The Shelter of a Great Tree
At Jia Nan Academy, the vegetation on the back mountain lay in disarray.
A little girl who looked as though she had been carved from pink jade punched a Fourth-Order Magical Beast in the head, killing it on the spot. She clapped her hands, then plucked a spirit fruit from a nearby spirit plant and tossed it into her mouth.
"Tastes good!"
As the energy circulated and accumulated in her body, the little girl stretched lazily, feeling a little sleepy.
The next moment, however, her eyes suddenly widened.
"That strange thing in my head finally came to life!"
Meanwhile, in the Central Region of the Central Plains.
Ye City, within the Pill Tower's sphere of influence.
In a residence of the Ye Clan, a girl of around thirteen, possessing an intellectual beauty beyond her years, pushed up the glasses on her nose. An ancient book appeared in her hand.
Inside the Little Pill Tower.
A girl refining a top-grade fifth-tier pill wrapped a medicinal herb in soul force and casually controlled the flame to refine it into a mass of crystalline liquid.
Suddenly, a piece of information appeared, making her hand jerk.
Boom!
"Argh! What kind of diary is this? You've really done me in!"
"Don't let me find out who your owner is, or I'll bite them to death!"
In the far southwest of the Central Region of the Central Plains lay the Blazing Fire Mountain Range.
It had more volcanoes than anywhere else on the Dou Qi Continent and was territory controlled by Burning Flame Valley.
Near a volcano, a girl in a red dress had a gleam flash through her eyes. "That strange book finally stirred. Can it help me break through to Dou Wang as soon as possible?"
The Medicine Realm...
The Flame Realm...
The Tian Xuan Continent...
The Great Thousand World...
At that very moment, countless women turned their attention to their copies of the diary.
Ye Qingzhou, the person who had started it all, knew nothing of this. He was on his way to the Scripture Repository.
As one of the Pill Tower's Five Great Families in the Central Plains, the Ye Clan had declined, but its foundations remained. Not only did it possess a vast city named after its surname, it also owned the largest estate in the city.
Ye Qingzhou left the southwestern courtyards where the clan's branch disciples lived, passed through corridors and courtyards, and arrived at the clan's Scripture Repository near the training ground at the back of the estate.
The Scripture Repository was a six-story stone building that looked especially ancient and unadorned among the buildings on the estate.
The first and second floors were open to all clan members. Anyone whose cultivation had reached Dou Zhe could freely enter and consult the records, cultivation methods, and Dou Techniques within.
To enter the third floor or above, one had to meet specific requirements.
Ye Qingzhou arrived at the entrance leading from the second floor to the third, where he saw an old man with white hair and a white beard dozing in a rocking chair.
This was Ye Fengyun, the Ye Clan's repository guardian elder. No one knew his true cultivation, but it was definitely no lower than Dou Wang.
Ye Qingzhou stepped forward and presented his identity token with both hands. "Greetings, Elder. This disciple has come to the Scripture Repository to select a cultivation method and a Dou Technique, in accordance with clan rules."
Without even lifting his eyelids, Ye Fengyun released a strand of soul force.
"Ye Qingzhou, sixteen years old, a Da Dou Shi?"
Ye Fengyun opened his eyes, and a sharp light flashed through their cloudy depths.
"A branch disciple with such strength at this age-you're a genius."
As he spoke, Ye Fengyun casually took a token from his Storage Ring and tossed it over.
"According to clan rules, anyone who breaks through to Da Dou Shi before the age of twenty may enter the fourth floor of the Scripture Repository and choose one cultivation method and one Dou Technique. Go on."
"Don't linger once you're up there. Come down as soon as you've made your choices and register them with me."
"Yes, Elder." Ye Qingzhou accepted the token and ascended to the third floor.
The third floor was different from the first two. There were no vast rows of bookshelves, nor were there piles of books, and very few people moved through it.
When Ye Qingzhou had broken through to Dou Zhe, he had come to this floor to choose a Low Xuan Tier cultivation method and a Low Xuan Tier Dou Technique, so it was not unfamiliar to him.
He did not linger, heading straight for the fourth floor, where he saw an orange-yellow energy barrier at the entrance.
But with the token in his hand, the barrier seemed to be nothing more than light, offering no obstruction.
The fourth floor was spacious, but even fewer things were stored there. Only a row of cloud sandalwood shelves stood in the center.
Scrolls of various colors lay on the shelves. In front of each stood a small wooden plaque bearing the cultivation method's name and tier.
Ye Qingzhou swept his gaze across them, finally settling on a scarlet scroll in the third compartment on the left.
The Crimson Flame Bodhi Scripture was a High Xuan Tier fire-attribute cultivation method. It had originated from the Low Xuan Tier Crimson Flame Art he had previously practiced and had been improved and developed by a Dou Zong ancestor.
The Crimson Flame Art was a pure fire-attribute cultivation method. Its strengths lay in its solid foundation and vigorous Dou Qi, which increased combat strength.
Its shortcoming was that it offered no help with pill refining. In fact, its Dou Qi was so violent that it could even interfere.
By practicing the Crimson Flame Bodhi Scripture, he could build perfectly on his existing Crimson Flame Dou Qi and cultivate a trace of Wood Attribute Dou Qi, allowing him to control his Dou Qi more skillfully, refine pills with greater ease, and reduce his consumption of soul force.
More than that, it could lay a foundation for breaking through to Dou Emperor.
This cultivation method ranked among the best of its level, but few in the Ye Clan practiced it, because it was a severe test of one's talent for soul force.
Even though the Ye Clan was an alchemist family, practicing such a cultivation method would still put them under pressure.
"This is the one!"
Ye Qingzhou raised his hand to take the cultivation method scroll.
But the instant he touched it, he suddenly felt disoriented.
Immediately afterward, the sights of the Scripture Repository's fourth floor receded like a tide, replaced by a vast, empty crimson world.
His consciousness had entered an unfamiliar environment.
"A soul test."
Ye Qingzhou's gaze sharpened, but he felt not a trace of panic.
The Ye Clan was one of the Pill Tower's Five Great Families and had produced several Eighth-Tier alchemists.
A prerequisite for becoming an Eighth-Tier alchemist was possessing a Spirit Realm Soul. With soul force at that realm, setting a soul test on a cultivation method passed down on one's own turf was no difficult task.
"A method must not be passed on lightly. Even a junior of the Ye Clan has to pass a test to obtain a cultivation method; wanting it isn't enough."
Ye Qingzhou raised his head, his gaze sweeping over the iron curtain that had been burned red across the sky above.
As time passed, fiery clouds churned, and scorching heat pressed in from all directions.
A majestic, aged voice rang out from the void, striking Ye Qingzhou's soul directly. "Whoever wishes to take this scripture must undergo the trial of heavenly fire."
"Nine fires shall burn the body. Those whose resolve is not firm should retreat."
As the voice fell silent, countless flames flew from the fiery clouds overhead and gathered into nine streams of heavenly fire.
The nine streams did not fall one after another. Instead, once formed, they became a net of fire that descended from every direction.
Ye Qingzhou realized he had no way to evade it, but he knew even more clearly that it could not be impossible to pass this test.
Without the slightest hesitation, he summoned all his soul force and spread it out.
His soul force had now reached the Late Mortal Realm, placing him among the foremost of the Ye Clan's younger generation.
When his soul perception touched the nine streams of heavenly fire, he focused entirely on examining them, peeling away layer by layer.
Temperature, speed, form, degree of violence, and so on-everything seemed exactly the same.
As the heavenly fire drew near and the heat felt intense enough to melt his consciousness, Ye Qingzhou's gaze sharpened and settled on the second stream.
It appeared no different from the other eight, but an exceedingly small vortex lay hidden at its center.
"This is it!"