Gu Han stared powerlessly at the black flames hanging in mid-air, a look of dejection clouding his face. He murmured, "The Nine Illusions Quicksand is a divine object, its origins mysterious and unfathomable. No one truly knows its specific function… I only know that the Nine Illusions Quicksand is essential for maintaining the entire space of the Ethereal Illusion Mansion. Although only a small amount is required, it is indispensable. Judging by this, the Nine Illusions Quicksand must be related to spatial energy. As for what exactly counters it, I truly do not know!"

"Perhaps related to space?" Jun Mo Xie frowned. Just what exactly was this Nine Illusions Quicksand?

The Young Master Jun, naturally, was unaware that while the Chaos Fire was indeed a spiritual entity capable of incinerating all things under heaven and earth… the Nine Illusions Quicksand was not low in rank either! It too was formed from the very essence of the cosmos. Of course, this formation by heaven and earth was achieved by the First Young Master of the Nine Hells using an utterly heaven-defying technique, locking down the Primordial Qi of the firmament and continuously generating it, making it, broadly speaking, an artificial innate spiritual object…

Though the Chaos Fire could burn space and even the soul, the Nine Illusions Quicksand was utterly unlike the innate spiritual objects of this world; its essence was no weaker than the Chaos Spirit Fire—perhaps only separated by the thinnest margin. As for Gu Han saying its attribute belonged to the spatial category, he wasn't entirely wrong. This was because the Nine Illusions Quicksand was fundamentally a medium for creating space!

Buddhism speaks of "one grain of sand, one world," and the Nine Illusions Quicksand was something akin to this! While it was far from achieving the awesome power of "one grain of sand, one world," it possessed a similar divine efficacy! Even a single grain possessed infinite wondrous utility. Otherwise, how could mere specks of the Nine Illusions Quicksand sustain such a vast world as the Ethereal Illusion Mansion for such an extended period?

And this time, Zhan Kuang used all the existing Nine Illusions Quicksand in the mortal realm for his body reconstruction. The energy latent within Zhan Kuang’s current form was almost unimaginable! Moreover, the current Zhan Kuang had not even begun to excavate or investigate one-tenth of the Nine Illusions Quicksand’s marvelous uses, yet he was already this terrifying!

As Jun Mo Xie pondered deeply, the Chaos Fire remained unchanged, but the cyan smoke began to recede slowly, dissipating from the area covered by the flames, gracefully withdrawing strand by strand, before reforming into a small, ethereal cyan whirlwind three zhang in front of them! It emitted a soft whooshing sound!

Clearly, Zhan Kuang was preparing to coalesce into human form once more!

Jun Mo Xie frowned and waved his hand; the Chaos Fire vanished. If it was useless, there was no need to leave it outside. This thing made no distinction between friend and foe. Should Gu Han or the First Young Master of the Nine Hells touch it rashly, even if he acted in time, they would lose a layer of skin even if they didn't die! At this moment, the Young Master Jun was infinitely frustrated! The Chaos Fire, which had always succeeded, had failed him now! This fact was a major blow to Jun Mo Xie! If even the Chaos Fire returned empty-handed, what other method remained to deal with this monster that simply refused to die?!

The whooshing sound grew faster, and the cyan smoke in the air gradually solidified, reforming into a humanoid shape, appearing before the three like a demonic god.

"This time, let me try. I need to personally experience what kind of monster this is! You two cover me from the rear!" A rare seriousness settled on Jun Mo Xie’s face. Without waiting for their response, he lunged forward violently!

With a sudden whoosh, Jun Mo Xie struck out with his palm, slamming it into Zhan Kuang the instant the body solidified. At this moment, Zhan Kuang, who had just reformed, had no time to dodge and took the full force of Jun Mo Xie’s fierce blow squarely in the chest! With a bang, his entire body was sent reeling back dozens of zhang, stumbling before falling heavily onto the ground.

In this strike, Jun Mo Xie had deliberately slowed the speed of his attack but had increased the intensity of the impact.

"As expected, when this fellow is just solidifying, both his reaction time and innate speed have a period of weakness," Jun Mo Xie mused, launching a relentless, storm-like assault.

After being struck dozens of times in succession, Zhan Kuang’s physical responses grew sharper, and his counterattacks became increasingly fierce, gradually evolving into an exchange. However, his body began to feel somewhat ethereal at this point.

Seeing this change, Jun Mo Xie’s gaze sharpened, and he accelerated his attack frequency once more. He moved through the air like a wisp of cyan smoke, only the sounds of punches and kicks audible, the peng sounds dense and regular as a war drum.

The Fourteenth Young Master of the Nine Hells watched the fierce battle in the arena, his eyes shining with a strange light, yet mingled with surprise and incomprehension. When he first saw Jun Mo Xie outside Ju Hua City, Jun Mo Xie was at best at the Saint realm of cultivation. But less than half a year later, when the Xie Jun Manor was first established, this fellow had already rocketed to the Saint Venerable level. And today, he had reached the peak of Saint Monarch!

What kind of rate of advancement was this? Such astonishing progress even gave the Fourteenth Young Master of the Nine Hells a sense of surprise and dread! The first time he saw Jun Mo Xie, the latter was no more significant than an ant in his eyes—not even worth a second glance; but now, he possessed the initial qualifications to be considered his equal! What would the balance of power be after a little more time?!

The Fourteenth Young Master of the Nine Hells followed Jun Mo Xie’s silhouette with his gaze, and a faint smile suddenly appeared at the corner of his mouth: Perhaps the world would gain a worthy opponent, and he would no longer be lonely.

During this bout of fighting, Jun Mo Xie maintained a complete advantage while relentlessly pressing the attack, determined to crush his opponent in the shortest time possible. As the exchange continued, Zhan Kuang’s body grew increasingly unstable, seemingly on the verge of falling apart. Just as he was about to reach that edge, Jun Mo Xie suddenly retracted his hands. With a sharp clang, a beam of light flashed, and the Blood of Yan Huang thrust into Zhan Kuang’s body with lightning speed! It pierced directly into the location of the body’s Dantian. Then, Jun Mo Xie retreated to the sidelines to observe. He needed to see if this sword could subdue Zhan Kuang? Could it inflict damage? Both subjects were things the world could scarcely comprehend… The Blood of Yan Huang vibrated with an excited sword cry, spinning rapidly within Zhan Kuang’s Dantian.

Under the extreme sharpness of the Blood of Yan Huang, a large hole suddenly appeared in Zhan Kuang’s body. The entire blade plunged in, and one could clearly see the unique radiance of the Blood of Yan Huang circulating in the Dantian area. It suddenly coiled upward, moving toward the location of the heart, lingered briefly, then shot higher toward the brain. Afterward, it abruptly turned and darted everywhere inside Zhan Kuang’s body! It seemed the Blood of Yan Huang was searching for something within Zhan Kuang’s body, but it could not seem to find it…

Zhan Kuang emitted a series of sharp roars, and his body began to slowly dissipate again. Just then, a brilliant light erupted, and the invincible sword energy of the Blood of Yan Huang suddenly exploded within Zhan Kuang’s frame! With a tremendous boom, Zhan Kuang’s entire body exploded into golden fragments, once again becoming a mass of cyan smoke! The gleaming, water-like blade of the Blood of Yan Huang circled once in the air and returned to Jun Mo Xie’s hand, trembling softly.

Instantly, a question flashed through Jun Mo Xie’s mind from the Blood of Yan Huang: "What is this thing? Why is its soul so bizarre? I cannot absorb it."

"The soul cannot be absorbed?!" Jun Mo Xie was startled. "Can you absorb its body?" Whether it was Zhan Kuang’s soul or the Nine Illusions Quicksand that constituted the body, if either one could be destroyed, the other would pose no threat!

"No, I can't either! What in the world is this thing, why is it so strange!" The Blood of Yan Huang sounded visibly gloomy, even carrying a hint of the frustration Jun Mo Xie couldn't quite decipher.

"What's wrong?" Jun Mo Xie instinctively sensed the unusual emotion in the Blood of Yan Huang.

"This thing is absolutely a heaven-sent tonic!" the Blood of Yan Huang complained aggrievedly. "I was ecstatic just a moment ago, but after attempting it, I realized there wasn't even a possibility of absorption… This is too crushing for a sword…"

"A heaven-sent tonic? How so?" Jun Mo Xie’s eyes lit up. "How exactly does it nourish?"

"Even if I explained in detail, you might not understand. Simply put, if you could add even a fraction of this material when you forge and temper me next time—not even much, perhaps just one-tenth of what we see here—my strength could increase by at least double after the tempering! Perhaps even more…" The Blood of Yan Huang sighed dispiritedly, "It’s a pity, but it seems unlikely now…" As it spoke, the Blood of Yan Huang let out a remarkably human-like, mournful sigh. Just hearing it, one could imagine its intricate inner workings—if it even possessed intestines—were completely knotted up.

Jun Mo Xie also sighed. It was difficult. This thing was immortal and seemingly impossible to kill, let alone add to a sword for tempering. If Zhan Kuang’s soul was immortal, even if it could be added to the sword, Jun Mo Xie wouldn't dare. How perverse was Zhan Kuang’s soul? If it ended up devouring the sword spirit within the Blood of Yan Huang, the trouble would be insurmountable…

"However, this thing is also immensely beneficial to you." The next sentence from the Blood of Yan Huang made Jun Mo Xie’s body tremble violently: "In my perception, the power you use to forge me seems to possess the effect of creating space! And this strange object before us appears to share a commonality with that power of yours, and it should be a rather high-grade medium…"

A high-grade medium?! Jun Mo Xie instantly fixed a gaze of utmost greed upon Zhan Kuang’s body hanging in mid-air, his eyes gleaming with a faint green light! He looked like a desperate rogue gazing upon a beautiful maiden, drooling with desire!

Jun Mo Xie knew precisely what he lacked. His own cultivation level was undeniably increasing at an extreme rate, but the independent space carved out within his body by the Creation Art of Heaven and Earth remained entirely static. It was still nothing but heaven and earth, a chaotic void, lacking even the sun, moon, or stars. No change there meant his Creation Art of Heaven and Earth had made no progress! And if that Art hadn't progressed, no matter how much spiritual energy he amassed until he burst, he could not advance his realm! What was progressing was merely his profound technique’s power; the actual realm of the Creation Art of Heaven and Earth had not changed at all! To make progress in the realm of the Creation Art of Heaven and Earth, some catalyst seemed necessary for a further metamorphosis! Now, the word "medium," mentioned inadvertently by the Blood of Yan Huang, set Jun Mo Xie’s heart ablaze.