The First Venerable of All Paths

Underground caves.

In the nest of the six-winged flying ant.

Various passageways meander and connect in all directions.

The dark, damp passage wound its way into the endless depths of the earth, the air thick with a peculiar, sour, and fishy odor, a mixture of earth and the decaying smell of monsters.

Countless jet-black six-winged flying ants darted swiftly through the passageway, their six thin wings vibrating to produce a faint, piercing buzzing sound, densely packed together.

Its pervasive presence creates a deadly sense of oppression throughout this underground world.

Countless black ants scurried back and forth in the tunnel, carrying away the fallen soil and gravel.

As the overlord of the Lost Souls Mountain Range, there are basically no monsters and no one dares to provoke the Six-Winged Flying Ant.

This is a social race.

Although they were only fourth-tier demonic beasts, their numbers were simply too great.

Coupled with its ability to devour the essence of demonic beasts and the spiritual power of martial artists, the six-winged flying ant is truly feared.

As for the soil and gravel, they were caused by a foolish human warrior who smashed the mountain peak above their lair.

For ease of movement, they need to clear the blocked nests.

The six-winged flying ants had a clear division of labor and carried out the clearing work in an orderly manner.

Deep underground, a hundred meters below the ant nest, in an extremely remote, narrow, and enclosed cave.

Fang Xuan slowly opened his heavy eyelids, his vision dim and blurry.

My whole body felt as if it had been run over by a wheel, with every inch of my bones and every meridian feeling a tearing pain.

His eyes were met with damp, cold rock walls, and water droplets dripping from above hit his shoulders, chilling him to the bone, barely clearing his muddled consciousness a little.

He tried to lift his hands to push himself up, but as soon as he exerted force, he felt a sudden weakness and exhaustion throughout his body. His dantian was empty, and his vast primordial energy was completely depleted. He couldn't even manage the most basic circulation of primordial energy.

His spirit was extremely weak, his mind was dizzy and throbbing, as if it were being pierced by thousands of fine needles, and it was extremely difficult to even stay awake.

Yuan energy is depleted, qi and blood are weakened, meridians are broken, and spirit and soul are exhausted.

The previous battle had almost drained all the strength from his body and soul.

At this moment, he was in more danger than he had ever been seriously injured.

Let alone fighting enemies, any Qi Gathering Realm martial artist could easily kill him.

"cough……"

Fang Xuan coughed softly, a trickle of dark red blood spilling from the corner of his mouth. He turned his head with difficulty to look to his side.

The Crimson Scale Demon Emperor, transformed into a miniature scale insect, lay quietly on the ground. Its once dazzling crimson scales were now dull and lifeless, losing their former domineering aura.

His entire body was slightly curled up, his breathing was weak, and the blood-red aura around him flickered, clearly indicating that he was in a state of deep weakness.

Sensing that Fang Xuan had awakened, Chi Lin slowly raised his head. The blood-red light in his vertical pupils was dim and weak, and his voice was hoarse and weak, carrying an undisguised weariness and helplessness.

"You're finally awake. You slept for three days and three nights. I thought you'd worn yourself out."

Fang Xuan gave a wry smile: "This time, I really have to thank you."

"Don't try that on me."

Chi Lin sneered, "If the guy chasing me hadn't been entangled by a swarm of six-winged flying ants, we would both be dead by now. But don't be too happy yet. We're hiding deep in the ant nest now, seemingly safe, but any one of those little guys could kill us."

Fang Xuan's gaze darkened, and he slowly nodded, clearly understanding his current predicament.

The six-winged flying ant is a fourth-order swarming monster. Its individual combat strength is not top-notch, but its strength lies in its hundreds of millions of numbers and its fearlessness.

The most terrifying thing is its innate ability to devour the spiritual energy of martial artists and the essence and blood of demonic beasts.

Once entangled by the ant swarm, one's spiritual energy is drained and one's life essence is devoured.

"How are you now?"

Mentioning his own condition, the Crimson Scale Demon Emperor let out a helpless low hiss, his tone full of solemnity: "The situation is extremely bad. I was already in a period of slumber and recuperation when you forcibly awakened me, and I have already suffered the backlash of my original bloodline, damaging my foundation. Afterwards, I fought Liu Ming in succession, forcibly using the Blood Escape Technique to escape, which overdraws some of my original essence."

This Blood Escape Technique was obtained from Xue Wushang's memories after he devoured him.

It's indeed very effective for escaping, but the cost is too high.

Chi Lin slowly closed his vertical pupils, his aura growing weaker and weaker: "Right now, my source is on the verge of depletion, my bloodline backlash is severe, and my combat power is less than one-tenth of my peak. Next, I need to enter a long slumber to repair the damage to my source. For a short time, I will no longer be able to protect you in the slightest. Everything will depend on you."

As soon as she finished speaking, Chi Lin's body trembled slightly, then transformed back into a bracelet, resting on Fang Xuan's wrist before falling into a deep sleep.

Inside the cave, a deathly silence instantly descended.

Fang Xuan lay quietly on the ground and slowly closed his eyes.

There was no panic, no despair; the extreme danger actually calmed his restless heart completely.

He began to review the entire battle, reflecting on all his own flaws and shortcomings.

If he hadn't relied too much on external forces and his foundation hadn't been unstable, and hadn't been unfamiliar with the true power of the Chaos Holy Body, this battle wouldn't have been so fierce.

If it weren't for his insufficient cultivation and low realm, he wouldn't even have the right to fight back against a powerful expert in the Divine Intent Realm.

If he hadn't been so impatient and rushed into a breakthrough after refining the Blood Frenzy Will, Ming Yong wouldn't have been able to seize the opportunity.

No matter how many cards you have up your sleeve, they are ultimately external things.

Insufficient personal cultivation foundation is the biggest fatal weakness.

"Cultivation level, soul, essence, foundation... all-round shortcomings."

A sharp glint flashed in Fang Xuan's eyes.

He needs a period of self-reflection, a period of deep reflection and rigorous self-cultivation.

Composing himself, Fang Xuan wasted no more time. He laboriously turned his body and took out a large number of treasured high-level healing pills and soul-strengthening elixirs from his storage ring.

What he has in abundance right now is resources.

Having successively killed powerful figures from the Wen and Ming families, he had acquired a considerable amount of various pills, spirit stones, and medicinal herbs, enough to last him for a period of time.

Fang Xuan sat up cross-legged, enduring the excruciating pain of his torn meridians, and circulated his internal energy to heal his injuries.

The Emperor-level cultivation technique slowly circulated, and the gentle and pure medicinal power flowed slowly along the dried-up meridians, repairing the broken meridians little by little and nourishing the depleted qi and blood.

The Chaos Saint Body activated spontaneously, surrounded by a faint light. His ultimate physical talent helped him weaken his injuries and accelerate the absorption of the medicine.

However, this injury was far more severe than any serious injury he had ever sustained before.

The meridians are severely damaged, the foundation of the dantian's vital energy is empty, the source of the spirit and soul is severely depleted, and the essence and blood are exhausted.

Ordinary elixirs can only repair physical injuries and replenish superficial qi and blood; they have negligible effect on the depletion of spirit, soul, and essence.

One day, two days, three days...

For five whole days, Fang Xuan remained in deep meditation, without sleep or rest, immersed in healing and recovery.

Five days later, all of his external injuries had healed, and most of his damaged meridians had been repaired.

His depleted blood and energy gradually replenished, and he barely managed to restore a trace of vital energy flow, no longer in a completely useless state.

However, the deep-seated internal injuries, depleted essence and blood, and damaged soul remained stubbornly unchanged, showing no signs of improvement.

"Physical injuries can be suppressed and repaired, and will heal in time. However, the deficiency of essence and blood and the damage to the spirit and soul cannot be completely repaired without the nourishment of a special treasure."

Fang Xuan slowly opened his eyes, his brows furrowed, and he understood.

Essence and blood are the source of a martial artist's cultivation, while the spirit and soul are the foundation of all combat power, techniques, and formations.

Damage to either of these can result in a stagnation of cultivation and a sharp drop in combat power; or even the complete loss of martial arts skills and becoming a cripple.

Therefore, restoring qi and blood and repairing the spirit are of paramount importance.

Just as Fang Xuan was pondering a solution, his fingertips touched a warm, smooth storage ring, which was left behind by Zhou Yan after his death.

Speaking of this storage ring, it was something he ordered Phoenix Cry Sword to take away before he fell into a coma.

And nothing should be left behind.

The storage ring contained a dazzling array of rare array materials.

Rare materials such as purple-veined sand, star soil, black iron crystal, and thunder heart wood are all available.

There are also dozens of mid-to-high-level healing pills and soul-stabilizing pills, as well as some semi-finished array flags and array plates.

As expected of a fourth-grade array master's lifelong accumulation, his foundation far surpasses that of ordinary family martial artists, and his resources are more abundant than imagined.

"These array materials are perfect for my use."

A glint of light flashed in Fang Xuan's eyes.

Immediately, a thought struck him, and he took out a gray-black crystal, which was the Thunder Stone that he had previously obtained from Wen Donglin.

Thunderstone contains pure thunder essence and is a top-grade material for refining weapons and setting up formations.

The Thunderfire Spear in his hand is currently of insufficient grade and has limited combat power. He can use the power of thunder from the Thunderstone to temper and upgrade it, greatly increasing its killing power.

Once he successfully forges the spear, his combat power will skyrocket, and he will be able to fight even against some Qi Condensation Realm martial artists.

For him now, it's like having an extra layer of self-protection.

"This place is the heart of an ant colony, teeming with ants with keen senses. The noise from refining the weapon would easily alert the flying ants."

Fang Xuan's eyes flashed, his mind was meticulous, and he immediately thought of the risks involved.

"We must first set up a concealed and isolated formation to seal off all aura, spiritual power, and flame fluctuations, and isolate internal and external perception before we can refine the weapon with peace of mind."

Despite his physical weakness, Fang Xuan took out some materials and began to set up the formation.

His mastery of array formations has already far surpassed that of an ordinary third-grade array master.

Even with weakened Yuan energy, the array he had created was still incredibly ingenious. Layer upon layer of concealment and isolation array patterns rapidly unfolded.

Centered on the cave, a complete Thousand Hidden Breath Array is formed.

With the formation completed, Fang Xuan was completely relieved.

Sitting cross-legged in the center of the formation, Fang Xuan took out the Thunderfire Spear and the Thunderstone, and officially began to temper the spear.

He formed hand seals, channeling the last remaining traces of Yuan energy within his body, and combined it with the primal temperature of the Undying Phoenix Flame to slowly scorch the Thunderstone.

Thunderstone is incredibly hard and contains the essence of violent thunder, making it impossible for ordinary flames to refine it.

Only a top-tier exotic fire like the Undying Phoenix Fire can slowly temper its impurities and strip away its pure lightning power.

"Sizzle!"

The golden-red phoenix fire gently burned, and black impurities continuously peeled off the surface of the thunderstone.

Strands of extremely pure purple-gold lightning essence slowly overflowed, seeping into the Thunderfire War Spear along the patterns on its body.

The Thunderfire Spear trembled violently, and the originally dim thunder and fire patterns on the spearhead lit up simultaneously.

The two violent forces of thunder and fire intertwine and temper each other, causing the gun to constantly transform and sublimate, exuding an increasingly fierce and domineering aura of slaughter.

The process of refining weapons is tedious and lengthy, requiring extremely precise control at every step.

If he is not careful, the balance between the power of thunder and fire will be disrupted, causing the gun to explode and backfire, making his already seriously injured body even worse.

Fang Xuan focused intently throughout, meticulously controlling the heat and power with his divine soul, polishing the gun body bit by bit, and fusing it with the essence of thunder.

Time passed slowly, and before we knew it, several hours had gone by.

While Fang Xuan was tempering his battle spear, a six-winged flying ant accidentally entered the cave.

Despite the array shielding it, it keenly sensed a scorching heat wave.