Crossing Over: The Strongest Mage

Xiuning's tears dripped down one by one, falling toward the bottom of the cliff. One of the drops even landed on Yan Huo's face. He gently wiped the tear away and looked up at the mountain. "Xiuning, don't blame me for being heartless. It was you who deceived me first."

Several hours passed, and Xiuning's cries continued, though her voice had already become hoarse. Slowly, the sky began to brighten. Xiuning knew that anyone who fell from this cliff would not survive, but she still strained her eyes, trying to glimpse Yan Huo's figure at the bottom.

But Xiuning was just an ordinary mortal with no special abilities; how could she see the bottom of the cliff? Yan Huo, however, stood at the bottom, gazing up at Xiuning above.

"Go back! Xiuning, you won't find me here. Go back and tell Liu Yiqing. Let's see if he'll come down to look for me. Let's see if he cares about his son's life or death."

After spending the night at the bottom of the cliff, Yan Huo began to feel that he had acted too rashly. He should not have jumped down so recklessly to fake his death. He thought about Zhang Feng and felt he should have at least said goodbye to him. But now, the situation made it difficult for him to meet Zhang Feng.

"What if Liu Yiqing really comes looking for me? But I haven't really died… If he doesn't come, then it proves he's truly heartless." 

*Sigh* "Why am I even thinking about all this? What's done is done. I'll just stay here at the bottom of the cliff for a few more days, and then I'll know the result."

Yan Huo, after thinking about this, began to observe the surroundings. The bottom of the cliff appeared to be a naturally formed large pit, shaped like a half-circle and spanning over a thousand meters in area. The terrain here was lower than the ground at the foot of the mountain by about ten zhang.

Although the sunlight was limited, the trees, flowers, and grass were lush and thriving. 

"This is strange. I wonder how this place formed?" Yan Huo looked around, taking in the full view of the area. The place where he stood was surrounded by trees, and behind the trees, there was a patch of flowers and grass. In the middle of this patch, there was a stone, about the height of a person, standing alone. The flowers around it were especially vibrant.

"Let's stay here for the next few days," Yan Huo decided as he made his way through the woods toward the stone.

At the top of the cliff, Xiuning was no longer visible. Yan Huo sat on the stone for the entire night, and when dawn arrived, he prepared to begin his meditation and cultivation as usual. He took out his "Carefree Heart Method" and looked at it again.

"This is strange! Normally, I should be making progress in my cultivation every day. But why is it that since a year ago, I haven't felt any increase in my true energy? Now, when I absorb spiritual energy, there's no feeling of pain in my body. It's as if the spiritual energy isn't even entering my dantian."

No wonder Yan Huo was puzzled. He was still in the Dao Initiation stage, and his spiritual sense hadn't awakened yet, so he couldn't observe his internal body. Therefore, he had no idea that his dantian had not changed at all in the past year.

Yan Huo stared at the few lines describing the Dao Initiation stage and muttered to himself. "Does the Dao Initiation stage really take this long to cultivate? Is there no exception?"

"I'm so stupid!" Yan Huo smacked his own head. "I should just try practicing the next stage's method to see if it works. Anyway, it doesn't say anywhere that it's wrong to practice the next method ahead of time. If it doesn't work, I can just continue practicing the original method."

In the later stages of the Immortal Path, one could undergo a complete transformation, gaining a lifespan of hundreds of years. — Chongyangzi

This time, Yan Huo did not pay any attention to the words left by Chongyangzi. Instead, he sat cross-legged on the stone and began his cultivation. This time, Yan Huo remained in a deep meditative state for longer than ever before. A day and a half passed, and Yan Huo sat motionless on the stone. The spiritual energy in the mountain continued to be absorbed by him. Unlike before, the energy no longer surged toward him on its own; it seemed to be under his control, slowly flowing through his body and gathering in his dantian.

The spiritual energy formed a ball in his dantian, slowly expanding from a thin layer to surround a small golden dot. The energy within the ball remained still, while the golden qi, the "Nine-Five Qi," continued to circulate within it. Yan Huo's dantian now resembled a crystal ball glowing with golden light. As his cultivation continued, the ball's thickness would gradually increase.

"So this is the state of my dantian. Heh, it looks so beautiful," Yan Huo thought as he observed his internal state through his spiritual sense.

Three days later, when Yan Huo opened his eyes, he knew that his cultivation of the Dao Stabilization stage had been successful. His cultivation had now reached the early stage of Dao Stabilization.

At the early stage of Dao Stabilization, Yan Huo's true energy was equivalent to the internal force of a martial expert who had cultivated for hundreds of years in the mortal world. More importantly, the true fire within him was beginning to form. True fire was a flame created from the true energy of each cultivator. As cultivation levels advanced, the power of true fire grew stronger. The primary use of true fire was to refine spiritual tools and magical treasures. With the same materials, the level of the true fire determined the quality of the refined spiritual tools and treasures.

If Yan Huo reached the peak of the Dao Stabilization stage, combined with good materials, he would be able to use his true fire to forge a low-grade flying sword.

Seeing the inside of his dantian, Yan Huo realized that he had succeeded. He didn't understand why he was able to progress so quickly through the Dao Stabilization stage. He even began to doubt Chongyangzi's words. "Did Chongyangzi just say those things to scare me? Or am I really a genius, as Zhang Feng said?"

"Heh! It seems that cultivation isn't so difficult for me," Yan Huo chuckled, feeling a rare moment of joy.

"Has it already become night?" Yan Huo suddenly realized. "I remember I entered meditation in the morning! Has it really been a whole day?"

He looked up at the mountain cliff above and then glanced down at the forest at the base of the cliff.

"Why is my heart suddenly beating so fast? I feel like something bad is going to happen," Yan Huo thought, as he opened his senses to observe his surroundings. A strong smell of blood wafted up from the forest below the cliff.

"Huh? What's that?" Yan Huo stood up and leaped toward the forest.

On the third day after Yan Huo jumped down the cliff, at noon, a man and a woman appeared at the edge of the cliff. The man was in his fifties, dressed in luxurious, noble clothing, with a calm and composed expression. The woman, on her knees, had disheveled clothes, and her face was haggard. Dark circles hung beneath her eyes, as though she had not slept for several nights.