Chapter Twenty-Three: Advancement in the Pure Yang Technique

Three months remained until Yi Tian would come of age at eighteen and become a warrior of the tribe. However, it would be nearly impossible to break through to the sixth rank within these three months—by Yi Tian’s estimation, he would need at least half a year to achieve that.

On this particular night, as usual, Yi Tian’s consciousness descended into his Star Essence avatar, and the Fiery Sun Technique operated naturally within him. He continued to refine and optimize the Fiery Sun Technique. Before this, his last significant optimization had been half a year ago; throughout the past months, he found no way to improve it further. It seemed the technique had reached perfection—the speed at which it absorbed and refined the world’s elemental energy surpassed even the best human-grade cultivation methods, reaching a terrifying level.

Especially when he cultivated under the midday sun—sunlight around him would distort, eddies formed by gentle winds would spin like miniature black holes, devouring the surrounding solar fire and vital energy.

That evening, as was his habit, Yi Tian sought to optimize the Fiery Sun Technique. He knew it intimately; with his entire spirit detached, there was no conscious effort to control the technique, yet it ran by itself, absorbing the world’s energy.

Suddenly, the ever-turning Fiery Sun Technique shuddered.

Boom!

Yi Tian’s spirit felt as if struck by lightning; a tremendous, pure, and masculine force erupted within him.

What was happening?

Snapped back to himself, Yi Tian realized the Fiery Sun Technique had changed. The path of true energy still followed the old trajectory, but to his eyes, it was now shrouded in profound mysteries.

In that instant, his Fiery Sun true energy began to transform. With each cycle, it became denser and radiated an even more potent, pure yang aura.

After forty-nine cycles, the Fiery Sun true energy in his dantian vanished, replaced by a different, overwhelmingly masculine energy occupying only a tenth of its former volume.

The technique had advanced!

This realization startled Yi Tian. The Fiery Sun Technique had already reached the highest level of human-grade techniques, yet now it had clearly advanced. Could it be that it had stepped into the earth-grade?

In the entire Heavenly Phoenix Dynasty, only a handful of factions possessed earth-grade techniques. The chance of breaking through the human grade with such a method was over seventy percent.

As for top human-grade techniques, the chance was less than ten percent—yet even so, these secret methods were coveted by all major powers.

Every earth-grade technique was a priceless treasure, the enduring foundation of any great force, never allowed to leak out. The emergence of any such method would spark fierce struggles among the powers.

Having converted all his Fiery Sun true energy to this new fire-attribute energy, Yi Tian finally had time to investigate the differences between the advanced technique and the Fiery Sun Technique. After some study, he found this new method was even more profound, naturally formed, as if it contained a principle of the universe itself.

With his complete control over the avatar, he unraveled all its mysteries: as the energy coursed through his meridians, one acupoint after another was awakened, brimming with vitality.

These acupoints interconnected, forming an intricate rune, resembling a blazing sun, filling him with warmth.

Try as he might, Yi Tian could never make out the rune completely—a haze always obscured it.

“Since this energy is purely masculine, I’ll call this method Pure Yang Technique,” Yi Tian decided after a moment’s thought.

He activated the Pure Yang Technique. The elemental energy around him surged in at an accelerated pace, absorbed and refined rapidly.

The Pure Yang Technique drew in elemental energy more than three times faster than the perfected Fiery Sun Technique; however, because the Pure Yang true energy was so dense, the total amount accumulated actually increased more slowly.

Yi Tian’s consciousness returned to his main body, the avatar shrinking to a metal ring he wore on his hand.

Then he began cultivating the Pure Yang Technique in his own body.

The transformation in his avatar repeated itself in his physical form. Fiery Sun true energy steadily converted to Pure Yang true energy, shrinking by at least tenfold, leaving his dantian feeling vast and empty, as if his cultivation had fallen to the fourth rank.

Yet his strength had soared.

The next day, Yi Tian returned to the mountain valley on the outskirts of the Dragon Veil Range, training in the Pure Yang Technique with all his might. Suddenly, light dimmed around him, and the temperature dropped sharply.

Solar fire and elemental energy from most of the valley converged into his body. By day’s end, his dantian’s true energy had only recovered to thirty percent.

In the days that followed, Yi Tian focused solely on replenishing his energy.

After a week, his true energy was restored to its previous quantity, yet he had not reached the peak of the fifth rank. His dantian, having undergone four transformations, now spanned dozens of miles internally.

At the fifth rank’s pinnacle, his dantian had once brimmed with Fiery Sun true energy, unable to hold more. Only by slowly tempering the space with true energy could it transform again and expand.

Now, his Pure Yang true energy was incomparably dense and powerful. When it reached the previous limit, it withstood the crushing pressure from all sides of the dantian and continued to grow, unaffected.

Thus Yi Tian spent a month and a half reaching the peak of the fifth rank, his Pure Yang true energy unable to increase further.

At this point, it filled a tenth of the entire dantian, ten times the previous capacity, forming a Pure Yang fireball under immense pressure—a miniature sun illuminating his dantian with dazzling brilliance.

Though still only at the fifth rank’s peak, with just four dantian transformations, the concentration and volume of his true energy far surpassed the sixth rank.

In particular, the strength of his Pure Yang true energy could only be matched by ninth-rank martial artists.

The advancement of his cultivation method and resulting surge in power gave Yi Tian greater confidence in facing the dangers of this unknown world. Most importantly, he now possessed enough strength to face his tribe and was no longer at their mercy.

“Brother, you haven’t taught me today!” Little Ting ran up to Yi Tian as he returned from the valley, taking his hand and pouting.

“All right, today I’ll teach you about the grades and kinds of spirit herbs.”

Yi Tian soon began explaining to Little Ting about the rare and precious spirit herbs that grew in the wild mountains and forests, describing their properties and uses.

Ever since Little Ting had expressed a desire to cultivate, Yi Tian had taken it upon himself to teach her the basics. Once she turned fourteen, with her meridians fully developed and her mind mature, he would begin instructing her in cultivation.

Little Ting took her lessons very seriously.

Three months passed swiftly.

On this day, the coming-of-age ceremony was held at the ancestral temple.

This ceremony was the stage upon which the tribe’s leaders evaluated the youths’ cultivation; their ranking would affect their status among the warriors. After the coming-of-age ceremony, the annual Grand Ancestral Rite would follow.

Of course, martial contests were an essential part of the day.

This made the coming-of-age ceremony a highly anticipated event for the entire tribe; most of the people would gather to watch, speculating on who would emerge as the champion that year.

Around the square by the ancestral temple, thousands gathered.

Yi Kuang, Yi Hong, Yi Cen, Yi Tian, Yi Shan, and the others—a total of twenty-three youths—stood at the center of the square, the protagonists of this ceremony.

The tribal leaders were also present, watching the youths below with satisfied expressions.