# Chapter 1703: Improvement
This familiar feeling instantly reminded Xingcheng of the terror she'd experienced when she was once dominated by fifty thousand jin of Detoxifying Soybeans.
The rumbling in her stomach grew louder and louder, now truly deafening!
Mila and Lan's faces turned pale. What ghost of popcorn was that?
It was clearly Detoxifying Soybeans that had been subjected to a Food Expansion Technique, for crying out loud!
Xingcheng had actually eaten something that upset her stomach!
And this was after drinking Dali's strength-enhancing potion on top of that—just what kind of power was this?
In an instant, tears welled up in Xingcheng's eyes. She clutched her bottom, spinning around in place anxiously!
She looked to Mila with a pleading expression:
(٥ᵒ̴̶̷̥́﹏ᵒ̴̶̷̣̥̀) "Cheng Bao'er~ holding it!"
Mila was freaking out too. She immediately cast a Time Stop domain and froze Xingcheng in place!
But even so, the chemical reactions happening inside her stomach didn't stop, and the sounds only grew louder!
Sweat dripped from Lan's forehead:
(•́﹏•̀٥) "Mi... Mila, will this work? We can't keep her like this forever. What if we end up hurting Cheng Bao?"
Mila scratched her head: ୧(๑･᷄﹏･᷅) "It's over, it's over. I was originally planning to bring Cheng Bao'er to eat lots of good food so she could refine Incense Beads for Brother Jiangnan. What Incense Bead is there to refine now?"
She really had refined a fart!
So she patted Xingcheng's bald little head comfortingly.
(。ớ₃ờ)ھ "Cheng Bao, take it slow, be gentle, okay? This Spirit Realm isn't very sturdy. If you blow it up, we'll end up drifting into the Dimensional Gap!"
"We're fairies, so even when we release fairy energy, we should do it quietly and gracefully!"
As she spoke, Mila carefully pushed Xingcheng out of the golden light sphere!
"Go ahead! Don't hold it in!"
By now, Xingcheng had already reached her limit. The moment she was out of the golden light sphere, she stood still, both hands clenched into fists!
(ง˃᷄皿˂᷅)ง
She was about to start!
Xiao Jiuwo: !!!
(☍﹏⁰◍) "No! You can't do it standing up, and you haven't even taken off your shorts yet! Didn't anyone teach Xingcheng how to use the bathroom the human way?"
But it was already too late. With a loud "BANG!"
The Hulk Brand Shorts, renowned for their durability, were blown straight into shreds, sacrificed on the spot!
A boundless orange wind swept out, and in an instant, the surroundings became so thick you couldn't see your hand in front of your face!
If Mila and the others hadn't been inside the golden light sphere, they would have been killed by the enhanced fairy fart at that moment!
But at this moment, Xingcheng had completely forgotten about her stomach troubles. Bathing in the orange wind, her big eyes sparkled!
✧*｡(ง⁰̷̴꒨⁰̷̴)ง✧*｡
This was Incense Wind—smelling it could make you smarter!
Yes! Finally eating this treasure again!
Eating Incense Beads was almost instinctive for Star-Devouring Giant Worms, because that was how they evolved!
Without a second thought, Xingcheng started devouring everything, even activating her Giant Devour ability to eat the orange Incense Wind!
Once again embarking on the journey of evolving her intelligence!
If she didn't get tricked this time, it probably wouldn't be long before Xingcheng could refine an Incense Bead—she had accumulated a lot!
So this time, the quantity was especially large.
Watching Xingcheng blissfully self-producing and self-consuming, Mila and Lan couldn't bear to look anymore!
(•́▿•̀٥) "Sigh... this, this, this... all wasted. Lan? How about you go sponge a few years of life from her while you have the chance?"
Lan shuddered, shaking her head like a rattle-drum:
(´-﹏-`#) "No, no, no! I'm still young, I have enough life to live. If you want to go, why don't you go yourself?"
Mila looked pleased with herself:
(｡ˇ◡ˇ｡) "I'm immortal, I don't need to sponge. Besides, I don't want to live that long—it would be too boring!"
"I don't want a world without Brother Jiangnan, so as long as Brother Jiangnan lives, I'll live."
They both turned their gaze to Xiao Jiuwo!
Xiao Jiuwo covered her face: (ﾉ)˃᷄ﻌ˂᷅(ヾ) "I... I'd better not compete with Xingcheng. It's good for her to be a little smarter!"
But happy times were always short. Soon, the Incense Wind from one Incense Bead had been all released by Xingcheng.
However, the effects of the Soybeans hadn't worn off yet. Thick black smoke rose, scorching lava splattered everywhere, and because it was too powerful,
Xingcheng was launched into the air by the recoil, darting around wildly in the sky, completely unable to control herself. Thus, the Spirit Realm started raining lava again...
When it was all over, the few of them stood on a sea of lava. The entire Spirit Realm had been filled to the brim!
In ancient times, there was Jingwei filling the sea; today, there was Xingcheng filling the realm!
Xingcheng now looked thin as a skeleton, her face weak, looking completely drained—even the light emanating from the top of her head had dimmed.
Looking at her own handiwork, her little face flushed red.
She felt a bit embarrassed and started picking at her fingers.
(๑◔ิ₃◔ิ๑) "Sister Mila~ you have to keep Cheng Bao's secret!"
Mila's eyes lit up. So the evolution wasn't for nothing? She could speak in complete sentences now? And she even knew what shame and embarrassment were?
Improvement!
"Alright, alright~ I'll keep your secret. Come on, let's go eat some more. You're weak, you need a good meal..."
The group vanished instantly from the lava sea and headed to the next Spirit Realm.
After all, Brother Jiangnan had been here. Mila still hoped she could catch up and meet with Jiangnan.
...
On the other side, inside a desolate mountain Spirit Realm, at the center of a black rock plain,
A black altar a thousand meters in diameter was covered in intricate incantations.
Many parts of it had already been damaged, but it was still operational.
At the center, a spherical core thirty meters in diameter had a ruby-like spike driven into it, emitting a dense blood-red glow into the void.
Around the altar was a bloody battlefield, full of blasted craters that rivaled the surface of the moon.
Everywhere lay the massive corpses of beasts, along with quite a few human remains.
There were also some spirit beasts still whimpering, not quite dead yet.
Xiao Zhen, Qi Delong, and Qi Dongqiang—the three brothers—were dragging their exhausted bodies to finish them off.
All three were covered in wounds, hastily wrapped bandages still seeping blood.
Their clothes were torn, and their eyes were full of fatigue.
An Xiaoqi's face was so dirty she looked like a tabby cat. At that moment, she was holding a notebook, frantically copying the contents of the spell array.
This was who-knew-how-many battles they had fought, who-knew-how-many days since they began guarding the spike.
From time to time, people would come, leading teams to pull the spike, or even driving spirit beasts to form beast tides to attack here.
The group dared not leave. They could only fight to the death, repelling wave after wave of enemies and holding out until now.
Xiao Zhen spat out a mouthful of bloody foam, turned back, and said, "Xiaoqi, why don't you retreat first? See if you can get the information out. It's not a good idea for all of us to be stuck here."
An Xiaoqi stomped her foot: "I told you to stop saying that! If I leave, are you three going to die here?"
"After all this, you want me to abandon you? I won't! Besides, even if I left, I might not even make it out of the maze."
"I'd rather stay and guard together. I just wonder how Sister Mo Tian is doing..."
Thinking about this, An Xiaoqi's eyes turned a little red. She missed Xiong Er. If she had known it would come to this, she would have said a few more words to him before entering.
Xiao Zhen sighed: "If Xiao Tian were here, we wouldn't be in such a mess. I hope she's safe."
Qi Dongqiang grinned: "Hey~ don't be so pessimistic. It's not like we're definitely going to die here."
"At least we've held our ground so far. Even if the final result isn't ideal, at least at this moment, we're doing the right thing here."
Qi Delong gave him a sharp slap on the back of the neck: "With that hoarse crow voice of yours, save your breath! Keep your strength for..."
Just then, Xiao Zhen's pupils contracted. He felt the ground tremble carefully.
"Someone's coming! A lot of them! Everyone, combat ready!"
At his command, the four of them immediately became serious. Spiritual energy surged around them, and they quickly formed a battle formation.
From the distance, a force of thousands pressed forward, led by none other than Wave Wei, who was at Starlight Seven.
She had long, fiery red wavy hair that fell to her waist, and she was still bearing injuries.
They were an early exploration team that entered the Rainforest Maze, having wandered around the maze for a month, and were a split-body under Bracelet Wei.
After three hours of constant bad luck, Wave Wei thought she wouldn't find anything this time.
But who would have thought that as soon as her bad luck passed, she would actually discover a spike?
Looking at the corpses littering the ground and Xiao Zhen's four people ready for battle, Wave Wei's lips curled into a smile.
(๑･᷅ٹ.･᷄) "Tsk, tsk, tsk—everyone's trying to pull the spike, and you guys are guarding it? Are you tired of living?"
Xiao Zhen's eyes flashed with danger: "Stop the nonsense! You're here to pull the spike too, right?"
"Even though I don't know what this thing is used for, it's definitely related to the recent surge in spiritual energy. It can't be pulled."
"If you don't want to be our enemy, then leave now, and we'll call it even."
"But if you insist on pulling the spike, then be prepared to end up like these corpses!"
At that, the mercenaries burst into laughter.
"Pfft, hahaha! A mere Diamond Seven, and you're spouting nonsense here? Turning us into corpses? Do you even think you're worth anything?"
"Are you blind? Can't you see how many of us there are? Boss, why waste words with him? Just kill him!"
"Yeah, yeah! Once the spike is pulled, we're all still waiting to enter the initial Spirit Realm!"
Wave Wei chuckled lightly: "What a pity. The ones who'll become corpses are you. Everyone, attack! Kill them and pull the spike!"
Xiao Zhen's expression hardened, murderous intent blazing in his eyes.
"As long as we're not dead, kill them all! Leave no one alive!"
"Boom!"
With a thunderous crash, the ground beneath Xiao Zhen's feet shattered. He shot toward the crowd like an arrow from a bow.
Though thousands of troops stood before him, there was not a shred of fear in Xiao Zhen's eyes.
A Diamond Peak muscular man rushed out, instantly transforming into a rhinoceros beastman.
"You're asking for death!"
"Power Strike • City Breaker Cannon!"
He swung his fist at Xiao Zhen, but Xiao Zhen didn't dodge at all. He raised his own fist and punched back.
"Overclock Shockwave!"
His fist began to vibrate violently, suppressing an extremely powerful shockwave that blurred the surrounding air.
The two fists smashed together fiercely!
With a "BANG!"—the moment they made contact, the rhinoceros beastman's entire arm was shattered, skin, muscle, and bones all broken.
Even when the rhinoceros beastman's other fist struck Xiao Zhen's body, it was shattered by a layer of shockwave armor.
Xiao Zhen delivered an uppercut, hitting the rhinoceros beastman hard on the chin.
Under the high-frequency shockwave, the man's head burst like a watermelon, shattered and exploded.
The crowd gasped. Wave Wei gritted her teeth and threw a giant fireball.
It exploded, sending lava splashing everywhere and shaking the earth.
But Xiao Zhen dodged with a leap, crashing heavily into the center of the crowd.
"Heavy Bone • Great Shock!"
"Boom!"
An infinite shockwave radiated violently from Xiao Zhen's center, blasting the surrounding mercenaries away. Those with poor physiques were shattered on the spot.
Amid the screams, the ground's rock plates cracked and lifted. A massive earthquake erupted on the battlefield.
Xiao Zhen's expression was savage. He slowly rose to his feet.
"If you want to fight, then come!"