By the time Xuan regained consciousness, he was already in some kind of infirmary wing, lying on a bed with one of his eyes missing and every single bone in his body broken.

To be frank, he did feel like a good awakening wasn’t too shabby. After all, he thought he was pretty strong to begin with, being able to fight against Spirit Lords almost at the same level.

But Dian was a Spirit King, and from the looks of things, a Spirit King was far, far out of his league. After all, even with the Poison Qi, he didn’t even suffer in the slightest. That just went to show the difference between a Spirit Lord and a Spirit King.

Honestly, he was a bit skeptical to see how the fights happened even higher up, since if someone like this could destroy him so easily... It was a little bit sad.

Anyhow, it was about time he stopped trying to sulk over his ass getting beat. Instead, he went ahead and stopped using Elemental Qi, allowing the full brunt of Void Qi to wash over his body, healing him at a visible rate.

The injuries weren’t as severe as he thought, since he healed in under 20 seconds, took the casts off, and manually adjusted his eye that was slightly crossed. Afterwards, Xuan went ahead and stepped out of the infirmary.

Glancing around, Xuan realized he was near the top of one of the mountains, and from how empty it was, this was likely the infirmary belonging to some of the more powerful bunch. Or maybe the elders?

Eh...

<Xiao Xuan: I’m back from the dead, what did I miss?>

<Xiao Yuelan: You were gone? Welp. It’s been around an hour since we left you to talk with your future father-in-law. We’re currently bathing, so if you don’t mind, go back to being dead for a few hours longer. Talk to you in a bit, Xuan.>

With that, she cut the connection, causing him to roll his eyes in annoyance. He knew that she was a brat, but come on... She could’ve at least been a little nicer about it.

Speaking of nice people though, a familiar voice soon resounded inside his mind.

[To your right, there is a staircase leading to the peak. Follow it.]

Dian.

"Alright."

Xuan decided to go along with it, following the staircase made out of stone slabs and eventually arriving at the top, where there was just one massive training ground.

Here he was expecting a nice palace. Oh well, not everyone enjoyed those kinds of things, Xuan guessed.

Atop the training ground, there was Dian. Except unlike before, he was wearing a casual disciple uniform. If he had just stepped into the sect, no one would realize he was the sect master. But perhaps that’s what he gets for looking so young.

Though...

"Why did you call?" Xuan asked, crossing his arms. "If I’m being honest, I’m not really sure what happened. The last thing I remembered was you breaking my back, and then when I was falling, you heel-kicked me in the head. I kind of passed out after that."

Dian rolled his eyes. "You should’ve passed out after the first hit. Blame your thick head for being so resilient."

Xuan shrugged. "If you say so."

Seeing how uneager Xuan was, Dian was a little pissed off. "Boy, a Spirit King is standing in front of you, and yet you laze around? Don’t you want to learn my Qi Types?"

At the mention of Qi Types, Xuan’s laziness vanished. "Qi Types? What do you mean, learn? How do I learn them?"

"Tsk. Now you’re paying attention. Do you want me to teach you how I learned them?" Dian asked, and Xuan nodded right away, prompting Dian to continue:

"Since you already have Space Qi, and Blood Qi might be too difficult for you to achieve, let’s start with the easiest."

Just then, he reached into his dimensional ring and pulled out a giant tub of water. It was already filled and steaming. As it so happened, that tub of water was the height of Xuan, and it even had a lid.

Now... Xuan might not be a genius, but from how he had attained his other Qi Types, he had a rough suspicion of how this one might go. Maybe not though. Maybe he just needed to take a really, really, really long shower?

"You’re going to need to drown a couple of times," Dian announced, confirming Xuan’s fears.

"Drowning...? Isn’t there a safer option?"

Dian raised a brow. "I’m right here, brat. If it looks like you’re about to die, then I’ll pull you out. So don’t you even dare try to get out by yourself. Also, don’t you dare break the tub. Sullying my training grounds with sweat is allowed, but water? No. Don’t even think about it."

In short, Xuan had accidentally signed himself up for some bullshit. On the flip side though, he would get a Qi Type if he was successful. But once more, it took him quite a bit of poison to actually get Poison Qi.

The only way he could get Water Qi like Demonic Qi was if the Water Qi was directly infused into him... But if he asked Dian to do that, he would risk becoming some kind of guinea pig.

After all, while Xuan wasn’t that smart in regards to cultivation, it was obvious that absorbing someone’s Qi and unlocking their Qi Type wasn’t normal.

So for the time being, he decided to just roll with it.

"Take off all your clothes. Don’t worry, no one can enter this mountain, so no one will see that you’re not a eunuch," Dian said.

Xuan sighed and did just that. Afterwards, he approached the tub, and right as he was about to enter, noticed that not only was there a lot of water... It was also boiling water.

He didn’t expect him to actually enter this thing, right?

"Jump in."

Right...

Here goes nothing.