Chapter Seventeen: Strengthening Cultivation

  Three days later, deep in the old forest of Xishan.

  A waterfall in front of the cliff, hanging upside down on the precipice for three thousand feet.

  Lu Fan stood under the waterfall, with only a smooth stone beneath his feet.

  Upper body, Lu Fan stood on the stone, close to full force not letting himself fall. The water flow below had become scorching hot, at the bottom of the flowing water, there was a small cluster of purple flames. This small cluster of purple flames made all the passing water extremely hot.

  The waterfall's water flow ruthlessly slammed into him. Lu Fan struggled to adjust his body while mobilizing the internal airflow.

  Concentrate your mind and hold your breath.

  Slowly covering his body with a flow of air from within himself near his soles, forming a gust of wind that lifted up his body.

  This is the way of fighting for a Qi Refiner, with just one strand of Yuan Qi, it can transform into the Five Elements of Heaven and Earth, as long as you use it well, you can achieve all sorts of unimaginable things.

  But now, Lu Fan couldn't even manage the most basic Condense Wind. The air currents under his feet suddenly dispersed, and Lu Fan lost his balance, falling into the water.

  Scalding water suddenly made Lu Fan let out a cry of pain. His skin instantly turned bright red.

  Hastily, Lu Fan climbed back onto the rock. If the water below was just ordinary boiling water, it would have been fine. But that purple flame burning water had a scorching heat far surpassing ordinary boiling water.

  It seemed as if what was scalded wasn't just his skin and muscles, but also the bones and internal organs inside his body.

  Lu Fan gritted his teeth and persisted, his cultivation had just begun.

  Not far away, Wu Chen was reinforcing his house, and trees were quickly turning into tables, chairs, and benches in his hands.

  Wu Chen didn't even look at Lu Fan's side, as if Lu Fan was burned to death, it had nothing to do with him.

  And this bit of cultivation is nothing but an appetizer.

  Lu Fan spent the whole day fighting against the waterfall. By nightfall, he didn't have much time to rest either. Because he still had to take advantage of the nighttime to refine batch after batch of Qingyuan San for treating scalds.

  The method of making Qingyuan San was taught to him by Wu Chen on his first day.

  At that time, Lu Fan thought it was just ordinary alchemy cultivation, who would have thought that refining this was specifically for healing his own injuries.

  A day of high-intensity training would leave his body somewhat damaged, especially since he had just started, Lu Fan was almost entirely red from head to toe.

  Enduring the pain to refine the medicine, if it's not done well, tomorrow will be even more painful. Lu Fan rushed to refine the medicine. This damn Qingyuan San doesn't have a fixed formula, it requires an understanding of various medicines and the extraction of medicinal materials. In fact, each medicinal material has multiple properties. After all, everything in nature comes with its own five elements.

  Lu Fan just needs to disperse the five elements of medicinal materials, find the part he wants, and combine them for refinement.

  As long as the understanding is thorough and the medicinal materials are refined well, these ordinary medicinal materials can also be refined into a good Qingyuan San. However, for a beginner like him, it's indeed a difficult task. These miscellaneous medicinal materials were bought randomly by Wu Chen. It's not easy to identify them all, let alone understand the specific properties of each medicinal material and how to refine them.

  Everything is self-exploration, Wu Chen occasionally comes to take a look and gives some opinions.

  On the first night, Lu Fan was busy for more than half of the night before he finally managed to produce a small amount of Qingyuan San with very poor color.

  After eating, it only slightly relieved his pain. The next morning, Lu Fan had to continue fighting the waterfall again.

  Wu Chen then spent every day on that one medicinal herb, also didn't know what he was refining, and after several days in a row, Wu Chen looked very tired.

  Five days later, Lu Fan was covered in wounds, and his skin was almost completely damaged. This was the result of his cultivation of the Blazing Golden Body. At least the Blazing Golden Body could help him withstand some heat. If it were another warrior, they would probably be seriously injured by now.

  At night, after getting down from the stone, Lu Fan almost stumbled back to his room. His hands were almost too weak to lift, but he still persisted in making Qingyuan San.

  These past few days, Lu Fan experimented with various medicinal materials to refine and make Qingyuan San. Now he finally grasped a bit of the trick.

  Grind, refine, merge, shape.

  Although the action was slow, Lu Fan still managed to make a small bottle of Qingyuan San within an hour. During this time, several times, Lu Fan almost fainted. But he still made it.

  A bottle of Qingyuan San entered his belly, and Lu Fan was able to see his body begin to rapidly recover, the pain easing. A cool sensation spread throughout his entire body.

  Let out a sigh of relief, tonight's Qingyuan San seems to be the best, with obvious effects, and will continue like this next time.

  Feeling that his body had more or less recovered, Lu Fan took out a dan medicine from his ring.

  Xu Huo Dan, he had endured for many days without thinking about it.

  This period of intense cultivation had already consumed the remaining medicinal power in his body. His body was severely depleted, and it just so happened to be the best time to take the Void Fire Pill.

  Lu Fan took a deep breath and swallowed the Void Fire Dan in one gulp.

  The next moment, Lu Fan saw his whole body emitting smoke like a fire burning.

  The powerful medicinal force surged through his meridians and bones like a flood, Lu Fan adjusted his breathing rhythm, guiding the medicinal force to penetrate his limbs and hundreds of joints.

  Gradually, Lu Fan sank into such a state, the wounds on his body scabbed over and healed one by one, finally revealing healthy and rosy skin like shedding skin.

  At some point, Wu Chen also stood at Lu Fan's door, seeing Lu Fan's state, Wu Chen nodded in satisfaction. He slowly helped Lu Fan close the room door.

  A night's time passed while Lu Fan was absorbing the medicinal power.

  On the second day, the morning sunlight shone through the window onto Lu Fan's face.

  Slowly opening his eyes, Lu Fan made a slight movement and heard a rustling sound.

  Looking closely, he was like a snake shedding its skin. Getting rid of these disgusting things, Lu Fan moved his body and suddenly felt full of energy all over his body.

  A slight punch was thrown, and a wave of heat swept over. Lu Fan punched the door panel with one fist.

  The wooden door panel was punched through with a fist, and suddenly the entire wooden board emitted scorching smoke, and the scattered wood chips were pitch black.

  Lu Fan smiled as he looked at his fist, this situation was undoubtedly a manifestation of the small success of the fierce fire golden body practice.

  He ran out quickly and Lu Fan came to the bottom of the waterfall again, his feet generating wind. Lu Fan felt that his energy had also increased a lot. He was as light as a swallow, standing on the stone, and he absolutely wouldn't slip.

  The water struck his body, but this time, Lu Fan remained still as a mountain.

  He burst out laughing loudly, and Lu Fan's entire body radiated a red glow. His Golden Body of Flame appeared, and the water around him began to boil.

  Laughter echoes up to the sky, startling countless mountain birds.

  In the following days, Lu Fan's life became much easier. Although he was still occasionally washed away by the water flow, the scalding hot water could no longer harm him, and although there was still pain, it was nothing serious.

  Unfortunately, such days did not last long. Wu Chen saw that this practice was no longer a challenge for Lu Fan, so he immediately changed his practice method again.

  At the top of the waterfall, Wu Chen put a strand of purple fire into it. Suddenly, all the water that was left on the cliff turned into boiling water. Moreover, Wu Chen also took out the things he had prepared for these days, an irregular stone was hung around Lu Fan's neck.

  At this moment, Lu Fan felt that his body was as heavy as a thousand pounds, and even lifting his arm became extremely difficult.

  Wu Chen smiled and explained, "This is called a Sealing Stone, it's a special thing passed down from the Upper Valley. Ordinary Qi cultivators won't make it, the process is extremely complicated, and the only effect is to suppress the wearer. In ancient times, Qi cultivators used Sealing Stones to imprison criminals. Of course, those Sealing Stones were even more terrifying, they could render a fully cultivated warrior immobile, dying in agony. The one you brought is just a miniature version."

  Lu Fan's eyes twitched at the corners as he listened, such a strong suppressive force was only considered a miniature version. Lu Fan stood still, taking half a day to move just one small step.

  "Wu Chen looked at him and said, 'Your next task is to wear this thing and climb to the top of the waterfall. No matter what method you use, once you reach the top, this stage of your training will be over.'"

  Lu Fan's mouth opened wide, and indeed this cultivation was going to be fatal.

  Wu Chen patted Lu Fan's shoulder and said, "Of course, I will leave you a book on alchemy that contains the method to remove the seal of the Sealing Stone. If you can find it and succeed, then you have passed this stage. As I said, any method is fine as long as you can climb to the top of the waterfall."

  Lu Fan looked at Wu Chen, unable to even nod his head.

  Wu Chen said no more and left with his hands behind his back. Lu Fan stood in the same place for a whole day.

  Five days later, Lu Fan could barely walk, and his walking speed was so slow that he couldn't even look straight ahead, not to mention being inferior to a child who had just learned to walk.

  Ten days later, Lu Fan was finally able to eat on his own. As he ate, his eyes gleamed with a fierce red light as he stared intently at the thick medical book.

  Fifteen days later, Lu Fan fell into the water under the waterfall and almost drowned.

  Twenty days later, Lu Fan climbed up against the terrible hot water waterfall, but only climbed three zhang before falling down again.

  Twenty-five days later, Lu Fan was finally able to convert the Qi in his body into wind power with ease, not only attaching it to his soles but also covering his entire body. Only then could he make his body not feel so heavy. At the same time, all the muscles on his body became incredibly dense, and with just a finger, Lu Fan was able to pull out rocks from deep holes.

  A month later, Lu Fan sat at the bottom of the waterfall, his entire body emitting a faint red glow. The water flowing down from above would split apart on its own an inch above his head, a manifestation of the Qi spreading throughout his body.

  Breathing steadily, Lu Fan's every exhalation was accompanied by a wave of heat.

  Slowly, Lu Fan's body began to undergo subtle changes, his veins throbbing as if rejoicing, his muscles contracting and rapidly strengthening.

  Suddenly, Lu Fan opened his eyes, and they were shining brightly.

  With a turn of his hand, Lu Fan punched downwards at the flowing water, and his entire body's aura transformed into flames. In an instant, a patch of flowing water was evaporated clean.

  Wu Chen stood on the shore, watching with a faint smile: "Lu Fan, you have entered the eighth level of Body Refining."

  Lu Fan swung his fist and said, "This time let me see how high I can climb."

  As soon as he finished speaking, Lu Fan welcomed the waterfall and jumped up, steadily and firmly climbing upwards.

  Just like his martial arts!