Chapter Five: Flights of Fancy

That night, after finishing dinner with his family, Yi Tian hurried back to his room to cultivate.

For Yi Tian, becoming stronger was his highest aspiration.

Moreover, he held a deep fascination for cultivation; this mysterious, unknown realm drew him in irresistibly.

Seated cross-legged on his bed, Yi Tian continued to practice the Fiery Flame Technique.

At this moment, he noticed that his cultivation speed with the Fiery Flame Technique was much slower than during the day. The rate at which he absorbed the world’s energy was mediocre—like the difference in speed between a snail and a cricket.

Even so, Yi Tian did not relax his efforts.

In the midst of his cultivation, Yi Tian suddenly sensed something unusual. He stopped and discovered that his avatar, the Starlit Clay, was crawling toward him, as if something was attracting it.

Yi Tian was somewhat surprised.

What was wrong with this worthless avatar today?

In the next moment, his consciousness shifted into the Starlit Clay, and an instinctual craving surged into his awareness.

When his consciousness returned, Yi Tian’s expression turned odd—it wanted to consume the Fiery Flame True Qi he had cultivated.

Without pondering for long, Yi Tian decided to give it a try.

Even if his avatar had shown no particular abilities so far, it was, after all, a legendary existence. Over the years, through his studies in the ancestral temple, he had mastered the fundamentals of martial arts and learned about many strange occurrences in the world, but he had never heard of anyone possessing such a miraculous avatar.

Though this avatar seemed useless, it was undoubtedly extraordinary. Its mysteries were simply yet to be revealed.

Yi Tian immediately circulated the Fiery Flame Technique, channeling a stream of Fiery Flame True Qi from his dantian to the tip of his finger.

In the next instant, that strand of Fiery Flame True Qi—which could instantly turn wood to charcoal—silently entered the Starlit Clay. Nothing seemed to happen.

No—that wasn’t right!

Yi Tian keenly noticed the Starlit Clay had grown in size.

“Transform!”

With a sudden surge of will, Yi Tian commanded.

The Starlit Clay instantly transformed into an Iron-banded Bow, his usual weapon, identical in every detail to the one hanging on the wall—the same bow his father had used as a youth. Whether in grain, scratches, weight, or form, there was not the slightest difference.

Yi Tian immediately picked up the bow, now forged from his avatar.

A full incense stick of time passed before the bow in his hands vanished, and the Starlit Clay reappeared before him.

“So that’s how it is!”

A trace of excitement flashed through Yi Tian’s eyes.

Previously, his avatar could transform into stones, flowers, and other objects, but these held little value for him—like tasteless chicken ribs. In the past, when he tried to make it into an Iron-banded Bow, it could only hold the form for less than three breaths before reverting.

Now he realized the reason: the Starlit Clay avatar required energy. When transforming into rocks or plants, the energy needed was minimal and could be replenished by the ambient spiritual energy. But to become something more powerful, it was insufficient.

After absorbing a strand of his Fiery Flame True Qi, the Starlit Clay could maintain its transformation far longer and its range of forms increased dramatically.

The marvel shown by this avatar impressed Yi Tian, making him value it even more.

That night, Yi Tian cultivated until midnight before falling asleep in his clothes.

At first light the next day, Yi Tian was up.

He arrived early at the training grounds. By then, many of the tribe’s warriors were already there, exercising and sparring.

Yi Tian settled himself cross-legged on a massive stone in a secluded corner of the training field, facing east, and began his cultivation.

Before long, the entire training ground grew livelier.

Yi Feng, Yi Shan, Yi Li, and other young tribesmen who had just begun their training all appeared.

They spread out across the grounds, practicing energetically.

Most of them chose to cultivate the Wild Bull Mountain-Cleaving Technique and the Gale Tiger Domination Technique. These two techniques emphasized practical combat, combining force, momentum, and the flow of energy with martial forms.

Thus, each of them practiced with bold, open movements.

Yi Feng and Yi Shan had long since noticed Yi Tian’s presence, but did not disturb him.

It was considered taboo to interrupt someone during their cultivation.

Of course, with Yi Tian’s current level, there was no danger of going astray—his dantian contained only a meager amount of True Qi, like a pauper hit by a financial crisis; no matter how perilous, nothing could reach him.

Yi Tian practiced the Fiery Flame Technique, sensing that the fire-element energy around him suddenly grew more active, gradually becoming denser and richer.

His cultivation speed increased.

As the Fiery Flame Technique circulated, each meridian it passed through opened up, absorbing the fire-element energy from his surroundings.

Within his meridians, the Fiery Flame True Qi flowed, endlessly tempering his cells, bones, flesh, and skin—silently, continuously consumed.

After the cycle completed, the remaining True Qi was suddenly drawn into the stone ring on his wrist.

That stone ring was, in fact, the Starlit Clay avatar transformed.

Ever since learning its true function, Yi Tian had worn it on his person.

Yi Tian found this somewhat vexing.

The cultivation speed of the Fiery Flame Technique was already slow; now, with the addition of the avatar acting like a black hole, it devoured large quantities of True Qi.

Even so, Yi Tian did not give up.

The avatar’s marvels made him reluctant to abandon it—if he could unearth its true secrets, it might benefit him endlessly.

That entire day, Yi Tian immersed himself in cultivation.

For Yi Tian, daytime was the true golden period for training.

In the days that followed, Yi Tian remained absorbed in cultivation, as did the other youths of the Yi tribe.

At fourteen, they could begin training. During this period, cultivation was their main focus—working tirelessly to improve their strength. When they turned eighteen, they would join the hunting parties or serve as tribal guards.

These four years between fourteen and eighteen were when their skills advanced by leaps and bounds. Thereafter, only persistent, drip-by-drip effort could bring further progress, and their starting points would diverge greatly.

Since cultivating the Fiery Flame Technique, Yi Tian could feel himself growing stronger with each passing day. His strength steadily increased.

Beyond that, the True Qi of the Fiery Flame Technique refined his body in every way. Whether in strength, speed, or reaction, all aspects improved conspicuously.

A month flashed by.

Yi Tian spent every day training, and he also made progress in the first chapter of the Divine Archery Manual.

As the tribe’s treasured technique, the first chapter of the Divine Archery Manual was indeed profound. The Stacked Wave Secret allowed a warrior to manipulate their True Qi in waves, multiplying their power several times, or even more than tenfold, in an instant.

The first level of Archery was the Sonic Boom.

At this stage, as long as one’s strength reached a certain threshold, a sonic boom could be unleashed.

When the sonic boom resonated like thunder, it meant mastery of this level.

Thanks to the Stacked Wave Secret, nearly seventy percent of the tribe’s archers achieved mastery of the sonic boom.

The secret technique allowed for up to twelve layers of True Qi stacking.

As a beginner, Yi Tian could only manage three layers so far. Even so, his archery skills had improved enormously; should he encounter a blood stag again, he could slay it with a single arrow.

That night, Yi Tian was nervous and excited.

He intended to test an idea—perhaps a wild notion, but he could not suppress his urge to try.

He removed the stone ring from his wrist.

Instantly, the ring reverted to a mass of starlit clay.

With a thought, the Starlit Clay merged into his hand and vanished.

After a quarter of an hour, it reappeared on his hand.

Sensing the mystical connection, Yi Tian’s face brightened. He set the Starlit Clay beside him, and his consciousness shifted into it.

At once, a wondrous scene unfolded.

The starlit mass grew larger, and in the next instant, another Yi Tian appeared.

“So it really works!”

This new Yi Tian looked himself up and down. The body formed by the avatar was exactly like his own—he could sense his heartbeat, the flow of blood. In every way, the avatar had become another Yi Tian.

At the same time, Yi Tian found he had an unprecedented control over this new body.

He looked at his original form, which now seemed to be asleep, its consciousness gone, though the body still breathed.

In less than thirty breaths, Yi Tian felt a wave of weakness.

Transforming the Starlit Clay into his own body consumed vast amounts of energy every moment; soon, it would revert to its original form.

“I wonder if cultivating with the avatar could sustain the energy needed for transformation?”

Yi Tian did not hesitate.

The avatar immediately began practicing the Fiery Flame Technique with effortless familiarity.