What made him happiest was that his demonic energy was now extremely dense—in fact, for him at this moment, it was already abundant. Henry Clark knew that it was all thanks to the effects of the ancient spiritual herbs within the elixir.

Over the course of this month, Henry Clark only used the Lihuo Mystical Art at the beginning to dissolve the elixir’s fiery power; the rest of the time was devoted entirely to cultivating the Nine-Tier Celestial Immortal Art.

The Nine-Tier Celestial Immortal Art, as the name suggests, is divided into nine tiers. With each advancement, its power increases exponentially. Before his transformation, Henry Clark had barely managed to reach the peak of the first tier and could go no further. But now, aided by the elixir, he had cultivated to the middle stage of the second tier. At this level, at the very least, riding clouds and mist was no problem. While he couldn’t yet “travel from the North Sea to Cangwu by dusk,” covering thousands of miles in a day was certainly within reach.

As for the seventy-two Earth Fiend transformations, he should now be able to use them with complete proficiency.

Regarding the Lihuo Mystical Art, however, there was no rushing it. He didn’t dare take another elixir, as his current physical strength could no longer withstand the Lihuo power contained in another pill. Henry Clark was well aware of his own limits; he knew that cultivation could not be rushed. After all, he had plenty of time, so there was no need to hurry.

Thus, he devoted himself wholeheartedly to refining the jade-green gourd.

The jade-green gourd had been ownerless for a long time, and since it was not an offensive magical treasure, its nature was gentle. Therefore, it did not resist someone like Henry Clark, who had cultivated the Lihuo Mystical Art. Although his strength was weak, Henry Clark didn’t have to expend much effort to claim this treasure as his own.

Holding the gourd, he pointed its mouth at the thirty-six thousand black feathers that had been floating in the air for some time and said, “Collect.” The black feathers immediately rushed into the gourd’s mouth and were stored inside. Henry Clark, satisfied, hung the gourd at his waist, walked to the stone wall, cut his finger, gathered his strength, and spattered his hot blood onto the formation on the wall. Placing his left palm against the wall, he secretly channeled his mystical power and pressed hard on the formation.

After a burst of heat in his palm, the formation on the wall disappeared, and Henry Clark exited the formation’s space, reappearing in the stone cave where William King had originally resided. At this moment, the formation on the cave wall had vanished.

Henry Clark slowly raised his left hand and saw that the Zhu Rong formation was still clearly visible in his palm, gradually fading away. Henry Clark smiled in satisfaction and was about to take a step when he suddenly heard the sounds of fierce fighting outside the cave. His heart stirred, and using the seventy-two Earth Fiend transformations, he took on the appearance of William King and quickly strode out of the cave.

As soon as he exited, Henry Clark was startled by the scene before him—someone had actually come to attack.

The monsters of Tianyin Mountain had been forced together by the invaders, gathering in front of the stone cave. Surrounding them were two groups: one was soldiers—Henry Clark recognized them as soldiers of the Qingliang Kingdom; the other group looked half-monk, half-secular. There weren’t many of them, but they were strong and clearly the main force of the attackers.

“Great King, Great King, you’ve finally come out of seclusion!” A little demon saw Henry Clark emerge and was overjoyed, rushing up to him.

Henry Clark, having searched William King’s memories, naturally recognized this as William’s personal attendant, a gray fox named Little Jack, one of the cleverer little demons in the group.

He immediately put on a stern face and asked, “What’s going on?”

“Great King, something terrible has happened! The Golden Armored General you killed last month—his fellow disciples and the Qingliang Kingdom’s army have come to avenge him!”

“Golden Armored General!” Henry Clark was momentarily stunned, then suddenly understood—it was that legendary demon-slaying general who had been eaten by William. Looking at the scene, he understood most of the situation.

Those half-monk, half-secular people radiated spiritual energy, clearly cultivators. The nature of their energy was very similar to that of the demon-slaying general, so they must have come for revenge.

Just as he was considering whether to take the opportunity to escape, a loud shout rang out: “Demon, prepare to die!”

Almost simultaneously, Henry Clark felt a sharp sword energy rushing toward him, as if it would cut him down in an instant.

Startled, he dodged the sword with a backbend, then rolled aside to escape its range. Only then did he get a good look at his attacker.

It was a middle-aged Daoist, wearing a headband and a bagua robe, wielding a Baobao Purple Gold Sword. His swordplay was tight and impenetrable as he attacked.

Seeing the Daoist’s fierce swordsmanship and unable to find a suitable weapon for the moment, Henry Clark dodged a few times and retreated into the cave. He then grabbed William King’s usual weapon—a wrought iron spear—and engaged the Daoist in battle.

The Daoist was clearly a highly skilled cultivator, his strength not much less than Henry Clark’s current level. Moreover, the Baobao Purple Gold Sword in his hand was far superior to the wrought iron spear Henry Clark now wielded. Henry Clark also dared not use the Nine-Tier Celestial Immortal Art recklessly, so the two fought fiercely, neither able to gain the upper hand for the moment.