Chapter 48 Inexperienced 

It was a sleepless night.

The great explosion erupted, transforming a ten-mile area into a sea of flames. Everything in its path was burned and turned to dust.

Xia Family Cultivators quickly retreated inside and watched the scene with fear. Despite being protected by the level 3 array, they could feel the intense heat. Without the array's protection, they would have been reduced to ashes.

Shangguan Yi didn't wait for the commotion to die down. He scanned the area with his Divine Sense. The Divine Sense of a Core Formation Cultivator swept throughout the area, and he sensed the existence of another slightly stronger Core Formation Cultivator. Shangguan Yi wasn't surprised that Tie Tu managed to survive; as a Core Formation Cultivator, Tie Tu's body was protected by core essence, and his level 3 technique couldn't be underestimated either.

Behind Tie Tu, Shangguan Yi also sensed the auras of five false Core Formation Cultivators. He raised his eyebrows slightly, noting that the elite Cultivators from Manor Lord City were quite stronger than the family ancestors.

With a cold smile, Shangguan Yi activated Solar Solitude once again.

Meanwhile, Tie Tu wore a hard expression as he surveyed the flames around him. Previously, his strongest technique, Sand Prison, had allowed him to defend against the demonic cultivator's assault. Without it, he might have been severely injured. However, the price of using his technique was high; he had already consumed 30% of his core essence. If faced with that technique again, he could only defend at most two more times.

"The situation is urgent. This demonic cultivator is stronger than we expected. You guys retreat first!" Tie Tu instructed the false Core Formation Cultivators behind him with a grim expression. Although he could protect them, they still sustained injuries.

"We understand, please be careful, leader," the five false Core Formation Cultivators acknowledged. They knew how grave the situation was, and lingering here would only burden Tie Tu further.

But even as they prepared to retreat, Shangguan Yi did not intend to let them go. At that moment, the aura of the condensed flame core spread across the distance, not far from them.

Tie Tu was the first to sense it, his expression turning grave. "Not good! It's coming again. Use your best techniques to protect yourselves!"

Upon hearing his warning, all of them felt the burning aura. Their expressions turned ugly, and they didn't hesitate to activate their strongest techniques.

Normally, with One Blink, none of them could activate their techniques before getting burned, but Solar Solitude was different; it wasn't specialized in speed, so they could sense it before it arrived.

However, even if they could sense it, not many could deal with it effectively.

Tie Tu formed a thick arrow to greet the flame core, aiming to slow it down before using other techniques to create a defense. This was the mark of an experienced Core Formation Cultivator; just from the first exchange, he could formulate a plan to counter Shangguan Yi's technique.

As the arrow was released, Tie Tu didn't stop there. He created soil walls one after another, forming layers of defense. The false Core Formation Cultivators behind him didn't linger either; they activated their techniques in quick succession.

Boom!

The flame core clashed with the thick arrow and exploded instantly. Unexpectedly to Tie Tu's calculations, this time the flame core wasn't restricted by the thick arrow.

The sea of flame spread wildly, reigniting the previous flames that hadn't completely died down, now even more intense. The incomplete soil walls were completely wiped out, leaving nothing behind. The remaining false Core Formation Cultivators couldn't even finish their techniques before being consumed by the flames and turning to ash.

Shangguan Yi swept the area with his Divine Sense. This time, he found no living beings other than the aura of a Core Formation Cultivator—none other than Tie Tu, but now hiding underground.

"Fortunately, I have my contingency plans. Otherwise, I might have been burned to death," Tie Tu muttered, his expression grim. Despite managing to dig into the ground to escape at the critical moment, his left hand was still burned by the flames.

"This flame can't be extinguished immediately; I can only suppress it and extinguish it little by little." Ignoring the pain in his left hand, Tie Tu started moving away.

Shangguan Yi knitted his eyebrows, realizing he had no method to attack his enemy in the current situation. Moreover, his core essence was also running dry. He could only watch as Tie Tu moved further away, eventually out of his perception.

Turning back, Shangguan Yi commanded, "Call all family members back. We will enter a long seclusion."

With that, he left the scene and quickly arrived at the Meditation Garden.

The rest of the Xia Family Cultivators were still trying to process the situation. It seemed their Great Ancestor was actually a demonic cultivator causing chaos around the city recently.

"The Great Ancestor, he is…" The First Elder, Xia Cao, spoke out but didn't dare to continue.

Everyone understood his meaning, but none of them dared to speak further. The most shocked person was Xia Kong, a son of Xia Kun. At this moment, the thought of competing with Shangguan Yi had completely disappeared; he could only give up on Shuang'er, recognizing the vast difference between them.

"The Great Ancestor was able to drive out Tie Tu, the third-ranking person in the City Manor Lord, like a dog. What do we have to fear with his protection? Moreover, we still have the level 3 array," Xia Feng, the Patriarch, spoke out.

His words were agreed upon by many.

"That's right, we witnessed the Great Ancestor's might with our own eyes. How many Core Formation Cultivators in Red Maple City can compare to him?" Xia Kun, a Great Elder, said in agreement.

Seeing both the Patriarch and Great Elder so confident, the still-worried elders nodded their heads in agreement.

"That's right, the Great Ancestor didn't even take them seriously. With just a flicker of his hand, he could create a sea of flames."

"Haha, with the Great Ancestor, who dares to barge into our Xia Family?"

"So what if we become the enemy of the public? What can they do but fear us?"

Many elders expressed their thoughts with renewed confidence.

…

Shangguan Yi arrived at his room with a heavy mood. Facing Core Formation Cultivators this time gave him valuable lessons. While his techniques could completely dominate false Core Formation Cultivators and gain the upper hand against Core Formation Cultivators, they still lacked variety.

One Blink had the unique speed to catch and burn enemies quickly, but it could still be suppressed by core essence. It lacked sufficient heat.

Solar Solitude had great destructive power; no enemy dared to take it directly. However, it lacked speed. If an enemy of the same level had the intention to retreat, it would be very easy to miss the target. Like Tie Tu, who, if not for protecting the false Core Formation Cultivators, could have long retreated. This was evident when the flame core exploded, and Tie Tu still managed to activate a technique to escape underground. If it had been the One Blink Technique, Tie Tu wouldn't have been able to escape.

Moreover, each of Shangguan Yi's techniques still lacked variety. When Tie Tu retreated underground, he could do nothing.

This made him feel the urgency to acquire new techniques. It wasn't that he wasn't trying hard enough; creating a level 3 technique required a huge amount of level 2 techniques to gain sufficient insights.

"Sigh, I'll think about it after finishing absorbing the core essence," Shangguan Yi muttered as he took out level 2 essence pills to replenish his core essence to its peak.

After ten hours of replenishing his core essence, he began absorbing the 45 white flame wisps. Although his encounter with Tie Tu yielded no core essence, he had collected plenty from the Zheng Family and two other high-grade families along the way. So, it was still a worthwhile trip.

Forty-five white flame wisps floated in the Sixth Sense Realm like fireflies. As time passed, each one dimmed when Shangguan Yi absorbed them. Minute by minute, hour by hour, seven hours passed before all the white flame wisps were absorbed. Shangguan Yi felt a significant increase in strength. His cultivation had now reached 70% towards level 3.

But Shangguan Yi didn't stop there. He still had one white flame wisp left, the most unique and dense one, with lightning essence dancing around it. This was the core essence of Zheng Su that Shangguan Yi had refined earlier. Although it appeared as a white flame on the outside, inside was lightning core essence, the essence of a genuine Core Formation Cultivator.

Zheng Su had lost one level of his cultivation due to this, as his core was refined.

Still, Shangguan Yi didn't immediately absorb it. He needed to use his cultivation technique to completely refine it into flame core essence before he could absorb it.