Chapter 63: Flame control

Long Tao was starting the process now. He saw that the flames, when not provided with sufficient power were starting to blow out. Hence, as his teacher said, it was a very difficult job to keep it from blowing out. There was a requirement of continuous providing of Qi into the flame and only after the consumption does the flame manages to stay. Long Tao was providing continuous energy and soon realized that the energy expenditure rate was a little higher in this case then what he recovers. It meant that he would be lasting for a long period of time before going out. Long Tao couldn't pinpoint the exact interval of time when he would run out of Qi. He just wanted to test the limits of a single avatar and improve it by another level. Long Tao continued the process and soon enough a whole half-day passed.

"The junior doesn't seem to be bad. He managed to pass through the minimum threshold while his flames are quite constant. But the record is still a far way to go.". The first elder knew this, but he had faith in Long Tao's power. Long To was like the most mysterious and talented character he had seen until this time, with an insane body type. He had also noticed that Long To had managed to open his acupoints, and although he wasn't a body cultivator, he knew it added up to his Qi reserves. He had complete faith, that his pupil will be able to break the record easily.

North-eastern regions-

The Chu, Jio, and Mo countries were bordering each other in the north-eastern regions. As the border area was shared by three countries, it was known as the most chaotic region among all the borders that the Jiao country had. The region was prone to wars and all the countries had placed their most capable general in these regions. The place was mostly covered in forests and within these lurked dangerous beasts, that no country dared to face single-handedly. Hence it remained a region tat was shared among all three. These were also the regions where constant conflicts, fights, and even mini-wars occurred. These regions were that of abundant natural resources and the powers were eager to inculcate those for themselves.

The Black-buck squad was currently on the move in these regions. The missions long Tao picked up amounted to 50 and they included lots of things. The first type was that of resource collection. There were areas marked on the maps that the squad had to go and gather resources from. Long had spent the last 15 days in the collection and hunting and collecting all the resources. This was a task to be done as training for all the team members. He wanted all of them to have broken through the Qi Master realm by the end of two months and each current QI master to have advanced by at least another two levels. But a cultivator often encounters a bottle-neck if they just concentrate on cultivating. Hence, they require to have the practical experience and fight their way through the journey. This was what the missions were all about. Cultivation as the primary goal and the mission completion was second. They managed to complete one-third of the whole set. All they needed to do now was to concentrate on fighting and cultivating. Long Tao divided the time into 4 parts. 2 parts were always assigned to cultivation, 1 part for fighting and offensive training, and the last part was reserved for mission completion. Also, some of the missions was to be completed by Long Tao himself. Long Tao had decided to do some mission himself. These were the top of the most dangerous list. These included assassination tasks of Qi master realm practitioners and the squad didn't know how many Long Tao had chosen. He would just disappear in the night and return with blood on his clothes. But Long Tao didn't even bother to change clothes. 15 days, his clothes were drenched in blood. He was sitting at the top of a tree with the captain beside him, overlooking the squad as they fought a peak initial stage 3rd tier demonic beast. None of the practitioners were even having as much cultivation level as the beast, but Long Tao managed to instill a unique characteristic within them. It was called teamwork. They had to work together now, or they won't be able to survive the current scenario.

"Are you sure they will survive this?'. Long Tao looked at her and said" If they can't, they shouldn't. They are cultivators, not common people. The while motive of it is survival of the fittest. If they can't be strong enough, they will end up being devoured by others. They have to train themselves and continue to improve their strength.". Su Menqi didn't like Long Tao's method due to the extremity, but she couldn't deny the obvious results that they manage to display at the end. The squad continued to fight and the current leader was off course Mengdi. She was the strongest among the members except for Long Tao and Su Menqi. Her leadership qualities started to display itself out and she was becoming more and more proficient in it. The opponent was a bear demon who was massive in size. Although its body intimidated the group, its mobility was limited. Hence if the plan of execution was good enough, it could be easily taken down by the squad.

"Here is the mission for you.". Su Menqi took the slip given to her and the description of the missions surprised her." The stone boar is a rare species of demonic beast and one was sighted near this region. It is estimated to be in the initial stage of 3rd tier beats and you will go and hunt one and bring it to me. You have two days to complete it and return, after which you will be given another mission by me." Su Menqi soon disappeared from sight. Long Tao was still overlooking the fight of the squad.

Unknown to the Black-buck group, the assassination mission that they had undertaken was sabotaged by the people of Lin Bao. The targets got to know about it and started laying down traps for any incoming attacks. Even then, the enemy camps were shocked. Assassination was continuing to happen and a total of 30 practitioners of Qi master realm were already killed. This was a huge blow to them and the traps being laid out were getting more and more intricate by the second. But somehow, they weren't even able to get a glimpse of the assassin. Long Tao didn't want to involve the squad in the assassin missions because he felt that they still lacked the spirit and teamwork for it. He wanted to train them in a pretty hardcore way for the first missions and then they have multiple missions which include sabotaging the enemy supplies and attacking the bases of the enemy. Also, Long Tao was preparing them for another important job that put his resources for future cultivation strategies at stake.

Lu Ming was already a day and a half into the process. He was nearing the all-time record every second. "He is quite capable.". The figure standing beside the first elder said," but will he be able to beat the all-time record of that man." Both of them were standing in apprehension. Soon enough, the second day passed. Long Tao had managed to break the record of the control and was still going on. The first half of the second day was over and traces of exhaustion finally started to appear on the face of Long Tao. He continued and the third day passed." I suppose I am going to win the bet" The first elder said with a smile on his face. "Do you not see the exhaustion on his face, he is nearing his limits. This boy is an incredible prodigy who had never appeared in these regions, but if you want to talk about the bet, he won't be able to make it till then. The first half of the third day passed too. The figure started to get nervous now, and as she peeked to her side, she could see the perfectly calm face of the first elder staring at Long Tao. This was bad. Where did the confidence of her master come from? Also, the brat was performing miracles after miracles in continuation. Could he really last till the end of the 4th day?

Long Tao was concentrating on the process. His Qi reserves as well as mental energy was actually starting to near its end. He didn't dare estimate how much longer he could continue but he was going to give his best. The fire that Long Tao was trying to support consumed both the Qi and the mental energy of the user. This was because the control demanded both the constant supply of energy/Qi and also mental energy to maintain its form. Although the consumption of mental energy was much slower than the Qi, similarly the mental energy reserves were much smaller than the Qi reserves too.

The last hour of the fourth day arrived soon. Long Tao continued to give his best. The feta continued. The fourth day passed. Long Tao finally stopped and collapsed to the ground on his knees, after around an hour of the fourth day. Both the figure and the first elder were standing at the space in awe and shock. Truth to be told, even the first elder didn't expect this disciple to be able to last for even 3 days, but he managed to last an hour more than the 4th day. He had successfully won the bet with his disciple. He turned his head and spoke in a playful tone "I hope you won't go back on your words.". the figure gave out a nervous sigh." Junior brother is exceptionally talented, outshining mine to a large extent, but if he wants to have me, he will have to possess that much power in his grasp. Otherwise, the power behind me will crush him while he still is immature.". The first elder became silent on hearing this. The truth came back to him. This disciple of his is not a small figure. She had quite the background combined with exceptional talent. It made him remember another tragic incident of his life. He looked at Long Tao and said" This brat is the last beacon of my hope. I will give my everything in training him. I hope he won't let me down. He has promised something to me in return for my compliance with his path". "What is it?". "he said he will reach the advance level of the second-level alchemist by the end of the year and also reach the Soul general realm.". The figure stood there shocked." Although I commend the talent of Junior brother, the reality is quite cruel. Gaining the stage, he promised you to take at least 3 at least, even with his talent he will need to concentrate solely on alchemy and might be able to achieve it in two years. How could you allow him to d od this?". "I can't interfere with his choices. Also, the event I want him to participate in is after 2 years. I believe in him being able to at least raise his level to intermediate level of the 2nd tier alchemist by the end of the year. I want to ask a favor from you.". The figure didn't look at the elder" I want you to train him in the fire arts.". "Why did you make such a decision.". The first elder blanked out for some time when suddenly the figure remembered something. She realized the decision of her master and didn't pursue the matter.

Long Tao was lying on the floor. So, this was the limit of his body's reserve. He was contemplating on ways to evolve his Qi and mental energy capacity when the first elder appeared before him" Your limit is the four-days on the first trial. It's good but not uncommon.". The figure in shadows smirked on the remarks of her master. She knew that he was incredibly happy on seeing the capability of Long Tao, but wanted to be strict with him. "you will start training in the fire control for the first month. Your work is divided into three parts. First, you will practice the temperature control for your oven. Then you will learn how to manipulate the fire and wood energy together. The last thing will be improving the capacity of your QI and mental energy. As per the training in fir arts and wood arts, I want you to divide your remaining time in training them. I will introduce you to your master tomorrow."