Chapter 788: Gold and Fire

Zu'an looked wary. "You're not going to beat me up right now, are you?"

The Phoenix Nirvana Scripture allowed one to cultivate by being beaten, but now that he was at the eighth rank, significant progress required immense vital energy, not just a minor beating.

Mi Li rolled her eyes. "You're so thick-skinned now; I couldn't be bothered to hit you. I'm talking about another power. That old man Mi tried to possess you once, transferring all his cultivation into your body, but I sealed it away."

"I remember!" Zu'an immediately teared up. "Back then, you said something about preventing it from affecting my foundation, stopping me from absorbing that cultivation, and making me miss a chance to soar! Now so much time has passed, I almost forgot it even existed."

"Hmph, sacrificing your path to greatness for momentary satisfaction is something I'd never allow," Mi Li said. "However, given your current cultivation, you should be able to absorb it now."

"Really?" Zu'an's eyes lit up. "Won't I be able to swagger around the capital immediately then?" When he was only around the fifth rank, Old Man Mi's cultivation would have been enough to elevate him to a Grandmaster. Now that he was at the eighth rank, wouldn't he reach at least the peak of Grandmaster, or even a Great Grandmaster?

"You're dreaming," Mi Li said, using a phrase she had recently picked up from him and found quite catchy. "You still have to cross the threshold from peak ninth-rank to Grandmaster yourself. Otherwise, it would be like pulling up seedlings to help them grow, ruining your future path to greatness. Furthermore, once you reach Grandmaster, increasing your strength isn't just about accumulating cultivation; it's impossible to suddenly leap to the Great Grandmaster realm."

"So this time, I'll release one-third of the seal within you, which should be enough for you to reach the ninth rank. By then, you should be able to awaken a bird."

Zu'an looked disappointed. "Only one-third?"

"The ninth rank! Do you know how many people are stuck at the eighth rank their entire lives, unable to break through? And you're complaining about reaching the ninth rank in an instant," Mi Li said, displeased.

Zu'an replied, "That's for ordinary people. I compare myself to the overpowered protagonists in all sorts of novels."

"What nonsense are you spouting? Do you want it or not?" Mi Li said impatiently.

"Of course I do," Zu'an immediately corrected himself.

"Focus your mind," Mi Li said, floating over to him.

Zu'an instructed Daji to continue maintaining the fox fire for refining the pills; after all, she was an independent entity and could complete certain tasks once given a command. He then focused his mind, feeling Mi Li's fingertip touch a major acupoint on his chest. Immediately, he sensed an immense surge of vital energy appear in his body out of nowhere.

He had no time to consider where she had hidden Old Man Mi's cultivation, or why he hadn't detected it during his usual cultivation.

He quickly followed Mi Li's instructions, activating the Gluttonous Sky Devouring Art to convert the surging vital energy into his own.

"It's a good thing you learned the Gluttonous Sky Devouring Art," Mi Li's voice echoed in his ear. "Otherwise, who knows how long it would take to completely refine someone else's cultivation. It wouldn't be as easy as it is now."

Zu'an nodded, not daring to be distracted in the slightest, concentrating on refining Old Man Mi's vital energy.

He could distinctly feel one array after another appearing within his internal organs, then lighting up at a visible speed: eighth rank first stage, second stage, third stage... After breaking through to the ninth rank, the arrays no longer appeared in specific body parts as before. Instead, his entire body became a self-contained space, like the vast universe. One array after another appeared in that void, and then lit up, ninth rank first stage, second stage... When the fourth array lit up, Mi Li's voice came, "That's enough!"

With a flick of her jade finger, the immense vital energy vanished without a trace.

"Just a little more," Zu'an said, still wanting more; the feeling he'd just experienced was simply too wonderful.

Mi Li shook her head. "Too much is as bad as too little. While absorbing others' cultivation for your own use provides rapid improvement, it can easily destabilize your foundation. You just absorbed the Mosquito Daoist's cultivation not long ago, so it's not advisable to absorb too much now. This should be the limit that won't harm your foundation."

Although Zu'an was reluctant, he trusted her judgment.

"What's your current cultivation?" Mi Li asked.

Zu'an replied, "I'm already at the ninth rank, fourth stage."

Mi Li nodded. "Not bad. At the eighth rank, you can communicate with the power of heaven and earth. At the ninth rank, you can begin to temper your divine soul. At this stage, you can briefly fly and manipulate objects remotely. Han Fengqiu's sword control technique, which he used against you previously, is a ninth-rank ability. Of course, the weapons different cultivators wield may not be the same—some use swords, some use blades, others something else. You'll need to explore and find the combat style that suits you best."

"Sword control!" Zu'an's eyes lit up. Remembering how cool the sword-wielders in TV shows from his previous life looked, he instinctively reached out towards Daji, and a golden hairpin from her forehead appeared in his hand.

Daji glanced at him but showed no reaction.

Mi Li was speechless. "Your first instinct with this ability is to tease women? You really are a lecherous and shameless fellow."

Zu'an gave an awkward smile. "I was just trying it out casually. By the way, why did the power feel a bit difficult to control just now?"

"That's something you need to gradually explore and get used to," Mi Li explained. "As your cultivation level increases, the distance you can manipulate objects remotely will grow, and the force will become greater. However, the precision and accuracy of control require your own exploration; they cannot be gained merely by accumulating cultivation."

Zu'an couldn't help but say, "So, it's possible for someone at the ninth rank, first stage, to have better control accuracy than those at the peak of the ninth rank?"

Mi Li nodded. "Theoretically, it's possible. However, everyone who can cultivate to the ninth rank is exceptionally talented. How could they be easily outmatched in this regard? After all, these control details require not only individual aptitude but also long-term accumulation of combat experience at this level."

Mi Li's expression then became serious. She stated solemnly, "Your cultivation has risen too quickly. In this aspect, you are actually far inferior to cultivators of the same rank. Let alone the ninth-rank ability of remote object manipulation, even your proficiency in utilizing the power of heaven and earth at the eighth rank likely falls short of those well-established eighth-rank cultivators, such as your father-in-law, or that 'Layman Plus-Money' who tried to assassinate you on your way to the capital. Although that person's cultivation realm was ordinary, his application of techniques and mastery of his realm were commendable even to me."

Zu'an knew she was telling the truth. Although his practical combat ability wasn't bad, it relied mostly on his various miraculous cheat-like abilities. If it were truly a test of understanding and applying cultivation at his current realm, he was still far behind those who had spent decades at that level.

Mi Li was satisfied that he was no longer as frivolous as usual, knowing that he had indeed taken her words to heart. "These things cannot be rushed; they ultimately require time. First, let's see if you've awakened those divine birds."

Zu'an was startled and immediately performed an internal inspection. He found that the arrays on the seventh layer had completely lit up, forming a new pattern: a chicken's head, a fish's tail, a snake's neck, and a tortoise's back, all in a radiant golden color. It closely resembled the phoenixes he had seen in various films and TV shows. He quickly looked to the bottom right, where golden lines emerged, weaving two ancient small seal script characters: Golden Phoenix!

"It's not a Fire Phoenix?" Zu'an was a little disappointed. After all, he still needed a Fire Phoenix for alchemy this time.

Hearing his words, Mi Li also sighed. "There's no definitive consensus on which nine offspring the Phoenix gives birth to; there are many theories. Among them, the Golden Phoenix is ranked fourth. It seems you'll have to wait until the next time you awaken a divine bird for it to be a Fire Phoenix. This batch of medicinal ingredients will just have to go to waste. We'll continue to collect more later."

Zu'an was also a bit disheartened. He knew these medicinal ingredients were not easy to acquire, especially the Purple Cloud Spirit Flower, which even the Imperial Medical Institute in the palace didn't possess. Who knew when he would find it again?

Just as he was feeling disappointed, something suddenly clicked in his mind. "Wait!"

He realized that the array lines on his internal organs were now flickering, beginning to outline a new strange bird figure. It dawned on him that the Golden Phoenix should have appeared when he broke from the seventh to the eighth rank. The reason there hadn't been any activity before was likely that the eighth rank needed to be cultivated to a certain level. Now that he had reached the ninth rank, fourth stage, he had probably met the conditions for the strange bird that appears when breaking from the eighth to the ninth rank. Zu'an couldn't even clearly see the exact shape of this new strange bird, only a mass of flames, vaguely discerning feathers spiraling around the fiery core. A few wisps of flame nearby outlined its name: "Fire Phoenix!"