After he was done looking at the stars with Shi Xiaofei, Huang Xiaolong went looking for Zhao Shu and Zhang Fu for matters that needed to be handled before starting his closed-door cultivation.
This time, he was going to refine a primordial divine dragon and he honestly had no idea how long it would take. Thus, he cautioned Shi Xiaofei and her two maids as well as Lil' Tian not to venture out of the Asura's Gate headquarters if possible.
Hearing that Huang Xiaolong was about to go into closed-door cultivation for an indefinite time, Lil' Tian sulked, pouting his mouth. He was extremely reluctant, for he wouldn't be able to eat delicious roast meat for a very long time.
Watching Lil' Tian's reaction, Huang Xiaolong laughed, "You must also put in effort to practice, when Big brother comes out and you show improvement in your cultivation, I will roast a hundred Tyrant Boars for you!"
"One hundred!" Lil' Tian's eyes sparkled like jewels. He nodded heavily, "Don't worry, Big Brother, I will definitely practice hard!"
After saying what he needed, Huang Xiaolong disappeared into the Xumi Temple in a flicker, staring at the thirteen primordial divine dragons.
Contemplating for a moment as he looked at the thirteen primordial divine dragon bodies, Huang Xiaolong decided that the first one he would refine would be the fire dragon.
Amongst the thirteen primordial divine dragons, the fire dragon was considered the weakest, the violent energy contained in its true dragon and blood essence would be less, making it slightly easier to refine.
Once he decided, Huang Xiaolong sat crossed-legged in the center of the Ten Buddha Formation, taking out all the grade one spirit stones from Shao Dongjian and Zhu Wuji's spatial rings. He piled them up at the center and initiated the array formation.
Adding the grade one spirit stones from both spatial rings, there were close to a thousand of them, sufficient to keep the Ten Buddha Formation running for several days.
With the Ten Buddha Formation as support, it would reduce the difficulties that Huang Xiaolong would encounter while refining the fire dragon.
Almost immediately, a rich Buddhism energy burst forth from the Ten Buddha Formation. Huang Xiaolong swiftly swallowed all eight stalks of Dragon God Grass, ran the Asura Tactics, opened his mouth at the fire dragon and inhaled through his mouth. Multiple threads of red true dragon and blood essence floated out from the fire dragon toward Huang Xiaolong, drilling into his body.
The instant the fire dragon's essences entered Huang Xiaolong's body, alarming pools of energy began to roar through every part of his body like layers of angry waves.
The sudden explosion of violent energy made Huang Xiaolong tremble. This fire dragon's true essence was akin to ten thousand years of geocentric magma, incinerating everything in its path.
Hot!
Scorching hot! To the point that Huang Xiaolong felt like his soul was burning, that was the only thing he was able to sense.
Still, Huang Xiaolong's body was tempered and rebuilt by the Dragon Pearl and true dragon essence, that's why hot as the fire dragon's true essence was, it could not melt Huang Xiaolong's body.
If it was any other Fourth Order Saint realm instead of Huang Xiaolong, before one breath's time was up, that person would already turn into a pile of ash, not even a single strand of hair would remain.
Even so, looking from some distance away, Huang Xiaolong looked like a man dunked in molten fire. The surface of his body was spewing strands of fiery-red light, his hair, eyebrows, every part of him seemed to be on fire, turning into a burning ember.
Fire-red smoke spiraled out from his nostrils and ear holes.
Fortunately, the eight stalks Dragon God Grass that Huang Xiaolong swallowed earlier mellowed the violent energy contained within the fire dragon's true essence, otherwise he would experience a greater pain.
Huang Xiaolong continued to endure the excruciating pain inside his body, pushing himself to run the Asura Tactics cycle after cycle, refining the true essence energy from the fire dragon.
One day passed.
Two days passed.
Half a month passed. The layer of burning embers enveloping Huang Xiaolong not only did not reduce, it actually grew slightly stronger. By now, the surface of Huang Xiaolong's skin was like a crystal, gleaming brightly.
One month passed, yet that bedazzling ember red grew more intense, whereas Huang Xiaolong seemed to turn into a fire crystal statue.
Half a year passed.
The luminous light that engulfed Huang Xiaolong lit up the entire Xumi Temple. Huang Xiaolong's silhouette could no longer be seen.
Suddenly, one day, in this sea of radiant ember red, a fiery red shadow appeared, becoming clearer by the second. In the end, that shadow turned into a fire dragon.
Huang Xiaolong's consciousness slowly blurred into haziness, falling into a deep sleep where he dreamt that he turned into a real primordial divine fire dragon, leaping joyfully in a sea of fire.
Mottled lights appeared in his vision, gradually growing bigger and bigger. When the small dots of lights combined, filling his entire world with glorious bright light, Huang Xiaolong woke up! Opening his eyes, an enthralling vision of vivid red filled his sight, forming a flow of fire right in front of him.
Huang Xiaolong moved his hands and a fire dragon danced according to his hand movements.
Such pure fire essence energy!
The current Huang Xiaolong was able to detect the purest fire element energy that was concealed in the deepest layer of space around him. This was something he had never felt before. Then, he quickly scanned the situation inside his Qi Sea.
Inside his Qi Sea, his battle qi surged with vigor, roaring with momentum. If in the past, his Qi Sea was akin to a big river, and now it had evolved into a sea.
Fifth Order Saint realm!
Huang Xiaolong broke through from mid-Fourth Order Saint realm to Fifth Order Saint realm, on top of that, his cultivation was at peak early-Fifth Order Saint realm!
The peak of early-Fifth Order Saint realm!
Entering the mid-levels of Sain realm, every small advancement represented a whole different level of strength.
In the Xiantian realm, it required an onerous battle for a Xiantian Fourth Order warrior to win over a Xiantian Fifth Order, in fact, it could be surmised as unrealizable unless it was a genius like Huang Xiaolong possessing superb talent twin martial spirits.
When it came to Saint realm level strength distinction, the gap in strength was even more prominent.
One could hardly gauge how much Huang Xiaolong's strength had enhanced compared to before he went into closed-door practice.
"Xie Hui!" Huang Xiaolong was confident that, at his current strength, he'd be able to face against a peak late-Sixth Order Saint realm Xie Hui in battle.
Checking the changes in his body, Huang Xiaolong noticed that after refining the primordial divine fire dragon, his spiritual force soared at least six to seven times more powerful than before. Whereas his physique, his veins and meridians were much tougher, comparable to a primordial divine dragon tendon.
After gaining an understanding of the changes in his body, Huang Xiaolong exited the Xumi Temple.
Next would be sending Shi Xiaofei and her maids back to the Blessed Buddha Empire.
'I wonder how many stalks of Dragon God Grass there are inside the Blessed Buddha Empire's treasure chamber.' Huang Xiaolong mused to himself, if there were sixteen stalks, he could refine another two primordial divine dragons…
At that point, Huang Xiaolong's strength would double, even triple. If he ran into Xie Hui again, he could easily flatten that punk into mincemeat!
Although Dragon God Grass was valuable, if Huang Xiaolong made a request, Shi Fantian would surely give it this Junior Brother, Huang Xiaolong wasn't worried about this point at all.
Everyone was happy seeing Huang Xiaolong coming out of closed-door practice.
The moment Lil' Tian saw Huang Xiaolong, he dashed up and wound himself around Huang Xiaolong's leg, declaring, "Big brother, I practiced very hard in these seven months." The little guy immediately released his aura after saying that.
The result slightly shocked Huang Xiaolong. Before he went into closed-door practice, Lil' Tian's cultivation was at peak late-Third Order Saint realm, and now he was already a Fourth Order. Only now did Huang Xiaolong realize that Lil's Tian's cultivation talent was similar to the little violet monkey, similarly scary.
"Good, tonight I'll roast one hundred Tyrant Boars just for you!" Huang Xiaolong laughed. How could he not understand that the little guy was reminding him of his promise before entering closed-door practice, that one hundred roast Tyrant Boars.
As expected, Lil' Tian's face brightened immediately after hearing what Huang Xiaolong said, jumping up and down in glee.
Watching his childlike antics, Shi Xiaofei and the others laughed, influenced by the little guy's good mood.
That night passed merrily, filled with the scent of good meat, good wine, and great company.
When morning came the next day, Zhao Shu, Zhang Fu, and a group of Asura's Gate experts bid farewell to Huang Xiaolong, Shi Xiaofei, and her two maids as they made their way back to the Blessed Buddha Empire.