Several minutes passed.
Gradually, the Golden Feather Peacock Flame began accepting his Qi. The rainbow-colored traces circling its surface slowly approached the thread connected to Li Yan's hand.
Seeing the change, Li Yan carefully guided the flame toward himself.
The small flame drifted through the air before entering his body through the center of his chest.
A gentle warmth immediately spread throughout him.
There was no pain.
No burning sensation.
His Fire Immunity rendered the flame harmless to his flesh and meridians.
However, as the Beast Flame began circulating through his body, Li Yan quickly realized that the true difficulty lay elsewhere.
The flame's energy was immense.
Far greater than what his current cultivation could comfortably support.
Although the Golden Feather Peacock Flame accepted his presence, it still instinctively resisted complete control. Several times, the circulating flame abruptly accelerated through his meridians, forcing Li Yan to devote additional concentration to guide it back onto the proper path.
His expression gradually became more serious.
The flame traveled through his arms, chest, abdomen, and every major meridian. Each completed circulation strengthened the connection between master and flame, yet every circulation also placed increasing pressure upon Li Yan's Spiritual Sense.
Hours passed.
Sweat gradually formed across his forehead.
The process remained safe due to his Fire Immunity, but maintaining control over a Tier-3 Beast Flame while possessing a much lower cultivation was far from easy.
Fortunately, Li Yan's Spiritual Sense was an additional and beneficial factor compared to that of ordinary cultivators.
Combined with his exceptional control, he slowly overcame the flame's remaining resistance.
Eventually, the Golden Feather Peacock Flame completed another full circulation and finally settled into complete obedience.
Only then did Li Yan proceed to the most difficult stage.
Guided by the refinement method, the flame descended toward the region surrounding his lower dantian.
Not inside it.
Not touching the Qi Core.
Instead, it settled several inches away from the spinning Qi Core and surrounding Qi Nodes.
There, Li Yan began condensing a Flame Seed.
The most difficult step began.
The records described it as creating a second foundation, a stable vessel capable of housing the Beast Flame permanently.
A tiny point of golden light appeared.
It gradually expanded under his control, gathering the surrounding energy into itself.
Moments later, the outline of a seed began forming.
Then it suddenly collapsed.
The structure shattered before it could stabilize.
Li Yan remained calm.
He immediately began again.
The second attempt lasted longer. The golden light condensed more smoothly and even developed a clear seed-like shape. Yet before completion, the immense energy contained within the Beast Flame disrupted the balance and caused the structure to collapse once more.
A third attempt followed.
Then a fourth.
And a fifth.
Each failure taught him more about balancing the Beast Flame's energy against his own cultivation.
The process was considerably more difficult than the manuals described.
After all, those manuals assumed the cultivator possessed sufficient strength for the flame they intended to refine.
Li Yan did not.
Yet he possessed patience.
And patience eventually produced results.
Several hours later, another seed-shaped structure appeared near his lower dantian. This time, Li Yan compressed layer upon layer of Spiritual Energy around it, reinforcing every part of the structure before proceeding.
The seed stabilized.
Golden light flowed across its surface.
Rainbow-colored patterns gradually appeared.
Seeing that it had finally reached the required stability, Li Yan guided the Golden Feather Peacock Flame toward it.
The flame transformed into a stream of liquid golden fire. Then it poured directly into the newly formed Flame Seed.
For a brief moment, the seed trembled violently.
Cracks nearly appeared across its surface.
Li Yan immediately reinforced it with Spiritual Sense and Qi.
The instability gradually subsided.
The final remnants of the Golden Feather Peacock Flame merged completely into the seed.
A brilliant golden radiance erupted throughout his body.
Rainbow-colored patterns spread across the surface of the Flame Seed like delicate peacock feathers.
The transformation was complete.
Li Yan carefully observed the result through his inner vision.
The Qi Core continued rotating at the center of his lower dantian as usual. Around it, the Qi Node maintained its normal circulation.
Several inches away rested the newly formed Flame Seed.
The two systems remained entirely independent.
Neither interfered with the other.
Yet a natural connection existed between them.
The Flame Seed quietly radiated golden light while housing the Golden Feather Peacock Flame within its core. It resembled a second foundation established beside his Qi Cultivation system.
Li Yan slowly exhaled.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
The refinement had succeeded.
From this day onward, the Golden Feather Peacock Flame truly belonged to him.
As the refinement process reached its conclusion, Li Yan suddenly sensed a surge of energy both within and around his body.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
Nature Qi.
The energy carried the same affinity as the Golden Feather Peacock Flame itself. During the refinement process, traces of the flame's original essence had been released and transformed into pure Nature Qi.
The amount was sufficient to help him advance one or even two stages after fully absorbing it.
Unfortunately, Li Yan possessed no Nature affinity yet.
For him, absorbing the energy was impossible.
Even so, he had no intention of allowing such a valuable resource to dissipate.
Without hesitation, he reached toward the mark beneath his ear and summoned the Spiritual Beast Egg.
The melon-sized egg appeared before him.
Two visible cracks crossed its surface like branching lightning bolts. The second had formed two months earlier, when he was cultivating within the Fire Mine and continuously feeding it energy during his body-tempering sessions.
The moment the egg appeared, Li Yan directed all of the surrounding Nature Qi toward it.
Streams of green-gold energy flowed from every direction and entered the egg, which greedily absorbed everything.
Not a single strand escaped.
Li Yan patiently guided the process until every trace of Nature Qi released by the Golden Feather Peacock Flame had been completely consumed.
Only then did he return the egg to the mark beneath his ear.
With that matter settled, Li Yan closed his eyes and examined his body through his inner vision.
The newly formed Flame Seed rested quietly near his lower dantian, radiating a warm golden glow. Rainbow-colored patterns occasionally drifted across its surface before fading away again.
He observed it for several moments.
Unlike his Qi Core, which continuously absorbed and refined Qi, the Flame Seed existed solely to house the Beast Flame. Yet despite its independence, the connection between the two felt completely natural.
As the bond stabilized, Li Yan's attention shifted toward something more practical.
Testing it.
Control.
Temperature regulation.
Flame manipulation.
Refined precision.
These qualities ultimately determined a flame's value to an alchemist.
Li Yan raised his hand and directed a strand of Qi from his Qi Core toward the Flame Seed.
At the same time, a simple thought appeared in his mind.
Summon.
A small golden flame appeared above his palm. Moments later, it flickered and vanished.
Li Yan remained calm.
The connection had only recently been established.
He tried again.
This time, the flame emerged smoothly and remained suspended above his hand.
Golden fire danced quietly in the air.
Neither too hot nor too weak.
More importantly, Li Yan immediately noticed that its temperature adjusted naturally according to his intentions.
He slightly increased the flow of Qi.
The flame responded instantly, becoming brighter and hotter.
He reduced the output.
The flame softened at once.
There was no delay.
No instability.
Every response was immediate and precise.
A faint light appeared in Li Yan's eyes. "No wonder this flame was reserved for the future Head of the Alchemy Hall."
Its control was exceptional.
Its Qi consumption was surprisingly low.
Most importantly, the flame's heat remained remarkably stable throughout every adjustment.
For an alchemist, that stability was invaluable.
The majority of pill-refining failures occurred due to temperature fluctuations. Even a minor error during a critical stage could ruin an entire batch. A flame capable of maintaining perfect stability would significantly increase both the success rate and purity of refined pills.
Li Yan continued experimenting for several more minutes.
He tested various output levels, shaped the flame into different forms, and carefully examined its responsiveness.
Each result exceeded his expectations.
Eventually, he dispersed the flame.
The golden light faded from his palm and returned to the Flame Seed resting beside his lower dantian.
It remained there quietly, glowing like a newly ignited star.
Li Yan slowly exhaled.
A faint smile appeared on his face. The one million four hundred thousand Shadow Points had been well spent.
His first objective for the day was complete.
However, there were still many things he needed to accomplish. Standing up, Li Yan stretched slightly before retrieving a Qi Gathering Array disc from his storage ring. Several Fire Qi Stones followed and were placed upon the disc.
The array activated immediately.
Qi began gathering toward the treehouse. Li Yan, however, had no intention of cultivating ordinary Qi.
The moment the formation activated, he sat down once more and closed his eyes. His consciousness descended inward.
The world around him gradually disappeared. Moments later, he appeared within his Spiritual Consciousness. The blue waters of his Spiritual Sea stretched before him.
Its surface remained calm and tranquil.
As always, Li Yan's gaze briefly drifted toward the transparent seal floating in the distance. Yan Tian sat inside it, calmly reading a book. The soul glanced in his direction before returning to his book.
Li Yan paid it little attention. Instead, he sat cross-legged upon the surface of the Spiritual Sea and waved his hand.
The soul cultivation technique given to him by Yao Fuhuo appeared before him as a blue bubble. The next moment, the blue bubble dissolved into countless streams of golden light.
The Spiritual Sea trembled.
A massive wall slowly rose from the water below.
Its height seemed endless. Ancient golden characters covered its surface, accompanied by countless diagrams, illustrations, and cultivation pathways.
Method for sensing spiritual energy.
Method for gathering it.
Method for refining it.
Method for strengthening the soul.
Method for circulating spiritual energy throughout the Spiritual Consciousness.
The technique contained an enormous amount of information, yet it didn't mention the name or the tier. But that won't bother him.
Li Yan's expression gradually became serious as he began reading.
He understood better than anyone the value of the opportunity before him. This technique was not merely a method of strengthening his soul. It was also the key to unlocking the mysterious tower within his Spiritual Consciousness.
Also, a reward valuable enough that Yao Fuhuo had considered it worthy of a task requiring the collection of five thousand Tier-2 and ten thousand Tier-3 Beast Cores, which Li Yan obtained after hunting more than forty thousand Tier-2 and Tier-3 magical beasts.
Such a reward was not something Li Yan intended to take lightly.
With complete focus, he began studying every line of the technique, determined to master it.
It took Li Yan nearly two hours to fully comprehend the Soul Cultivation technique.
The technique was far more profound than ordinary cultivation arts. Every section contained methods for sensing, gathering, refining, and strengthening Soul Energy, along with explanations regarding the structure of the Spiritual Sea and the growth of Spiritual Power.
Fortunately, Li Yan possessed both patience and a strong foundation of understanding. By the time he finished studying the technique, he had already grasped its fundamental principles.
Only then did he leave his Spiritual Consciousness and open his eyes within the treehouse.
The Qi Gathering Array remained active.
Over the past two hours, it had continuously drawn Heaven and Earth Qi into the surrounding area, creating a dense cultivation environment. The Fire Qi Stones steadily supplied energy to the formation, ensuring it continued operating without interruption.
Li Yan wasted no time.
Circulating the newly learned technique, he extended his perception into the surrounding Heaven and Earth Qi.
Almost immediately, he discovered the first challenge.
Soul Energy was exceedingly rare.
Unlike ordinary elemental Qi, which existed abundantly throughout the world, traces of Soul and Spiritual Energy were hidden deep within the natural energy itself. Extracting them required both patience and precision.
Li Yan carefully separated a few nearly invisible strands from the gathered Heaven and Earth Qi.
The quantity was pitifully small.
Even after several minutes of effort, he had gathered only a handful of threads.
Without disappointment, he guided them toward his upper dantian.
The threads entered the Soul Core.
The refinement process began.
Using the technique, he immediately stripped away impurities and foreign energy, gradually condensing the gathered threads into a purer form. By the time the refinement finished, only a tiny strand of pure Soul Energy remained.