BTTH : From the beginning of the battle to the top -MTL

Stepping out of the tower, the warm sunlight poured down, allowing Lin Yuan, who had spent half a month inside the tower, to relax a bit. He looked up at the azure sky and took a deep breath of fresh air. Indeed, cultivating in the Sky Burning Qi Tower was more efficient than practicing outside, but after a long time, it could still feel somewhat oppressive.

As Lin Yuan's thoughts wandered, he couldn't help but think of the group of eerie figures in the Soul Palace, who spent their days surrounded by a dark environment and strange laughter. After a long time, were they really okay mentally?

Shaking his head, Lin Yuan dismissed the chaotic thoughts in his mind and refocused. After a moment of contemplation, he headed towards the herb storage.

"The fighting energy has been refined, and my control over soul power has also matured during the process. It's time to complete the alchemy task assigned by the fire master to hone my alchemical skills. If I'm lucky, I might run into Ziyan in the herb storage."

Lin Yuan had previously confirmed through the Strong Rankings that Ziyan had been brought back by the Grand Elder Su Qian for two years. Ziyan was one of his most important goals for coming to the inner courtyard.

Before long, Lin Yuan arrived at the herb storage. Elder Hao, who managed the herb storage, had clearly been informed by the Grand Elder. Even so, upon seeing Lin Yuan's youthful face, he couldn't help but express his amazement, and his attitude became even more enthusiastic. He readily handed over a large quantity of herbs and magic cores from the list Lin Yuan provided.

Although Lin Yuan felt a bit regretful for not having "coincidentally" encountered Ziyan this time, he still smiled and bid farewell to Elder Hao.

"It seems that fate is still unreliable for me. I might as well play some tricks. I happened to catch a nice bait while fishing last time!"

With his mind made up, Lin Yuan went to a secluded mountain. This mountain was located near the path from the back mountain range to the student area of the inner courtyard. Lin Yuan then took out all the herbs he had retrieved from the herb storage from his spatial ring. They were all materials for refining fourth-grade and lower pills. He also took out one of the main materials for the Fighting Spirit Pill he had caught while fishing in the Black Corner Domain after breaking through to the Dou Wang level—the Spirit Berry—and placed it outside.

"The Void Ancient Dragon has a talent for treasure hunting, and Ziyan often goes into the mountains to search for treasures. As long as she travels between the mountains and the academy, with so many herbs and pills here, she can't possibly not sense them. Now, I just need to wait patiently!" Lin Yuan thought to himself.

Then, Lin Yuan took out the alchemy furnace and prepared to refine some fourth-grade pills to hand over to the academy, such as the Gathering Qi Powder, Purple Heart Breaking Barrier Pill, Gathering Spirit Pill, and Clear Vein Pill.

"Let's start with the Purple Heart Breaking Barrier Pill to warm up!"

For Lin Yuan now, refining fourth-grade pills with only a dozen or so types of herbs was already a piece of cake. With a thought, he conjured a ball of azure flame and threw it into the alchemy furnace. Then, with a flick of his sleeve, he accurately summoned the various herbs needed for the Purple Heart Breaking Barrier Pill to his side, sequentially adding them for extraction, completing the refining steps.

After that, Lin Yuan placed the extracted essence into the alchemy furnace to begin the pill fusion process. A powerful soul force surged from his brow, precisely controlling the flame temperature and the fusion of the herbs. Before long, as the pill was about to be completed, a fragrant aroma wafted through the air.

"It's done!"

With a light wave of his hand, a round, plump purple pill the size of a longan, enveloped in pill mist, flew into Lin Yuan's hand. He examined it and nodded in satisfaction, "Not bad, a top-quality Purple Heart Breaking Barrier Pill."

After storing the pill, Lin Yuan began to refine the Purple Heart Breaking Barrier Pill again. However, this time he didn't use the previous method but started experimenting with his own imagined approach. He directly abandoned the use of the alchemy furnace during the extraction step, instead using his extraordinary soul power to finely control the azure flame's temperature to envelop the herbs and extract their essence. Initially, it felt a bit awkward, but it became smoother as he progressed, allowing him to extract multiple herbs simultaneously like flowing water.

Once the extraction of the herbs was complete, Lin Yuan used the alchemy furnace to finish the pill fusion, resulting in a high-quality Purple Heart Breaking Barrier Pill. Upon seeing it, Lin Yuan frowned slightly, "This approach is sound, but directly using flames to extract the essence still needs practice. I'll focus on practicing this during this task!"

After reflecting on the details of the previous alchemy process, Lin Yuan continued refining pills, gradually correcting and perfecting various details in his alchemical process.

More than ten days later, after completing a round of pills, Lin Yuan, who was closing his eyes and resting as if asleep, suddenly smiled at the corner of his mouth, "Finally got a bite! It was worth the wait."

Behind him, a small, sneaky figure was approaching, and a small hand was reaching for the Spirit Berry. Just as it was about to touch it, a slightly lazy and playful voice reached her ears: "Little sister, what are you doing?" At the same time, the Spirit Berry seemed to have a mind of its own and flew away.

The little girl's line of sight followed the Spirit Berry to a long hand, and the owner of that hand—the seemingly sleeping young man—had already turned around, looking at her with a hint of a smile.

Lin Yuan looked at the little girl in front of him, who seemed to be only eleven or twelve years old, with long, light purple hair cascading down to her waist. Her cheeks were extremely fair and tender, resembling a delicate sculpture, and she exuded the aura of a Dou Wang. It was undoubtedly Ziyan.

"Give me back my Spirit Berry, or I'll eat you," Ziyan shouted angrily upon seeing her target in someone else's hands.

"No, it's my Spirit Berry," came Lin Yuan's response, tinged with a hint of amusement.

Hearing Lin Yuan's words, a dangerous glint appeared in Ziyan's eyes. Without saying much, she stomped her foot on the ground, and with a powerful physical force, she created a small pit in the ground, then shot towards Lin Yuan, aiming for the Spirit Berry in his hand.

Having already enveloped Ziyan with his soul perception, Lin Yuan smirked and, using his habitual movement technique, swiftly dodged her attack.

Seeing her strike miss, Ziyan quickly adjusted her body and lunged at Lin Yuan again, but unfortunately, she still missed, repeating the process several times without even brushing against the hem of Lin Yuan's clothes.

Puffed up with anger, Ziyan shouted at Lin Yuan, "You're driving me crazy! If you have the guts, don't run! Fight me head-on and see if I can eat you!"

Upon hearing this, Lin Yuan tossed the Spirit Berry in his left hand and, with his right hand, beckoned Ziyan with his finger, smiling as he said, "Alright, as you wish. Come on, little girl."

Ziyan, hearing this, lunged at Lin Yuan once more. This time, Lin Yuan didn't dodge directly but engaged in a clash of fighting energy with her, assessing her combat strength as they fought.

"Her physical strength and fighting energy are quite good, around the level of a 2-3 star Dou Wang. Her fighting style is very straightforward, with direct attack intentions and a single method of attack. Compared to human combat styles, it resembles more of a magical beast's fighting style. Overall, she has plenty of strength but lacks technique."

Having gauged Ziyan's level, Lin Yuan decided to wrap things up. He unleashed his overwhelming soul power to disrupt Ziyan's perception, then made several feints while using the Dragon Step combined with the Instant Step to create an afterimage.

A bit overzealous, Ziyan threw a punch at the "Lin Yuan" afterimage, but as the afterimage dissipated, a hand forming a sword finger appeared right in front of her, leaving her no time to dodge. "Oh no!"

However, unexpectedly, the gesture of the hand smoothly transformed from a sword finger to a flick, gently tapping Ziyan's delicate forehead, followed by a light laugh that reached her ears.

"Getting distracted before the battle is over is not a good habit, little girl!"

Lin Yuan's figure flickered, standing two meters in front of Ziyan, smiling at her.

Thank you to all the readers for your recommendation votes. The new book has set sail, and with little exposure, I kindly ask everyone to collect and vote for it.

(End of Chapter)