Leaving the Xiao family, Han Feng returned to the City Lord's Mansion.
He needed to plan well for the next few years.
Searching for Heavenly Flames required time.
Cultivating in seclusion required time.
The most urgent task was still to enter seclusion and refine the Demon Saint Essence Blood.
As for searching for Heavenly Flames, he could only let the puppets try their luck first.
Although Heavenly Flames were rare, for a Dou Saint, searching for them was a relatively easy matter.
It was just that most of those powerhouses who had already become Dou Saints would not particularly value Heavenly Flames.
They had plenty of means to counter Heavenly Flames, and could even bring out natural treasures that were not inferior to Heavenly Flames at all.
In ancient times, Heavenly Flames were not in a league of their own. It was only under the fame of the Ancient God Tu She that they gradually became renowned across the continent.
Moreover, in the current era, with the continuous rise of the status of the alchemist profession, Heavenly Flames have also been elevated to a sacred position.
Could a treasure that even noble alchemists scrambled for be ordinary?
Some cultivators obtained Heavenly Flames by chance, but most of them would choose to offer them to alchemists in exchange for precious pills.
On one hand, Heavenly Flames didn't have much use for cultivators other than those with the fire attribute. Even if Heavenly Flames were precious, if the attributes didn't match, even if one spent all their effort to refine them, it would be a thankless task and contrary to the path of future development.
This point was particularly valued in large clans. If a water attribute cultivator refined a Heavenly Flame, and it wasn't a related flame like the Sea Heart Flame, then his future path in the Dou Venerate realm would be quite confusing.
Heavenly Flames were powerful, but this power could sometimes become a distraction, making cultivators forget the Dao that truly belonged to them.
Therefore, only those fire attribute cultivators, as well as alchemists, would be interested in Heavenly Flames.
On the other hand, these cultivators and alchemists all had to consider the risk of refining Heavenly Flames.
That was truly a narrow escape from death. Even with auxiliary pills, the probability of failure and death was still large enough to dissuade ninety percent of cultivators.
Although the remaining small group was still numerous, compared to the population of the entire Dou Qi Continent, it paled in comparison.
Ultimately, it was just that other natural treasures were not as famous as Heavenly Flames on the Dou Qi Continent.
In his early years when Han Feng was still a Dou Emperor, he had also obtained a metal attribute natural treasure, the Innate Magnetic Origin.
At that stage, the Innate Magnetic Origin helped Han Feng considerably, but now that his Fire Laws had matured, the Innate Magnetic Origin could only serve as an auxiliary tool in artifact refining.
Unless Han Feng was fortunate enough to obtain a metal attribute Heavenly Flame later, such as the Gold Emperor Incinerating Heavenly Flame ranked fourth, or the Nine Serene Gold Ancestor Fire ranked seventh, could he refine the Innate Magnetic Origin into a part of the Flame God Body, and thereby comprehend the Law of Metal.
Han Feng took out a complete map of the Dou Qi Continent and examined it carefully.
Generally speaking, the appearance of Heavenly Flames followed traceable patterns. For example, the Sea Heart Flame appeared in the sea, and the Green Lotus Core Flame appeared in underground magma.
The place where metal attribute Heavenly Flames were most likely to appear was a place rich in metal Qi.
The Nanli Empire excelled in the Dao of Artifact Refining, and its metal Qi was not low.
The Ten Thousand Sword Pavilion in the Eastern Region of the Central Plains equipped its disciples with precious swords. The refining of these precious swords required a large amount of precious metals, so the metal Qi there was also not low.
However, the Gold Emperor Incinerating Heavenly Flame was already in the Gu Clan at the center of the Eastern Region. He definitely couldn't touch this Heavenly Flame.
As for the Nine Serene Gold Ancestor Fire, the only known one was in the hands of Yan Jin, the Clan Head of the Yan Clan.
Although that person's strength was not as good as Gu Yuan, he was extremely formidable. Being in the late stage of Eight-Star Dou Saint, he was enough to defeat anyone other than Hun Tiandi and Gu Yuan.
Only Lei Ying, the Clan Head of the Lei Clan, could contend with him.
Wanting to get the Heavenly Flame from him was almost impossible, so Han Feng could only look for newly born Heavenly Flames.
With Sikong Chan's connections in the Nanli Continent, searching there would be relatively convenient, but the probability was also extremely low.
Han Feng circled a few places rich in metal Qi.
There would definitely be deviations, and the possibility of working in vain was not small.
But fortunately, he now had puppets to help him, so he didn't need to do it himself.
The layout he made when searching for Yao Chen back then was not wasted now and could be completely reused.
Besides the Nine Serene Gold Ancestor Fire, there were also the Turtle Spirit Earth Fire, Fire Cloud Water Flame, Volcanic Stone Flame, Wind Fury Dragon Flame, and Yin Yang Dual Flame.
The rankings of these Heavenly Flames were not high, and they all had their own characteristics. The probability of finding them was relatively higher than the top ten Heavenly Flames.
The top ten Heavenly Flames were each very mystical. They had withstood the test of a long time and gradually became a kind of authority.
In comparison, the lower-ranked Heavenly Flames, although also possessing great potential, required development. Before truly transforming, they couldn't compare with those top ten Heavenly Flames.
Therefore, these Heavenly Flames became the only opportunity for ordinary cultivators to pick up scraps.
If the obtained Heavenly Flame ranked too high and one's own background wasn't strong, one really had to be careful about being knocked out and taken away suddenly one night.
The top ten Heavenly Flames were almost all divided up by the upper-level forces and cultivated as inheritance flames.
Even Han Feng couldn't shake that.
As the setting sun fell, Han Feng was still busy at his desk. Relying on his past life experience, he circled all the places where Heavenly Flames might appear.
In his previous life, Han Feng traveled the continent twice. The second time was after breaking through to Dou Venerate.
At that time, he was already the Xuan Huang Venerate, holding the lowest-ranked Xuan Huang Flame, and no one coveted it.
During his travels, Han Feng had heard information about other Heavenly Flames and was very interested, but he never had the thought of refining a second Heavenly Flame.
Curiosity was just curiosity; he didn't delve deeper to understand, so he could only recall a general idea. He hadn't even verified the authenticity of the news back then.
For example, the Wind Fury Dragon Flame once appeared in the Tasi Desert in the Central Plains. It was recorded by the locals as a wonder, described as a giant dragon flying in the desert.
In the oasis tavern, the locals told this experience vividly, but because the Wind Fury Dragon Flame left no traces after passing, everyone treated it as a joke.
There were quite a few similar stories, but Han Feng knew most of them were fake because many details sounded reasonable but actually couldn't withstand scrutiny. Only cultivators who truly possessed Heavenly Flames could see the tricks within.
Many people liked to tell these adventure stories just as a means to attract customers' attention.
Passed down by word of mouth, no one could say for sure.
Han Feng folded the map and handed it to the puppet hiding in the darkness beside him.
The subsequent work would be left to them.
...
Returning to the bamboo forest, Lin Xian'er and Ye Qingyun were already resting in their respective rooms. Han Feng didn't disturb them but returned to his own room to start today's homework.
Even as strong as a Dou Saint, power is accumulated bit by bit. There has never been glory achieved overnight; the accumulation in the early stage is crucial.
Han Feng condensed the spiritual energy in his soul, nourishing a small pitch-black sword above his sea of consciousness while slowly rotating it, swallowing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth like a mouth of nothingness.
Late Heaven State was Han Feng's current soul realm.
The next checkpoint was the Perfect Heaven State.
It was also the only soul realm Han Feng was confident he could reach within the next ten years.
As for the Di State above the Heaven State, Han Feng really wasn't sure.
Even if he swallowed all the soul bodies collected by the entire Hall of Souls, it probably wouldn't work, because the soul power collected by the Hall of Souls was already being continuously sent to the Soul Clan to supply another peak powerhouse to enter the Di State soul.
The realm that the Void Swallowing Flame spent a thousand years to reach, even if Han Feng intercepted it, it would still be far from enough.
Unless he raised his Dou Qi cultivation to Nine-Star Dou Saint. In that case, under the blessing of realm improvement, according to the method of reflecting oneself taught to him by the Yellow Spring Demon Saint, Han Feng might have hope of breaking through to the Di State.
But raising to Nine-Star Dou Saint was not something an ordinary person could do either.
Two paths, no matter which one, were incomparably difficult.
Han Feng pondered where else he could improve his soul power.
After a moment, Han Feng shook his head.
Better find a chance to go to the Ancient God Tu She's Cave again and ask Zhu Kun for advice.
This was the most powerful senior Han Feng could contact at present.
Last time, Zhu Kun warned him not to set foot in the Ancient God Tu She's Cave easily, at least wait until breaking through to Five-Star Dou Saint before entering again.
Although Han Feng didn't quite understand, he knew Zhu Kun must have his reasons for saying so.
Nothing happened overnight. Han Feng cultivated until dawn. Before the purple Qi arrived, he opened his eyes and flashed into the courtyard.
Lin Xian'er and Ye Qingyun were also up at this time. They had developed the same habit as Han Feng.
After the three finished their morning exercise, Ye Qingyun went to prepare breakfast.
Since she had already thought about it last night, preparation was very fast.
The three sat down together and enjoyed breakfast quietly.
After eating, Han Feng told the two women about the subsequent arrangements.
Ye Qingyun continued to preside over the work of building the Black-Corner Region highway, while Lin Xian'er studied poison techniques diligently.
Han Feng selected a few items from the poisons collected by the Nine Serene Deep Ground Python Clan and passed them to his disciple.
With Lin Xian'er's current cultivation, absorbing Rank 7 poisons was relatively suitable.
Before breaking through to Dou Ancestor, stabilize first. After breaking through to Dou Ancestor, progress would be rapid.
After arranging the matters for the two women, Han Feng was also ready to start his seclusion to refine the essence blood.
Refining the Demon Saint Essence Blood required choosing the right place.
If refined directly in the city, the energy anomalies that would appear then would probably frighten the people in the city greatly.
Under the pressure of Dou Saint blood, even if one wanted to ignore it, it would be difficult to do so.
So it was best to stay away from ordinary people.
Find an uninhabited place and refine it alone.
Han Feng thought for a moment and targeted the Canaan College.
Speaking of which, he didn't know if Zi Yan had come out of seclusion now?
Han Feng took a step forward, broke through space in the next instant, and arrived at the Inner Academy.
He didn't stop and flew in the direction where Zi Yan had been in seclusion before. However, upon arriving at the destination, he found that the place was already empty.
"Went back, huh..."
Han Feng sighed. Zi Yan had gone back to accept her mission as the descendant of the Dragon Emperor.
Growth is destined to be a road that isn't easy.
Wanting to eat, drink, and be happy like before was almost impossible.
Han Feng could even imagine that Zi Yan was now honing Dragon Emperor Dou Techniques on Dragon Island, no longer looking lazy like before.
"This place was chosen well."
Han Feng looked left and right and found that because of the residual Dragon Might from Zi Yan, no magical beasts dared to approach here, not even small mosquitoes.
"Just right for seclusion."
Han Feng walked into the cave and closed the stone door.
He cast several formations covering the surroundings.
These formations could play a defensive and concealing role.
During this time of refining the Demon Saint Essence Blood, Han Feng did not wish to be disturbed.
After all preparations were completed, Han Feng finally took out that ball of golden liquid.
Powerful energy aura was concentrated in the golden liquid. Han Feng's soul moved slightly, dividing it into three portions.
Swallowing all the essence blood at once, Han Feng might not have time to refine it.
So it was better to do it in batches.
Han Feng looked at the essence blood in his hand with a blazing gaze.
This was a powerful tonic that no Dou Saint would refuse.
Since the powerhouse at the source of the essence blood had sky-reaching cultivation close to Dou God, even if much of the energy in the essence blood had been lost, the remaining part was still of a very high level, enough for an Eight-Star Dou Saint to refine and produce beneficial effects.
With such good stuff, no wonder the seniors of the Nine Serene Deep Ground Python Clan didn't dare to destroy it easily.
This was good stuff that could cause a bloodline transformation in the clansmen, and maybe even stimulate bloodline atavism!
It was fortunate they didn't destroy it, giving Han Feng this opportunity.
Gulp!
Han Feng swallowed the golden blood in one gulp, and the Dou Qi in his body boiled instantly.
What terrifying energy!
The "Flame Mantra" technique operated at high speed, not daring to stop for a moment.
The Heaven Class Dou Qi in his body was firing on all cylinders at this moment, crazily absorbing the energy within the essence blood and circulating it to all parts of his body.
If it were the state when the Demon Saint took the essence blood himself, perhaps this small ball could have caused him internal injuries from overstuffing.
After a long period of sedimentation, the energy in the essence blood had been consumed quite a bit, but it happened to be suitable for the current Han Feng to refine.
Time passed bit by bit, and Han Feng devoted his entire mind to it.
His Dou Qi cultivation rose little by little while refining the essence blood. Although the improvement seemed tiny, this was the Dou Saint realm.
Any bit of improvement was crucial.
"Already late-stage Two-Star Dou Saint..."
Sweat seeped from Han Feng's forehead, but a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
The effect of the Demon Saint Essence Blood was even better than he imagined.
This was only the first portion, and it had already pushed his cultivation to the late stage of Two-Star Dou Saint, and it wasn't over yet.
Han Feng continued to squeeze the energy of the essence blood, refining every trace of golden blood thoroughly from head to toe, from top to bottom.
After an unknown amount of time, the Dou Qi in Han Feng's body suddenly trembled violently.
"About to break through!"
Han Feng's spirit shook, and he quickly changed hand seals.
The direction of Dou Qi circulation in his body reversed, changing from absorbing the power of essence blood to transport to the whole body, to continuously surging towards the dantian storing the essence blood.
As the last wisp of golden blood burned in his body, Han Feng's cultivation officially crossed into the early stage of Three-Star Dou Saint.
Han Feng opened his eyes, divine light flickering in his pupils.
"Three-Star..."
This was only the first portion of essence blood; there were still two other portions waiting for him to refine.
However, Han Feng decided to slow down a bit.
Raising to Three-Star Dou Saint was enough for him to adapt for a period of time.