Xiao Yan arrived at Jia Nan Academy and, as expected, was placed in the Outer Academy.
Although he now possessed a Heavenly Flame comparable to the Nine-Dragon Thunder Gang Fire, and a Heaven-tier cultivation technique, and his physique, after being tempered by two Heavenly Flames, was comparable to a third-tier magical beast... Even though Xiao Yan's current strength was only that of an eight-star Dou Master, his combat power was completely at the Dou Grandmaster level.
If he were to use his fused Heavenly Flame to unleash the Flame Splitting Wave Ruler, even high-tier Dou Grandmasters, or even low-tier Dou Spirits, would likely be crippled by a single strike.
However—
Because he missed the selection competition, no matter how strong Xiao Yan was, he could only wait for the selection competition next semester to enter.
The Inner Academy selection competition is held at the beginning of each academic year.
Xiao Yan had been out adventuring for nearly a year.
There was only one or two months left until this year's selection competition began.
He could afford to wait that long.
While waiting for the Inner Academy selection competition, Xiao Yan slightly slowed down his Dou Qi cultivation and instead began refining medicine.
He had devoured and refined two Heavenly Flames in a short period, so his control over flames naturally decreased significantly.
For example, Xiao Yan could previously use beast fire to refine perfect pills with pill patterns.
But using his current fused Heavenly Flame to refine the same pills, he might accidentally burn the medicinal ingredients to ashes.
Xiao Yan was currently like someone who had quickly swapped a small wooden sword for a greatsword.
Although its power had increased by more than a fold, the difficulty of controlling it had also increased exponentially.
He still needed some time to practice before he could control the Heavenly Flame with effortless ease, as if it were an extension of his arm.
And the best way to improve his flame control ability was, naturally, pill refining.
Therefore, during the more than a month he spent in the Outer Academy waiting for the selection competition, Xiao Yan basically refined pills every day to improve his flame control ability.
And because pill refining also required continuous output of Dou Qi, this also counted as a form of alternative cultivation.
After his Dou Qi was exhausted, Xiao Yan would sit cross-legged to cultivate and restore his Dou Qi, then continue refining pills, repeating this cycle.
Finally, by the time the Inner Academy selection competition began, even though he hadn't cultivated much, his Dou Qi cultivation had still reached the peak of an eight-star Dou Master.
Although not as high as a Dou Grandmaster in the original novel, with his strength, entering the Inner Academy would be incredibly easy.
Yao Lao hoped that after Xiao Yan entered the Inner Academy, he would gather the medicinal ingredients for the Purple Heart Breaking Barrier Pill and the Three-Pattern Green Spirit Pill.
If he could refine two Purple Heart Breaking Barrier Pills, Xiao Yan could directly increase his strength by two stars without any side effects.
The Three-Pattern Green Spirit Pill even had a chance to directly increase strength by three stars.
Xiao Yan was about to become a Dou Grandmaster, so these two pills were perfect.
Moreover, the medicinal properties of these two pills did not conflict, so they could be taken simultaneously.
In other words, at the Dou Grandmaster stage, if you could obtain two Purple Heart Breaking Barrier Pills and one Three-Pattern Green Spirit Pill.
And, luckily, you weren't subjected to the backlash of the Three-Pattern Green Spirit Pill;
Then, you could directly increase your strength by five stars in a short period.
Therefore, Xiao Yan only needed to collect the necessary medicinal ingredients in the Inner Academy and cultivate to a five-star Dou Grandmaster.
He could then directly consume the pills to advance to the peak of a Dou Grandmaster.
There was no need to worry about unstable Dou Qi; with two Heavenly Flames tempering his Dou Qi, if Xiao Yan's Dou Qi could still be unstable, then no one else would stand a chance.
Actually, the pills in Battle Through the Heavens are quite strange.
For example, the Dou Spirit Pill, which can increase a Dou King's strength by one star.
A one-star Dou King who takes it gains one star.
An eight-star Dou King who takes it also gains one star.
And the energy required to advance from eight stars to nine stars should be several times that of advancing from one star to two stars, right?!
But no matter what realm someone is in, they only gain one star of strength, which is somewhat unreasonable.
However, it seems that no one on the Dou Qi Continent considers this issue.
Yao Lao also directly told Xiao Yan to take the Three-Pattern Green Spirit Pill and the Purple Heart Breaking Barrier Pill after reaching five-star Dou Grandmaster.
This way, the benefits he could gain at the Dou Grandmaster stage would be maximized.
Of course, another reason was that a clever housewife cannot cook without rice.
Without medicinal ingredients now, he naturally couldn't refine pills for Xiao Yan to use.
In the Inner Academy selection competition, Xiao Yan defeated all his opponents with overwhelming force, easily securing the first position.
The top five in the Inner Academy competition could enter the Scripture Pavilion and choose an item as a reward.
Some students who had the strength to join the Inner Academy but remained in the Outer Academy did so specifically to break into the top five in the competition and earn the qualification to enter the Scripture Pavilion.
Within the Scripture Pavilion, there were various items, including cultivation techniques, Dou Skills, magical beast essence blood, pill formulas, and more.
Of course, what one could obtain depended entirely on luck.
It was not uncommon for people to enter the Scripture Pavilion and leave empty-handed.
Xun'er, Xiao Yi Xian, and Qing Lin all obtained good things in the Scripture Pavilion.
Xiao Yi Xian obtained a sixth-grade pill formula, Qing Lin obtained a bottle of snake-type magical beast essence blood, and Xun'er... well, anything considered a treasure in the Scripture Pavilion was probably mediocre in the eyes of the ancient clan's young lady, Xun'er.
Xun'er went in mainly for the sake of participation.
Xiao Yan, on the other hand, encountered the sound wave Dou Skill, 'Lion Tiger Gold-Shattering Roar,' from the original novel in the Scripture Pavilion.
Although he didn't intercept the Yin-Yang Profound Dragon Pill because he came to Jia Nan Academy early, Xiao Yan still chose this sound wave Dou Skill.
Mainly, Yao Lao had all other items, so he wasn't lacking.
However, Yao Lao hadn't collected many sound wave Dou Skills back then.
Nevertheless, since the Yin-Yang Profound Dragon Pill was created by Yao Lao, there would naturally be an opportunity to refine it for Xiao Yan in the future.
Moreover, Xiao Yan also obtained the Wind Fury Dragon Flame.
This Heavenly Flame not only possessed wind attributes but also a certain degree of dragon might.
If he were to use the Fen Jue Dou Qi generated by the Wind Fury Dragon Flame to perform the sound wave Dou Skill,
Its power would not be less than if he had inherited dragon qi from the Yin-Yang Profound Dragon Pill to perform it.
Therefore, Xiao Yan ultimately chose this sound wave Dou Skill under Yao Lao's suggestion.
Then, during the "Fire Energy Hunting Competition," Xiao Yan received a "warm welcome" from the "Xiao Yan Gang."
However, Xiao Yan's strength was too fierce; he sent countless people flying with his ruler.
And once the situation turned unfavorable and he was about to be surrounded, Xiao Yan would use his Purple Cloud Wings to escape, without any concern for his image.
The Heaven-tier Fen Jue cultivation technique made Xiao Yan's Dou Qi seem inexhaustible.
Xiao Yan fought and retreated, facing a large group of senior students alone, giving off an air of "you are surrounded by me."
For students below the Dou King level, they simply couldn't deal with a flying Xiao Yan.
Even Dou Spirit-level senior students were helpless against Xiao Yan in the air.
They couldn't defeat him, and they couldn't catch him in a siege. In the end, some weaker senior students were even robbed of their fire energy by Xiao Yan.
Then, Xiao Yan, like a legend, entered the Inner Academy of Jia Nan Academy.
About a month after Xiao Yan entered the Inner Academy, on the other side.
Thousands of miles away, within the former territory of the Chu Yun Empire, Youdu City.
Medusa finished her enlightenment under the ancient tree, reaching the peak of a six-star Dou Zong, which is the Great Perfection of a mid-tier Dou Zong.
It wasn't that the ancient tree stopped providing buffs; the host still provided food, but the guest was already full.
With Medusa's talent, she had absorbed all the benefits she could gain, and her harvest was considerable.
However, Xiao Xue was still in secluded cultivation.
So, Medusa left a message, instructing Xiao Xue to contact her through the Peach Blossom Mark after she came out of seclusion.
Then, after bidding farewell to the ancient tree, she exited seclusion, left the underground world, and returned to manage the Snake-People tribe.
Time flew by, and another half a year passed like flowing water.
In the underground world.
That ten-thousand-year-old peach tree had regained its vitality.
Although it wasn't lush and shady, it had at least started to sprout, no longer as barren as before.
At a certain moment, Xiao Xue, who had been sitting cross-legged in enlightenment under the ancient tree, suddenly opened her eyes.
Her originally ice-blue eyes had turned into bright crimson gold, majestic and divine.
A powerful soul force fluctuation, centered around Xiao Xue, suddenly erupted in all directions!
Even a Dou Huang, or even a Dou Zong expert, would perish under this soul impact!
The 'Nine Determinations' from the 'Control Chapter' of [Heart Sword]—she had completely mastered them.
Nine Determinations perfected, Sword Heart Translucent!
Xiao Xue had now stepped into the realm of Sword Heart Translucent!
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