MTLNOVEL Chapter 36 - 35: Flame Sun Skill
Chapter 36: Chapter 35: Flame Sun Skill
Below the jade scrolls of the Cultivation Techniques, the names of each technique were labeled.
Earth Escape Skill!
Wood Escape Skill!
Water Escape Skill!
…
These escape techniques were considered as chicken ribs primarily because they had no real offensive power and did not greatly amplify a cultivator’s cultivation.
Moreover, one needed to invest a vast amount of time to reach a profound level of mastery in these skills, but if they weren’t mastered deeply, they were practically useless, so it was better not to cultivate them at all.
Take the Water Escape Skill, for instance, if only cultivated to Small Accomplishment, it was indeed hardly stronger than swimming and definitely not capable of merging with the water to flee at high speed.
Hence, within the Eastern Wilderness Cultivation World, only those of the Demon Path such as divine thieves and Thief Kings chose to cultivate these escape skills. Yet, these individuals generally didn’t have a high level of cultivation, and as soon as they encountered real experts, they would be quickly slain.
Even the powerful Old Demon Ye ended up being killed by a sneak attack during the Qi Refinement Realm!
“These three escape skills, I’ll take them.”
Ning Daoran pointed with his hand.
“All three?”
Chen Ping’er smiled slightly, “Low-grade yellow escape techniques cost three hundred and fifty spirit stones each. If Fellow Daoist takes all three, I shall waive the small difference and only charge you one thousand spirit stones, how about that?”
No wonder everyone at Qingfu Square said that Chen Ping’er was skilled in handling people’s emotions. It indeed appeared to be true — her few words were like a spring breeze.
They even made Ning Daoran, whose heart was colder than a butcher’s knife, feel a light and floaty sensation; it was no surprise this young lady’s performance kept improving and her status within Qingfu Square kept rising.
Perhaps in a little while, those above would really hand over the management of Qingfu Square to her.
He handed over one thousand spirit stones and acquired the three escape techniques!
…
Spiritual Field Courtyard No. 77.
Ning Daoran cultivated the Earth Escape Skill, Wood Escape Skill, and Water Escape Skill all to perfection in one go. Because the grades of these skills were low, they didn’t require too much time; he only expended a little over a thousand periods of Refining Time to perfect each skill.
“Old Lu, come with me!”
Ning Daoran dashed out and at the instant he cast a spell on himself, he “whooshed” and disappeared from the surface of the ground!
“Ow??”
Big Stupid Deer was astounded; big brother could actually Earth Tunnel?
It raised its forelimbs, joyfully bellowed, and also dived into the ground!
Underground, Ning Daoran urged the Earth Escape Skill and felt as if he became one with earth-attributed materials, his body dematerializing into a sort of spiritual existence.
In the blink of an eye, he was speeding through the soil.
“Ow~~~”
Big Stupid Deer happily proceeded onward alongside big brother.
“Boom!”
Ning Daoran suddenly burst from the soil and cast a green spell on himself, immediately diving into the Green Bamboo Spirit Rice outside. Then, he rapidly Wood Escaped along the bamboo stems!
Big Stupid Deer was hugely delighted; it was also capable of Wood Escape, truly worthy of big brother!
It pranced about on all fours, joyfully racing around outside with Ning Daoran.
Soon after, Ning Daoran Wood Escaped along tree branches and grass, then suddenly turned into a burst of light as he shot into the water, completing the Water Escape successively!
In the fish pond, a school of spirit fish squeaked out in alarm, experiencing a tremendous sense of dread.
Every time this feeling descended, one of them would inevitably be scooped out of the water and met a grisly end, either braised or steamed.
“Squeak, squeak~~~”
Deep in the pond, Big black fish was panic-stricken.
An overwhelming force had suddenly entered its territory, but Big black fish dared not resist.
“Little Blackie, it seems you haven’t been diligently cultivating.”
An invisible figure in the water issued a voice.
“Squeak, squeak~~~”
Big black fish hastily made excuses for itself, rolling around, and its spiritual energy surged to prove it indeed had been cultivating sincerely.
“Fine, but don’t let this happen again!”
Ning Daoran pulled himself out of the water, the spells on his body dissipating as he landed on the shore, with his clothes not even wet, his Outer Disciple uniform spotless.
The perfection level of escape skills was indeed mysterious!
“Heh, heh, heh…”
The corner of Ning Daoran’s mouth ticked up; the feeling of having many skills was truly magnificent.
…
Once again, the man and the deer settled back into the quiet life of cultivating the Spirit Rice.
The death of Li Jue was never brought up again.
Old Demon Ye had not appeared in the Cultivation World; some speculated he had been killed by his enemies.
But none of these matters concerned Ning Daoran.
…
Time flew, years hastened by, and in the blink of an eye four years had passed.
That year, Ning Daoran turned 33. From the age of 20 when he ascended the mountain, he had now spent his thirteenth year in the Chaotic Sect.
The obstruction of the Ninth Grade mixed spiritual root to the Great Dao was indeed severe. After continuous cultivation day and night over four years, Ning Daoran finally broke through to the Qi Refining Eighth Layer.
Quite preposterous.
It seems that the spirit farmers of Qiongbi Peak were right; the majority of cultivators with a chicken-rib spirit root like the Ninth Grade mixed spiritual root remained stuck in the Qi Refining Middle Stage or even the Early Stage of Qi Refining throughout their lives.
For a Ninth Grade mixed spiritual root to advance into the Late Stage of Qi was a miracle in itself.
Inborn talent limitations were not easily shifted by mere willpower alone, most of the time.
Over these years, Ning Daoran felt the timing was right and began revealing his powers step by step.
Three years ago, he broke through to the Qi Refining Fifth Layer.
Two years ago, he advanced to the Sixth Level of Qi Refining.
Due to no shortage of Second-tier Spirit Rice, coupled with Lin Sheng and Han Bing often bringing some elixirs that could aid his cultivation progress, all this seemed quite logical.
Today, Ning Daoran decided to advance to the Late-stage Qi Refining, no longer holding back.
Late at night.
A surge of formidable mana fluctuations arose from the Spiritual Field Courtyard number 77, as Ning Daoran successfully broke through to the Qi Refining Seventh Layer!
At the age of 33, reaching the Late-stage Qi Refining was quite remarkable.
In the early morning, once Ning Daoran had stabilized his cultivation at the Qi Refining Seventh Layer, everyone from Qiongbi Peak came to offer their congratulations in unison.
“Uncle, uncle!”
Chen Weimo rushed over the first thing.
At this point, Chen Weimo was a fourteen-year-old girl, blossoming into youth. Although not strikingly beautiful, she had the benefit of cultivating from a young age, which gave her skin the smoothness of congealed lard, a slender figure, and an extraordinary air about her.
“Congratulations, Uncle, on your promotion to Late-stage Qi Refining!”
Chen Weimo brought a gift, an Essence Yuan Pill that could refine late-stage Qi cultivation. It required four hundred-year-old Water Moon Grass to successfully concoct.
The granny really brought out the real deal for the celebration!
“Thank you, granny!”
Ning Daoran bowed respectfully, “Chen Weimo, thank you as well!”
Following that, several other spirit farmers came over.
Huang Shan’s gift was ten spirit stones, roughly equivalent to half a year of his spirit farming income, which was quite generous.
“Fellow Daoist Ning, I did not expect you to progress so swiftly in your cultivation. At the mere age of 33 and already Late-stage Qi Refining, it looks like Foundation Establishment is on the horizon for you!”
“Thanks, thanks a lot, Fellow Daoist Huang.”
Qin Xiang was a man of few words; his gift was five spirit stones. He said, “Congratulations to Fellow Daoist Ning on your breakthrough. From now on, Fellow Daoist Ning is truly the foremost among us at Qiongbi Peak!”
“Thank you, Fellow Daoist!”
Ma Quanyou prepared six spirit stones as a congratulatory gift, his face showing a touch of guilt: “No wonder Fellow Daoist Ning has such firm resolve and never joins me in visiting the fairies at the Workshop…
It seems that you truly have high aspirations. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have made such rapid progress in just a few short years and stepped into the Late-stage Qi Refining!”
“Too kind, Fellow Daoist Ma!”
As courtesy dictates, Ning Daoran did not penny-pinch and returned twenty pounds of Second-tier Spirit Rice to each household, leaving everyone to return home delighted.
He couldn’t bring himself to bleed these resource-poor spirit farmers dry, not yet at least.
Ning Daoran felt somewhat pensive; they say the path of Immortals is a selfish one. He knew he had to change that “high-principled” character trait of his and start taking advantage whenever he should, and drain resources when necessary.
…
“Senior Brother Ning~~~”
A white radiance approached from the Main Peak, belonging to Junior Sister Han Bing.
“Congratulations, Senior Brother Ning, on your breakthrough to Late-stage Qi Refining!”
Han Bing had reached Late-stage Qi Refining even earlier than Ning Daoran, and her gift was a bottle of Essence Yuan Pills, containing more than ten pills.
“Junior Sister Han!”
Ning Daoran returned the gift, “Now that you’re also at Late-stage Qi Refining, you should keep these cultivation advancing elixir pills for yourself and do not worry about me.
You’re my junior sister, and you’re always looking out for this senior brother’s cultivation. Shouldn’t a senior brother hold some dignity and face?”
Han Bing giggled, “Then… let’s split these Essence Yuan Pills, half for you and half for me!”
“No, I’ll just take three, and you can keep the rest.”
“Alright then.”
Han Bing had no choice but to agree.
“Junior Brother Ning!”
Another two streaks of Royal Weapon brilliance arrived from the Main Peak, belonging to Senior Brother Lin Sheng and Senior Sister Liu Ruyan.
“Congratulations, Junior Brother, on your breakthrough to Late-stage Qi Refining. We haven’t prepared a celebratory gift yet, so we’ll just come to enjoy the banquet,” Lin Sheng said with a candid laugh.
Liu Ruyan giggled behind her hand, and then, with a light tap of her Storage Bag, she drew out a piece of top-quality talisman—a Blast Flame Talisman, a Second-stage Lower Grade advancement from the Fiery Fire Talisman with immense power, threatening even Early-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivators.
“Junior Brother Ning, this is your sister’s gift.”
“Thank you, Senior Sister Liu!”
Ning Daoran gladly accepted, realizing that the gift from Senior Sister Liu was truly generous!
However, the reason Liu Ruyan’s gift was so generous was that the Liu Family Ancestor had advanced to the Mid-stage Foundation Establishment because of a Snow Melt Pill—a pill that originated from the Snow Clearing Grass provided by Ning Daoran.
“Old Lu, get lunch ready!”
As usual, it was a feast of fish and chicken.
“Junior brother!”
During the bustling banquet, Lin Sheng spoke earnestly, “Regarding what I mentioned to you before, how do you feel about it now? You have now reached Late-stage Qi Refining and, according to the sect rules, cultivators in the Late-stage of Qi have the qualifications to join the Inner Sect!
I’ll speak to Master about letting you join as a True Yang Peak disciple so you can cultivate the True Yang Furnace Technique with me.”
“Cough, cough…”
Liu Ruyan’s mouth curled with amusement, “Again with the True Yang Furnace Technique? Do you intend for Junior Brother Ning to also abstain from the company of women like you? Even if Junior Brother Ning agrees, some junior sisters might not.”
Han Bing’s beautiful face turned crimson at once.
“Eh?”
Ning Daoran’s face went pale. Was this a kind of fire to be stoked carelessly?
He promptly said in a deep voice, “Senior Brother Lin, I won’t hide it from you. As my cultivation has increased, I have advanced the Rain Transformation Technique to the Sixth Layer, and I’m just one bottleneck away from reaching the Seventh Layer. Do you think the Sect would allow me to enter the Inner Sect?
Moreover, I myself quite enjoy the days of planting Spirit Rice with Old Lu in the Outer Disciple area. I will not be moving to the Inner Sect. My path in Cultivation has never been about aggressive and diligent strides, so please understand, brother.”
Lin Sheng was silent for a while before he smiled and said, “That’s fine. As long as junior brother steadily follows me, we brothers can establish our foundation together in the future. That’s all right.”
The dinner lasted until evening, after which everyone departed.
Ning Daoran then went with Big Stupid Deer to the Contribution Hall.
…
“Outer Disciple Ning Daoran, Qi Refining Seventh Layer…”
An Outer Sect Foundation Establishment Elder narrowed his eyes, “Well, well, what a good kid, hiding his depths… already at Late-stage Qi Refining. Since you have cultivated the Evergreen Technique, I suppose you’ll be requesting the Flame Sun Skill this time?
Hmph, dual-cultivating the Evergreen Technique and the Flame Sun Skill, trying to play with the ‘wood feeds fire, mutually benefiting’ approach?
Young man, do not be too greedy. Don’t end up dying without achieving any kind of mastery.”
“Disciple understands.”
Ning Daoran bowed respectfully, “Thank you, Uncle-Master, may your Immortal Path remain evergreen and your life be as long as a hundred years!”
The Foundation Establishment Stage Uncle-Master’s face turned as dark as iron.