Boom-
The deliciousness of the corn and pork bone soup made with immortal materials was matched by the agony of the immortal fire it ignited in his stomach.
Almost the instant the spark caught, Qi Dian let out a heart-rending scream. "Aaargh-"
Even Xing'er woke at his screams. She wandered out groggily and, seeing Qi Dian red all over, asked in bewilderment, "Did someone boil you?"
But a moment later, Qi Dian opened his mouth, spat out a cloud of golden smoke, and screamed again. "Aaargh-"
Only then did Xing'er catch on. "You're doing Great Fire Astral Refining?"
"That's right," Yue Wen said from his seat nearby. "Brother Qi just said he was ready, but judging by this, he still seems to have underestimated how difficult astral refining is."
Xing'er came over, sat beside him, and opened a bag of crispy rice snacks. Munching away, she mumbled, "So this is what watching someone else refine astral qi feels like."
"You didn't let us watch when you did it," Yue Wen said. "But you didn't scream this badly either."
Zhao Xing'er chuckled. "Of course not. This heroine has nerves of steel. No matter how much it hurts, I just give a little smile."
As she said this, Big White rolled its eyes in the corner, seemingly unable to suppress the urge to express itself, but ultimately gave up because it could not speak human language.
Taking human form and speaking human language depended not only on a monster's cultivation, but also on how long it had been growing.
Even in its original demon body, Big White was certainly above the Meow-Meow Cult's Three Little Ones in both cultivation and fighting strength, but the Three Little Ones had lived much longer, after all, so they could partially transform and speak fluently.
Big