"What the hell Xue Chang, like actually what the hell."
For the first time in a while, Tian Hai had finally stepped out of seclusion.
It seemed in overall talent, Tian Kai was just a tad bit below him as he needed a bit more time to do the same amount of work. And because of that he was remaining in seclusion a little bit longer.
Tian Hai had spent all afternoon listening to Xue Chang as he talked about his adventures and everything he experienced recently.
Once he finished his story, all that met him was Tian Hai's dumbfounded expression.
"It's like I disappear for one minute and common sense just exits the building with you."
"Hey I survived though! And besides, it's not like it was all bad. My soul has been stabilized a bit thanks to the experience."
Xue Chang could tell that after taking in the powder, he soul had actually become more resilient than usual.
Although his life span hadn't increased by much, the small amount it did go up by was plenty enough for him. It brought him time and hope.
Not only that but it seemed the drawback that usually came from overconsumption of the drug did not affect him this time.
Yong Heng said that this was because when he was in the earth fire, his body was purified and cleansed of all traces of the drug after burning to bits and regenerating.
And as a bonus, not only did his soul get strengthened, but he also unlocked a couple new abilities.
"Gah!"
"Xue Chang! What happened, are you okay? Maybe your injuries aren't healed after all."
"No no I'm fine, something just flew into my eye. Most importantly I think you should have a look at this." Tossing over what looked like a small ceramic vial, Xue Chang looked over at Tian Hai expectantly.
The guard said nothing as he removed the cork and looked into the opening.
A waft of hot air shot out from the bottle and blew into his face.
Giving off a surprised look, he quickly brought the bottle up and took a sniff of the contents.
"Is this...!"
"Condensed earth fire."
Tian Hai no longer looked at the bottle like it was just a ceramic vial, he now viewed it as a mountain of gold.
Although Xue Chang didn't know the exact market price for condensed earth fire, Tian Hai was different:
This tiny vial could fetch him enough money to live in luxury for years!
"Don't think about selling it just yet. After all it is an invaluable cultivation resource."
When Tian Hai heard Xue Chang's words, his senses returned to him. Looking at the vial carefully, he turned to his boss and said, "Condensed earth fire is like a heaven sent gift for cultivation yes, but there clearly isn't enough here to do anything. I think it's better if we sell this vial to obtain other resources."
"What if I told you we had an entire lake full of this stuff?"
"Mhmm...wait. What?"
________
Xue Chang and Tian Hai both stood over the fallen debris of the cavern back within the forest.
It wasn't very big or special in anyway but there was one noticeable feature about it.
The nearby ground was charred while the plants and trees around were brittle and dried.
The air was arid and difficult to breathe in, but this didn't bother the two friends too much.
And there situated a couple dozen meters into the ground, a single pit filled with strange red liquid bubbled, popped, and hissed at them.
"T-this is-"
"Condensed earth fire, every drop of it." Xue Chang was quite happy with the frightened gaze Tian Hai was giving off. He felt like a child showing off to his friends his new toy.
"We HAVE to report this to the guild. This is huge! Something like this..."
"Calm down calm down, the guild is already aware of this place. But because of a couple of coincidences, I got permission to use this place for quite a while. Stop worrying too much and get in there!"
With a swift kick, he knocked his friend down into the crater where the pit was situated.
And after patting the dust off his hands, he screamed down at Tian Hai, "Use this chance wisely, I'll go bring Tian Kai over later. Remember, you have one week! I'll start fixing the cultivation technique to suit your needs, but until then work with what you have."
The original cultivation technique Xue Chang made was based on his prior knowledge from the manuals he had at home as well as the sights he witnessed from the aeon.
Separate they didn't seem very useful, but together they formed a perfect whole. The aeon insights gave him the understanding on how to control and bring spiritual force to the user, while the cultivation techniques showed the method on how to absorb and integrate that energy.
If he combined them together, then he would get a technique that was more aggressive rather than passive.
Tian Hai and Tian Kai speed was several times faster than most people because rather than absorbing the energy within the air that was present, they forcefully sucked in any spiritual force they could before integrating it.
They didn't just wait and allow the energy to come to them, they sought after it actively. This was the basis of the technique he made.
But his technique was based on the natural spiritual force in the air, now that he had a chance to study up on another form of power, he would have to in turn redo a few places in the technique.
As Xue Chang was thinking this to himself, he returned to the villa. And to his surprise, Tian Kai had also completed his seclusion.
"Oh, hey there boss. Whatcha doing around here?"
Xue Chang had some idle chatter with him for a bit before also bringing him over to the earth fire pit. Repeating the process he did with Tian Hai, he left the two brothers there to train while he did his own work.
But as he was leaving the forest and returning home once more, he couldn't help but exclaim to himself, "Those two really are monsters."
The ability Xue Chang had unlocked was the power to now see talent. He could now see exactly just how talented and suited one would be for cultivation.
It would appear as a thin sort of aura and different forms would depend on the person's specialty.
And as expected, he himself had no aura whatsoever. Although he wasn't too disappointed by this, it still pained him to see.
Meanwhile the Tian brothers were different.
Tian Kai was frightening enough with an aura so thick it almost blocked his appearance. The aura was blazing red with what seemed to be dancing flames on the edges.
Yong Heng said that this meant he had an unnatural amount of aptitude for the fire element.
There was no doubt in their minds that while Tian Hai was ahead of Tian Kai in strength currently, when the week was over the eldest brother would undoubtedly lose his title as the strongest.
"But what about Tian Hai? You should've seen it too right?" Xue Chang questioned Yong Heng about what he saw when they were viewing Tian Hai's talent.
"I did see it but even I'm not a hundred percent sure what was going on. While this probably isn't the first time I'm seeing such a thing, my memory is a big foggy. It seems that I can't remember a lot of things. But I'm sure as you get stronger and begin to break open my seals, I'll regain whatever it was I lost."
Although he said he wasn't sure, Yong Heng felt an odd feeling erupt whenever he looked at Tian Hai's aura. It was strange.
Why did he have such a nagging feeling whenever he looked at him.
And why did Tian Hai's aura keep switching colors continuously without end.