"A portion of Vermillion Phoenix Blood Essence and two portions of Dragon Finch Blood Essence not only gave me two demonic flames, but also pushed my cultivation to the perfection of the Wheel Sea and condensed a Battle Crystal. That was quite a decent gain."
Yan Kuan continuously absorbed the power of the flames released from the Trigram Treasure Box, converting it into his own divine power. The Wheel Sea, which had nearly run dry from condensing the Battle Crystal, brimmed once more.
After his earlier cultivation transformation, his Wheel Sea had expanded considerably again, reaching nearly the size of a human head.
"Once orthodox Shrouding the Heavens Method cultivation reaches this stage, most people choose to open the Dao Palace Secret Realm, followed by the Four Extremes, Transforming Dragon, and Immortal Platform. They cultivate all Five Great Secret Realms simultaneously. In the end, they focus on the Immortal Platform Secret Realm, opening their own Imperial Dao after the sixth level of the Immortal Platform, the Great Saint realm."
Yan Kuan calmed his mind, sensing the Battle Crystal's effects upon his body and the changes it brought, while considering his future path of cultivation. "The cultivation system of the Battle Qi Continent, on the other hand, is much simpler and more direct. In the early stages, one focuses solely on the Battle Crystal, then cultivates spiritual power alongside it after reaching the Dou Zong realm.
After reaching the peak of Dou Saint, the soul transforms into the Emperor Realm, and one's bloodline improves and transforms to another level. After that, one must absorb the Origin energy of the plane to trigger a transformation in one's Battle Qi energy and advance to Dou Emperor. Beyond Dou Emperor, one enters the Grand Overlord system, ultimately leaving one's name on the Firmament Billboard.
The higher-level cultivation of these two systems both emphasizes mutually confirming one another with the Heavenly Dao. They have something of the same destination by different paths, but their paths in the middle stages differ somewhat. I must make a choice.
If I focus on opening the Five Great Secret Realms and follow the path of most orthodox cultivators, then my Battle Qi cultivation will inevitably be delayed. Or rather, I would need to alter the cultivation of the Burning Art again, and it would be extremely difficult to accommodate the transformation of the Battle Crystal.
However, this problem does not seem unsolvable. Battle Crystal cultivation drives the transformation of the dantian. If I focus solely on the Wheel Sea Secret Realm, the two will complement each other. Just like my breakthrough earlier, it would grant me transformations beyond anything ordinary people could imagine.
By cultivating a single Secret Realm alone, one can fully reach the level of an Ancient Great Power or even a Sage. It is merely more difficult to cultivate.
This approach is similar to the path of Extreme Realm cultivation explored by Heavenly God Academy in the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths at the end of the Chaotic Ancient era. It requires continuous sublimation at the Extreme Realm.
Just as the Wild Heaven Emperor continued cultivating and strengthening his own Heavenly Caverns after unifying ten of them, focusing solely on the Wheel Sea Secret Realm would also require constant transformation and expansion of my Wheel Sea. Perhaps I could ultimately reach a level like Celestial Worthy of Numinous Treasure's, where the Sea of Bitterness becomes a truly boundless ocean.
But such cultivation would likely consume even more resources. It would also be best to have a specialized sacred method to tap the Secret Realm's potential, allowing cultivation to proceed better and faster."
At that thought, a Dao Diagram suddenly floated before Yan Kuan's eyes. It was the gain he had previously obtained from Ye Fan: the Sacred Body lineage's great completion sacred method.
"Although the Sacred Body lineage's great completion sacred method is meant for Sacred Bodies specializing in a Secret Realm and does not match my constitution, methods for tapping Secret Realm potential must have common principles. Using this as a blueprint to derive a sacred method suited to my Wheel Sea Secret Realm should prove quite useful."
Yan Kuan began deriving the method according to the Dao Diagram. Combining it with the many Daoist texts he had studied, he managed to organize a secret art circulation route that could assist Wheel Sea cultivation. After integrating it into the Burning Art's circulation route, Yan Kuan experienced obvious results.
"What a pity. The version I organized is not even one-tenth as complex as this Dao Diagram, and the Sacred Body secret method I obtained is incomplete. If I had the complete version, the effect would surely be even better."
Greedily dissatisfied, Yan Kuan sighed and put away the Dao Diagram again. Though his gains were not that great, the issue of a sacred method for specializing in a Secret Realm had been temporarily resolved. Since he had decided to focus on the Wheel Sea Secret Realm going forward, he had to prepare early.
"After becoming a Da Dou Shi, I can make use of many alchemist techniques. With so many formulas, if I pour all kinds of cultivation-assisting pills into myself, won't my cultivation soar? In theory, I should now be able to refine fifth-grade, perhaps even sixth-grade pills."
As Yan Kuan thought, clusters of light and shadow flickered before him. These were alchemical formulas from the Flame Emperor's Legacy. Over the years, aside from cultivation, his main task had been organizing and comprehending the medicinal principles within them.
Back then, he had been able to derive the formula for the Blood Origin Pill using the sinister bats from the Ancient Tomb as the main ingredient. Part of the credit naturally went to those countless vast alchemical formulas, but his own ability to modify formulas and his knowledge of medicinal theory had also been extremely important.
"The spiritual herbs I obtained on my last trip were still too few. I'll have to put some effort into that."
Yan Kuan selected several suitable formulas from among the many recipes, then gathered his thoughts and dispersed the various phenomena. After bidding farewell to his parents, who were quietly cultivating, he set out on another journey.
Huanggang, Hubei, was known in ancient times as Huangzhou. Huangzhou had a long history, said to trace back to the era of King Yu, when King Yu's Earthen City was established.
Ancient Huangzhou City stood on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, facing Ezhou across the water. Its ancient walls spoke of history's vicissitudes. Within a vermilion watchtower, a short figure clad in a black robe stood in the shadows. It was Yan Kuan, who had once again left Jingcheng.
On this trip to Hubei, he first visited the Ancient Tomb at Mount Ba Ling to check on the breeding of the tomb bat colony. Then he came to Huanggang, Hubei, to gather the medicinal ingredients he needed.
Hubei was known as Zhonghua's medicinal treasury, and the Jianghan Plain was one of the main regions producing medicinal herbs. Huanggang in particular had earned the reputation of a land of medicinal herbs. Yan Kuan collected many of the ingredients he needed in this city, but for several crucial spiritual herbs, he still had to seek out Daoist factions.
"Daoist Han, Zhang Qingyun greets you."
Yan Kuan suddenly turned around. A young man had appeared at the entrance to the watchtower. It was Zhang Qingyun of Dragon Tiger Mountain, whom Yan Kuan had encountered previously at Three Pure Palace.
"Daoist Zhang, did you bring what I wanted?"
Yan Kuan walked to Zhang Qingyun's side and asked. He remained alert at all times. His powerful divine sense had noticed another familiar aura around the walls of Ancient Huangzhou City: Zhang Lingyun, an elder of Dragon Tiger Mountain and Zhang Qingyun's master.
"Daoist Han, these were brought by order of my master for our trade."
Zhang Qingyun straightforwardly took out several Jade Boxes. Yan Kuan opened them for inspection. The spiritual herbs inside were intact and rich in medicinal potency, suitable for alchemy.
"Thank you. These are Blood Origin Pills I recently refined. However, time was short this time, so I have no top-grade Blood Origin Pills for now."
Yan Kuan did not waste words either, directly handing Zhang Qingyun several porcelain bottles. After the two completed their exchange, Yan Kuan turned to leave, but Zhang Qingyun called out to him again.
"Daoist Han, a main-line expert of the Dragon Finch Clan has recently gone to Jiangxi. If you have no urgent business, it would be best not to enter Jiangxi. Also, should you encounter any difficulty, you may seek help at any of Orthodox Unity Dao's temples."
Zhang Qingyun's words brought Yan Kuan to a halt. He turned and nodded before vanishing into the increasingly dark night.
Before you continue