Xiao Yan looked at the deep-red scroll in his hand. Faint wisps of scorching fire-attribute power flowed across its surface.
Neither a cultivation technique nor a pill formula was created simply by writing it down.
Instead, soul power was infused into it. Whenever someone later studied it, some of that soul power would be consumed, demonstrating the process within the cultivator's mind and imprinting it there.
A brand-new soul-infused pill formula could generally be used seven or eight times. It remained fairly clear for the first five readings, but after that, the excessive depletion of soul power left it increasingly incomplete, forcing the cultivator to deduce and work out the missing portions.
Once it was completely exhausted, only the written annotations remained, making it many times harder to learn.
Although creating and preserving cultivation techniques was not quite as demanding as doing so for pill formulas, their creators did not necessarily possess soul power comparable to an alchemist's. Thus, the higher the grade of a cultivation technique or Dou Technique, the fewer times it could be studied.
For instance, the soul power within this Great Flame Heaven-Shattering Fist was only enough for a single person to learn it.
After obtaining the scroll, Xiao Yan began studying it without another word. He spread open the scroll made from the hide of a tier six magical beast and drew all its soul power into his mind.
Before Xiao Yan's eyes, a blurry figure stood in front of a mountain, holding his breath and focusing his mind.
Then the figure swiftly gathered Dou Qi and hurled a punch forward. The Dou Qi merged with the wind of his punch, forming a terrifying flaming fist dozens of zhang across. With a single blow, it punched a hole straight through the center of the mountain!