An invisible flame rose and burned in his heart, and wisps of battle qi continuously surged from the battle crystal. After being tempered by the flame, they would return to the battle crystal within the qi vortex. This process of going back and forth continued for nearly half a year.
"Bang, bang"
A low, muffled sound slowly echoed within his body, eventually merging perfectly with the beating of Xiao Ping's heart. Suddenly, a powerful aura swept out from within him, causing the entire training room to shake violently. Fortunately, Xiao Ping opened his eyes in time, opened his mouth, and absorbed the surging battle qi back into the battle crystal in his dantian.
"call..."
Letting out a long breath, Xiao Ping smiled with satisfaction. "Nine-Star Dou Wang!"
In less than half a year, Xiao Ping had advanced four stars from a five-star Dou Wang. Of course, the Heavenly Flame Qi Refining Tower might have played a part, but the main reason was the emerald green Bodhi Transformation Saliva in his palm. Without the Bodhi Transformation Saliva, even with his talent and the aid of a Heaven-rank cultivation technique, it would have taken him at least three to five years, or even longer, to reach this level.
As the main contributor to this rapid advancement, the Bodhi Transformation Saliva in Xiao Ping's hand had shrunk by more than a third, causing Xiao Ping considerable pain.
After all, at the Dou Wang level, the amount of Dou Qi required for each star advancement is unprecedentedly enormous. Some people cultivate for over a decade and still may not be able to absorb enough Dou Qi to break through to the next minor realm. Others, throughout their entire lives, can only remain at the nine-star Dou Wang level, and even until their death, they cannot break through to Dou Huang.
Moreover, Xiao Ping's situation is unique; the density of his Dou Qi far surpasses that of ordinary people. Therefore, even at the Dou Wang realm, the amount of Dou Qi required to advance one star is enough for an ordinary person to advance two stars. This is why the Bodhi Transformation Saliva was consumed so quickly.
"It's time to go out for a walk!"
Feeling the somewhat weak Dou Qi within his body, Xiao Ping shook his head helplessly. Staying inside the Heavenly Flame Qi Refining Tower allowed for a much faster rate of cultivation improvement than training outside, but it also easily led to a weak Dou Qi.
After carefully putting away the cyan crystal card with only 350-odd days of fire energy left, Xiao Ping opened the door to the cultivation room and walked out. As he did so, several senior students nearby turned to look curiously. For the past six months, the cultivation room where Xiao Ping was located had always had a sign indicating it was occupied. Therefore, these inner court seniors were extremely curious about who this guy was, managing to persist for so long on the sixth level of the Heavenly Flame Qi Refining Tower.
However, Xiao Ping's appearance inevitably disappointed the curious senior students of the inner court. After all, Xiao Ping's apparent cultivation level was only at the peak of the nine-star Dou Shi. In the eyes of these senior students, Xiao Ping must have entered through connections, because the sixth level of the Heavenly Flame Qi Refining Tower required a cyan fire crystal card to ascend, and usually only senior students of the inner court with the cultivation level of a four-star Great Dou Shi could possibly gather enough fire energy to exchange for a cyan fire crystal card.
Of course, Xiao Ping didn't pay much attention to the various pointers and speculations from the senior students of the inner courtyard. He left the Heavenly Flame Qi Refining Tower and headed towards the deep forest outside the inner courtyard, specifically towards the cave where the Earth Core Tempering Milk was hidden. With such a treasure of heaven and earth, he could solidify the floating battle qi within his body.
Meanwhile, Xiao Ping also needed to prepare all the medicinal materials needed to refine the Dou Ling Pill. With his current cultivation level of a nine-star Dou Wang, advancing to Dou Huang would be much easier after taking the Dou Ling Pill.
"A Battle Emperor!"
Watching his strength gradually increase, Xiao Ping couldn't help but sigh. Dou Huang level experts were already among the very elite group in the entire Gamma Empire.
Shaking his head, Xiao Ping changed into a black robe after entering the dense forest, concealing his face. He circulated his powerful battle qi, riding the wind, and swiftly made his way to the location of the Earth Core Tempering Milk. It took him a full half-incense stick's time to reach a quiet valley.
"arrive!"
After wandering around the narrow valley for a while, Xiao Ping arrived at a huge cave entrance. Looking at the bottomless cave, Xiao Ping excitedly licked his lips, "Earth Core Tempering Milk! Hehe! Here I come!"
Letting out a long sigh, Xiao Ping summoned his Dou Qi Wings and activated the Wind and Cloud Sweep technique. With a whoosh, he flew into the cave. The cave was hundreds of meters long, stretching all the way to the center of the mountain range. With the help of the light from the Transformation Fire, one could occasionally see the piles of pale white corpses on the ground, as tall as small mountains.
And so, after spending some time traversing the hundreds of meters of cave, they finally reached its end. With a sudden flap of her magnificent battle aura wings, she carried Xiao Ping across the cave.
"roar!"
However, just as Xiao Ping flew into the deepest part of the cave, a deafening roar suddenly swept in, and a ball of golden-blue flame was hurled into the depths of the cave, illuminating the entire cave with extreme brightness.
"Snow Demon Sky Ape!"
Seeing the enormous, blood-red ape-like demonic beast attacking him, Xiao Ping smiled coldly. He then clenched his right fist and clashed it head-on with the Snow Demon Ape's mountain-sized fist.
"Bang!"
A muffled thud reverberated from the point where Xiao Ping's fists clashed with those of the Heavenly Demon Snow Ape. Moments later, a sharp crack of bones breaking echoed. The Heavenly Demon Snow Ape, towering seven or eight meters tall, had its right arm severed by Xiao Ping's blow, the impact striking its chest as it was sent flying backward, smashing through a three-meter-thick stalactite pillar behind it.
"Hmph! A mere three-star Dou Wang level magical beast dares to go head-to-head with me!"
Seeing the half-dead state of the Heavenly Demon Snow Ape, Xiao Ping coldly raised his hand and ended its life. After storing the corpse in his storage ring, he continued flying deeper into the cave.
With his exceptional perception, Xiao Ping quickly located the dark entrance leading to the underground cave. After slightly modifying the entrance with his Transformation Flame, Xiao Ping took a deep breath, retracted his Dou Qi Wings, and jumped down.
The passage was extremely winding, and it took more than ten minutes to walk before a glimmer of white light appeared at the exit of the pitch-black passage. Xiao Ping was immediately overjoyed and quickened his pace considerably. As they drew closer, the white dot gradually grew larger, eventually transforming into a huge, glowing white cave.
What appeared before Xiao Ping was an underground world filled with stalactites. As far as the eye could see, milky-white stalactites stretched endlessly to the horizon, emanating a pale white light that dispelled all darkness. Stalactites grew everywhere, some hanging from the mountaintops, some even reaching hundreds of meters in length. At a glance, the mountaintops were covered with enormous stalactites, and occasionally a drop of white liquid would drip down, splashing milky-white water on the ground.
"What a wonderful underground world!"
After a while, Xiao Ping slowly regained his composure and clicked his tongue in amazement, "It looks like we're about to get our hands on the Earth Core Tempering Milk!"
Suppressing his excitement, Xiao Ping continued deeper into this stalactite world. After several more minutes, he finally arrived at the base of the largest stalactite in this entire underground world.
This stalactite connects to the mountaintop at one end and hangs vertically downwards at the other. Its massive size is over a hundred meters long and as wide as two people could hug. A pale white light surrounds it, making it resemble a crystal pillar, like a king among stalactites, receiving the homage of countless other stalactites around it.
His gaze gradually shifted downwards, revealing a massive blue stone beneath the stalactite. A large portion of the stone was buried underground. At the top of the stone was a groove less than half a foot deep, directly opposite the tip of the stalactite. Within this groove lay a two-inch-deep layer of milky white liquid, upon which floated a wisp of white mist. This mist was peculiar; no matter how it drifted, it never dissipated. Xiao Ping took a light breath, and instantly felt a strange sensation, as if his entire body was tingling with a numbing sensation.
Staring intently at the milky white liquid in the groove, Xiao Ping's throat bobbed involuntarily, and a surge of excitement rose on his face. He knew in his heart that the "Earth Core Tempering Milk" he had been searching for had finally appeared before him.
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