57: The spirit spring went berserk, and everyone cooked dumplings.

With that full bag of "Karma Boiling Powder" poured unreservedly into the pool, the originally just warm Spirit Spring instantly underwent a drastic change, like a powder keg being ignited.

There was no scene of gentle Spiritual Qi nourishment as one might imagine.

Instead, there was a bubbling and rolling sound, as dense as the prelude to a thunderstorm.

The pool water, originally milky white, quickly turned a weird crimson within three seconds, as if a ton of extra-spicy beef tallow hotpot base had been poured in.

A pungent, parching, and extremely violent aura, accompanied by rising steam, instantly filled the entire Secret Realm space.

"Cough, cough, cough! What's that smell? So choking!"

On the shore, several freshmen who were still hesitating were hit by this heatwave, their eyes and noses running instantly, feeling as if they had swallowed a handful of glowing red charcoal.

And Lin Xue, who was still soaking in the pool, bore the brunt of it.

She had been calculating how to use this bath to scout for information on Gu Fan, but the next second, an indescribable burning sensation followed every one of her pores and forced its way in unreasonably.

That feeling wasn't like soaking in a hot spring at all.

It was torture!

"Gu Fan! You... ah!"

Lin Xue wanted to question him, but couldn't help letting out soft moans.

Because after that heat flow entered her body, it didn't damage her Meridians, but instead rampaged through her clogged Meridians.

Pain!

But after the pain, there was an unprecedented clarity.

This extreme torment of "a world of ice and fire" made even this rigorously trained ace agent struggle to maintain her expression, her face flushing red and her forehead covered in sweat.

"That's it, the medicinal effect is kicking in."

Gu Fan lay on an inflatable floating bed, casually took a sip of iced Sour Plum Syrup, and looked at the rolling red waves around him with a satisfied expression. "Young people nowadays have too much internal dampness; they need to be steamed with such potent medicine. Don't mention it, I really spent a fortune on this."

On the shore, Li Qingfeng watched the boiling red water in the pool, his Adam's apple bobbing with difficulty.

He instinctively wanted to retreat.

This was no cultivation Holy Land; this was clearly a giant cooking pot! Jumping in would make you a dish!

"Not going in? How can you get stronger without going in?"

Gu Fan glanced at the hesitating crowd on the shore and said slowly, "My medicinal powder has a time limit; once it's gone, it's gone. Haven't you noticed that Lin Xue's aura is skyrocketing?"

Everyone looked at Lin Xue in horror.

Indeed.

Although Lin Xue looked like she was about to be cooked, her skin glowing bright red, her previously stagnant Spiritual Power fluctuations were actually climbing at a terrifying speed.

Boom!

A soft sound.

Lin Xue's Bottleneck, which had been stuck at Hidden Jin Perfection (Genetic Martial Artist), was actually punctured like window paper under the flushing of this "spicy Spiritual Qi."

Transformed Jin Early Stage!

"Really... can really Breakthrough?!"

Li Qingfeng's eyes turned red.

For a Martial Artist, to become stronger, let alone jumping into a hotpot, they would even fight to jump into a mountain of blades or a sea of fire!

"Let's do this!"

Li Qingfeng let out a roar, and with the tragic mindset of "if I don't enter Hell, who will," he jumped into the pool with a splash.

"Aaaaagh—!!!"

The moment he entered the water, a shrill scream echoed through the dome of the Secret Realm.

That unbearable pain and itchiness made this cold swordsman instantly lose his composure.

He thrashed wildly in the water, scratching his body aimlessly, completely losing his dignified air of a master.

"So hot! So itchy! So intense!"

Li Qingfeng screamed while feeling the internal energy in his body expanding wildly. "I feel like I'm going to explode! But... it feels so good!"

With Li Qingfeng taking the lead, the remaining top ten freshmen no longer hesitated.

"To become stronger!"

"For the Family glory!"

"For the credits!"

Splash! Splash! Splash!

One sound of falling into the water after another rang out.

The originally solemn and dignified Spiritual Origin Secret Realm had now completely turned into a bustling pot of "human meat dumpling soup."

Over a dozen geniuses who usually thought highly of themselves were now jumping up and down in the red pool water. Some were scrubbing themselves frantically to relieve the itch, some were gasping for air with wide-open mouths to dissipate heat, and some were even doing the freestyle stroke in the water, trying to distract themselves through high-speed movement.

Xiao Fan was the last one to go in.

He looked at this scene and felt that something was wrong.

"President... is this really okay? I feel like everyone is almost cooked."

"Don't worry, it won't kill anyone," Gu Fan yawned. "This is called 'high-temperature detoxification.' Don't just stand there; I see you've been stuck at the Qi Refining Ninth Layer Middle Stage for a long time. Go down and get a flush."

As he spoke, Gu Fan very "kindly" lifted his foot and gave him a light kick.

"Ah! President, you're not playing fair..."

Xiao Fan screamed as he fell into the water.

"Sizzle—"

Xiao Fan felt like a dough stick thrown into a deep fryer.

But before he could climb back to the shore, a massive medicinal force rushed from his tailbone straight to the crown of his head.

That was Gu Fan's special "care" for him, scattering an extra handful of powder near his entry point.

"Wuwuwu... too intense..."

Xiao Fan wept while feeling his Dantian swell like a balloon.

Boom! Boom!

Two muffled sounds in a row.

Qi Refining Ninth Layer Perfection!

Half-step Foundation Establishment!

In just one minute, he broke through two levels in a row!

Although the price was that Xiao Fan was now swollen like a red pig's head and his lips were burned into sausages, the light in his eyes was more fervent than ever.

"Thank... thank you for the guidance, President!" Xiao Fan shouted unclearly, then continued to dog-paddle frantically in the water to cool down.

Gu Fan looked at this scene and nodded in satisfaction.

In his field of vision, the numbers on the System panel were jumping wildly.

[Ding! Detected contradictory emotions of collective 'physiological pain' and 'tears of gratitude.']

[malice points +150!]

[malice points +200!]

[malice points +180!]

Although everyone was breaking through, the humiliation of being cooked as ingredients and the intense physical pain still continuously transformed into resentment towards the culprit.

"This is what you call a win-win."

Gu Fan stretched, preparing to take another piece of watermelon to quench his thirst.

Just then.

A sudden change occurred.

The pool water, which was already boiling, was suddenly stirred as if by an invisible giant hand, forming a huge whirlpool.

In the center of the vortex, a blinding white light shot up into the sky.

An ancient and angry pressure instantly enveloped the entire Secret Realm.

"Who?!"

"Which damn bastard is it?!"

A sharp, irritable voice came from the pillar of light, causing the runes on the stone walls to fall off.

"Who dares to put chili in my bathwater?!"

"It's burning me to death! Achoo—!!!"

With a world-shaking sneeze, that ball of light exploded.

Everyone stopped thrashing in terror and looked closely.

They saw a... thumb-sized light orb floating in the center of the pool.

Although this light orb was small, its brightness was extremely high, like a miniature sun. Inside the light orb, a transparent little old man with two small mustaches could be vaguely seen, clutching his nose and pointing at this pot of red soup with teary eyes.

His body flashed because of anger (or because it was too spicy), emitting dangerous fluctuations.

"The... Spirit of the Spiritual Origin Secret Realm?!"

Li Qingfeng was knowledgeable and instantly recognized this legendary existence, so scared that he almost knelt in the water. "Legend says the Secret Realm has a spirit; I didn't expect it to be true!"

The Spirit of the Secret Realm's lungs were about to explode with anger.

It had slept for thousands of years and was sleeping soundly.

As a result, it suddenly felt like the bathtub at home had turned into a hotpot, and a perverted spicy smell choked it so much it almost ascended on the spot.

Its pea-sized eyes scanned the scene and finally locked onto Gu Fan, who was lying on the floating bed with half a piece of watermelon in his hand.

This guy was the most calm in the whole place.

Moreover, this guy still had the smell of the crime tools on him!

"Was it you, kid, who did this?!"

The Spirit of the Secret Realm roared, its body instantly expanding to the size of a basketball. "Making my Immortal Cave so foul! You are desecrating the gods! I'm going to eject you! Eject you to outer space!"

Everyone was as quiet as a chilling cicada.

The Spirit of the Secret Realm was the absolute Dominator here; if it said it wanted to eject someone, even an immortal couldn't stay.

Lin Xue and Xiao Fan looked at Gu Fan in despair.

It's over.

This time they went too far.

However.

Facing the enraged Spirit of the Secret Realm, Gu Fan just slowly swallowed the watermelon in his mouth and then took out a tissue to wipe his mouth.

He lifted his eyelids, glanced at the frantic light ball, and not only showed no panic, but instead looked at it with great interest.

"What are you shouting for?"

Gu Fan picked his ear. "What do you mean by putting chili? That's precious 'Ten-Ingredient Tonic Powder.' Look how happy everyone is soaking in it, each one with a glowing red face."

He pointed at the group of classmates whose faces were swollen like pig heads.

Classmates: "..."

Are we happy? We're almost cooked!

"You still dare to argue?!"

The Spirit of the Secret Realm's light trembled with anger. "In my territory, I am the rules! I am the law! Since you show no remorse, don't blame me for being impolite!"

"Rule Expulsion!"

The Spirit of the Secret Realm shouted, and an invisible rule ripple instantly locked onto Gu Fan.

That was the repulsive force from the entire Secret Realm space, enough to force any intruder out.

Seeing this, everyone closed their eyes, unable to bear the sight of Gu Fan's miserable state of being launched.

But at that moment.

The System that had been standing by in Gu Fan's mind finally emitted that pleasant notification sound.

[Ding! Detected 'Spirit of the Secret Realm' attempting to use rule power for forced expulsion.]

[Malice Level: S-Rank (Absolute rejection originating from territorial awareness).]

[Backlash triggered! Multiplier: 100x!]

[Law of Karma loading: Rule Tampering · Host and Guest Reversal.]

Gu Fan smiled.

The good show has begun.