"Will it kill you to talk a little less? Are the Master’s affairs something you can just ask about? If the Master wanted to say something, he would have said it without you asking!"

One of the War Wolf members nearby couldn’t take it anymore.

That guy, Tie Feng, was such a chatterbox he could almost rival Chu Qingcheng.

The only difference was that Chu Qingcheng always said things ordinary people couldn’t understand, leaving you feeling lost in a fog;

whereas Tie Feng loved to spout a bunch of useless nonsense.

Shen Lang shook his head and said, "That Beast-Repelling Incense is extremely expensive. How could it be so easy to get?"

"But this mixture I’ve concocted can serve the same purpose. It will make ordinary Demon Beasts smell it and feel disgusted, keeping them far away."

"It’s just that the effect is a bit weaker, and it won’t last nearly as long."

A delighted look appeared on Tie Feng’s face. "Whoa! With something this good, doesn’t that mean we can run wild through the Barbaric Land without a care in the world?"

"In your dreams," Shen Lang said with a laugh.

"I mixed this thing up in a hurry. At best, it can only drive away some of the Low Tier Demon Beasts in the outer regions. Against anything High Tier, the effect will be negligible."

As he spoke, Shen Lang took out a Medicine Furnace and began to refine various Medicinal Liquids.

"Lingxiao Celestial Scale, Biluo Strange Jade, Crane Spirit Fruit, Red Sunflower, Danxia Ganoderma, Eight-angled Lotus Leaf, Ding Xiang Shui..."

Ying Huo, Tie Feng, and the others had seen some of these things before, but some were completely unheard of.

What was even more unbelievable to Qian Luo, who was watching from the side, was that Shen Lang’s hands were a blur of motion, moving at an incredible speed!

’This isn’t Alchemy, this is a magic show!’

Normally, when an Artifact Refiner or Alchemist was engaged in Artifact Refining or Alchemy, they were always extremely cautious, afraid of getting the heat wrong or mismeasuring the ingredients.

Not only did they have to control the temperature at all times, preventing it from getting too high or too low...

they also had to be wary of any strange reactions that might occur when the various materials were fused.

Every single step required meticulous care, without the slightest room for error.

But Shen Lang was the complete opposite. His movements were so fast they were dazzling to watch, and he never paused for a moment!

’Damn it, not even a legendary top-tier Alchemist, a Master Level Alchemist, could possibly perform Alchemy like this... Is he just messing around?’

Qian Luo rubbed his eyes hard, finding it all hard to believe.

He may not have eaten pork, but he’d seen a pig run. And yet, Qian Luo had absolutely never seen or heard of anyone capable of performing Alchemy like this!

A little over an hour later, a rich, alcoholic aroma wafted out of the Medicine Furnace.

"It smells so good! Is the Master making Medicinal Wine?"

Qian Luo, who was standing closest, smelled the fragrance and couldn’t resist leaning in a bit closer to take a deep breath.

"Idiot, don’t breathe it in!"

Shen Lang’s warning came too late.

The moment Qian Luo inhaled, his vision went black, and with a THUD, he collapsed to the ground.

"Back away. Hold your breath and concentrate your Qi," Shen Lang said calmly.

The others didn’t need to be told. The moment they saw Qian Luo fall, they all backed away in horror.

For a Martial Artist at the Peak of the Xuanwu Realm Fifth Heaven like Qian Luo to collapse, weak and limp, after just one sniff... it was clear how terrifying this substance was.

Shen Lang casually flicked a finger, and a small bolt of lightning struck Qian Luo squarely on the forehead.

The jolt stimulated Qian Luo, and though his limbs still felt like jelly, he immediately scrambled to his feet and ran for his life into the distance.

The Medicinal Liquid’s smell was indeed very similar to alcohol, but just one breath of it felt like drinking strong liquor for three days and three nights straight. He was completely disoriented, unable to tell east from west.

This terrified Qian Luo so much that he didn’t dare get close again.

GLUG GLUG...

Shen Lang, however, was completely unaffected. With a calm expression, he poured the refined Medicinal Liquid into a huge barrel.

Under the astonished gazes of the others, the aura around Shen Lang suddenly changed, shifting from calm and gentle to bone-chillingly cold!

A terrifyingly cold energy appeared around the large wooden barrel. The energy swirled around it once, and a thick layer of ice immediately formed on its surface.

Then, the Sumeru Ring on Shen Lang’s hand emitted a white light.

He took out fifteen transparent jars, each two meters tall.

"Those are Red Ice Ants!" Tie Feng cried out in alarm.

Everyone shot him a look. "Like you’re the only one who recognizes them!"

Red Ice Ants were a strange type of ant capable of devouring ore. They were two to three times larger than ordinary ants, with bodies as brilliant as silver. Their heads were as fine and sharp as needles, while their abdomens were slightly larger, shaped like a pointed cone.

They were used by the various Major Sects to refine mineral sand.

It was precisely because they recognized these creatures that they were even more confused about what Shen Lang was planning to do.

’Didn’t he say we were looking for a mineral vein?’

’Why did he take out the Red Ice Ants?’

’Is he preparing to refine ore? But there isn’t a single piece of ore in sight.’

Just then, Shen Lang made a grabbing motion in the air toward the small river more than twenty meters away!

Fifteen pillars of water immediately rose from the river and poured perfectly into the fifteen jars containing the Red Ice Ants, without a single drop being spilled.

’To be able to use his power with such precision... Is he... is he really just a seventeen or eighteen-year-old boy?’

In the distance, Qian Luo was once again startled.

For a Martial Artist at the Xuanwu Realm, drawing water from a river at this distance and pouring it somewhere was an easy task, even without having learned a Water Element Technique.

But to do it like Shen Lang—extracting such a large volume of water with a single hand, splitting it into fifteen streams, and simultaneously pouring them with precision into fifteen separate jars—was something that not even the most powerful among them, Ying Huo, could accomplish.

The magnitude of one’s power and the precision of its control were two different concepts.

When the water in the fifteen jars nearly reached the brim, Shen Lang finished his work, turned, and waved his hand, shattering the ice around the wooden barrel.

Then, he made a grabbing gesture at the barrel, and the Medicinal Liquid inside split into fifteen streams, each one pouring into one of the jars with the Red Ice Ants.

SKREEE SKREEE SKREEE...

The Red Ice Ants, which had barely reacted to being doused with water, suddenly began to make a strange noise after the Medicinal Liquid was added. They swarmed about madly, fighting to consume it!

The sound was like teeth grinding together, making the skin of everyone nearby crawl.

Before long, the brilliant silver Red Ice Ants began to change. One by one, they started turning a dark red, and their bodies slowly began to grow larger at a rate visible to the naked eye!

The onlookers stared at the scene with wide eyes.

It wasn’t just that they had never seen such a thing; they had never even heard of it.

In most people’s minds, Red Ice Ants had virtually no other use besides refining ore.

Furthermore, one typically fed Red Ice Ants with mineral slag, not the kind of precious medicinal ingredients Shen Lang was using.

But from the way Shen Lang was doing things, it was obvious he had a greater purpose in mind.

Under everyone’s rapt attention, the bodies of the Red Ice Ants swelled to more than double their original size, and the aura they gave off had become somewhat frightening.

These things could even devour ore; their destructive power was immense.

Especially since there weren’t just one or two here, but a full fifteen jars of them!

However, the crowd soon realized their worries were unnecessary.

Even with the lids off, because of the Medicinal Liquid, none of the Red Ice Ants showed any sign of wanting to escape the jars.

Moreover, the water inside the jars quickly became clear again.

The Red Ice Ants also began to calm down.

Shen Lang’s figure moved like smoke, and in the blink of an eye, he had restored the seals on all the jars.

The next moment, Shen Lang handed several vials to the group.

"Smear this Medicinal Liquid on your armor. Ordinary Demon Beasts will avoid this scent at all costs. If you encounter a powerful Demon Beast, do not get entangled in a fight. Flee!"

"Fifteen jars, twelve people. Each of you takes one. The three with the highest cultivation will carry the extra three."

"Form pairs. One with higher cultivation, one with lower."

"Spread out from this location in a radiating pattern. No one is to go deeper into the Barbaric Land!"

"Cover the area in a semicircle, three thousand miles deep. Every fifty miles, release three to four hundred Red Ice Ants."

"Once all the Red Ice Ants in your jar have been released, return here to regroup with me as quickly as possible."

"If there are no questions, move out immediately!"

The group of War Wolf members shouted in unison, "Yes, sir!"

Under Ying Huo’s arrangement, the eleven War Wolf members plus Qian Luo immediately split into six groups, soared into the air, and flew off swiftly in six different directions.

After setting up an Array on the spot, Shen Lang took out a wooden basin inside it.

Then, with a flash of white light from his hand, a small bottle appeared.

The bottle contained a crystal-clear liquid. It was the very Medicinal Liquid made from the Ice Soul Water Jade.

After refining this item, Shen Lang had left the Profound Dao Sect and hadn’t yet had a chance to use it.

Ying Huo and the others would probably take six or seven days for this round trip. In that time, the Red Ice Ants should have taken effect.

Shen Lang planned to wait for their return here while he focused on his cultivation.

Taking off his clothes, Shen Lang, now wearing only a pair of shorts, leaped lightly into the wooden basin, which was about as tall as a person.

However, just as he stood up in the basin, Zuo Wentian’s voice suddenly sounded from within the Heaven-Sealing Cauldron: "Master, a powerful expert has appeared in the sky to the left."

Shen Lang froze, then raised his head to look at the sky.

One look, and Shen Lang’s face turned green.

PLONK! He sat right down in the water, sending a huge splash everywhere...

High up in the sky, a mysterious woman was watching Shen Lang with a faint, unreadable smile, not saying a word.

It seemed she had been "admiring" Shen Lang for quite some time.

The woman stood suspended in mid-air, yet there were no Spiritual Wings behind her.

Flames coiled and churned around her body, and the very air around her seemed to bow and part, scattering in retreat!

She had long, fiery red hair that billowed in the wind like a blazing inferno. At a glance, it was almost impossible to distinguish from the flames surrounding her.

She had phoenix eyes, cherry lips, and skin whiter than snow. Her long legs were bare, fair and flawless...

She was breathtakingly beautiful.

’She can float without Spiritual Wings and treats my Array as if it’s nothing... Just what is this woman’s background?’

’The nerve of her, peeking at me while I’m bathing... Good thing I still have my shorts on, or this would be way too embarrassing!’

With a dark expression, Shen Lang met the woman’s gaze. Neither of them spoke.

In the Barbaric Land, a young man was soaking in a large wooden basin while a peerlessly beautiful woman "admired" him curiously from the sky...

There could be no stranger scene.

Just then, a peculiar yet melodious sound drifted from the distance: "WOOO WOOO... GWAK!"