A Breath's Insight, Qilin's Omen!

Huo Linfei's talent was nothing short of heaven-defying, even though his fusion with the panel was extremely low!

The inherited talent effects were far from as terrifying as the original body's.

But even so, with these three talents on the panel, Xiao Yan's cultivation speed would far surpass ordinary people.

It might even become unbelievable.

"Three days, that's enough."

Xiao Yan muttered to himself, sitting down cross-legged.

Without any wasted words, he directly activated the Fire Cloud Art within his body!

As for the rule that you can't cultivate techniques during the Dou Qi stage?

That was the rule of the Dou Qi Continent—what did it have to do with his Fire Cloud Art?

With his breathing, the surrounding world energy converged wildly.

Strands of crimson energy materialized, surging into his body.

The moment he activated the technique, an ancient, supreme flame power.

Born from the depths of his soul, it slowly washed over him!

Beneath his half-closed eyes, ancient runes flickered into existence.

Slowly forming the phantom of a Qilin!

Torrents of world energy poured into his body, only to be refined into Dou Qi in an instant!

His cultivation skyrocketed at a terrifying pace:

Dou Power, fourth stage... seventh stage... ninth stage...

In just two hours, his cultivation had reached the peak of Dou Qi!

Xiao Yan's eyes snapped open, a smile curling at the corner of his mouth:

Compared to before, this speed was like the gap between walking and a rocket!

All I can say is, terrifying beyond measure!

Without any pause, and with no intention of pausing, he pushed forward in one go to condense his Dou Qi vortex!

No medicinal pills aided him, yet it went incredibly smoothly.

The fiery red Dou Qi inside him, like molten lava, compressed without the slightest resistance.

Gathering together, it formed a magnificent Dou Qi vortex!

In one night, he had achieved the rank of Dou Practitioner!

Xiao Yan stood up, took a deep breath, and clenched his fists, trembling slightly:

When he first arrived in this world, he had thought of countless ways to avoid having his Dou Qi drained.

After all, in his view, this was definitely Old Yao's test.

Since when did a soul body need Dou Qi to repair itself?

And what use could a mere Dou Qi stage, not even a Dou Practitioner, possibly be?

The humiliation of these three years—it still stung.

Maybe Old Yao had long known that he was aware of his existence.

Now, it was time to put into practice the plan he had replayed in his mind countless times!

Time to put on a show!

Relaxing his entire body, he suddenly let out a sneer at the air:

"Old thing, why don't you get the hell out?!"

The moment the words left his mouth, a wisp of white smoke drifted out from the black ring on his finger.

It coalesced in midair into the illusory figure of an old man. Yao Chen stood with his hands behind his back, silver hair flowing without wind.

But his gaze was locked tightly onto the arrogance between the youth's brows:

"Boy, how do you know I exist?"

"You've been sucking my Dou Qi for three years—do you really think I'm an idiot?"

Xiao Yan kicked over a wooden stool, shattering a celadon teacup across the floor:

"A mighty expert, hiding in a ring like a bloodsucking parasite—aren't you ashamed?"

The corner of Yao Chen's eye twitched. Even when his disciple had betrayed him back then, he hadn't felt this humiliated.

Now, he was being cursed out by a brat.

But when he saw the faint red scale phantom rippling at the youth's hair ends as they moved without wind, his pupils abruptly contracted:

"The fire-type energy inside you... how does it carry the aura of an ancient divine beast?"

"And your cultivation speed—there's absolutely no way it's normal!"

"None of your damn business!"

Xiao Yan grabbed the paperweight off the desk and hurled it. The white jade passed through a phantom shadow and smashed against the wall.

"Either get lost, or cough up the three years of Dou Qi you stole!"

"How dare you!" Yao Chen swept his sleeve, and a vast soul pressure crashed down like a mountain.

Xiao Yan's knees buckled, but he forced his neck straight and stood firm, faint crimson scale patterns flickering at his collarbone.

Yao Chen's fingertips trembled slightly. An ordinary Dou Practitioner would have knelt under such pressure long ago.

Yet this brat had a phantom of a Kirin treading flames resisting around him!

He suddenly noticed the gold-crimson patterns swirling in the boy's eyes.

They closely resembled the "Fire Kirin Eyes" recorded in the Myriad Beasts Record.

Legend said this divine beast could inhale and exhale the strange fires of heaven and earth, commanding all flames to submit. Its bloodline was a rarity unseen in millennia.

Wasn't this the perfect candidate to cultivate Fen Jue?

"Forget it."

Yao Chen abruptly withdrew his pressure. Two scrolls bearing lava-like patterns materialized out of thin air:

"Profound Grade High Shadowless Step, Profound Grade High Eight Extremes Collapse. Consider it an apology."

Xiao Yan wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his gaze sweeping over the crimson runes dancing on the scrolls.

Yao Chen waited for him to ask about the techniques' mysteries, only to see the boy casually tuck the scrolls into his chest and turn to leave.

"Where are you going?"

"Back mountain."

Xiao Yan pulled open his collar, the scale patterns at his collarbone faintly visible:

"Wouldn't want to burn down the house."

The moonlight was like jade, the rocks on the back mountain cliff gleaming with silver light.

Xiao Yan unfurled the Shadowless Step scroll.

A dense diagram of meridian pathways reflected in his pupils, now tinged with gold-crimson.

Yao Chen floated on a withered tree ten zhang away, when he suddenly noticed the surrounding temperature skyrocketing. The sand and gravel on the ground began to melt into glass.

With the first step, a crimson ring of fire exploded beneath the boy's foot!

Xiao Yan spread out the Shadowless Step scroll, the intricate meridian diagram flooding into his vision.

He felt his mind clearer than ever!

The obscure combat technique information that had once baffled him now seemed only a little harder than one plus one.

Maybe at the level of two plus two.

Yao Chen hovered on a treetop ten zhang away, just considering whether to offer some pointers, when he saw the boy suddenly move.

With the first step, the afterimage solidified and refused to disperse!

"Impossible!"

Yao Chen nearly tumbled from the tree.

Shadowless Step required Dou Qi to burst instantly through the three yin meridians of the foot. An ordinary person would need days just to locate the acupoints.

But that kid moved as if he'd practiced it a thousand times, each step landing precisely on a star point.

His figure flickered wildly across the cliff!

Thirty-six afterimages formed a Celestial Array, and with the final step, the air itself exploded with a sonic boom!

What was even more terrifying came next.

Xiao Yan didn't stop. He spun and slammed a palm against the mountain wall.

Yao Chen was about to shout a warning, when he saw the boy's fist suddenly glow with dark-gold patterns, eight layers of force stacking one after another!

The moment it struck the rock face—

"Boom!"

The cliff trembled violently, cracks spreading like a spiderweb.

Hidden force merged with Dou Qi, pouring in and detonating!

When the dust cleared, a man-sized hole gaped in the several-zhang-thick rock wall, moonlight pouring in from the other side.

Yao Chen's phantom flickered unsteadily.

He had seen it clearly. That punch had not only perfectly replicated the eight layers of hidden force from Eight Extremes Collapse.

But in the final instant, it had compressed fire-attributed Dou Qi into a needle, vastly increasing penetration!

Such an improvement—even someone who had mastered Eight Extremes Collapse to perfection might not be able to pull it off.

And this fiery red, magma-like Dou Qi was nearly melting the broken rocks!

"Old man."

Xiao Yan shook off the flames flickering from his hand:

"Is there room to improve this move?"

Xiao Yan was also pretty stunned inwardly, feeling that every Dou Technique he unleashed came with a built-in fire attribute enchantment.

But the power was indeed several times stronger!

Yao Chen forcefully suppressed the shock in his heart, but his hand, reaching to stroke his beard, passed through the phantom:

"If the eighth layer of hidden force is coordinated with breathing..."

Before he could finish, he stopped abruptly.

The youth suddenly closed his eyes in concentration. When he opened them again, his pupils had turned into Molten Gold Vertical Pupils, and a single punch brought with it an ancient beast's roar!

The Kirin Phantom suddenly appeared:

"Boom!"

With the final strike, a blazing, blood-red flame rose from his fist!

It directly blasted the rock wall apart.

Yao Chen, hiding his hand in his sleeve, calculated with his fingers and was shocked to find that the power of this strike had already surpassed the Dou Practitioner level!

Xiao Yan slowly withdrew his hand, sat cross-legged in the moonlight, and once again began circulating the Fire Cloud Art within him.

Three days later, at the training ground!

The younger generation filled the spectator stands.

Xiao Yan and Nalan Yanran faced off on the field, neither of them concealing their auras in the slightest!

"Dou Master One Star?!"

From the viewing platform where the Misty Cloud Sect members sat, an incredulous, earth-shattering shout erupted.

Elder Ge Ye's probing jade slip displayed the cultivation levels of both.

But his expression right now was like he'd seen a ghost.

He clearly remembered that three days ago, this boy was only at Three Stages of Dou Qi.

Xiao Zhan crushed the armrest of his chair, his eyes involuntarily moistening.

So this was the special constitution Yan'er had mentioned?

That's right, his son was just as before!

Not a waste, but a peerless genius!

On an ancient tree at the edge of the field, Yao Chen's phantom flickered in and out of visibility.

He stared at the illusory crimson flame in the youth's pupils.

Suddenly, he recalled a record from an ancient ruin's secret tome he had once discovered:

When the Fire Kirin appears, all flames submit!

This boy, today, was likely going to throw the Misty Cloud Sect's face into a furnace and refine it.