The [Infernal Fire Seed] shrunk considerably.
And the spiritual power in his reserves noticeably increased.
Xu Xiaoshou stopped after he was done with the first round of refinement.
The process was far easier than he'd imagined it would be. All of the situations he'd been afraid of happening hadn't appeared.
He was feeling rather disgruntled instead, and wondered if the seed had become weaker.
"No…" he thought.
"Something is off."
He solemnly walked out his door, letting the night breeze blow through his clothes as he pressed a finger to his head and looked up at the sky with a rather lonesome expression on his face.
"It's not that the [Infernal Fire Seed] has gotten weak. It's just that…"
"I have become stronger!"
Whoooosshh.
The cold breeze blew, and it looked like it was about to rain. It was then that he realized what "high and mighty," yet alone, felt like.
He snapped back to reality after quite a while.
Given that the [Infernal Fire Seed] was no longer a threat to him, he went on to simply hasten his rate of internalization, changing his goal from internalizing the seed to earning Passive Points. But there was also something else.
He wanted to finish his training in "[Infernal Heavens]."
It was undoubtedly a very powerful [Spiritual Technique], and the no-brainer method of training was just what he was seeking.
A determined look came into his eyes again as he sat down cross-legged, resisting the pain as he sprayed red mist all around him again.
Absorb!
Spray again…
Absorb!
Spray…
…
Resilience came in handy at such times. It was something he'd long honed due to his illness back in his past life.
So long as it was something he saw to be a goal and there was hope, he would make sure that he succeeded one way or another, regardless of how painful the process would be.
As time passed, that seed in his body shrunk again, and the Passive Points in his mind continuously spiked.
[Passive Points: 43220]
[Passive Points: 53449]
[Passive Points: 64122]
It was nighttime, and the last bit of scorching heat was absorbed into his energy reserves. Spiritual power raged within him, and seemed to fill him completely.
"I did it."
He opened his eyes, which looked ablaze with heat.
He sensed all that raging energy inside him, and that solid feeling of having become stronger was every bit on par with dumping [Skill Points] into techniques.
The [Infernal Fire Seed] above his energy reserve was completely gone, yet his progress with cultivating [Infernal Spiritual Source] was still at just 80 to 90 percent.
"That d*mned old fart. Don't tell me he even got that figured out!"
He then took out a bottle containing another fire seed.
His face twisted for a bit, as if he were a kid that still had homework left that needed to be done.
"D*mn it!"
He sat down again and quit thinking about rest altogether. He looked up at the sky and decided to get his hands on the [Infernal Spiritual Source] before the sun rose.
He swallowed his third seed and started refining it.
The night was quiet, and the breeze gentle. It was drizzling outside.
If Elder Sang were present, he probably would've been astonished at the frightening resilience demonstrated by Xu Xiaoshou.
While he had indeed given the kid the third [Infernal Fire Seed], he never would've expected the kid to actually internalize two seeds in a single day.
It was more a matter of resilience, as only an insane masochist could've done this.
Poofff.
Red mist sprayed, and he got high yet again.
[Attacked, Passive Points +1]
[Attacked, Passive Points +1]
"…"
His body was scorched again and again, yet with pain came Passive Points.
[Passive Points: 73322]
[Passive Points: 81008]
"…"
Time passed. The misty spiritual strength in his energy reserve gradually became viscous, and the crimson colors gradually diluted into translucency as he neared the precipice.
He knew that when his misty spiritual strength finally condensed into a gel state, that would be the sign that he had acquired the [Infernal Spiritual Source].
There were only bits of the seed left in him, and he breathed out in a frenzy, ignoring his pain altogether, and melded it with his energy reserve.
Boom!
His energy reserve rumbled, and his spiritual strength became completely condensed, turning into a [Crimson Spiritual Source] that raged inside his energy reserve.
The resulting force was released, and he made his breakthrough.
He reached Spiritual Cultivation Level nine.
The [Spiritual Source] cooled, and the crimson color faded into pure white. Everything became completely silent again.
Huufff.
He breathed out, his expression one of excitement.
He did it!
The [Infernal Spiritual Source] was white, packing massive power and super high temperatures. It could be as still as a mountain yet rumble like thunder.
He then attempted to siphon the [Spiritual Source] in him. A sliver of it contained several times more heat energy than when it was conjured from mere spiritual power.
He wrapped it around the tip of his finger and prod at the ground. His attempt unexpectedly caused the stone ground underneath to melt before his finger even touched it.
"Man, this is dope!"
Xu Xiaoshou was excited. The force of his attack had very noticeably spiked.
He wondered what would happen if he added [Strengthen] and [Sharpness] to it.
Tsk, tsk.
He clicked his tongue under his breath. He wondered if he could be considered an absolute genius for having mastered [Innate Elemental Power of Fire], and acquiring the [Infernal Spiritual Source] of such fearsome force, while still at the [Acquired Stage].
"Alright. Time to get to [Infernal Heavenly Flames], then."
According to the jade scroll, the [Infernal Heavens] was the next step to go after acquiring [Infernal Heavenly Flames].
[White Spiritual Source] flowed and manifested at the center of his palm, and the temperature in his room spiked all of a sudden.
He manipulated the [Spiritual Source] with his will and did his best to compress it. He was able to sense fearsome energy being condensed at a single point on his palm.
He was sweating profusely. Not daring to let his guard down, he opened his [Sense] to the fullest and manipulated that bit of energy on his palm with utmost precision.
He knew that that bit of energy could explode violently if he wasn't careful with it, and he had no intention of dying.
He manipulated it with extreme precision, and made constant adjustments.
That bit of white on his palm became so condensed that it utterly disappeared before long.
Puk, puk.
He could very clearly hear sparks going off.
He took a look at his palm. Nothing could be seen, yet he was able to sense that there was a blob of extremely compressed raging energy there.
The [Infernal Heavenly Flames] had no color. It was completely transparent, with white sparks erupting from it once in a while. It was capable of burning everything.
That was how it was written in the jade scroll, and he wondered if any of that was just an exaggeration. He thought for a bit, then took out a piece of Spirit Crystal.
The thing was rock solid and had a high energy density. It would serve as a very useful item to experiment with.
He held the Spirit Crystal high above his right palm, which had that blob of invisible energy on it. Yet, he hadn't even released it yet before the crystal started to evaporate.
"The hell…"
He was so surprised that he let go of the crystal.
Fzzzz!
The crystal fell, and when it was still a few feet away from the palm of his hand, it was completely vaporized, and dense spiritual strength spread all over the place.
"Holy sh**!"
He was thoroughly frightened, finding the phenomenon utterly terrifying. The bit of flames in his hand was transparent and yet packed such terrifying heat. He wondered if there was anyone who could defend themselves against it.
He willed and absorbed that bit of flames on his palm back into his energy reserve along with all that spiritual energy that the Spirit Crystal had released.
Such was the way of his [Breathing Technique]. It took it all in without wasting even one bit.
Haahhh.
Xu Xiaoshou groaned comfortably as that bit of energy surged into his body and cured him of the exhaustion he'd felt from working the whole night.
He clenched his fists momentarily, finding everything to have worked smoothly. He was only one step away from completing that powerful [Spiritual Technique] of his.