A spur-of-the-moment trip

Most of the beast flames Xun'er "fed" Xiao Yan were fourth-rank ones, with only a few relatively mild fifth-tier beast fires mixed in.

She had not gone looking for higher-ranked beast flames. The Jia Ma Empire had no seventh-rank magical beasts, and even sixth-rank magical beasts were exceedingly rare, so there were hardly any sixth-rank beast flames available.

It was not as though Sixth Rank or Seventh Rank beast flames were impossible to find, but tracking them down would certainly take some time.

Besides, Xun'er felt that fourth- and fifth-rank beast flames were enough for Xiao Yan as she was now, provided there were "all-you-can-eat portions," so she did not "waste the effort."

Finding beast flames was something Aunt Ling could handle. It would not alert anyone higher up, and even if the stronger guards noticed, they would pay it no mind.

As one beast flame after another poured into her vortex, Xiao Yan swallowed a considerable number of Xun'er's "offerings," and her Flame Mantra successfully evolved to Yellow Tier High Grade.

However, after reaching Yellow Tier High Grade, the Flame Mantra seemed to hit a threshold. Beast flames simply could not break through that "barrier."

Perhaps higher-ranked beast flames, such as Seventh Rank ones, might have some effect, but she felt too embarrassed to ask Xun'er for them.

On top of that, the fused flames were much harder to control than before, leaving Xiao Yan struggling to improve her mastery over them.

With the Flame Mantra unable to evolve, using the beast flames' energy to raise her strength in sudden leaps might also plant the seeds of problems such as "unstable Dou Qi."

It was not that she could not compress her Dou Qi with soul power, but that would take considerable time and effort. Each time she swallowed another beast flame, she would also have to familiarize herself with the flames all over again.

After all that fuss, simply cultivating would have been more efficient.

Thus, swallowing more beast flames now did more harm than good.

And so, Xiao Yan "politely declined" Xun'er's unlimited feeding service and turned her attention to alchemy and Dou Techniques instead.

Another two months passed.

Somewhere on the mountain behind the estate, Xiao Yan, dressed in a short skirt with a heavy Black Ruler almost as tall as she was strapped to her back, was pitting herself against a blue stone half the size of a person.

By now, Xiao Yan was at the peak of Eight-Star Dou Zhe, just a hair's breadth from Nine-Star Dou Zhe.

Although she had swallowed plenty of beast flames, most of their energy had gone into evolving her cultivation method and strengthening her core flame, so Xiao Yan's cultivation had not grown in "leaps and bounds."

Her physique, however, had been tempered by the beast flames until it rivaled that of a peak first-rank magical beast.

Taking a deep breath, Xiao Yan mustered all her strength and drove a fist into the blue stone before her.

Her slender arm looked anything but strong, even somewhat feeble, yet it unleashed tremendous force.

A low boom rang out.

Cracks immediately spread from beneath her fist, eventually covering almost half the blue stone's surface.

Bang!

Another muffled report followed as a pulse of hidden force she had driven into the stone suddenly exploded inside it.

Along with the eruption of hidden force, a mass of multicolored flame burst forth. The great stone could withstand no more and split apart, shattering into over a dozen pieces of varying sizes.

"Whew! I've finally cultivated the first pulse of hidden force for Eight Extremes Collapse-Teacher, a Dou Technique of this caliber would be enough to keep someone training all the way to Dou Ling, wouldn't it?"

Xiao Yan let out a long breath and said,

"Just fusing all the beast flames together and delivering a single pulse of hidden force took this much effort. If all eight pulses were converted into flames, astral wind, or something like that, even a Dou Wang or Dou Emperor would probably need months of practice."

"Why else do you think I kept it in my collection?" The Apothecary's rather languid voice sounded in her mind.

"If you get the chance to obtain several different heavenly flames in the future, you could drive eight different heavenly flames into your opponent with a single punch. The power would be even more terrifying-even high Earth Tier or Heaven Tier Dou Techniques might not match Eight Extremes Heavenly Flame Collapse."

Xiao Yan rolled her eyes slightly, leaving that on read.

The Apothecary was actually right. After all, if the Flame Mantra really could devour heavenly flames, she could fuse them in pairs or groups of three to create even stronger heavenly flames and use each as a pulse of hidden force.

In other words, theoretically, this [Mystic Rank] Dou Technique, Eight Extremes Collapse, had no upper limit.

Something without an upper limit was terrifying. It could overpower an opponent through sheer force: no matter your thousand exquisite tricks or ten thousand profound insights, you still could not withstand one plain, unadorned punch from me.

Still, "obtaining several different heavenly flames" was something she could only dream about.

Xiao Yan was no longer some ignorant "country bumpkin." Thanks to the Apothecary's explanations, she now knew a fair amount about heavenly flames.

Apart from the unknown heavenly flame ranked first, there were only twenty-two kinds in total, and the second- and third-ranked flames were each unique in all heaven and earth.

A few of each of the other heavenly flames might be born by chance, but across the entire continent, their total number probably reached only three digits.

Yet how vast was the Dou Qi Continent?

Not to mention that heavenly flames were not found only at ground level. The Three Thousand Burning Flame, for instance, existed hundreds of thousands of feet up in the sky, if not more.

The Sea Heart Flame was born at the bottom of the deep sea, the Wind Fury Dragon Flame spawned randomly in deserts, and the Nine Nether Wind Flame existed in an abyss hundreds of thousands of feet deep, if not more.

With a mere hundred or so heavenly flames scattered across such an enormous expanse, finding even one truly was harder than fishing a needle out of the ocean.

A considerable portion of the higher-ranked heavenly flames had already been subdued by major powers, too.

Xiao Yan felt that finding even one wild heavenly flame would already mean she had stumbled into a pile of absurdly good luck.

If she found a second wild heavenly flame, her ancestral graves would practically be on fire-her ancestors down below must have called in every favor they had.

Never mind gathering eight heavenly flames to pull off some "Eight Extremes Heavenly Flame Collapse"...

Hah. You can have anything in your dreams.

Still, she did not "shoot down" or "argue against" the Apothecary's exceedingly "optimistic" outlook.

After all, the Apothecary was still counting on heavenly flames to resurrect herself, wasn't she?

Of course, if it really came down to it, Xiao Yan could cling to Xun'er's coattails. She could use their relationship to "buy on credit" and ask Xun'er to help resurrect the Apothecary first.

Surely a Dou Sheng family would have some means of "resurrection"?

The Apothecary's background was probably far from ordinary, and her alchemy was certainly no slouch. Once resurrected, she could refine more high-grade pills for Xun'er to "repay the debt"...

Of course, that was the absolute last resort, an option only if there was no other way.

Honestly, Xiao Yan already felt rather embarrassed about taking so many beast flames from Xun'er "for free," even though she knew that, to Xun'er, it was no more than a casual favor...

Mm. Gifts soften your hands, and free meals tie your tongue. I still have to rely on myself.

After returning from the mountain, Xiao Yan sat cross-legged and cultivated to replenish her Dou Qi. Then she took out her Medicine Cauldron and began practicing pill refinement.

She refined two First-Rank Pills, succeeding with both and even producing pill patterns on each. She could now count herself as a seasoned First-Rank Alchemist.

"All right. Now that you've cultivated the first pulse of hidden force for Eight Extremes Collapse, your ability to protect yourself has improved considerably," the Apothecary transmitted.

"It's time you went out to gain some experience-first, take the First-Rank Alchemist examination. Having that status will make things easier wherever you go."

Naturally, Xiao Yan had no objections. After all, a Yellow Tier Flame Mantra really was rather pathetic.

Yellow Tier High Grade was enough for now, but if she remained stuck at Yellow Tier High Grade, reaching Dou Ling would probably be her absolute limit.

Besides, without going out to temper herself, she could never become truly strong.

And so, Xiao Yan began preparing for her "training journey," refining things such as knockout drugs and poisons to defend herself.

After all, the Apothecary had said that, since this was a training journey, she would not intervene unless necessary. Otherwise, it would defeat the purpose.

As a mere little Dou Zhe heading out into the world to train, how could Xiao Yan not prepare a few extra fallback options first?

After spending several days stocking her Storage Ring with just a hundred million little things, Xiao Yan felt much more at ease.

It was time for a spur-of-the-moment trip... ahem, training journey.