Arduous Cultivation (Request Collection, Request Recommendation)

Xiao Xie headed to Utan City's Market with the enhanced Arno. As one of the Jia Ma Empire's major cities, Utan City was truly bustling. Though the scorching sun blazed overhead, the streets remained packed with surging crowds, and one could occasionally spot members of some unusual races.

Xiao Xie took Arno to the various pharmacies to purchase the items he needed. Although Alchemists made a great deal of money, they also spent a great deal. Fortunately, Xiao Xie possessed Yao Lao's pill-refining experience, so his success rate for low-grade pills was one hundred percent. After refining and selling some pills, Xiao Xie was still fairly well-off. Otherwise, the medicinal baths he prepared during cultivation alone would have bankrupted him.

After purchasing the medicinal ingredients, Xiao Xie took Arno to buy some Magic Cores as well. On the Dou Qi Continent, Magic Cores were also known as Magic Crystals, and were the rudimentary form of spiritual pills and medicines. As the name implied, they were energy crystals found within Magical Beasts, filled with immensely violent energy from heaven and earth. Even a Dou Wang would not dare forcibly absorb such violent energy at the risk of exploding.

Although Magic Cores could not be directly absorbed by humans, they were indispensable primary ingredients for Alchemists refining pills. Once an Alchemist refined a Magic Core using a secret method, its violent properties could be neutralized by certain miraculous herbs, transforming it into all kinds of Spiritual Herbs that countless people coveted for increasing their strength. Its value would immediately soar!

Furthermore, Magic Cores could be embedded into weapons. Weapons enhanced with Magic Cores not only possessed greater destructive power, but also had the enticing effect of amplifying Dou Qi. They were greatly sought after by the Dou Zhe class across the Dou Qi Continent.

Driven by this trend, Magic Cores across the continent were almost perpetually in short supply. Whenever a high-grade Magic Core appeared at an auction or elsewhere, it would immediately be bought up at a high price.

The high price of Magic Cores naturally gave rise to large numbers of Mercenary Groups that made their living hunting Magical Beasts. However, obtaining Magic Cores was no easy task.

First, Magical Beasts were not only powerful but also exceptionally cunning. Due to their ferocious natures and unique methods of attack, Magical Beasts were often several degrees stronger than human experts of the same rank. Therefore, trying to hunt a Magical Beast of the same rank alone without outstanding strength could easily end in losing more than one gained.

Second, not every Magical Beast possessed an energy crystal such as a Magic Core. It seemed to be a matter of random chance. Sometimes, a Mercenary Group might suffer casualties amounting to half its members in order to kill a Magical Beast, only to end up empty-handed. Such things were commonplace on the Dou Qi Continent and nothing unusual...

For Xiao Xie, Magic Cores had another use. Depending on the amount of energy contained within it, a Level 1 Magic Core could be recycled for between 1 and 10 Points, while a Level 2 Magic Core could be recycled for between 1 and 100 Points. By the same logic, for every increase of one level in a Magic Core's rank, the upper limit of Points increased tenfold.

However, Xiao Xie was not yet extravagant enough to recycle Magic Cores for Points. A Level 1 Magic Core was worth around five hundred Gold Coins, so directly recycling one would be far too wasteful. If Xiao Xie used Magic Cores to refine pills, their value could increase several times over—tenfold, or even hundreds of times, was entirely possible.

"Arno! We're going back." Xiao Xie called out to Arno, who was carrying bags of all sizes at his side. Arno immediately followed him home. It had to be said that Terminators were amazing—obedient and worry-free, capable of charging into battle in the front and guarding the house and cooking in the back. Five-star rating, thumbs up!

Inside the quiet room, Xiao Xie focused wholeheartedly on refining pills, while Arno stood guard outside the door without taking a single step away. More than five hours later, Xiao Xie finally finished refining all the medicinal ingredients he had bought. Some of the pills were for sale, while others were for his own cultivation.

Xiao Xie picked up one particularly special pill—the Dou Zhe Pill. It was a special Rank 2 Pill that could directly raise the Dou Qi cultivation of a Dou Zhe by one star.

Holding the Dou Zhe Pill, Xiao Xie entered the Worship Space and opened the Enhancement Furnace. He placed the Dou Zhe Pill inside, and three options appeared.

First option: Spend 1,000 Points to enhance it into a Three-Pattern Dou Zhe Pill, which could raise a Dou Zhe's cultivation by three stars.

Second option: Spend 2,500 Points to enhance it into a Six-Pattern Dou Zhe Pill, which could raise a Dou Zhe's cultivation by six stars.

Third option: Spend 6,000 Points to enhance it into a Nine-Pattern Dou Zhe Pill, which could raise a Dou Zhe's cultivation by nine stars.

Xiao Xie checked his remaining Points—just over 6,300. After considering it, he chose the second option. The third option was too expensive and not worth it. Besides, Xiao Xie was currently a One-Star Dou Zhe. In at most a little over a month, he would be able to break through to a Three-Star Dou Zhe. At that point, taking the Six-Pattern Dou Zhe Pill would bring his cultivation straight to a Nine-Star Dou Zhe.

One had to know that even if Xiao Xie took the Nine-Pattern Dou Zhe Pill now, he would not directly break through to become a One-Star Dou Shi. There was a bottleneck between a Dou Zhe and a Dou Shi, one that the Nine-Pattern Dou Zhe Pill could not overcome.

So, it was better to enhance it into a Six-Pattern Dou Zhe Pill. That way, over the next month or so, Xiao Xie could gather medicinal ingredients that would help him break through the bottleneck, refine them into pills, and break through to a One-Star Dou Shi in one go.

"Eight Extremes Collapse!"

In the Back Mountain, a figure leaped nimbly through the trees. In the next instant, the shadow abruptly stopped before a large tree as thick as an adult's waist and thrust out both palms.

"Bang!"

"Creak..."

Under that strike, the tree was blasted apart at its middle.

Seeing the result of his efforts, Xiao Xie's face filled with delighted smiles. In the past month, this was the first time he had successfully used the Mystic High Rank Dou Technique, Eight Extremes Collapse. And this Eight Extremes Collapse, said to rival an Earth Rank Dou Technique, truly did not disappoint Xiao Xie. As merely a Two Star Dou Zhe, the destructive force he unleashed was already comparable to that of an ordinary Five-Star Dou Zhe!

"Keep training!" Xiao Xie went on to wreak havoc on the other trees.

"Young Master! The medicinal bath is ready!" Half a day later, Arno stripped the exhausted Xiao Xie naked and carried him into a wooden tub before heading off to hunt and cook. Watching Arno's departing back, a warm smile rose on Xiao Xie's lips. He closed his eyes, leaned against the tub, and began to rest.

Time flowed like water, always slipping quietly through one's fingers when least expected.

The scorching summer had already been replaced by cool autumn, and the lush green branches had begun to show hints of withered yellow.

Inside the wooden tub in the room, Xiao Xie sat with his eyes lowered and hands formed into seals, his breathing seeming as natural as the workings of heaven itself.

Over four months of arduous cultivation had turned Xiao Xie's originally fair skin wheat-colored. His sharply defined muscles contained a palpable and formidable strength.

The new book is now up—Request Collection, Request Recommendations. Battle Through the Heavens is a feeling, a memory. Brothers who like it, please show your support!