The gap between the seventh and eighth ranks is like a chasm between heaven and earth. Even The Thompson Patriarch was unable to cross this gulf in fifty years, which shows just how difficult it is.

“Then Mr. Night, what is your current strength?” William Carter couldn’t clearly discern Mr. Night’s power, which in itself indicated just how terrifying Mr. Night’s strength was.

“Seventh rank, first grade. In these fifty years, I’ve only just barely broken through to the seventh rank.”

William Carter could understand—crossing a single rank took decades. Back when he broke through the Tribulation, it took him a full two hundred years, and even that speed was unprecedented. Throughout history, there have been many powerful Tribulation cultivators, but the years they spent far exceeded William Carter’s by countless times.

William Carter stayed with Mr. Night until late at night before leaving. Mr. Night had never felt so content. Lonely people are always easily satisfied. William Carter could clearly see the loneliness in Mr. Night’s eyes. A doctor heals not only the body, but sometimes the heart as well.

Mr. Night was a meritorious figure who had worked diligently for the The Carter Family for decades, yet such a contributor did not have a peaceful old age.

Perhaps Henry Carter had cared about Mr. Night, but it was clearly not enough. William Carter did not want the The Carter Family to lose its sense of benevolence and righteousness. What Henry Carter failed to do, he, as a son, would do.

Chapter 0009: Dou Qi Mutation

The next day—

William Carter visited again. As soon as he entered, he caught a whiff of fragrance and saw several plates of desserts and candies arranged on the table.

As soon as Mr. Night saw William Carter, his complexion immediately improved: “Young Master Yun, you’re here!”

William Carter grinned. Mr. Night didn’t seem to have changed much, but William Carter could tell that Mr. Night’s complexion had indeed improved a bit.

William Carter continued to transmit immortal energy to Mr. Night, but before doing so, he first checked whether Mr. Night’s body and Dou Qi had undergone any changes due to the immortal energy.

After a thorough examination, he found no unpredictable changes in Mr. Night’s body or Dou Qi caused by the immortal energy.

So, William Carter continued to transmit immortal energy to Mr. Night, while also extracting the cold, yin energy. The amount of immortal energy transmitted to Mr. Night today was twice as much as yesterday, and even more of the cold, yin energy was extracted.

Mr. Night continued to operate the incantation as usual. If on the first day he only vaguely sensed the extra immortal energy in his body, today his perception was much clearer. He discovered that every time he operated the incantation, that ‘strange thing’ would flow into his dantian.

And when that thing entered his dantian, his Dou Qi began to boil. Mr. Night felt as if his whole body was about to ignite, and at the same time, the pain from the cold, yin energy was suppressed to the extreme.

In that instant, Mr. Night felt the pain in his body was almost completely drowned out, replaced by a burning sensation.

Although this burning was hard to endure, compared to the pain caused by the cold, yin energy, it was almost negligible.

Mr. Night felt as if he was inside a furnace, the heat radiating from the inside out, constantly being released.

William Carter raised his eyebrows slightly, thinking to himself, “The mutation has finally appeared!” He saw that Mr. Night’s body seemed to be burning, with black flames dancing on him.

William Carter did not let go of Mr. Night’s hand, but instead sent his own immortal energy into the old man’s body to probe the changes in his Dou Qi.

Mr. Night did not stop operating the incantation, continuing to refine the immortal energy, and each time a portion was refined, it flowed into his dantian.

The Dou Qi was like oil being poured onto a fire, becoming even more violent and agitated. The Black Heaven Demon Flame Dou Qi he cultivated was already fire-attributed and inclined toward violence.

Now, with the addition of immortal energy, the Dou Qi became several times more violent than before, and this agitated Dou Qi was actually dissolving the cold, yin energy.

This turn of events was beyond William Carter’s expectations. He hadn’t thought that the cold, yin energy would be dissolved by the rampaging Dou Qi of Mr. Night.

Originally, he had planned to extract more of the cold, yin energy for use in future artifact refining, but who would have thought that the immortal energy would trigger the Dou Qi to directly dissolve the cold, yin energy.

However, what reassured William Carter was that although Mr. Night’s Dou Qi had become extremely violent, it had not gone out of control. The immortal energy had not caused a qualitative change in Mr. Night’s Dou Qi—at least, it had not transformed into extremely spiritual cold energy like the cold, yin energy did after merging with immortal energy.

William Carter hurried to extract as much cold, yin energy as possible, lest it all be dissolved by Mr. Night’s Dou Qi.

Gradually, Mr. Night’s expression was no longer as pained as before; he seemed to have adapted to the heat. Sweat poured down his forehead, and his clothes were dried out by the black flames, almost to the point of catching fire.

“Mr. Night, keep operating the incantation, don’t stop!” William Carter reminded him.

Since Mr. Night showed no signs of rejecting the immortal energy, William Carter simply gave all the unrefined immortal energy to Mr. Night, to thank him for his years of contribution and sacrifice for the The Carter Family.

At this moment, the old man dared not have the slightest doubt, focusing his mind and operating the incantation with all his might.

Ever since the pain disappeared, his body was rapidly improving with the recovery of Dou Qi and the nourishment of immortal energy. It was as if he was being reborn.

William Carter no longer held back, simply letting the immortal energy pour directly into Mr. Night’s body.