A possibility.

With the support of primal energy, the genetic components deep within Li Miao’s body quietly matured, shedding unnecessary burdens and giving rise to beneficial fragments. Change seeped in imperceptibly from the most minute places. Bit by bit. From skin to organs, from blood to bone, from hair to meridians—every part of his body was evolving. The growth of a transcendent warrior was all-encompassing; as long as it was a part of the body, no matter how insignificant, even downy hairs and the edges of fingernails would evolve alongside the elevation of his genetic level.

Should he evolve to become an immortal, even a single hair on his body would be harder than steel—if it fell into the hands of someone with lesser cultivation, it could even be used as a weapon!

There was no day or night within the tomb chamber. Li Miao immersed himself in the vast, boundless state of the Heart of the Cosmos, losing all sense of time’s passage.

Who knew how long had passed when a ripple of energy broke the stillness of the tomb.

The pale light enveloping Li Miao shuddered and spread outwards in a circle, gradually fading away and vanishing into the chamber. At the same time, the aura radiating from his body soared dramatically, like a brazier set ablaze with a sudden splash of oil, flaring high.

Li Miao opened his eyes, a glint of brilliance flashing within their depths.

He had reached the Intermediate Mountain and River Rank—effortlessly!

He stood up, clenched his fist, and felt the surge of newfound strength within him. With a bare fist, he struck the green stone altar with a resounding bang; the surface caved in, forming a pit two feet wide, with cracks radiating outward.

“My strength has increased by fifty percent...” Li Miao murmured.

Upon reaching the intermediate Mountain and River Rank, his strength had risen from forty times that of an ordinary person to sixty times. The impact force of a grown man’s full-strength punch was about two hundred kilograms; his own, multiplied by sixty, meant he could deliver a blow of twelve tons without any technique—pure brute force!

And this was only raw strength! If he added primal energy, the power of the Blazing Sun Blade, and even the Sacred Stellar Body, his full-force strike could absolutely threaten the life of a Return-to-Origin cultivator!

“It’s time to go.” He had mastered the blade technique, laid the foundations of his divine skill—there was nothing left in the General’s Tomb worth lingering for.

From afar, Li Miao bowed deeply to the coffin atop the central dais, gathered up the Flame God Token and the broken blade, and turned to leave.

Holding the headless, tailless war blade, a thought struck him: this blade seemed to have no name. Perhaps once it possessed a splendid title, but now General Mohe was dead, the blade itself broken—what remained in his hand was merely the remnant of the Plunderer’s Long Blade.

Since it was a broken blade, it could not bear its former name.

Li Miao pondered, then spoke to himself: “General Mohe’s blade intent lay in the path of flame, and his divine art was called ‘Firmament.’ Then this blade... shall be called ‘Blazing Sun.’”

With that, he strode into the shadowy tunnel behind the tomb chamber.

The tunnel had been burrowed by the White Rhinoceros Demon. Where it led, no one knew. The ground inside was muddy, likely because the river had risen recently.

Li Miao took out the Everlasting Lamp to light his way, holding the Blazing Sun Blade at the ready, proceeding with caution.

No one knew when the White Rhinoceros Demon had revived and departed, nor what lay at the tunnel’s end—he dared not let down his guard.

The tunnel was long, stretching straight ahead into darkness as though without end; who could say how far he must go before reaching the exit?

As he walked, small plants began to appear in the earth at his sides—ferns and rootstocks adapted to the dark.

Gradually, small animals appeared: spiders, toads, bats, and such.

These were merely ordinary creatures, devoid of demon aura, and Li Miao paid them no heed. But after walking a little farther, he suddenly noticed scattered fragments of white bone upon the ground!

Bones—leg bones, ribs, toe bones, vertebrae—all of them, without exception, human remains!

Li Miao frowned.

Within General Mohe’s tomb, aside from the general’s own remains, there had been no other human corpses. The bones in this tunnel were clearly left behind by outsiders who had died here.

What lay ahead in this tunnel was unlikely to be anything good...

Li Miao’s expression grew grim.

The farther he went, the more bones littered the path—eventually, they were everywhere, some still smeared with fresh blood, clearly the remains of the recently dead.

Creak.

Crack.

A strange noise entered Li Miao’s senses; a faint glimmer of light appeared ahead in the tunnel, and he caught sight of two crabs, each as big as millstones, tearing and fighting with each other.

Both crabs exuded a faint demon aura; they had only just gained sentience and become monsters. They battered each other with hammer-like pincers, apparently fighting over something.

Li Miao approached and saw that in their struggle, one crab had even lost a rear leg.

What they were fighting over was... a severed human arm!

Demons eating humans!

These little monsters actually made a diet of human flesh—the corpses littering the tunnel were nothing but the bones they’d gnawed clean!

“Despicable!” Anger blazed within Li Miao. The Blazing Sun Blade swept down through the air.

Boom—

A pale red blade aura shot forth, striking down the two fighting crab demons and instantly charring them.

Without pausing, Li Miao quickened his pace and hurried on.

Light was already visible at the end of the tunnel, along with the sound of cascading water—surely the exit was near.

He sensed a multitude of demon auras ahead, some strong, some weak. Before he could ponder further, several water-dwelling monsters of various shapes leaped out to bar his path.

Each of these water demons had reached the sixth or seventh layer of Qi Refining, and each gnawed contentedly on a piece of human flesh.

Without a word, Li Miao sent out several slashes of blade aura, cutting the monsters down. Then, facing the daylight at the tunnel’s mouth, he stepped outside.

He emerged beside a pool.

The pool was twenty or thirty yards across, and above it a waterfall crashed down, forming a white curtain that veiled the tunnel’s exit.

The waterfall’s pounding filled the air with mist, making it impossible to see far.

But Li Miao’s keen senses told him that around the pool, there were at least a hundred monsters!

As he emerged, two water demons entered the waterfall curtain; upon seeing a living, breathing human radiating such power, they shrieked in terror.

Swish—

Li Miao’s answer was a searing blade aura.

With a casual swing, he slew the two demons, then in a flash darted through the waterfall.

His eyes swept the pool’s banks, taking in nearly a hundred aquatic monsters scattered about.

Each and every demon was feasting on human flesh.

Li Miao’s eyes blazed with fury. The Blazing Sun Blade glowed red, its heat surging severalfold, instantly evaporating the surrounding mist.

At the same moment, the two demons’ cries drew the attention of the rest.

“A human invader! Seize him for your king!”

From the center of the pool, a monster whose upper body was human and lower body was fish bellowed the command.

Dozens of minions immediately dropped their grisly meals and charged Li Miao.

In an instant, dozens of water arrows, poison sprays, ice spikes, and scale-blades shot toward him—some of these demons had even reached the Core Condensation stage, and their barrage was formidable.

Li Miao activated the energy shield of the Sky-Cleaving Armguard, protecting himself, and swept the Blazing Sun Blade in a wide arc. The searing force clashed with dozens of demonic spells.

Boom—

Now that he was at the intermediate Mountain and River Rank, his blade aura was far stronger than before. One sweeping stroke shattered nearly all the assaults; only a few spells from the stronger demons pierced the aura and struck his shield.

The shield flickered and vanished, but Li Miao was unharmed—while the nearby demons were half-cooked by the heat, floating belly-up.

Seeing this, the half-human, half-fish monster was infuriated. “How dare you harm my children! You must have a death wish!”

Splash—

With a mighty lash of its tail, a wave two yards high rose from the pool, crashing down in fury.

This fish demon was a Return-to-Origin level monster, on par with the Great King of the Cross-River Crabs—not to be underestimated.

Li Miao dodged to the pool’s edge, countered the angry wave with a backhanded slash, and gathered primal energy in his right arm, the will to burn the sky poised for release.

Just then, a voice cried out from nearby!

“Li... Young Master Li, save me—”

Li Miao turned and saw, on a patch of water grass not far off, the boatman Liang Jun and the second of the Luo brothers, Luo Erfu, lying there—one weak and frail, the other unconscious.

They were alive!

Li Miao was astonished.

He’d thought, after being defeated by the Great King across the River, that all on the boat would surely perish, becoming food for the blue crab demon.

Yet Liang Jun and Luo Erfu had survived, brought to the monsters’ lair as lambs to the slaughter.

No doubt, the human flesh being devoured by the water demons all around was the remains of their shipmates!

But... Wasn’t it the Great King across the River who attacked the merchant ship? Why was the leader here a fish demon?

Could it be...

Almost as if to confirm his suspicion, a rapid clattering of footsteps approached, and an enormous, grotesque blue crab—over three meters across—came scuttling into the pool, brandishing its monstrous claws!

And not only that—a giant white egret, wings spanning more than six meters, followed close behind. Its aura was equally formidable—a demon king in its own right!

Three demon kings!

Li Miao’s heart clenched.

Though his strength had greatly increased and he was confident he could face a Return-to-Origin cultivator one-on-one, to face three demon kings at once was another matter entirely!

“Hahaha—”

The King across the River approached at speed, laughing loudly. “Human, I thought you’d run away. Who would have guessed you’d be so obliging as to walk into our hands?”

The egret demon folded its wings and alighted gracefully on a nearby stone, standing on one leg, and spoke in a clear, feminine voice: “Brother King across the River, Brother Lord Overturning Waters—is this the human who possesses the immortal jade?”

“Yes, yes.” The King across the River halted, joining the fish demon “Lord Overturning Waters” and the egret “Lord Cloudrider” to form a threefold encirclement, sealing off all escape.

He said, “Little sister, it’s lucky you’re so knowledgeable and recognized it as immortal jade—otherwise, if I’d swallowed it in one bite, I’d be dead by now. Hahaha—this human threw out a piece of immortal jade to distract me two days ago as he fled; who knows how much more he carries? Watch as I capture him and question him thoroughly.”

As he spoke, demonic energy surged, and the grotesque natal carapace on his back detached and tore through the air toward Li Miao.

Li Miao’s brow furrowed.

Facing three demon kings, his chances were slim.

But whether he wished it or not, there was no avoiding battle today!

“You think I fear you?”

With a sharp shout, he gathered all his strength and met the flying carapace with a mighty slash!

Clang—

A flash of red fire, a thunderous crash in the air—the surrounding demons staggered and recoiled. Liang Jun was knocked senseless by the shockwave.

The crab shell treasure spun back, while Li Miao flipped nimbly, dissipating the force and landing steadily where he’d started.

Seeing him unharmed, the King across the River cried out in disbelief: “Impossible! It’s only been two days—how have you grown so strong?”

To take a blow from a demon king’s natal treasure with only Core Condensation strength—this was unheard of.

Li Miao raised the Blazing Sun Blade and fixed the crab demon with his gaze. “Crab demon, do you recognize this blade?”

He was now almost certain that the King across the River was the very giant crab slain years ago by General Mohe, then resurrected by King Darkwing Eagle with the Nine Yin Demonic Array.

But he could not be sure if the other retained any memory of General Mohe.

The crab demon took his cryptic question as a provocation and snorted. “Arrogant fool!” With a surge of demonic power, he shot forward in a blur.

Lord Overturning Waters and Lord Cloudrider seemed disinclined to intervene, apparently confident in their leader’s strength, merely guarding Li Miao’s escape routes.

Li Miao knew that unless he defeated all three, he could never outrun the flying Lord Cloudrider. So, as the giant crab charged again, he steeled himself and met the foe head-on.

Clang!

Blade met claw, sending sparks flying.

Li Miao was a physical cultivator; the King across the River specialized in demon body refinement. Both excelled at direct, brute-force combat.

Blade and claws clashed again and again, each matching the other move for move.

Though Li Miao wielded only one weapon to the crab’s two claws, he was swift and agile; in direct combat, he held his own.

In just a few blinks, man and demon had already exchanged dozens of blows.

The King across the River was startled by Li Miao’s newfound strength and, unable to gain the upper hand, grew anxious.

Not wishing to lose face before his comrades, he opened his crab mouth and gathered demon energy, then spat a bolt of icy blue force!