Technique Choice

Skipping the first option, Xiao Yan chose B.

[Watching Medicine Elder laugh sinisterly, you headed to the back mountain and selected a sturdy tree.]

[Recalling the information on Eight Extremities Collapse, you suddenly charged at the tree and drove your elbow into it with savage force.]

Bang! With a dull thud, wood chips flew everywhere. Spiderweb-like cracks spread outward from the point of impact.

"Creak..." The tree, with most of its trunk blasted into a hollow by that elbow strike, swayed with a creak. A moment later, it finally crashed helplessly to the ground.

[Watching the tree fall at his command, Medicine Elder was dumbfounded. While shocked by your formidable physical strength, he was also astonished by your exceptional comprehension.]

[Eight Extremities Collapse was an outstanding High Xuan Tier Dou Technique. Yet on your first attempt, you had already displayed considerable power.]

[After finishing this, you slowly descended from the back mountain. Having consumed the Primordial Origin Pill, every aspect of your body had improved. In particular, having remained at the Dou Qi stage for many years, your body had been continuously nourished by Dou Qi and had long reached an inconceivable level.]

[Over the following period, you resumed your arduous training, cultivating both Dou Qi and Eight Extremities Collapse.]

[Although you had quickly managed to use Eight Extremities Collapse, you had only scratched the surface. Only by unleashing hidden force—and eight layers of it—could Eight Extremities Collapse be considered fully mastered.]

[Some time later, you broke through to the eighth stage of Dou Qi, and the effects of the Foundation-Building Spiritual Liquid began to diminish to almost nothing.]

[However, you were a genius to begin with. A month later, you broke through to the ninth stage of Dou Qi.]

[The test before the clan's coming-of-age ceremony arrived. Xiao Mei had broken through to the eighth stage of Dou Qi, while Xiao Xun'er's strength had reached the Dou Zhe realm, so she no longer needed to be tested. Still, you sensed that she was far from ordinary.]

[Your terrifying speed of breaking through six stages in less than a year shocked everyone.]

[However, such terrifying progress also drew many eyes toward you during the challenge phase.]

[Xiao Ning's lackey, Xiao Ke, challenged you. He was only at the sixth stage of Dou Qi.]

[With such a gap in strength, Xiao Ke's attacks looked like child's play in your eyes. You defeated him with a single palm strike, proving your formidable strength to everyone.]

[After your comeback, Xiao Mei came looking for you and invited you to study Dou Techniques at the Dou Technique Hall. Just as you were about to find an excuse to refuse, a slender, fair, delicate wrist hooked around your arm.]

[Xiao Xun'er affectionately linked arms with you and told Xiao Mei that you had no time.]

[Along the way, you occasionally brushed against the girl's gradually developing softness. Your gaze unintentionally grew heated, and you silently cursed yourself as a beast for actually having feelings for this cousin.]

[Still, the girl was indeed growing into a graceful beauty.]

Her fresh pale-green outfit perfectly accentuated her budding figure. Though the small breasts hidden beneath her clothes were still somewhat immature, they proudly radiated the allure of youth. A purple sash was casually tied around her slim waist, so delicate it seemed as though it could be held in one hand. As the breeze passed, the purple sash fluttered...

Once she grew up, she would probably be even more enchanting than Ya Fei from the auction house.

[Having reached the ninth stage of Dou Qi, you began preparing to break through to the Dou Zhe realm. Medicine Elder was willing to refine Qi Gathering Powder for you, shortening the time needed for your breakthrough.]

[Another batch of Foundation-Building Spiritual Liquid was prepared and sold for an enormous price under Ya Fei's management.]

[At the same time, thanks to Xiao Zhan's shrewd bidding, Jia Lie Bi suffered heavy losses.]

[After purchasing the ingredients for the Qi Gathering Powder, Medicine Elder began refining the pill for you.]

[Looking at the pale-white flame in Medicine Elder's hand, you couldn't help feeling curious.]

[After Medicine Elder's explanation, you learned that some alchemists relied on abundant Dou Qi to catalyze flames, while others borrowed flames. What he used was the king of all flames: a Heavenly Flame.]

In this vast world, there existed certain Heavenly Flames. They might be a spark carried within the heart of a meteorite fallen from the heavens, or molten earthfire forged for hundreds or thousands of years deep within a volcano...

These Heavenly Flames were far more powerful than flames catalyzed by Dou Qi. When used in alchemy, they could even enhance a pill's medicinal potency. However, these natural Heavenly Flames were exceptionally violent, rarely encountered by chance, and even if one found them, it was exceedingly difficult to make them one's own.

The alchemy world of the Dou Qi Continent had compiled the rarely known Heavenly Flames into a "Heavenly Flame Ranking," which contained a total of twenty-three types.

[Medicine Elder's Heavenly Flame was the eleventh-ranked Bone Chilling Spirit Flame. This type of Heavenly Flame could only be found once every hundred years, at the moment when day and night alternated, in lands of extreme cold and deepest yin.]

[Back then, in order to successfully obtain the Bone Chilling Spirit Flame, Medicine Elder had remained in a place without sunlight for eight years. Even with thorough preparations, he had nearly been burned to ashes.]

[Seeing even the proud Medicine Elder reveal an expression of lingering fear, you deeply understood the terror of Heavenly Flames.]

[After consuming the Qi Gathering Powder refined by Medicine Elder, you easily broke through to become a Dou Zhe, skipping the process of accumulating Dou Qi and risking a failed breakthrough.]

[After breaking through to the Dou Zhe realm, you began facing a problem—cultivation techniques.]

[Medicine Elder then produced two cultivation techniques. One was the Flame Mantra, and the other was a Low Earth Tier cultivation technique.]

He gave a detailed introduction to the Flame Mantra. He had obtained this cultivation technique by chance, and it originally had no name. He had named it according to its characteristics.]

[Its initial rank was only Low Yellow Tier, but it could evolve by devouring Heavenly Flames. This effect made it even stranger than a Heaven Tier cultivation technique.]

[Before you made your choice, Medicine Elder asked about your feelings for Xiao Xun'er. If you wanted to be with her, cultivating the Flame Mantra was your only chance.]

Xiao Yan was stunned. "For the proud Medicine Elder to say something like that, just what kind of background does Xiao Xun'er have?"

After all, even a sixth-grade alchemist was nothing more than shit in Medicine Elder's eyes.

He had become Medicine Elder's disciple, yet his background was actually inferior to Xiao Xun'er's?

[Besides that, Medicine Elder also explained that by cultivating the Flame Mantra and fusing several Heavenly Flames, he could be resurrected.]

[Faced with the two cultivation techniques Medicine Elder had brought out, you chose...]

[A: Choose the Low Earth Tier cultivation technique.]

[B: Choose the Flame Mantra.]

Looking at the two options, Xiao Yan pondered seriously.

The Flame Mantra would indeed be extremely powerful if successfully cultivated, but Heavenly Flames were difficult to find, and even after finding one, fusion was not guaranteed to succeed.

Medicine Elder was already so powerful, yet he had spent eight years waiting for the Bone Chilling Spirit Flame and had nearly died during the fusion. That alone was enough to show how difficult it was to find and fuse Heavenly Flames.

If he cultivated the Flame Mantra, then even if finding and fusing Heavenly Flames went exceptionally smoothly, it might still take decades or even centuries before he reached a level where he could be with Xiao Xun'er.

Even if Xiao Xun'er was willing to wait, would the clan behind her allow her to do so?

And that was assuming everything went exceptionally smoothly!