Chapter 167: Xiao Yuan's Ambition
"Holy crap! That Luo Hou—he's a Dou Ling who uses ice-type Dou Qi—got beaten by Xiao Yuan, a Da Dou Shi?!"
Staring at the members of the White Devil Team lying on the ground, bodies covered in black frost and completely incapacitated, several senior students couldn't help but exclaim in disbelief.
"That flame Xiao Yuan used definitely wasn't ordinary. To suppress Luo Hou's team like that, it's probably some kind of strange fire."
"But what's even weirder is that Xiao Yuan uses ice-type Dou Qi. How is he able to use fire so effectively without affecting his own Dou Qi? That's bizarre!"
Some sharp-eyed seniors had picked up on this anomaly, but they still couldn't make sense of it.
Under normal circumstances, elements like ice or water are naturally repelled by fire. It's extremely difficult for someone with such attributes to harness a flame's full power. In fact, the flame often interferes with their own Dou Qi. Unless the user was overwhelmingly strong, even refining a Heavenly Flame wouldn't increase their battle strength by much.
But Xiao Yuan had clearly merged his flame and Dou Qi with incredible synergy, leaving many students deeply puzzled.
Woosh—
Atop the dragon's icy head, Xiao Yuan stood tall. With a slight flick of his fingers, five streams of light shot out from the White Devil Team and landed in his hand.
"Whoa~"
Seeing Luo Hou's Fire Crystal Card show a total of 105 points, Xiao Yuan raised an eyebrow. This was the richest one yet!
He had taken down eight teams and only accumulated 200 points total.
But Luo Hou alone had over a hundred. Unexpected, but very welcome.
The other four members' cards combined added another 200 points—this haul was massive.
"Brother."
Xiao Yan flashed over and handed Xiao Yuan a Tier 4 healing pill.
"Mm."
Xiao Yuan nodded, deactivated Heavenly Flame Triple Mystic Transformation, and swallowed the pill. A refreshing wave of medicine surged through him, instantly healing the internal strain from using the transformation.
"You okay?" Xiao Yu asked with concern.
"I'm fine. The ones in trouble are them."
With a smirk, Xiao Yuan drained the five Fire Crystal Cards down to seven points each—the lowest allowed—then tossed them casually back at their unconscious owners.
Looking up at the sky, he called out, "Elders, may we announce the results now?"
Everyone finally looked skyward—and saw two figures suspended in the air on Dou Qi wings.
"Young ones truly are remarkable! Little fellow, this year's Fire Energy Hunt… the freshmen win."
Elder Su's aged voice echoed down, leaving all the Inner Academy seniors silent.
But none dared complain. After witnessing Xiao Yuan single-handedly defeat five stronger opponents, even the most arrogant of them had to accept it. As self-proclaimed geniuses, they knew their own limits—and they couldn't do what he just did.
"Damn, that was badass!"
Hu Jia slapped Xiao Yuan's shoulder with a grin. After fighting side-by-side, her earlier grudge from the selection tournament had completely vanished. Even though Xiao Yuan had gone hard on her back then, the fact that she only ended up with minor injuries was proof that he'd held back.
"You two are strong… but I'll catch up."
Wu Hao gave Xiao Yuan a stiff but earnest smile—rare for someone so obsessed with cultivation and usually devoid of emotion.
Xiao Yuan chuckled, "Hehe, it's thanks to everyone's efforts that we made it this far. I just did what I could."
Hu Jia and Wu Hao nodded silently. Not arrogant, not conceited—Xiao Yuan's composure and maturity were winning them over more and more.
"Alright, time to split the Fire Energy!"
Xiao Yuan cheerfully handed over his crystal card.
"You took down the White Devils on your own. We don't need a share."
Hu Jia shook her head.
"Yeah, that's your Fire Energy," Wu Hao agreed.
Xiao Yan and the others said nothing. They knew exactly how Xiao Yuan operated.
"I said we split it, so we split it. No need to be polite. If I run low on Fire Energy, I'll just find another poor sucker and beat it out of them."
Xiao Yuan waved them off.
Xiao Yan and the others just shrugged—they expected that answer. They obediently transferred the Fire Energy from both the White and Black Devil teams back into Xiao Yuan's card, then split it evenly.
Hu Jia and Wu Hao followed suit, slightly dazed but impressed.
After a clean split and redistribution, they returned Xiao Yuan's crystal card.
285 Fire Energy points.
Xiao Yuan nodded in satisfaction.
With this much energy, once he entered the Inner Academy and went into seclusion for a while, his strength would skyrocket.
Thanks to the battles over the past few days, his Dou Qi was already close to another breakthrough. It wouldn't be long before he reached Nine-Star Da Dou Shi and began preparing to ascend to the Dou Ling rank.
Elder Su looked at them once more, eyes full of admiration. "As victors of this year's Fire Energy Hunt, Xiao Yuan, Xiao Yan, Xiao Xun'er, Xiao Yu, Hu Jia, and Wu Hao are each awarded a Green Fire Crystal Card and an additional thirty days of Fire Energy."
"Green Fire Crystal Card?"
The surrounding seniors gasped, staring at the six in envy.
"Green Fire… what's that?" Xiao Yuan and his teammates looked at each other, confused.
"Hehe," Elder Su chuckled, "Fire Crystal Cards in the Inner Academy come in five colors: black, blue, green, red, and purple. Black is the lowest—you're holding those now. They only grant access to the first and second floors of the Heavenly Flame Refining Tower. Blue allows the third and fourth floors, and so on, up to purple, which allows the ninth and tenth floors.
To upgrade from black to blue, you need 100 Fire Energy. From blue to green, 200 more. So this green card reward saves you 300 Fire Energy—no small matter. Among all these seniors, only Luo Hou just upgraded to green a week ago. The rest still use blue."
"300 Fire Energy?!"
Now they understood why everyone was so jealous.
All the fighting, plus their reward, had barely netted them just over 300 points each—just enough to buy a green card.
Elder Su flicked his fingers, and six green cards appeared. With a flick, they hovered in front of each person.
"Your reward's loaded. Transfer your Fire Energy from the black card and hand it back."
They quickly obeyed.
Elder Su nodded with a smile. "Good. Now that you've passed the Hunt, follow me to the Inner Academy."
He turned and led the way.
Finally entering the Inner Academy…
Xiao Yuan smiled. With a wave of his hand, he withdrew the cold aura from the five White Devil members, letting them recover slightly. The five groaned and began moving—too injured to chase after anything. All they could do was watch helplessly as Xiao Yuan and his group followed Elder Su toward the Inner Academy.
Creak—
A wooden door slowly opened. Sunlight poured in through the gap, casting a long golden stripe across the floor.
As the door opened fully, six figures entered. Elder Su glanced around the spacious loft.
"Xiao Yuan, this will be your residence from now on—all six of you."
"Six people?"
Hu Jia blinked in surprise. "Elder Su, are you seriously putting us three girls in the same place as those three guys?"
But neither Xiao Yu nor Xun'er complained. Each simply held their boyfriend's hand.
"Hehe, silly girl. This loft is huge and has more than enough rooms. Why so nervous?" Elder Su chuckled. "Besides… those two girls don't exactly seem unwilling to room with their lovers."
"Ugh…" Hu Jia looked back at the two couples and pouted. "Hmph!"
Grumbling, she stormed up to the second floor.
Betrayed. Utterly betrayed. So much for sisterhood!
"Hehe, same old Hu Jia," Elder Su smiled. Then he turned to the others. "One last thing: unless your strength is overwhelming, going solo in the Inner Academy is tough. The place is full of established factions. So having you live together was intentional—to help you support each other."
"Heh, we're all family already. Even if you hadn't said anything, we'd stick together," Xiao Yuan said, glancing at Wu Hao.
"At least I won't have to worry about getting jumped," Wu Hao nodded seriously.
"I'm fine with it too," Hu Jia called down from upstairs, already claiming a room.
"Perfect," Elder Su nodded, satisfied. "Rest up tonight. Starting tomorrow, feel free to explore. I'm sure the Inner Academy won't disappoint."
"No training courses?" Wu Hao asked curiously.
"Nope," Elder Su smiled. "As long as you have Fire Energy, you can enter the Heavenly Flame Refining Tower. That's better than any class. Oh, right—once a week, we schedule a group session in the tower. You could consider that our only 'class.'
"There's also the Technique Pavilion and the Technique Hall. You'll need Fire Energy to access them too. Compared to the Outer Academy, the Inner Academy offers much more freedom.
"If you're short on Fire Energy and feeling confident, you can earn more in the arena. Just don't get cleaned out."
The group nodded.
"If there's nothing else, rest up. You can find me if you need anything."
Waving goodbye, Elder Su left the room.
"Arena, huh… maybe later," Xiao Yuan murmured, glancing at his card. With over 300 points, he smiled and took Xiao Yu's hand to choose their rooms.
They picked two adjacent rooms on the south-facing top floor.
After settling in, the sun began to set. The two decided to take a walk through the Inner Academy.
Nestled in a mountain basin, the Inner Academy was vibrant and fresh. Students walking by were mostly Da Dou Shi and above. Occasionally, shadowy figures zipped across rooftops.
A faint herbal fragrance drifted through parts of the academy—clearly from the Alchemy Division.
They also passed the Technique Hall and Skill Pavilion, but what drew the most attention was the massive tower mostly hidden underground: the Heavenly Flame Refining Tower.
It stood on the academy's north side. When they reached it, the moon had risen high.
"So this is the Heavenly Flame Refining Tower. Let's start training here tomorrow while our Fire Energy is still high."
Xiao Yuan's eyes sparkled with anticipation as he gazed at the dark tower.
With the tower's help, his cultivation speed would soar to terrifying heights.
The Inner Academy's program was five years long—but Xiao Yuan was sure he wouldn't need that much time.
He would reach frightening levels of power in far less—and maybe even break into the Dou Zong realm before graduation.
"This time during the Fire Energy Hunt, I didn't do much," Xiao Yu said softly, watching his determined face. "I used to think that was fine… but now, I want to fight by your side."
"Hehe, then let's grow stronger together."
(END CHAPTER)
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