Low, thunderous roars rolled across the night sky.

  The sounds made the cultivators below shiver uncontrollably.

  “This is horrifying… what kind of monster is lurking in this darkness?”

  “Keep your voice down. No one knows what’s out there. As long as we stay within the lamplight, we’re safe.”

  “My master came here over a thousand years ago. He never mentioned anything like this happening at night…”

  High-tier beast souls were far harder to deal with. After an hour of relentless combat, Lauren was completely drained.

  She withdrew her phantom and returned to her body inside the tent.

  “I’m exhausted,” she muttered, collapsing onto the ground. “I need sleep.”

  The moment she lost consciousness, Edmund slipped out from her sleeve. He grabbed a storage bag and vanished into the darkness without hesitation.

  White jumped in alarm.

  “Grandpa—uh, Ancestor! Where are you going? It’s dangerous out there!”

  Moments later, Edmund returned, dragging the bulging storage bag behind him.

  White sighed in relief. “Ancestor, where did you go?”

  Edmund ignored her entirely and hauled the storage bag back into the inner space.

  Inside, the bag spilled open.

  Every corpse inside belonged to at least a fifth-tier demonic beast—some even sixth-tier.

  Edmund’s eyes gleamed.

  That girl is getting stronger and stronger…

  She was right. Beast cores like these were impossible to buy outside, regardless of wealth.

  Once he absorbed them, his Nascent Soul would stabilize further.

  When he had first accompanied Lauren, his recovered strength had been less than one percent—far too weak to form a stable manifestation.

  Now he had reached forty percent.

  After absorbing this batch of beast cores, he would surpass the halfway mark.

  And once he passed fifty percent, he would gain full control over his Nascent Soul. He would no longer fear being forcibly dragged back into his sealed main body for acting too boldly.

  Just imagining it made excitement ripple through him.

  Lauren recovered after an hour of rest. Judging that dawn was still some time away, she slipped back out to hunt another wave of monsters.

  Her sudden reappearance sent ripples of unease through the surrounding cultivators.

  After clearing out another pack of beasts, she returned to the tent and collapsed again. By the time she woke, the first hints of daylight were already creeping across the horizon.

  White’s injured arm had fully healed. Lauren glanced at her and asked, “Do you have any other tasks to complete?”

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “My brother only told me to retrieve the Fire Spirit Fruit,” White replied. “Now that I have it, I’m done.”

  “So… you’re heading back to the South Sea?”

  The little girl shook her head so vigorously her hair whipped back and forth. “No! I want to stay with Sister.”

  Lauren studied her for a moment. Seeing the determination in White’s eyes, she gave up trying to chase her away.

  “If you’re coming with me, you follow my orders,” she said flatly. “No acting recklessly.”

  “Okay, okay! I’ll definitely listen!”

  With White guarding the tent at night, Lauren felt far more comfortable venturing out to hunt beast souls.

  During the day, White transformed into her white bird form and soared overhead, acting as Lauren’s aerial scout. Every now and then, she would swoop down and ambush prey while Lauren fought on the ground.

  Most of the monsters on this level were land-based creatures, giving White a massive advantage. Birds of prey already possessed exceptional vision, but White’s sense of smell was even sharper than that of ordinary avian predators.

  With one in the sky and one on the ground, their efficiency was terrifying.

  Lauren also cleared terrain at an astonishing speed, harvesting spiritual herbs and resources wherever she passed.

  Inside the inner space, Edmund experienced an increasingly complicated emotional state—ecstatic over the constant stream of high-level beast cores, yet deeply miserable at the endless workload.

  .....

  Four or five days later, Lauren stopped atop a towering cliff draped in long icicles.

  Below lay a hot spring blanketed in snow.

  The spring stretched over ten zhang wide, steam coiling upward in layers like drifting silk. Within the swirling mist, a blazing red lotus flickered in and out of sight.

  “Sister… that looks like Strange Fire,” White said in awe.

  Lauren nodded slowly.

  It was indeed the Earth Core Red Lotus.

  No wonder the Earth Core Ice Lotus she carried had reacted strangely ever since entering this realm. The two flames were both opposing and complementary. If fused together, they would form the legendary Twin Ice-Fire Lotus.

  “Its roots connect directly to magma beneath the spring,” Lauren said calmly.

  “There’s magma under the Far North?” White asked in disbelief.

  “Of course. Otherwise, how would a hot spring exist here? And how could the Earth Core Red Lotus grow?”

  Lauren inhaled slowly, eyes narrowing.

  She knew this treasure wouldn’t come easy.

  The surroundings looked deceptively peaceful—no beasts in sight, no signs of danger.

  But she understood perfectly well.

  The moment she touched that spring, everything would explode into chaos.

  “White, move back,” she said. “If a fight breaks out, don’t get too close. You’ll ruin your feathers.”

  “I’m not afraid of fire,” White protested.

  “This isn’t ordinary fire,” Lauren replied coldly. “Touch it and you’ll be reduced to ash. Listen to me.”

  Without waiting for argument, she pushed White farther away and stepped forward alone.

  ......

  From within the inner space, Edmund’s voice sounded in her mind.

  “The creature guarding this place is a sixth-tier great demon. But thanks to the hot spring, it can unleash power comparable to a seventh-tier demon. Have you thought this through? Want to call your companions?”

  “Let’s try first,” Lauren replied calmly. “I might not be able to kill it alone, but I can definitely escape. If things go south, I’ll call for help later.”

  “…Fair enough.”

  Lauren crouched and dipped her fingers into the spring.

  The temperature was perfect—pleasantly warm, almost soothing.

  More shocking, however, was the density of spiritual energy inside the pool.

  The spiritual energy at Starfell Summit was already among the richest in the cultivation world. Yet the concentration here felt at least ten times greater.

  If she could cultivate here long-term…

  A dangerous thought surfaced.

  “Hey… do you think I could move this entire spring into my inner space?”

  Edmund fell silent.

  After a long pause, he sighed heavily. “I’ll go dig a hole.”

  Lauren beamed. “Thank you! When we return to the sect, I’ll repay you properly.”

  “How will you repay me?” Edmund scoffed. “Ascending immediately would be the best gratitude you could offer.”

  “…Do you think I wouldn’t want to? Have you ever seen someone get fat overnight?”

  “Hmph. And you still mock me for exaggerating.”

  Lauren rolled her eyes silently.

  At that moment, a small fish swam toward her fingers, nibbling gently.

  Lauren smiled faintly, letting it peck at her skin as if teasing it playfully.

  In reality, both sides were testing each other.

  The next second, frost spread across her fingertip.

  From that single point, ice rapidly expanded across the entire spring.

  Simultaneously, the harmless-looking fish mutated violently.

  With an earth-shaking roar, a monstrous fish burst from the water—over ten feet long, with a grotesquely oversized head and a mouth large enough to swallow several humans whole.

  “BOOM!”

  Flames erupted from its jaws, carrying the pungent stench of magma and subterranean fire.

  Lauren leapt backward instantly.

  This was no ordinary flame. It was condensed magma fire essence. Once it clung to flesh, extinguishing it was nearly impossible.

  She raised a fireproof barrier around herself and slashed downward with her sword.