"Ice Empress, Snow Empress—freeze its mind, but don't kill it!"
A difficult request, no doubt.
But for the Ice and Snow Empresses?
"Eternal Frost Domain!"
"Emperor's Cold Sky: Snow Dance Radiance!"
Two powerful domains erupted,
even freezing the golden flames covering the Human-Faced Spider Queen,
turning it into an ice sculpture.
This sealed it in its "Spider God Possession" state,
stopping its cultivation from draining further.
This was the power of the Extreme North's rulers!
"Oh?" Snow Empress mused in surprise.
"Something's wrong with its condition—it can only stay frozen for three minutes. After that, it will die."
This shattered Tang Lan's idea of "fattening it up before the kill."
Even if he fed it celestial herbs, it would only gain another 10,000–20,000 years of cultivation.
But a Spider God-possessed Human-Faced Spider Queen?
That was an opportunity too rare to pass up.
Without hesitation,
Tang Lan unfolded his Eight Spider Lances
and stabbed them into the frozen spider's body.
The moment he touched its golden flames,
a familiar devouring force surged toward him—
trying to siphon his power to fuel its own flames!
But Tang Lan's spiritual power was far too strong.
He forcefully locked down his inner energy.
Unable to drain him directly,
the golden flames spread instead,
igniting the Eight Spider Lances!
Tang Lan's internal energy, spiritual power, and even his life force
were all being fed to the golden flames.
Inside the fire—
The Eight Spider Lances were undergoing a complete transformation—
burning, refining, tempering, evolving!
At the same time,
they were madly devouring the Human-Faced Spider Queen's essence,
fueling the flames even further!
But it still wasn't enough.
For the first time,
without needing the Blue Silver Life Domain,
the Eight Spider Lances acted on their own—
launching golden Devouring Threads toward Ice and Snow Empress!
"Lend me your soul power!"
Gulp, gulp, gulp—!
The Eight Spider Lancesdrank deeply,
channeling the stolen energy into their evolution.
Meanwhile,
Tang Lan closed his eyes,
feeling something new being born within them.
Devouring, burning, evolving—an endless cycle.
A subtle law of nature seemed to be at work,
drawing Tang Lan's consciousness deeper into enlightenment.
Memories flickered through his mind—
The Fate-Soul Blue Silver Emperor's absorptionThe Devouring of Life BurialsThe Devouring Threads' siphoningThe control of Samsara's MightThe assimilation of Infinite OceansThe weakening of the Soul Spirit Domain
Suddenly,
a concept took shape in his mind—
A BLACK HOLE!
Devours everything.
Exists eternally.
A powerful force burst forth from within Tang Lan,
manifesting as a new domain!
Like a true black hole,
it ravenously devoured everything inside its range—
The energy within plantsThe Ice and Snow Empresses' soul powerThe Human-Faced Spider Queen's essenceEven the ambient energy of heaven and earth
All of it was forcibly drawn into the domain,
fueling its limitless expansion!
It looked like it would devour the entire world.
But at the center of this abyss,
Tang Lan was under unimaginable pressure.
Energy converged from all directions,
crushing him so intensely that he couldn't move a muscle.
Golden light flashed—
Vajra Indestructible Body, activate!
Tang Lan barely resisted the overwhelming force,
but inside his body,
something unprecedented was happening—
His Nine Yang Divine Energy, already the pinnacle of pure yang,
was being compressed further—
It wasn't just energy anymore.
Now, fused with the domain's devouring force,
it was becoming something new.
All the energy being devoured was drawn into his lower dantian,
but there was only so much space inside.
As it kept filling,
his liquid Nine Yang Energy
became thicker—
Like glue, it started solidifying—
transforming into something tangible!
It was about to take a permanent form—
But then, everything stopped.
It was as if a missing gear had stalled the entire mechanism.
Yet, the energy absorption hadn't stopped.
Tang Lan felt himself expanding,
on the verge of bursting apart.
It was an agonizing sensation.
"Damn it—who stops halfway and doesn't let you finish?!"
Tang Lan snapped his eyes open.
His newly-formed domain had already expanded to a kilometer-wide radius.
Within its range—
everything except Ice and Snow Empress had been wiped out.
No plants, no trees, not even land remained.
Only pitch-black emptiness beneath his feet.
The Ice and Snow Empresses had lost over half their energy.
Snow Empress, for once, let out a sigh of relief.
"You're finally awake."
"Quickly, take back this domain—Ice Empress can't hold on much longer!"
Ice Empress was leaning on Snow Empress,
continuously feeding soul power to the domain to prevent it from devouring her life force.
Tang Lan looked down at the void beneath his feet—
and suddenly understood.
Devouring!
This newly awakened domain wasn't just a simple void.
It was an evolution of the Eight Spider Lances' signature ability—Devouring!
It was built on the foundation of both his Blue Silver Life Domain and Soul Spirit Domain,
but now evolved by the Devouring Threads into something entirely new.
And it wasn't just about devouring.
The "solidified" internal energy inside his body was proof.
This domain...
This domain was more than just devouring.
It absorbed, compressed, and assimilated energy—
Then used it to strengthen itself.
"I'll name it the Black Hole Domain!"
"Retract!"
The pitch-black void beneath his feet collapsed inward,
returning to Tang Lan's body,
merging into his Eight Spider Lances.
Woah!
200,000 years of cultivation?!
No wonder Ice Empress had nearly been drained dry.
However—
Tang Lan's spirit power level dropped from 65 to 60.
But his aura was even stronger than before!
He directed his attention to his lower dantian,
where the "glue-like energy" had been compressed.
As soon as he mobilized it,
it expanded effortlessly—
going from a thin strand to an entire mass of golden energy,
covering almost his entire arm.
And that was just one tiny portion of it.
Estimations—
Previously, his Nine Yang Divine Energy was ten times denser than regular spirit power.
Now, his "glue energy" was another ten times denser than Nine Yang Energy.
Which meant—
It was 100 times stronger than normal spirit power!
Tang Lan examined his lower dantian internally.
As his Nine Yang Divine Technique operated at full power,
he absorbed energy from the world around him.
In the past, he could clearly sense his inner energy growing.
But now—
That "glue-like energy" didn't budge at all.
It was like an endless abyss.
That was normal, though.
With 100 times the density,
leveling up would naturally require 100 times the energy.
But that wasn't the real key.
Tang Lan stared at the "glue energy"—
and the longer he looked,
the more familiar it seemed.
If this stuff solidified…
Wouldn't it turn into a—
A golden sphere?!
A Gold Core?
Holy shit!
Was he about to start cultivating like an immortal?!
"Wait—does that mean I just built my Foundation?"
Regardless—
Nine Yang Divine Energy was already at the pinnacle of martial arts-based inner energy.
Anything beyond that wasn't even in the realm of "inner energy" anymore.
This "glue energy"—from now on, I'll call it Spiritual Energy.
Unlike traditional martial energy,
Spiritual Energy had no fixed attribute.
It could power any soul skill or soul bone ability.
But—
it no longer enhanced his Vajra Indestructible Divine Skill like before.
However!
Tang Lan could easily convert Spiritual Energy back into Nine Yang Divine Energy.
And its effectiveness was even greater than before.
Not bad. Pretty convenient.
Even more interesting—
Tang Lan lifted his right hand,
placing it on Ice Empress and Snow Empress' shoulders.
A diluted stream of Spiritual Energy flowed into their bodies—
and was perfectly absorbed,
converted into their own soul power.
This was the nature of Spiritual Energy—universal compatibility.
If he had used Nine Yang Divine Energy,
its pure yang properties would have been too much.
Instead of absorbing it,
Ice and Snow Empress would have been "scorched" by it.
After transferring half his Spiritual Energy,
Ice Empress finally recovered.
Tang Lan apologized,
"Sorry—I accidentally lost control while comprehending a new domain."
Ice Empress, who had been about to yell at him,
suddenly fell silent.
He… comprehended…
New. Domain.
Just like that?!
She turned to Snow Empress, her expression unreadable.
Snow Empress: "..."
This guy—what kind of freak is he?!
(End of Chapter)