Sitting cross-legged in the wooden basin, the young man's chest rose and fell slightly. With each breath, a faint stream of air flowed from his nasal cavity.
At the same time, gentle energy from the medicinal liquid in the wooden basin began to slowly flow into Xiao Yan's body, then transformed into wisps of Dou Qi.
"With the experience of my previous life, the cultivation speed in this life can be much faster than the last."
A faint smile touched Xiao Yan's lips.
With his tens of thousands of years of cultivation experience, he could already perfectly control his body.
How to control his breathing, how to adjust his state to achieve the maximum cultivation effect – these were things his past self could not do.
Therefore, in this life, just the cultivation of Dou Qi alone was more than twice as fast for Xiao Yan as in his previous life.
"At this rate, perhaps I can try to break through to Dou Zhe again in at most half a year."
Xiao Yan was still quite satisfied in his heart. The Dou Qi stage of cultivation was already the slowest stage. After crossing this stage and entering Dou Zhe, his cultivation speed would have another phase of rapid improvement.
"In my previous life, it took me twenty-two years to become a Dou Di (not counting special places like the Heavenly Tomb). I wonder how long it will take me to reach this step in this life?"
Xiao Yan didn't think about it anymore. Instead, he calmed his mind and qi, adjusting his body to absorb the medicinal power to the greatest extent. At the same time, a majestic and endless flame lotus appeared in his mind.
The cultivation of the body could not be relaxed, but the cultivation of the soul also had to keep up. In his previous life, he didn't obtain a crude soul cultivation method until he reached the Pill Tower.
But in this life, Xiao Yan possessed a soul cultivation method from the very beginning, and it was the most top-tier soul cultivation method even in the Great Thousand World or this entire universe.
This was a cultivation technique created by Xiao Yan himself, named the Emperor Flame Soul Refining Art. As the name suggests, it used the powerful tempering of the Emperor Flame to make the soul purer and stronger.
However, right now, let alone Emperor Flame, he didn't even possess a wisp of beast fire. Fortunately, the first layer of Xiao Yan's Emperor Flame Soul Refining Art only required visualization.
After all, this technique was not only cultivated by Xiao Yan himself; many powerhouses in the Great Thousand World also used this secret art to cultivate their divine souls.
Created by Emperor Yan, even Heavenly Sovereigns said it was good after using it.
The first realm of the Emperor Flame Soul Refining Art was the Visualization Realm. Cultivators would receive an Emperor Flame visualization diagram passed down by Emperor Yan. Although it was an illusion, it had the magical effect of tempering the soul.
Just by visualizing the might of the Emperor Flame day and night, the soul would become purer and stronger day by day.
Actually, in terms of laying a foundation, Zhou Yuan's "Primal Chaos Divine Grindstone Visualization Method" from the Tianyuan World was more suitable. However, Xiao Yan's current soul power was limited, and it was already very difficult for him to remember the techniques he had created.
He didn't know when he would be able to recall that "Primal Chaos Divine Grindstone Visualization Method."
As he thought this, a majestic flame lotus had already appeared in Xiao Yan's mind.
The flame lotus was exquisitely beautiful, with hundreds of thousands, even tens of hundreds of thousands of petals. Each petal displayed a different color. Some might have similar colors, but upon careful observation, they presented completely different auras.
Hundreds of thousands of colors blended together, presenting a magnificent and beautiful sight. But beneath this splendid beauty, there was a heart-trembling, terrifying power.
This was the final form of the Emperor Flame, accumulated by Xiao Yan over tens of thousands of years, ultimately凝聚 (níngjù - condensed/coagulated) from various powerful flames.
This Emperor Flame floated quietly in the endless chaos, its terrifyingly high temperature causing the surrounding chaotic void to continuously create and destroy itself.
The might of the Emperor Flame could incinerate gods! This statement was not empty talk. Xiao Yan had truly used the Emperor Flame to incinerate a deity comparable to the Sovereign Realm. It was that battle that established his reputation as Emperor Yan, the number one person in the way of flames in this universe.
In the later stages of cultivation, Xiao Yan had long since fused with the Emperor Flame. The Emperor Flame was him, and he was the Emperor Flame. However, being reborn once and having to rely on visualizing himself to enhance his soul power was indeed a bit strange.
As his soul observed the Emperor Flame, he truly felt the terrifying pain of being burned by high temperatures. Observing the Emperor Flame was not something an ordinary cultivator could do.
That terrifying flame power would make one feel their soul being scorched. This pain was ten times more painful than the body being burned.
Once one couldn't withstand this pain, their soul might be burned by the terrifying might of the Emperor Flame. Therefore, in that Great Thousand World, even many Supreme Beings and Earthly Sovereigns dared not casually cultivate the Emperor Flame Soul Refining Art.
However, as the creator of this technique, Xiao Yan naturally wouldn't be afraid. Had he not experienced enough of the suffering of flames incinerating his soul? Looking at it now, it had long since become a commonplace meal.
In the wooden basin, the jade-like liquid swirled. The young man in the basin had a calm expression. Only the pale white flame in the hands of the old man beside him kept changing.
A sleepless night passed. When the first ray of sunlight in the early morning fell into the room, the young man slowly opened his eyes.
However, deep within those pitch-black pupils, it seemed as if a wisp of splendid flame was slowly flickering.
After getting up and dressing, Yao Lao had already placed four jade bottles on the table by his bed and then slipped back into the ring to rest.
"Two bottles of Foundation Establishment Divine Liquid, two bottles of Foundation Establishment Spiritual Liquid. Although it's not much, these resources should be enough for me to cultivate for a while."
Xiao Yan nodded with satisfaction, carefully stored the four bottles of medicinal liquid, and then lay on the bed to rest his mind.
With his current physical fitness, he still couldn't go without sleep or food. He still needed proper rest to recuperate.
As for the matter of the Foundation Establishment Spiritual Liquid, there was no rush to sell it. Refining the medicinal pills in one night was still a bit too shocking for the current Ya Fei.
After resting for about a full hour, Xiao Yan stretched, leaped out of bed, and then walked out of the room towards the back mountain of the Xiao family.
Just having cultivation wasn't enough; his body also needed to be tempered. Otherwise, this physical body was simply too fragile.
It was a pity that he didn't even have Dou Qi now. He possessed many body-refining methods, but he could only rely on the most primitive physical training methods to temper his body.
For the entire morning, Xiao Yan was searching and setting up a training ground exclusively for himself.
He took a simple rest at noon. When the weather cooled down a bit in the afternoon, Xiao Yan began the most crude and simple physical training.
"Thump, thump, thump!"
By dusk, when the bright moon was rising, Xiao Yan was already black and blue all over. His small face was dirty, but only his pair of eyes remained bright.
"Young Master, the Master said that there is a family dinner today and asked you to go and eat."
Returning to his small hut, he saw an old servant already waiting at his door.
"I know."
Xiao Yan nodded slightly, quickly washed up, and a moment later, he appeared in the family's large dining hall.
The moment he pushed open the door, apart from his father Xiao Zhan and several elders, the eyes of dozens of young boys and girls were all on him.
(End of this chapter)