Thirty-six jade-green beads rotated slowly before the Divine General Jins, manifesting as an emerald whirlwind. A delicate fragrance emanated from its center, spreading outwards, gently reaching the nostrils and causing every pore in the body to feel as if it had expanded.

As the thirty-six jade-green beads spun, the nearby black insects were caressed by the sweet scent. Their bodies reacted as if ice touched a raging flame, emitting a sizzling, corrosive sound as they rapidly melted into viscous pools of blood. Before their internal organs and skeletons could fully dissolve, the melted remnants clung to the remaining black insects, dragged along behind them into the distant passage.

Ye Chen frowned, suddenly sensing a foul stench in the air that made his head swim and swell, churning his stomach until he felt a surge of nausea.

Divine General Jins also seemed to notice the noxious odor. He knit his brows, pressed his palm into the center of the emerald whirlwind formed by the thirty-six beads, and shot forward as if entirely devoid of gravity.

The black torrent within the flesh wall was like a massive sheet, violently torn open in the center by the emerald light, creating a sharp rent. Ye Chen followed closely behind him. A few meters behind where the two passed, in an area where the pure fragrance was fainter, the separated black torrent rushed back together like sticky adhesive, sealing off their retreat.

The emerald whirlwind in Divine General Jins’ hand acted like a sharp sword, carving a direct path forward until they leaped clear of the black tide’s end. Suddenly, Divine General Jins shifted his gesture, swiftly plucking a single jade-green bead from the whirlwind and tossing it back toward the flesh wall behind them.

This jade-green bead embedded itself into the flesh wall on the ground like a nail, yet it proved incredibly fragile, shattering instantly into countless motes of crystalline light that scattered throughout the passage behind the meat wall, releasing an intense, pure fragrance.

“Let’s go,” Divine General Jins commanded, sweeping the emerald whirlwind back into his internal universe with a grand grasp, then flying straight ahead. “These are Azure Wood Beads, smelted from the bones of the Azure Wood Beast. They repel all highly venomous creatures. The black blood worms inside these Earth Blood Beasts won't dare approach for now.”

Ye Chen nodded slightly, remaining silent.

As Divine General Jins continued to speed forward and heard no sound behind him, he suddenly let out a cold laugh. “You should know, if it weren't for me just now, you’d be dead. Don't underestimate these black blood worms. Although their individual strength is weak—only at the Spirit Realm—each one is extremely troublesome. The moment they touch your skin, they burrow in. If a large number of them contact your body, before your brain can even react, you will be controlled by them. These black blood worms can manipulate the thoughts of other living things.”

Ye Chen’s brow tightened. He hadn't expected these black blood worms to be so difficult to deal with. He suspected that even experts at the Epoch Realm would be instantly submerged and devoured without a trace if they encountered such a torrent of black blood worms as before. Although experts at the Epoch Realm could unleash powerful attacks for wide-area damage, facing an endless swarm of black blood worms meant that if even a small contingent managed to close the distance, it was tantamount to embracing death.

“However…” Ye Chen watched the retreating back of Divine General Jins, his gaze unchanging, yet a cold sneer played in his heart. “Ever since I underwent tempering by the divine fire of the senior Fire Blood Phoenix, every cell, bone, and drop of blood in my body has been transmuted from fierce flames. Strictly speaking, I myself am a mass of intense fire! These black blood worms will likely be incinerated into ash the moment they touch my body.”

Whoosh!

Divine General Jins surged into the pitch-black flesh wall. Suddenly, three forks appeared ahead, and the surrounding walls were blood-red, oozing a thick, foul-smelling liquid.

“We split up,” Divine General Jins halted, his gaze cold. “In this Earth Blood Beast’s husk, divine sense is blocked. Unless one reaches the World Supreme Realm, they cannot perceive everything with world power. We must find its main body quickly, or when it truly awakens, the two of us combined won't stand a chance.”

Ye Chen’s eyes flickered, a cold laugh echoing inwardly, yet he appeared composed. “Fine.”

Divine General Jins turned to look at him and suddenly flashed a captivating smile. “You could also choose one fork and hide quietly inside, waiting for me to slay the Earth Blood Beast before coming out. Otherwise… with your strength, even if you found its main body, you might not be able to kill it.”

Ye Chen said indifferently, “You don’t need to provoke me with words. What I do is none of your business.”

Divine General Jins studied him quietly for a moment before nodding with a smile. “Not bad. Although you are a member of the Ancient Temple, I have no right to restrict your actions during the hunt. I only hope… you don’t die here.”

“Take care of yourself,” Ye Chen, too lazy for further talk, snorted coldly, his body lifting off the ground as he shot toward the middle of the three forks.

Watching Ye Chen’s back disappear into the darkness of the forward passage, Divine General Jins’ expression darkened. A sharp, cold glint flashed in his eyes as he sneered. “To have such strength at the Divine Emperor Realm—I truly wish to see what fortunate encounters you’ve had. If you manage to survive here, I will become genuinely interested. Go on, strive to become my plaything…”

In the massive flesh wall passage.

Ye Chen zipped through the darkness like a black phantom, floating in the air to guard against unpredictable crises emerging from the flesh on the ground.

“If I can kill this Earth Blood Beast, the world power exchangeable for such a variant creature at the Half-Step World Supreme Realm in the Ancient Temple would be tens of trillions, even hundreds of trillions. With that much, hunting down just three more variant creatures of the same level should be enough to exchange for world power!”

Ye Chen pondered inwardly. “Divine General Jins has such strength yet hasn’t become a World Supreme. Clearly, although his physical body has reached the World Supreme Realm, he hasn't yet signed a contract with the Ancient World. This time, he will undoubtedly fight desperately. Even if I end up killing the Earth Blood Beast, a battle with him is inevitable.”

This was indeed a troublesome problem.

If he fought Divine General Jins alone, holding the Heaven Illusion Mirror, Ye Chen was absolutely confident. However, after the fierce battle with the Earth Blood Beast, the power he could exert would certainly be diminished. He needed to conserve his strength as much as possible beforehand.

Ye Chen pondered for a moment, thinking internally, “No matter what, I must first examine the structure of this Earth Blood Beast’s husk. For a variant creature of this rank, all its bones are materials for forging Void Heaven Artifacts, and some highly concentrated bones could even be used to craft Heaven-Defying Realm weapons!”

He had already mastered the black flames. With the temperature of these flames, they were sufficient to burn through any hard material. If he could also learn the structural schematics of Heaven-Defying Realm weapons from the Heaven Illusion Mirror, he could forge them himself!

The Heaven Illusion Mirror’s exploration system had already copied the remaining eight Heaven-Defying Realm weapons within the internal world of the senior Fire Blood Phoenix, storing the structural data and information for those weapons. Once put to use, mass production would be simple.

As Ye Chen was deep in thought, a sound like a giant drumbeat suddenly echoed down the pitch-black passage, making the surrounding silence suddenly feel eerie.

Ye Chen stopped abruptly and looked up. In the darkness ahead, the massive drumbeat sound slowly approached, and out of it emerged an enormous beetle, covered entirely in black carapace as smooth as a mirror. It had a large, sharp horn atop its head, and beneath its abdomen were four thick legs resembling ox hooves. Solid black armor covered the upper parts of its legs, while the lower sections were thick with dense black fur. At its tail was a sharp, cone-like rhomboid tip reflecting a cold luster.

Ye Chen frowned, and a surge of black flame enveloped his body, clinging to him like a living thing. The surrounding temperature sharply soared. The thick flesh wall emitted a sizzling sound as the bright red flesh withered and twisted under the intense heat, writhing as if alive.

The crimson eyes of the giant black-shelled beast fixed on Ye Chen, filled with greed and bloodlust, and it roared before charging over.

Ye Chen hovered in the air, facing the unstoppable charge without changing his expression. He suddenly snatched at the air, grasping the sharp horn on the giant beetle’s head just as it rammed forward. His body remained unmovable as a giant mountain, and the flames in his hand spread like ants along the sharp horn, instantly crawling over the entire black-shelled beast, incinerating the black fur on all four of its limbs.

The black-shelled beast let out a mournful scream and collapsed to the ground. Its body was like a raging hot coal, searing the bright red flesh wall beneath it until foul smoke billowed out.

Ye Chen looked down at it, then snatched back the black flames covering the carapace. With a flash, he continued rushing forward.

Not long after he left, the struggling, screaming black-shelled beast crumbled like a pile of dry grass, turning into ashes and vanishing completely.

“I didn't expect such monsters to exist within this Earth Blood Beast’s husk. Judging by its strength, it should be at the Epoch Realm,” Ye Chen thought to himself.

He had only traveled a short distance when his ears twitched, picking up a faint "squeaking" sound ahead, like countless small feet crawling. He couldn't help but frown.

Looking up, he saw a massive black torrent slowly surging out of the darkness at the end of the flesh wall passage—it was the black blood worms he had encountered before.

Ye Chen frowned, summoning a fierce black flame around his body, then advanced rather than retreated, smashing straight into the swarm of black blood worms.

The black flame acted like solid armor, securely protecting his body, leaving no skin exposed. Any black blood worm that touched the flames on him instantly turned to ash and vanished completely.

However, these black blood worms were like an endless sea. They instantly covered Ye Chen’s body, wrapping him tightly layer upon layer. Despite the burning of the black flames, more and more black blood worms continued to climb over.

Inside the enveloping black flames, Ye Chen’s expression grew grim. He expanded the range of the external black flames slightly, and suddenly, in areas where the flames were thinner, the black blood worms managed to bore small holes. A few worms squeezed through these openings.