Chapter 2: Battle Practitioner

Six years later, Fa Ma sat cross-legged in his training room. Battle Qi poured into his body at an incredible rate as he formed the hand seal to condense the Battle Qi. He had simulated condensing the cyclone to become a Battle Practitioner three times in the Journal Simulating Space, succeeding on the previous two attempts. The first failure resulted in ruptured meridians which was the worst pain he had ever experienced in his two lives. He wondered if giving birth was worse than that?

Old Turtle had prepared a Qi Gathering powder for him, but Fa Ma wanted his foundation to be as strong as possible, so he was avoiding using it. He compressed his Battle Power as much as he could, continuing to draw in Battle Qi to supplement it. Now, he started to rotate the Battle Power until it vaguely formed a whirlpool. Fa Ma continued compressing until it formed a small cyclone. At that moment, he experienced the inner visions that only Battle Practitioners could feel.

He emerged from the room and grabbed his Smoldering Cloud Spear to test his newfound power. The spear was nowhere as good as Xiao Yan's Ruler, but it provided a decent enhancement on fire attribute battle qi. As he performed techniques with it, it felt unprecedentedly smooth and he felt an urge to pierce the sky. Running out of the room, he yelled, "Old Turtle, I did it!"

"Annoying brat, do you have to yell so loud?" Zhi Gui rushed into the room and gave Fa Ma a bear hug. He then noticed the Qi Gathering powder lying to the side of Fa Ma's agarwood mat. "Fa Ma, why didn't you use the powder like I told you to?" he roared.

"I still advanced, old man. Calm down."

Zhi Gui quickly gave Fa Ma a taste of his fist of love, flattening him immediately. "Zhi Gui, I'll get you back for this, I swear!" Fa Ma roared. Meanwhile, the maid outside the room silently chuckled at this familiar scene. Zhi Gui and Fa Ma were truly like an inseparable pair of brothers, but their love was mostly violent. One time, Fa Ma fed Zhi Gui a laxative but later felt how painful a wedgie was as he was hung on top of the courtyard tree.

Over the past six years, Fa Ma had practiced every single day to ensure his future success, only breaking through when he couldn't hold back any longer. He would even condense the battle power in each of the nine stages as much as he possibly could before advancing. Despite his rapid absorption of Battle Qi, Zhi Gui's resources were inseparable from the progress and foundation he laid. In order to strengthen his foundation, he also told Yao Chen's foundation building liquid prescription to Old Turtle. As the president of the Searing Copper City, a key city of the empire due to its Searing Copper mine, Alchemy Guild, Old Turtle enjoyed considerable resources. After countless experiments, Old Turtle successfully refined the liquid, making adjustments to fit the herbs available in the desert environment. The new recipe consisted of an Earth Magic Core, Stone Hearth Grass, and two Bone-Washing Flowers. This new recipe was more painful to soak in than Yao Chen's but had a stronger effect.

In addition, Fa Ma confirmed that he had a fire attribute with a trace of wood and practiced various skills, with his favorite being spear techniques. Skills and Techniques (ways to cultivate) in the Dou Qi Continent are divided into four levels: Yellow, Profound, Earth, and Heaven, each with sub-levels of low, medium, and high. Old Turtle gave him three profound low-rank skills:

"Shadow Phantom Steps," a profound low-level footwork skill that focused on elusiveness and, once perfected, could leave an afterimage to confuse enemies. 

"Primal Fury," a set of spear techniques inspired by the Jungle Cannon Monkey which are relatively domineering.

"Dominion Stance," a set of movement techniques inspired by monkey's unique body control.

Relying on the various skills he was given, Fa Ma eventually developed his own profound high rank skills: "Alpha Ape's Ascendancy" as he integrated the three profound skills as well as various yellow skills involving force manipulation to make this art that combined elusiveness, dexterity, and pure power.

When he showed Old Turtle these skills, the old man became depressed for a day before recovering and becoming a cultivation maniac. Old Turtle even advanced to a nine-star Dou Ling and faintly touched becoming a fifth-grade alchemist. He often traveled to the Imperial Capital to exchange for more resources, and his renown as a great alchemist grew ever since he introduced the foundation-building liquid. He had amassed significant wealth, but most of the resources were saved for Fa Ma.

Thinking of this, Fa Ma swore in his heart to repay the old man, but that would have to wait until later.

"Fa Ma, since you have reached the Battle Practitioner level, it's time to choose a technique. I have two Profound-high level techniques for you to choose from." As Zhi Gui spoke, Fa Ma knew that this choice would have a defining impact on his future.

He took the two martial techniques from Old Turtle's hands and read through them intensely. The first technique was the Sun Fire Burning Technique. Inspired by the Three Thousand Burning Flame, it attracted a small amount of sunlight, imbuing the battle qi with a part of the Sun's heat. However, practitioners had to endure the refining heat of the sun while practicing. The second technique was the Exploding Volcano Technique, which focused on amplifying the explosiveness of fire to the extreme.

Ever since Fa Ma realized he was in this world, he knew that he had to torture himself; otherwise, others would do it for him. He wasn't afraid of hardships but feared having regrets. He had hammered these principles into himself and forced Old Turtle to be cruel to him during sparring. Otherwise, he would have the realm but not the combat power to match. He also had a vision since discovering his fire attribute: to cultivate his own fire comparable to the heavenly fires, and using the Sun's power was a possible avenue. Thus, he chose the Sun Fire Burning Technique.

"Okay, brat, now that you have chosen your technique, it's time for me to give you your own cauldron. Here's the two-mouth cauldron that I used in the beginning. Treat it well."

Fa Ma stared at the cauldron obsessively as this was going to be his money minting machine. Even though it was only a two-mouth cauldron, he knew in the future he would upgrade it to a ten-mouth cauldron. However, those cauldrons are excessively rare as each fire mouth has to be calculated with great care and the ores that could withstand higher temperatures became excessively rare. He also hoped for his own Heavenly Cauldron, a cauldron comparable to the legendary Heavenly Fires. For now, he imagined the millions of gold coins beckoning to him already. Though he hadn't decided on his future title, at that moment, he thought that "Money Emperor" didn't sound too shabby.