Yin & Yang Pleasures of Cultivation

"Mou...that poor witless Giel. By the time we fight, it'll be too late for him to wish for regret!" Despite her words seeming sympathetic, Aniela's broad smile told an entirely different story.

Eager anticipation built up inside her and even Darcel; all they needed was just a bit of time. And then, they'll show all these proud students what a higher mountain truly means!

Currently, Aniela and Darcel were making their way down a unique area of Zakira Academy's initiate level. This area vastly differs from others mainly because of the mixed aura exuded here.

Auras of the different elements, sharp dominating auras, or serene, relaxing auras, all conflicted with each in this corridor

It was undoubtedly a shock to feel at first, but Darcel and Aniela quickly adapted to this change of feeling.

By looking around the corridor they were in, the duo could piece together why so many auras clashed here. Dozens of doors were lined up here, all supporting different Elders and Teachers.

Above each door, symbols were reading the variety of the elements or various weapon types. From water to lightning, or sword, this corridor certainly wasn't lacking in variety.

And just barely, coming from behind each door was a small leakage of the aura it was hosting.

Amazingly enough, despite having only a small portion of auras out here, the duo could tell none of these aurae were weak at all.

From what they had read about, this was Zakira Academy famed Law training rooms! Numerous students were bustling out of these doors, all with satisfied looks etched on their faces.

These rooms were one of the significant reasons outsiders and even small clans and sects were so lackluster than Zakira students. Everything stemmed from if these students were born with an ingrain special Qi.

To train with one's own inborn special Qi provides astronomical advantages others simply can't match.

Training with regular Qi is far simpler, but practicing with one's inborn special Qi greatly enhances their combat potential.

Furthermore, Darcel and Aniela were no exception to this rule. In fact, they reckon, compared to the students here, their growth will explode here along with their base combat prowess.

Looking down the corridor, thanks to the wide availability of rooms, it didn't take long for the duo to spot a fire room that wasn't occupied. Of course, they would need to go for fire as their next best option.

There really wasn't any Darkness elemental room or a Telekinesis room. They had gathered their inborn powers were entirely above anything this low-level Province had ever seen before.

Walking up to a middle-aged man who held an indifferent expression, Darcel asked him, "How much to rent a room for two days?"

The Elder looked down at the duo, whose height came up to just his shoulders. His eyes flashed in a slight realization about these two. These kids...they were those noisy trouble makers.

Although despite hearing about the nasty rumors about them, the Elder obviously had far more maturity to bother disdaining them. But he didn't hold any goodwill towards them either.

"Two days is two hundred orange crystals. If you have it, just interject the crystals into my ring." The Elder held out his hand that contained a purple spatial ring.

Hearing the price, Darcel and Aniela were glad they had back up crystals from the goblins missions and the Quicksilver roc sects kids. Wanting to get strong quickly indeed doesn't come cheap!

"Being the richest Academy in the city sure isn't an idle boast! I'll pay up, Darcel." Even though it really doesn't matter who pays, Aniela still wanted this to be like a treat for him.

Her blue spatial ring lit up, and she sorted out two hundred orange crystals among the massive pile already in there. Once ready, she lightly touched the Elder ring with her own, causing a mixed blue and purple flash.

The Elder took a brief second to count out all two hundred orange crystals in his ring. Being a powerful individual at his level, counting up to hundreds at a time, is nothing but a simple blink of his eyes.

Once confirming their crystals, the Elder stepped out of the doorway while igniting his finger in purple fire. Flicking his purple fire at the door, he told the two,

"After two days, you'll be immediately booted out of the room. Make every single count."

Nodding at the Elder generic and fair advanced, the door had opened up on its own for Darcel and Aniela. Without any hesitation, they jumped right in the door, taking them to a fantastical place altogether.

….

Through the door of fire, Darcel and Aniela's eyes gazed upon a roaring purple fiery hellscape that was enchanting to look at. No matter what area they looked at, purple fire swirled everywhere.

It was akin to a hail rising storm of purple flames. Even the ground they stood on was a glaring molting purple! The sky as well was this glaring purple color.

Moreover, neither Darcel nor Aniela can see an end to the fiery purple hell. Surprisingly it seemed like this Academy just had no limit on how expansive they wanted their rooms.

And this outlandish fiery hell appearance wasn't just for show. This room had, of course, heed temperature to blazing degrees.

From the entrance of where Darcel and Aniela stood, the purple fire was the calmest here, yet the temperature was still blazingly high. Immediate beads of sweat poured down their faces, but the duo didn't bother with using Qi to cool themselves off.

Only this much wasn't enough to get them to yield. After taking a moment to take in the elemental room, Aniela stretched her arms, cracked her neck while asking Darcel,

"So? What should our start be, Darcy? The fire properties in these flames are insanely high! Far, far higher than our own. Anything you suggest, we'll be in for a good time!"

Sensing around the place, Aniela was more than right. The aura of fire in her contained a deep profoundness similar to what Darcel felt from first meeting Teacher Zala.

Using a split second to make up his mind, Darcel told Aniela, "First we'll cultivate our black flame properties to expand our control and heat over it. Next up is practicing with our raipers along with our Martial Skills. We should at least use a few hours to refine this before continuing with our regular cultivation and bloodline."

"Sounds perfect to me! For our fire though, here's my suggestion...let's jump straight into the heat! Raw and primal experience works out for even the lowest of talents, let alone our talents."

Aniela's smile grew large and feral now. In actuality, not many would be willing to jump straight into the powerful fire just for training. Only those who had an extremely high affinity with fire would even consider this.

But Darcel and Aniela were hardwired to never take the average route. Nodding his head in agreement, Darcel said, "While we are doing it, we should see how long we can last with a Qi barrier, just to see our limits."

"Exactly what I was thinking. Let's go!" And with Aniela's final words, the two took a slight pause. Just enough to flex their legs and then shot right into the raging purple flames of hell.

Incredible heat that Darcel never experienced before circled around his body. All at once, his body became drenched with sweat, yet he gritted his teeth to withstand the heat.

Aniela clenched her hands tightly, digging into her flesh as the heat only raised more and more. In a commendable effort, the two could last for ten minutes before having to put up a Profound Qi barrier.

This result was certainly better than any other Perfect Order Qi Formation Sea students. They wouldn't even be able to last twenty seconds! Although this action might seem, well, just pointless to others.

What benefits could they possibly gain from going through a fiery hell with their base bodies? And the answer to that thought would be Darcel and Aniela slightly wide eyes when putting the Qi barrier up.

Despite lasting for a short excruciating ten minutes, the duo felt as if their bodies grew stronger and felt more in tune with fire. It was only a small bit of change but still enough for them to take notice.

With this slight confirmation in their minds, the duo crudely smiled. It was a pain, but the right kind of pain! For now, though, the two took the time to close their eyes and hone their senses.

The temperature only decreased barely enough for them to resist, and they took this to their advantage. Slowly their complete focused senses mixed in with the purple fire as they recall their own black flames.

The element of fire. Destructive, dangerous, wild, and frantic. All terms the duo would describe while sensing deep into the properties of this element. Yet, this was only the naked surface of fire.

After taking a few minutes, barely, just barely could the duo pick up on a profound consistent property of fire. This elemental fire property was enormously complex, but it spelled out one thing in their minds.

Fire is all one smooth motion.

It's supposed to be unhindered and controllable, swaying to whatever origins it may come from. Rapidly, because of their already high comprehension abilities, the duo fell into slight realization.

Moderately they were able to learn more about the surface level of the elemental fire properties. And with what they could figure out, the two began applying this to their own black fire properties.

The two fell into a trance.

By a little bit, did their Qi barrier let up, allowing more heat to swirl around Darcel and Aniela's bodies. It became increasingly harder to hold on, but it also helped with cultivating their flames.

Thirty minutes have passed since the two became still like statues. Their minds were experiencing ground shaking progress about elemental fire properties, and then,

'Ka-Cha!'

Reverberations like something shattered in their minds, pushed the duo onto a new level with fire! It was a small jump in comprehension, but Darcel and Aniela had already felt a more in-depth understanding of fire.

Just like how they can effortlessly crush any mental blocks in regular cultivation, their comprehension in special Qi types wasn't any different. Their genius talent had shone brightly here.

With their eyes still closed, the duo opened up their palm. All of their focus went into the center of their palm as they willed their new understanding of fire.

Slowly, above their palm, the air went against the whole elemental room. What was forming at the center of their palms was several phantom images of black flames.

And compared to before, their control over their flame manipulation dramatically improved. There wasn't any high-end power coming from them, but Darcel and Aniela felt like they had complete control.

Steadily they made black fire formed into small raging black flaming tornadoes! These tornadoes were frantically swirling but were held firmly in place by the duo.

The power of these tornadoes was undoubtedly weak. But power wasn't what they were going for. The control the two had was excellent. No shortage of power leaked out, nor did the tornadoes get too wild.

This progress over control and comprehension of fire suddenly gave Darcel an idea. Dispersing the black fire tornadoes, Darcel brought out the jade scroll of the Fiery Slice Martial Skill.

Unsurprisingly the jade scroll wasn't affected at all by the surrounding purple flames or heat. Darcel promptly opened the scroll and zeroed in on the content there.

There were detailed instructions on controlling your fire and balancing out your Qi with the fire to create this attack. Swiftly, Darcel read every little instruction with flashes of inspiration.

After only a few seconds of reading, he was ready. Scrolling up the jade scroll, Darcel held up one finger. Remembering the contents of the Martial Skill to a tee, he began willing his black fire and Profound Qi.

Waves of massive fire and power swirled around Darcel, but it was in a calm state. And in only a few seconds of focusing,

'Chi!'

A tall line of black fire spewed out Darcel's finger. It was only a single line of black flames. Yet, the power behind this line couldn't be ignored by any Perfect Order Qi Formation Sea cultivator.

If he were to use this attack on the Perfect Order goblins, it would've been a dominating one hit kill! And Darcel was only at the beginning of this skill!

"Aniela."

By only calling her name did Darcel chuck the jade scroll to her.

Darcel peered over for a second to her, seeing that she caught it. Smirking to himself, Darcel went on for another few seconds to explore this Martial Skill.

Until, similarly to himself, Darcel sense vast waves of fire and power spewed out of Aniela.

Glancing over again, he saw Aniela brightly smiling with a whitish black line of flame upon her finger. Excited by her progress, Aniela spoke out loud in a passionate tone.

"Fiery Slice. The skill that'll burn through any eyes that are blind to us!"