Leave of Absence / The Jiama Empire

"Wuu~"

The Heavenly Dipper Earth Tiger let out a miserable shriek. Its massive body was blasted away before crashing heavily onto the ground. After twitching a few times, it fell silent.

Looking at the mangled Heavenly Dipper Earth Tiger on the ground, Qin Chen wiped the sweat from his forehead and nodded in satisfaction. This Earth Grade Dou Technique was indeed extraordinarily powerful. With just one move, it had slain the Heavenly Dipper Earth Tiger, a beast renowned for its defense.

The Eight Wastes Burning Heaven Palm was a mid-level Earth Grade Dou Technique, earned by Qin Chen through his long-term efforts refining fifth-grade and higher pills for the academy.

With this, he had gained the capital to run rampant in the Jia Ma Empire, where Xuan Grade cultivation methods and Dou Techniques were generally the norm.

At that moment, Zi Yan, who had been hiding in the shadows, also came to Qin Chen's side. The little girl glanced at the corpse on the ground, surprise flashing through her clear eyes. Then she looked at Qin Chen and said, "I didn't expect you to be so powerful. You killed this big fellow in one blow."

At those words, Zi Yan felt utterly depressed. When they had first met, she had been a Dou Wang while Qin Chen had only been a Da Dou Shi, unable to withstand even a single punch from her. Now Qin Chen had already cultivated to the Dou Wang realm, yet she was still a Dou Wang.

Qin Chen smiled faintly and descended to the ground with Zi Yan. As he cleaned up the Heavenly Dipper Earth Tiger's corpse, he explained, "You're still in your juvenile stage. On top of that, your true form is a magical beast, so it's perfectly normal for your cultivation speed to be slower. Once your body fully develops, your cultivation speed will surely advance by leaps and bounds."

Hearing this, the gloom on Zi Yan's little face faded considerably. Her large eyes blinked for a while before she revealed a sly smile. "In that case, you should make me more delicious food. I want to grow up quickly. Then, whoever bullies you, I'll beat them up for you. Hehe..."

"You little girl." Seeing Zi Yan practically drooling, Qin Chen could not help but laugh.

After storing the Heavenly Dipper Earth Tiger's corpse in his Storage Ring, Qin Chen dusted himself off and said to Zi Yan beside him, "All right, let's go see what treasure that big fellow was guarding."

With that, the two set off toward the mountain range nearby. Before long, they arrived at a cave concealed by vines.

Qin Chen scanned the cave with his soul power. Only after confirming that it was safe did he reach out, pull aside the vines, and lead Zi Yan into the entrance.

The moment they entered, they caught a faint fragrance. Zi Yan's nose twitched, and her watery eyes immediately lit up. Qin Chen, meanwhile, was overjoyed, because the instant the fragrance entered his body, he felt a slight tremor in his soul.

The cave was not particularly deep, and the two soon reached its end. A smooth stone platform came into view. Growing upon it was a lotus, emerald green throughout, its petals dotted with golden patterns. The faint fragrance was emanating from it.

The Clear Aperture Soul-Nurturing Lotus!

This was an extremely precious medicinal ingredient. Like the Seven-Illusion Green Spirit Saliva from the original work, its effects targeted the soul. However, the Seven-Illusion Green Spirit Saliva was mainly used to restore soul power, while the Clear Aperture Soul-Nurturing Lotus could directly strengthen it!

Qin Chen swallowed, forcefully suppressing the excitement in his heart. He took out a jade longsword and a jade box from his Storage Ring. Such heavenly treasures required special containers for preservation, or their medicinal potency would easily dissipate.

Qin Chen slowly stepped forward and gently severed the roots of the Clear Aperture Soul-Nurturing Lotus. Only then did he carefully place it into the jade box, close the lid, and store the box in his Storage Ring.

After doing all this, even with Qin Chen's composure, he could not help bursting into laughter.

Zi Yan, standing nearby, was thoroughly puzzled. Tilting her little head, she asked, "Qin Chen, what kind of treasure is that? How can it make you so happy?"

Looking at Zi Yan's curious face, Qin Chen's smile did not fade as he patiently explained, "This lotus is called the Clear Aperture Soul-Nurturing Lotus. It is a heavenly treasure capable of directly strengthening soul power."

"Ah, you wouldn't like hearing about these medicinal principles anyway. You only need to know that after I take it, I'll be able to make even more delicious food."

Zi Yan truly had no interest in medicinal theory and treated his earlier words as mere background noise. But his latter words made her eyes light up. She hurriedly grabbed Qin Chen's sleeve. "Really? Then let's hurry back. I want to eat something delicious."

"Mm, it looks like it'll be dark soon. In that case, let's head back."

Heaven-Burning Qi Refining Tower, Cultivation Room No. 1.

At that moment, Qin Chen sat cross-legged inside the room. A black medicinal cauldron stood before him, several precious medicinal ingredients lay on the ground, and he held a prescription scroll in his hand.

"The Clear Aperture Soul-Nurturing Lotus can be taken as a medicinal liquid after being blended with supplementary ingredients. It can directly strengthen soul power. The formula is as follows..." After studying the prescription once more, Qin Chen took a deep breath, removed the Clear Aperture Soul-Nurturing Lotus from its jade box, and tossed it into the cauldron.

The instant the emerald lotus entered the cauldron, a mass of crimson flames swiftly enveloped it. As the temperature continued to rise, the Clear Aperture Soul-Nurturing Lotus gradually melted under the intense heat, releasing strands of strange, faint fragrance.

This fragrance not only carried the freshness of vegetation but also contained a power that soothed the mind. The instant it entered his body, Qin Chen felt as though even his soul had been sublimated.

Once the essence of the Clear Aperture Soul-Nurturing Lotus had been extracted, it had to be blended quickly, or its medicinal properties would rapidly dissipate. Unlike refining Earth Core Soul Marrow, he could not use tiny samples for trial and error. In other words, Qin Chen only had one chance. If he failed, all his efforts would be wasted.

Fortunately, blending the Clear Aperture Soul-Nurturing Lotus was not complicated. Only a few supplementary ingredients were needed, and he simply had to add them in sequence according to the prescription. The difficulty was not even comparable to refining some Fourth-Grade Pills.

As time passed, the lotus in the cauldron swiftly withered and gradually turned into a pool of emerald liquid with golden hues, floating at the center of the cauldron. The faint fragrance it released also grew increasingly rich.

Qin Chen's gaze sharpened. He swiftly added the several precious medicinal ingredients on the ground into the cauldron one after another, following the order listed in the prescription.

What followed was an exceedingly tedious refining process. Qin Chen focused completely, controlling the beast flame to refine the medicinal liquid within the cauldron. Earlier, he had merely extracted the ingredients. Now, he needed to slowly remove every impurity from the liquid.

A day gradually passed amid the tedious process. The refining process might have been simple, but it was extremely time-consuming.

On the third day of refining, Qin Chen finally opened his tightly shut eyes. With a wave of his hand, a mass of emerald medicinal liquid, with golden radiance flowing within it, flew out of the cauldron and hovered quietly before him.

"After working so hard for so long, I've finally refined you." Looking at the successfully refined medicinal liquid before him, Qin Chen was overwhelmed with excitement.

But when he thought of the hardship of the past three days, Qin Chen could not help sighing. "If I had a Heavenly Flame, why would I need to spend so long refining this?"

"Still, once I refine you, I'll be one step closer to a Heavenly Flame."

As his words fell, Qin Chen opened his mouth and swallowed the mass of emerald medicinal liquid. He then closed his eyes and began absorbing its potency.

Leave of Absence

The instant the medicinal liquid entered his body, a gentle yet vast warm current rapidly spread through his limbs and bones. It then transformed into a strange mist that surged toward Qin Chen's brow, nourishing his soul.

Qin Chen could clearly feel the mist slowly seeping into the depths of his soul, intertwining and merging with his soul power. Every fusion made his soul perception sharper, while an indescribable sense of comfort rose from the depths of his soul.

As the mist continued to nourish him, Qin Chen's soul strength increased at a visible rate, and a faint glow gradually radiated from between his brows.

At a certain moment, the strange mist was finally completely absorbed by his soul. A muffled sound came from within his body, and Qin Chen abruptly opened his eyes.

Bang!

A powerful soul fluctuation erupted from Qin Chen's body, sending out layer after layer of ripples that slammed heavily into the cultivation room's walls. Fortunately, the room was made of special materials and blocked all of his soul fluctuations.

Qin Chen nodded in satisfaction. His mind now felt incomparably clear. "Not bad. It seems my previous efforts weren't wasted."

"I wonder what realm my soul power has reached now."

Although Jia Nan Academy had a rich collection, it had no records regarding soul realms. Thus, Qin Chen could not determine the exact level of his current soul power. However, he could clearly sense that his soul power alone was enough to contend with a Low-Rank Dou Emperor.

Feeling his vastly increased soul power, Qin Chen murmured, "With my current soul realm, refining Sixth-Grade Pills should not be a problem. As for the so-called Tier 7, the Dou Qi of a Dou Wang is still insufficient to support the refinement of such high-grade pills."

"Still, I didn't expect this improvement in my soul realm to bring me an unexpected delight as well."

With a light brush of his finger over his Storage Ring, the Fire Energy Card turned into a streak of light and slid into the cultivation room's card slot. Clusters of invisible Heart Fire surged out from all around, instantly filling the entire cultivation room.

Qin Chen took a deep breath, swiftly formed cultivation hand seals, and circulated his cultivation method as he entered a cultivation state.

As everyone knew, an increase in Dou Qi level would drive an increase in soul power, and the reverse was also true. Just now, Qin Chen had sensed a subtle change in the Dou Qi within his body. The bottleneck of his Four-Star Dou Wang realm showed signs of loosening!

With his soul power improved, Qin Chen's control over his Dou Qi became increasingly precise, and his cultivation speed also rose greatly. The aura emanating from his body grew stronger and steadier.

Half a month passed quickly. Today, Qin Chen received an important piece of news: the long-legged beauty named Xiao Yu from the outer academy had requested leave from the academy, saying that she was returning to her clan to attend an adulthood ceremony.

Qin Chen rubbed his chin, carefully recalling the original timeline as he thought to himself:

"After Xiao Yu returns, she'll stay in the Xiao Clan for around half a year. Only then will she follow the recruitment team heading to Wutan City back to the academy. Xiao Yan will also successfully enroll at Jia Nan Academy at that time, and after enrolling, he'll head directly into the Magical Beast Mountain Range to cultivate."

"Mm, it's time to set out for the Jia Ma Empire. With my current Five-Star Dou Wang strength, along with soul power far beyond that of ordinary people, I can travel unimpeded through the Jia Ma Empire."

Qin Chen knew that as long as he invested a little in Xiao Yan, he could make a fortune just like Hai Bodong had in the original work. However, the moment that idea surfaced, he extinguished it.

That approach indeed offered great returns and little risk, but it left only a slim hope of reaching the Dou Di realm, much less the Ruler realm of the Great Thousand World.

As for intercepting the young mistress of the Gu Clan or Yao Lao, that was even more impossible. Qin Chen had already missed the best opportunity. Trying it now would simply be courting death.

Qin Chen's eyes sharpened as he thought to himself, Rather than rely on others, I should forge my own path to strength.

If transmigrating could not make him stronger, he might as well turn to dust!

The next morning, Qin Chen arrived at Great Elder Su Qian's office.

"You want to request leave to go out?" Su Qian looked at the young man before him with a face full of confusion.

Qin Chen nodded, his expression earnest. "That's right, Great Elder. This student has recently encountered a bottleneck in cultivation, so I wish to travel outside and seek an opportunity for a breakthrough."

This was naturally a lie. With Qin Chen's talent, he would not encounter any cultivation bottlenecks before reaching the Dou Zong realm. However, the classic plot of "thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river" had already begun. He had to get to the Jia Ma Empire as soon as possible and secure some precious opportunities.

Su Qian clearly sensed that something was amiss. His brows furrowed slightly as his gaze swept across Qin Chen's calm face, as if trying to see something in his eyes.

"Ah..."

After a moment, Su Qian sighed softly and waved his hand. "Forget it. You've always had your own ideas. Since that is the case, this old man approves your request. How long do you plan to be away?"

"About two or three years," Qin Chen replied.

"Two or three years?"

Hearing that length of time, Su Qian frowned again, clearly finding it somewhat too long. But since he had already agreed, it would not be appropriate to go back on his word. He merely reminded him, "When traveling and training outside, remember to be careful in all things. The outside world is far more complicated than the academy. Do not let down your guard."

As he spoke, Su Qian took out a green jade token and handed it to Qin Chen. "This is the academy's travel token. If you encounter trouble you cannot resolve, display this token. In this northwestern region, Jia Nan Academy's name still carries considerable weight."

Qin Chen accepted the jade token with both hands and bowed. "Thank you for your concern, Great Elder. This student will remember it."

Afterward, the two discussed the specific arrangements for a while longer before Qin Chen turned and left the office.

Qin Chen's residence, within the courtyard.

"What!? You're leaving?" Zi Yan stared at Qin Chen with wide eyes, her face filled with disbelief.

"That's right. I plan to travel outside for a while." Qin Chen was also somewhat helpless, but there was no helping it. He was not the sort of person who could remain indifferent when opportunities lay right before him.

"Then can you take me with you?" Zi Yan blinked her big eyes and looked at Qin Chen pitifully.

Of course, she would not easily let Qin Chen leave. If he were gone, would she not return to those lonely, hungry days from before?

As for Great Elder Su Qian, she had already tossed him beyond the clouds. She was practically a little padded jacket running off with someone else.

"No. I have important matters to handle on this trip, so I can't take you with me." Qin Chen gently stroked Zi Yan's little head and shook his head.

"Just take me with you. I won't cause you any trouble." Zi Yan shook Qin Chen's sleeve as she pleaded coquettishly.

Qin Chen took a deep breath, crouched down until he was level with little Zi Yan, and patiently explained, "What I need to do this time is extremely important. There can't be the slightest mistake. Be good and wait for me at the academy. The next time I go out, I'll definitely take you with me."

Jia Ma Empire

Zi Yan had never seen Qin Chen wear such an expression before. All the coquettish words she had prepared were blocked in her throat. In the end, she bit her lip and said softly, "O-Okay... but you have to come back quickly, or I'll be angry."

"All right. I'll come back as soon as I finish what I need to do. I'll bring you lots of delicious food then." Qin Chen chuckled, brushing over Zi Yan's soft purple hair as he promised.

"This little girl is usually mischievous, but she's quite sensible when it matters."

With that thought, Qin Chen took Zi Yan's little hand and headed into the house. "Come on, Zi Yan. While there's still time, I'll make you more delicious food."

"Okay! I also want to drink that bubbly beverage!"

Over the following days, besides hurrying to make food for Zi Yan, Qin Chen also took time to bid farewell to his classmates and elders one by one.

Especially Liu Qing and Lin Xiuya. With his stimulation and help, their cultivation had advanced far beyond their original levels. They would likely break through to the Dou Wang realm at the next Strong Ranking tournament. He wondered whether Xiao Yan would still be able to defeat the two of them then.

Half a month later, in the rear mountains of Jia Nan Academy.

On a cliff that was rarely visited in ordinary times stood three figures, two large and one small.