After Xiao Ping settled down completely in the inner courtyard of Canaan Academy, the night passed uneventfully. Soon, with the arrival of dawn, a new day solemnly began.
Early in the morning, Xiao Ping and his group of five set out. Led by Xiao Ping, they headed directly towards the Heavenly Flame Qi Refining Tower. After squeezing through the crowd for nearly half an hour, they finally arrived at a sunken area. In that depression, an extremely large black tower lay buried deep underground, with only its spire and a pitch-black entrance visible above the ground.
"Is this the 'Heavenly Flame Refining Tower'?"
Looking at the mysterious black tower buried deep underground from a distance of over a hundred meters, Liang Zihua scratched his head and asked curiously, "How magnificent!"
At this moment, the spacious open space was neatly divided into several areas, and in each area, a large group of people sat cross-legged with their eyes closed.
"These people must be some of the more powerful forces in the inner courtyard. They're quite domineering, not even bothering to queue, just taking up the best spots. Tsk tsk, no wonder Elder Su said that in the inner courtyard, if you want to get the best cultivation conditions, you must form or join a powerful force," the young man with the big sword, Zhao Xing, muttered to himself.
"That's quite domineering."
Xiao Ping nodded slightly. He glanced deeply at the various factions sitting cross-legged with their eyes closed, and discreetly entered the circle. Although his current cultivation as a five-star Dou Wang could easily sweep aside these mere inner court disciples of the Great Dou Master level, he wanted to avoid trouble to prevent affecting his future plans.
"Thump!"
Just as Xiao Ping and his group of five were talking in hushed tones, the ancient sound of bells suddenly resounded throughout the area, and with the sound of the bells, the noisy commotion abruptly ceased.
"Open the tower!"
As the bell tolled, an aged voice seemed to emanate from within the tower.
Shortly after the aged voice faded, the tightly closed, pitch-black door creaked open slowly, releasing a faint, intense heat that slightly raised the temperature of the area.
Feeling the sudden increase in temperature, Xiao Ping's pupils contracted sharply, his hands clenched tightly, and he muttered to himself, "The Fallen Heart Flame..."
"Come on, let's go in too."
Suppressing the sudden restlessness in his heart, Xiao Ping waved slightly to Liang Zihua and the other four behind him, then took the lead and stepped into the open space. He quickly walked towards the mysterious black tower buried deep underground. At the same time, Xiao Ping could also strengthen the circulation of the Bodhi Zen Technique to prevent the Fallen Heart Flame from sensing the Azure Lotus Earth Core Flame within his body and causing unnecessary accidents.
Standing at the gate, Xiao Ping took a deep breath, suppressing his emotions. He lifted his foot and strode heavily into the darkness beyond the gate, with Liang Zihua and the other three following closely behind.
The light suddenly dimmed, and a moment later, Xiao Ping felt his feet step onto a hard stone surface. However, as soon as his feet touched solid ground, the other four, including Liang Zihua, turned a fiery red, and wisps of white mist, accompanied by a sizzling sound like roasting meat, seeped from their bodies.
"The Fallen Heartflame"
Xiao Ping calmed his mind and looked at the strange flame that had suddenly appeared inexplicably from his body. Excitement welled up within him. This flame was formless and shapeless—wasn't that precisely the characteristic of the Fallen Heart Flame?
Since the appearance of this invisible flame, the high temperature emanating from it began to scorch Xiao Ping's meridians. Of course, his years of cultivation with the Vajra Glazed Body had already forged Xiao Ping's meridians into something as tough as steel. Coupled with the tempering he received when he devoured the Azure Lotus Earth Core Flame, this small, invisible flame had no effect on him whatsoever.
I'll take you in sooner or later!
Seeing the invisible flame burning fiercely within his body, Xiao Ping sat cross-legged and began circulating his battle qi, constantly passing through this invisible flame, and actually began cultivating.
Just as Xiao Ping began cultivating in place, some senior students who entered from the back outside the gate were about to reprimand him, but when they saw Liang Zihua and the others, they stopped shouting and chuckled with some schadenfreude, "Looks like they're just five freshmen entering the inner courtyard. Entering the Heavenly Flame Qi Refining Tower for the first time, they dared to be completely unprepared. Serves them right."
"Quickly inform the elders inside the tower! This is their first time entering the 'Heavenly Flame Qi Refining Tower.' Without the elders' intervention, they'll likely be burned to a crisp from the inside out."
Of course, Liang Zihua and his companions couldn't hear the older students' words at this moment. They were currently horrified and busy with the strange phenomenon that had suddenly appeared within their bodies. As for Xiao Ping, he was cultivating with great enthusiasm and had no time to listen to what the inner court students were saying.
Inside the softly lit ancient tower, a large group of people surrounded Xiao Yan and his four companions, whose eyes were tightly closed, whispering and chuckling among themselves.
"Make way, make way, Elder Liu is coming."
Suddenly, a shout rang out from outside the crowd, and a small path was quickly cleared. In this Heavenly Flame Refining Tower, the elders on each level held the highest positions. Anyone who offended them here would face dire consequences; they could easily use their authority to trip you up, leaving you with nothing but tears.
As the crowd parted, a simply dressed old man slowly walked in. His smiling gaze swept over Liang Zihua and the other three, who were frozen in place, and he said with a smile, "What an ignorant little fellow! Entering the Heavenly Flame Refining Tower for the first time without even announcing it beforehand, you've suffered quite unjustly."
However, when his gaze shifted to Xiao Ping, he couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "Huh? This kid doesn't look like he's suffering at all; he's clearly cultivating..."
"Heh heh, every year there are impetuous freshmen who can't wait to enter the Heavenly Flame Refining Tower. They deserve this suffering."
Some gloating laughter erupted from the crowd. Although the cultivation speed inside the tower was quite fast, it was still somewhat tedious. Now that a newcomer had come in and provided some entertainment, the senior students were naturally happy to see it.
"New students entering the inner courtyard naturally don't understand the rules here, so what's so funny?"
A soft, cool voice suddenly rang out. Everyone turned to look, and saw a young woman in a silver dress. She was tall and slender, with a slightly thin face, but possessed a rare beauty. Her skin was as white as snow, and her features were exquisite. Most striking was her waist-length hair, a rare silver color. The silver hair, combined with her silver dress, gave her an aura of aloofness that kept people at a distance, making her seem unapproachable and untouchable.
All eyes swept over the silent woman in the silver robe, and a flicker of male admiration for a beautiful woman flashed in their eyes at first, but after that admiration, there was also a hint of fear.
As soon as the woman in the silver dress spoke, the gloating laughter almost immediately disappeared. This showed that the woman must have considerable prestige and strength in the inner courtyard. Otherwise, in a place where strength is paramount, beauty alone would not be enough to make others fear her.
"Heh, so it's Yue'er. I didn't even see her. These are a bunch of idle bastards who deserve a beating. What's the point of talking to them?"
Upon hearing the voice and seeing the gaze shift to the woman in the silver dress, Elder Liu paused slightly, then smiled.
Elder Liu
The woman in the silver dress didn't remain indifferent to this elder; a faint, fleeting smile, like a night-blooming cereus, graced her face, causing the surrounding students to momentarily lose their composure.
"Which level of cultivation does Yue'er plan to enter this time?"
Elder Liu glanced at Liang Zihua and the other three, who were still stiff with fear, then smiled and asked the woman in the silver dress again. His attitude towards her was clearly much kinder than towards the other students.
"The sixth level? That requires at least a six-star Great Dou Master to descend to. Could it be that Senior Sister Han Yue has already reached that level?"
The woman's reply immediately caused a stir among the surrounding crowd. These older students were all familiar with the silver-skirted woman's strength; it seemed that just three months ago, she had only recently reached the fifth-star Great Dou Master level.
"Well?"
Elder Liu was slightly surprised by the silver-skirted woman's answer. His eyes, gleaming with a hidden light, slowly swept over her. After a moment, he sighed, "It seems that in less than five years, young lady, you will be qualified to compete for an elder position in the inner courtyard. Such talent and speed in cultivation are truly astonishing."
To become an inner court elder, one must at least reach the Dou Wang level. With this woman in the silver dress's talent, and with Tian Fen's help, the probability of her advancing to Dou Wang within five years is extremely high.
"Hehe, Elder Liu is joking. It's all thanks to the Heavenly Flame Refining Tower. If I were to cultivate on my own, I'm afraid I would only be at the Great Dou Master level by now."
The woman in the silver dress shook her head, then turned her gaze to Xiao Ping and the other four in the crowd. Her red lips parted slightly: "Elder Liu, let's get these people out of the torment of the inner fire first. Otherwise, delaying will cause considerable harm to their bodies."
Upon hearing this, Elder Liu nodded, then extended his withered right hand, as sharp as an eagle's claw, and aimed it at Liang Zihua and the other three, whose bodies were beginning to tremble slightly. Wisps of milky-white flame slowly appeared at his fingertips, condensing into a continuously rotating vortex of fire.
He flicked his finger lightly across the swirling fire, and the fire swirl quickly left his hand, finally hovering about a foot away from Liang Zihua's heart.
"come out!"
With a slight twist of his palm, Elder Liu uttered a soft shout. A milky-white vortex of fire spun rapidly, emanating a powerful suction force. Finally, pulled by this force, a slightly distorted, invisible flame was forcibly pulled from Wu Hao's heart and sucked into the vortex, where it was forcefully pulverized into nothingness.
As the invisible flame departed, Liang Zihua and the other three froze, their trembling bodies collapsing to the ground. Their faces, as red as burning coals, quickly lost their color, and they gasped for breath like wild bulls. Exhausted both physically and mentally, they had no time to look at the people around them.
After removing the inner fire from Liang Zihua's body, Elder Liu continued to flick a wisp of milky-white flame at the remaining three, waking Zhao Xing and the other two one by one. However, Elder Liu made no attempt to wake Xiao Ping, who was sitting cross-legged and cultivating.
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