Refining

The cave was not spacious, yet it took Xiao Ming several minutes to inspect it thoroughly.

During his inspection, Xiao Ming found some small bits of magical beast droppings among several giant stones.

They had presumably been left behind by Rock Magic Beasts that occasionally came here to rest.

After clearing the droppings from the cave, Xiao Ming took out the giant stones he had prepared earlier from his Na Ring and sealed the cave entrance tightly, leaving only a few gaps for air to seep through.

After finishing these tedious tasks, Xiao Ming finally let out a long breath and walked to the center of the cave.

Sitting cross-legged before a giant stone, his dark eyes flickered with burning flames as they stared intently at the jade bottle before him.

"Next... it begins."

Xiao Ming made no excessive preparations to devour the Green Rock Profound Water.

He had long decided to rely on the "Ling" nurtured by the Spirit Nourishing Technique to forcibly devour it. Xiao Ming believed that, having consumed two Beast Flames, Ling was already capable of dealing with the Green Rock Profound Water. Besides, his Dou Qi Attribute was not suited to devouring such a strange object.

Xiao Ming held the bottom of the jade bottle in his palm as his Soul Power swiftly entered it and drew out the Green Rock Profound Water.

Freed from the jade bottle's seal, the liquid, which had originally been extremely calm, began emitting strange ripples once more.

It floated in midair, with a faint green mist even rising from it.

Knowing that time was of the essence, he sank his consciousness into the area of his lower abdomen, where a palm-sized milky white Qi Cyclone slowly rotated.

Around the Qi Cyclone was a layer of milky white, nebula-like energy. Deep within it, a fiery red diamond-shaped crystal no bigger than a thumb slowly floated to the center of the Qi Cyclone under Xiao Ming's gaze, remaining still and silent.

With a slight movement of his mind, Ling, which had been exchanging energy with the Dou Crystal inside the Qi Cyclone, Disappeared.

Xiao Ming opened his eyes and raised his hand. The Ling that had vanished just now danced merrily at the tip of his index finger as if it were alive.

Suddenly, Xiao Ming flicked his finger. Ling shot out swiftly, leaving behind a white afterimage as it plunged into the pool of Green Rock Profound Water with lightning speed.

The moment Ling entered the Green Rock Profound Water, it was like a wolf spotting mutton. In a flash, its size expanded several times over.

A terrifying suction force came from within it, rapidly pulling in and absorbing the Green Rock Profound Water.

However, the Green Rock Profound Water was clearly not so easy to absorb. A faint Energy Tide emerged from the mere dozen or so square centimeters of Green Rock Profound Water, actually neutralizing Ling's suction force. For a moment, the two remained locked in a stalemate.

Not only that, Xiao Ming could even sense the Mysterious Water mobilizing the energy of heaven and earth. It clearly intended to attack Ling just as it had attacked him earlier.

Naturally, Xiao Ming would not Sit Idly By and allow the Green Rock Profound Water to attack.

Fiery red Dou Qi shot out from his palm, scattering the energy the Green Rock Profound Water had gathered.

Then, his Soul Power connected with Ling, drawing the Peach Blossom Flame and Azure Crystal Flame out from within it.

The two Beast Flames swelled violently upon appearing, wrapping around the Green Rock Profound Water.

All of the Green Rock Profound Water's actions were driven by its instinct for self-preservation.

Now that it had been provoked, it diverted part of its strength to resist the flames' scorching heat. Moreover, because the Mysterious Water and Beast Flames possessed different attributes, the Green Rock Profound Water focused most of its attention on resisting the Peach Blossom Flame and Azure Crystal Flame.

The Energy Tide contending with Ling visibly weakened. It could no longer offset Ling's suction force, and drops of Green Rock Profound Water origin were drawn into Ling's body one by one.

Since Ling had been created specifically to devour Heaven and Earth Strange Objects, the divided Green Rock Profound Water origin could not stir up much trouble at all.

The drops of Green Rock Profound Water origin were immediately refined and absorbed as soon as they entered Ling's body.

"Ling's absorption of Mysterious Water is far more convenient and efficient than a human's, and much safer than absorbing it directly into the body."

Watching Ling absorb it bit by bit, then seeing the remaining half of the Green Rock Profound Water surge directly into Ling's body, Xiao Ming could not help but sigh.

When humans absorbed these Heaven and Earth Strange Objects, they all faced immense danger.

Take the Green Rock Profound Water before him, for instance. If Xiao Ming were to devour it himself—

He would need to drink the Green Rock Profound Water directly and let it enter his body.

The human body was extremely fragile. Even a Dou Huang Expert could not allow unfamiliar energy to rampage through their body.

Therefore, before devouring it, Xiao Ming would need to prepare all kinds of protective pills to keep the uncontrolled energy of the Green Rock Profound Water from damaging his meridians.

Of course, that still would not be enough. The Green Rock Profound Water would not obediently allow itself to be refined.

He would have to endure tremendous pain while guiding it through the body's fragile meridians.

In the end, after taming the Mysterious Water, if it was particularly violent, he would also need a space capable of containing it, because it could not simply be placed inside the Qi Cyclone.

Xiao Ming did not know whether the Green Rock Profound Water required such a container.

But since the Green Rock Profound Water could launch corrosive attacks, it was clearly not so simple.

The reason the Green Poison Twin Ghosts had never refined the Green Rock Profound Water was perhaps not only because there was just one of it, but also because they lacked the ability to refine it.

In short, it was troublesome and risky for humans to devour such things.

But as long as the strange object was not stronger than Ling, Ling could devour it freely, without any danger at all.

For example, Ling had directly devoured the Green Rock Profound Water just now and had not been affected in the slightest.

This was the formidable aspect of the Spirit Nourishing Technique cultivated by Xiao Ming.

Besides that, when humans devoured Heaven and Earth Strange Objects, it did not improve their cultivation. Whether it was Heavenly Flames or Mysterious Water, neither could do so.

However, after Ling devoured these things, it could return energy to the Qi Cyclone.

Naturally, Ling's master's cultivation would also improve.

"Unfortunately, Ling probably doesn't yet have the strength to devour Heavenly Flames directly."

Xiao Ming summoned Ling, which had swallowed all the Green Rock Profound Water, back into his hand. Looking at Ling, which had turned somewhat emerald green, he muttered.

The eruption of any Heavenly Flame Origin could burn the current Ling to ashes, unless it was an absurdly immature Heavenly Flame.

Otherwise, it was impossible to simply toss Ling into a Heavenly Flame Origin as he had just done and directly refine it.

"To suffer less when devouring Heavenly Flames in the future, I'll need to devour more Beast Flames. One Beast Flame may not be enough against a Heavenly Flame, but a thousand should have some effect. I should also seek out more Heaven and Earth Strange Objects. Once Ling grows stronger, even the most terrifying Heavenly Flame won't be a problem."

"If that doesn't work, I can just devour the Heavenly Flames directly then."

Xiao Ming would definitely devour Heavenly Flames in the future. Setting aside whether the Simulator might draw some Heavenly Flames, he already knew of three ownerless Heavenly Flames on the Northwest Continent: the Green Lotus Core Flame and two Fallen Heart Flames.

Devouring Heavenly Flames could increase his cultivation and enhance his offensive power.

With such benefits, only an idiot would refuse them.

Cough cough, of course, one Fallen Heart Flame still had to be left for Jia Nan Academy.

As for the others, Xiao Ming had already made his plans.

Once he was strong enough, he would immediately set off, claiming the Green Lotus Core Flame first and then the Fallen Heart Flames.

What? Xiao Yan needed to devour Heavenly Flames for his Flame Mantra to evolve, so as his fellow clansman, shouldn't he consider Xiao Yan's needs?

Heh. Search his conscience—after learning of such a heaven-defying cultivation method as the Flame Mantra, it would already be merciful if Xiao Ming did not go snatch it.

Leaving them for Xiao Yan had never been part of Xiao Ming's considerations. Though Xiao Yan was indeed Xiao Ming's fellow clansman, Xiao Yan was a transmigrator, and so was Xiao Ming.

What kinship could there possibly be between two transmigrators?

He had said he would be a passerby, so he would be a passerby.

Even if Xiao Yan's growth would benefit Xiao Ming, Xiao Ming still felt that it was better to grow stronger himself.

After all, one had to be strong oneself to forge iron.

"Heh heh." Xiao Ming chuckled twice and drew Ling, which had absorbed the Green Rock Profound Water and become somewhat jade green, back into the Qi Cyclone.

This color indicated that the Green Rock Profound Water had not yet been completely refined. Once fully refined, Ling should return to milky white.

Clearly, Ling's act of directly swallowing the remaining Green Rock Profound Water origin in one gulp just now had been somewhat too hasty.

Xiao Ming returned Ling to his body in order to speed up the refinement process and receive the energy Ling would return to him.

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