The moment those elemental particles were entirely refined into death energy, Nie Kong's body gave a violent shudder, as if he had suddenly moved from a small stream into a vast river; a miraculous sensation blossomed deep within his heart!

Fifth Tier!

Following the second avatar’s advancement to the fifth rank of Spirit Control, Nie Kong’s true body had formally become a Fifth Tier Black Spirit Master. And as the elemental particles continued to be absorbed and refined, Nie Kong’s cultivation continued to surge upward.

“Already Fifth Tier?”

Sensing the aura of Nie Kong’s main body had suddenly strengthened several times over, Zhan Feihong beamed with unrestrained joy.

The faces of Zhan Baisong and the others could not help but break into smiles as well. Nie Kong had achieved a breakthrough after cultivating in the ‘Heart of Flame’ for merely two or three hours—it was truly too fast. However, having witnessed his cultivation speed here, no one found it entirely surprising anymore.

Yet, a sense of awe was unavoidable.

Zhan Baige shook his head with a wry smile. “The day this young fellow arrived at War God Mountain, after hearing the sound of the War Drum, he had just broken through to the Fourth Tier. I can’t believe it hasn't even been a full month, and he is now a Fifth Tier Black Spirit Master. Hmph, back then, it took this old man a full two years to advance from the Fourth to the Fifth Tier.”

“Two years? What’s two years? It took me five!” Zhan Feihong grumbled discontentedly.

Bringing this up always filled him with grievances. Zhan Feihong’s cultivation journey was the exact opposite of the other Zhan Clan members; before the Fifth Tier, others’ breakthrough speed slowed down increasingly, but for him, it got progressively faster. It took him a full decade to go from the First to the Second Tier, seven years from the Second to the Third… By the time he became a Fifth Tier Black Spirit Master, he was already a middle-aged man in his forties.

During those years, Zhan Feihong often had to cultivate alongside a group of mere teenagers, a fact that subsequently became a favorite anecdote among the Zhan Clan.

As expected, hearing Zhan Feihong’s complaint, Zhan Feixing and Zhan Tianhe struggled to suppress their smiles; even Zhan Baisong couldn't help but offer a slight curve of his lips. “Alright, that’s enough. Let’s rest well. We still have over two months to stay here.”

Days passed, one after another...

The injuries sustained by Zhan Baisong, Zhan Baifeng, and Zhan Baige during their fierce battle with Fu Fang gradually healed. The rainbow-like column of fire connecting Nie Kong and the flames grew thicker and stronger; what was once only as thick as a wrist was now as substantial as the full moon.

As for the crimson aura permeating from Nie Kong’s body, Zhan Baisong and the others had figured it out—it was the latent heat separated from the death energy. And it was only thanks to the existence of the ‘Heart of Flame’ that they could endure that unparalleled scorching heat; otherwise, even they couldn't bear it.

“Two months and twenty days!”

Tossing a ‘Void Valley Pill’ into his mouth, Zhan Feihong mumbled indistinctly, chewing the (Ming Dan) until it cracked with audible crunching sounds.

Zhan Feihong was never a person of quiet temperament. While he could remain seated for the first few days, the longer they stayed, the more restless he became.

Unable to cultivate here, yet forbidden from leaving early alone, he paced back and forth around the ‘Heart of Flame’ like an ant on a hot griddle. His only sliver of enjoyment came when it was time to consume a Ming Dan. Now, that small pleasure was all he had left.

Zhan Baisong, who had been meditating with his eyes closed, opened them and gave a slight nod. “Hmm, based on the situation, we can probably head back in ten days at the latest.”

Zhan Baisong closed his eyes after speaking. Zhan Baifeng and the others didn’t even lift their eyelids; they sat cross-legged in perfect stillness, not bothering to monitor Nie Kong’s status. For them, Nie Kong’s cultivation was no longer a source of worry.

They were deep within the fire source; no Nether Beasts could possibly emerge. They had the ‘Heart of Flame’ platform, and Nie Kong could even absorb the death energy contained within the fire source itself. What else could possibly affect his cultivation?

They only needed to wait quietly for any sign of the ‘Heart of Flame’ beginning to sink. As for Nie Kong’s magical cultivation speed, it was now difficult to stir any significant emotion in them. The first time one eats bird’s nest soup and shark fin, it brings immense excitement, but eating it every single day eventually leads to satiety.

Zhan Feihong lacked their patience. After swallowing the ‘Void Valley Pill,’ he began to feel like he was sitting on pins and needles. A moment later, he jumped up again, pacing anxiously in circles nearby.

Within that fiery red aura, Nie Kong sat motionless, like a sculpture.

Over two months of intense cultivation, Nie Kong’s cultivation continued its relentless ascent. His second avatar advanced from the previous fifth rank of Spirit Control to the sixth, then the seventh, the eighth… eventually soaring all the way to the ninth rank of Spirit Control.

Although his main body had not yet broken through, the intensity of the death energy within him was steadily increasing, now reaching the peak of the Fifth Tier, essentially keeping pace with his avatar. While the speed was no longer as ferocious as it had been ascending from the First to the Fifth Tier, compared to other Black Spirit Masters, it remained terrifyingly fast.

During this period, Nie Kong felt as though he had returned to the days of explosive cultivation speed when he first arrived on the Tianling Continent. Back then, after treating himself with the Nine Revolutions Golden Needle Technique, Nie Kong had propelled himself from the first rank of Spirit Gathering to the ninth in a remarkably short time, shaking the entire Nie family.

Now, Nie Kong had progressed from the fourth rank of Spirit Control to the ninth in just over two months. Compared to the past, Nie Kong had spent more time and achieved fewer rank advancements, but if this were reported back to the Tianling Continent, the sensation caused would absolutely dwarf the shock of his previous breakthrough.

Though Nie Kong hadn't deliberately paid attention, he knew the time remaining until the ‘Heart of Flame’ subsided was dwindling. At this critical juncture of his cultivation, Nie Kong’s goal was to achieve one final, decisive push before the platform sank: advancing his main body to the Sixth Tier and his avatar to the Void Spirit realm!

From the Fifth Tier to the Sixth Tier, from Spirit Control to Void Spirit—this represented a monumental leap, a formidable challenge even for Nie Kong!

“Faster still!”

The thought flashed through his mind, his expression turning slightly frenzied under the reflection of the surrounding red light. In an instant, Nie Kong sent a mental command toward the little fellow.

After previously deploying the ‘Life Barrier,’ the little fellow had consumed nearly half of its vital medicinal power. Fortunately, with four high-level Ming Dan Masters present and a substantial supply of Ming Dans brought along, Nie Kong managed to procure forty Mid-grade Ming Dans and five High-grade Ming Dans.

Twenty of the Mid-grade Ming Dans had already been consumed by the little fellow, and the Purple Luo Phantom Spirit Incense currently radiated vitality as spirited as ever.

“Yiyaya!”

The little fellow chirped, and a verdant light shot out from its Spiritual Aperture, traveling down Nie Kong’s right arm to the Fire Seed. The vital medicinal power, imbued with rich life force, acted like pouring a barrel of gasoline onto a raging fire, exerting a fatal pull on the scorching death energy.

“Whoosh!”

It felt as though a fierce gale swept through the void. The arc-shaped blood-red fire pillar instantly swelled, and more elemental particles surged in like a tidal wave. At that moment, the space around the ‘Heart of Flame’ seemed to churn with a violent hurricane.

“Hong!”

Sensing this sudden, massive shift, Zhan Feihong abruptly halted his pacing. Zhan Baisong and the other four automatically opened their eyes.

Gazing at the red column spanning the void, Zhan Baisong couldn't help but let out a faint smile. “The speed at which the little fellow is absorbing Nether Power elements has increased again.”

“Faster is better,”

Zhan Feihong snorted twice, aggrieved. “It’d be best if he sucked this entire fire source, and the entire Nether Sea, dry!”

Zhan Baisong and the others stifled their laughter but didn't take Zhan Feihong’s vexed words seriously. Draining the Nether Sea would be the stuff of fantasy; not even one Nie Kong, but ten thousand Nie Kongs cultivating here for a thousand years, could possibly absorb the Nether Sea completely dry.

Just like now: Nie Kong had been cultivating for over two months, absorbing countless elemental particles from the fire source, yet the fire source showed no discernible reduction.

After watching for a while, Zhan Baisong and the others returned to their motionless, statue-like states, leaving only Zhan Feihong grumbling to himself incessantly...

At this very moment, deep within the western sea region of the Nether Sea, inside a pitch-black, abyssal trench, a single spot of white light suddenly flickered, rapidly expanding as a man in white robes flew forth from the distance. His facial features were vaguely obscured as if veiled by a layer of mist.

This was Zhan Xingyu, the Old Ancestor of the Zhan Clan.

“Chi!”

The stagnant seawater rippled, and a low, guttural cry suddenly sounded. Following the sound, the massive figure of a Nether Beast emerged, its six long tentacles churning the water into violent turmoil like steel whips. Topping these tentacles was a disc-shaped green body, looking exceedingly strange.

“Tss!”

Almost the instant the Nether Beast cried out, Zhan Xingyu extended a single finger and poked.

In an instant, that index finger seemed to leap across tens of meters of space, lightly pressing against the top of the Nether Beast’s head. The beast didn't even have time to whimper; its colossal body violently disintegrated, dissolving into a pulp of minced meat and blood that vanished into the seawater.

Zhan Xingyu did not pause his steps, continuing to drift forward through the trench with the fluid grace of flowing water.

Powerful Nether Beasts emerged in endless succession, yet all of them perished before they could launch an attack, collapsing under the touch of that single finger, unable to impede Zhan Xingyu for even a second. After an unknown duration, the seemingly endless end of the trench finally revealed a speck of red light.

“That’s it!”

Zhan Xingyu’s soft murmur drifted through the trench, as if two palpable, profound gazes pierced through the seawater ahead, reaching directly toward that faint red glow. As his voice faded, Zhan Xingyu abruptly accelerated, vanishing like a white streak in the dark water. As Zhan Xingyu pressed onward, the red light gradually enlarged, and within minutes, it was fully revealed in his sight.

That speck of red light had materialized into a circular high platform several hundred meters in diameter. A layer of blood-red aura enveloped the platform, completely sealing off the surrounding ink-black seawater. From a distance, it resembled a single, enormous, crystalline bubble.

Surrounding the platform stood numerous fierce pillars, each topped with burning black flames. In the center encircled by these pillars sat a square dais.

A tall, majestic statue of a woman stood proudly upon the dais. The statue, clad in white robes, possessed exquisitely delicate and beautiful features, appearing so lifelike it seemed she were flesh and blood. If Nie Kong were present, he would instantly recognize this sculpture as the Great Evolution Spirit Venerable—worshipped in the ‘Spirit Venerable Hall’ of every sect in the Nether Earth!

And that high platform... was an altar!