Cultivating High-Level Dou Techniques

"Long time no see!" After casually asking two members of the Xiao Family along the way, Yun Shu found where Xun Er was.

Coming up behind Xun Er, Yun Shu reached out and gently covered her eyes with both hands, then said with a smile.

Although their relationship had not yet reached the point of such intimacy, Yun Shu intended to win this girl over. Naturally, the more contact he could have with her, the better.

"Isn't this Master Yun Shu, who vanished for two months? Did you need something from Xun Er?" Xun Er's indifferent voice sounded beside Yun Shu's ear, but he could hear a faint trace of resentment mixed within it...

"Sorry, Xun Er. I went into seclusion to study alchemy these past two months!" Yun Shu awkwardly withdrew his hands and said apologetically.

"And what did you achieve from your seclusion?" Xun Er turned around and looked at Yun Shu.

"Hehe! I successfully broke through to become a Second-Rank Alchemist!" Yun Shu said with a grin, rubbing Xun Er's head.

"Really?!" Xun Er said in surprise. She was a girl from a large city and knew just how difficult it was for an alchemist in this backwater place to advance. Pill King Gu He looked to be in his forties or fifties, yet he was only a Sixth-Rank Alchemist.

Meanwhile, the descendants of certain great clans in Central State could reach that level in their teens.

This showed just how outstanding Yun Shu's talent for alchemy was, and it truly caught her by surprise.

For a moment, Xun Er was so astonished that she failed to notice Yun Shu's exceedingly intimate gesture. Only after hearing the whispers around them did she come back to her senses. Her face gradually reddened, and she hurriedly slapped away Yun Shu's wandering hand.

"Long time no see. Let's take a walk!" After saying that, Yun Shu ignored Xun Er's reaction and directly took her hand, leading her toward another part of the Xiao Family estate.

"Winning over Xun Er is still a long and arduous task!" On the way back to the Mittel Auction House, Yun Shu sighed inwardly.

Xun Er had already grown up. Not to mention that, in the original story, Xiao Yan had spent a full two years feeling her up before finally winning her over.

So, getting Xun Er into his hands would be difficult...

Better to eat the ripe peach waiting at home first!

Thinking of the beauty waiting for him after he returned, Yun Shu's previously gloomy and irritated mood instantly vanished.

He then sped up and hurried back to the Mittel Auction House.

"Ya..." When Yun Shu arrived outside Ya Fei's room, he did not knock and simply pushed the door open.

But upon seeing the scene inside, Yun Shu froze completely...

"It just came?" This was the first time Yun Shu had seen Ya Fei's face so red. Then again, while he and Ya Fei had been intimate before, this was their first time seeing each other so openly.

Ya Fei nodded with a red face...

"Sigh..." Yun Shu covered his face. He had to wait another seven days. It was all that old man's fault!!

"Forget it!" This was not Yun Shu's first time dealing with it. It was only two months, after all. Hadn't he gotten through it this way before?

After returning to his room, Yun Shu sat cross-legged on the bed. Once he dispelled the restless emotions in his heart, he took out a pill and tossed it directly into his mouth.

Over the past two months, Yun Shu had not been the only one refining pills. Yao Lao had also refined quite a few Third-Rank and Fourth-Rank Pills for Yun Shu to use, including large quantities of Qi Recovery Pills and Spirit Awakening Pills.

Qi Recovery Pills were essentially large mana potions, capable of rapidly restoring the Dou Qi within one's body.

Spirit Awakening Pills, meanwhile, were like experience-boosting cards, able to increase the efficiency and speed at which the body absorbed the energy of heaven and earth.

As for the Fourth-Rank Pill, it was Blood Burning, which tempered the body while also increasing one's strength.

Yao Lao had refined it using twenty-three different fire-element herbs and the blood of three second-tier fire-element magical beasts. It was only effective for those cultivating fire-element Dou Qi; for water-element cultivators, it was practically poison.

Applying it to the body accelerated the consumption of Dou Qi within the body, while also speeding up its regeneration. Through the constant stalemate between depletion and regeneration, one's strength would gradually increase.

Although Yun Shu had no use for it at the moment, Yao Lao had still refined some for him.

However, Yun Shu had no plans to use it yet. This thing would only produce its best effect after reaching the Tagor Desert.

Therefore, until Canaan Academy began its recruitment, Yun Shu only intended to cultivate his Dou Qi and temporarily stop refining pills.

He couldn't just refine pills without training his Qi...

No matter how impressive an alchemist was, their real skill was calling in help. If he were alone outside and couldn't find anyone to help, wouldn't he still have to fight personally?

Thus, Yun Shu planned to cultivate the Profound High Rank Dou Technique he had obtained from that treasure chest earlier: Burning Flame Burst.

Yao Lao had also mentioned giving him a Profound High Rank Dou Technique, but Yun Shu had refused. The technique Yao Lao wanted to give him was most likely Eight Extremes Collapse, but Yun Shu did not have that much patience to spend on body tempering.

Xiao Yan had needed Yao Lao to temper his body for three months before he could barely execute Eight Extremes Collapse once, and that single strike would drain all the strength from his body.

Therefore, Yun Shu had refused Yao Lao. He intended to cultivate this fire-element Dou Technique. With the boost from his Strange Fire, a fire-element Dou Technique would definitely unleash even greater power.

Thus, although they were Dou Techniques of the same rank, Yun Shu felt that Burning Flame Burst was no inferior to Eight Extremes Collapse.

"Let's look at the description first..." Yun Shu spread open the scroll. Earlier, he had only barely checked the technique's rank and had not paid much attention to its effects.

Burning Flame Burst: Profound High Rank Dou Technique. Those without a Beast Flame or Strange Fire must reach the level of a Fourth-Rank Alchemist before they can cultivate it.

"Whoa! I didn't notice this requirement before. A Fourth-Rank Alchemist... that means an alchemist capable of condensing tangible flame, right? Does this Dou Technique require tangible flame to use?" Yun Shu said curiously.

Still, it was a Profound High Rank technique. It was perfectly normal for a high-level Dou Technique to have requirements. Even a technique like Eight Extremes Collapse placed considerable demands on physical strength; Xiao Yan had trained his body for three months before he could cultivate it.

So Yun Shu did not pay it much mind and continued reading...

After half an hour, he finally figured out the technique.

Burning Flame Burst required one to control tangible flame and condense it into weapons or armor. It was somewhat similar to Dou Qi armor, but not nearly as sturdy. Moreover, the larger the object one wished to condense, the more Dou Qi it consumed.

And once weapons or armor condensed from tangible flame suffered an impact, they would explode directly.

"Wouldn't this thing hurt its own user...?" Yun Shu said in surprise after seeing the effects of this Dou Technique.

Just imagine using this move himself—condensing the Fallen Heart Flame into an invisible weapon, then charging in to fight someone. The moment the two weapons collided, boom...

It would explode outright.

Yun Shu's own Strange Fire would not harm him, but the explosions and shockwaves produced by using the Strange Fire to attack would injure every enemy and ally within its range...

This move... was... kind of a scam.