Xiao Yan took a deep breath, his heart filled with nervous anticipation as he stood at the entrance of the Bzing Sky Qi Refining Tritting his teeth, he gathered his ce, lifted his foot, and stepped heavily into the darkness beyond the gate.

  Instantly, his plexion ged dramatically. His once handsome face turned as red as burning charcoal in the blink of ahis kind of se was bizarre to the extreme!

  !!!!

  'What's happening!' Xiao Yan's heart trembled with a hint of fear as he realized that a wisp of colorless Heart Fme had suddenly emerged and was burning within his body!

  Some of the Inner Academy students who were preparing to leave the Bzing Sky Qi Refining Tower noticed Xiao Yan froze at the entrahey saw wisps of faint white mist emanating from his body, apanied by a sizzling sound akin to roasti. They couldn't help but sneer with disdain.

  "Heh, yet another clueless rookie who rushed into the Bzing Sky Qi Refining Tower without b to inquire."

  "The clumsy bird flies early, always thinking they're so special."

  "It's strahough. Didn't the Inner Academy examination end st month? Why is this udeering the Bzing Sky Qi Refining Tower now?"

  "Who knows? Maybe all the Fire Energy has been plundered by some older students."

  The senior students withiower paid o Xiao Yan whatsoever, nor did they wish to meddle in affairs that weren't their own. More often than not, their faces were painted with mockery and schadenfreude.

  At this moment, Xiao Yan couldn't care less about the outside world because this colorless and formless Heart Fme had suddenly appeared within his body. Moreover, it was surrounding his Qi cye. Despite his ability to trol fire as a 2nd-tier alchemist, he still couldn't manipute this Heart Fme.

  He was now desperately trying to prevent the Heart Fme from getting close to his Qi cye. If this Heart Fme were to burn his Qi cye, he would be ruined!

  'That's nht! Elder Liu and Instructor Ruo Lin are nearby. If there is something wrong with this Heart Fme, they would definitely have interveo save me!'

  'Could it be that this Heart Fme is the reason why the Bzing Sky Qi Refining Tower accelerates cultivation?!'

  Xiao Yan's mind quickly raced through the possibilities, and when he calmed down, he immediately uood what was going on.

  The reason the Bzing Sky Qi Refining Tower could accelerate cultivation recisely because of this colorless and formless Heart Fme!

  Xiao Yan took a deep breath. Although he hadn't been taught by anyone what to do ihe Bzing Sky Qi Refining Tower, he had a rough idea based on a few scraps of information.

  'Sihe Bzing Sky Qi Refining Tower is a pce for accelerating cultivation, what I o do now is to cultivate inside in a normal mao be on the right path.'

  Xiao Yan's mind became calm as he began to circute the Fme Mantra to absorb the surrounding fire attribute energy. This was the Bzing Heaven Qi Refining Tower. Therefore, the fire attribute energy was extremely abundant. As a result, his cultivatiress was twice as fast with half the effort.

  His mind stirred slightly as he ehe intense pain of being burned by the fmes. Streams of yellow Dou Qi began to circute through his meridians and verged towards his Qi cye like rivers flowing into the sea.

  Just as his Dou Qi was about to deo a stream and merge with the Qi cye, the invisible Heart Fme suddenly expanded and burhe verging Dou Qi.

  'Huh? The Dou Qi has been purified!'

  Xiao Yan was astoo discover that the inally robust stream of Dou Qi had actually shrunk by nearly half after being burned by the invisible fme! Only an incredibly pure fire attribute Dou Qi remained after all the impurities were burned away.

  This saved him the step of purifying the impurities within his Qi cye!

  Xiao Yan couldn't help but feel delighted. Normally, cultivation not only involved cirg the Qi Method to absorb the surrounding energy and transform it into Dou Qi, which was then collected into the Qi cye, but it also required further refi of the Qi cye to remove impurities. The tinuous refi of the Qi cye until a qualitative ge occurred was what turned a Dou Practitioner into a Dou Master.

  Now that this Heart Fme directly cut the process in half, it was no wohat the cultivation speed increased!

  However, the Heart Fme quickly shrank after refining the Dou Qi once.

  Xiao Yan's purpose here was not to cultivate. Therefore, he did not bother to draw more Heart Fme. Moreover, one couldn't tinuously cultivate in the Bzing Sky Qi Refining Tower, as staying here meant enduring the sensation of being stantly burned. Although his physical strength might st for aen minutes or so, it wouldn't be of much use.

  'To be able to suddenly gee a colorless and formless Heart Fme within one's body, it must be the Falle Fme, which is ranked 14th in the Heavenly Fme Ranking.'

  Having figured this out, Xiao Yan circuted the few strands of Bone Chilling Fme within his body. Soon after, a wave of icy ess quickly dispelled the fiery heat within him.

  Then he slowly opened his eyes and exhaled a breath of white air. There was a hint of greed in his eyes as he looked into the deepest part of the Bzing Sky Qi Refining Tower. He was almost certain that there must be a Heavenly Fme withiower.

  However, with his current strength, even knowing about the Heavenly Fme was of no use. The 14th-ranked Falle Fme was still too powerful for him to obtain.

  Having e to this realization, Xiao Yan no longer had any lingering attat and decisively turned around to walk out of the dark tower.

  When both Instructor Ruo Lin and Elder Liu saw that Xiao Yan had not even stayed a minute before turning around to leave, they were both stunned.

  Hang in there! Aren't you leaving too quickly? Not even a minute?! You won't be able t happio Xun Er like this!

  Instructor Ruo Ling forted him, "It's okay. You're still in the Dou Practitioner realm. Normally, Dou Practitioners 't eveer here. You will surely be able to endure longer once you truly have the strength to ehe Inner Academy."

  Xiao Yan smiled, knowing that Instructor Ruo Lin had misuood him. However, he was not the type to seek the limelight or insist on saving faor did he feel the o expin much. His purpose in ing to the Bzing Sky Qi Refining Tower wasn't to accelerate his cultivation but merely to firm the presence of a Heavenly Fme.

  After Xiao Ya, Elder Liu suddenly realized, 'Huh? That kid regained sciousness on his own after entering the Bzing Sky Qi Refining Tower for the first time?'

  'Never mind. I guess the Heart Fme at the entrance was too weak, so it didn't trigger much of a rea.'

  …

  Iillness of the night, as the moon shone like a silver pte and the stars scattered across the sky, Xiao Yan sat alone on a hillside in the forest of the Outer Academy. He y oranquil grass with a bde of grass in his mouth, chewing it lightly and allowing the faint bittero spread in his mouth.

  Ba Wu Tan City, whenever Xiao Yan had something on his mind, he would retreat to the hillside behind the mountain to gaze at the moon and stars.

  "Xiao Yan ge-ge has the leisure to watch the stars and admire the moon?"

  Like a purple butterfly, Xun Er gracefully leaped to the hilltop, her delicate figure trag aig arc. Her clear and melodious voice reached Xiao Yan's ears.

  Xiao Yan looked at the increasingly radiant and charming girl and smiled slightly, "Have you finished your seclusion?"

  Xun Er didn't mind the dirtiness of the wn and slowly sat down beside him. Her pretty cheeks revealed cute dimples as she smiled gently and asked, "Xiao Yan ge-ge has something on his mind?"

  Xiao Yan shrugged and looked at the bright moon in the sky, then said lightly, "Xun Er, do you think I'm strong?"

  Xun Er was startled for a moment, then her eyebrows furrowed as she pondered for a moment before replying, "Xiao Yan ge-ge became an 8-star Dou Practitio the age of sixteen. Moreover, your strength is parable to that of Xuan css students. It's hard to find someone of ye who pete with you in Jia Nan Academy."

  "And what if we sider the entire Dou Qi ti?" Xiao Yan looked at Xun Er with a serious expression, his eyes resembling those of a wise sage seeking answers.

  Xun Er pondered for a long time before she let out a soft sigh. She did not hide anything as she shook her head gently.

  "Even though Jia Nan Academy was founded by ae Half-Saint and has stood unshaken in the Bck-er Region for tless years, it is still not sidered a top fa iire Dou Qi ti." Although she did not answer directly, the implication was clear.

  "I thought as much. After all, the Dou Qi ti is so vast…"