Battle Through the Heavens: Heavenly comprehension

Even with Yao Lao's vast experience, he was momentarily stunned.

After a while, Yao Lao flicked his finger, and a black beam of light fell into Xiao Yan's hand. As the black light faded, it revealed a black scroll.

"This is the technique that is even more mysterious than a Heaven-tier technique—Burning Art! Right now, it is only at the Yellow-tier low level, but it can evolve by devouring different types of Heavenly Flames."

"I'll explain what Heavenly Flames are later. For now, you only need to know that a single Heavenly Flame can torment even a Dou Huang to the brink of death.

Even I can hardly imagine what would happen if someone were to possess two or more types of Heavenly Flames within their body."

"If you want to achieve your dreams, work hard and cultivate diligently," Yao Lao sighed, hoping he wasn't making a mistake in his judgment this time.

Receiving the Burning Art, Xiao Yan stood up and went to the secluded cave in the back mountain where he had been practicing over the years to avoid any disturbances.

Yao Lao was quite satisfied with Xiao Yan's cautiousness.

Apart from Xiao Yan's slight weakness for women, Yao Lao was generally very pleased with his qualities.

Sitting cross-legged on the stone bed, Xiao Yan slowly unrolled the scroll. As soon as he did, a stream of information poured into his mind.

With his exceptional comprehension ability, Xiao Yan only needed a single glance to fully understand the cultivation method of the Burning Art, and even some inexplicable ideas arose in his mind.

Having experienced multiple epiphanies before, Xiao Yan was no stranger to such thoughts.

If he focused on these insights in the future, he could make significant progress and turn them into reality.

Closing his eyes slowly, Xiao Yan began cultivating the Burning Art.

Upon breaking through to the Dou Zhe level, every practitioner gained the qualification to cultivate a technique. Once a technique was cultivated, the previously attribute-less milky white Dou Qi would transform into an attribute-specific Dou Qi.

The initial transformation of Dou Qi usually didn't take too long. However, the Burning Art was incredibly peculiar—no one had ever practiced it before. Suspended mid-air, Yao Lao watched Xiao Yan as he focused on the transformation process.

Two hours later, Yao Lao began to grow anxious.

"Why is it taking so long?! The 'Burning Art' is only at the Yellow-tier low level right now. Given Xiao Yan's talent, he should have completed the transformation long ago."

Xiao Yan had been cultivating Dou Qi for more than ten years, and his foundational technique, Foundation Strengthening Technique, had undergone several improvements through epiphanies.

His latest cultivation method, called Dispersing Qi Reconstructing Foundation, combined Yao Lao's insights from absorbing Dou Qi and summarized years of cultivation experience.

By constantly cultivating under the condition of being drained of Dou Qi, Xiao Yan not only strengthened his body to an extraordinary level but also purified his Dou Qi to an extent where it almost rivaled actual battle-ready Dou Qi.

Using this refined Dou Qi to form his Dou Qi Whirlpool and break through to the Dou Zhe level, Xiao Yan's Dou Qi remained pure and potent—far superior to that of an ordinary Dou Zhe, even surpassing some Dou Shi experts.

Naturally, this purity required a longer transformation process compared to typical cultivators.

It took a full five hours before Xiao Yan finally completed the transformation.

After successfully cultivating his Dou Qi technique, Xiao Yan looked visibly more energetic than before. His delicate features now carried a subtle, jade-like glow, making him appear full of vigor.

Yao Lao, who had been observing Xiao Yan closely the entire time, immediately noticed the changes. "The transformation is complete?"

At that moment, the energy of the surrounding heavens and earth suddenly surged toward Xiao Yan in a frenzy. The absorption speed increased rapidly, making it seem as if Xiao Yan's body had turned into a black hole, endlessly drawing in the surrounding energy.

Suspended in mid-air, Yao Lao's brow furrowed slightly. "Is he about to break through already?"

"Such a vast amount of heaven and earth energy... this far exceeds what a mere Dou Zhe's breakthrough should involve!"

As Yao Lao remained puzzled and slightly anxious, Xiao Yan, with his eyes tightly shut, calmly and methodically guided the energy surging into his body through his pores.

Xiao Yan had performed this process countless times before, and even now, with the newly acquired Burning Art, he handled it with practiced ease.

The massive influx of heaven and earth energy underwent multiple refinements and purifications through his meridians until it reached the level of Dou Qi required to be absorbed into his Dou Qi Whirlpool.

An entire hour passed before the surrounding energy thinned out, and eventually, the area fell completely silent as Xiao Yan absorbed every last trace of it.

A muffled sound echoed from within Xiao Yan's body, and everything returned to normal.

Blinking his eyes, Xiao Yan looked around the now seemingly brighter cave and smiled faintly.

He was well aware that this newfound clarity was one of the sensory benefits that came with practicing the Burning Art.

"A two-star Dou Zhe!" Yao Lao couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement. "Breaking through while converting a technique... this is the first time I've ever heard of such a thing. It seems all those years of cultivating Dou Qi have truly benefited your body."

Xiao Yan nodded slightly. "My Dou Qi is exceptionally pure. Once the technique was fully converted, I could feel the energy within my Qi Whirlpool on the verge of breaking through to the two-star level, so I cultivated for a little longer and advanced directly."

"Cultivated for a little longer..." Yao Lao shook his head with a wry smile and recounted the scene of Xiao Yan's breakthrough. "That was far from what a one-star Dou Zhe's breakthrough should look like, and it's certainly not the result one would expect from a low-level Yellow-tier technique."

Xiao Yan smiled knowingly. "Do you really think everyone will experience the same results when cultivating a low-level Yellow-tier technique? If that were the case, then everyone should progress at the same pace during the Dou Qi Foundation phase. But the reality is, cultivation speed varies greatly."

"Geniuses are called geniuses precisely because their talent far surpasses ordinary people. If talent had no impact on cultivation speed, and everything depended on techniques and resources alone, then the entire Dou Qi continent would be filled with people saying—'If I had that technique or that pill, I could do it too.'"

"So basically, you're just finding a roundabout way to boast about your exceptional talent, huh?" Yao Lao saw right through Xiao Yan's thoughts.

Xiao Yan rubbed his head with a sheepish grin but said nothing.

Despite finding Xiao Yan's self-admiration a bit amusing, Yao Lao had to admit that the boy wasn't entirely wrong.

"You do have a point, but tell me, who with such talent would choose to cultivate a low-level Yellow-tier technique?" Yao Lao said with a bitter smile. However, his expression quickly turned serious as he re-examined Xiao Yan.

To achieve the cultivation speed of a high-level Yellow-tier technique while using a low-level one... even someone as knowledgeable as Yao Lao found it astonishing.

This was pure talent, pushing the technique beyond its limits!

But just as Xiao Yan was about to celebrate, Yao Lao poured cold water on his excitement.

"Don't get too excited just yet. Although your cultivation speed is impressive, before the Burning Art evolves, your Dou Qi endurance is far inferior to others."

(End of Chapter)

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