In the misty forest, Lin Dong's tightly shut eyes gradually opened. On his face, some traces of delight lingered. After the improvement done by the glowing shadow, the number of inner channel paths from "QingYun Arts" had increased from four to seven, effectively doubling its effectiveness.

"Huff..."

A white breath of air formed as Lin Dong forcefully exhaled. Soon after, he took out a bottle from within his clothes and poured out two fiery-red Elixir Pills. These two pills were refined from a Grade 3 Elixir, Blaze Fruit. During this month, Lin Dong had secretly went to barter the Stone Talisman Ling Liquid to obtain more elixirs. After all, now that he had advanced to Earthly Yuan Stage, he knew that he needed a large quantity of Elixir Pills to increase his training speed.

Lin Dong popped the two Elixir Pills into his mouth but did not swallow them immediately. Instead, he closed his eyes and with a thought, a surge of deep blue Yuan Power gushed out from his Dan Tian. The Yuan Power first circled inside his body before it entered into an unexplored hidden inner channel.

This hidden inner channel was the first channel that must be opened when one trains in "QingYuan Arts". After the glowing shadow had vividly displayed the route taken previously, Lin Dong was now able to rapidly uncover this hidden inner channel within his body.

As the Yuan Power attempted to flow through this inner channel, it immediately encountered a massive resistance. After all, this hidden channel had never been unlocked before, it was akin to paving a new path through the mountains. An exceedingly difficult task.

Against this resistance, the Yuan power was only able to unlock a small segment of the inner channel before it was used up. However, Lin Dong quickly followed up with another wave of Yuan Power. Just like a hard working labourer, tirelessly hacking away...

Wave upon wave of Yuan Power slowly chipped at the blocked inner channel. Half an hour later, the Yuan Power in Lin Dong's Dan Tian had almost been depleted, however, he had only managed to unblock approximately one-tenth of the channel. Only now did Lin Dong finally understand just how difficult it was to open a channel.

Furthermore, this was only the first inner channel. Subsequent channels would be successively challenging. It was little wonder that even Lin Xiao required three months to fully unlock all four channels.

"Gulp!"

Feeling that the Yuan Power in his Dan Tian was almost depleted, Lin Dong swallowed the two Elixir Pills inside his mouth. As they entered his body through his throat, a stream of pure medicinal power began to spread out before it was slowly absorbed into his Dan Tian. Following which, the dried up feeling in his Dan Tian gradually faded.

As Yuan Power once again flowed in his body, Lin Dong also continued working to unlock the inner channel.

Unblocking an inner channel was not something that could be accomplished in a day. However, since Lin Dong was blessed with plenty of resources, this was not a problem for him. After replenishing his Dan Tian using Elixir Pills six times, the first inner channel was finally fully unblocked by Lin Dong!

As that inner channel was finally unlocked, Lin Dong abruptly felt more sensitive towards the Yuan Power that flowed through Heaven and Earth. At the skin area where the inner channel lead to, he could also faintly feel a tiny suction force there, absorbing the Yuan Power from Heaven and Earth. The absorbed Yuan Power circulated in his body before gushing into his Dan Tian.

Sensing his body's increased Yuan Power absorption rate, a flash of delight surfaced in Lin Dong's eyes. After he had trained in Secret Arts, he could feel an indescribable increase in his power.

Lin Dong cheerfully opened his eyes only to find that nightfall had arrived, at which smacked his lips. Time really flies by while he trained.

He stretched his body and kept the "QingYuan Arts" manual in his clothes. In a mere day, he had already unlocked the first inner channel. If Lin Zhentian and the rest knew about his progress, they would likely be shocked once again. However, Lin Dong did not feel like this was a huge achievement. After all, he had utilized so many Elixir Pills to aid his training. If his progress were not at least at this speed, then something would be wrong.

As he stood up, Lin Dong suddenly whistled towards the deep forest. Minutes later, a fiery-red shadow suddenly emerged from the woods and leapt into Lin Dong's arms.

Thanks to the final rays of the setting sun, the face of the fiery-red shadow was revealed. It was a creature that was about the size of a small dog and its body was colored a fiery-red, as if the beast itself was on fire. From its shape, it seemed like a tiger cub, yet its tail resembled a fire python, giving it an extraordinary and mystical feel.

Lin dong named the creature Little Flame. After a month of care, Little Flame had grown to an astonishing extent. By Lin Dong's estimations, Little Flame at this stage was probably evenly matched against a Tempered Body 5th Layer practitioner.

Little Flame's growth rate had exceeded Lin Zhentian and the rest's imagination. However, Lin Dong did not think that it was strange because he had been feeding the little fellow with the Stone Talisman Ling Liquid everyday. Sometimes, he even used the Ling Liquid to bathe it. If Lin Zhentian and the rest knew about the kind of treatment, they would probably vomit blood.

Little Flame allowed Lin Dong to gently and intimately cradle itself in his arms. After all, Lin Dong was the first person that it saw when it opened it's eyes for the first time and after this one month of rearing, it had subconsciously regarded Lin Dong as its closest kin.

When Demonic Beasts mature, they become fierce and vicious. However, if one trains them appropriately from when they are young, they would become a most loyal companion.

"You greedy little fellow!"

Seeing Little Flame acting coquettishly, Lin Dong helplessly shook his head. He removed a bottle from his clothes and tipped it over, dripping two drops of Stone Talisman Ling Liquid into Little Flame's mouth.

After the Stone Talisman Ling Liquid entered its mouth, Little Flame stuck out its tongue in satisfaction and excitedly licked Lin Dong's face.

"It's time to head home. That's all you are getting today."

As he kept the bottle, Lin Dong grabbed Little Flame and placed it on his shoulder, before he immediately turned and swiftly ran out of the woods. Little Flame's joyful little squeals rang throughout the forest.

...

The moon was like a silver plate that hung in the sky, enveloping the ground in cooling light.

Inside her room, Qing Tan lay quietly on her bed with a thin blanket that was unable conceal the curves of a young girl which had gradually grown bountiful and seductive.

Beside the soundly sleeping Qing Tan, a figure sat crosslegged on the ground. Upon closer inspection, one could see that person was Lin Dong. However, right now, he was in no mood to sleep, instead he had a solemn expression on his face as he utilized "QingYuan Arts" to continuously absorb the Yin Energy from Qing Tan's body.

After he advanced to Earthly Yuan Stage, Lin Dong needed a vast amount of Yin Energy. However, he was not interested in the ordinary Yin Energy that existed between Heaven and Earth. Hence, he could only turn to Qing Tan.

After he discussed with Qing Tan, she finally nodded her head, rosy red with embarrassment. Since then, he would wait for Qing Tan to sleep every night before he sat beside her and trained for two hours.

During these two hours, Lin Dong could shamelessly absorb all the Yin Energy that he wanted from Qing Tan...

For the first one or two days, Qing Tan felt a little uncomfortable. After all, she was still a girl and it felt unnatural to be sleeping while a boy sat beside her. However, she had complete faith in Lin Dong. Nonetheless, if word of this matter got out, it would still affect her dignity as a girl.

After a few days, she gradually got used to the situation. In fact, she discovered that the Yin Energy within her body that flared up from time to time had tamed down. So, she was better able to enjoy her sleep.

With this benefit, Qing Tan decided not to resist anymore and grant this slightly overbearing request from Lin Dong...

"Huff..."

In that quiet room, Lin Dong deeply exhaled as he gently opened his tightly shut eyes. Feeling a faintly cold sensation emitted from his Dan Tian, he let out a gentle smile. He then very carefully leap off the bed and gazed at the young lady who was gently holding onto Little Flame as she slept.

The gentle moonlight poured in from the window and shined on the young girl's peaceful and beautiful face. It was truly an extremely moving sight.

After Lin Dong gently adjusted the blanket for Qing Tan, he silently left the room.

Just as Lin Dong exited the room, the smile on the young girl's face turned a little sweeter...