Rumble! The stone beneath Qian Jin’s rear suddenly vibrated, and the icy rock began to warm—and the temperature escalated with terrifying speed!

In the blink of an eye, the once-cold stone was scorching hot, like the sands of the Ancient Desolate Sea baking under the midday sun.

Immediately after, the solid rock began to writhe, undulating like waves cresting and tumbling upon the ocean surface.

"This volcano... it's alive!"

Ignoring his injuries, Qian Jin sprang up and shouted to the others inside the cave who had also sensed the earth’s upheaval: "Grab your things! Run!"

Grab things and run! Everyone reached out simultaneously, not even pausing to see what they were snatching, haphazardly stuffing everything into their Battle Realms, their expressions frantic as they bolted out of the cave, each unleashing their power to flee toward the volcano's exterior.

Though their individual strengths were formidable, facing a volcano, none dared guarantee they wouldn't be melted by the magma.

Chekfulit instantly transformed into his Fallen Angel state, grabbing the slowest, Mu’ne Zhence, and soaring into the sky, shooting straight out.

"Damn it! I envy the winged bird-people!" Duanfeng Bu’er couldn't resist taking a jab at Chekfulit, his body instantly covered in scales from his Nine-Headed Serpent Bloodline Battle Form as he scaled the cliff face with incredible speed.

Rocks shattered and plunged into the boiling magma below; it was impossible to tell if they simply melted or sank into the molten flow.

The four of them pulled their feet from the ground and sprinted madly down the mountain. Behind them, the volcano roared with a sound that seemed to emanate from an ancient primal beast. Waves of heat surged skyward, yet the snowy mountain remained utterly unmelted. Red magma churned within the crater, threatening to erupt at any second.

"Where do we even run to?"

Duanfeng Bu’er ran, desperately scanning the surroundings for any possible escape route.

"Quicksand!" Qian Jin, running at the rear to cover any sudden developments, commanded, "Look for quicksand!"

"This way!"

Chekfulit roared from the sky, and the others immediately followed his lead, sprinting wildly.

Boom! The earth shook, the massive mountain groaned, and the scorching magma could no longer contain itself. The volcano erupted with a deafening roar, spewing flowing lava—a crimson torrent shot straight into the heavens.

Qian Jin glanced back at the erupting magma, his scalp prickling. He had survived the avalanche in the Four Seasons Valley, only to face a volcanic eruption here!

Compared to this, Qian Jin suddenly felt that avalanches were nothing terrifying; they were simple matters.

The white snow mountain began to bleed rivers of scarlet 'blood,' which advanced rapidly, quickly consuming many corners and paths of the mountain.

"For the first time, I truly love quicksand!"

Duanfeng Bu’er yelled, ignoring whether the quicksand actually led to safety. At least in the shifting sands, his power offered protection, but the magma...

Duanfeng Bu’er plunged into the quicksand and looked back at the boiling eyes in the sky. His pupils contracted violently—what was that? A stone within the red magma? Or perhaps Qian Jin, too, saw that incandescent stone in the boiling eyes! Or perhaps it wasn't a stone at all!

The Heart of the Volcano! That was it! Among a hundred volcanoes, perhaps not one would gestate a Heart of the Volcano, and even if it did, it would only be the size of a pinky nail—still enough to drive Forgemasters and Inscription Masters to madness!

A piece the size of a human head? Even in Uncle Black’s forging records, Qian Jin had never seen one this large!

Ten thousand... no! One hundred thousand volcanoes might yield a fist-sized Heart of the Volcano, enough to make a Forgemaster weep for three days straight.

The Heart of the Volcano: an essential material for Soul Weapons! And also a crucial component for Sacred Artifacts! In fact, this thing could itself be considered a Sacred Artifact! It lacked the special powers of a true Sacred Artifact, but otherwise, it was identical!

Qian Jin knew one more thing: this object would be supreme nourishment for the Battle Soul generated by his own Heart of Earth Fire.

Appearing now? Qian Jin felt like weeping—why now, of all times! Why appear at this critical juncture?

Fight, or retreat?

Qian Jin gritted his teeth, turned, and sprinted back toward the rolling, boiling magma. Fortune is always found in adventure! Such a massive Heart of the Volcano was worth risking everything for!

Three Great Battle Souls! Activate! Super Void Soul! Enter! Burning Soul Domain, boil! Violent Soul Domain, activate, activate, activate!

The spot where Qian Jin stood seemed to detonate an unstable magic array, creating a ten-meter-deep pit out of thin air. Flying debris and stones propelled his body forward at high speed, launching him upward against the cascading magma.

"I am Heaven and Earth! The stars are in my grasp!"

Qian Jin stamped the earth and unleashed a punch that spanned ages. The colossal impact pressure forced the flowing magma aside, striking the Heart of the Volcano dead-on. Under the force, the rolling heart leaped high into the air.

"Mine!" Qian Jin seized the Heart of Earth Fire, and torrents of burning heat surged from his palm into his body.

This was the Heart of the Volcano! Qian Jin kept marveling. To what extent had his Body Protection Skill reached? Even a full-power strike from Falak, the Seventh Prince of the Barbarian Race, couldn't penetrate his defense without using a Sacred Artifact; in fact, Falak had been shaken to death by him!

Yet the heat from this Heart of the Volcano was penetrating his Body Protection Skill! Excellent! It was worth risking my life to seize this thing!

Achieve Sainthood! Achieve Sainthood! After his last awakening, Qian Jin knew he must reach Sainthood!

Lately, he had been pondering how to reach Sainthood! Others needed to ascend once, but he required ascending three times!

Of course, achieving Sainthood three times brought far greater rewards than for others. But three ascensions meant needing a minimum of three Soul Weapons!

Three Soul Weapons! Searching through all existing Soul Weapons of the Human, Demon, and Barbarian races, finding three suitable ones would be difficult. The only real option was to forge them himself.

Qian Jin had been considering a crucial matter recently: Qian Zhanxuan’s strength was unfathomably immense. The more his own power grew, the more he sensed the terrifying might of Qian Zhanxuan.

To defeat such a formidable foe and shake the entire Qian family, his current influence was sufficient; what he lacked now was raw strength! Overwhelming personal power!

Influence could only prevent Qian Zhanxuan from finding a pretext to kill him, but only true strength would allow him to defeat Qian Zhanxuan and shake the Qian family!

Qian Jin had thought long and hard about this. Were Soul Weapons enough for the Sainthood Ascension? Both Soul Weapons and Sacred Artifacts could facilitate the ascent, but using either would cause consumption!

Previously, without a single Sacred Artifact, his only recourse was to gather materials and forge Soul Weapons.

Now... he possessed a Sacred Artifact, and only one at that...

Pfft! Qian Jin plunged into the quicksand just as the magma surged over him. The lava furiously mixed with the quicksand, causing its temperature to climb relentlessly until the distinction between magma and sand blurred.

Hot! Qian Jin felt as if he were submerged in a boiling pool. If not for the protection of his Battle Qi, he would have surely been scorched.

The quicksand churned. While resting his eyes, Qian Jin simply activated his Hammer Battle Soul, beginning to absorb the ambient heat around him.

Tiny wisps of volcanic magma heat were drawn in by the Battle Soul Hammer. Qian Jin felt a pleasure that defied description coursing through his body.

If he continued this way... once his power was sufficient, he would find a live volcano and soak in the magma—it would make his Battle Soul even stronger!

Time flew by. Qian Jin sensed the heat flow around him gradually diminish, and the air soon returned to the distinctive dry scent of the Ancient Desolate Sea.

The Ancient Desolate Sea! Qian Jin opened his eyes to the surrounding golden sand, and the first thing that greeted him were his companions, covered in sand but all grinning.

"Damn it! War brother, you scared me to death!" Duanfeng Bu’er clamped his arm around Qian Jin’s neck: "So close, just a breath away! If you died, where would I find cigarettes? For my cigarettes..."

Thwack! Duanfeng Bu’er received a kick to the backside, sending him sprawling face-first into the sand, dragging a slide mark for nearly ten meters. He looked back to see Chekfulit lifting his foot and dusting off his shoe with his sleeve.

"You called me a bird-man..."

"Your hearing is sharp, isn't it!" Duanfeng Bu’er rubbed his rear and stood up. "Alright everyone, let’s take out what we snatched."

"Here?" Mu’ne Zhence looked around nervously. To suddenly produce Sacred Artifacts somewhere unknown in the Ancient Desolate Sea—only the stars knew if it would invite danger.

"Let's head back," Qian Jin said after a moment of thought. "First, bury ourselves in the sand. Wait until nightfall, check the star charts, and then leave. Back at the Zhence Dynasty, I will craft a Magitech Device capable of suppressing Sacred Artifact emissions. Then everyone can take them out." Fentukuang Ge silently retrieved a potion Qian Jin had prepared for him earlier and sank beneath the sand. Having entered that scene, he had sustained considerable injuries, and these potions would aid recovery. The scorching sand of the Ancient Desolate Sea was now actually beneficial for healing his wounds rather than harming him.

Qian Jin sank into the sand, desperate to enter the Endless World, but ultimately suppressed the urge. The undead legions in the Ancient Desolate Sea were too numerous. If he encountered the same situation as last time while entering the Endless World, he would become a burden to everyone.

Unable to enter the Endless World, Qian Jin retrieved the Heart of the Volcano from his Battle Realm. Its intense heat immediately caused the surrounding sand temperature to soar.

The moment the Heart of the Volcano settled in his palm, the Hammer Battle Soul within him reacted instantly. Even the nascent Burning Soul Domain in its first groove began to pulse like a human heart. The two entangled, forming a power that coiled around the Heart of the Volcano like a snake wrapping around a tree.

As soon as this power coiled around it, countless sharp spikes sprouted from its periphery, digging forcefully into the Heart of the Volcano, desperate to draw out its searing thermal energy.

The Iron Forging Breathing Technique activated automatically at this moment; Qian Jin didn't need to consciously circulate it!

The Heart of the Volcano twitched in Qian Jin's palm, seeming to struggle free of his control. Qian Jin's five fingers clamped down fiercely on the beating object.

This thing, in a sense, was a variant of a Sacred Artifact. Though unpolished and not a true Sacred Artifact, its quality far surpassed that of a Soul Weapon, and any Soul Weapon forged from it would be the strongest of its kind!

Qian Jin mentally assessed the Heart of the Volcano in his hand. Despite having seized some Sacred Artifacts earlier, none of them resonated with the Hammer as perfectly as this object.

Sainthood? Here? Qian Jin calculated the possibility of achieving Sainthood. After all, this object wasn't a true Sacred Artifact, yet its quality exceeded that of a Soul Weapon by a large margin. Historically, no one had attempted Sainthood using such an item; he had no idea if it would succeed.

To hell with it! I'll try once! Qian Jin grew increasingly eager for Sainthood. He discarded any thought of using the hard-won Heart of the Volcano to forge a Soul Weapon or another Sacred Artifact. Instead, he activated his Hammer Battle Soul, which had reached its peak, to draw out its thermal current once more.

The heat flowed into his body, first circulating through the 108 Dead Battle Apertures, and then, for the first time, truly flowing into the 108 Living Battle Apertures.

As this energy entered the Living Battle Apertures, the Wind and Cloud Battle Qi within him resonated with an excited vibration.

The training for the Wind and Cloud Golden Body had always been conducted in that strange lake water, turning it into a purely instinctual state. Upon receiving the heat flow flooding into his body, the Wind and Cloud Golden Body began to circulate.

As the Wind and Cloud Golden Body absorbed the heat flow, the Hammer's absorption was immediately diverted. It felt like a child whose food was being taken away, and it began to draw the heat from the Heart of the Volcano even more frantically. Consequently, more heat poured into Qian Jin’s body.

The Heart of the Volcano, which had initially resisted, upon receiving continuous forceful draws of heat, suddenly stopped resisting altogether. It opened completely, unleashing the thermal energy like a burst dam, pouring endless heat into Qian Jin’s body.

One side furiously drawing, the other side furiously pouring! In that instant, Qian Jin’s body temperature skyrocketed; his internal organs felt on the verge of melting under the intense heat.

This was not an ideal state for achieving Sainthood! Qian Jin temporarily halted his plan to ascend and hurriedly manifested his Shield Body Protection Skill, melding it into his body to prevent the Heart of the Volcano’s temperature from escalating further and burning him alive.

The Heart of the Volcano was truly the essence of the volcano! Its contained temperature was exponentially higher than the heat on its surface!

Boom, boom, boom...

Qian Jin did not stop the surging heat flow entering him. Although he could block it successfully now, what point was there in stopping it?

It’s just heat! Qian Jin understood clearly: Battle Qi is meant to stimulate one's own potential while simultaneously absorbing the vital energy of all things on Earth to generate more Battle Qi, turning the warrior into a true powerhouse.

The Heart of the Volcano was one of those things on Earth! Absorbing the essence of earthly things to convert into Battle Qi was absorption; absorbing directly from the Heart of the Volcano was also absorption.

So what if it’s hot? How can a person gain wealth without taking risks?