Crossing Over: The Strongest Mage

Cultivation is a curious thing. Sometimes, even after reaching a certain level of power, a person might struggle to take the next step. The key often lies in a single moment of enlightenment, a small but crucial understanding. As Yan Huo made his promise to Xiuning, a sudden realization dawned on him. His spiritual platform stirred, and the spiritual energy within his dantian began to rapidly shrink into a more compact form. Yan Huo, not daring to waste a moment, immediately began to meditate, absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to assist his breakthrough.

Moments later, Yan Huo entered the middle stage of the *Dao Gu* (Dao Solidifying) realm. His eyes gleamed with a newfound light, brighter than before. The energy ball in his dantian had contracted slightly but had become denser and more solid.

But something strange caught his attention: a faint red thread had appeared in the golden *Nine-Five Qi* at the center of his dantian. The thread was so delicate that Yan Huo didn't notice it at first. Despite this, his cultivation had progressed, and although he didn't know how many more steps remained before he could attain immortality, he was encouraged by his progress. With this newfound confidence, Yan Huo looked at Xiuning's grave.

"I should set up a tombstone for Xiuning," he thought. Yan Huo wasn't worried about forgetting where Xiuning's grave was, but rather, he thought that if his path of cultivation were to take years, someone might unknowingly desecrate her grave. Even if he returned successful in his cultivation, it would be too late to undo such damage. It was better to leave a clear marker for others to respect.

Years from now, Xiuning's body would have turned to bone, and the chances of resurrecting her would be slim. The only options would be to either retrieve her soul and attach it to another body or have her reincarnate. But Yan Huo knew none of this. He surveyed the area, and aside from the large boulder in front of him, there were no other suitable stones to use as a tombstone.

"This will do," he muttered to himself. He approached the large stone, gathering his Qi, and swung his palm toward it. He had struck rocks countless times in the mountains, and though he didn't know any formal martial arts, he had practiced leaping and smashing rocks, which he enjoyed.

Now that his cultivation had advanced further, his strength was comparable to that of a human with two hundred years of martial arts experience. Striking a stone should have been as easy as cutting tofu. With a single strike, *bang!*

But strangely, the rock only shook slightly, and a few small fragments fell off.

"Eh?" Yan Huo was puzzled. "Why is this stone so hard?"

Determined, he drew on more of his strength and struck again. This time, the stone cracked, and a large portion of it broke off, but the boulder itself remained unmoved.

"My hand hurts! How is this stone so tough?" Yan Huo growled, frustration rising within him.

Just as he was about to lose his temper, something caught his eye. The area he had struck revealed a patch of black inside the rock.

"What is this? The stone is black inside?" Yan Huo was curious. He carefully wiped off the dust and revealed what appeared to be a smooth black material, as soft and silky as cloth.

"This must be iron, right?" he wondered aloud.

Running his fingers over the black material, he felt a surge of powerful spiritual energy emanating from it. At that moment, Yan Huo thought of the ancient cultivation techniques left by Chong Yangzi, specifically the section on refining and controlling flying swords.

"This iron is not only incredibly hard, but it's also filled with spiritual energy. It should be perfect for refining flying swords or spiritual artifacts. I wonder if my True Fire can refine it."

With that thought in mind, Yan Huo decided to extract the entire piece of black iron. He began to carefully strip away the stone, and within a short time, a piece of iron about six feet long and three feet wide emerged. However, the lower half was still deeply embedded in the earth, and Yan Huo had no idea how long the iron block truly was.

He grasped the iron pillar tightly, gathering all his strength. With a mighty shout, he pulled with all his might, "Lift!" Slowly, but surely, the massive iron block began to rise. After several attempts, Yan Huo finally succeeded in pulling it free.

Breathing heavily, Yan Huo stepped back, marveling at the huge chunk of iron now lying before him. The iron seemed to hum with latent spiritual energy, and Yan Huo couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement. This was no ordinary material.

Yan Huo sat on the ground, panting, and said, "Oh my god! There are still three feet of it buried underground. How many flying swords would it take to forge from such a huge piece of iron?" However, Yan Huo wasn't interested in forging flying swords, so he said, "Since there's such a large chunk, let's try forging a tombstone for Sister Xiuning first!" Using forging materials to create a tombstone for someone, Yan Huo could be considered the first person in the cultivation world to do so. He had no idea how important materials were in forging. "Sister Xiuning, I'll forge a tombstone for you right away." Yan Huo's "right away," however, ended up taking a full six months.

Although black spiritual iron was just one of the most common low-level forging materials in the cultivation world, for Yan Huo, who had only just mastered true fire and was a novice in forging, it was quite difficult. True fire was divided into seven levels: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple. Each level had three sub-levels: one flavor, two flavors, and three flavors. The only true fire Yan Huo could currently control was the red-level one-flavor true fire. Not long after starting, Yan Huo realized his control over the fire wasn't sufficient, but he persisted through sheer determination. True fire was maintained by true power, and Yan Huo initially relied solely on pushing his own true power out of his body, which quickly drained his reserves.

With no other option, Yan Huo had to sit in meditation to replenish his true power. "Why don't I try absorbing spiritual energy while forging?" During the third month of forging the tombstone, Yan Huo suddenly came up with this idea. He tried it, and to his surprise, it worked. Spiritual energy continuously flowed into his body and into his dantian, where it was converted into true fire for forging. After several months of continuous practice, Yan Huo spent every moment either meditating or forging. His cultivation steadily increased, and his true fire grew stronger. By the time the tombstone was finally forged, Yan Huo had reached the peak of the Dao Solidification stage, and his true fire had advanced from one-flavor red fire to two-flavor red fire.

A faint red color also appeared in the golden ball within his dantian. Yan Huo naturally noticed this but didn't know what it was, nor did he think there was anything wrong, so he didn't pay much attention. Looking at the tombstone, Yan Huo couldn't help but laugh, "Haha! Finally finished!" He had used up a third of the spiritual iron. A huge black tombstone stood in front of Xiuning's grave, with four large characters inscribed: "Tomb of Xiuning." Perhaps it was because he had done something for Xiuning, or perhaps because it was his first successful forging, Yan Huo's face finally broke into a rare smile. "Haha! Sister Xiuning, look how dirty I am. It's like I haven't bathed in seven months." But as he said this, Yan Huo's mood turned somber again. "You used to supervise me every day to bathe, but now I don't even know if you can hear me. Sigh!"

"Let's first take a bath and put on some clean clothes!" Yan Huo had always been fond of cleanliness since he was young. If not for Xiuning, he wouldn't have been able to go seven months without bathing.

"I'll head back to the manor to get some clothes!" "Sister Xiuning, I'll be back soon, wait for me." After saying that, Yan Huo jumped toward the mountain cliff, leaping a few times until he reached the foot of the thousand-meter-high cliff. Both Elder Yu and his wife, along with their two kind old servants, were saddened by the loss of both Yan Huo and Xiuning. Elder Yu had originally wanted to set up a memorial tablet for them at the manor, but Liu Yiqing wouldn't allow it.