Nine-Star Dou Practitioner

Before long, three days passed in a flash.

Inside the room, Xiao Yang's face was somewhat pale. His soul force tightly enveloped an uneven pill within the cauldron.

Xiao Yang knew every detail about this pill like the back of his hand.

His hand rested above the cauldron as flames steadily poured into it.

After an unknown amount of time, a faint medicinal fragrance wafted out of the cauldron.

A system notification also sounded in Xiao Yang's mind.

"Congratulations, player, for refining a Second-Grade Elixir. Reward: Universal Experience +1000, Shop Points +10000!"

With a thought from Xiao Yang, the cauldron lid opened automatically, and a round pill flew out.

He skillfully took out a jade bottle from his Storage Ring and placed the pill inside.

"Finally, they're all refined."

Xiao Yang looked at the jade bottle in his hand, a trace of emotion flashing through his eyes.

Over the past three days, he had been continuously refining Dou Practitioner Pills.

Even among Second-Grade Elixirs, Dou Practitioner Pills were considered fairly difficult to refine.

Xiao Yang's cultivation was still relatively low, so he had to refine each medicinal ingredient separately every time.

As a result, it took him three days to use up the ingredients for ten batches of Dou Practitioner Pills.

However, because Xiao Yang had essentially reached the pinnacle in First-Grade Elixirs, his foundation was exceptionally solid.

Thus, even when refining the difficult Second-Grade Dou Practitioner Pill, he had successfully produced five pills from ten batches of ingredients!

The best among them were only two mid-grade pills, while the rest were all low-grade.

Over the three days, Xiao Yang had barely rested at all.

At this moment, his face was as white as paper.

After forcing himself to put away the cauldron and medicinal ingredients, he went straight to bed.

Xiao Yang slept for over ten hours before finally waking up.

After casually taking some food from his Storage Ring and eating it, he brought out the two mid-grade Dou Practitioner Pills he had refined.

He focused his gaze on them and immediately saw the pills' descriptions.

[Second-Grade Dou Practitioner Pill: Mid-grade quality. A person may consume at most two. Upon consumption, grants 1104 cultivation experience.]

The description of the other pill was the same, except it granted 1097 experience upon consumption.

Xiao Yang did not hesitate and swallowed both pills in succession.

The next instant, the energy of heaven and earth around him surged into his body.

That energy entered Xiao Yang through his pores, flowed along his meridians, and entered his dantian.

Under the effect of the Dou Qi Vortex, all of that heavenly and earthly energy was converted into pure Dou Qi.

Just like that, Xiao Yang's cultivation continued to rise until he reached the Nine-Star Dou Practitioner realm, then stopped.

After sensing the Dou Qi within his body, Xiao Yang slowly opened his eyes and looked toward the game panel.

[Cultivation: Nine-Star (345+/10000)]

Seeing the ten thousand experience points listed afterward, he was not particularly surprised.

Xiao Yang had already been prepared for it.

He had no intention of continuing to advance, even though he now had nearly twenty-five thousand Universal Experience.

He planned to suppress his level and hunt Magical Beasts above his rank!

Having reached the Nine-Star Dou Practitioner realm, Xiao Yang was ready to leave.

If he remained in the Xiao Household, his rate of improvement would inevitably slow down later on.

There would be fewer and fewer people to spar with, and fewer and fewer pills he could refine.

In Wu Tan City, obtaining rare medicinal ingredients required waiting for the Mittel Auction House to slowly transfer stock.

Xiao Yang did not want to wait around like that.

As for Shop Points, he would not use them to buy medicinal ingredients unless they were truly impossible to obtain.

He had already considered the destination for this round of training.

The nearest Magical Beast Mountain Range was undoubtedly the most suitable choice.

He did not plan to enter the Magical Beast Mountain Range directly from outside Wu Tan City. Instead, he intended to head to Qingshan Town.

He wanted to search around and see whether he could find the cave Xiao Yan and Little Fairy Doctor had discovered in the original story.

Xiao Yang might not care much about the other items in that cave, but the Violet Cloud Wings were quite good.

There was also the fragment of the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame map, which he could take while he was there.

In the future, he could consider giving that fragment to Xiao Yan.

After all, Heavenly Flames did not hold that much allure for Xiao Yang.

Without the Flame Mantra, Xiao Yang could only absorb one Heavenly Flame before reaching the Dou Ancestor realm.

That was because his Heavenly Flame equipment slot had only one slot unless he cultivated the Flame Mantra or reached the Dou Ancestor realm.

Only upon reaching the Dou Ancestor realm could he unlock a second Heavenly Flame equipment slot.

As for unlocking a third, he would need to reach the Dou Saint realm.

To unlock them ahead of time, he would either have to buy special items from the shop or cultivate the Flame Mantra.

Therefore, Xiao Yang was not particularly interested in Heavenly Flames.

The Heavenly Flame he wanted most right now was the Fallen Heart Flame.

According to the guides he had read on forums in his previous life, once he obtained the Fallen Heart Flame, he could gain cultivation experience endlessly.

Over time, the accumulated cultivation experience would become an enormous amount.

He had long decided that he would head straight to Canaan Academy in a few months.

There were roughly five months left until Canaan Academy's recruitment period.

He planned to spend all of that time in the Magical Beast Mountain Range.

Xiao Yang's ability to act was exceptionally strong.

He immediately got up and headed toward Xiao Zhan's courtyard.

He intended to tell Xiao Zhan about it.

He could not simply leave without a word.

Before long, Xiao Yang emerged from Xiao Zhan's residence.

At first, Xiao Zhan had been worried about Xiao Yang's safety and wanted him to cultivate for a while longer before going out.

However, after seeing the flames Xiao Yang released externally, Xiao Zhan said nothing further.

After leaving Xiao Zhan's room, Xiao Yang headed toward Xun'er's residence.

Arriving outside Xun'er's residence, Xiao Yang lightly knocked on the door.

"Who is it?"

A cool voice came from within the courtyard.

"Xun'er, it's me!"

As soon as Xiao Yang finished speaking, he heard a burst of hurried footsteps from inside.

Then the door opened, and Xun'er looked at Xiao Yang with delighted surprise.

"Brother Xiao Yang, why did you come over?"

"Quick, come in and sit."

As she spoke, Xun'er pulled Xiao Yang into the courtyard and had him sit down.

Xiao Yang did not hide anything and directly told Xun'er.

"Xun'er, I'm preparing to leave the Xiao Household and train in the Magical Beast Mountain Range for a while."

The moment he said this, the smile on Xun'er's face froze.

Her originally radiant smile became somewhat forced.

"Why did Brother Xiao Yang suddenly want to train in the Magical Beast Mountain Range?"

"Brother Xiao Yang should have only just broken through to the Fighter realm at most, right?"

"Even the outer regions of the Magical Beast Mountain Range have quite a few First-Rank Magical Beasts. It's still rather dangerous for Brother Xiao Yang."

Xiao Yang shook his head.

"My current strength is far more than that of a One-Star Dou Practitioner."

"And I have some trump cards and means of protecting myself. Even if I encounter a Third-Rank Magical Beast, I'll be fine."

Seeing the determination in Xiao Yang's eyes, a trace of reluctance flashed through Xun'er's gaze.

"Since Brother Xiao Yang has already made up his mind, then go."

"When does Brother Xiao Yang plan to return?"

"I plan to return in five months, when Canaan Academy comes to recruit students."