Fighting Qi Cultivation, Singular Secret Realm

"One portion of Vermillion Phoenix Blood Essence, two portions of Dragon Finch Blood Essence—besides granting me two types of demonic flames, they've pushed my cultivation to Wheel Sea Perfection and condensed a Battle Crystal. That's not bad at all."

Yan Kuan continuously absorbed the flame power released from the Trigram Treasure Box, converting it into his own divine energy. His Wheel Sea, which had nearly dried up from condensing the Battle Crystal, began to fill once more.

After the previous cultivation transformation, his Wheel Sea had expanded significantly, reaching roughly the size of a human head.

"Once orthodox cultivation of the Shrouding the Heavens Method reaches this level, most people choose to open the Dao Palace Secret Realm, followed by the Four Extremes, Transforming Dragon, and Immortal Platform—cultivating all Five Great Secret Realms simultaneously. Ultimately, the Immortal Platform takes precedence, and after reaching the sixth level of the Immortal Platform as a Great Saint, one forges their own Imperial Path."

Yan Kuan steadied his mind, sensing the Battle Crystal's effects on his body and the changes it brought, while pondering his next cultivation steps. "The Battle Qi Continent's cultivation method is far simpler and more brutal—early on, it focuses solely on the Battle Crystal, and after reaching the Battle Ancestor realm, one cultivates spiritual power on the side.

At the peak of Battle Saint, the soul undergoes a transformation to the Emperor realm, one's bloodline improves and evolves to another level, and then one must absorb the origin essence of the plane to trigger a transformation of their Battle Qi energy, advancing to Battle Emperor. After becoming a Battle Emperor, one takes on the Grand Overlord system, ultimately leaving their name on the Firmament Billboard.

The high-level cultivation of these two systems both emphasize mutual verification with the Heavenly Dao, converging in a similar direction, but the intermediate cultivation paths differ. I must make a choice.

If I focus on opening the Five Great Secret Realms, following the path of most orthodox cultivators, then my Battle Qi training will inevitably be delayed, or I'll need to revise the Burning Art's cultivation again, making it extremely difficult to balance the Battle Crystal's evolution.

But this problem doesn't seem unsolvable. Battle Crystal cultivation drives the dantian's transformation. If I specialize solely in the Wheel Sea Secret Realm, the two will complement each other, just like the breakthrough I just had—granting a transformative experience beyond ordinary imagination.

Cultivating a single Secret Realm exclusively can absolutely reach the level of Ancient Great Powers or even Sages, though the path is more arduous.

This approach is similar to the extreme cultivation path explored by the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths Divine Academy at the end of the Chaotic Ancient Era, requiring constant extreme sublimation.

It's like the Wild Heaven Emperor merging his ten cave heavens into one, then continuing to cultivate and expand them. Specializing in the Wheel Sea Secret Realm also requires continuous transformation and expansion, potentially reaching the level of the Celestial Worthy of Numinous Treasure, where the Sea of Bitterness becomes a truly boundless ocean.

But this kind of cultivation will likely consume far more resources, and it's best to have dedicated sacred methods to unlock the Secret Realm's potential, allowing for faster and better progress."

As this thought crossed Yan Kuan's mind, a Dao diagram floated before his eyes—the harvest he had obtained from Ye Fan earlier, the perfected sacred method of the Saintly Body lineage.

"The perfected sacred method of the Saintly Body lineage, though designed for the Saintly Body's exclusive Secret Realm cultivation and incompatible with my physique, still shares common principles in unlocking Secret Realm potential. Using it as a blueprint to deduce a sacred method suited for my Wheel Sea Secret Realm should yield considerable results."

Yan Kuan deduced based on this Dao diagram, combining it with the many Dao scriptures he had observed. He managed to piece together a secret method path that could assist Wheel Sea cultivation. After integrating it into the Burning Art's circulation route, he experienced noticeable effects.

"Unfortunately, the version I've pieced together isn't even a tenth as complex as this Dao diagram, and what I obtained is only a fragment of the Saintly Body's secret method. If I had the complete version, the effect would certainly be better."

Yan Kuan sighed with insatiable greed as he put the Dao diagram away. Though the gain wasn't enormous, the issue of a sacred method for exclusive Secret Realm cultivation was temporarily resolved. Since he had decided to specialize in the Wheel Sea Secret Realm, he needed to prepare early.

"After reaching Grand Battle Master, I can start using many alchemist techniques. With so many recipes and various cultivation-assisting pills thrown in, my cultivation will skyrocket. Theoretically, I should be able to refine fifth-grade or even sixth-grade pills now."

Yan Kuan thought to himself as clusters of light flickered before his eyes—these were the alchemical recipes from the Flame Emperor's inheritance. Over the years, aside from cultivation, his main task had been organizing and understanding the pharmacological knowledge within them.

When he had deduced the Blood Origin Pill recipe using the sinister bats from the Ancient Tomb as the main ingredient, part of the credit naturally went to the vast sea of recipes, but his ability to modify recipes and his pharmacological knowledge were equally important.

"I gathered too few spiritual herbs on my last trip out. I'll need to put in some effort."

Yan Kuan selected a few suitable recipes from the many, then withdrew his mind and dispersed the various phenomena. After bidding farewell to his parents, who were in quiet cultivation, he set out on another long journey.

Huanggang, Hubei, was called Huangzhou in ancient times. Huangzhou's history stretches far back, said to originate from the era of King Yu, who built an earthen city there.

The Ancient Huangzhou City lies on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, facing Ezhou across the water. Its ancient walls tell tales of historical vicissitudes. Within the vermillion city tower, a short figure cloaked in black stood in the shadows—it was Yan Kuan, who had left Jingcheng once again.

This trip to Hubei, he first visited the ancient tomb on Mount Ba Ling to check on the bat colony's reproduction. Then he came to Huanggang, Hubei, to gather the medicinal herbs he needed.

Hubei is known as Zhonghua's medicine repository, with the Jianghan Plain being one of the main herb-producing areas. Huanggang, in particular, holds the reputation of being the hometown of medicinal herbs. Yan Kuan collected many needed herbs in this city, but for the key spiritual herbs, he still had to seek out cultivation factions.

"Daoist Han, Zhang Qingyun greets you."

Yan Kuan suddenly turned around. A young man appeared at the entrance of the city tower—it was Zhang Qingyun of Dragon Tiger Mountain, who had previously interacted with Yan Kuan at the Three Pure Palace.

"Daoist Zhang, have you brought what I asked for?"

Yan Kuan walked over to Zhang Qingyun and inquired. He remained vigilant, his powerful divine sense noting another familiar aura around the ancient city walls of Huangzhou—Zhang Lingyun, the elder of Dragon Tiger Mountain and Zhang Qingyun's master.

"Daoist Han, my master ordered me to bring these for our transaction."

Zhang Qingyun took out several jade boxes without hesitation. Yan Kuan opened them to inspect—the spiritual herbs inside were intact with sufficient medicinal properties, suitable for alchemy.

"Thank you. These are the Blood Origin Pills I recently refined. However, due to time constraints, I don't have any high-grade Blood Origin Pills for now."

Yan Kuan didn't dawdle and directly handed Zhang Qingyun some porcelain bottles. After the exchange was complete, Yan Kuan prepared to leave, but Zhang Qingyun called out to stop him.

"Daoist Han, a main lineage powerhouse of the Dragon Finch Clan recently went to Jiangxi. If you have no urgent business, it's best not to enter Jiangxi. Also, if you encounter difficulties, you can seek help at any Orthodox Unity Dao temple."

Zhang Qingyun's words made Yan Kuan pause mid-step. He turned, nodded, and then vanished into the deepening darkness of the night.