Chapter 65: Practice

"You are to listen to my instruction carefully. I don't care about your background or talent, my instruction is absolute. Since you have decided to walk on the path of offensive fire arts, then I will teach you the way to do it. The basic practice that you will be practicing is the same as alchemy and doesn't require much effort from you. The important part is the art part and your efficiency in using them. You are to first practice this art and master it. I will return to tutelage you every two days and you will inform me about your doubts regarding the arts. "Flame manifestations: Beginner guide." This was an at that helped the practitioner to manifest flames out of his body utilizing his Qi. He read the book and found out that the basics were the same as the one he practiced in alchemy. The next step was the formation of flame through the utilization of his Qi. This was a difficult process to achieve. But Long Tao was no ordinary guy. He had the support of an incredible treasure and had the Omni-element body. He was sure that the results would be visible after a few days of practice. His aim was to master the second step within the next two days and show it to his instructor.

Long Tao first calmed himself down. The state of mind affected the output of any effort that the cultivator puts into his practice. Hence a calm state of mind is a big requirement for good cultivation practice. Cultivating without a calm state could result in self-harm rather than good. Hence, Long Tao's first priority was to achieve an equilibrium state of mind. After a period of time, he was finally able to do it. The only thing in his mind right now was the training aspect. He had forgotten about the world around him and delved into the arts.

Fire manifestation art, as it suggested, was to help cultivator turn their spiritual Qi into the fire first. Apparently, this was also a requirement for alchemy and hence Long Tao was to complete training it as fast as possible. The basic requirement for practicing the art was to be acquainted with the element that you are going to turn your Qi into. Now Long Tao had already managed to cultivate the Omni-element body and had peak possible affinity with all the elements. Hence the basic requirement was easily met. Now the fire manifestation art dictated that the user has to first regulate his breathing process. The next step was to imagine your Qi to smolder while trying to increase the temperature of a particular spot where the manifestation was going to occur. Then the first sense of energy would come and after that regulate the outflow of Qi from that spot. The fire will be manifested. Long Tao took an hour or two just in regulating his breath to the proper rhythm. The imagination was the difficult part and hence took a lot of time. Finally, after the end of the first day, a sense of smolder finally occurred and as he regulated his QI through it, an explosion occurred. This was the first successful manifestation, even if it was not well controlled.

Northeastern military-

Long Tao was moving through the forest now. In the last ten days, Long Tao managed to kill another 300 Qi master cultivators who were in beginner to intermediate level practitioners of both the enemy countries. An atmosphere of extreme fear and restlessness was created amid both the enemy camps as they were unable to account for the death of their soldiers. The only description provided by the spies who managed to get a short glimpse was a man wearing a demon mask and killing mercilessly. A bounty was already put on Long Tao's head. Due to the constant killing, long Tao has managed to gather lots of information and load of resources which can be exchanged for large sums of resources. He could easily nurture the Black-buck squad on his own from the number of resources he had collected until now.

Currently, Long Tao was heading towards the deeper regions of the forest towards the Chu country. From the souls he had searched until now, he managed to gather information about a power stone mine near this area. Long Tao wanted to collect QI stones from there. As Long Tao neared the region the voice of the keeper was heard in his head. "There is a huge pool of natural energy gathered in the nearby place. There should be a mine nearby and from my initial examination it's a multi-layered mine." Long Tao reached a spot where he could see a huge amount of guards stationed nearby." Boy, the mine at the surface, which these people are excavating at the moment is only a low grade one. The better one is right below it, and although its not that large, the resource is substantial. It can be used to heal the Crimson Lord artifact. I will be leaving you and going inside to absorb the power. I suggest you think of a way to make chaos in this region, otherwise, when I am nearing half-way, I suspect they will be able to sense the medium grade stone mine below and I won't get time to absorb it totally. "Long Tao nodded" How much improvement can be achieved if you manage to absorb the whole mine?". "as I said to you earlier, after a certain amount of absorption, no further substantial recovery would be seen in the artifact. The rest of the stone will be taken in for your use. As per the improvement, I hope we are able to change the aura and make it around 10 times denser. As per the time ratio, it may be able to reach 1:5 or in rare cases even 1:6. But I will say this to you. The process is going to be slow. To completely consume half of the mine, I will probably take 15 days. You have that amount of time to think of a way to create chaos and scene in this region. If we are found out by a Qi general level practitioner, snatching the mine will be difficult.". Long Tao was elated to hear this. He would be able to sacrifice the resource if he can successfully upgrade the current level of the Crimson lord artifact. The artifact left Long Tao's body and soon buried itself into the ground.

Long Tao was left thinking about how to create havoc in this area. Suddenly an idea crossed his mind. He disguised himself and approached a guard nearby. Taking him by surprise, Long Tao took him out and changed into his appearance and clothes. He then soul searched the guard, knowing all about him and the region. He then proceeded towards the inner area and neared the mine entrance." Hey brother, how is the work going on inside?". He asked a guard nearby. The guard replied in kind. This mine was something that the Chu country discovered during their exploration process and began to excavate. They brought in slaves from the nearby areas and began excavating the miner. Long Tao's plan was quite simple. He divided it into three phases. The first phase was to create havoc in the worker's conditions. The next stage was to force these workers to go into protest and act against the guards present here. The third and final phase is the attraction of the nearby beats to this region. Long Tao had already picked a target for the third stage. There was a level 4 beast pair, the thunder skylark, living nearby this area. He could use any solider, whom he can use soul control on, and attack the skylark's hideout. It will gather the beasts nearby and attack the mine. Long Tao started working on the plan immediately.

Pill hall-

Lu Ming was currently able to freely control the manifestation limits and power. After continuous trials for a whole day (4 days in the crimson lord world), he was finally a bel to grasp the meaning behind the art and was able to master the control over the manifestation power. After being able to control the output rate of Qi and regulate it properly, he was finally able to draw out the real flame energy. Finally, he laid down and eased his nerves. There was still some time before the arrival of his master and he could use the time to rest for a bit. After around 2 incense stick time, the first elder arrived and began to guide Lu Ming in his training of fire control and oven temperature maintenance. Lu Ming finished the training for the day and then proceeded towards the area where the lady was going to guide him in the offensive fire arts." You seem too relaxed for someone who should give their sweat and blood to training. I want a report on your progress in the last two days.". Lu Ming greeted her with a bow and then began regulating the flame manifestation art. Soon enough a powerful but calm flame appeared in the hands of Lu Ming. The figure was shocked upon seeing this" You managed to conjure flame after just two days of training.". " I had some difficulty while imagining and controlling my Qi Flow to the combustion outlet, but after multiple failures, I was finally able to attain the state where I was able to regulate and control the fire energy.". The lady was shocked on knowing Lu Ming's experience. What sort of talent was this? Never had she imagined that her junior brother would be able to master the flame manifestation arts within just two days. She needed to fasten up his training. His talent was just too monstrous. They needed to pace up his speed so as to make the best of his talent.

She took out another two books." Flame sword" and "flame burst". "These are the two offensive arts that you will practice from now on. The flame sword works on the same principle as the flame manifestation art, but the technique and Qi output, along with regulation levels are a bit different. As per the Flame burst, it is also a manifestation offense art, but in this case, you eject the flame outwards, away from your body. You will be practicing these two art forms now. You will divide the time between these two. I will be returned after 5 days. I want you to have learned these arts by then." Sweat appeared on Lu Ming's back. He might have shown his talent a bit too much. This resulted in a backfire, and now the master wants to have him work his hardest and make the best of his time in practicing more offensive arts.