Over a year passed in the blink of an eye. To a Golden Core Stage cultivator, a year or so was hardly worth mentioning; a single period of seclusion often took Li Xiaoya two or three months. During that time, his magic power recovered completely, and his cultivation advanced a little. Besides cultivating and meditating, he practiced the Dragon-Devouring God-Reversal Art alongside the Fire Dragon Sword's Dragon Sword Art. The results were surprisingly good: his ** strength and sword art worked together increasingly well, greatly enhancing their power. Since he had already advanced to the Golden Core Stage, he had learned the third, fourth, and fifth moves of the Dragon Sword Art, all of which far surpassed ordinary fire-element spells in power. Yet this left him somewhat frustrated. Powerful as those moves were, the Fire Dragon Sword was still only a spiritual artifact, and the power it unleashed could not compare with his Dragon-Devouring Wave and other abilities. It made the sword feel like chicken ribs-too little meat to enjoy, yet a shame to discard.
However, practicing the Fire Dragon Sword's Dragon Sword Art together with the Dragon-Devouring God-Reversal Art could unleash tremendous power. It also stimulated the medicinal potency of the Diamond Grass Liquid remaining in his body, steadily increasing his physical strength. He now knew that the Immortal Dao Chain greatly benefited a cultivator's divine sense cultivation, too. No longer worrying about the Devastation Devil Lord still being inside the necklace, he simply wore it around his neck. Although he could not detect how quickly his divine sense was growing, it seemed to have improved compared with a year earlier. The improvement was small, but still much faster than that of ordinary cultivators.
Another thing he did was begin studying alchemy again, occasionally firing up his furnace to