Cao Youqian: I Want to See Where My Limits Are

"Watch how you speak, brat!"

Chu Feng said irritably, "You may question your master's cultivation, but you can't question my skills. You make it sound as though I became head of the Miscellaneous Dao Institute through nepotism."

"I misspoke."

An embarrassed look crossed Xiao Chen's face. Damn me. How could I question Master?

His master had been the Miscellaneous Dao Institute's only disciple before, so he must have mastered all the institute's skills.

After all, the Dao-Seeking Academy never supported idlers.

"Master, could you teach me how to brew tea?"

"Of course."

Chu Feng said with a smile, "The art of tea brewing is not really about brewing tea, but about a person's state of mind."

"Oh?"

Xiao Chen's interest was immediately piqued. He asked his master to elaborate.

"First, before brewing tea, you must calm your heart and mind. While brewing it, you must devote yourself to it completely. Ideally, you should put your own intent into it."

Chu Feng spoke at an unhurried pace.

Xiao Chen said, "Master, I understood everything you said before that, but I don't understand the last part."

"Intent refers to your thoughts, but it can also mean Sword Intent. I once heard the old academy head say that mighty figures in ancient times could brew tea with their own Dao intent. The tea they brewed allowed one to taste the true essence of the Great Dao..."

Chu Feng certainly wasn't making this up. The old academy head had told him all this himself.

After hearing it back then, he had declared with absolute certainty that one day, he too would brew tea containing the true essence of the Great Dao.

But reality was cruel. Chu Feng could hardly be considered a cultivator, so how could he possibly brew tea containing the true essence of the Great Dao?

To Xiao Chen, however, those words were like a thunderclap out of a clear sky.

He was deeply shaken.

Seeing the astonished look on his disciple's face, Chu Feng thought, Look at you. I only showed you a little of what I can do, and you're already this shocked.

It took Xiao Chen a little while to come back to his senses.

"Master, can I start practicing now?"

"Of course."

Chu Feng moved aside from the tea table to watch Xiao Chen.

While master and disciple were concentrating on the art of tea brewing,

inside the earthfire cave,

Cao Youqian was having a rough time. In just two hours, several patches of his skin had been scorched.

Every so often, he could even smell roasting meat.

But he didn't dare relax in the slightest, especially when it came to his vital parts.

He carefully protected them with spiritual power. If that part were burned off, he would probably regret it for the rest of his life.

Without reaching the Nirvana Realm, he couldn't regenerate severed limbs.

Time passed second by second.

The daylight hours soon passed.

Chu Feng reckoned the time and found that eighteen hours had yet to pass.

He couldn't be bothered to go back, so he had Xiao Chen grill meat right there while they quietly waited for Cao Youqian to emerge from his cultivation.

Inside the fire cave, Cao Youqian was suffering terribly.

He had already spent twelve hours in the cave.

His spiritual power was almost exhausted. He had overestimated his strength.

Ordinarily, a Half-Step True Fate cultivator should have had no problem spending a whole day in this second-grade earthfire.

But he was still far behind an ordinary Half-Step True Fate cultivator. In the fire cave, he consumed spiritual power faster than usual.

Damn it!

If I go out now, all my previous efforts will go down the drain. But if I stay, I'm afraid I'll be burned into a roast suckling pig.

No, I have to push myself.

I want to see exactly where my limits are.

If I really can't take it anymore, I'll ask Master for help.

He continued circulating his cultivation art, enduring the tempering of the searing earthfire.

At night, the back mountain of the Miscellaneous Dao Institute was utterly silent. A gentle breeze brushed past, refreshing the heart and mind.

Apart from the chirping of insects and birds, almost nothing else could be heard.

Xiao Chen had entered a state of cultivation, while Chu Feng sat beside him with his eyes closed, resting. From time to time, he sent his spiritual sense into the fire cave to see how his second disciple was doing.

Through his spiritual sense, Chu Feng could clearly see a figure in the earthfire with spiritual power constantly circulating around him.

Seeing that he was still alive, Chu Feng thought no more of it.

Eighteen hours passed.

Chu Feng picked up the jade pendant and used it to control the formation, extinguishing the fire in the earthfire cave.

Thud!

A muffled thud of something heavy hitting the ground came from the cave, followed by complete silence.

Xiao Chen immediately opened his eyes and flew into the fire cave.

A fat man lay inside, burned so badly from head to toe that even his own mother wouldn't have recognized him.

If Cao Youqian's eyelids hadn't still been twitching slightly,

Xiao Chen would have thought his junior brother was dead.

"Water... water..."

Cao Youqian used almost all his strength to force out those words.

Hearing him, Xiao Chen immediately took water from his storage bag and fed it to Cao Youqian.

Gulp, gulp...

Cao Youqian drank the entire pot dry. Then, with every last bit of strength he could muster, he said to Chu Feng, who had just landed, "Master, I... I didn't disgrace you."

"Mm, you did well."

Chu Feng looked at his disciple, whose hair had all been burned off, and nodded in satisfaction.

"Chen'er, take Daqian up and teach him the Method of Entering Meditation and Sitting in Forgetfulness. Have him meditate and cultivate."

"Yes, Master."

Hearing this, Xiao Chen promptly carried Cao Youqian out of the fire cave.

Once outside, Xiao Chen asked, "Master, how can Junior Brother possibly meditate in this condition?"

Chu Feng said, "Give him a Rejuvenation Pill to help him recover."

"Yes, Master."

Xiao Chen put the Rejuvenation Pill into Cao Youqian's mouth.

As soon as he swallowed the pill, much of Cao Youqian's spiritual power was restored.

He struggled to prop himself up and said, "Master, I'm hungry."

Chu Feng said, "We saved plenty of grilled meat for you. Make do with that."

At the mention of grilled meat, Cao Youqian immediately felt sick and had the urge to vomit.

But it was better than nothing, so he began wolfing down the meat.

An hour later, Cao Youqian, his head still bald, finally remembered that he wasn't wearing any clothes.

He swiftly put on his robes and bowed to Chu Feng.

"Master, I must have made a fool of myself."

Chu Feng waved a hand. "Don't worry, we won't tell anyone."

Xiao Chen nodded too. "Junior Brother, I'll teach you the Method of Entering Meditation and Sitting in Forgetfulness. This cultivation art will let you recover your spiritual power in the shortest possible time."

Cao Youqian's face lit up. He hadn't expected his master to possess such a secret art.

"Then sorry for the trouble, Senior Brother."

Xiao Chen instructed Cao Youqian according to the method Chu Feng had taught him.

Cao Youqian was in searing pain all over. He felt as though much of the flesh on his body no longer belonged to him.

Even so, he gritted his teeth through the pain and meditated, trying to enter a meditative state as soon as possible.

Seeing this, Chu Feng didn't linger any longer. He returned directly to his courtyard, intending to enjoy a good sleep.

Over the following days, Chu Feng and Xiao Chen studied the art of tea brewing beside the fire cave.

Cao Youqian, meanwhile, cultivated inside it.

Time passed unnoticed in the mountains, and a month flew by.

By now, Cao Youqian had grown accustomed to this method of cultivation. During the day, he tempered his body with earthfire. At night, he took recovery pills, ate demonic beast meat, and meditated to continue cultivating and restore his spiritual power.

Most importantly, he felt that the medicinal power accumulated in his meridians had actually been refined through the tempering of the earthfire.

The pill toxins in his body were also expelled through his skin. Most importantly, his cultivation, which had previously stagnated, had actually begun to grow at a speed visible to the naked eye.

If this continued, he would be able to break through to the True Fate Realm within a few months.

One night, Cao Youqian suddenly opened his eyes after only two hours of meditation. He found that the spiritual power stored in his body had reached its limit. If he continued cultivating, it would overflow and forcibly help him break through to the True Fate Realm.

He stopped cultivating, not because he didn't want to break through to the True Fate Realm, but because the Five Elements Chapter of the Chaos Body Refining Art stated that he had to complete at least one kind of Five Elements Body Tempering before breaking through. Otherwise, all his efforts would come to nothing.

"Eldest Senior Brother, I can barely suppress my cultivation anymore. I'm about to break through. What should I do?"