About a quarter hour later, the Little White Fox settled down, its body calm once again, and opened its eyes.

"Little White Fox, how're you feeling now? Can you open it?"

Lin Chang'sheng gazed at the Little White Fox, who'd just opened its eyes, and asked.

The Little White Fox nodded, then shook its head, eyes filled with hopeful longing as it looked at Lin Chang'sheng.

"You want more?"

Lin Chang'sheng sighed helplessly, pulled out another Dragon Blood Pill, and placed it in front of the fox. "There's only one left. Once this is gone, that's it."

He had to save the last pill for himself.

"Ying, ying, ying!"

The Little White Fox whimpered, instantly snatching up the Dragon Blood Pill with its front paws and popping it into its mouth.

Another quarter hour passed.

The Little White Fox opened its eyes, looking much less exhausted. Seeing this, Lin Chang'sheng set the Jade Scroll before it.

The Little White Fox opened its mouth again and spat out a beam of dazzling white light, even brighter than last time, right onto the Jade Scroll.

The Jade Scroll flashed and flickered, revealing a fiery red light screen, rippling like flames, with fine writing scattered across it.

Lin Chang'sheng immediately grabbed a brush, dipped it in ink, and began transcribing quickly.

"Five Hearts Facing Heaven, Embrace the Origin and Guard the One, Circulation of Meridians, absorb the fire attribute spiritual energy of heaven and earth..."

Lin Chang'sheng raced against time, copying down the Fire Cloud Technique, sentence after sentence—over three thousand words. He knew the Little White Fox had managed to open the Jade Scroll only after recovering a bit from consuming two Dragon Blood Pills.

He needed to finish copying this as soon as possible.

Each time the Little White Fox spat out its brilliance, the fiery light screen lasted about half a quarter hour.

Finally—

The Little White Fox spat out its light three times in total, but Lin Chang'sheng still had several hundred words left to copy. With no other choice, and feeling the sting of loss, he gave up the final Dragon Blood Pill for the Little White Fox to consume.

After more than half an hour, Lin Chang'sheng finally finished transcribing.

"Xiaobai, you've worked hard. Here, have some ginseng soup to recharge."

With the Fire Cloud Technique finally recorded, Lin Chang'sheng felt immensely satisfied. He ladled a bowl of soup for the Little White Fox and set it before her, then scooped another bowl for himself, leaning down to "slurp-slurp" with small bites, fingers busy with hand exercises, all the while glancing at the freshly transcribed Fire Cloud Technique laid out on the table.

A quarter hour later.

Lin Chang'sheng put down the Fire Cloud Technique, a thoughtful look on his face.

The Fire Cloud Technique is a fire attribute cultivation method, able to channel the technique to absorb the fire attribute spiritual energy of heaven and earth and transform it into fire spiritual power within one's body!

Moreover—

At the end of this cultivation method, there's even a basic magic—the Fire Bomb Technique!

"I wonder, do I even have a fire attribute spirit root?"

"Guess I'll find out!"

Lin Chang'sheng's eyes brimmed with anticipation. He stopped his hand exercises, forgot all about slurping ginseng soup, locked the door, and sat cross-legged to meditate, following the method described in the Fire Cloud Technique.

As for the package Yu Wenjing had sent via Black Eagle, he hadn't gotten around to looking at it yet.

......

Yu City.

The Imperial Palace.

Yangxin Hall.

A tall, snow-skinned beauty in exquisite palace attire knelt before a forty-ish woman clad in imperial robes and a crown, exuding unmatched authority, and respectfully proclaimed, "Your daughter Wenjing pays respects to the Holy God Emperor. May the Saint Emperor enjoy peace!"

This stunning palace woman was none other than the current Eldest Princess of Great Yu—Yu Wenjing—who had come in response to the Empress's summons.

"Rise!"

The Empress of Great Yu waved her hand to signal her to stand, then, her gaze fell on Yu Wenjing. "Wenjing, news just arrived. The Southern Barbarians are invading again. I intend for you to lead troops to repel them. Are you willing?"

"Your daughter is willing to take command, and hold the line against the Southern Barbarians! As long as they do not retreat, I will not return!"

Yu Wenjing straightened her posture, expression firm, and cupped her fists in salute.

"Good! Very good!!"

"In ten days, assemble your forces and set out!"

The Empress of Great Yu, nodding, spoke in approval.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Yu Wenjing bowed in affirmation.

........

Half a month later.

Min Nan City.

The small courtyard Lin Chang'sheng rented.

The gate was shut tight.

Inside the room.

The Little White Fox was hiding in the veggie basket, a little quilt draped over her, only her head poking out, pointy ears twitching as she watched the young man seated in meditation on the bed, big eyes blinking, lost in her own thoughts.

On the floor, seven or eight ceramic pots were neatly arranged, all emptied of soup.

Suddenly—

Sitting on the bed, Lin Chang'sheng's entire body shimmered with a faint red glow, while in the air, a barely perceptible aura drifted gently toward him.

"Fantastic! After half a month of training, I've finally cultivated a strand of fire spiritual power!"

Lin Chang'sheng opened his eyes, delight writ large on his face.

According to the Fire Cloud Technique, once you cultivate a strand of fire spiritual power, you've reached entry level!

[Great Dao is Simple: Magical power detected. Panel refreshed.]

[Great Dao is Simple: Magical power detected. By cultivating immortality techniques, True Qi can be refined and converted into magical power!]

[Fire Cloud Technique detected. You may consume one Spirit Stone to simplify this technique. Simplify now?]

At that moment, Lin Chang'sheng noticed several red prompts pop up on the panel at the corner of his eye.

"Panel refreshed? And I can cultivate immortality techniques to convert True Qi into magical power!"

"Now that's a nice perk!"

Seeing the panel hints, Lin Chang'sheng was quite satisfied. Now the Martial Arts Grandmaster's True Qi cultivation could be seamlessly converted to magical power, not a bit wasted.

"Fire Cloud Technique simplification requires a Spirit Stone?"

Seeing the second prompt, Lin Chang'sheng froze. Honestly, he'd never even seen a Spirit Stone yet!

Broke as hell!

"Looks like it's time to leave Min Nan City and hunt for Spirit Stones!"

Lin Chang'sheng gazed out the window at the sky, mentally resolving himself.

He understood that if he wanted to forge ahead and get his hands on a Spirit Stone to simplify the Fire Cloud Technique, he'd have to step outside Min Nan City!

Out into a vaster world!

Next step—

He needed to fully refine all his Martial Arts Grandmaster True Qi cultivation and convert it into magical power!

........

Jade Box Mountain.

Golden Saber Sect, Sect Leader's Hall.

"What? Our Dragon Blood Pill got sold by Hundred Herbs Hall to someone else?"

"Has Tian Ci totally lost his mind?"

A burly, towering elder with a lion's mane of yellow hair and a formidable aura sat on a tiger-skin throne, glaring at a respectful Profound Robe youth before him, brows deeply furrowed.

Beside the elder's chair hung a long saber gleaming gold.

"Yes, Master, I heard it was sold to a newly appointed Martial Arts Grandmaster in Min Nan City!"

"And Tian Ci is dead. Hundred Herbs Hall has sold off most of the pharmacy and announced their departure from the Five Great Clans."

The Profound Robe youth, Xuan Ming, replied in a grave tone.

"A newly appointed Martial Arts Grandmaster in Min Nan City? What's this person's background? Tian Ci is dead? You saw it yourself?"

Wei Wuji abruptly rose to his feet, eyes wide with shock.

"Yes! Disciple went with Fuhu Senior Brother to Hundred Herbs Hall, and we saw it with our own eyes—Tian Ci is most definitely dead."

"As for the new Grandmaster's background, we haven't figured it out yet. Fuhu Senior Brother is in Min Nan City; as soon as he finds out, he'll send a message back by Divine Eagle!"

The Profound Robe youth bowed in reporting.

"Hmph! Dare to snatch away my Dragon Blood Pills—even if you're a newly minted Martial Arts Grandmaster!"

"I'll make you cough up triple what I lost!"

Wei Wuji slowly rose, voice cold. "Notify your three junior uncles, we'll head to Min Nan City together, pay a visit to this new Grandmaster, and to Hundred Herbs Hall. Selling my Dragon Blood Pill behind my back—we're not letting this slide!"

"Yes, Master!"

Xuan Ming bowed in affirmation.

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