After leaving the underground cavern, Hai Bodong searched for a stone mountain on the edge of the desert.
There was a natural cave in the middle of the mountain; it sat high up and was also sheltered from the wind. He raised a hand to sweep away the rubble and set up a barrier of frost at the entrance, and the interior grew quiet.
Xiao Yan took out the green lotus and placed it before him.
The flames were still gathered in the heart of the lotus by the clear light, and as the lotus dais touched the ground, the temperature inside the cave immediately rose slightly.
Hai Bodong glanced inside.
"I'll be outside. Call if you need anything."
"Thank you, Elder Hai."
When the white-haired elder retreated from the cave, Bodhi manifested his form off to the side, flicked out a round futon with a casual wave, and sat down.
Xiao Yan was staring at the lotus dais, and upon seeing this, he could not help asking:
"Master, where should the disciple sit?"
"Have you not already retrieved it?"
The grandmaster pointed to the green lotus.
Xiao Yan finally reacted and, following the instructions, let the fire seed hover before his palms while he himself sat cross-legged atop the lotus dais.
A cooling sensation drifted up from beneath his legs, and the scorching heat in the surroundings was smoothed out somewhat as well.
It truly was a good item!
"Circulate your profound arts first to steady your meridians."
Xiao Yan closed his eyes, the Eight-Nine Arcane Arts slowly circulating as Dou Qi traveled along familiar routes.
Bodhi pointed a bent finger.
The clear light sealing the green flames revealed an extremely thin slit.
A trace of scorching heat immediately seeped out, plunging into Xiao Yan's body via his palms. Even for just this little bit, his arms suddenly tightened, and beads of sweat instantly welled up on his forehead.
Hot!
That wave of fiery intent felt as though it had burrowed straight into his bones.
Xiao Yan subconsciously wanted to push it out, but the grandmaster's voice rang out right at that moment.
"Do not panic. Your master has already protected your pathways for you; follow the cultivation method and guide it along."
The youth clenched his teeth and steadied his mind.
That wisp of fiery intent was guided through his meridians bit by bit, and his originally restless Dou Qi gradually calmed down amidst the circulation of the profound arts.
After a full cycle passed, Xiao Yan finally let out a long breath.
His clothes were already mostly soaked.
Bodhi glanced at him and smiled.
"Weren't you quite happy just now when you retrieved the fire?"
Xiao Yan wiped away his sweat.
"Retrieving it means it belongs to me, but when it burns, it is truly scalding."
"Only knowing it scalds allows you to understand restraint."
The grandmaster raised a hand and re-gathered the fiery intent.
"That is all for today. Practice your swordplay after you regulate your breath."
Xiao Yan was startled.
"Still practice?"
"You have a bit more power in your body; if you do not go test it, how will you know how much you can use?"
The youth had no choice but to stand up and walk out of the cave, carrying his sword.
In the days that followed, Xiao Yan refined his muscles and bones with fiery intent during the day, and at night he circulated the Nine Breaths of Qi to recover his consumption and accumulate Dou Qi.
Whenever his meridians adapted a little, the grandmaster would release another wisp of fiery energy.
From his arms trembling at the very beginning to later being able to guide the fiery intent to run through his entire body, the green flames in his palms no longer suddenly surged upward the moment they were affected.
Every time the Eight-Nine Arcane Arts circulated once, his muscles and bones felt as though they had been re-polished.
His physical body gradually grew tougher, and the power it could bear grew more and more.
Outside of cultivation, Xiao Yan swallowed the medicinal pills he had prepared earlier. After the medicinal force was refined, it converged into the vortex of Qi together with the pure fiery energy drawn by the lotus dais, and his cultivation level, which had previously still had some distance to the Seven-Star level, quickly crossed that threshold.
On one occasion when he returned from sword practice, Hai Bodong placed a stone vat filled with clean water at the entrance of the cave. Xiao Yan reached out and supported it, steadily carrying it inside, and only after setting it down did he realize that this thing used to require the assistance of Dou Qi, yet today he had lifted it with just his bare arms.
He lowered his head and pinched his arms, growing more and more spirited.
The grandmaster, however, told him to practice pulling back his strength again. This time he was carrying a teapot filled with boiling water; if he still used the strength he had used to lift the stone vat, the pot handle would likely have shattered on the spot.
Hai Bodong sat outside the cave, turning his head to look at first.
Later on, he simply closed his eyes and regulated his breath as well.
Sensing the aura inside every single day made it entirely too easy for a person to suspect whether they had been cultivating the wrong way all along.
The Dou Qi inside this brat's body grew more formidable almost by the day.
Yet that aura was exceptionally steady, without the slightest bit of hollowness from forcefully instilling medicinal drugs.
Half a month later, Xiao Yan was already able to pull the green flames into his body, circulate them stably under the techniques taught by the grandmaster, and release them as his thoughts desired.
An ordinary herb was tossed into his cauldron by him.
The green flames gently coiled, impurities rapidly dissolving and leaving behind only a small cluster of medicinal liquid.
Xiao Yan's eyebrows raised.
For the same medicinal ingredients, he previously still needed to control the fire back and forth, but now once the heat was right, the medicinal properties could be extracted much more cleanly.
He had just wanted to add another stalk when the grandmaster handed him a jade bottle first.
Inside it was a processed Earth Fire Lotus Seed.
"You can use some of this now. However, you must refine it separately; do not covet speed."
Xiao Yan nodded solemnly.
The pure energy within the lotus seed was far more robust than ordinary medicinal pills. The grandmaster combed through the fiery nature for him, while he relied on his already much tougher meridians to refine it into himself bit by bit.
Another ten-odd days passed, and the liquid Dou Qi in the vortex of Qi finally grew filled to the utmost limit.
Xiao Yan sat cross-legged atop the green lotus, forming seals with both hands, his breathing gradually growing slow.
Nine-Star Dou Shi.
Further ahead was a Da Dou Shi!
He did not rush to make a breakthrough; instead, in accordance with the grandmaster's instructions, he thoroughly refined all the residual medicinal power within his body and repeatedly packed the Dou Qi in the vortex of Qi tightly.
Until that pool of liquid energy could no longer accommodate any more, he abruptly reined in his focus.
Condense!
The liquid Dou Qi converged toward the center, and a tiny bit of crystal light slowly emerged.
At first it was no larger than a grain of rice, and then it gradually solidified amidst the endlessly surging power.
Dou Crystal!
As that crystal completely took form, the aura around Xiao Yan's entire body abruptly surged, and cyan Dou Qi gushed out from the surface of his body, gradually condensing into a clear layer of armor.
Outside the cave, Hai Bodong opened his eyes.
This time, he ultimately failed to continue sitting.
One-Star Great Dou Master!
Xiao Yan lowered his head to look at his palm, slowly clenching his five fingers as he felt the power in his meridians, which was far more robust than before, and the smile on his face expanded bit by bit.
Success!
Bodhi sat beside him and nodded gently.
"Go try it."
This time, Xiao Yan no longer asked if he still needed to practice his swordplay; he lifted the Taiji Liangyi Sword and stepped out of the cave entrance.
The mountain wind blew against his face.
He raised his wrist and lifted his sword, a wisp of green flames wandering along the spine of the sword, the firelight constrained by yin-yang fine lines and converging entirely toward the tip of the sword.
Origin-Returning Sword!
The sword light swept horizontally, and a rock wall several feet away split open in response. The cut was straight, and a layer of scorching green light still lingered on the edges; before the rubble even hit the ground, it was shaken flying to both sides by the sword qi.
Xiao Yan withdrew his sword and could not help laughing out loud.
Hai Bodong stood at the cave entrance, falling silent for a moment before he spoke.
"How long has it even been, and you're already a Da Dou Shi?"
"About a month, I suppose."
Xiao Yan thought about it, then smiled and added another sentence.
"Elder Hai, from now on, things like this will probably happen quite a bit more."
Hai Bodong glanced at him and didn't take the remark.
I've lived for so many years, yet this is the first time I've ever heard someone talk about making a breakthrough like they're going to the market.
Xiao Yan, however, had already turned around to tidy up his things; the green lotus and the medicine bottles were put away by him one by one, and finally, he slung the long sword across his back.
"Let's go."
"Where are we going this time?"
The youth looked toward the direction of Wutan City, his smile bright.
"Home!"
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