Chapter 155: Perfection of the Qi Cyclone

The silent night was vast and desolate, with a full moon hanging high in the firmament. A cold wind blew, occasionally causing the campfire to crackle and pop, breaking the stillness of the freezing night with crisp sounds!

The fiery red giant lion, Xiaolie, lay curled beside the campfire, appearing fast asleep. Yet, at the slightest hint of an abnormal sound, it would instantly open its eyes and raise its head to vigilantly scan the surroundings for any potential threats.

Inside the tent, Du Long and the other two sat cross-legged, each diligently engaging in intense cultivation!

Time flowed on. After a long while, Du Long slowly opened his eyes and murmured softly to himself, "I've finally reached the great completion of the ninth stage of the Cyclone Realm!"

To achieve the great completion of the ninth stage, he had consumed two additional grades of second-tier spiritual liquid in succession, pushing his power all the way from the early stage of the eighth stage to the pinnacle of the ninth stage!

"Du Long!" The ring spirit's melodious voice chimed in at the right moment. "Now that you've reached the great completion of the ninth stage of the Cyclone Realm, don't rush to break through to the Qi Sea Realm. Instead, you must continue consuming Purple Flame Pearls until the astral fire within your body reaches completion and can no longer absorb any more of the Purple Flame Pearls' energy!"

"Continue to absorb and refine Purple Flame Pearls?!" Du Long asked in surprise. "I've already reached the great completion of the ninth stage of the Cyclone Realm. If I keep absorbing Purple Flame Pearls, aside from increasing my astral fire energy, it won't grant me any more opportunities to consume second-tier spiritual liquid. Wouldn't that be a waste?!"

"Waste your head!" the ring spirit said with exasperation. "Absorbing the energy of the Purple Flame Pearls brings the astral fire within your body to a state of saturation at the Cyclone Realm. Only by doing this can your foundation be considered truly solid!"

"A truly solid foundation?" Du Long muttered softly to himself.

"Stop babbling! You've already absorbed and refined about seven portions of Purple Flame Pearls. If you absorb just two more, you should reach the absolute limit of what the Cyclone Realm can absorb!" The ring spirit was evidently growing impatient.

"Oh! Understood, I'll follow Ling'er's arrangements!" Detecting the impatience in her tone, Du Long immediately fawned over her to appease her.

"Hehe, you rascal! You know how to play along!" The ring spirit clearly found it impossible to resist his sweet words.

With a flip of his hand, he summoned the Crimson Flame Cleaver, his consciousness instantly sinking into it. Two Purple Flame Pearls materialized in his palm, lingering for only a fleeting moment before being whisked away into the Fire Cloud Cauldron located within his dantian space.

Stowing the Crimson Flame Cleaver back into the coiling-snake ring, Du Long closed his eyes, plunged his consciousness into the Fire Cloud Cauldron space, and began channeling his astral fire to completely encase the two Purple Flame Pearls. He initiated the Flame Refining Art, continuously refining and absorbing the pure fire-type energy radiating from the pearls.

Time trickled by slowly. Not until the eastern sky grew pale with the first light of dawn did Du Long successfully finish absorbing the bulk of the two Purple Flame Pearls, leaving behind less than ten percent of their energy that could no longer be refined or absorbed.

With a thought, a jade bottle flew out from the pile of miscellaneous herbs and materials stored within the Fire Cloud Cauldron. He swept the remaining unabsorbable Purple Flame Pearl energy into the jade bottle. Even though it was less than ten percent, it could not go to waste; such a tiny fraction of energy was worth at least tens of thousands of gold coins!

Having completed this, he withdrew his consciousness from the Fire Cloud Cauldron space and entered the interior of his dantian space!

The dantian space now was entirely different from before. Nine massive cyclones rotated slowly along mystical trajectories. Right at the center of the cyclones, within the eye of the storm, a ball of astral fire burned fiercely, nurturing an exquisite cauldron within its core!

As the master of the dantian space, Du Long could clearly perceive that his dantian had reached the limit of quantitative change. Both the astral fire energy and the energy of the nine cyclones had attained their absolute maximum values!

"Du Long! Now that you've just reached the great completion of the ninth stage of the Cyclone Realm, don't rush to break through to the Qi Sea Realm. You must first consolidate your current level of strength, and only then choose the right moment to advance!" the ring spirit reminded him.

"I understand!" Du Long replied casually as he withdrew his consciousness from the dantian space. He had never intended to break through to the Qi Sea Realm immediately anyway; he indeed needed to properly consolidate his current tier of power first.

Opening his eyes, he noticed a dim glow illuminating the outside of the tent. Seeing that Huo Feng and Xiaolan were still meditating with closed eyes, Du Long decided not to disturb them and lightened his steps as he slipped out of the tent.

Hoo!

Exhaling a long breath of stale air and stretching his limbs, Du Long smiled cheerfully, taking in the unique earthy fragrance of the Monster Beast Forest. He chuckled softly to the giant lion, which was wagging its tail and rising to its feet excitedly, "Xiaolie! Get some good rest now, I'm going to start my training!"

The giant lion gave a soft grunt in response before dropping back down onto the ground, opening its wide eyes to watch Du Long begin his rigorous morning workout!

First came the Wind-Walking Footwork drill. With his strength at the great completion of the ninth stage of the Cyclone Realm, the weight-bearing load on Du Long's body had reached a staggering two thousand catties. To be able to execute the Wind-Walking Footwork under such a terrifying weight was entirely thanks to his unremitting, round-the-clock weighted training!

Whether it was because the ring spirit demanded more of him or because his physical constitution possessed some unique trait, his weight-bearing limit at the Cyclone Realm had reached two thousand catties, whereas Princess Huo Feng and Xia Qinglian both topped out at a limit of one thousand catties!

Half an hour later, Du Long finally reached his momentary physical limit. At that exact instant, he could distinctly sense that the moment he pushed past that physical boundary, the energy within his dantian—which had been somewhat unstable due to rapid growth—finally grew much steadier.

Though the grueling, demonic-style training devised by the ring spirit for him was crude in method, its effectiveness was truly extraordinary!

Concluding the extreme training of the Wind-Walking Footwork, Du Long sat cross-legged on the grassy ground, facing the rising sun in the east. He began practicing the Profound Sun Art, continuously absorbing and replenishing the energy he had completely exhausted.

By this time, the two beautiful maidens had also emerged from the tent. Seeing him sitting cross-legged in meditation, they chose not to disturb him and quietly commenced their own morning routines.

Successfully restoring the energy within his body, Du Long stood up, exchanged greetings with the two maidens, and proceeded to practice the Profound Sun Triple Wave and the first form of the Crimson Flame Cleaver!

Naturally, he started with the Profound Sun Triple Wave. This training was rather tedious and repetitive, requiring him to continuously swing his blade with the ultimate goal of achieving the power stacking of the triple wave!

Regrettably, the triple wave was many times more difficult than the double wave. Despite a long session of bitter cultivation, Du Long only managed to succeed three or five times sporadically!

Once his strength was depleted, he had to pause to absorb and recover his dantian energy before moving on to practice the first form of the Crimson Flame Cleaver. This training was relatively straightforward, as he could manifest a flame blade with almost every single strike.

Du Long currently found that every blow he delivered could project a flame blade roughly ten meters long. Yet, to his mild frustration, as the length of the flame blade increased, the energy consumed with every swing of the Crimson Flame Cleaver multiplied correspondingly!

After striking about fifty flame blades, the energy inside his body would inevitably be exhausted!

Of course, the greater the expenditure of power, the more formidable the might of the Crimson Flame Cleaver!

According to the ring spirit, given a strength at the great completion of the ninth stage of the Cyclone Realm, one should theoretically be able to unleash five consecutive flame blades reaching a length of one hundred meters. Only then could one be considered to have attained the great completion of the first form of the Crimson Flame Cleaver!

Once his strength broke through to the Qi Sea Realm, or reached the great completion of the Qi Sea Realm, he should be capable of successively launching five flame blades stretching a thousand meters in length to be deemed at the pinnacle state!

Through these days of relentless training, Du Long knew he still had a very long way to go before achieving that ultimate perfection!

Time was limited, so the trio could only complete a single round of training before stopping. Just one round had consumed over two hours, and the sun was already well past the treetops. They needed to finish breakfast quickly and resume their journey to hunt down monster beast packs.

"Qinglian, seeing that your strength is at the eighth stage of the Cyclone Realm, you probably need to consume two more portions of second-tier spiritual liquid to reach the great completion of the ninth stage, right?" During their simple breakfast, Du Long glanced at Xia Qinglian and noted that overnight, she had advanced from the seventh stage to the early eighth stage, prompting his question.

"Yes! I owe this speed entirely to the second-tier spiritual liquid provided by Young Master!" Xia Qinglian replied with a gentle smile.

"Why are you being so polite with me? Here, take these two portions of second-tier spiritual liquid and choose the appropriate time to consume them!" With a flick of his wrist, Du Long produced two jade bottles and handed them over.

"Hehe! With the help of the Purple Flame Pearls, I've now reached the seventh stage of the Cyclone Realm too! In a little while, I'll catch up with you guys!" Princess Huo Feng laughed with a hint of triumph.

"That's right! Xiaofeng, you've already refined and absorbed five Purple Flame Pearls. You only need to absorb about four more for the astral fire within your body to reach the stage of completion. Remember! Until your astral fire is complete, you are not allowed to break through to the Qi Sea Realm!" Du Long admonished earnestly.

"Is there such a thing as the completion of astral fire?" Princess Huo Feng asked, her face full of bewilderment.

"Indeed! The dantian at the Cyclone Realm also has a limit to the amount of astral fire energy it can contain. You'll understand once you reach that limit in the future!" Du Long patiently explained.

"Oh! Then does my husband know what benefits come from pushing the astral fire energy to its limit?" Huo Feng pressed on with curiosity.

"Maximizing the astral fire energy results in a much more solid foundation, allowing for greater achievements in the future!" Du Long answered, echoing the teachings of the ring spirit.

"Oh! So that's how it is!" Princess Huo Feng finally looked enlightened.

Chatting while partaking in their meal, the three humans and one beast swiftly finished their breakfast and promptly embarked upon a new chapter of their adventurous journey through the Monster Beast Forest!