The towering stone door hung silently shut, cutting off all the bustle of the outside world. Within lay an utterly quiet cave abode. Xiao Yan stood inside, his gaze gradually settling until it was as calm as an ancient well.
Then he flicked a finger, and an emerald meditation cushion, its entire surface resembling green jade, appeared out of thin air on the stone bed inside the cave abode.
"Next, I'll break through to Dou Sheng."
Xiao Yan drew a deep breath and sat cross-legged on the meditation cushion. As his body touched it, streams of pure qi appeared around him. These alone instantly stilled his mind, bringing an incomparable serenity to his heart.
He sat quietly like this for roughly a day. Once he had ensured that his condition had reached its peak, Xiao Yan hesitated no longer. His eyes closed, and in the next instant, the vast, dazzling flames within his body coiled toward his heart.
There, a crystalline, emerald heart beat in rhythm with Xiao Yan's own.
As the Heavenly Flames wrapped around it, the emerald Bodhi Heart slowly began releasing rays of green light, holding the flames at bay.
Xiao Yan showed not the slightest impatience. He merely calmed his mind and slowly refined the Bodhi Heart, which brimmed with an incomparably vast reserve of pure energy. As the Heavenly Flames and the Bodhi Heart remained locked in a stalemate, time flew by.
In the blink of an eye, a month had passed.
After that month, the crystalline Bodhi Heart, which had originally resembled an actual heart, finally began to melt.
"Drip!"
After an unknown length of time, the first crystalline drop of emerald liquid fell from the Bodhi Heart, passing through Xiao Yan's body and dropping straight into his qi sea.
"Boom!"
As that drop