On the fourth day after the Strong Ranking Tournament concluded, the Inner Academy, which had been briefly quiet, became lively once again.
This was because today, the top ten powerhouses on the Strong Ranking would be able to enter the Sky Burning Qi Refining Tower to undergo Heart Flame Origin Tempering.
Everyone in the Inner Academy knew that as long as they endured this tempering, it would pave the way for their future advancement to Dou Wang. This kind of rare opportunity was enough to make anyone envious and covetous.
As the sun rose in the east, when Chen Xiao and Zi Yan arrived outside the Sky Burning Qi Refining Tower, hundreds of people had already gathered there.
Some of these people were there to see off their gang leaders, while others were simply there to watch the excitement. Because the top ten of the Strong Ranking were entering the bottom of the tower today, the Inner Academy had prohibited other students from entering. Although this caused some murmurs of discontent among the crowd, they also understood that this was a rule from previous generations and could only reluctantly accept it.
"They seem really scared of you."
Following beside Chen Xiao, Zi Yan saw that the other few people in the top ten of the Strong Ranking were all nodding kindly to Chen Xiao from a distance, but didn't dare to come forward to greet him. She immediately giggled.
Seeing the girl's act of playing dumb, Chen Xiao was also speechless.
After the two arrived, they waited for about half an hour. Suddenly, sounds of rushing wind came from the sky. Several old figures flashed outside the tower gate. The person leading them was none other than Grand Elder Su Qian.
"Heh heh, it seems you are all very impatient. Then I won't waste any more words."
Su Qian's gaze swept around. Seeing that the top ten had all arrived, he didn't waste any more time. With a wave of his large hand, the heavy tower gate slowly opened with a creaking sound.
"The top ten of the Strong Ranking follow me in. Others are not allowed to enter today. Otherwise, you won't be able to enter for half a year."
After saying this lightly, Su Qian ignored the people who were shrinking their necks in fear of the severe punishment and turned to walk into the tower.
Looking at Su Qian's back, the ten leading individuals exchanged glances. Under the envious gazes, they all followed closely and stepped into the Sky Burning Qi Refining Tower!
Upon entering the tower, the bright light immediately dimmed. The ten people raised their eyes and saw Su Qian waiting for them there.
"Just follow me all the way. Don't walk alone. When you reach the lower levels of the tower, don't wander around either. No matter what movement there is, don't look around. Otherwise, I will disqualify you, understand?"
As he spoke, Su Qian glanced at Zi Yan again.
Clearly, among these ten people, this little dragon person was the one he was most worried about.
Zi Yan pouted slightly. She was just a bit lively, not truly foolish. Naturally, she knew the importance of the matter.
After everyone nodded in agreement, Su Qian turned around and led the way. The route he took was different from the usual route down the tower. He didn't choose the stairs to descend, but instead opened the iron door that was usually locked.
With curious eyes, the ten people followed closely.
Entering the iron door, there was a winding passage. The light inside became even dimmer. Looking with the naked eye, one could barely see the path ahead.
Fortunately, with the help of soul power perception, this did not affect the speed of everyone's progress.
Without a word, the ten people followed behind Su Qian, turning left and right. After a few minutes, they saw an Elder sitting cross-legged like a statue guarding the place. And along the way, they could see one every few minutes.
Such strict defense, coupled with the dim atmosphere around, made the few old students who didn't know the inside story secretly click their tongues, not understanding why the defense was so tight.
Chen Xiao and Zi Yan knew more. These Elders guarding here were actually not guarding against the students.
They were guarding against the Fallen Heart Flame suppressed at the bottom of the tower!
This oppressive journey, which lasted for nearly half an hour, was finally broken by the light appearing at the end of the dim passage.
"We're here!" Su Qian's voice sounded.
Only then did the ten people look closely. They saw that the place they were in was an extremely spacious and empty space within the tower, covering a vast area. By visual estimation, it was no smaller than any level above. And because there were no cultivation rooms here, looking around, it felt even more spacious and empty.
Their gazes moved, and soon, everyone's eyes stopped at the central area.
There, there was a huge cave entrance about dozens of meters wide, exactly the same as the huge deep hole in the center of each level above, corresponding to it from afar.
"Come forward."
As Su Qian's voice fell, he stepped closer to the central deep hole, and everyone followed closely.
It wasn't until they were about twenty meters away from the entrance of the deep hole that Su Qian stopped. With a wave of his hand, two figures flashed out from somewhere and finally stopped about ten meters away from the entrance of the cave.
"Sit down!" Su Qian pointed to the ground on the right.
There, there were ten specially made jade platforms, shaped like futons, prepared in advance. They looked as green as jade.
Hearing this, the ten people quickly obeyed and each found a jade platform to sit on. They could all feel a faint coolness coming from beneath them, blocking out most of the heat at the bottom of the tower.
Seeing that everyone was sitting down steadily, Su Qian turned around and spoke a few words in a low voice with the two Elders.
The next moment, the two Elders slowly walked closer to the entrance of the deep hole, their hands forming seals like lightning, and finally they let out a low shout.
As the two people's shouts fell, they saw a wave of fluctuations suddenly surge around the empty deep hole. Immediately, a somewhat illusory energy ripple slowly appeared in everyone's view.
After the energy ripple shield appeared, the two Elders beckoned with their hands. Immediately, a light shield the size of a human head, light white in color, slowly floated out from the deep hole. Finally, it permeated with circles of energy ripples, suspended about two meters above the ground, rising and falling.
Not long after the first light white shield floated out, light shields floated out one after another. Soon, exactly ten light clusters appeared in front of everyone.
Seeing the anticipation in the eyes of the ten people, Su Qian chuckled and waved his large sleeve. The color of the light clusters quickly became transparent.
Looking closely now, one could see a seemingly invisible, yet observable with the naked eye, strange flame rising and curling within each light cluster.
"This is the Heart Flame Origin you have been longing for. The Inner Academy spends a lot of effort each year and can only capture three or four of them. Otherwise, the Strong Ranking Tournament would not be held only once every five years."
"I won't elaborate on the function of this Heart Flame Origin. You all know it. What I want to remind you is that tempering with it also carries considerable risk. The pain of tempering is even more difficult to endure. If you are not careful, not only will you fail, but you will also cause considerable damage to yourself."
"Therefore, when you are tempering, if you feel you have reached your limit, stop. Even if you can't break through quickly after coming out, it has paved the way for you. Don't be impatient for a moment!"
Su Qian's gaze focused on the few nine-star Dou Lings, including Chen Xiao, as he emphasized the reminder.
As for the others, Zi Yan goes without saying, and the eight-star and seven-star Dou Lings are still some distance away from breaking through to Dou Wang.
Chen Xiao and the others nodded heavily in agreement.
"Since you all understand, close your eyes and focus your minds. Don't get distracted. If any problems arise, the two elders and I will intervene."
Su Qian nodded slightly, and with a flick of his sleeve, ten balls of light flew above everyone's heads. Finally, under their watchful eyes, they burst with a bang. The invisible flames within them fell straight down, passing through the top of everyone's heads and disappearing inside!
As the invisible flames drilled into the heads of the ten people, in an instant, except for Zi Yan who only trembled slightly before returning to normal, the other nine people's bodies trembled to varying degrees. Immediately after, their faces turned as red as hot coals, and even wisps of white mist seeped out from their foreheads.
Among these nine people, Chen Xiao, with his ice attribute, had the most intense reaction.
Under the gaze of Su Qian and the two elders, Chen Xiao at this moment was like a red-hot iron block thrown into cold water. The white mist that rose was even more terrifying than the combined total of the other eight people.
With a casual wave, Su Qian set up a small barrier to isolate Chen Xiao, and couldn't help but chuckle.
"During the Strong Ranking Tournament, this kid easily coasted into the top ten. But here, his attribute is too disadvantageous. For him, this Heart Flame Origin Tempering truly only has the effect of tempering the body, with basically no possibility of success. The Dou Qi in his body simply cannot withstand the consumption of the Heart Flame Origin. However, it can pave the way for the future, so it can be considered a gain."
Hearing this, the two elders beside him also nodded.
Chen Xiao was not the first ice-attributed person in the top ten of the Strong Ranking. There had been others before.
But each time, the ice-attributed person could only last the shortest amount of time here, because when the Heart Flame entered their bodies, it reacted most violently with their Dou Qi. Their consumption would be greater, and the pain they endured would also be more intense than others.
...
Pain, heart-wrenching pain!
This was Chen Xiao's feeling at this moment.
After the Heart Flame Origin entered his body, Chen Xiao felt as if his body had become a battlefield filled with artillery fire. The Heart Flame was the invader, and the ice-attributed Dou Qi in his body was the defending army.
The two sides seemed to have an irreconcilable feud. As soon as they came into contact, they launched a suicidal war without question. Every time the Heart Flame flowed through his meridians, it would 'perish together' with large amounts of Dou Qi, causing the Dou Qi in Chen Xiao's body to be rapidly consumed, and also leaving this battlefield within him scarred and devastated.
At this moment, Chen Xiao was sweating profusely, his veins bulging, gritting his teeth and enduring pain ten or even a hundred times more intense than the Earth Core Body Tempering Milk bath. He frantically circulated his cultivation technique, mobilizing the Dou Qi in his body to stop the Heart Flame's rampage.
However, while the pain could be endured by gritting his teeth, what worried Chen Xiao the most was whether he could withstand the consumption of the Heart Flame.
At this moment, Chen Xiao finally understood why it was difficult for ice-attributed people to successfully undergo Heart Flame tempering. It was because this consumption, far exceeding that of ordinary people, was simply not something that ordinary people could bear.
Chen Xiao was currently cultivating a high-grade Earth-level cultivation technique, and his mana bar was much longer than others.
But even so, in just a few minutes, he felt that three-tenths of his Dou Qi had been consumed!
In contrast, the Heart Flame Origin in his body had only slowed down its rampage by two-tenths.
What Chen Xiao didn't know was that seeing him able to last for a few minutes, Su Qian and the two elders were already very surprised.
"It's because of the cultivation technique. The cultivation technique he cultivates is above the Earth level, but it's still difficult. I remember ten years ago there was also an ice-attributed person in the top ten who also cultivated a low-grade Earth-level cultivation technique, but he only lasted for a quarter of an hour."
One of the elders shook his head and said, still not optimistic about Chen Xiao's success.
Time passed minute by minute. After gradually becoming numb to the heart-wrenching pain, Chen Xiao finally began to feel the benefits brought by the Heart Flame tempering.
In the struggle between ice and fire, his bones, meridians, and even muscles were like refined steel in a raging fire, being tempered at a noticeably perceptible speed, becoming increasingly tough and full of explosive power.
In other words, this battlefield was becoming more indestructible.
"Refine for me!"
Feeling the benefits, Chen Xiao was even more unwilling to end it here. The Dou Crystal in his body spun frantically, and waves of majestic Dou Qi rushed towards the Heart Flame Origin, like a death squad fearless of death.
Three-tenths, five-tenths, eight-tenths...
The Dou Qi in his body gradually bottomed out, and a quarter of an hour had passed.
Seeing Chen Xiao still struggling to hold on, Su Qian and the two elders were stunned.
Suddenly, Su Qian seemed to think of something.
"I remember that in the Library Pavilion of the Outer Academy, there are two high-grade Earth-level cultivation techniques, one ice and one fire, both left by the Dean back then. Among them, that ice-attributed cultivation technique... No, in that case, this kid actually seems to have a chance of success!"
Su Qian's eyes lit up, clearly guessing Chen Xiao's gains in the Library Pavilion. However, he only spoke half of his thoughts, causing the two elders beside him to repeatedly want to speak but hesitate.
Damn it, just say it all.
Riddler, truly deserves to die!
Just as Su Qian had guessed, after persisting for more than twenty minutes, the Dou Qi in Chen Xiao's body was completely exhausted.
But this did not mean he had failed.
Because he still had an Ice Soul Talisman!
Hidden energy, activated for the first time at this very moment!
Time passed minute by minute, half an hour, until nearly an hour had passed, before Chen Xiao finally felt that the chaotic Heart Flame army rampaging in his body had finally been completely extinguished by the fearless ice-attributed Dou Qi.
In an instant, all pain disappeared, and the taut string was finally released.
Chen Xiao slowly opened his eyes, his throat moved, and a mouthful of fresh blood spurted out.
However, Chen Xiao was not affected at all, and a more brilliant smile bloomed on his face.
This mouthful of blood was simply stagnant blood expelled after his meridians and flesh had been strengthened.
"Are you alright?"
Su Qian's figure flickered and appeared beside him, the admiration in his eyes completely undisguised.
The two elders on the other side were even more dumbfounded, never expecting that he had actually succeeded!
Feeling the Grand Elder's concern, Chen Xiao shook his head slightly.
"I'm fine, just gargling."
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