The Gold-Munching Mouse King's words had struck a chord deep in Jiang Chen's heart.
Since leaving the Labyrinth world, Jiang Chen's cultivation focus had remained on precisely this matter.
The Ice Fire Demon Lotus—even across the Myriad Heavens Planes—was an exceedingly remarkable existence.
Jiang Chen had never expected that he would encounter something as heaven-defying as the Ice Fire Demon Lotus inside the Labyrinth world.
Not only had he encountered it, but he had absorbed the entire Ice Fire Demon Lotus, roots and all.
One had to understand that the true core of the Ice Fire Demon Lotus was the Flame Heart Ice Marrow.
By absorbing the Flame Heart Ice Marrow, Jiang Chen had essentially obtained the very essence of the Ice Fire Demon Lotus—effectively planting a Ice Fire Demon Lotus of his own within his Spirit Sea.
What most people didn't realize was that once the Ice Fire Demon Lotus awakened, it could undergo Spirit Transformation. Once it could manifest a spirit body, it would no longer be confined to a single location.
Jiang Chen had been extraordinarily lucky—the Ice Fire Demon Lotus he encountered was still in its infant stage, not yet fully awakened, hovering in a hazy, half-awakened state.
Had it been a fully awakened Ice Fire Demon Lotus, its intelligence would have been astonishing, and its control at a terrifying level—at minimum, it would start at the Saint Grade spirit entity.
Saint Grade—whether among demon beasts, plant-type spirit beings, or any other race—was equivalent to a Yuan Realm powerhouse among humans.
If it could evolve to True Saint Grade, it would be even more formidable than a human Yuan Realm expert.
The Ice Fire Demon Lotus, even in the Myriad Heavens Planes, belonged to a category of spiritual entities with extraordinary evolutionary potential.
Forget True Saint Grade—there were examples that had reached Earth Grade, Heaven Grade, even God Grade across the Myriad Heavens Planes.
Even Jiang Chen had to admit that the luck he'd enjoyed this time had far surpassed his own expectations.
Just as the Gold-Munching Mouse King had said, once the Ice Fire Demon Lotus was refined and developed, it would absolutely become a devastatingly powerful trump card for him.
It was a matter of Jiang Chen's particular fortune—if any other martial artist had rashly attempted to absorb the Flame Heart Ice Marrow, the backlash would have obliterated them, their bodies erupting from within.
Jiang Chen's Spirit Sea had been shaped and elevated through the Five Dragons Open Heaven Pill. The Spirit Sea within his body was built on a principle of balance—the five elemental attributes forming a harmonious equilibrium.
Martial artists of the Sixteen Surrounding Kingdoms at the same level simply didn't have that advantage. Their Spirit Seas were on an entirely different level from Jiang Chen's.
It was precisely because Jiang Chen's Spirit Sea was so powerful and accommodating that the Ice Fire Demon Lotus, which contained the dual attributes of ice and fire, could be dissolved within him after absorption.
Of course, that dissolution process had been far from easy.
If Jiang Chen hadn't merged the profound principles of the Kurong Shenquan, it probably wouldn't have been so simple to fully refine the Flame Heart Ice Marrow within his Spirit Sea.
Every strand of fortune seemed as though it had been ordained by fate itself. Had any single link in the chain gone wrong, Jiang Chen might well have missed his chance with the Ice Fire Demon Lotus entirely.
However, dissolving the Ice Fire Demon Lotus was one thing—developing its full potential was quite another.
The Ice Fire Demon Lotus's grade was far too high, and unlocking its abilities demanded an enormous reserve of spiritual power within Jiang Chen's Spirit Sea.
Without sufficient spiritual energy, fully harnessing the Ice Fire Demon Lotus's power would be extraordinarily difficult.
"It looks like I'll need to intensify my cultivation, continue expanding my Spirit Sea, and push my cultivation realm higher."
With his current First Level Spirit Realm cultivation, fully utilizing the Ice Fire Demon Lotus was virtually impossible.
At best, he could simultaneously control two Ice Fire Demon Lotus vines—a far cry from the Ice Fire Demon Lotus he had encountered in the Labyrinth world.
In the Labyrinth, though the Ice Fire Demon Lotus hadn't been fully awakened, it had already been able to command over a hundred vines at once.
Its power had been so immense that even a high-tier Spirit Grade spirit beast like the Gold-Munching Mouse King had felt genuinely wary of it.
This was exactly why the Gold-Munching Mouse King had been so eager to encourage Jiang Chen to develop the Ice Fire Demon Lotus. That kind of power was something even the Gold-Munching Mouse King greatly admired.
Since the Gold-Munching Mouse King was now following Jiang Chen, it naturally wanted its master to be as strong as possible. The stronger Jiang Chen became, the faster he could advance, and the greater the hope of helping them evolve their bloodlines in the future.
Moreover, the Ice Fire Demon Lotus possessed a unique innate ability—it could absorb the spiritual power of its prey and convert it for its own use.
The more prey you hunted, the more spiritual power you absorbed, and the faster your cultivation would advance.
Inside the secret chamber, Jiang Chen activated his Spirit Sea. One hand channeled Yin, the other Yang, projecting two streams of spiritual power that shot directly into the ground.
Suddenly, the floor trembled slightly. The ground in the chamber shifted, and two Ice Fire Demon Lotus vines burst forth from the earth.
These two vines represented the absolute limit of Jiang Chen's current control.
Even managing just two, the vines—whether in thickness or in the fullness of their spiritual energy—were far inferior to the original Ice Fire Demon Lotus itself.
The vines continued to thicken, swaying unsteadily. One bloomed like a blazing flame, the other like a snow lotus from the heavens—one ice, one fire, their brilliance reflecting off each other in a display that was both eerie and magnificent.
The Gold-Munching Mouse King circled the Ice Fire Demon Lotus several times, clicking its tongue in admiration. "Not bad, not bad! Chen Shao really is a martial arts genius. I can't believe you've already mastered the essence of the Ice Fire Demon Lotus and can actually control it. If it weren't for your current cultivation being limited, I reckon this Ice Fire Demon Lotus in your hands could absolutely let you challenge Heavenly Spirit Realm opponents across a whole level above!"
A Heavenly Spirit Realm expert was at minimum the Seventh Level of the Spirit Realm!
And the Gold-Munching Mouse King itself was a high-tier Spirit Grade spirit beast, comparable to a Heavenly Spirit Realm powerhouse. But among high-tier Spirit Grades, it stood at the very peak—virtually on par with the pinnacle of Spirit Grade.
The pinnacle of Spirit Grade was equivalent to the peak of the Spirit Realm among humans—like Ye Chonglou, the titled Spirit King.