his proficiency by a full thousand points. Qian Jin felt as if he could fly. His recently recovered arm, tireless, struck the raw iron again and again with frantic energy.

Blake continued to puff on his pipe, the tobacco inside the bowl lighting up and dimming rhythmically, occasionally making soft hissing sounds.

"Player Qian Jin, please note, your daily game time is about to expire. Please prepare to log off."

"What? So soon?" The world before Qian Jin rapidly distorted, and the sounds suddenly lost their realism.

Sixteen hours, spent entirely forging?

Qian Jin crawled out of the sand pit, brushing off the sand, looking up at the sky in disbelief. Sixteen hours spent forging, yet his body, already exhausted, felt no fatigue whatsoever? It seemed this massive proficiency gain truly made one exhilarated.

Boom! The starless, moonless night sky suddenly cracked open with a thunderclap. Massive electrical serpents writhed wildly within the thick, dark clouds. Icy raindrops mixed with hailstones the size of soybeans and washbasins plummeted from the sky, striking Qian Jin’s shoulders. The sheer impact forced his feet to sink slightly into the sandy ground.

"It's raining?" Qian Jin raised a hand to touch his struck shoulder, looking up at the sky. "My injuries are completely healed. How am I going to explain this to Bu'er and the others?"

The damage to his Dou Mai (Battle Meridian) might not be visible, but his bones! Because they had fractured and even pierced the skin and flesh, revealing stark white fragments, no amount of strange Dou Qi cultivation should allow for such instantaneous healing.

"Time to bandage up." Qian Jin scratched his head and pulled out materials obtained from the Pan family from the Dou Jie (Battle Realm), quickly binding his arm and shoulder. This rapid healing wasn't something he needed to hide from Bu'er and the others, but if Pan Hongji found out, if the Stars learned of it, would that Serpent Emperor uncle still support him as he did now?

A family head of the illustrious Nine-Headed Serpent lineage—any support for an ally had limits. Once they knew the source of an ally's capabilities, that ally’s value would plummet, and they might even attempt to seize it. The Qian family had done similar things more than once.

Instantaneous physical recovery! Besides a few rare secret arts that traded lifespan for vitality, almost nothing else could achieve such immediate healing.

"Oh? My cigarette stash is back!"

Duanfeng Bu'er laughed heartily, rising and spreading his arms wide as he strode toward Qian Jin. "Your spirit is much better than before. After recuperating for a while longer, your body will recover quickly."

Qian Jin glanced at Lucifer Flowing Water nearby. If that demon princess weren't present, showing Duanfeng Bu'er his current fully recovered state wouldn't be an issue.

The other three also stopped their training of absorbing Dou Neng (Battle Energy) from the Dou Jing (Battle Crystal) and stood up to examine Qian Jin closely.

"Tell me, what battle technique did you use for that strike against Qian Chenguang?" Duanfeng Bu'er sat cheerfully amidst the flowers. "It looked a bit like the long-lost Submerged Thunder Battle Technique."

Fentukuang Ge nodded in agreement. The records of the Fentuku Family mentioned the power and method of the Submerged Thunder Battle Technique, which indeed bore a strong resemblance to the reaction seen on Qian Chenguang—powerful Dou Qi rampaging from different parts of the body, turning someone into something like a hornet's nest.

"It is the Submerged Thunder Battle Technique." Qian Jin sat down cross-legged with a smile, feeling the surprised and astonished gazes of the four. "I didn't know it before; I only learned it after that bastard Qian Chenyu hit me."

"He hit you once, and you learned it?" Duanfeng Bu'er immediately flopped back into the grass. "God of Stars, come down here and punch this guy—if he doesn't die, will he just ascend to godhood?"

Qian Jin kicked Duanfeng Bu'er's leg. "I think Qian Chenyu shattered the Dou Qi ordering in his Dou Xin, and that's why I learned it."

"Dou Qi ordering?" Lucifer Flowing Water's single eye rapidly scanned Qian Jin. The Submerged Thunder Battle Technique was a Saint-level technique. Even if Qian Chenyu’s strength was only at Zhu Mo Jiu Zhan (Demon Slaying Nine Battles) and he couldn't unleash its full power, it was still a Saint-level technique, and using the shattering ordering made its might several times greater than usual!

Such power, and yet it didn't kill Qian Jin? Was his body truly forged from iron? Even iron should have suffered many breaks, shouldn't it? Wasn't Qian Chenguang’s body firm and tough? He was the one left bleeding all over from Qian Jin's single blow.

Qian Jin looked at the now-risen Duanfeng Bu'er, his gaze sweeping over the other two young men. "Are you interested in learning this lost Saint-level technique?"

"Qian Jin..."

Duanfeng Bu'er sprang up from the grass, pouncing on Qian Jin and tackling him down. His face flushed red with excitement as he exclaimed, "Yes! Yes! Of course, I want to..."

"Want what? Get off him..." Lucifer Flowing Water grabbed Duanfeng Bu'er by the collar from behind and dragged him away. She then squatted down in front of Qian Jin, clasping her hands over her abdomen, squeezing her full chest until it threatened to burst the fabric of her clothes, and brought her bewitching face close to Qian Jin's. "Why didn't you look at me when you asked the question?"

Qian Jin shrugged helplessly, looking calmly at Lucifer Flowing Water. Some things simply didn't require many words; this princess was different from Cekelifeite.

The mixed-blood's goal was to decapitate the current Demon Crown Prince and even His Majesty the Great Demon King. There was absolutely no possibility of reconciliation with the demon race.

Lucifer Flowing Water was different. As a demon princess with ambitions of becoming the Demon Empress, if she learned the Submerged Thunder Battle Technique, and later passed it on to her inner circle of loyal death-sworn followers, wouldn't that be equivalent to handing her a knife to slaughter human warriors on the Human-Demon battlefield?

Friendship was friendship, but some matters needed clear boundaries. After all, fists and feet never showed mercy on the Human-Demon battlefield. If, in the future, he were struck by a demon using the Submerged Thunder Technique on the battlefield, and worse, killed, returning to the embrace of the Stars, wouldn't he be mocked mercilessly by that fellow Luolin?

"Are you afraid I'll teach it to the demon race?" Lucifer Flowing Water's beautiful single pupil flashed with proud anger. "Is that how I appear in your eyes? Does my demon race not possess battle techniques? Does my Lucifer Royal Lineage, with accumulations spanning countless years, not have several Saint-level techniques? Must I learn it from you just to pass it on to other demons?"

"Even if we fight fiercely on the Human-Demon battlefield!" Lucifer Flowing Water suddenly stood up, looking down at Qian Jin. "I have countless ways to kill people! Must I use your technique? Couldn't I use it to contend for the Demon Emperor's throne? To kill demons?"