After returning to his courtyard, Xiao Yu plunged straight into cultivation, but the results left him deeply dissatisfied. Time was simply too tight. Even with his peerless talent, reaching Dou Wang in three years was still too much of a stretch.
Even if he revealed his talent, the Xiao Clan could not provide the resources he needed to advance to Dou Wang. Instead, he might bring disaster upon the clan. Such talent would naturally put its enemies on guard.
The Misty Cloud Sect was among them. Xiao Yu did not know whether Nalan Yanran had come to break off the engagement yet, but even if she had not, she probably would soon. When that happened, relations between the Xiao Clan and the Nalan Family would become delicate, and the same would hold true for the Misty Cloud Sect.
What would others do if a boy with such talent appeared in the Xiao Clan after it had already fallen out with them? Yun Ling leading men down the mountain to wipe out the Xiao Clan after the Three-Year Agreement said it all. Even if Yun Yun did nothing, what about Yun Ling and Yun Shan? And Nalan Jie? Nalan Jie was hardly some pious, harmless soul.
So Xiao Yu could only rely on himself, and right now, there was only one way for him to advance rapidly: pills!
Being an Alchemist was the most popular and prestigious profession on the Dou Qi Continent, not merely because Alchemists had unmatched influence, but also because it benefited their own cultivation.
With Pill Formulas and medicinal ingredients in hand, could they not take whatever pills they needed? Of course, that required their alchemy rank to be high enough.
Pill Formulas and medicinal ingredients were the last things a high-ranking Alchemist would lack. They did not even need to go looking. Once they openly displayed their status, plenty of people would deliver those things right into their hands.
But this posed a tremendous problem for Xiao Yu. First, he had no money and could not buy pills. Even if he squandered the Xiao Clan's entire fortune, it would not cover the pill resources he needed.
As for becoming an Alchemist, it was not that he did not want to. He simply knew his own situation best. He possessed both lightning and fire attributes. Although dual attributes were extraordinary on the Dou Qi Continent, however extraordinary they were, they were useless here. Without a trace of the wood attribute mixed in, he could not refine pills at all.
That tiny trace of the wood attribute might seem insignificant, but without it, there could be no wood qi. Without wood qi as a catalyst, the medicinal essences could not fuse. That was like conducting a chemical experiment without a catalyst. How the hell was he supposed to refine anything?
Xiao Yu's head was now swelling to twice its size. He truly could not think of any other way to reach Dou Wang in three years.
Over the next few days, whenever Xiao Yu was not cultivating, he was thinking about how to obtain pills that could speed up his cultivation.
That day, Xiao Yu sat beside the small stone table in his courtyard, his brows knitted tightly as he fretted over the pills.
"What other way is there?"
"Yao Lao is out of the question. Xiao Yan and I aren't close. We may be cousins, but we haven't seen each other in years. Yao Lao is his greatest secret. He hasn't even told Second Uncle, so how could he possibly let Yao Lao help me?"
"I can't count on the Xiao Clan either. They're drooling over even Qi Gathering Powder. They don't have much wealth to spare."
"These damned lightning and fire attributes. Why couldn't they have been fire and wood? What a bloody rip-off."
He grumbled a little about this body he adored so much.
Xiao Yu also knew he could not go on like this. He had to find a solution as soon as possible.
As he pondered, a bolt of lightning appeared in his hand.
The lightning was silver-blue. Beneath its electric glow, a terrifying chill surged out. Destructive power filled the entire courtyard, and the temperature dropped to freezing.
Xiao Yu paid it no mind. This thing had been born within his own body, so naturally, it had no effect on him.
Why did he adore this body so much? He knew just how absurdly powerful his soul, his cheat, really was.
Ever since his soul had fused with "Xiao Yu's" body, not only had his cultivation speed become unprecedented, but it had also brought him two other things.
Divine Thunder and Origin Flame.
These were the names that had automatically appeared in his mind after those two things were born within him.
Xiao Yu had also figured out the pattern behind their emergence. Every time he broke through a major realm, a special Origin Flame and a bolt of Divine Thunder would be born within his body.
Their respective names and properties would also appear in his mind.
He was now a nine-star Peak Dou Master and already possessed two bolts of Divine Thunder and two Origin Flames. They were:
Blue-Silver Cold Lightning.
Extreme Ice-Breaking Flame.
Returning-to-Truth Lightning.
Myriad Transformation Flame.
The names of the first two made it obvious that they were an Origin Flame and Divine Thunder with icy attributes. They had no other special traits. They were simply cold enough, frigid enough, and possessed tremendous destructive and offensive power.
The Extreme Ice-Breaking Flame, for instance, combined extreme cold and extreme heat. Apart from its ice-blue color, as opposed to the eerie white of the Bone Spirit Cold Flame, it was practically no different from the Bone Spirit Cold Flame in the original story.
The latter two were different. As its name suggested, Returning-to-Truth Lightning had only one property: returning to truth. It could return all things to their true selves. It was transparent, yet reflective, allowing one to see one's own reflected figure in that tiny bolt of lightning.
With this, he essentially had no need to worry about illusions and the like. Its ability to clear the heart and illuminate the true self made it the natural enemy of all false appearances and illusions, as well as the perfect counter to inner demons and other threats to one's state of mind.
However, its power was tied to its owner's strength. How effective it could be depended on its host.
As for the Myriad Transformation Flame, it was precisely the opposite of Returning-to-Truth Lightning. Its essence lay in the words "myriad transformations."
Myriad transformations meant transforming into all things between heaven and earth: becoming stone, grass, or trees and blending into the world, or becoming a sky full of stars whose light shone across the heavens.
With this, Xiao Yu could become an ordinary person without the slightest cultivation, or instantly change his aura to that of a cultivator of supreme strength.
It was also his best means of avoiding danger at this stage. Unfortunately, like Returning-to-Truth Lightning, it depended on its host's cultivation to exert its power.
For now, Xiao Yu could only use it to conceal his aura, cultivation, and the like. His cultivation was insufficient for anything else.
But Xiao Yu did not underestimate it. The Myriad Transformation Flame was no illusion. It could truly let its host transform into all things. For example, if Xiao Yu's cultivation were high enough to turn into a stone, he would genuinely become a stone, no different from any other.
This thing was every bit a match for the Seventy-Two Transformations.
Looking at the Blue-Silver Cold Lightning in his hand, Xiao Yu sighed. "If only the lightning attribute could replace the wood attribute in pill refining..."
As soon as he said that, inspiration flashed through his mind, and Xiao Yu began studying the Blue-Silver Cold Lightning in earnest.
Refining pills with lightning... that might not be impossible. And Returning-to-Truth Lightning already strips away falsehood to preserve truth. Couldn't it be used to refine pills?
At that thought, Xiao Yu felt inspiration welling up in an endless stream.
"Lightning possesses destructive power, yet harbors creation within. At the extreme of yin, yang is born; at the extreme of yang, yin is born. Yin and yang give rise to each other. When destruction reaches its utmost, life bursts forth."
"Destroy the exterior, nurture creation within. Strip away impurities and preserve purity. Let it emerge and take their place, bringing the true essence to perfection."
At that moment, he seemed to have found a different path. Filled with discoveries and contemplation, he constructed, innovated, and gained insight.
When a path reached its end, one changed; through change came a way forward, and through that way came endurance. Since he lacked wood qi to act as a catalyst, why not adapt and temper the ingredients with lightning instead?
One idea after another played out in Xiao Yu's mind. Whenever one failed, he switched to another and continued working through it.
Time slipped away without him noticing.
Before you continue