Goose Lake.

Willows surrounded the area, and dense spiritual strength occupied the surroundings.

​​

Xu Xiaoshou didn't blindly wander around here this time. He held his sword in his hand and closely examined the surroundings. He wanted to meet the old man with the straw hat and dark circles under his eyes again.

He was going to make that promise a reality if he saw that old man again.

However, unfortunately, he didn't manage to meet that old man, even after nightfall.

Goose Lake was a quiet place and was suitable for training. While he was waiting, Xu Xiaoshou reflected on his insights from using the sword technique in the afternoon.

After the appearance of Sword Technique Expertise, his talent for the way of the sword and his understanding of it had been forcibly raised by several levels. At such a high level, his potential for sword techniques also seemed to increase as the level of the passive skill increased.

He realized many things after calming down.

For example, he'd noticed many openings in his opponent's sword technique during his battle with Di Xin'er. Back then, he thought that Di Xin'er wasn't skilled in the way of the sword. However, now that he thought about it, it might've been him whose standards had far exceeded that of an average person.

Only that person with a one-track mind, uhh, Zhou Tianshen, who had also learned the Acquired-stage Blade Will, could pressure him in these realms that their wills created.

Xu Xiaoshou didn't have a mentor, so he could only mull over the technique and use his past experiences to understand Sword Will. However, the more he thought about it, the more he felt that purely battling with Sword Will seemed more reasonable and natural than fighting with a spiritual technique.

He stroked his chin and slipped into deep thought.

"Hm… It was probably an illusion. After all, I only know the first form of the White Cloud Sword Technique, so how could I determine which of the two approaches is stronger!"

He quickly abandoned the thought, even though it had overwhelming potential. He might have continued his research in that direction if a powerful swordsman had come to address his doubts.

However, he clearly didn't have that kind of opportunity.

In his dantian, the Infernal Fire Seed was like a suspended sun. It roasted his energy reserves until they were blazing red. In just a day, Xu Xiaoshou felt as though his spiritual strength had been ravaged beyond repair.

His scorching spiritual strength would sever his meridians every time he activated it.

It was like that even for him, who had an Innate-stage Physical Body. A person with an ordinary body would've died within a few seconds if he'd consumed the Infernal Fire Seed.

Correspondingly, his offensive capabilities had gotten much stronger. However, he had to injure himself to injure the enemy.

"I have to refine this item completely. Otherwise, my cultivation level will be destroyed, even if my physical body is fine with the help of Eternal Vitality," he thought to himself.

He glanced into his mind. Passive Points: 27899.

He had used 5000 Passive Points to upgrade Sword Technique Expertise during his battle with Zhou Tianshen in the afternoon, making his reserves dip to 5000 points.

However, after being roasted for three more hours, his Passive Points had once again skyrocketed to over 20000 points. Of course, the passionate crowd had also contributed some of these Passive Points.

The increase in Passive Points was naturally a good thing. However, the feeling of being burned from the inside out was excruciating. Xu Xiaoshou would rather head into the arena and get beaten up by 100 people for half a day than continue feeling like this.

Furthermore, he didn't know what kind of threat this item would have now that it was above his energy reserve.

"That detestable old man…"

He was determined. He was going to fully refine this item tonight.

Xu Xiaoshou took out two Red Gold Pills and pinched them in his hands. He thought about it, then purchased five Skill Points and threw them into the Breathing Technique.

"Breathing Technique (Acquired Lv. 6)."

Xu Xiaoshou didn't notice any change, even after the Breathing Technique leveled-up five times.

This was probably the only passive skill that didn't show any effects after it was upgraded.

However, he still instinctively shuddered when he saw the notification. In terms of how scary each of the techniques was, he was most afraid of the Breathing Technique.

Originally, he hadn't planned on upgrading the technique before reaching the Innate-stage. However, he was out of ideas. It'd be bad if the effects of the Red Gold Pills weren't enough when he refined the Infernal Fire Seed later.

Furthermore, his body had developed a resistance to the Red Gold Pills, as he'd been taking the medicine like crazy recently and no longer got that much of a high from them. This was why he dared to raise the level of the Breathing Technique by five in one go.

With these preparations made, Xu Xiaoshou tried to activate his spiritual strength for the first time to actively come into contact with the Infernal Fire Seed.

Creak…

His spiritual strength swarmed up like a tide. However, the spiritual strength got burned when it encountered the immense heat from the Infernal Fire Seed, and only a shred was left by the time it passed it by. Xu Xiaoshou seized the opportunity and used this shred of spiritual energy to draw the energy trapped within the fire seed out.

A scorching heat coursed through his body, and Xu Xiaoshou felt like he'd been struck by lightning. He shivered. He'd only drawn out a minute portion of the fire seed's energy, yet it instantly damaged his nerves and veins beyond recognition.

The Eternal Vitality showed its prowess once again, and Xu Xiaoshou was immediately restored to his previous state and didn't have to use the Red Gold Pill that he'd prepared.

Xu Xiaoshou was bleeding from every orifice and was in immense pain.

He drew out the energy from the fire seed and refined it, paying the price for it with the pain he felt from his body being destroyed only to instantly recover. He fused the seed's energy with his energy reserve and felt his spiritual strength undergo a qualitative change.

His ordinary spiritual strength seemed to have a little bit of a fire element to it now.

He had a shred of elemental power that was unique to Innate-stage fighters even though he was only at the Acquired-stage. Wouldn't he be able to beat an Innate-stage fighter as an Acquired-stage fighter if he managed to fully refine the seed?

Xu Xiaoshou slipped into deep thought.

It seemed like the detestable old man had had good intentions when he got him to swallow this item. His abilities would drastically improve if he managed to refine the Infernal Fire Seed.

Xu Xiaoshou calmed himself down. He felt that the process of refining the seed was too slow!

At this rate, it would take him more than two weeks to finally chip away at the Fire Seed.

He had been tortured by the item for the first half of the day. Now that he realized that he could refine the item, Xu Xiaoshou started to grumble about the speed of the process despite the pain.

This person really had guts.

He was actually able to remain silent, even though he was going through immeasurable pain during the refinement process, something an ordinary person wouldn't have been able to bear. He could actually clench his teeth and fight past the pain.

"How can I increase the speed…"

Xu Xiaoshou touched the blood on his face and looked at the geese playing in the water. He mulled over the question for a while.

He currently only had one way to refine the Infernal Fire Seed, which was to refine it using an ordinary training technique. The pain was ever-present, and its speed was extremely slow.

However, he used the Breathing Technique during his day-to-day training as a substitute for the ordinary training technique.

Since that was the case, could he refine the seed using the Breathing Technique?

"Breathing Technique…" Xu Xiaoshou softly muttered to himself, suddenly having a stroke of inspiration.

In the past, he'd used this fundamental passive skill as a training technique and to heal his wounds. However, the technique hadn't introduced itself as a training technique but as the most fundamental passive skill.

Perhaps there were other uses for the technique?

"Breathing Technique…

"Breathing…

"Breath…"

Xu Xiaoshou slapped himself on the head. If he took the name of the technique literally, his training and healing only required him to use the "inhalation" part of the Breathing Technique. He'd never used the "exhalation" part of the technique.

"Since I can use the power of inhalation to breathe in the properties of medicine into my energy reserves, can I use the power of exhalation to expel the energy within the Infernal Fire Seed from my body?"

Xu Xiaoshou was shocked by the idea. However, he felt that it was very possible.

He might as well try it!

He immediately adjusted his breathing. He took a deep breath and placed all of his attention on the Infernal Fire Seed. He imagined breathing normally, then held the thought of expelling the Infernal Fire Seed in his mind and let out a small breath.

Creak, creak, creak!

An immense scorching energy was pulled out from the Infernal Fire Seed and expelled through his bronchial tubes and mouth. The energy passed through his body like lava, making his muscles feel like magma.

Xu Xiaoshou immediately coughed out a mouthful of blood, and the scorching energy instantly spewed out of his nose and mouth. During the process, he felt as though his throat had melted, and he nearly died on the spot.

However, he had Eternal Vitality. He quickly picked up the Red Gold Pill in his hand and took a deep breath to stabilize his breathing.

"Oh, f***!"

Xu Xiaoshou became flustered a second after he finished taking a whiff of the pill.

He saw the Red Gold Pill between his fingers suddenly transform into vapor, and the pure scorching energy that he'd just released once again entered his body through his nose.

Under the clear moonlight, on the other side of Goose Lake, the old man wearing a straw hat, who was sitting properly on a willow tree, trembled and nearly fell from his branch.

"Does that lad want to lose his life?"

...