"Want to leave?" A half-smile played on Xie Feng's lips as she looked down at the pathetic Black Serpent with amusement: "Didn't I say there were things I needed to take care of here? You grew up in this bleak Void. Let me ask you first, do you know where that patch of light is?"

"Xie Feng, you don't keep your word?" The Black Serpent was momentarily stunned, growing rather vexed and angry: "I won't tell you where that place is."

"Hmph, whatever 'Xie Feng'—you will address me as Master." Xie Feng revealed her truly wicked nature, sneering repeatedly: "Little snake, if you don't know how to respect your master, this little lady will let you taste what it means to wish for death!"

With a surge, the Black Serpent suddenly stood up, its eyes blazing with ferocious hostility, laughing in extreme anger: "Xie Feng, what do you mean by that?"

"This object is called the Beast Taming Ring, not some Elder's Token." Xie Feng tossed the Beast Taming Ring back and forth in her hand, chuckling playfully: "Forget a mere early-stage Nascent Soul demonic beast like you—even if you were a late-stage Nascent Soul, once enslaved by the Beast Taming Ring, you could never escape my grasp."

"You court death." The Black Serpent was inherently untamable; having cultivated to the Nascent Soul level, it had never been toyed with like this. Overwhelmed by shame and fury, it lunged out violently, extending a claw to swipe fiercely at Xie Feng.

"Hehe." Xie Feng let out a clear laugh, merely forming a quick hand seal. The Beast Taming Ring began to rotate slowly. Instantly, the Black Serpent’s face froze stiffly, its movement arrested mid-air. Intense pain rapidly spread from its Primordial Spirit throughout its entire body.

"Ah—" The Black Serpent collapsed onto the ground, writhing desperately. Such agony was something it had never experienced in its life. Immediately, it could no longer maintain its humanoid form and was on the verge of reverting to its true body: the Nether Black Serpent.

Xie Feng’s expression shifted. If she allowed it to revert and thrash about here, it would likely destroy all the structures around them. She extended a claw, manifesting a massive black talon that easily seized it. She flung it out of the flying vessel, hundreds of miles away, letting it writhe under the vast sky.

In the blink of an eye, the Nether Black Serpent transformed into a colossal serpent nearly a hundred zhang long, stretching almost a mile; at its widest, its body measured at least thirty to forty zhang in diameter. Having taken its true form, the Black Serpent appeared incredibly ferocious and terrifying, but now it lacked its former savage cruelty. It merely thrashed and contorted in the dark Void. A small floating rock, dozens of zhang in diameter, drifted past, but the Serpent, in its agony, coiled around it once and squeezed, shattering it into countless fragments like mud and sand.

Xie Feng paid it no mind, continuing to sip tea and rest in the flying vessel, occasionally meditating to heal her injuries.

It took a full month of such torment before Xie Feng recalled the hand seal and released the punishment. The pitiful Nether Black Serpent, a dignified Nascent Soul demonic beast, had been tortured until it was barely breathing. The moment the pain ceased, it obediently morphed back into the appearance of a small snake, prostrating itself before Xie Feng’s feet, speaking human words: "Master, I dare not do so again." It was unrecognizable compared to the ferocious, savage demonic snake it had been before.

Xie Feng estimated that the suffering it endured would last it a good long while. She coldly sneered, "Very good. Are you convinced now?"

"Convinced, I am convinced, Black Serpent," the Black Serpent dared not utter another word of defiance. The preceding agony was no less than ten thousand ghosts devouring the soul combined with parasitic worms feeding on the flesh—painful, itchy, and numb all at once. It couldn't endure that feeling for even a moment, let alone endure such treatment for a whole month.

"Good. Then I ask you again, where is that place of light?" In this past month, Xie Feng had managed to slightly recover her injuries. But Lei Dong still hadn't woken, forcing her to redirect her focus to that mysterious location.

"I... I don't know. I only know it is extremely dangerous; many demonic beasts that enter never return." Hearing of the light, the Black Serpent showed lingering fear: "When I first cultivated to the Nascent Soul stage, I attempted to investigate. But as soon as I neared it, a fierce Yin Lightning struck down, forcing me to flee in disarray. It took me a full year to recover from the injuries. After that, I never went near it again."

Hearing the Black Serpent’s words, Xie Feng’s brows furrowed. No wonder she felt it was dangerous; even a Nascent Soul demonic beast was struck down and forced to flee when merely approaching the periphery. After pondering for a moment, she asked again, "You've been around here for a long time. Haven't you heard any powerful demonic beasts mention that place? Not even rumors?"

"Although the demonic beasts here can communicate, most are solitary, and their language system is quite primitive." The Black Serpent, terrified of Xie Feng’s anger, thought hard and suddenly exclaimed, "I remember now! When I was young, I overheard a demonic beast mention it by chance. Legend says that anyone who can break through to the inside will gain immense benefits. However, during my growth, I saw many demonic beasts try to venture in, but very few managed to escape even heavily wounded; many simply died."

Xie Feng figured she wouldn't get anything more by questioning further. After some thought, she tossed him a bottle of pills and said, "Take a month to heal and recuperate properly. Next month, we go there to explore directly."

"No…." The Black Serpent cried out in extreme terror.

"Hmph, that is not for you to decide." Xie Feng said coldly, "Do you want to taste punishment again? Hmph, I, Xie Feng, am not some useless Nascent Soul demonic beast; I have countless spiritual treasures. This journey will certainly be safe." Xie Feng also felt she had lingered here too long and needed to settle matters quickly. Otherwise, if her clan noticed her prolonged absence, who knew what accidents might occur?

Xie Feng's insistence on the mysterious place of light stemmed from intuition. All strong beings possess some faint perception of the unseen forces—like a sudden feeling, or perhaps a strong premonition. Xie Feng intuitively felt that although the place was dangerous, it seemed to conceal an enormous opportunity, possibly a turning point in her life. Moreover, she sensed that whether Lei Dong could awaken seemed connected to that mysterious place of light.

Driven by this innate intuition, she had to go. Otherwise, missing this chance, she might never have the opportunity to return here in her lifetime.

The Black Serpent immediately fell silent. Although he found that place incredibly dangerous, he absolutely did not wish to experience that excruciating agony again. During the preceding month, he had contemplated ending his life countless times. He could only obediently follow Xie Feng’s orders.

Another half-month flashed by. Xie Feng piloted the flying vessel slowly toward the mysterious light. There seemed to be a mysterious call constantly drawing her in to investigate. The light appeared extremely close, but after sailing steadily for dozens of days, it seemed to have only doubled in size, hanging in the bleak Void like a dark and mysterious sun.

They journeyed for a full three months before Xie Feng seemed to reach the periphery of the destination. Looking forward from the railing, the light was now clearly visible. It was a massive spherical object, radiating a pale white glow interspersed with hints of dim light. Vaguely ethereal, it resembled a protective energy shield.

However, the exterior of the sphere was not empty; rather, it was densely packed with floating rocks of all sizes. The small ones were merely a few zhang in diameter, while the largest reached thousands of zhang. These massive floating stones seemed drawn by the light sphere, revolving constantly around it.

"Master, last time I reached this point, and if I moved any further, I would be struck by Yin Lightning." The Black Serpent had already reverted to his sinister male appearance, his expression seemingly filled with lingering terror.

"Hmph." Xie Feng narrowed her eyes and temporarily halted the flying vessel. With her slender, white fingers, she formed a hand seal, and the Innate Spiritual Treasure, Phoenix Dance of the Nine Heavens, flew out from her Primordial Spirit, thousands of feathers spinning cheerfully before her. She pointed faintly forward, and one of the feathers shot out like a sharp arrow, piercing the air with a shrill whistle.

Before the feather traveled even a few miles, a sudden bolt of Yin Lightning materialized out of nowhere in the dark Void and struck the feather with perfect precision. Through the spiritual sense attached to the feather, Xie Feng’s Primordial Spirit vibrated slightly. She hastily retrieved the feather. Examining it closely, she saw that this life-bound feather, condensed by a dying Nascent Soul-level Nether Phoenix before its demise, was now charred black, its spiritual energy clearly dissipated, with a layer of translucent frost clinging to its surface. Xie Feng gasped inwardly, knitting her brows: "Such powerful Yin Lightning, it must be of Extreme Yin quality. No wonder you fled in terror, Black Serpent."

"Master, I think we should leave." Seeing the Yin Lightning, the Black Serpent seemed to recall some unpleasant past events, shuddered all over, and once again considered retreating.

"Don't worry, this is merely an array. As long as we break the array, it won't trigger the Extreme Yin Heavenly Thunder," Xie Feng comforted him kindly this time. "You are my battle pet; I won't casually send you to your death." After Chaos, all things under heaven were divided into Yin and Yang; Heavenly Thunder naturally had Yang Thunder and Yin Thunder. Thunder that reached Extreme Yin quality was naturally termed Extreme Yin Heavenly Thunder.

Soon, Xie Feng began constantly probing the array that triggered the Extreme Yin Heavenly Thunder, doing so carefully and cautiously. She knew that anyone capable of setting up such a formidable array could not be simple. However, Xie Feng was also quite confident in her ability to break the formation. She was exceptionally intelligent, grasping anything she learned with ease. In her lifespan of over a thousand years, her mastery of arrays was formidable; otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to set up the Chaos Spirit Gathering Array so casually. (To be continued)