BTTH : From Humble Beginnings to Dou Di

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As they continued walking, Lin Feng was surprised at just how spacious the interior of the tower was.

Even just the first floor of the tower had enough room to accommodate five hundred people cultivating at the same time.

The tower’s inner space was laid out in a circular pattern, with cultivation rooms of various sizes built around it.

At the moment, however, over ninety percent of these cultivation rooms were already occupied.

Above the doors of each room hung small red plaques, but the words written on them differed.

Sweeping his eyes across the area, Lin Feng noticed the red plaques bore three different words: High, Medium, and Low—likely indicating the cultivation room’s grade or level.

As he walked slowly from the east side toward the south, he discovered that all the high-level cultivation rooms were located near the central area of the tower.

Surrounding those were the medium-level rooms, and further out toward the edge were the low-level ones.

After walking for about ten minutes, Lin Feng tried to use his soul perception to locate the staircase to the next floor, but was surprised to find that the material used to build the tower actually absorbed all of his soul sense, preventing him from probing past the walls.

With a disappointed sigh, he had no choice but to obediently follow Zi Yan forward.

Zi Yan, too, remained quiet out of caution, afraid someone nearby might realize Lin Feng wasn’t an actual Inner Academy student.

After all, no new students had been accepted into the Inner Academy recently. If an old student didn’t know about the Heavenly Flame Cultivation Tower, that would be extremely suspicious.

Not long after, they rounded a corner and suddenly saw a spiral staircase not far ahead.

This had to be the entrance to the next level.

Since Jia Nan Academy’s rule was that new students could only enter the second floor after one week of adapting to the Heart Flame, and with more than half a year until the next batch of new students, there were no instructors guarding the stairway.

Following Zi Yan down the spiral staircase, they walked for about five minutes until their vision suddenly opened up again.

After turning another corner, another spacious floor came into view—this was the second level of the tower.

It was similar in size to the first floor but notably less crowded.

Although students still walked through in twos and threes, it was far from the congested situation on the first floor, where moving was difficult.

Lin Feng and Zi Yan’s presence didn’t draw much attention.

After all, as long as an Inner Academy student had enough Fire Energy, they could descend to cultivate here.

Most people only glanced at them before going about their own business.

As they passed more cultivation rooms labeled by level, the two eventually reached the staircase leading to the third floor.

What surprised Lin Feng was that even at the entrance to the fourth floor, there were still no instructors present to guard it.

Arriving on the fourth floor, the number of students dwindled even further. Only the occasional one could be seen passing through.

”Zi Yan, the deeper we go, the more dangerous the tower should become. So why aren’t there any instructors guarding the stairways? Aren’t they afraid that students might wander in without permission?”

As they reached the stairway to the fifth floor, Lin Feng glanced around and, seeing no one nearby, voiced his doubts.

In his memory of the original story, when Xiao Yan and the others entered the tower, the stairways had always been guarded by instructors.

Zi Yan also scanned the surroundings, flicked her purple ponytail, and replied in a low voice, ”When new students first enter the tower, those old guys are always worried that they’ll wander around and cause trouble, so there are people stationed here.

But now, every student in the Inner Academy has been here for at least half a year. They all know the rules, and won’t go running around like new students.”

”Besides, anyone who doesn’t have enough strength won’t have the Fire Energy to cultivate down here. The deeper you go, the more Fire Energy is consumed each day.

If a student has the energy to cultivate on these lower levels, their strength is more than sufficient—so there’s no need for anyone to guard the stairs.”

Lin Feng nodded in understanding.

The reason Xiao Yan and the others had encountered guards in the original story was to prevent new students, who didn’t know the rules, from wandering off.

As for senior students, they had already learned their lessons and wouldn’t act recklessly.

Moreover, without sufficient Fire Energy, students wouldn’t be able to stay long even if they descended, and would eventually have to slink back up anyway.

Still, the lack of instructors made it easier for him, an outsider, to move freely.

Before long, Zi Yan led Lin Feng to the sixth floor.

This was the lowest level that students were generally allowed to enter for regular cultivation.

As they passed by several cultivation rooms, Lin Feng noticed that the rooms here no longer had the High, Medium, and Low labels.

Instead, the signs above each room only displayed numbers.

And the further in they went, the smaller the numbers became, and the more exquisite the cultivation rooms appeared.

Since there were very few people on this floor, Zi Yan gradually returned to her usual lively self. She began explaining with a grin, ”There’s no high, middle, or low grade distinction on the sixth floor.

All the cultivation rooms here are reserved for the Strong Ranking experts. The number you rank corresponds to the number on the door—that’s your cultivation room.”

After a slight pause, Zi Yan tilted her little head up with a proud look on her face and added, ”And me? I’m ranked number one on the Strong Ranking, so naturally, my cultivation room is Room One at the very end. That room is the best one in the entire tower.”

Hearing that, Lin Feng couldn’t help but twitch the corner of his mouth, secretly muttering in his heart, You’re a magic beast who’s lived who knows how many years, yet you’re out here bullying twenty-year-old kids like it’s fair. Seriously...

”This is my cultivation room. You can use it to cultivate from now on,” Zi Yan said, pointing at a wide stone door as they arrived at one of the spacious rooms.

Even just standing at the entrance, Lin Feng could faintly sense the pure energy flowing out from within the room.

He reached out and caught a wisp of energy, drawing it into his body. With a light sigh of admiration, he said, ”Even for us Dou Wang, cultivating in here would likely be more than twice as fast as cultivating outside.”

”Of course!” Zi Yan giggled. ”Hey Lin Feng, since I’m letting you use such an amazing place, shouldn’t you... you know…”

As she spoke, she rubbed her small hands together with a sly smile—her meaning was crystal clear.

”You little rascal.”

Lin Feng chuckled, then pulled out a few fifth-tier pills and several thousand semi-finished pill pellets from his storage ring and tossed them over. ”Take it. These fifth-tier pills and thousands of pellets should last you a while.”

”Hehe, I knew you’d be generous!”

Zi Yan’s fair little face immediately lit up with joy when she saw the heap of jade bottles. She quickly stashed them into her storage ring without hesitation.

”Now that I know where the room is, let’s head out. I don’t have any fire energy points right now, so I can’t use it yet.”

Lin Feng was itching to go collect some fire energy to begin cultivating, so he turned and spoke to Zi Yan.

”Okay!”

Zi Yan cheerfully rubbed her storage ring and agreed instantly.

Outside the tower, in an open space, Zi Yan’s bright purple eyes spun around a few times before she revealed two tiny tiger teeth in a grin. ”You pretty much know the layout of the Inner Academy now, so go do your thing. I’m gonna take Xiao Cai and go wander around the forest nearby.”

”Your Majesty, what do you think?” Lin Feng asked, referring to Medusa.

”No.”

The moment Lin Feng finished speaking, a cold and elegant female voice echoed in his mind.

Seeing Medusa had refused, Lin Feng turned to Zi Yan and said, ”Xiao Cai will be cultivating with me for a few days. Come back in seven days if you want to find her.”

”Ahhh…”

Zi Yan’s face instantly scrunched up in disappointment at her plan falling apart.

Staring at Lin Feng’s unmoving sleeve, she could only stomp her little feet and hold the grudge for later.

With a sigh, she waved her small hand and said, ”Fine, I’ll come back in a few days to find Xiao Cai. You already understand the basics of the Inner Academy.

As long as you don’t wander into the central area, the old geezers won’t notice you. I’m off then!”

With that, a pair of purple wings unfolded behind her, and she flew off toward the dense forest on the edge of the Inner Academy.

Lin Feng turned his gaze to the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower, of which only the tip of its spire peeked out from the ground. Then, he turned and began walking east.

Because the Inner Academy was so vast, and he didn’t dare to casually use Dou Qi Wings here, it took him a full half-hour to finally reach his destination.

Fortunately, the so-called Trading Area was one of the liveliest places within the Inner Academy.

As a result, the path leading to it was constantly bustling with people, making it easy to navigate without getting lost.

Half an hour later, Lin Feng arrived at a massive open plaza.

Within the plaza, countless stone platforms had been set up, and at this moment, they were all packed with dazzling arrays of items.

Outside the platforms, the crowd was dense and lively. The sheer popularity of the place could rival even Lin Feng’s home city, Spirit Mountain City, leaving him a little surprised.

He entered the bustling trading area, weaving his body through the crowd as his eyes swept over the goods laid out on the various stone tables on either side.

As his gaze wandered, Lin Feng’s heart grew increasingly amazed.

He found that some of the items for sale here weren’t inferior at all to what could be found in the major cities of the Black-Corner Region.

Perhaps it was because the Inner Academy was located deep in the mountains, but some rare items here were things even shops in the Black-Corner Region had trouble obtaining.

After wandering around the trading area for a while, Lin Feng frowned.

Most of the second and third-tier pills here were only being sold for a few fire energy points. As for fourth-tier pills—there were almost no students buying or selling them.

If I keep selling low-tier pills like this, how long is it going to take to gather the fire energy I need for cultivation?

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