Cultivating the Flame Mantra

Xiao Jie regained his focus; now that he had become a Dou Practitioner, he could begin cultivating the Flame Mantra.

With that thought, he sat cross-legged beside the hot spring, the contents of the Flame Mantra surfacing in his mind.

Although this cultivation method was currently only at the Low Huang Tier, it could evolve by devouring Heavenly Flames. Furthermore, within the same tier, no other cultivation method in this world could compare to it.

Time slipped away. Half a day passed before Xiao Jie opened his eyes, a flicker of red light appearing in his gaze. He opened his right hand and struck out with his palm; a large tree nearby collapsed with a roar. Even without using a Dou Technique, the power was quite impressive.

The power is not bad at all. This cultivation method provides a significant boost to fire-attribute energy, but aside from my cultivation base and the Flame Mantra I just learned, I don't know a single Dou Technique.

Thinking this, Xiao Jie felt a bit awkward. He hadn't wanted to learn Huang Tier Dou Techniques because he looked down on them, and Xuan Tier techniques were unsuitable for those below the Dou Practitioner level, so he had focused solely on raising his cultivation base, which was why he had advanced to Dou Practitioner in a mere three years.

While the Simulator was excellent, it did not directly increase his cultivation base; it was more like a high-level support tool that ensured he wasn't short on resources. The simulations over the past three years had yielded several pills for boosting cultivation, but none were suitable for someone below the Dou Practitioner level. Only two portions of Qi Gathering Powder were usable, and he had already consumed one.

Now that Xiao Jie was a Dou Practitioner and had begun cultivating the Flame Mantra, he could start planning for the future.

First, he needed to cultivate Dou Techniques to arm himself, and second, he could begin refining pills to improve his rank as an alchemist.

Over these three years, aside from cultivating, Xiao Jie had spent his time studying alchemical knowledge. He had memorized the insights of a Fourth-Tier Alchemist obtained from the Simulator until he knew them by heart; all he lacked was practice.

As for medicinal herbs and gold coins, Xiao Jie had obtained quite a lot from the Simulator. Although most of the herbs were precious, he had over three million gold coins, which was more than enough to buy herbs for practice.

With that decided, Xiao Jie stood up and headed toward the herb shops, no longer in the mood to soak in the hot spring.

Before long, Xiao Jie arrived at the largest herb shop in Wutan City.

"Shopkeeper, prepare ten portions of the herbs on this list."

Xiao Jie said to the shopkeeper.

"Yes, Young Master Xiao Jie, I will prepare them for you immediately. Please wait a moment."

"And bring Young Master Xiao Jie some tea!"

The shopkeeper commanded a maidservant.

"Yes."

After Xiao Jie sat down, the maidservant came over to pour tea. Ever since he had revealed his talent over a year ago, the entire Wutan City had known that the Xiao Clan had produced another genius. Although Xiao Jie kept a low profile, his appearance had been noted by all the major factions in Wutan City.

The shopkeeper of this largest herb shop in Wutan City was naturally no exception. The maidservant might not know, but as a shopkeeper, he naturally had to be aware of important figures.

Soon, the shopkeeper emerged from the back. After all, these were not rare herbs; they were merely materials for refining First-Tier Rejuvenation Pills and First-Tier Qi Recovery Pills, which were not difficult to find.

"Young Master Xiao Jie, the herbs you requested are all in this Storage Ring. It comes to forty-seven thousand eight hundred gold coins in total, but you can just pay forty-seven thousand."

"Hmm, the quality is good."

Xiao Jie said after inspecting the herbs. He then handed his card to the shopkeeper and stored the herbs into his own Storage Ring. The shopkeeper quickly settled the account.

"Young Master Xiao Jie, here is your gold card. Please keep it safe. If you have any needs in the future, you can simply send a servant, and I will have the herbs delivered to your residence."

"Understood. I will return when I have used these up."

With that, Xiao Jie turned and left.

Watching Xiao Jie's departing back, the shopkeeper thought to himself:

Why would he buy so many herbs at once? Does the Xiao Clan have an alchemist? I heard Xiao Jie has a fire-attribute Dou Qi; could he be trying to become an alchemist himself?

Thinking of this, he concluded that he absolutely must not offend this person. Not to mention Xiao Jie's terrifying cultivation talent, if he were to become an alchemist, it would be even more impossible to have a bad relationship with him.