Chapter 22: Phoenix - 22
It wasn't long before Zhou Fan made it to the foot of the mountain. From the bottom, it seemed that the mountain was a mile tall. The mountain was also quite wide. The entire mountain was sandy and high in temperature. There were few trees and plants on the whole thing.
With the animals in tow, Zhou Fan made his way up the mountain. He was riding on Xiaolong like before. They had no trouble getting up the mountain and arrived at the top in 10 minutes. At the top, there was a single tree. The trees leaves were red and full of vitality.
On top of the tree, a giant red bird lay napping. As if sensing their presence, the bird opened it eyes and stood on the tree. Zhou Fan looked at Bainu, the white tiger, and sent it to battle the bird. Like the last couple of times, the battle was even. Amazingly, the birds regenerative speed was 10 times that of an average living being. Although it wasn't at the level of instant regeneration, it was an incredible power to have.
After a while, the white tiger was on the losing end. Although the bird had sustained heavy injuries, its stamina was much higher than Bailu. However, the bird couldn't severely injure Bailu without paying a price. After a while, Zhou Fan ended the battle and repeated the process of taming the bird. He chose to name the bird 'Zhuque'. He also chose to stop calling it a bird since it was the size of Xiaolong and the rest. Instead, he opted to call it a phoenix.
After that, he walked back to the center of the underground world. He decided to make a residence here. The area was nicer than any other place he had ever seen, and he didn't even have to pay rent!
Instead of forming the wood with Qi, he used the beasts to build a house with real wood. When he created the elements with Qi, they were very temporary and not good to build a house with. Of course, he still manipulated the area with Qi to make it flat. He also used Qi to help carry and build things. Due to all the help, he finished the house in a couple of hours. Sadly, it was far too small for any of the beasts to stay in. Therefore, Zhou Fan went out and helped them each build their own areas. Xiaolong made a big cave to the east to stay in. Xuanwu and Hanglu made a big lake to the north of the house. Bainu made a forest to the west, and Zhuque made a big tree to the south.
Afterward, Zhou Fan and the rest spent the night in their homes. When they woke up, Zhou Fan summoned Xiaolong from his habitat. When he arrived, Xiaolong curled around Zhou Fan and rubbed on him. It seemed that Xiaolong had taken Zhou Fan as his owner.
"Xiaolong, I want to try something on you."
Xialong nodded, and Zhou Fan placed his palm on him. Then, Zhou Fan sent a small amount of Qi directly into Xiaolongs meridians. At first, there was no reaction. However, after 30 seconds, Xiaolong started crumbling. Yes, crumbling! His very existence was starting to fade. Zhou Fan hastily stopped and sent the healing light into Xiaolong. Although he had stopped and started to heal him, Xiaolong was already severely injured. It took 5 hours of nonstop healing to regrow the chunk of Xialongs flesh.
By that time, all the beasts had long looked at Xiaolong with fear. The immense damage done to him was terrifying. He was very lucky to survive.
Afterward, Zhou Fan walked back to his room and started to think. His initial goal was to get Xiaolong to be able to use Qi. However, clearly, something had gone wrong.
"Perhaps he can't absorb the same Qi as me?" Zhou Fan asked to himself. Theoretically, it was possible that only humans could absorb chaos Qi. Or perhaps, even they couldn't. Maybe Zhou Fan was the only one who could.
After pondering for a while, Zhou Fan had an idea. Maybe he could branch off certain parts of his chaos Qi and make it absorbable for Xiaolong. Once again, Zhou Fan summoned Xiaolong to the backyard. This time, he didn't hastily pour Qi into him. Instead, he studied him. After a while, Zhou Fan brought out his chaos Qi. Zhou Fan had realized that it could turn into things besides elements. Perhaps he could make one specialy for dragons. He would call it 'Dragon Qi'. Zhou Fan stood there for an hour, trying to make his Qi imitate Xiaolong. After a while, he had finally done it! In his palm lied a minature version of Xiaolong! The only difference was that it was ethereal, completely blue, and swimming in the air. Every now and then, it would let out a small roar.
Zhou Fan sent the dragon Qi into Xiaolongs body. After a while, Xialongs body started to emit light. Suddenly, impurities poured out of his body. Zhou Fan was estatic. It worked!
RROOOOAAARR!!
Xiaolong let out a roar many times stronger than before. Previously, he had already contained immense strength. Now that he had started on the path of cultivation, his body was much stronger.
The other beasts had gathered around after hearing Xiaolongs roar. They were astonished to see him speedily run to Xuanwu and Hanlus's lake while covered in a disgusting gunk. Xiaolong jumped into the lake and cleaned himself before happily running back to Zhou Fan. While they were celebrating, Xuanwu smacked Xiaolong on the back of the head. Turning around to see who hit him, he noticed the angry galres of Xuanwu and Hanglu. The previously clean lake was filled with impurities. Xiaolong apologized while Zhou Fan grabbed the impurities out with his Qi. They also made a rule to use the river to bathe from now on.
After that was settled, Zhou Fan started to create a Qi for each of the beasts. Surprisingly, Xuanwu and Hanglu consumed the same Qi.
Chapter 23: Back Outside - 23
It wasn't long before Zhou Fan made a Qi for everyone. Their Qi all looked like smaller and less detailed versions of themselves.
Each of the beasts had broken through to the first level and gotten rid of their impurities.
However, even after they were introduced to the Qi, they couldn't absorb it from the world without Zhou Fans' assistance. Zhou Fan was stumped with this issue. Perhaps the only Qi that existed naturally was Chaos Qi. Thinking further, Zhou Fan pondered what chaos Qi was.
It has a light gray color and no single form. At sometimes it acts like a solid, at others, it will act like a liquid or gas. After an hour, Zhou Fan had come up with a few thoughts.
"Maybe chaos Qi is the combination of everything?" Zhou Fan thought out loud. Maybe that's why it can turn into anything by taking parts away. Zhou Fan felt that such a conclusion made sense. However, he couldn't get rid of the nagging feeling that he was missing something. Either way, chaos Qi wasn't something he could fathom at this point.
Zhou Fan walked to his yard and decided to start cultivating for the first time in a while. He got in position and started absorbing Qi. The speed of absorption was much faster than it was when he was in foundation establishment.
As he was cultivating, the beasts gathered around him. Xiaolong curled around his body without touching him while the others lay on or against Xiaolong. They quickly fell asleep and if one looked from afar, they would see a perfect scene of harmony between humongous beasts and a human.
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After two straight days of cultivation, Zhou Fan broke into the second level of core formation. Although he felt an immense difference in power, Zhou Fan had no point of reference. He couldn't go around blowing up mountains every time he broke through after all. When he opened his eyes, Zhou Fan smiled at the scene of his pets gathered around him.
When he opened his eyes, so did Xiaolong. Zhou Fan spent a little bit of time trying to communicate with him before silently floating away. He didn't want to wake them up just to tell them that he had to leave. He entrusted Xiaolong to somehow get them to understand. While Zhou Fan was hesitant to leave, he did have a job soon. Somehow, four days had passed down there. Zhou Fan exited through the snake-filled path and found himself back at the courtyard.
On his way back inside, he saw Fui Rong knocking on his door.
"Hello."
"AAHHHHHHH." Fui Rong stumbled backwards and fell on the ground. It seemed she wasn't expecting someone to appear behind her.
"You're alive?!"
"Yes? Why wouldn't I be?"
"Well, you bought a house that's known for dead owners and then disappeared for 4 days. Did you think we would think you're alive?"
Her logic had reason. Zhou Fan had completely forgot about the fact that his house was treated as a place of death.
"I might have found the reason behind the murders." Zhou Fan suddenly said. He remembered the snake that he captured. He thought there was a chance that it was venomous and that's why the owners were dying.
"Really! What did you find?" She curiously asked.
Zhou Fan walked inside and saw the snake slithering around on the floor. It seemed that the cage had dissipated and it had been locked in the courtyard. Zhou Fan made sure that Fui Rong wasn't looking and formed another cage around it.
"Here, this snake might be venomous. I spent the last few days destroying their nest and this is the last one." Zhou Fan had come up with such an excuse after realizing he had disappeared for 4 days.
"Really!? In that case, let's take it to the lab!" Fui Rong grabbed Zhou Fan by the arm and dragged him to the library. It seemed she was quite interested in solving this decade-old mystery.
Since he had to travel at her pace, it took nearly an hour to make it to the library. Fui Rong attempted to drag him to the 5th floor before Zhou Fan pulled out his silver card.
"Wow! How did you get that!" Fui Rong was quite surprised to see the silver card. After all, Zhou Fan didn't seem like someone who could afford a 1 gold card. Even she couldn't afford one.
"I got a job here and they gave me one for free." Zhou Fan said.
"Nice."
Zhou Fan walked up to the 8th floor and Fui Rong followed. Luckily, Zhou Fan was allowed to take someone who didn't have a silver card to a research floor.
When they arrived, the area was busy as usual. Suddenly, Fui Rong loudly cleared her throat and declared their intentions.
"EXCUSE ME! We believe we may have found the solution to a 5-decade old mystery. Would anyone like to assist us?"
Everyone stopped in their tracks after hearing her loud voice. After they heard what she said, half the people on the floor rushed over toward her. Something like this wasn't seen every day after all.
"There is also a high chance it is an undiscovered species" Zhou Fan added. When the researchers heard this, a fire lit in their eyes as they ran toward Zhou Fan.
Zhou Fan simply threw the cage to the most trustworthy-looking old man. It merely took an hour before the 30 or so researchers compiled a book on the snake. The old man that Zhou Fan threw the snake to walked over and handed him it.
"Here. We have confirmed that it is an undiscovered species and that it is venomous. Please decide on a name so we can add it to the library records."
Zhou Fan didn't have to think about it for long before he named it the 'Hidden Rainbow Snake'. He called it this due to the fact that it led him to a hidden underground world and that it was rainbow-colored.
Although the old man looked at him weirdly after hearing the name, he didn't argue with Zhou Fan. After asking his name and writing him down as the discoverer, the old man sent the book down to the main floor for confirmation and revision.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Han_Jue_Fan
Han_Jue_Fan
I think this is my best written chapter. Please give me your honest opinions and tell me how you think I should improve.
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