Huo Linfei's talent was heaven-defying, though his fusion with the panel was very low!
The inherited talent effects were still far from as terrifying as those of the original body.
But even so, with the three talents on this panel, Xiao Yan's cultivation speed would far surpass that of ordinary people.
It might even become unimaginable!
"Three days will be enough."
Xiao Yan murmured to himself and sat down cross-legged.
Without another word, he directly circulated the Fire Cloud Art within his body!
As for how one in the Dou Qi stage could not cultivate a technique?
That was a rule of the Dou Qi Continent. What did it have to do with the Fire Cloud Art?
With his breathing, the energy of heaven and earth around him gathered frantically.
Strands of crimson energy emerged and flowed into his body.
At the instant he circulated the technique, an ancient, supreme power of flame
was born from the depths of his soul, slowly cleansing his body!
Beneath his slightly closed eyes, ancient runes appeared one after another.
They slowly formed a Qilin phantom!
Surging energy from heaven and earth poured into his body, only to be refined into Dou Qi in an instant!
His cultivation soared at a terrifying pace:
Fourth Stage of Dou Power... Seventh Stage... Ninth Stage...
In merely two hours, his cultivation had reached the peak of the Dou Qi stage!
Xiao Yan suddenly opened his eyes, a smile curling across his lips.
Compared to before, this speed was practically the difference between walking and riding a rocket!
It could only be described as terrifying!
Without pausing in the slightest—and with no intention of pausing at all—he immediately began condensing his Dou Qi vortex in one burst!
Without any pill assistance, it went incomparably smoothly.
The vivid crimson Dou Qi within him, like molten lava, rapidly compressed without the slightest resistance.
It gathered together, forming a magnificent Dou Qi vortex!
In one night, he became a Dou Zhe!
Xiao Yan rose to his feet, took a deep breath, and his clenched fists trembled slightly.
Ever since arriving in this world, he had thought of countless ways to avoid having his Dou Qi absorbed.
After all, in his view, this was definitely Old Yao's test.
What kind of soul body needed Dou Qi to repair itself?
Besides, what use could the Dou Qi of someone who was not even a Dou Zhe possibly have!
The humiliation he had suffered over the past three years still gnawed at him.
Perhaps Old Yao had long known that he was aware of his existence.
Now, it was time to put into practice the idea he had rehearsed countless times in his mind!
Time to put on a show!
Relaxing his entire body, he suddenly sneered at the empty air.
"Old bastard, aren't you coming out yet?!"
Before his words had even faded, a wisp of white smoke drifted from the black ring on his finger.
It condensed in midair into the illusory figure of an old man. Yao Chen stood with his hands behind his back, his silver hair stirring without wind.
His gaze was fixed on the unruly air between the youth's brows.
"Boy, how did you know of my existence?"
"You sucked away my Dou Qi for three years. Did you really think I was an idiot?"
Xiao Yan kicked over a wooden stool, shattering the celadon teacup across the floor.
"A mighty expert hiding inside a ring like a bloodsucking parasite—aren't you ashamed of yourself?"
Yao Chen's eye twitched. Even when he had been betrayed by his disciple, he had never felt so humiliated.
Yet now, a mere brat was pointing at his nose and cursing him.
But when he saw the phantom of crimson scales flickering around the youth's hair, which stirred despite the absence of wind, his pupils abruptly contracted.
"The fire-attributed energy in your body... Why does it carry the aura of an ancient divine beast?"
"And your cultivation speed is absolutely abnormal!"
"None of your damn business!"
Xiao Yan grabbed the paperweight from the table and hurled it at him. The white jade passed through the phantom and smashed against the wall.
"Either get lost, or spit out the Dou Qi you took over the past three years!"
"Impudent!" With a sweep of Yao Chen's sleeve, a vast spiritual pressure crashed down.
Xiao Yan's knees bent, but he stubbornly straightened himself. Faint crimson Qilin markings emerged along his neck.
Yao Chen's fingertips trembled slightly. An ordinary Dou Zhe should have long since fallen to his knees under such pressure.
Yet a phantom of a Qilin treading upon flames seemed to be resisting around this boy's body!
He suddenly noticed the golden-red patterns flowing through the youth's eyes.
They looked remarkably similar to the Fire Kirin Eyes recorded in the Myriad Beasts Record.
Legend had it that this divine beast could devour and expel Heavenly Flames, making all flames submit. Its bloodline was a rare sight even once in several thousand years.
Wasn't this the perfect candidate for cultivating the Fen Jue?
"Forget it."
Yao Chen suddenly withdrew his pressure. Two scrolls bearing lava-like patterns appeared out of thin air.
"High Xuan-class Shadowless Step and High Xuan-class Eight Extremes Collapse. Consider them an apology."
Xiao Yan wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his gaze sweeping over the Crimson Runes dancing upon the scrolls.
Yao Chen was waiting for him to ask about the mysteries of the techniques, but the youth simply stuffed the scrolls into his robe and turned to leave.
"Where are you going?"
"The back mountain."
Xiao Yan tugged open his collar, the Qilin markings on his collarbone faintly appearing and disappearing.
"So I don't burn down the house."
The moonlight was like jade, and the rocks along the back mountain's cliff gleamed silver.
Xiao Yan unfurled the Shadowless Step scroll.
Dense diagrams of meridians reflected in his golden-red eyes.
Yao Chen floated atop a withered tree thirty meters away when he suddenly noticed the surrounding temperature rise sharply. Even the sand and stones on the ground began melting into glass.
With his first step, a crimson Fire Ring exploded beneath the youth's feet!
Xiao Yan unfurled the Shadowless Step scroll, and dense diagrams of Meridian circulation entered his eyes.
He only felt that his mind was incomparably clear at this moment!
The obscure and difficult Dou Skills that usually confounded him were now only slightly harder than one plus one.
Perhaps they were about as difficult as two plus two.
Yao Chen floated atop a tree thirty meters away, debating whether he should offer a few pointers, when the youth suddenly moved.
With his first step, his afterimage actually solidified and did not disperse!
"Impossible!"
Yao Chen nearly fell from the tree.
Shadowless Step relied on Dou Qi erupting through the three yin meridians of the feet in an instant. Ordinary people would need days just to locate the correct acupoints.
Yet that boy moved as if he had practiced it thousands of times, each step precisely landing on a star position.
His figure flickered wildly along the cliff!
Thirty-six afterimages formed a Celestial Array. When his final step landed, it even caused the air to boom explosively!
What was even more horrifying came afterward.
Xiao Yan did not stop moving and struck the mountain wall with a backhanded palm.
Yao Chen was about to stop him when dark golden patterns suddenly appeared over the youth's fist, eight layers of force stacking atop one another!
At the instant it struck the rock wall—
"Rumble!"
The cliff wall shook violently as cracks spread like a spiderweb.
Hidden force and Dou Qi fused together, flooding into it before erupting in an explosion!
When the dust settled, a hole the height of a man had appeared through the several-meter-thick rock wall, moonlight pouring in from the other side.
Yao Chen's phantom flickered unstably.
He had seen it clearly. That punch had not only perfectly replicated the eight layers of hidden force in Eight Extremes Collapse.
At the final instant, it had also compressed fire-attributed Dou Qi into needles, causing its penetrating power to surge!
Even someone who had studied Eight Extremes Collapse to perfection might not be able to make such an improvement.
Moreover, that crimson Dou Qi, as blazing as lava, had nearly melted the shattered rocks!
"Old man."
Xiao Yan shook out the flames rising from his hand.
"Is there still room to improve this move?"
Xiao Yan was rather bewildered himself. It felt as though every Dou Skill he used came with an extra layer of fire-attributed enhancement.
But its power had indeed increased severalfold!
Yao Chen forcefully suppressed the storm raging in his heart, though the hand stroking his beard passed through his phantom.
"If the eighth layer of hidden force is coordinated with breathing—"
His words abruptly stopped.
The youth suddenly closed his eyes in concentration. When he opened them again, his pupils had transformed into Molten Gold Vertical Pupils, and his punch carried the roar of an ancient beast!
A Qilin phantom suddenly appeared.
"Boom!"
With the final strike, blazing flames as crimson as blood rose from his fist!
They directly blasted the rock wall apart.
Yao Chen formed hand seals with the fingers hidden in his sleeve to calculate, only to discover in shock that the power of this strike had already surpassed attacks at the Dou Zhe level!
Xiao Yan slowly withdrew his hand, sat cross-legged beneath the moonlight, and once more circulated the Fire Cloud Art within his body.
Three days later, the training ground!
The younger generation filled the spectator stands.
Xiao Yan and Nalan Yanran faced each other in the arena, neither concealing their auras in the slightest!
"Dou Master One Star?!"
A disbelieving cry of shock erupted from the viewing platform occupied by the Misty Cloud Sect.
The detection Jade Slip in Elder Ge Ye's hand displayed the cultivation of both of them.
But his expression looked as though he had seen a ghost.
He clearly remembered that three days ago, this boy had only been at Three Stages of Dou Qi.
Xiao Zhan crushed the armrest of his chair, his eyes involuntarily moist.
Was this the special constitution Yan'er had mentioned?
That was right, his son had always been the same!
Not trash, but an unparalleled genius!
Atop an ancient tree by the arena, Yao Chen's phantom flickered in and out of sight.
He watched the illusory crimson flames within the youth's pupils.
He suddenly recalled the records in an ancient relic's secret tome that he had once discovered:
When the Fire Qilin appeared, all flames submitted!
Today, this boy was likely going to toss the Misty Cloud Sect's pride into a furnace and refine it.
Before you continue