109 A Hot Spring

Somewhere at a green mountain, there was a hot spring filled with a dense Heavenly Qi.

The water temperature rose so high in the hot spring that it resembled just like a liquid magma.

Besides the hot spring, several maids were filling and mixing liquid from potions into the water.

A distance away, a group of people wearing a tiny cauldron emblem on their robes, were concocting liquid substances with various precious rare resources in an old, gigantic cauldron.

Each hour, they would complete and pass the liquid to the maids to pour into the water. Even though they were on the verge of collapsing from fatigued due to lack of sleep and depleting Qi, they were still persisting and completing their work without a complaint.

A far from a high spot a beautiful, matured mid-aged woman was overseeing their works with a complication expression.

Every time she watched those people adding the precious rare resources in the gigantic cauldron, she would feel a tinge of pain in her heart.

If she could, she would take all of those rare resources and hide in a secret vault. After all, their value was astronomical price, even the big Clans and Sects would consider them as the most treasured resources.

The mid-aged woman turned her sight toward the figures behind her who were enjoying as if they were on a vacation.

As she glanced toward a kid lying on a soft fur and receiving a massage from a beautiful lady, she cursed herself and regretted taking a decision to bring him here.

If she could reverse the time, she would never dare to ass-kiss him and take a blind eye on his extravagant spending.

The mid-aged woman sighed in distress and walked toward them.

Suddenly, a youth appeared pushing a trolley filled with different varieties of delicious foods. He showed a warm smile and presented those foods to the kid.

However, the mid-aged woman fumed and almost puked blood seeing the youth acting in such a manner.

She wished to bitch slap him for her misfortunes since he provoked the kid and eyed toward the kid's female companions. But he instead got trash and paid all the resources from their vault for his life. Later, for an unknown reason, the kid even took the ownership of their place.

Now, she watched the youth appeared here without any shame nor guilt while showing his pretentious smile plastered on his face; she didn't know what she should do to him. After all, she had raised him as her own child and knew his origin.

Suddenly, loud popping resounded from the hot spring as the water boiled.

The beautiful lady stopped massaging the kid and whispered next to his ear.

"Young Master Hou, It's time."

Hou opened his eyes and stood up stretching his limps. He noticed the youth and the mid-aged woman but he ignored them as he didn't have time for them.

In a flash, he dashed and appeared in front of the hot spring. He placed his hand into the water and checked the temperature.

Hot! Pleased with the result, Hou motioned the maids to stop pouring the liquid. Then, he stripped his robe and submerged naked into the hot spring.

Once he reached on the bottom, he sat on a lotus-position and began to meditate following his breathing skill.

At first, an intense heat gathered around his body and broke his concentration, forcing him to use Qi to protect his body.

As time passed, little by little, he stopped and faced the heat outside his body without defending while guiding his Fire Qi throughout his body following his breathing skill; 3rd step.

On each heartbeat, he circulated his Qi from his core toward every part of his body then he created a shield around the skin while experiencing excruciating burning pains from the heat.

A thin coating appeared around his body, however, they didn't block the heat from passing toward his body.

Slowly, he emitted his Fire Qi outside his body filling into the thin coating.

Once the Qi filled, it hardened and layered the skin turning into a red thick skin.

Suddenly, the heat stopped entering his body instead, the heat reacted toward the red thick skin and began to burn it as if trying to melt it like metal.

Soon, it turned bright red but didn't show any sign of melting nor dissipating the Qi.

However, the heat increased tenfold higher causing Hou to puke a mouthful of blood.

He felt his skins were burning and turning into fried crispy every second. He wanted to stop, but he gritted his teeth and endured the pain.

After all, he knew if he wanted to continue cultivating, he would need to complete this process.

Furthermore, for a whole 3 years, he waited for this moment. He had already reached Peak Stage Earth Origin Realm before he left the Ancient Ruin.

At that time, he didn't understand why he couldn't break through and thought he needed to gather more Qi in his core before trying it. So, he had kept refining his core again and again.

However, later, he learned he needed to cultivate at the extremely high temperature for a breakthrough as his body seemed different from others.

Hence, every time he visited a town or village, he would search for the suitable place for cultivation.

Although he found few, those places lacked the dense Heavenly Qi so, in the end, he heard about this hot spring, yet still unsuitable.

At that time, he was at the Alchemist City where he discovered the Body Strengthening Liquid. Quickly, he found a few high ranked Alchemists who would concoct those liquids for him though he needed to help them with something first.

So, with the Alchemists' help, he created this hot spring into a perfect cultivating spot.

After hours of enduring the pain, the heat began to fade and decreased the pain.

Slowly, on each heartbeat, Hou absorbed the Qi from the liquid water through tiny pores from his skin.

The Qi passed through the red thick skin at ease and entered inside his body reaching to his bones.

The red thick skin acted just like a filter blocking the water.

Instantly, the Qi dispersed toward every part of his bones and organs.

As the Qi reached the destination, it showed an immediate reaction and all the medicinal effects took action.

His bones strengthened and grew a centimetre at a slow rate while his organs reformed and removed any damages tissues or harmful substances.

As the time ticked, the water colour changed and became crystal-clear.

The several maids waiting beside the hot spring detected the change and began to pour more potions into the water.

Meanwhile, Hou continued repeat the same process again and again.

A month passed.

Suddenly, a loud explosion occurred in the hot spring before the water evaporated shrouding the hot spring with a mist.

Slowly, with a smile on his face, Hou walked out of the mist and glanced at the people waiting for him.

Shocked! Everyone swept his or her gaze toward him and scanned his body in disbelief.

They rubbed their eyes as they didn't trust seeing the sight.

Several maids turned behind and hid their blushing faces.

In a single dash, Lily appeared in front of Hou and hid his body from their sights yet she too had a slight flush on her face.

She peeked at him and found his appearance have gone drastic change.

He grew a lot, reaching almost the same height as her while his body parts looked like a healthy 18 years old body, even his manly part.

However, his face had no changes.

As she put him an upper cloth, she found massive wings tattoo behind his back.

Startled, she placed her palm on her chest and thought it looked similar.

She had seen his back many times before, but it only had a slight resemblance to her tattoo.

Now, she had a hunch, however, didn't dare say it.

She shook her thoughts and placed his clothes then followed behind him.