High-level martial arts: Long spear with black flames to suppress demons.

"Pfft—"

Du Qiongyu couldn't help but cover her mouth and giggle.

"Oh my, little brother, are you shy? I've lived for thousands of years, what haven't I seen? I've seen more great figures than you've eaten rice!"

She deliberately looked Shen Chang'an up and down, her eyes filled with disdain and mockery.

"With what you have, I really don't care to look at it. Don't worry, I'm not interested in your little thing."

No man could stand hearing such words! Shen Chang'an instantly bristled, feeling his dignity had been utterly insulted. He stiffened his neck and retorted loudly, "Senior Du, you can question my cultivation level, but you cannot insult my strength as a man! Let me tell you, that's...that's..."

"What is it?"

Du Qiongyu suppressed a laugh and deliberately took a step forward.

"If you're so capable, prove it to your sister!"

Shen Chang'an was speechless for a moment, and could only grit his teeth and glare at her fiercely: "You win!"

Du Qiongyu giggled.

He had no choice but to strip off his clothes as quickly as possible, and then, like a dumpling being dropped into a pot, he jumped into the recess with a "plop".

"He looks...not bad." Du Qiongyu looked at Shen Chang'an's figure.

"Hiss—Holy crap!!!"

As soon as he entered, Shen Chang'an let out a blood-curdling scream.

That crimson liquid is the liquefied form of pure paulownia wood essence mixed with phoenix fire! The moment it touches the skin, it feels as if countless red-hot steel needles are frantically piercing into the bones through the pores!

"You can't even handle this?"

Du Qiongyu looked at Shen Chang'an, whose body was scalded red from being in the pit.

"Hold your breath and concentrate! Circulate your spiritual energy to protect your heart meridian! This is the first step in tempering your flesh and blood. If you can't even withstand this, how can you temper your body and reshape your bones!"

"Your physique is somewhat special. For some reason, there are many impurities in your body. Although I have never seen this situation before, this disordered physique cannot unleash your full strength. If you want to advance further, you will have to endure it."

Shen Chang'an gritted his teeth, enduring the excruciating pain that felt like it was burning him to the bone, and sat cross-legged in the scalding solution. He mobilized his spiritual energy, attempting to resist the terrifying heat.

"Don't resist it!"

Du Qiongyu shouted sternly.

"Open your mind and let the fire burn away the impurities within you! Use your black flames to guide this power!"

Shen Chang'an's eyes were bloodshot, veins bulged on his forehead, and he let out a low growl like a wild beast.

"ah--!!!"

The screams echoed under the sacred phoenix tree for three whole hours.

When Shen Chang'an climbed out of the groove, the originally red and viscous liquid at the bottom of the pit, which was like magma, had turned into a dull gray waste liquid. He had absorbed all the essence and fire within it.

Shen Chang'an collapsed to the ground, panting heavily, feeling as if he had just escaped death, as if his bones had been dismantled and re-polished.

But to his surprise, as the excruciating pain gradually subsided, it was replaced by an unprecedented sense of ease. A layer of foul-smelling black grime surfaced on his body, impurities hidden deep within his meridians and bone marrow, which had been forcibly refined out.

"Why aren't you going to wash in the cold spring over there? It stinks!"

Du Qiongyu pinched her nose and waved her hand dismissively.

Shen Chang'an felt as if he had been granted a pardon and plunged headfirst into the icy, bone-chilling spring water beside him.

After washing away the grime, when Shen Chang'an stood up from the water again, he was stunned by his own reflection.

His wheat-colored skin, which had become somewhat rough due to years of fighting and exposure to the elements, had now become as white and delicate as mutton fat jade, even faintly revealing a layer of crystal luster.

Not only that, his facial features seemed to have been subtly adjusted, becoming more three-dimensional, and his overall appearance had gained a touch of otherworldly elegance, replacing his original sunny and rugged look. The large scars from the Red Lotus Karmic Fire that had previously burned him had also completely fallen off under the powerful Phoenix Rebirth tempering, leaving not a trace.

"This...this is way too exaggerated!"

Shen Chang'an touched his face and felt like he was a different person.

"Alright, stop showing off and hurry up and put your clothes on and start jumping around."

Du Qiongyu rolled her eyes and casually tossed a black robe, which she didn't know where she got it from, over Shen Chang'an's head.

Shen Chang'an hurriedly dressed, feeling the explosive power within his body, and his heart was filled with ecstasy.

"How are you feeling? How much has your spiritual sea expanded now?"

Du Qiongyu leaned against the tree trunk and asked lazily.

Shen Chang'an examined himself internally, took a deep breath, and answered while suppressing his excitement, "Seven hundred li!"

"Seven hundred li...not bad."

Du Qiongyu nodded slightly.

"The greatest benefit of body tempering is raising the upper limit and potential of the physical body. Judging from your current situation, this body should be able to withstand one or two more extreme body temperings. At the very least, wait until the second body tempering is completed before attempting to break through to the sixth realm of the Spirit Abyss."

She looked at Shen Chang'an, a hint of expectation flashing in her eyes: "Try your best to make your spiritual sea as wide as a thousand miles."

"Chisato?!"

Du Qiongyu explained, "I'm not quite sure about the standards for your era. But in our time, a spiritual sea of ​​four hundred li was enough to be considered a top genius; seven hundred li was a once-in-a-millennium prodigy. As for a thousand li... that was the absolute limit that human cultivators could reach in the five realms. Many exceptionally talented individuals would eventually get stuck at nine hundred and ninety-nine li. As long as they could take that one more step to reach a thousand li, they would have truly broken through the limit and possessed the supreme foundation to reach the pinnacle."

"What level does Senior Lingshan belong to, with a range of eight hundred li?"

"He was arguably the strongest of his time."

She paused, then covered her mouth and laughed, "But the old ghost from Ling Mountain was just bragging about reaching eight hundred li. In reality, he was stuck at seven hundred and ninety-nine li when he broke through; he was just too proud to admit it."

Shen Chang'an then asked curiously, "How much did you earn back then, senior?"

"There are innate differences in physique between the demon race and the human race. The demon race is born with a stronger physical body and can accommodate a higher limit of spiritual energy. The limit for the demon race is about 1,500 li."

"It took me a little over a thousand years to break through back then, which is equivalent to about six or seven hundred li in your human scale."

Shen Chang'an nodded, secretly amazed. He had really gotten a great deal.

The two then leaped onto a thick branch of the sacred parasol tree.

Du Qiongyu reclined gracefully on a tree branch, her bright red skirt cascading down her back. Gazing at the distant sky, she seemed to recall something and casually asked, "Little brother, how are things outside... between the demon race and the human race? Are they still fighting to the death?"

Shen Chang'an thought for a moment and replied, "It's alright. We're in a period of peaceful coexistence now. There have been some frictions in the past few decades, but now many human cities have demons living normally, as long as they abide by the local laws. It's a relatively peaceful state of coexistence."

After listening, Du Qiongyu nodded slightly, her expression somewhat complicated: "That's good. In the end, it's mostly the innocent lower class who die from all the fighting."

She turned to look at Shen Chang'an: "Have you ever been to the demon realm?"

Shen Chang'an shook his head: "No, I used to work in Qingzhou District. I had only been in Modu for a short time when I entered the Abyss Rift."

"You can go and take a look when you have time."

A hint of nostalgia flashed in Du Qiongyu's eyes. "The demon realm is vast, connected to your human world. The entrance should be controlled by the Night Guard. There are many strange and wonderful races there, and the scenery is quite beautiful."

As she spoke, she casually pulled out a crimson token made of some unknown material from her bosom. A lifelike phoenix was carved on the token.

She flicked her finger, and the token flashed a red light before falling into Shen Chang'an's hand.

"Take this. If you ever go to the Demon Realm and find the Phoenix Clan's territory, just take out this token."

Du Qiongyu's voice softened slightly: "I... haven't been back for a very, very long time. If you have the chance, please say hello to the old folks in the clan for me."