Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower

Time passed second by second.

Boom!

An ancient bell suddenly rang out across the area. As the bell sounded, the noisy open space, previously as bustling as a marketplace, fell silent in an instant.

"Open the tower!"

As the bell faded, an aged voice came from within the tower. The tightly shut black doors slowly opened with a creak. Even from far away, Xiao Yun could feel a scorching aura pouring out of the tower, raising the surrounding temperature by several degrees.

Standing on a tree branch, Xiao Yun waited two or three minutes. Once the crowd was no longer so packed together, he darted down and entered the black tower with the flow of people.

At the entrance to the black tower, fiery red Dou Qi surged from Xiao Yun's body, churning as it enveloped him completely. Only after arming himself from head to toe with Dou Qi did he step through the tower doors.

The instant both feet touched the floor inside the tower, his normal face turned red like burning charcoal. A faint white mist seeped out from his body.

"Falling Heart Flame is this strong? A mere flame seed can break through my Dou Qi defenses?" Xiao Yun stood motionless, his awareness sinking into his body as he stared at the strange flame that had suddenly appeared within him.

The flame had neither form nor shape. The heat it emitted began scorching Xiao Yun's meridians, bones, muscles, and everything else. Even his organs began to feel faint stabs of pain.

Xiao Yun knew that if he allowed the flame to keep burning him, his meridians would soon cease to function. Without functioning meridians, he would no longer be able to circulate Dou Qi and would be no different from a cripple.

With a mental command, a massive surge of fiery-red Dou Qi instantly poured out from the Qi Vortex in his lower abdomen. Immediately afterward, the Purple Crystal Lion Flame also gushed out from the Naling space. Guided by Xiao Yun's mind, the Dou Qi enveloped the purple flame and surged through countless meridians with mighty momentum, heading straight for the invisible flame seed.

Although this was Falling Heart Flame, ranked fourteenth among the Heavenly Flames, it was ultimately only an exceedingly tiny flame seed. With Xiao Yun's Dou Qi assisting it, Purple Crystal Lion Flame swarmed forward and quickly devoured the invisible flame completely.

"This flame seed was too little, wasn't it? It didn't seem to change anything after being devoured."

Xiao Yun carefully sensed the changes in Purple Crystal Lion Flame, only to find that aside from its color becoming slightly lighter, there was no improvement at all. Even a tiny increase in temperature would have been nice!

Within the softly lit Ancient Pagoda, a large group of people surrounded Xiao Yun, whose eyes remained tightly shut. Occasional low chuckles could be heard.

"Move aside! Move aside! Elder Liu is here!"

Just as Xiao Yun withdrew his awareness, he heard someone shouting. Opening his eyes, he saw a large crowd gathered around him. A path had opened through the middle of the crowd, and a plainly dressed old man slowly approached.

"It's you, little fellow. You came to the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower as soon as you entered the Inner Academy. You really were impatient." The old man was Elder Liu from yesterday's Fire Energy Hunting Competition. Xiao Yun's outstanding performance in the competition had long since made Elder Liu remember this prodigy's face.

"Greetings, Elder Liu. This junior was indeed a little impatient. I have troubled you, Elder," Xiao Yun said with a bow.

"It is merely my duty. Besides, you did not need this old man's help. You broke free from the Heart Flame's tempering on your own. You truly opened this old man's eyes." Elder Liu smiled. Then his expression suddenly changed as he swept his gaze around the area and shouted sternly, "What? Are you people not going to cultivate? Do you need this old man to invite you personally?"

At Elder Liu's rebuke, the surrounding students repeatedly shook their heads before swiftly scattering in every direction through the Ancient Pagoda, afraid that if they were too slow, Elder Liu would write their names down in his little notebook.

"These little brats just love watching excitement. If you are not harsh with them, they will not listen at all." After dismissing the crowd, Elder Liu turned back to Xiao Yun with a genial smile.

"..." Looking at the old man whose expression changed as quickly as turning a page, Xiao Yun did not know what to say for a moment. He could only remain silent, and the atmosphere immediately became somewhat awkward.

"Since this is your first time at the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower, this old man will show you around. It will save you from having to ask people everywhere." Seemingly noticing the awkward atmosphere, Elder Liu hurriedly changed the subject and began guiding Xiao Yun through the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower.

The space within the Ancient Pagoda was so vast that it shocked Xiao Yun. As he walked with Elder Liu, he discovered in surprise that the first floor alone could accommodate five hundred people cultivating at once.

Cultivation rooms of varying sizes had been built throughout the circular tower interior. Above the doors of these rooms hung small red plaques bearing the labels high-grade, mid-grade, and low-grade.

"In the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower, the right to use these cultivation rooms is generally fought over based on the students' strength. The strong can obtain better cultivation conditions, while the weak can only cultivate in the low-grade rooms on the outermost edge." Pointing at the small red plaques above the cultivation rooms, Elder Liu smiled.

"On the same floor, the cost is the same regardless of the room's grade. That is why they fight over them."

"In the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower, as long as you have enough Fire Energy, you may cultivate for as long as you wish. However, because of Fire Poison, almost no one can do that. Most people cultivate here for a week before leaving."

Before they realized it, they had circled the Ancient Pagoda and returned to the black doors. Elder Liu stopped walking and said with a smile:

"All right, that is roughly the situation here. Which floor do you wish to cultivate on now?"

"This student has only just arrived and does not know much. Does Elder have any recommendations?" Seeing how approachable Elder Liu was, Xiao Yun bowed, hoping the elder might grant him a small favor.

"Hm. With your strength as a Seven-Star Da Dou Shi, the second or third floor would originally offer the best results. However, you can only cultivate on the first floor for now."

Seeing the confusion on Xiao Yun's face, Elder Liu lost his earlier smile and said seriously, "According to Inner Academy rules, new students must cultivate on the first floor for a full week before they may enter the lower floors. This is because the Heart Flame's scorching will always leave a trace of Fire Poison in one's Dou Qi, no matter how strong one is."

"This is no trivial matter. Over the years, quite a few people in the Inner Academy have suffered irreversible damage to their cultivation because of accumulated Fire Poison."

"Furthermore, although the Heart Flame's scorching can accelerate cultivation, it also requires time to adapt to. With every floor lower, the heat of the Heart Flame increases geometrically. If you recklessly go down, you will end up like you did at the entrance just now."

Hearing Elder Liu's lengthy explanation, Xiao Yun felt somewhat dizzy. He did not want to make things difficult for Elder Liu, so he could only shake his head helplessly. "All right, then I will cultivate on the first floor for seven days first."

"Mm, good. Since that is the case, follow me." Elder Liu led Xiao Yun deeper into the Ancient Pagoda, soon arriving before a moderately sized cultivation room.

"This is where I usually meditate. Though it is a mid-grade cultivation room, its effects are no worse than those of a high-grade room. There are no spare high-grade rooms for you right now, so cultivate here for the time being." Elder Liu patted Xiao Yun's shoulder and smiled.

"This... You are letting me use your cultivation room? Then where will you cultivate, Elder?" Xiao Yun had not expected Elder Liu to be so generous that he would even offer up the place he normally used.

"Hahaha, Old Fire and I are friends. This little matter is nothing. Besides, I am already a Dou Wang. The Heart Flame here has no effect on me anymore, so it is the same wherever I go."

"Then many thanks, Elder." Xiao Yun bowed. He had not expected his teacher to have such broad connections that he could benefit even within the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower.

"Mm, all right. Hurry in and cultivate. Do not waste time." Elder Liu waved with a smile.

Xiao Yun nodded, turned around, entered the cultivation room, and shut the door.

Looking at the closed door, Elder Liu could not help shaking his head. He muttered softly, "Outstanding talent, yet so humble and polite in temperament... Old Fire really is enviable, taking in such an excellent disciple..."