Frenzied Spirit Qi!

Flowing Frost City.

Bart's Manor.

Lei Wen sat cross-legged.

The bluestone slab beneath him seeped with a chill, just enough to soothe the restless fire in his heart.

Frenzied Spirit Qi was not thick.

It lay quietly on the wide desk.

Lei Wen closed his eyes.

The world around him darkened.

Following the secret manual's instructions, he cast aside distracting thoughts and slowly extended his mental power like tentacles.

This was no challenge for him.

The magical warning from two years ago had already proven it.

His mental power far surpassed that of ordinary people, even several times stronger than an adult's.

That was probably the benefit of being reincarnated from two lifetimes.

In the darkness.

Specks of starlike light slowly emerged.

Purple.

Like the faintest fireflies in the night sky, or glowing purple fireflies dancing through a summer night.

Fire elements.

They leaped and flickered, radiating a wild, unruly aura.

Lei Wen cautiously extended his mental power, trying to touch one of the brightest purple motes.

The first page of the manual bore a stern warning in bold letters: When drawing Qi for the first time, never be greedy.

Fire elements were naturally violent.

Once they went out of control, fragile meridians would instantly be burned to ashes.

Closer.

Closer still.

Just as Lei Wen's mental power was about to touch that fire element—

Bang!

Lei Wen suddenly felt the back of his right hand burn fiercely.

The pain was like someone pressing a scorching-hot branding iron viciously against his palm.

"Damn—"

Lei Wen grunted, nearly crying out.

The birthmark that had been quietly lying on the back of his hand suddenly blazed with purple light.

If Lei Wen opened his eyes now, he would see that the birthmark was glowing with a faint purple radiance, outlining a grotesque, gaping mouth.

A terrifying suction force suddenly erupted from the back of his hand.

Lei Wen did not need to guide it carefully at all.

That suction force was utterly unreasonable, savage beyond belief.

The fire-element motes drifting through the air, which had ignored Lei Wen's summons—

Seemed to have encountered a natural enemy. They wanted to flee, but could not resist that terrifying pulling force.

"Whoosh—"

The curtains fluttered as the air stirred.

Barte Lei, standing nearby to protect him, felt his eyelids twitch wildly.

As a Ninth Rank Warrior, his perception of the surrounding environment was exceptionally sharp.

He could clearly sense that all the fire elements within ten meters were converging on Lei Wen at an almost frantic speed.

That intensity...

That speed...

Even a genius cultivating Frenzied Spirit Qi could not create such a massive disturbance upon drawing Qi for the first time.

"This is bad!"

Barte Lei was alarmed.

Was this brat planning to swallow every fire element around him in one gulp?

Even an adult's meridians could not withstand such a violent torrent of elemental fire.

Barte Lei instinctively raised his hand, intending to forcibly interrupt Lei Wen's cultivation.

Better to suffer a backlash than explode and die!

But just as his palm was about to touch Lei Wen's shoulder—

Barte Lei stopped.

He looked at Lei Wen's face.

There was no pain.

No grimace.

Only... a hint of comfort and enjoyment?

Barte Lei's hand froze in midair, his old face full of shock.

What was going on?

Inside Lei Wen's body.

An utterly incomprehensible scene was unfolding.

The violent fire elements surged into his meridians like a flood bursting through a dam.

Had it been an ordinary person, their meridians would have shattered inch by inch by now.

But the instant those fire elements touched the birthmark on the back of Lei Wen's hand, they were filtered once by an invisible force.

The originally violent, restless fire elements, filled with searing pain, immediately became as docile as lambs.

The impurities were removed, leaving only the purest, most refined energy.

That energy flowed through his arm meridians, charging ahead like a bamboo shoot splitting stone.

Crack!

Crack!

Before that stream of power.

Lei Wen's somewhat blocked meridians were instantly forced open, like rotten wood.

Did it hurt?

A little.

But what he felt more was sheer delight!

Like taking a gulp of iced plum juice in the height of summer.

Or finally taking a piss after holding it in for three days!

Refreshing!

Purple fire-colored energy rushed through his body, eventually flowing into the sea of Qi in his Dantian.

It spun.

Contracted.

A pale purple Qi vortex slowly took shape.

Lei Wen could feel his body undergoing a silent transformation.

Every cell cheered, greedily devouring that energy.

Even his physical strength rose noticeably from its original foundation.

So this was Spirit Qi?

The seed of transcendent power?

Lei Wen was ecstatic.

But he did not lose his head. He immediately steadied his mind and guided the energy along the circulation route described in Frenzied Spirit Qi.

One cycle.

Two cycles.

Thirty-six cycles!

A full thirty-six Infernal Realm cycles!

When the last strand of fire element was fully refined and merged into the Qi vortex in his Dantian—

The Qi vortex was no longer a mere illusion. It had become several times more solid, radiating scorching heat.

The birthmark on the back of his hand slowly dimmed.

The burning sensation faded, returning to its original ordinary appearance.

But Lei Wen could sense that it was not truly asleep.

Like a beast that had eaten its fill, it was smacking its lips, waiting for its next meal.

Lei Wen slowly opened his eyes.

A flash of purple light seemed to flicker through his pupils.

"Whoosh—"

He let out a long breath.

It was the impurities expelled from his body, instantly vaporized by the high-temperature Spirit Qi.

Lei Wen rose and stretched.

Crack, crack, crack.

His entire skeleton erupted with sounds like firecrackers.

At this moment, he felt filled with power.

Not the brute strength of muscle and bone.

But a force with explosive power and far greater destructive potential.

He looked to the side.

Barte Lei was staring at him as though he had seen a monster.

This manor lord, who had slaughtered men by the thousands on the battlefield—

Now stood with his mouth slightly open and his eyes dull, completely stripped of his usual majesty.

"Father?"

Lei Wen called out tentatively.

Barte Lei suddenly snapped back to his senses, the muscles on his face twitching.

"You... succeeded?"

The facts were right before him.

Yet Barte Lei still found it hard to believe.

"I think so."

Lei Wen raised his right hand.

With a thought.

The Qi vortex in his Dantian suddenly turned.

A warm current instantly surged toward his fingertips.

Buzz!

A faint purple glow instantly enveloped his palm.

The glow was extremely thin, yet remarkably stable, radiating a heart-stirring warmth.

"Spirit Qi projection?"

"No, this is the sign of Spirit Qi tempering the body..."

Barte Lei's eyes nearly bulged from their sockets.

He grabbed Lei Wen's wrist and pressed his six thick fingers against Lei Wen's pulse.

A gentle stream of Spirit Qi entered Lei Wen's body.

The next second.

Barte Lei's hand jerked back as though he had been electrocuted.

"First Rank Warrior!"

Even his voice had changed, cracking at the end.

How was that possible?

Even the most gifted geniuses—

Upon sensing the elements for the first time, successfully drawing Qi into their bodies was already impressive enough.

After that came the slow work: accumulating Spirit Qi day after day, opening the meridians, and filling the sea of Qi.

Even Barte Lei himself had spent a full three months before successfully drawing Qi into his body and cultivating to First Rank Warrior.

But this brat?

He had sat there without moving, for less than half an hour.

He had skipped the stages of drawing Qi, accumulation, and opening the meridians.

One step to the finish!

He had directly entered the realm of a First Rank Warrior!

Doge Bart was actually human?

Bart looked down at the child who had only reached his waist.

Barte Lei's face broke into a smile.

Naturally, it did.

The Bart family finally had someone worthy of pride. How could he not be proud?

But more than that, he felt a deep sense of frustration.

He, Barte Lei Bart, was at least an Infernal Realm genius, yet today, his own eight-year-old son had beaten him so thoroughly that he had nothing left to say.

"Father!"

"Is there a problem?"

Lei Wen blinked, looking completely innocent.

Of course, he could not say that it was because of the power of the Infernal Realm on the back of his hand.

A man was innocent, but possession of a treasure brought guilt.

Even before his own father, some secrets were best kept buried in his stomach.

"No problem."

"Not only is there no problem, it's... exceedingly good."

Barte Lei turned around, unwilling to let his son see the complicated expression on his face.

He raised his head toward the sky, trying to suppress the final trace of dignity he had as a father.

"Listen."

Barte Lei suddenly turned back around.

His expression was incomparably stern, his gaze fixed firmly on Lei Wen.

"What happened today must not be mentioned to anyone!"

"That includes your mother, as well as your sister Annia."

"If anyone asks, tell them... it took you three months to become a formal knight!"

The waters of the Jade Rabbit Kingdom ran deep.

Before one had fully grown.

For a genius who surpassed monsters, what often awaited them was not glory, but death.

Jealousy.

Lei Wen nodded solemnly.

"Father!"

"I understand!"