The liquid in the pool was a strange and brilliant kaleidoscope of colors.

But after Shen Lang entered, the kaleidoscopic water began to boil like a superheated cauldron!

Faintly, one could see minuscule threads of strange energy constantly darting through the water.

Shen Lang hadn’t even activated his Cultivation Technique, yet the strange energy in the water swarmed like thousands of tiny insects, frantically drilling into his body through his countless pores.

Pain—a pain that pierced straight to the marrow!

As his body submerged completely, Shen Lang could clearly feel every shred of agony.

It was as if his body had been cast into a furnace, yet at the same time, it felt like he was submerged in a freezing pool of Ice Soul Water Jade.

One moment, a raging fire seemed to burn him to ash;

the next, an endless chill surged, threatening to freeze his very blood and thoughts solid.

It was a cruel, unbearable, and utterly bizarre sensation.

What was even stranger was that this pain was completely different from the agony he had felt when his Chaos Divine Body was first awakened.

Back in the Sorrow Swamp, when Li Su awakened his Chaos Divine Body, the pain had been so intense that Shen Lang had passed out.

But this potion, refined from the Thousand-leaf Fruit, did not cause him to pass out. Instead, as the energy poured into him, his Sixth Sense grew ever more acute!

In fact, Shen Lang’s mind was becoming clearer and clearer.

So clear, it seemed he could feel the changes in every single pore.

He could sense how the insect-like energy entered his meridians and caused them to undergo strange transformations!

This pain was soul-deep.

This awareness was incredibly sharp.

Having endured the unimaginable agony of awakening his Chaos Divine Body and grown accustomed to the pain of the Golden Needle Acupoint Forging Body Technique, Shen Lang’s willpower was already incredibly strong.

Yet facing this indescribable torment, he still found it incredibly taxing.

If anyone else were to undergo the baptism of this Body Refining Potion, how terrifying would the torment be?

How many could possibly endure it?

Or was it precisely because he possessed the Chaos Divine Body that he could experience such agony?

’My heart is like pure ice, unmoved even if the heavens fall. I am steady through ten thousand changes, my spirit calm and my qi still. Untouched by dust, unstained by the mundane. The void is serene, a state of primordial nothingness...’

Shen Lang gritted his teeth, enduring the searing pain as he purged all stray thoughts from his mind.

He began to silently recite the Ice Heart Technique.

The Spiritual Power in his body began to slowly circulate, following the pathways of the Ice Heart Technique.

This was both a part of Body Forging and a method for tempering the mind.

When ordinary Martial Artists underwent a similar Body Forging process, most would use self-hypnosis to fall unconscious or forcibly divert their attention.

Shen Lang, however, did the opposite. He focused all his attention on the process, forcing his mind to remain clear and experience every moment of the inhuman agony.

Torture the mind to temper the will!

He refused to allow himself to grow numb to the pain as time passed.

Whenever the sensation of pain began to fade, he would stop circulating the Ice Heart Technique, open his eyes, and start the process anew.

His bones, meridians, and muscles were continuously tempered in the strange water.

They changed at a rate visible to the naked eye.

When Shen Lang closed his eyes, he could clearly visualize his bones turning a brilliant gold, like the Ancient Buddha’s Undying Golden Body.

A single glance was enough to tell that these bones contained unimaginable power!

His meridians and muscles were likewise tempered to be incredibly resilient and filled with explosive strength.

Stimulated by a wondrous fruit like the Thousand-leaf Fruit, the might of his Chaos Divine Body was on full display!

The War Emperor’s memories contained information on the various changes, states, and final effects that the Spirit Medicine refined from the Thousand-leaf Fruit could produce.

But for Shen Lang, who possessed both the Chaos Divine Body and the Celestial Demon Body, the effects of this Spiritual Liquid surpassed those described in the memories by several dozen times!

Time slowly passed...

The pain of Burning Scripture and Breaking Meridians, of his qi and blood flowing in reverse, and the torment of his organs twisting and his heart-fire searing him from within, all began to slowly recede.

Amidst this bone-deep, unimaginable pain, Shen Lang even began to feel a near-perverse sense of pleasure.

As time passed, the kaleidoscopic liquid in the pool began to clear.

The unimaginable pain also gradually faded away.

Shen Lang was now lost in an extremely odd sensation.

His whole body felt limp, his muscles utterly fatigued and sore, yet he also felt brimming with power, as if he had limitless strength.

And though he hadn’t slept all night, his mind felt more vigorous than ever!

Five hours passed just like that. All the strange energy in the pool had been absorbed by Shen Lang, leaving not a single trace.

Then, a thick, viscous substance began to seep from his pores, turning the water murky once more.

Shen Lang shot to his feet with a long cry.

’In just over five hours, I’ve gained one hundred and eighty-nine Ten Divine Beast Particles!’

Feeling the power within, Shen Lang was ecstatic.

Back at Tayun Academy, even with the insane cultivation regimen of the Tenfold Gravity Chamber combined with the Golden Needle Acupoint Forging Body Technique, he could only form about twenty-one Ten Divine Beast Particles in seven days—an average of three per day.

’I can’t believe this potion made from the Thousand-leaf Fruit let me gain one hundred and eighty-nine in a single session!’

’At this rate, just two days would be equivalent to a whole year of that brutal training!’

’The Golden Needle Acupoint Forging Body Technique is a first-class Body Refining Technique, yet the results are worlds apart from this potion...’

’The heaven-defying power of this stuff is obvious!’

’I have three bottles of the potion made from the Thousand-leaf Fruit. At one drop a day, they should last about three months. In three months, it will be about time to head to the Imperial Capital.’

’For now, I’ll raise my Cultivation to the Spirit Martial Realm Ninth Heaven and stabilize it there, without trying to form a Mystic Pill. I’ll dedicate most of my time to Body Forging and activating my Chaos Divine Body. That’s the plan.’

’If I use the potion from the Thousand-leaf Fruit and the potion from the Ice Soul Water Jade simultaneously, in three months, I’ll be able to kill a Martial Artist at the seventh or eighth level of the Xuanwu Realm with my physical strength alone as easily as flipping my hand!’

Shen Lang took out an apple-sized piece of Refined Gold from his Sumeru Ring and placed it in his palm.

Then, he closed his fist!

KRRRAAACK!

Amidst a harsh, grating sound, the hard piece of Refined Gold was crushed flat!

This was Refined Gold, a material that ordinary Artifact Refiners needed Earth Fire or even Celestial Fire to shape. Yet in Shen Lang’s hand, it was like clay, squeezed into a strange shape in the blink of an eye!

Shen Lang opened his palm. He looked at the thin sheet of Refined Gold, now bearing the deep imprints of his fingers, and burst into wild laughter.

"The Chaos Divine Body... its power reaches the heavens and shakes the earth! Li Su was right, she truly didn’t deceive me!"

Shen Lang calmed himself and sat down cross-legged. He circulated his Spiritual Power for three full Circulations. As the morning light began to break, he felt exceptionally refreshed and clear-headed.

After finishing, Shen Lang opened his eyes and spoke in his mind, "Wentian, if I had deceived you, would you hate me?"

The slumbering Zuo Wentian awoke. He seemed startled for a moment before replying, "If Master deceived me, it must have been for a reason. It might have even been for my own good. How could this disciple dare to feel resentment?"

Shen Lang sighed softly. "In truth, I knew your identity the moment you told me your name. But your status and Cultivation were too shocking. Without being absolutely certain, I could only hide what I knew. I hope you can understand."

Zuo Wentian’s Primordial Spirit seemed to tremble. "Master..." he said, his voice laced with excitement, "You already know my origins? Then... who am I? Where do I come from?"

"Master, please don’t misunderstand. Your actions were perfectly reasonable. I don’t hold the slightest resentment... It’s just, my memories are shattered. I can’t recall anything about my past, so I’m a little emotional."

Shen Lang nodded slightly. "You are from the Celestial Purity Sect of the Four Seas Country. You are its founding ancestor."

"The Celestial Purity Sect... The name sounds vaguely familiar," Zuo Wentian said, sounding dazed. "I founded a Sect?"

Shen Lang smiled. "You did more than just found a Sect. In the two thousand years after your debut, you swept across the land and became a Sword Emperor, admired by all the Martial Artists in the world. When your Demon Saber appeared, no one could stand in your way."

"But I didn’t dare tell you this. Besides being wary of your Cultivation at the time, it was also because you’re connected to a major unresolved incident—an incident that is very likely the reason you ended up in this state."

"You once told me that before you encountered the Heaven-Sealing Cauldron, you had already suffered some kind of devastating event that destroyed your body and shattered your memories, leaving you with no idea of your identity or origins. As it happens, I know a thing or two about that."

Zuo Wentian’s Divine Thought began to fluctuate subtly; he was clearly hanging on every word.

Shen Lang continued, "Two thousand years after your debut, you elevated the Celestial Purity Sect to the ranks of Legendary Sects. But about ten thousand years ago, you and many other powerful experts entered the Ancient Soul Forest, a forbidden land in the Barbaric region. Afterward, the vast majority of those experts, including you, vanished without a trace, never to be seen again."

"The only ones who returned were a few followers with weak Cultivation."

Zuo Wentian could no longer contain himself. "Did those people say what happened?"

Shen Lang shook his head gently. "To this day, no one knows what happened. The memories of those who returned—their memories of the Barbaric region—were completely wiped clean."

"This incident involved dozens of Legendary Sects from the Star Continent, hundreds of supreme experts, and even the reclusive Dragon Race, who rarely show themselves to the world!"

"All those powerful experts vanished just like that, without leaving a single clue... After that, the Celestial Purity Sect became an enemy of the entire Human Realm and was nearly wiped from existence."