Shun Long and little Black were standing more than 1 mile apart from each other, as 2 small vortexes, one small and one big had appeared on the lake's surface.

There was both reverence, as well as envy in the half-fiend village chief's face as he saw Shun Long absorbing the lake water.

Shun Long could feel his body getting stronger and stronger, as it madly devoured the water of the lake like a hungry beast.

This situation continued for 3 days, as the vortex around Shun Long was now twice as big as its original size.

Finally, Shun Long felt as if the energy inside his body had reached the limits of the middle second stage of the 'Monarch's Eternal body', when a banging sound suddenly sounded from his body.

The moment that this banging sound was heard, Shun Long felt his strength rising at an unbelievable rate.

'Peak of the second stage in body refinement'

Having reached the peak of the second stage in the 'Monarch's Eternal body', the vortex around Shun Long once again doubled in size, as he started absorbing more and more of the lake's water.

10 days had passed since Shun Long and little Black had entered inside the lake, when the water vortex around little Black had finally exceeded one mile.

Shun Long opened his eyes as he glanced at the black dragon who was unaware of the commotion he had caused.

In the bank of the lake, more than 20 half-fiend villagers had gathered, as they observed little Black with shining eyes.

Half a day later, a huge pillar of water shot up in the air, before the huge vortex around him vanished.

ROAR

Little Black let out a roar of contentment, as he had now reached the peak of rank 4.

Shun Long smiled as he saw this, when a sudden idea flashed through his mind.

Taking out the 'Heaven swallowing vine' from the 'Stone of Time', he placed it inside the lake as he then sent a mental command for it to absorb the lake's water.

What shocked Shun Long was, that although the vine seemed to be unable to turn the water into pure qi, since it wasn't some kind of qi in the first place, the vine itself seemed to have grown taller after absorbing the lake's water.

Half a month more passed like this, and it had now been 25 days since Shun Long had entered inside the 'Vermilion realm'.

Opening his eyes, he wasn't sure if he should be happy or frustrated.

Although the energy inside his body was enough for him to breakthrough to the third stage in body refinement, he still couldn't do it as he hadn't comprehended the Dao of Space.

Shun Long could feel that he was just a step away from it, but this step still required a spark of inspiration.

He was certain that if he could replicate that feeling, from when he had opened the last space tear that had sucked in the 'Nine-eyed giant worm's' eye, then he could definitely breakthrough to the third stage of the 'Monarch's Eternal body'.

Turning his eyes to the 'Heaven swallowing vine', Shun Long was shocked to see that it had already grown to more than 40m(130ft) long.

...After returning the vine to the 'Stone of Time', Shun Long swam to the bank of the lake where little Black and the half-fiend villagers were waiting for him.

The village chief then approached him as he bowed and said

''Tuavey tvayve eatuave''

The rest of the villagers then bowed as they repeated their village chief's words.

Shun Long looked at little Black who laughed as he translated the half-fiends words

''Master, the village chief said

'Thank you mighty warrior for taking care of the demon monster. Our tribe's warehouse is open for the mighty warrior to take as much iron as he wants.'''

Shun Long smiled as he looked at little Black and said

''It looks like they are really eager to send us off. Alright, ask for one of their villagers to escort us to their warehouse. The rest of them can stay here and cultivate since that's what they obviously want. The lake's water doesn't have any more use to us anyway.''

Shun Long had already tested whether the lake's water was effective to the rest of his medicinal herbs since it could aid in the 'Heaven swallowing vine's' growth, but without any effect.

The village chief was elated when he heard this, and gave the order to an unwilling young half-fiend warrior to escort Shun Long and little Black back to their village.

Before they left, the village chief also handed a brown beast skin to Shun Long.

Unfurling the beast skin Shun Long saw, that the drawings inside had the layout of a map.

With this 'map' in hand, Shun Long knew which path to take, to head towards the central region where the 'King's palace' was located.

-

Half an hour later, the half-fiend warrior had returned with Shun Long and little Black back to the half-fiend village, before he entered through a secret path to arrive in front of a huge warehouse.

After opening the gates of the warehouse, Shun Long saw mountains of iron being stored inside.

In just a few minutes, Shun Long had already taken half of the warehouse's iron, and yet, the expression on the half-fiend warrior's face was still that of indifference.

''It looks like that quarry has much more iron than what I had originally estimated.''

Then, turning his head to look at little Black, Shun Long unfurled the beast skin that the village chief had handed to him as he said

''Since there isn't anything else for us to do in this place, it's time to go. According to this map, it looks like we are at the extreme north of the secret realm. There should still be a little more than 2 months until the 'Vermilion realm' closes.''

Sitting on the black dragon's back, Shun Long then looked forward as he said

''Let's go to the palace in the central region!''

----------