Becoming an immortal from a canal worker

Chapter 175: Fire Python, Qilin Child

Back at Xuanzi No. 6, Chen Ping closed the courtyard gate and sat down in the center of the training ground.

He took out the Crimson Flame Stone Marrow from his bosom and placed it in front of his knees.

It's about the size of a fist, entirely crimson, with a faint glow of fire flowing beneath its skin. It feels warm in your hand, like holding a piece of charcoal that hasn't been extinguished yet.

Chen Ping closed his eyes and began to circulate his Qi.

The Crimson Flame Stone Marrow became transparent under the influence of Qi absorption, and its internal structure was completely different from that of the Golden Essence Iron Core.

The gold and iron core resembled a miniature mountain range, layer upon layer, dense and heavy.

The Crimson Flame Stone Marrow resembles a mass of solidified magma, containing countless tiny bubbles and fissures, between which flow strands of dark red heat.

And at the deepest point where these heat currents converge, there is a fire.

Extremely small and extremely bright, like a spark sealed in amber, burning quietly and tirelessly.

The essence of fire.

Chen Ping stared at the ball of fire for a while. When the essence of metal was awakened, it charged left and right, like a trapped bullet.

Fire is different in nature; it burns quietly, but Chen Ping can sense the violence hidden beneath that quietness, which far surpasses the nature of metal.

Gold, with its sharp edge, cuts; Fire, with its destructive power, burns.

A spiritual thread emerged.

One, two, three streaks seeped into the surface of the Crimson Flame Stone Marrow from the fingertips.

As soon as the spiritual thread burrowed into the surface of the stone marrow, a scorching heat returned from the end of the spiritual thread, like sticking your finger into a pot of boiling oil.

Chen Ping frowned, but did not retract the spiritual thread, and continued to probe deeper.

The fissures inside the Crimson Flame Stone Marrow are more complex than the veins of the Golden Essence Iron Core. The spirit threads need to bypass those dark red heat currents, and as soon as they touch the heat currents, the surface of the spirit threads is scorched and hisses.

Chen Ping slowed down, letting the spirit threads drill in one by one, avoiding the heat flow, and pushing them towards the core along the gaps between the bubbles.

It took twice as long as the time it took for the Golden Refined Iron Core to finally fill the interior of the Crimson Flame Stone Marrow with spiritual silk.

The moment one touches the essence of fire, the situation is completely different from that of the gold and iron core.

The essence of metal is impact, like a bullet crashing everywhere. The essence of fire is explosive combustion.

The quiet spark of fire suddenly exploded the moment it was touched by the spiritual thread.

The scorching heat exploded inside the stone marrow, and the essence of fire transformed into dozens of fire lines, which fled in all directions along the gaps in the spiritual threads. Wherever the fire lines passed, the spiritual threads were burned and trembled.

Chen Ping gritted his teeth, channeling his inner energy into the spiritual silk to forcefully suppress the urge.

Dozens of fire lines were intercepted, blocked, and entangled one by one by the spirit silk, like a fishing net catching a group of fire snakes that were running around in all directions.

The essence of fire struggled for more than ten breaths, unable to break free, and slowly retreated, condensing back into a ball.

But this mass was no longer still; it throbbed violently within the wrapping of spirit silk, like a burning heart, and with each beat, the surrounding spirit silk shrank from the heat.

Sweat beaded on Chen Ping's forehead.

It is more difficult than refining gold or iron cores.

It's more than twice as difficult.

The second step.

The vital energy seeped into the stone marrow along the spiritual threads, attaching itself to the spiritual threads that bound the essence of fire. Unlike the essence of metal, the essence of fire did not actively stick to the spiritual threads.

It struggles, it burns, it tries to burn everything that comes near it to ashes.

Chen Ping was in no hurry. He continuously channeled his inner energy, layer by layer, enveloping the essence of fire. It wasn't about forcibly dragging it away, but about surrounding it.

Let it burn.

Let it burn everything that can be burned.

When it burns out and is no longer able to struggle, it will naturally follow the guidance of the Qi and attach itself to the spiritual silk.

Time passed by, one breath at a time.

Chen Ping didn't know how much time had passed, only that the sweat on his forehead had dripped onto his knees, and his hands were trembling slightly from maintaining the dual output of spiritual silk and qi.

Finally, the pulsation of the essence of fire slowed down.

Little by little, the dark red flame began to peel away from the core of the stone marrow, slowly creeping out along the spiritual threads.

third step.

Chen Ping focused all his attention on this moment. The spiritual thread was slowly pulled back.

The distance between his fingertips and the Crimson Flame Stone Marrow was only a millimeter, but with each inch he pulled out, his heart pounded with excitement.

The nature of fire is far more violent than that of metal, and the probability of it becoming agitated the moment it leaves the stalactite is much greater.

The spiritual thread was drawn out an inch.

The essence of fire trembled.

Chen Ping held his breath, intensified his internal energy, and tightly enveloped himself.

Two inches.

It trembled again, more violently than before.

Chen Ping gritted his teeth, his fingers turning slightly white.

Three inches.

The spirit silk completely detached from the surface of the Crimson Flame Stone Marrow.

The essence of fire leaped violently the instant it detached from the stone marrow, as if trying to break free from the shackles of the spiritual threads. At the same moment, Chen Ping's qi tightened abruptly.

Suppress it tightly.

The essence of fire struggled, but failed.

Then, silence fell.

Chen Ping let out a long breath.

It became.

The essence of fire flowed into the body along the spiritual threads, settled in the dantian, and attached itself to the vital energy.

In an instant, a wave of heat exploded in his dantian.

Completely different from the gentle diffusion of the essence of metal, which is like ink spreading into water, the essence of fire, once it enters the Qi Yuan, is like a piece of red-hot iron being thrown into cold water; with a hiss, the entire dantian boils.

Chen Ping groaned, leaned forward, and braced himself with his hands on the ground.

The heat wave surged from the dantian to the limbs and bones, and wherever it passed, the meridians felt as if they were being licked by tongues of fire, with a burning pain emanating from the inside out.

He circulated his breath, exhaling and inhaling, until his vital energy completed a full cycle, gradually calming the violent heatwave. After a short while, the burning sensation subsided.

Chen Ping opened his eyes and looked down at his hands.

A wisp of qi overflowed from his fingertips.

It's no longer a pure pale gold color.

The base color of the aura is still gold, but there is a hint of dark red in the gold, like a strand of fire thread twisted into a golden thread. The two colors intertwine and entwine around the fingertips.

He stood up and walked to the iron man stake in the corner of the training ground.

The Iron Man Stake is cast entirely from black iron. It is humanoid, half a head taller than a real person, and its body is covered with dents and scratches of various sizes, all left by previous users.

Chen Ping extended his finger, and a wisp of qi shot out.

laugh.

The Iron Man Stake now has a half-inch deep cut on its chest, the cut surface of which is as smooth as a mirror.

However, there was a ring of charred black around the edge of the cut.

Metal-based qi sliced ​​through the black iron, while fire-based qi scorched the cut. The two attributes combined, and with a single strike, both cut and burned.

Chen Ping looked at the charred edges of the cut and his lips twitched slightly.

He reached out, and his inner energy surged forth, condensing into a giant python in front of him.

The python's scales were no longer pure gold; between the golden scales, faint dark red fire patterns shone through, like magma flowing beneath its golden armor.

Chen Ping looked at the giant python intertwined with golden fire, thought for a moment, and tried to extract the fire element energy separately.

The golden color on the python's body faded, and dark red fire patterns spread out, transforming the entire giant python into a fiery python with a completely crimson body. Heat waves rose from the python's body, and the temperature in the training ground suddenly increased by several degrees.

He retracted the giant python, and his inner energy returned to his body.

It has both metal and fire attributes.

In the future, the giant python formed from the Dragon Python True Qi can be a golden python, a fire python, or a mixture of gold and fire.

The golden python is sharp and piercing, capable of cutting and strangling.

The fire python was violent, burning and scorching.

The metal and fire combined, both cutting and burning, the wounds unable to heal while continuing to burn. Chen Ping placed the now grayish-white waste stone aside and closed his eyes.

The final fourteen points of progress on the second level of the Blazing Sun Burning Sea True Scripture can now be pushed forward.

With the foundation of fire-elemental energy, the third layer of blazing sunlight is just around the corner.

......

At the same time.

The inner courtyard contains a Class A auxiliary cultivation chamber.

The stone door was slowly pushed open from the inside.

Wang Zhaoyao stood at the doorway, eyes closed, sensing the changes in the internal energy within his body.

Four more condensed.

Four.

For a whole month, he cultivated day and night in the top-tier secret chamber. The energy of heaven and earth flowed into his body, working together with the medicinal power of the pills to gradually condense his inner energy.

Only four had condensed. Wang Zhaoyao slowly opened his eyes, and in those eyes that were originally gentle and refined, there was now a gloomy atmosphere that was extremely suppressed.

During this month, he cultivated every day, from dawn to dusk and from dusk to dawn. His meals were brought in by servants, and he slept by dozing off on a futon.

The concentration of the spiritual energy inside the secret chamber was several times that outside. Combined with elixirs, this was the limit he could achieve.

But just as he was about to condense the third one, the concentration of the heaven and earth energy in the secret room suddenly dropped.

The rental period for this secret room.

Time is up.

The budding trend was abruptly cut short.

Wang Zhaoyao clenched his fists tightly, squeezing out a few words.

"Why...why are there only four...why is it still so slow?"

He kicked away the bottles of pills scattered on the ground in front of him. The porcelain bottles hit the stone wall and broke into pieces, and the pills rolled all over the ground.

He didn't look and walked straight out of the secret room.

Outside, a student dressed as a servant stood at the foot of the steps, head bowed, waiting quietly. Wang Zhaoyao descended the steps, not even glancing at him, and walked straight ahead.

The student quickly followed, leaning close to his side, and said, "Young Master..."

"Why aren't you enough merit points?"

Wang Zhaoyao did not turn around, and kept his voice very low.

Why didn't you renew it?

The student, with a wronged expression, explained with a wry smile, "Young Master, please calm down. It's not that I didn't want to renew the lease, but those lackeys of the Xue family have been watching me outside Wanbaotang for days. Your lease just expired, and before I could even hand over my renewal token, the steward took the spot back. Now, the only two Class A secret rooms in the courtyard have been snatched up by the Xue and Xiao families working together. Moreover, they are wealthy and powerful, renting them for a whole month at a time, filling up the entire schedule."

Wang Zhaoyao's steps suddenly stopped.

He slowly turned his head.

The expression on his face suddenly disappeared.

All anger and resentment were withdrawn, leaving only calm.

But he started rubbing his right index finger and thumb together.

He rubbed it vigorously. He nodded and remained silent for a long while.

"Those lackeys of the Xue and Xiao families, they can ignore their own needs and stand in line outside Wanbaotang for the sake of their masters' future."

His voice was very soft, each word sounding as if it were squeezed out from between his teeth.

"You bunch of good-for-nothings who eat my Wang family's food, why can't you do it?"

He turned around and calmly stared at the student.

"There are still three months until the outer court competition. They've taken over the secret chamber. With only a month left, without the secret chamber's assistance, how am I supposed to hone my internal energy?"

He looked at the man.

"Get me all the merits ready. You all gather the Lu family members and stay outside Wanbaotang, never leaving its side. Once the time is up, snatch it back immediately."

He stared into the man's eyes.

"Did you understand what I said?"

The student, with a pained expression, cautiously said, "Young Master, the Lu family members are unwilling to get involved in these matters anymore. It seems that their Third Master has given a death order to keep themselves out of trouble."

"To mind one's own business?" Wang Zhaoyao's voice suddenly rose a little.

He paused for a moment, then suppressed it.

"A prestigious family like yours, getting tricked by a mere peasant, and you're already scared?"

He looked at the student, his voice lowering.

"Go tell them that as long as I have these few months in the secret chamber, I am extremely confident that I can break through to the Yuan Gang realm within a month. At that time, Chen Ping will be nothing to fear."

Looking at his young master's face, which was distorted by jealousy and anxiety, the student mustered his courage and forced a word of advice.

"Young Master, perhaps... the Lu family is right. You come from a noble family, and there's really no need for you to compete with Chen Ping for this momentary show of strength. In any case, you'll definitely have a place in this year's competition, won't you?"

Wang Zhaoyao suddenly turned around.

A gentle smile played on his lips.

"You... also think that I, Wang Zhaoyao, am inferior to Chen Ping?"

The student lowered his head, not daring to reply.

Wang Zhaoyao smiled, his voice calm. "Yes, Chen Ping's breakthrough speed is indeed somewhat uncanny, but the path of martial arts is not just about who can run the fastest."

"In such a short time, how refined and purified can he be? What Yuan Gang techniques can he use? Even if he goes into the fourth-floor armory to choose, with so many techniques available, without guidance from elders in the family, how can a peasant like him possibly figure out which one is the most suitable?"

He looked at the student and spoke, word by word.

"As for me, once I reach the Yuan Gang realm, I'll be an inner court instructor, with access to the most suitable Yuan Gang techniques and all sorts of rare and powerful items. Why do you think I'm inferior to him?"

His voice calmed down.

"All you need to do is carry out what I just said."

The student lowered his head, trembling with fear.

He knew his young master's temperament; the calmer his tone, the angrier he was inside.

I couldn't persuade them otherwise.

He could only nod and turn to do it.

Wang Zhaoyao stood alone, watching the student's figure disappear at the end of the corridor.

He didn't return to the secret chamber, but turned and walked deeper into the inner courtyard. Although there were many places he couldn't enter, he could still see them.

As he walked, he arrived at the inner courtyard's martial arts training ground.

Hundreds of small courtyards lined up in front of me, most of them with their doors open and empty.

Several rooms had their doors closed, and a surge of qi rose above the courtyard walls.

Wang Zhaoyao slowed his pace as he looked at the open courtyard gates.

A burning desire flashed in his eyes.

Once you enter the inner courtyard, you can come and go as you please.

Entering this place means that he is now a member of the inner courtyard.

He walked past one small courtyard after another, his gaze sweeping over the empty gates of each one.

When they arrived at the Xuan-character martial arts arena, the gate to Xuan-character number sixteen suddenly opened.

A middle-aged man with a small mustache walked out, wiping his sweat; the front of his inner courtyard steward's robe was soaked.

He glanced up and saw Wang Zhaoyao, grinning, "Zhaoyao, what are you doing here?" When Wang Zhaoyao saw the person's face, he immediately dropped his aloofness.

He quickly stepped forward and respectfully performed a junior's greeting.

"Second Uncle, I just finished my training for this month. The lease for the secret chamber is up, so I came out for a walk to get some fresh air."

This middle-aged man was a powerful steward of the Wang family in the Cangwu Inner Court, and also Wang Zhaoyao's second uncle.

Uncle Wang walked over, patted his shoulder, glanced at him casually, and said casually, "Your Qi and blood are abundant, and you have already condensed twenty-eight Qi cores. The progress is not bad. It seems that you have really put in a lot of hard work these past month locked in the secret room."

He withdrew his hand, draped the towel around his neck, and continued wiping the sweat from the side of his face.

"However, I think this speed is far from squeezing out your true potential. You are a prodigy on whom the family places high hopes, and you are born with the bloodline and supernatural powers of your great-uncle."

He looked at Wang Zhaoyao, his tone carrying a hint of admonishment from an elder.

"This speed is still far from impressive."

Wang Zhaoyao clenched his fists, his voice lowering slightly: "Second Uncle, I didn't let my guard down for a moment while I was in the secret room..."

His second uncle, however, acted as if he hadn't heard his explanation at all.

He reached out and put his arm around Wang Zhaoyao's shoulder, pulling him a few steps forward along the passageway. The two stopped in front of a small courtyard with its gate tightly closed.

Courtyard No. 6, Xuanzi.

Uncle Wang raised the finger he was wiping his sweat from and pointed to an inconspicuous little wooden sign hanging on the side of the door frame.

"Zhaoyao, look up and see whose name is engraved on this."

Wang Zhaoyao looked up in the direction his second uncle was pointing.

The moment my gaze fell on that wooden sign.

The two bold, vigorous characters, like two daggers, pierced his pupils.

Chen Ping.

He was silent.

His Adam's apple bobbed laboriously, and his voice was dry and hoarse.

"...When did he, a student from the outer academy, qualify for the inner academy's martial arts arena?"

His second uncle glanced at him, wiping his sweat, his voice casual. "A month ago, on the day the Cui family was clearing out the demonic sects in the city, the treasure used to locate the puppets and the demonic sect members was provided by him. He made a contribution, and Qin Ya applied to the vice dean for this small courtyard, which was approved very quickly."

After saying this, Uncle Wang patted Wang Zhaoyao on the shoulder.

Then she leaned close to his ear and lowered her voice.

"You are the unicorn of the Wang family, a natural-born genius. The old folks in the family are all counting on you to break through to a higher level and lead the Wang family to even greater heights."

He paused for a moment, then let out a low chuckle with a hint of snobbery.

"But your second uncle doesn't have such high hopes, I only have one small wish."

He reached out and gave Wang Zhaoyao a tight hug on the shoulder.

"It means that you will enter the inner courtyard in glory and be able to take your second uncle with you, to eat and drink well, and also let me have a respectable independent courtyard in Cangwu."

He released his grip and took a half step back.

His gaze swept back and forth across Wang Zhaoyao's pale face twice, a seemingly gentle smile playing on his lips.

"Just this one small wish, Zhaoyao, as the chosen one, you wouldn't refuse your second uncle, would you?"

After saying that, he tossed the towel over his shoulder and continued wiping the sweat from his face. Humming a tuneless folk tune, he leisurely walked away along the main cobblestone path.

Outside the gate of No. 6 Xuanzi Courtyard.

Wang Zhaoyao was left all alone.

He stood there, straight and tall, in front of the gate.

Those bloodshot eyes were fixed on the wooden sign hanging on the door frame.

Chen Ping.

The ink is no longer fresh; it's been hanging there for a month.

He stood there, motionless, for an unknown period of time.