And so, a ferocious, majestic, and domineering White Jade Golden Hook Eight Desolations Giant Python Rod appeared in the world.

The eight remnant souls of Orochi and the Crystal Core it inhabited were refined, their essence smelted into the weapon. They transformed into an eight-headed, eight-tailed giant python coiled around the white Jade Rod’s shaft, looking ferocious and terrifying.

However, this was a weapon of slaughter, and gaining this relief sculpture only made it more imposing and tyrannical!

He swung the modified White Jade Golden Hook Eight Desolations Giant Python Rod. The crystallized python coiled around its shaft suddenly came to life, its maw opening to spew a breath interwoven with molten lava and biting frost. The cave walls instantly froze over, only to be melted through, leaving behind a bizarre, vitrified landscape.

The weight of this Divine Soldier had also increased from the original 3,600 kilograms to 7,200 kilograms, making it even heavier than the Monkey King’s Golden Cudgel.

Even with Li Xiang’s Giant Power exceeding 60,000 kilograms of force, wielding the rod felt a bit cumbersome. It was so heavy that he couldn’t execute many of his more refined Martial Arts techniques.

’I need to upgrade my Giant Power Attribute again.’

Fortunately, now that he had stepped into the ranks of Tier Nine Extraordinary Beings, the attribute caps for his two Superpowers—Giant Power and the Divine Movement Technique—had increased significantly compared to when he was Tier Seven. He could pour Achievement Points into them again.

The only problem was his current lack of Achievement Points.

As his Realm advanced, his Giant Power and Divine Movement Technique attributes also grew. His strength increased to a little over 60,000 kilograms, while his Extreme Speed went from Mach 5.5 to about Mach 6.2, and his cruising speed rose to about Mach 3.1.

Li Xiang made a quick mental calculation. To boost his speed to Mach 10 and his strength to 100,000 kilograms, he would probably need 1.5 million Achievement Points. He currently had just over 600,000 in his account, meaning he was short by more than 900,000 points.

’If I can just find a few large Bat Caves, the deficit doesn’t seem too great. I haven’t really been to Europe, Africa, or the rest of America. And while I’ve been to North America once, I didn’t explore much.’

Li Xiang was full of confidence. Mach 10 and 100,000 kilograms of strength were well within his reach.

As his Realm advanced, the system’s reward for his Otherworldly Warehouse also arrived. The warehouse expanded again, its side length doubling.

Previously, the warehouse’s side length was 256 meters; now it was 512 meters. As a cube, its volume had expanded to 512 x 512 x 512 meters, for a total of 134,218,000 cubic meters.

To use ship displacement as an analogy, that was equivalent to 134,218,000 tons. The warehouse was once again extremely spacious. With seven times more space than before, it could hold a massive amount of supplies.

...

On the shore of the lava lake, Chiba Yuki and her twin daughters couldn’t help but tremble at the sight of the ferocious, majestic, and domineering White Jade Golden Hook Eight Desolations Giant Python Rod. As Japanese, they possessed an innate, bone-deep fear of Orochi. They never would have imagined their master (godfather) could be so ruthless as to smelt Orochi’s remnant soul and Crystal Core into a weapon.

Needless to say, the weapon’s Tier had risen once again. A system notification appeared: "Congratulations, Host, for forging your first Divine Level weapon, the Tier Thirty-second White Jade Golden Hook Eight Desolations Giant Python Rod. New achievement unlocked. Reward: 10,000 Achievement Points."

In addition, the Achievement Points, Spiritual Medicine, and Extraordinary Items from killing the Tier Thirty-third Divine Level Mutated Creature, the Eight-headed Remnant Soul, also arrived.

The rewarded Spiritual Medicine was Tier Sixteen: three Eight-headed Earth Vein Lotuses. The Extraordinary Item was a Tier Thirty-first Divine Level Spirit Sword, the "Celestial Clouds·Eight Desolates Mountain Guardian."

This Celestial Cloud Sword’s blade had flowing, lava-like obsidian patterns, and its guard was inlaid with eight Snake Eye Crystal Cores. Swinging it could trigger an Earth Vein Resonance with Mount Fuji. Its scabbard was forged from volcanic rock and engraved with Runes from the *Ancient Chronicles* meant to suppress Orochi.

Because the system had arrived early, it was inherently buggy, so some of the data was strange and followed no discernible pattern. Li Xiang didn’t dwell on it. ’Perhaps the system will only return to normal once the timeline is back on track.’

For example, killing the Tier Thirty-third Divine Level Mutated Creature, the Eight-headed Remnant Soul, had only yielded 3,300 Achievement Points. Li Xiang found it unbelievable. ’This was a Divine Level being!’

But on second thought, he figured it must have been a "Pseudo-Divine Level" being, so he didn’t fuss over it. ’At least the Extraordinary Item I got was a genuine Tier Thirty-first Celestial Cloud Sword.’

The Celestial Cloud Sword was a divine weapon from Japanese mythology. As for the one currently enshrined in Nagoya’s Atsuta Shrine, it was, without a doubt, a fake.

’The museum has one, and so do I. Theirs is a fake, mine’s the real deal.’

Treading upon the lava, a lotus blooming with every step, Li Xiang sped toward the shore. His handsome and heroic figure left Chiba Yuki and her daughters stunned.

In truth, Li Xiang had learned this "lotus step" technique from Luo Feifei.

When Luo Feifei walked, she would manipulate water vapor to form water lotuses beneath her feet. But Li Xiang was an Earth Element Transcendent, and since he was currently on a lava lake, he formed a "Rock Armor Lotus Platform" instead.

Although made of rock, the craftsmanship was exquisite, fitting the "Lotus Platform Pure Land" imagery from Japanese mythology. In particular, the patterns on the petals hadn’t fully solidified and still flowed like crimson lava, making them even more beautiful to behold.

The lotus platform is also the exclusive seat of a "Buddha" in Buddhism. In Chinese mythology, the Tathagata Buddha sits on a nine-lotus platform, and while Bodhisattva Guanyin is not a Buddha, as a being of great Mana, she is also qualified to sit on one.

In that moment, to Chiba Yuki and her daughters, Li Xiang arriving on a trail of lotuses looked like an immortal deity descended to the mortal world. Chiba Yuki’s mind was buzzing, her heart filled with a single, overwhelming thought: she would gladly do anything her master asked of her.

"Are you all right? How bad are your injuries?" Li Xiang asked as he reached the shore and began to examine Chiba Yuki’s wounds.

Chiba Yuki took a deep breath to compose herself before replying, "They’re a bit serious, but I can manage. It’s just... Aoi Monshou..."

"What happened to Aoi Monshou?" Li Xiang asked.

Chiba Yuki focused inwardly for a moment and said, "I’ve lost contact. I don’t know if I can ever summon it again."

"You’ll be in a lot of trouble without that ability. Let’s head back and talk this over," Li Xiang said. He considered his options. ’Maybe I should teach them some Martial Arts. Without Aoi Monshou, they’ll need to be able to protect themselves.’

Immediately, Li Xiang used the Earth Escape Technique, holding Chiba Yuki and her two daughters as he traveled toward the hot spring inn.

On the way, after learning the full story, Li Xiang felt quite apologetic. His earlier attempt to temper himself had led to a misunderstanding, which in turn resulted in the loss of Aoi Monshou and left Chiba Yuki severely injured.

Li Xiang hadn’t expected Chiba Yuki to be so loyal that she would be willing to shatter Aoi Monshou just to help him—it was a huge sacrifice.

Held by Li Xiang with his arm around her slender waist, Chiba Yuki felt dizzy and her body went limp.