Meng Chen returned to the central courtyard of the Meng Residence and found Qing Yanjing sitting in the rain pavilion, leaning lightly against the railing as she gazed absentmindedly at the koi drifting through the pond.
"Aunt Qing, I'm back."
Hearing this, Qing Yanjing turned around. Seeing that Meng Chen had returned safely, she secretly let out a sigh of relief.
"You didn't run into any danger, did you?" Qing Yanjing rose and walked over to Meng Chen, asking gently with concern.
Then, the delicate nose beneath her veil twitched slightly as she caught the lingering fragrance on Meng Chen. Her brows furrowed faintly, but she did not ask further.
Meng Chen did not notice the unusual reaction. He shook his head. "You worry too much, Aunt Qing. I just went to buy something. What danger could there be? Aunt Qing, can you use these materials?"
As he spoke, Meng Chen took out the magic cores, the Cold Jade Iron Essence, and the bones of a third-tier Giant Rock Bull.
Qing Yanjing gave them a glance, her full lips beneath the veil parting slightly. "I'll give it a try."
In truth, Qing Yanjing had plenty of formation materials inside her Small Pagoda.
However, considering the environment and laws of this lower plane, she decided to first test materials from the Dou Qi Continent.
If they did not work, she could use the ones in the Small Pagoda later.
Qing Yanjing found a quiet room, while Meng Chen did not follow her inside to observe.
His most urgent task now was cultivating and raising his strength. Skills such as alchemy and formation crafting could wait until his cultivation was sufficient.
Meng Chen returned to his bedroom, sat cross-legged on the bed, and closed his eyes to cultivate the Purple Sun Incinerating World Heavenly Technique.
As an Ancient Emperor Technique that surpassed the Heaven Tier, once it began circulating, combined with the Divine King Physique, its speed of devouring the world's essence energy was terrifying.
With every breath Meng Chen took, he stirred up a tide of essence energy. The energy of heaven and earth condensed into serpent-like streams and surged into his mouth and nose.
As the Heavenly Technique circulated, his body became like a blazing sun, refining the essence energy of heaven and earth, burning away its impurities, and sending the remaining purest energy into his Dou Qi vortex, where it transformed into Dou Qi.
As an Emperor Tier technique, the Purple Sun Incinerating World Heavenly Technique produced Dou Qi whose quality surpassed even Heaven Tier techniques. With the added traits of the Divine King Physique, it could be called the best on the continent!
As for what an Emperor Tier technique was, one that did not exist in the original story?
Although the original story only had four tiers—Yellow, Profound, Earth, and Heaven—after Xiao Yan became the Flame Emperor and the Flame Mantra devoured all Heavenly Flames, could it still have merely been a Heaven Tier technique?
And why was the Purple Sun Incinerating World Heavenly Technique classified as Emperor Tier rather than according to the ranks of spiritual arts in the Great Thousand World?
It was entirely because the Purple Sun Emperor's inheritance contained only a Dou Qi cultivation method, not a spiritual energy cultivation method. Created by an ancient emperor and standing above the Heaven Tier, it was thus called Emperor Tier.
Meanwhile, at the Xiao Clan estate.
Such a massive gathering of essence energy caught the attention of Yao Lao and the hidden Ling Ying. Xiao Xun'er also sensed something.
Yao Lao sensed the flow of essence energy and was rather surprised. He thought to himself, This direction... seems to be where that boy Meng Chen lives. Could he be the one causing this commotion?
But that boy is only a Dou Zhe, yet he can trigger such a large-scale flow of essence energy. The technique he cultivates must be extraordinary.
However, an ordinary Dou Zhe can at most cultivate a Profound Tier, High Grade technique. This disturbance is beyond even Earth Tier—it may well be Heaven Tier. Can that boy's body withstand the scouring of heaven and earth's essence energy?
More than an hour later.
Meng Chen gradually ended his cultivation. His realm, originally only at the beginning of Three-Star Fighter, had already risen to the peak of Three-Star Fighter, just a step away from Four-Star Fighter.
It was not that Meng Chen was unwilling to continue cultivating. Rather, the meridians in his body had already reached a certain level of saturation. Cultivation required moderation; tension and relaxation had to be balanced, so he needed to rest for a while.
Meng Chen slowly opened his eyes, and a streak of golden-purple flame flashed past.
After stretching his body, Meng Chen got off the bed.
When he stepped outside, he saw a tall, graceful figure standing prettily in the courtyard, her shapely hips rounded like a millstone. Meng Chen's eyes lit up, and he hurried over.
"Aunt Qing, did the Spirit-Gathering Formation succeed?"
"It can be considered a success."
Qing Yanjing turned around and took out an Imitation Spirit-Gathering Formation, using four first-tier water-attribute magic cores as auxiliary bases and one second-tier wood-attribute magic core as the main base. She placed it upon the stone table in the courtyard.
It was called an Imitation Spirit-Gathering Formation because it could only draw in essence energy, not spiritual energy.
"This Spirit-Gathering... no, it should be called an Essence-Gathering Formation. It has barely reached the second level. I used water to nourish wood, forming a cycle..."
Qing Yanjing briefly explained the principles of the Second-Level Essence-Gathering Formation and had Meng Chen place the Cold Jade Iron Essence pieces inscribed with Spirit Seals throughout the Meng Residence as she instructed.
More than ten minutes later, Meng Chen had arranged the spirit array iron pieces, then placed the four first-tier water-attribute magic cores at the four cardinal positions. Qing Yanjing held the second-tier wood-attribute magic core and began setting up the formation.
Golden spiritual energy spread from Qing Yanjing's fingertips. As her fingers lightly traced through the air, Spirit Seals emerged one after another. She was actually drawing a formation in the void, making Meng Chen's eyes shine.
As expected of an Immortal Grade Spirit Formation Grandmaster. Even with little spiritual energy, her formation-crafting methods were still transcendent!
The Spirit Seals flowed like water into the four water-attribute magic cores, imprinting themselves upon their surfaces. Four blue glows flickered, reflecting one another.
At the same time, Qing Yanjing tapped the second-tier water-attribute magic core with a finger, turning it into the main formation base. It connected with the four auxiliary formation bases, then drew upon the spirit array iron pieces placed throughout the Meng Residence, linking them all together...
Buzz!!!
With a faint humming sound, a green-tinged blue glow enveloped the Meng Residence. The Essence-Gathering Formation covering the Meng Residence was officially complete...
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