Dragon-Subduing Cycle

Little Bug replied, "Though the Qian-Li Fire Serpents are immensely powerful, they are not flying swords after all. They lack sharpness, and wielding them still feels somewhat lacking."

Zhu Ying smiled. "Flying swords are hard to come by. Ordinary sword immortals can only gather the five metals themselves and fire up a furnace to smelt and forge them. But my family has several in storage. I'll give you one when we return."

Little Bug was just about to decline. After all, he knew that even his master, Xiao Nan, had possessed only one flying sword. After losing it, the eldest brother had been heartsick over it and still intended to go back and search for it.

Then Zhu Ying suddenly said, "Oh, right. I once heard a sea-patrolling yaksha say that sword qi had shot into the skies above No-Return Reef in the East Sea, illuminating the Dipper and the Ox. But divine swords choose their masters. Eldest Brother and Second Brother went several times without finding it. I'll take you there to try your luck later."

"If luck fails us, we can go pick one from the Dragon Palace."

Little Bug agreed, thinking, There's no harm in trying for an ownerless thing.

As the two sides traded spells, the Black Eagle Demon King racked his brains for a way to defeat his enemy, while Little Bug was also considering how to swiftly win this battle. His true qi was already beginning to run short; after all, he had not yet even completed a single cycle of magical power.

The Qian-Li Fire Serpents counter cloud qi. I wonder if they can merge with the bronze ring?

If I could attach one fire serpent to the bronze ring, would it become more powerful?

It was a wild notion, but once it occurred to him, he had to try it. He summoned a Qian-Li Fire Serpent, then took out the bronze ring. With a twist of his finger, the fire serpent coiled around it.

This bronze ring had been a magical treasure painstakingly refined by Fei Yan, the Great Strength Ghost King, leader of the Ten Ghosts of West Mountain, from gathered red-copper essence. Fei Yan had come from an unorthodox school, yet what he had learned was orthodox Daoist arts, so he had also refined it using the Heaven-Mixing Talisman.

Limited by his cultivation, Little Bug had never been able to draw much power from this treasure. Yet it had nearly injured Sun Yougui's Flying Yaksha back then, so its foundation was by no means poor.

As the Qian-Li Fire Serpent wound around it, the bronze ring immediately turned red-hot and began to emit wisps of black smoke. Little Bug thought it could not withstand the tempering, but to his surprise, after the fire serpent had coiled around it for a while, the bronze ring instead gleamed with dazzling essence, as though it had shed its mortal shell and been reborn.

What he did not know was just how formidable the Primordial Sect's Qianli Sevenfold-Mystery True Fire was. These seven fire serpents had been born from the refined essence of Qian-Li True Fire. It was equivalent to refining this magical treasure anew, raising its power by a full measure.

After waiting a while, Little Bug silently sensed the ring. Besides the talisman already within it, there was now another. The Qian-Li Fire Serpent dwelled inside, blending with it like water and milk, perfectly fused without the slightest gap.

Little Bug thought, Did I accidentally stumble into the right method?

He tried throwing out the bronze ring. It buzzed loudly, expanding into a golden hoop as large as a cartwheel. It shot forth like lightning, bypassed the two fire serpents, and smashed viciously into the Black Eagle Demon King's forehead.

Ring-shaped treasures refined through the Qiankun Ring Method were light as lampwick grass, heavy as mountains, and extraordinarily hard. They were treasures made solely for smashing and striking.

Wang Chong's cultivation was insufficient, but the Qian-Li Fire Serpent's heat was fully developed. That blow sent golden light bursting from the Black Eagle Demon King, and half his face caved in.

The Black Eagle Demon King let out a shriek and reached to grab it, but Little Bug had already recalled the bronze ring.

Watching from the side, Zhu Ying had seen Wang Chong place a fire serpent on the bronze ring and burn it wildly, without understanding what he was trying to do. Only when Little Bug threw out the treasure, its dazzling golden light smashing the Black Eagle Demon King hard, did she cry out in shock, "How did you know a magical treasure could be refined this way?"

Little Bug replied, "I was only trying it. Who knew it would work?"

Having tasted success once, he raised the bronze ring again. It was still swift as lightning. Now wary, the Black Eagle Demon King split off one eagle claw to seize it, but the bronze ring smashed into his hand with a crisp crack, snapping off one of his fingers.

That was because Little Bug had refined the treasure haphazardly and could only use the Qian-Li Fire Serpent's magical power to drive the bronze ring, unable to unleash the fire serpent's own might. Otherwise, its power would have been far greater still.

The Black Eagle Demon King had already been struggling greatly against the two fire serpents. Now that Little Bug had another magical treasure, he was immediately overwhelmed. After being smashed twice in succession, fear rose in his heart. Seeing Little Bug raise the bronze ring once more, he hastily withdrew his spell and returned to his original form—a black-feathered eagle with wings spread over ten zhang wide—then flew more than ten li away in a single breath.

Little Bug lacked experience in spell battles and did not dare let the fire serpents pursue freely. Taking the opportunity to recall them, he thought, My experience is lacking, and my magical power is weak. I shouldn't have greedily pressed for victory and let a small horse stumble.

Having repelled formidable enemies such as Sun Yougui and the Black Eagle Demon King twice in a row with the Qian-Li Fire Serpents, Little Bug gradually realized that the seven fire serpents he had obtained were extraordinary in nature.

He no longer dared return to Egret Academy. If he let his guard down and was ambushed by that demon, the consequences would be impossible to predict. Riding the fire serpents, he took Zhu Ying far away, returned to the pool, and dived beneath its waters.

Xiao Nan had still not returned, but this time Zhu Xiong and Lu Xuansheng had come back. The two seemed to have fought a spell battle with someone and were rather badly injured. Zhu Xiong's arm was covered in medicinal ointment, while several bloody scratches had appeared on Lu Xuansheng's face.

Seeing her second brother injured, Zhu Ying became worried and asked, "Second Brother, how did you get hurt?"

Zhu Xiong said, "I fought someone and carelessly lost a move."

"Recently, the Langhuan Celestial Stele seems to have changed. The formation that reverses space has frequently failed. White Spider Elder has already been gravely wounded. Once we recover, we must go try our luck again."

Zhu Ying tried to persuade him several times, but Zhu Xiong would not listen. With no other choice, she got angry with her second brother and sulkily stopped interfering.

Wang Chong was not familiar with Zhu Xiong, so he sensibly stayed out of the matter. After Zhu Xiong spent several days recovering, he left again with Lu Xuansheng. Wang Chong simply devoted himself to cultivation within the water palace.

Another half month passed. One night, Little Bug suddenly gained an insight. With a clear cry, he successively burst open seven or eight acupoints, completing the first cycle of the Great Five-Element Qi Refinement Art in one stroke and formally stepping into the ranks of cultivators.

With the Five-Terrace Sect's Great Five-Element Qi Refinement Art, every completed cycle brought a new mystery. Once the Dragon-Subduing Cycle was complete, magical power could form its own circulation, gaining the wonder of endless generation. One could also transform magical power into the shape of a dragon and spit it out to strike others. This was a spell that came with the Great Five-Element Qi Refinement Art.

As his first cycle of magical power reached completion, the several spells Wang Chong had mastered likewise grew in power. However, he had not yet had the chance to test them, so he did not know what changes they had undergone.

Hearing Little Bug's clear cry, Zhu Ying hurried over. Seeing the clear radiance of magical power above his head, faintly forming the shape of a flood dragon, she was greatly shocked and cried, "Brother Chong! You completed the Dragon-Subduing Grand Cycle?"

Little Bug nodded and replied, "My progress had been slow these past days, but just now I suddenly gained some insight. In one breath, I opened the last few apertures of the spirit, and so completed the Dragon-Subduing Cycle."

Zhu Ying was speechless for a long while!

She had originally thought Little Bug's talent for qi refinement was about equal to hers. Later, she thought his talent was only slightly better than hers. But only now did she realize how utterly wrong she had been.

"Brother Chong is simply born to walk the Dao. In another year or two, I fear you'll be stronger than me."