Heavenly Flame Qi Refining Tower

Heavenly Flame Qi Refining Tower

Standing atop a small hill, Xiao Ling looked ahead. Before his eyes lay a sunken stretch of terrain, and within that depression, an enormous black tower was buried deep underground, with only its pointed tip and a pitch-black entrance exposed above the surface. This was the essence of the Inner Academy—the Heavenly Flame Qi Refining Tower.

The entrance to the Heavenly Flame Qi Refining Tower was already surrounded by a dense crowd. The sight made Xiao Ling truly realize just how popular the tower was within the Inner Academy.

Without hesitating any further, Xiao Ling squeezed into the crowd. Relying on his formidable physical strength, he quickly forced his way to the front and found an open patch with few people standing around.

Seeing the Heavenly Flame Qi Refining Tower from closer up, Xiao Ling noticed that the space around the tower seemed faintly distorted and wrinkled.

This spatial lock must have been left behind by Mang Tianchi long ago. After all this time, he never came back to maintain it. Han Feng casually brought a few Dou Huangs and broke it. Recalling the plot of the original novel, Xiao Ling grumbled inwardly.

Time trickled away as they waited.

Dong!

An ancient bell toll suddenly rang out across the area. As it sounded, the noisy chatter instantly came to an abrupt halt.

"Open the tower!"

After the bell faded, an aged voice seemed to drift out from within the tower.

Not long after the old voice fell silent, the tightly shut black doors slowly opened with a creak. A faintly scorching aura seeped out, causing the temperature in the area to rise slightly.

"Enter the tower!"

The aged voice rang out once more. The sound of rushing wind followed as countless figures shot toward the tower gate like a tidal wave.

Seeing this, Xiao Ling also set off toward the tower. Remembering that newcomers would feel uncomfortable upon entering for the first time, he took out a Third-grade Calming Heart Pill and popped it into his mouth, planning to swallow it if he felt unwell.

The instant Xiao Ling's feet landed on the ground beyond the tower gate, his body abruptly froze. His fair face turned red like burning charcoal, while wisps of pale vapor seeped out from his body with sizzling sounds like roasting meat.

Sensing the abnormality in his body, Xiao Ling did not hesitate. He immediately swallowed the Calming Heart Pill in his mouth, and the discomfort inside him vanished at once. He felt clear-minded and refreshed.

Although the abnormal reaction had temporarily disappeared, Xiao Ling could still sense a cluster of strange flames that had inexplicably appeared within his body. The flames were formless, colorless, and intangible. They should have been a fragment of the Fallen Heart Flame. He needed to find a room and cultivate for a while, allowing his body to adapt as quickly as possible. Otherwise, once the Calming Heart Pill's effects wore off, his body would be harmed. At best, he would need several days of rest; at worst, his meridians would be damaged, leaving him unable to cultivate Dou Qi.

What was the academy thinking? They didn't even warn the new students about this danger. If I hadn't read the original novel and prepared beforehand, then without Heavenly Flames protecting my body like Xiao Yan, I might have been seriously injured right away.

Some people nearby recognized Xiao Ling. They knew he was the one who had robbed the Senior Students of all their Fire Energy during the Fire Energy Hunt Competition. Seeing his earlier reaction at the entrance to the Heavenly Flame Qi Refining Tower, they had stopped to watch with glee. So what if his talent was exceptional? Wouldn't he still have to suffer before the Heavenly Flame Qi Refining Tower?

It seemed these people had long known what Xiao Ling would encounter after entering, yet deliberately chose not to tell him. They simply wanted to see him make a fool of himself.

Yet to their surprise, Xiao Ling broke free from the heartfire's burning in an instant. Back then, they had all suffered badly here before they could enter and cultivate.

Xiao Ling cast a faint glance at those hoping to see him embarrass himself, then walked straight into the Heavenly Flame Qi Refining Tower.

"Damn, how did he recover in an instant?"

"He actually escaped the heartfire's burning on his own. How did he do that?"

"Is this the difference between geniuses and us?"

It was Xiao Ling's first time entering the Heavenly Flame Qi Refining Tower, which was buried underground with only its tip exposed. The spaciousness within the tower greatly exceeded his expectations. As he walked along, Xiao Ling discovered that the first floor alone seemed large enough for five hundred people to cultivate simultaneously.

Within the circular tower interior stood cultivation rooms of varying sizes. However, most of them were already occupied. Small red plaques hung above the doors, each bearing different words. Xiao Ling paused to examine them and found that they were marked high-grade, mid-grade, and low-grade, representing three different tiers. These were presumably the rankings of the cultivation rooms within the Heavenly Flame Qi Refining Tower.

As he slowly walked from east to south, Xiao Ling found that all the high-grade cultivation rooms were located near the center of the tower. Mid-grade rooms were distributed around their outskirts, while low-grade rooms lay even farther out.

Looking at these cultivation rooms, Xiao Ling muttered inwardly, The Fire Energy cost on the first floor is the same, yet the academy has still divided the cultivation rooms into ranks. There must be plenty of fights here every day over the better rooms. Jia Nan Academy truly displays the law of the strong devouring the weak to the fullest.

As he walked, Xiao Ling suddenly came to a halt. Looking ahead, he realized that he had reached the center of the tower...

Xiao Ling stared in astonishment at the bottomless black hole before him. He slowly stepped forward twice, arriving at its edge, then cautiously glanced down. Pitch-black darkness stretched all the way to the limit of his sight. That bizarre darkness, almost entirely devoid of light, made his head feel slightly dizzy.

This black hole seemed to run through the entire Heavenly Flame Qi Refining Tower. If not for the tower tip covering it, this dark and deep pit might have been visible at a glance from the sky.

If one sensed carefully, the air within this dark abyss seemed far hotter than elsewhere. It felt as though something at the bottom of the pit was continuously releasing heat to supply the entire Heavenly Flame Qi Refining Tower.

This should be the passage leading to the Underground Magma World. Inside are two Fallen Heart Flames, a Dou Zun soul, countless Flame Lizardmen, a nine-star Dou Sheng Ancient Void Dragon, and the Ancient Emperor's Cave Mansion that countless people dream of. Thinking of the opportunities within, Xiao Ling's heart grew somewhat heated.

Shaking his head, he stopped thinking about such things. He was only a small Da Dou Shi right now. He did not even possess the strength to approach the opportunities inside. For the moment, he still needed to raise his own strength as quickly as possible.