Word Count: 2,567 Words
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Xiao Yan howled in agony, crying out for rcy. He had never personally experienced Burning Blood before. By the ti he could refine it himself, the substance had long ceased to be of any use to him.
"It hurts, it hurts, it HURTS!!!"
The old man smiled faintly, having clearly anticipated this reaction. He retrieved a small white jade tablet from his storage ring and carefully spread the red liquid across Xiao Yan’s back, thodically expanding its coverage until it coated a much larger area.
Xiao Yan’s back trembled with increasing violence as the crimson fluid spread. Veins bulged and writhed beneath his skin, creating a rather terrifying sight.
The red liquid clung to the surface of his skin, continuously seeping out faint threads of warmth. His entire body flushed an increasingly fiery red. This state persisted for over ten minutes before finally beginning to fade.
Of course, the pain ca with its rewards. Xiao Yan could clearly feel his body opening up, as though every ridian had been simultaneously unblocked. His ability to absorb the world’s energy had increased by countless tis over.
For a re Dou Practitioner, tier 4 Burning Blood was practically a cheat code, driving cultivation forward without pause.
’If I’d had Burning Blood back then, I probably would’ve been a Dou King by the ti I reached the Jia Ma Empire!’ Xiao Yan grumbled inwardly.
While enduring the scorching sensation, he followed the old man’s instructions and leaped onto a wooden stake. A thunderous crash echoed as the waterfall’s force caught him completely off guard, blasting him clean off the stake and sending him tumbling into the lake below.
’Damn it! I’m soone on the verge of becoming a Dou Saint. Don’t tell I’ll be stopped by this thing!’
CRASH!
"Fuck!" he snarled through gritted teeth. Xiao Yan sprang nimbly onto a large rock, Heavy Xuan Ruler brandished overhead, and launched himself toward the first wooden stake with wild, flailing determination.
BOOM!
His feet touched the stake and he instantly circulated his Dou Qi, soles locking firmly to the wood as a protective layer of energy surged across his body. The trendous waterfall hamred down on him, but this ti Xiao Yan miraculously held his ground.
’Hmph, is that all you’ve got?!’
Yet the mont he channeled Dou Qi to swing the Heavy Xuan Ruler, the weapon’s imnse weight combined with the waterfall’s crushing torrent sent him flying once more.
He burst from the water and scrambled back up, only to be blasted away again.
"You still haven’t understood?" the old man remarked calmly after watching these repeated failures. "Your basic stance is fundantally flawed. How can you possibly execute a perfect Fla Splitting Tsunami if all you know is how to circulate Dou Qi?"
"My stance?"
A firm palm landed on Xiao Yan’s back, subtly adjusting his posture. "Try it like this."
Sure enough, this ti Xiao Yan managed to complete one proper cleaving strike. But when he attempted the second, his form faltered and the waterfall swept him away once more.
The old man sat cross-legged on a boulder beside the lake, watching the stubborn youth who refused to yield against the relentless torrent. A faint smile touched his face, and a glimr of quiet satisfaction flickered through his aged eyes.
"Once you’ve completed three hundred swings, go outside and gather the dicinal ingredients listed on these pill recipes. I’ll demonstrate so fundantal alchemy techniques for you afterward." He paused, then added, "Oh, and arrange your own als. I don’t provide food."
Xiao Yan’s concentration shattered at those final words. With a resounding splash, the waterfall blasted him away yet again.
Not even providing als?!
...
RUMBLE!
The roar of the imnse waterfall echoed through the valley day after day, year after year. Moisture hung thick in the air, insulating the small valley from the blistering heat of the outside world.
Beneath the waterfall that poured down like a silver dragon, a youth stripped to the waist gripped a massive black ruler and relentlessly cleaved at the torrent before him. Every swing sent curtains of water exploding skyward.
Xiao Yan’s feet clung to the wooden stake like the roots of a stubborn shrub, immovable and unyielding. Faint yellow Dou Qi flickered across his body, and each ti the water crashed against him, wisps of vapor hissed upward from his skin.
Driving the heavy ruler into that raging torrent demanded a staggering amount of strength. Having persisted on the stakes for quite so ti now, every swing sent a sharp, numbing ache lancing through the muscles of his arms.
He forced himself to endure even as his legs grew weak, silently counting in his heart. ’Two hundred and ninety-nine... three hundred!’
BOOM!
A faint arc of red light flashed forth. The waterfall split cleanly in two, its flow frozen for one breathless instant. Xiao Yan seized that mont, pushing off with both legs to launch himself clear of the stake.
Ten colossal wooden stakes stood beneath the waterfall, and Xiao Yan had conquered every single one!
"Yeah! I finally did it!" His face glowed with excitent as he pumped his fists in exuberant celebration.
Happiness blood across the old man’s face at the sight. "Hehe, Xiao Yan, co eat so fish."
A perfectly roasted fish, its skin golden and glistening, was raised invitingly before him.
Xiao Yan took a deep sniff and his stomach rumbled loudly in protest. He perched on the large rock, happily accepted the old man’s offering, and devoured it in ravenous mouthfuls.
The old man watched his disciple’s enthusiasm with a warm smile, his gaze drifting toward the ten stakes beneath the waterfall. "Not bad. Starting today, you don’t need to practice the Fla Splitting Tsunami anymore. You’ve mastered it. From now on, focus your efforts on alchemy and cultivation."
Xiao Yan’s ravenous chewing paused. He lifted his head and smiled. "Understood, Master."
Ti passed quickly. With the help of Burning Blood, Xiao Yan’s cultivation soon climbed to the peak of a 9-star Dou Practitioner, just a hair’s breadth from Dou Master. Strictly speaking, he could break through whenever he chose.
Standing atop the cliff, he listened to the roar of the waterfall and gazed out across the beautiful scenery of the Magic Beast Mountain Range. The splendor of the setting sun was beyond the power of words to describe.
"The evening sun is infinitely beautiful; it’s just that dusk approaches."
Despite the breathtaking sunset, no trace of joy stirred in Xiao Yan’s heart. His eyes held only a quiet lancholy. He was about to reach Dou Master, and that ant it was ti to leave.
The old man’s floating soul body slowly appeared at his side. He gazed at the sunset with a faint smile. "Xiao Yan, your Master is already dead, isn’t he."
Xiao Yan’s body trembled. He nodded, sorrow threading through his voice. "This is within the Bodhisattva Ancient Tree’s tree spirit space. I’m undergoing the Hundred Reincarnations."
Joy flickered through the old man’s eyes. He patted Xiao Yan’s shoulder. "The Bodhisattva Ancient Tree’s Hundred Reincarnations... what an extraordinary opportunity! You’ve truly grown to remarkable heights."
"Go on, then. Let your Master see how far your alchemy has co one last ti."
Xiao Yan closed his eyes slowly. After a long mont of silence, he nodded and finally released the suppression on his cultivation. His strength surged from peak 9-star Dou Practitioner straight through into the Dou Master realm.
The instant he broke through, an exceedingly terrifying power erupted from within. All of Xiao Yan’s original cultivation ca flooding back. His Interdiate Heavenly State Spiritual Strength made the entire Magic Beast Mountain Range tremble, and the waterfall itself reversed its flow.
Eleven Heavenly Flas reappeared within his Acceptance Soul. Mao Wu had now fully evolved into a Heaven Seed Fla and been completely refined by the Fla Mantra. The Fla Mantra itself had advanced to a High Tian Class Qi thod, placing it among the most powerful on the entire Dou Qi Continent.
The old man nodded upon sensing the Fla Mantra’s evolution, though his eyes carried a bittersweet ache. Cultivating that technique to such heights was proof enough of how many life-and-death crises Xiao Yan had weathered.
Xiao Yan’s cultivation continued to climb without pause—from Dou Master to Dou Grandmaster, Dou Spirit, Dou King, Dou Emperor, Dou Ancestor, Dou Venerate—and then, under his Master’s watchful gaze, he shattered the barrier the old man had never managed to surpass in life.
He beca a Dou Saint.
Not a half-baked Half-Saint, but a true, genuine Dou Saint!
The might of a Dou Saint warped and distorted the tree spirit space. The Hundred Reincarnations drew near their end.
A pitch-black dicinal cauldron materialized before him. Warmth and comfort softened the old man’s expression at the sight of his old companion, still faithfully at his disciple’s side.
dicinal ingredients flew out one after another. Their sheer number beggared belief—a full thousand stalks filled the air until the entire space was blanketed and Xiao Yan stood at the heart of a sea of herbs. Among them, a single Bodhisattva Seed emitting a faint, serene green glow floated to the forefront.
Yet Xiao Yan was not planning to refine a Bodhisattva Pill. Beyond the Bodhisattva Seed, he also possessed the Core Bead he had obtained from the Ye Clan—a Rank 9 energy core capable of being used to refine a Tier 9 Treasure Pill.
He had said before that he couldn’t refine tier 9 pills because he lacked the ingredients for the recipes he possessed. But circumstances had changed. Though those specific ingredients remained beyond his reach, the old man’s teaching had filled every gap and patched every flaw in his knowledge. A brand-new tier 9 recipe had taken shape in his mind.
The Bodhisattva Great Restoration Pill. A Tier 9 Treasure Pill that increased a peak Nine-Change Dou Venerate’s chance of breaking through to Dou Saint by fifty percent.
Xiao Yan truly deserved his reputation as an alchemy genius. He quickly steadied his emotions and entered his peak refinent state.
The old man nodded slowly, pleased that personal matters hadn’t shaken his disciple’s focus.
A low hum resonated through the air as a brand-new Heavenly Fla, born from the rging of all eleven, slowly erged in Xiao Yan’s palm. The Fla Mantra’s advancent to High Tian Class ant this rged fla had reached an inconceivable level of power.
Even the unique Purifying Lotus Demon Fla and the Nihility Devouring Fla were no longer its superiors. High Tian Class represented the Dou Qi Continent’s absolute pinnacle.
Nothing born of the Dou Qi Continent could exceed the Dou Saint realm. Dou God was a state that transcended the continent’s very rules, which was precisely why one needed sothing called Origin Qi to reach that level.
The Black Demon Cauldron released waves of pitch-black energy the instant Xiao Yan fed the Heavenly Fla into it. It was as if the cauldron had never truly acknowledged him as its master until this very mont. Only now did it fully submit, unleashing power unlike anything it had ever shown before.
Xiao Yan’s pace was neither hurried nor slow. His movents flowed like drifting clouds and running water—from adding the ingredients to refining them, every action completed in a single, seamless sequence. In that mont, it was as though he had returned to a state of pure simplicity. His technique had achieved perfection, natural and whole, as if the very principles of the Great Dao had been made manifest.
Whether it was his refinent thod, his fire control, or his use of Spiritual Strength, every movent was breathtaking to behold. Even the old man couldn’t help nodding again and again, lost in admiration of this fluid, seamless mastery.
Under his Master’s gaze, Xiao Yan remained calm and composed. Every action matched each ingredient’s unique properties and age with unerring precision. Every nuance of his control was confident and unhurried, thodical and assured.
Refining a tier 9 dicinal pill required considerable ti—three full months. Yet for Xiao Yan, three months passed almost too quickly.
The world plunged into sudden darkness.
Clouds gathered with frightening speed from all directions above the Magic Beast Mountain Range, forming a mass of such extre, abyssal blackness that it swallowed the sky whole. No thunder rumbled from within those clouds, yet gazing into that depthless dark, so deep it seed capable of pulling one’s very sight into its maw, was enough to make even souls tremble.
Black Demon Lightning. The ultimate tribulation lightning, summoned only by a Tier 9 Treasure Pill. Its power rivaled a Dou Saint’s full strike!
Joy flashed through the old man’s aged eyes. It was truly wonderful that the disciple he had taught and passed his legacy could refine a Tier 9 Treasure Pill.
Pitch-black lightning churned through the black clouds like a dragon half-glimpsed through storm and shadow. The dark dragon seed to be chasing a dragon pearl, its gaze locked hungrily onto the pill within the cauldron, as though devouring it would grant the power to beco a true dragon.
Xiao Yan hesitated at the sight. The old man smiled softly. "Go. Don’t let anything hold you back. Your path stretches far beyond mine."
Xiao Yan stood with his back to the old man. His right hand trembled faintly before the Heavy Xuan Ruler appeared with a quiet hum. This ti, his form was finally perfect.
All eleven Heavenly Flas rged onto the Heavy Xuan Ruler. The instant Xiao Yan assud that flawless stance, the entire world fell abruptly silent. This was no Tian Class Dou Technique, yet it surpassed Tian Class entirely!
Thunder roared. The Black Demon Lightning transford into a colossal black dragon and lunged toward him. Xiao Yan tightened his grip on the ruler’s handle. A Dou Saint’s terrifying might exploded from his body as the energy of the world condensed to a single point.
"Fla Splitting... TSUNAMI!!!"
His voice was hoarse, his eyes bloodshot. The Heavy Xuan Ruler swung in a vicious, all-consuming arc straight into the Black Demon Lightning!
Shattered.
A flawless crescent of fire split the Black Demon Lightning cleanly in two. But it was not just the lightning that was severed. This world itself was cleaved apart, and with it, the Hundred Reincarnations.
A hundred lifetis. Yet for Xiao Yan, there had truly been only one.
No joy filled him now. No elation at achieving Dou Saint, no pride in refining a Tier 9 Treasure Pill. Tears heavy with grief rolled down his cheeks one by one, splashing onto the flat of the Heavy Xuan Ruler.
Because he could feel it. As the Hundred Reincarnations ended and this world dissolved, the old man’s body was fading with it, breaking apart bit by bit into drifting motes of light.
Thirty years had passed since Xiao Yan arrived on the Dou Qi Continent. He had known sadness before. He had shed tears before. But this was the most heart-wrenching mont of his entire life.
Cracking sounds echoed from every direction as fissures spread through the dissolving world, revealing the tree spirit space of the Bodhisattva Ancient Tree beyond.
He was a Dou Saint now. A 9th-tier alchemist. The Hundred Reincarnations had concluded, and the ti for farewell had co.
And this ti, it was truly forever. There would be no second chance, no future reunion.
This was goodbye.
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