In the blink of an eye, a few months passed. Every day within the Divine Flame Sect, Jiang Yan followed his senior sister, Furong, meditating and practicing the fundamentals. Relying on his cultivation talent and unfathomable special constitution, Jiang Yan's progress was rapid, soon reaching the Foundation Establishment Stage Level 4. On Lingyan Peak, a fairy mountain far from the city, the air was filled with the sounds of birds and the fragrance of flowers, and the spiritual Qi was relatively abundant.
Early one morning, Senior Sister Furong came to Jiang Yan's quarters at the break of dawn. "Junior brother, accompany me into the mountains to gather some medicinal herbs today."
"Alright!" Jiang Yan replied.
The junior and senior fellow apprentices packed some simple tools and headed deep into Lingyan Peak. Before long, they arrived at a deep, cold pool. wisps of white mist were rising from the surface of the cold pool. Suddenly, with a splash, a column of water shot straight up into the sky. A dark head poked out of the water, and immediately a huge figure soared into the air. On the monster's head grew a pair of hard, dark, cockscomb-like horns, and its body was covered in scales that gleamed with a dark, golden light. With a roar, it lunged straight at Jiang Yan and Furong!
"Ah!" Furong's expression changed. "Junior brother, quickly dodge! This is a cockscomb snake. Judging by its huge body and the scales radiating spiritual light, it's at least a Tier 3 spirit beast!"
As she spoke, Furong's body underwent a dramatic transformation. Her entire person suspended in mid-air, countless vibrant furong flowers materialized around her, and her aura surged violently. A long spear shimmering with gold and silver light condensed in her hand. With a fierce cry, she shouted, "Vile creature, where do you think you're going? Taste my spear!"
At the same time, her entire body charged rapidly toward the cockscomb snake. With a deafening boom, the spear plunged deep into the beast's neck. The beast, feeling the pain, let out an angry roar that shook the entire valley violently. It violently shook its head while its massive tail whipped around at lightning speed. Crack, crack, crack! The trees and rocks within a radius of several kilometers were all snapped and shattered. This kind of power was no less than that of a small explosive shell!
With a roar, the beast opened its massive jaws to reveal razor-sharp fangs, managed to break free from the spear, and rapidly plunged back down to the bottom of the pool.
"Where do you think you're going?" Furong leaped rapidly into the deep pool as well.
After quite a while, the surface of the water churned violently, and the roar shook the heavens. The entire water surface turned completely blood red. Suddenly, a figure leaped out of the water, holding a sparkling, white-glowing bead in her hand.
Jiang Yan looked closely and exclaimed, "Ah! Senior sister, did you kill this spirit beast? You are amazing!"
"Let's go, junior brother. To your senior sister, this Tier 3 spirit beast is really nothing at all."
At that moment, Jiang Yan looked at the orb in his senior sister's hand and asked curiously, "Senior sister, what is this? I've never seen it before!"
"Oh, junior brother!" she said. "This is the inner core of that cockscomb snake from just now. It will be of great help to your Foundation Establishment Stage cultivation. Combined with the special celestial herbs of our Divine Flame Sect, it can be refined into a Foundation Establishment Pill or a Spirit Gathering Pill—miraculous elixirs. Once I successfully refine them, I'll gift one to you, junior brother!"
"Then I thank you in advance, senior sister."
"Alright, let's go check ahead and see if we can get some more celestial herbs. Actually, when I hunted that cockscomb snake spirit beast just now, I only used thirty percent of my power. This level of spirit beast is considered a low-tier spirit beast. The most powerful cultivation technique of our Divine Flame Sect is the Nine Revolutions Flame God Art. This is an ancient technique, and also one of the proudest immortal cultivation techniques of our sect's founding ancestor, the Scarlet Flame Ancestor. The most special feature of this technique is its ability to transform and absorb any spiritual Qi and true Qi in the world. No matter what you are doing, it can convert it into spiritual power and store it in your dantian. The Tai Chiquan and Tai Chi swordplay circulated in the martial arts world both originate from the Nine Revolutions Flame God Art. However, this technique has a restriction for practitioners: you can only practice it once you reach the Body Refining Stage Level 6. Once you reach the Body Refining Stage Level 6, senior sister will pass this technique on to you!"
Just then, a purple ball of light suddenly appeared ahead, radiating waves of fragrance.
"Junior brother, come quickly! This is the extremely rare celestial herb, Resurrection Grass. Legend has it that this celestial herb has immense vitality; even if you burn it with raging fire, it can still survive, so folks also call it the 'Indestructible'. This celestial herb can be used to refine the Body Refining Pill. The effect of this Body Refining Pill is to refine the toughness of one's physical body and enhance its ability to withstand blows. Wait here for me, I'm going to go pluck it."
With that, she walked toward the ball of light.
At that moment, with a soft hiss, a pitch-black creature sprang out. "Audacious! Who dares to come and pluck my celestial herb?"
Furong grinned and said, "You tiny rodent beast dare to try and stop me?"
With a wave of her hand, a white light shot forth, and that rodent was killed instantly!