Nine days later, the crimson liquid inside the cauldron started to turn dull again as the dozens of herb sets were exhausted.
A powerful fluctuation erupted from Li Yan's body.
The remaining medicinal essence was absorbed in a single breath. Faint traces of light flowed beneath his skin before gradually disappearing. Li Yan opened his eyes and exhaled slowly.
A satisfied smile appeared on his face. "Skin Tempering Realm (Stage-7)"
Another bottleneck had fallen.
After stepping out of the cauldron, Li Yan did not leave. Instead, he sat down again and began circulating the Steel Body Tempering Technique.
Almost a year had passed since he had completed the first 360 tempering cycles. Now it was time to continue where he had left off.
Fire Qi surged through his body again and again.
Each circulation tempered his flesh, muscles, organs, and bones before dissipating and repeating the process once more. The progress was slow, almost imperceptible, yet Li Yan could clearly feel his body strengthening.
One cycle followed another until the count gradually climbed from three hundred and sixty-one to seven hundred and twenty.
Only after completing the final cycle did he finally stop. Two more days had passed.
Li Yan slowly opened his eyes.
The strength hidden beneath his skin had increased noticeably. Every movement carried greater stability than before. Although the improvement was not explosive, it was solid and genuine.
"2 out of 7 tempering was done." Li Yan muttered.
The Steel Body Tempering techniques have a total of 3600 cycles, divided into 7 temperings. Each of the temperings 1 through 5 has 360 cycles, while the remaining 3 have 720 cycles each.
This means he had just completed 20% of the Mortal-Tier Mid-Level Steel Body Tempering technique.
He stood up and stretched his body before glancing toward the tunnel leading out of the mine. "One day left before the annual competition."
His eyes narrowed slightly.
Last year, the Ancient Techniques Hall completely changed its path. The Eternal Sword Tower alone was enough to prove how valuable the opportunity had been.
Naturally, he had no intention of missing this year's chance. "I'll win again."
The words left his mouth calmly.
Then he sat down once more.
His body cultivation had advanced. His foundation had stabilized. There was no reason to continue suppressing his Qi cultivation.
Immediately, the surrounding Fire Qi surged toward him.
The dense environment of the Fire Mine once again revealed its value. Vast amounts of Fire Qi flowed through his meridians before being refined and absorbed into his lower dantian. The process continued smoothly, without the slightest obstacle.
Only half an hour later, a familiar pressure erupted from his body. The Qi within his meridians surged. His aura rose steadily before stabilizing once more.
Qi Channeling Realm (Stage-3)
Li Yan slowly opened his eyes. A faint smile appeared on his face.
Now he was truly ready.
After storing his belongings inside his storage ring, he picked up the lamp resting nearby and prepared to leave. However, before taking more than a few steps, his gaze drifted toward the five branching tunnels extending deeper into the Fire Mine.
For more than a year, he had cultivated here.
Yet he had never explored what lay beyond them.
The thought caused him to pause.
Dense threads of Fire Qi flowed from those passages. Even from a distance, he could sense a faint pressure hidden within the darkness.
Li Yan studied them for a moment before chuckling softly. "Let's see what lies deeper," he murmured.
Changing direction, he walked toward the nearest tunnel.
As Li Yan reached the first tunnel, he stepped into it without hesitation, his lantern casting a steady glow across the carved stone.
The passage stretched ahead, broad and deliberate. Unlike a natural cave, every part of it bore signs of deliberate construction. Human hands had carved the walls, and although countless years had passed, traces of mining tools remained visible upon the stone surface.
The tunnel was wide enough for several people to walk side by side. His lamp illuminated only a small portion of the darkness ahead, leaving the rest hidden from view.
Li Yan advanced at an even pace, boots echoing faintly against the hardened floor. The heat remained present but controlled, a steady warmth rather than the suffocating intensity found deeper within the mine's richer zones.
As his gaze swept across the walls, Li Yan noticed something immediately—there were no visible Fire Qi Stones. The surfaces were bare, stripped clean as though every valuable fragment had already been harvested.
He slowed slightly, narrowing his eyes. "Completely extracted…?"
The absence felt unnatural for a mine of this scale. Such thoroughness suggested not just effort, but a prolonged and deliberate operation. No ordinary excavation would leave the walls so barren.
Without stopping, Li Yan extended his Spiritual Sense.
It flowed outward in a silent wave, penetrating the stone itself rather than merely skimming its surface. Within moments, faint clusters of Fire Qi appeared beneath his perception.
They were everywhere.
Hidden deep within the walls, buried beneath the ground, and even embedded within the ceiling above, countless traces of Fire Qi pulsed quietly beneath layers of stone.
Li Yan's lips curved faintly. "So they only extracted what was visible…"
The realization settled calmly in his mind. The miners had harvested the easily accessible stones, leaving behind deeper veins that required greater effort or refined detection to uncover.
Some were little more than scattered fragments, while others extended deeper into the surrounding rock. None could be seen with the naked eye.
He continued forward.
The tunnel stretched beyond a hundred meters, long and unbroken. No intersections appeared along the way—no branching passages—just a single route carved into the mountain, leading steadily inward.
As he approached the end, something changed.
The walls became rougher. The floor grew uneven. Even the air felt different, carrying a faint stillness that suggested this area had remained untouched for many years.
Then he saw them.
A cluster of old mining tools lay scattered near the tunnel's end. Rusted picks, cracked stone chisels, and worn iron rods rested where they had been abandoned. Beside them lay several overturned Qi lanterns, their glass blackened by soot.
Li Yan stopped.
His gaze lingered on the scene for several moments. "Why did they leave everything behind here like this…"
Nothing had been gathered before departure. The tools remained where they had fallen, as though the workers had left in the middle of their task and never returned.
He crouched and brushed away the dust covering one of the picks. The metal immediately flaked beneath his fingers.
Time and heat had long since weakened it.
Li Yan rose to his feet and gave the tunnel one final look. For now, there was nothing more to see here.
Without hesitation, Li Yan retraced his steps and returned to the junction.
His attention shifted toward the second tunnel.
At first glance, it appeared nearly identical to the first. The passage possessed the same dimensions and the same unmistakable signs of deliberate construction. Yet the moment he stepped inside, he sensed a subtle difference.
The air was slightly cooler.
The surrounding heat was noticeably weaker.
Even the silence carried a strange emptiness compared to the previous tunnel.
Li Yan walked forward, his movements steady, his senses alert.
Again, the walls contained no visible Fire Qi Stones. Whatever had once been exposed had long since been removed, leaving behind only bare stone and old mining scars.
This time, however, he did not pause.
His Spiritual Sense expanded once more.
The difference became immediately apparent.
Unlike the first tunnel, which concealed numerous veins beneath the surface, this passage revealed only scattered traces of Fire Qi hidden within the stone.
Small pockets. Sparse. Inconsistent.
He continued forward.
The passage ended far sooner than the first.
After roughly fifty meters, the tunnel simply stopped. The walls closed inward, marking the end of the excavation.
At the end of the passage, there was nothing.
No tools. No lanterns. No remnants of labor.
Only dust.
A thin layer coated the floor and walls, undisturbed by footsteps or movement.
Li Yan stood quietly for a moment. "So yield here was less…"
His voice echoed softly through the tunnel. The conclusion was straightforward.
This tunnel had been abandoned because it no longer justified the effort. The return had diminished, and the miners had chosen to focus their efforts elsewhere.
Li Yan stood still, taking in the emptiness. "This one was never worth digging further."
His voice was low, almost thoughtful.
The contrast between the two tunnels was clear—one rich but incomplete, the other explored and discarded. Together, they painted a quiet picture of the mine's past operations, revealing decisions made long before his arrival.
After a brief pause, Li Yan turned away.
There was nothing more to see here.
Li Yan stepped into the third tunnel with measured calm, his lantern casting a steady glow across the entrance.
For the first ten meters, the passage resembled the previous tunnels—broad, stable, and clearly shaped by human hands. Then the surroundings changed.
The tunnel widened dramatically.
The ceiling rose high above, disappearing into shadows beyond the lantern's light, while the walls receded until the passage was nearly twice the size of the others.
Li Yan slowed slightly.
The walls were smooth and unusually uniform. No visible Fire Qi Stones protruded from the stone surface. Only bare rock stretched forward into the darkness.
"Nothing visible… again."
His Spiritual Sense expanded silently.
Like an invisible tide, it flowed through the surrounding stone, quickly revealing what the eye could not see.
Hidden veins of Fire Qi still pulsed beneath the surface. Some were small. Others extended much deeper into the surrounding rock.
Li Yan's gaze sharpened slightly. Unlike the second tunnel, this one had clearly not been mined to exhaustion. The resources remained.
They were simply harder to reach.
Without stopping, he continued deeper.
The tunnel stretched onward, far longer than the previous passages. The further he advanced, the heavier the surrounding heat became. It was not violent or oppressive, merely persistent, as though vast quantities of Fire Qi had accumulated here over countless years.
Two hundred meters passed. Then nearly three hundred.
Finally, the passage opened.
Li Yan stepped into a vast underground clearing and immediately narrowed his eyes.
The cavern before him was enormous.
Its ceiling rose high into darkness, while the open space itself surpassed even the clearing he had previously chosen within the Fire Mine for cultivation.
Waves of heat drifted through the air. The ground beneath his feet radiated a constant warmth. Most importantly, the concentration of Fire Qi here was noticeably higher than elsewhere in the mine.
His attention soon shifted forward.
At the far end of the cavern stood a massive stone gate.
It was embedded seamlessly into the surrounding wall, its surface thick and ancient. Faint markings ran along its edges, weathered by time yet still carrying traces of a sealing formation.
Li Yan's expression grew serious. "The sealed gate…"
Ji Hong's warning immediately resurfaced in his mind. Beyond the gate were Fire-attributed beasts. Tier-1, Tier-2, Tier-3, perhaps even Tier-4.
Li Yan advanced slowly, maintaining a safe distance as he extended his Spiritual Sense toward the barrier.
His perception slipped through tiny imperfections within the seal. Almost immediately, several presences entered his awareness.
Alive. Aggressive. Restless.
His brows furrowed slightly. "Tier-1… and a few Tier-2."
The number was not particularly concerning. Under normal circumstances, such opponents posed little threat to him.
Yet Li Yan did not relax. His Spiritual Sense could only reach 75 meters.
Beyond the creatures he could currently sense, there could easily be stronger beasts deeper within the sealed area.
Tier-3 beasts were not a concern. A group of them would still be manageable.
Tier-4, however, remained an unknown.
Li Yan remained silent as he evaluated the situation.
A single Tier-4 beast might still be within his newly gained strength to handle. Multiple Tier-4 beasts were a completely different matter.
If several appeared simultaneously, retreat itself could become difficult.
After a few moments, he exhaled slowly. "Not worth the risk."
The conclusion came naturally. Strength did not mean recklessness. The purpose of cultivation was survival and growth, not gambling one's life against unknown dangers.
Still, as he stood before the gate, a small temptation surfaced. If he opened it, he could test his limits against real opponents.
The Trial Arena was valuable, but projections could never fully replicate genuine life-and-death combat. Real beasts would sharpen his instincts far more quickly.
The thought lingered briefly.
Then it faded. "The annual competition is beginning the day after tomorrow."
Exploring an unknown beast territory before such an event offered little reward and considerable risk. There would be plenty of opportunities afterward.
No reason existed to rush.
Li Yan gave the sealed gate one final glance before turning away.
The decision settled firmly within his mind. "Not yet. I will return after the competition ends."