5: Chapter 5 Ascetic Practice

Early morning, at the peak of the back mountain, within a secluded grove.

The dull sound of a Physical Body being struck echoed continuously. Xiao Yan gritted his teeth, his brows tightly furrowed, his feet buried deep in the soil. Steam rose from his sweat as it dripped onto the freshly turned earth.

Xiao Yan wore only a pair of shorts, his bare upper body covered in a dense network of bruises.

Behind Xiao Yan was Yao Chen in his Soul state. He sat cross-legged on a large rock, watching the persevering youth before him with a stern expression.

With a light wave of his hand, the air rippled. A streak of crimson Dou Zhi Qi shot fiercely from Yao Chen's hand, striking the teeth-gritting Xiao Yan and leaving a mark as if whipped.

"Hiss!"

Xiao Yan shuddered upon being struck. The intense pain made it difficult for him to hold on, and he nearly collapsed to the ground.

"Two thousand one hundred and seventeen!" Xiao Yan gritted his teeth and continued to persevere.

"Incredible, simply incredible. Two thousand one hundred and seventeen—over three hundred more Dou Zhi Qi lashes than three days ago..." Yao Chen's eyes contained unconcealable shock. Xiao Yan's talent was absolutely the best he had ever seen in his life, bar none. Ordinary Geniuses weren't even fit to carry Xiao Yan's shoes!

Was this level of Physical Body strength and talent truly something a human could possess? One had to know, Xiao Yan wasn't even a Dou Practitioner yet!

Ten days had passed since he began to Cultivate Eight Extremities Collapse. Xiao Yan could already skillfully use Eight Extremities Collapse, but at his strong insistence, the physical training continued every three days.

"Bang! Bang! Bang..." In the grove, unsettling thuds intermingled with pained groans, spreading outward. But on this mist-shrouded mountain peak, it was destined that no one would notice a youth undergoing such brutal training in the woods.

Yao Chen was very measured in his strikes. Each attack was precisely at the critical threshold that Xiao Yan's body could withstand—neither causing excessive injury nor failing to deliver sufficient pain.

After the pain, the stimulation of Dou Zhi Qi became more vigorous, flowing through the meridians and Acupoints where the injuries were sustained, penetrating the bones and muscles, and gradually strengthening his Physique.

In truth, there was no need for Xiao Yan to do this now. As long as he followed the plot, the Xiao Yan who possessed ten times the talent could easily obtain the Dou Di Legacy and become the strongest in this world, the Flame Emperor.

But clearly, Xiao Yan had no intention of following the script entirely. He wanted to change some avoidable plot points within his capability; after all, he had no interest in wasting time on those meaningless troubles.

And for Xiao Yan, this pain was not unbearable. In his past life, he had been captured and beaten for three days and three nights several times, with the most severe incident requiring over a year of hospitalization to recover. This kind of training-style lashing was nothing in comparison.

"Bang!" But as this sound fell, Xiao Yan's Physical Body finally could not hold on any longer, and he collapsed to the ground.

After a long while, Yao Chen's concerned voice came: "Hurry back and soak in the Foundation Establishment Elixir, otherwise the blood stasis in your body will be enough to cause you serious injury!"

After the training ended, Xiao Yan returned to his room and sat cross-legged in a wooden barrel. His rapid breathing gradually calmed as gentle energy seeped through his pores into his body, clearing away the hideous bruises and continuously providing vitality to his Physical Body while strengthening it.

However, such training no longer held much significance. In this world, after all, Dou Zhi Qi was the most important, Xiao Yan thought to himself.

With these ten days of Cultivate, the progress was far from as rapid as it had been at the beginning. It was time to shift his focus to Cultivate Dou Zhi Qi.

Let's make one final push and Breakthrough to the sixth stage of Dou Zhi Qi today!

Yao Chen, floating before Xiao Yan, watched him in the midst of a Breakthrough and felt there was nothing left to be shocked by. At this rate, breaking through to Dou Practitioner in half a year would not be a problem...

...

Time slipped away bit by bit during Xiao Yan's hard Cultivation. In the blink of an eye, only six months remained until the Coming of Age Ceremony.

"Eight Extremities Collapse!"

"Boom!"

Dust flew, gravel splattered, and a giant tree that required two people to embrace crashed to the ground!

And the cause of all this was merely a single finger!

"The ninth stage of Dou Zhi Qi? The improvement to Eight Extremities Collapse doesn't seem as massive as I imagined."

A powerful Soul allowed Xiao Yan to control his body to an unparalleled degree, and he had long since mastered the powerful hidden force within Eight Extremities Collapse.

At this moment, he could use just one finger to channel the force completely into the tree, thereby causing massive damage!

"Teacher, if I were to infuse Dou Zhi Qi into the force, could I cause even greater damage?" Xiao Yan asked with a whimsical idea.

"If you could achieve that, it would naturally cause a certain degree of interference to the enemy. However, the use is not great. If the enemy's strength far exceeds yours, it wouldn't even create the slightest bit of interference," Yao Lao said, stroking his chin.

"But if it were a Heavenly Flame, that would be a different story," Yao Chen continued.

There existed some Heavenly Flames between heaven and earth. Perhaps they were a cluster of flames carried by a falling meteorite, or perhaps lava earth fire calcined for countless years in the depths of a volcano. These earth fires were more formidable than flames fueled by Dou Zhi Qi.

When used to refine Medicinal Pills, they could also enhance the efficacy of the pill. However, these Heavenly Flames were exceptionally violent; even if one were fated to encounter them, they were extremely difficult to tame for one's own use.

Yao Chen's white flame was a type of Heavenly Flame, the eleventh-ranked "Bone Chilling Flame" in the world! This Heavenly Flame could only be encountered during the alternating of the sun and moon every hundred years in places of extreme cold and extreme Yin.

Xiao Yan naturally knew what a Heavenly Flame was; this was also something Yao Chen had mentioned previously when Xiao Yan asked him about the white flame.

"But it is too early to think about these things now. Let's prepare for the Breakthrough to Dou Practitioner first. I really didn't expect that in just half a year, you, Little Yan, would actually be preparing to Breakthrough to Dou Practitioner." Yao Chen was clearly already numbed by shock at Xiao Yan's super talent; at this moment, he only clicked his tongue in wonder.

Speaking of this, Xiao Yan suddenly looked at Yao Chen with eager eyes and said: "Teacher, I don't have the money to buy Qi Gathering Powder! Relying on my own Cultivate, who knows when in the year of the monkey I'll be able to Breakthrough to Dou Practitioner."

"Qi Gathering Powder, huh? Tomorrow, go and prepare four fifty-year-old Ink Leaf Lotuses, two ripe Snake Saliva Fruits, one Spirit Gathering Grass of about twenty years, and a water-attribute second-grade Magic Core." Yao Chen said casually, but seeing Xiao Yan's expression of despair, he couldn't help but pause and ask in surprise: "What's wrong?"

"Teacher, I think I've hit rock bottom. These Materials alone would cost over fifty thousand gold coins. It's not that I don't want to borrow, but my credit is truly overdrawn!" Xiao Yan said with a dejected face.

"Uh... these are all your affairs. It has nothing to do with me; I am only responsible for refining Medicinal Pills." Yao Lao spread his hands, looking playful.

Seeing Yao Chen like this, Xiao Yan put away his dejected posture and said: "Teacher, how about this: you, old man, could just refine some inferior-quality Foundation Establishment Elixir and then auction it off. Once the money is in hand, we can buy the Materials for the Qi Gathering Powder."

Yao Chen thought about it and said: "That works. It is not a rare occurrence for an Alchemist to auction off their own Medicinal Pills, and that Foundation Establishment Elixir is only the lowest-grade cultivation drug; there is no harm in selling it."

In the evening, Xiao Yan looked at the several bottles of inferior-quality Foundation Establishment Elixir displayed on the table, preparing to go to the largest auction house in Wutan City to auction them.

The Mittel Auction House was also affiliated with the wealthiest Family in the Jia Ma Empire: the Mittel Family.

Ice Emperor Hai Bodong was one of the bosses of the Mittel Chamber of Commerce. Regarding this chamber of commerce, there was another figure, who was an acquaintance of the original Xiao Yan: Ya Fei.

However, Xiao Yan did not want to deal with this woman right now. If he didn't truly need gold coins, Xiao Yan would not have chosen to auction the elixir.

"Brother Xiao Yan, are you home?" Xiao Xun Er's clear, ethereal voice sounded from outside the door.

Inside the room, Xiao Yan, who was just preparing to change his clothes, stopped his movements and opened the door, curious. "I wonder why Xun'er has come to find me?"