Successive Breakthroughs

Because refining Beast Flame and compressing his Dou Qi had exhausted him, Xiao Yan finally gave himself a break and slept soundly for an entire day.

Old Yao did not urge Xiao Yan either. He was equally excited by the fact that the Flame Mantra could truly evolve.

The next day, an old man moved into the compound.

Do not misunderstand—he was a Dou Ling expert, the steward Jia Xing Tian had arranged for Xiao Yan. He was responsible for dealing with the envoys who came bearing gifts and hoping to build ties with Xiao Yan.

For example, there was a certain double-surnamed family whose member had entered the Misty Cloud Sect for cultivation and preferred to remain unnamed.

After an entire morning, the old man had recorded every visitor who came with gifts, sorted them by family influence and the value of their offerings, and presented them to Xiao Yan for review.

The old man had categorized everything clearly, but Xiao Yan could not be bothered to look.

The day before, Jia Xing Tian had personally brought Princess Yao Yue to become his disciple. The commotion had certainly not been small. Rather than gifts for Xiao Yan, these were more like attempts to curry favor with the royal family through his status.

At least, most of them were.

"Master, you may ignore the rest, but please take a look at these few." The old man understood the situation perfectly and selected four gift lists to hand to Xiao Yan separately.

Xiao Yan accepted them. The first was from the Alchemist Guild, which had sent an Earth Flame—a heavy Earth Attribute flame produced by an Earth Rock Turtle. It was a Fifth Rank Beast Flame.

This was probably Fa Ma's handiwork. Jia Xing Tian had understood the implication behind the Eight Extremes Beast Flame Collapse and had used Fa Ma to send him another Beast Flame.

The second was from the Mite'er Family. They had also sent a Fifth Rank Beast Flame: Peach Blossom Flame, from the Fifth Rank wood-element Magical Beast known as the Kui Wood Beast.

Perhaps the Mite'er Family was merely catering to an Alchemist's tastes, but Xiao Yan naturally accepted this Beast Flame with a smile.

The third was from the Nalan Family, making Xiao Yan raise an eyebrow in surprise.

The Nalan Family had just broken off the engagement with the Xiao Family, and relations between the two families were tense. Nalan Jie clearly wished to ease things over and had written Xiao Yan a letter.

However, Nalan Jie did not mention restoring the engagement in the letter. He merely repeatedly criticized Nalan Yanran for her willful behavior before apologizing to Xiao Yan.

The gift was even more lavish: Nalan Jie had directly sent over the Seven Illusions Green Spirit Saliva.

Xiao Yan had to admit that there was no refusing this. With it, Old Yao could directly recover to the Dou Zong level.

Thus, Xiao Yan wrote back to Nalan Jie, saying that he did not care about the broken engagement, that he and Nalan Yanran simply had no fate together, and that he would visit the old man someday to treat him and attempt to remove the Brand Poison.

After handling those three gift lists, Xiao Yan picked up the last one and found that it clearly stated that the Misty Cloud Sect had sent a Beast Flame.

"Sigh... Send it back to the Misty Cloud Sect." Xiao Yan rubbed his fingers together and burned the final gift list to ashes.

There was no helping it—Xiao Yan had already chosen his side. The Nalan Family was itself one of the Jia Ma Empire's three great families, and it had no Dou Emperor. Making peace with them was not difficult to understand.

But the Misty Cloud Sect... their positions were naturally opposed. Xiao Yan could no longer have any dealings with them. Well... at least, none that could be discovered.

Sure enough, when Xiao Yan specifically burned the Misty Cloud Sect's gift list, a sincere smile even appeared on the old man's face. He had probably thought of something pleasant.

Xiao Yan put away the two Beast Flames, stuffed the Seven Illusions Green Spirit Saliva into the Ancient Ring at his chest for Old Yao, then instructed the old man, "Make preparations. I am returning to Wutan City."

"Yes, my lord."

And so, less than two days after arriving in the Imperial Capital, Xiao Yan set off for home.

On the journey back, Old Yao finally could not hold it in any longer. "Tsk, even I am a little envious of your haul."

"Nothing special. The Xiao Family could take out so many good things for my cultivation, so naturally the Jia Ma Empire can offer even more—if I married that little princess, I would probably have already gathered all eight Beast Flames."

"You really know how to use your future to buy resources for the present."

"Do not worry. I do not need to reach Seventh Grade. As long as I become a Sixth Grade Alchemist, they will have to watch their attitude around me. With my talent, becoming Sixth Grade will not be difficult. Before then, it does not matter if they restrict me a little."

"I am not worried. I just remembered how I once had to risk my life for a tiny bit of resources. I am a little jealous of you and want to beat you up."

"..."

"Oh, right. That water-attribute Dry Blue Water Flame can simulate magma to a certain degree. Start cultivating that Earth Tier Dou Technique now!"

Without giving Xiao Yan a chance to react, Old Yao directly transmitted the information for the Earth-tier Mid-grade Dou Technique, Molten Earth Splitting Body, into his mind.

"..."

What could Xiao Yan say? He could only take out eight Body Tempering Pills and swallow them all, circulate his Dou Qi within his body, summon the Dry Blue Water Flame, and follow the cultivation route of the Molten Earth Splitting Body, using those ripples to simulate magma and strengthen his physique.

This time was nowhere near as gentle as refining Beast Flame. The violent impact made Xiao Yan experience once more the agony of cultivating after taking Pills for the first time.

Yet Old Yao's voice rang out in his heart. "This Dou Technique was originally meant purely for tempering the body, but among the Heavenly Flames, the Green Lotus Core Flame, Volcanic Stone Flame, and Turtle Spirit Earth Fire are all born from magma. Fire Cloud Water Flame and Sea Heart Flame possess similar properties as well."

"If you can cultivate this Dou Technique to mastery, your chances of success against those several Heavenly Flames may increase by twenty percent. Against other Heavenly Flames, it should still raise your chances by roughly ten percent."

"Moreover, this Dou Technique has extremely harsh cultivation requirements. If you had not been fortunate enough to obtain the Dry Blue Water Flame, which is high-grade yet gentle in nature, you would need to be at least a Dou Wang before attempting to cultivate it."

This was the second time Old Yao had mentioned the boost this Dou Technique gave when refining Heavenly Flames. It seemed that this Dou Technique was indeed extremely important.

Xiao Yan could only endure all sorts of discomfort and continue circulating the Molten Earth Splitting Body...

The Jia Ma Royal Family showed Xiao Yan great consideration and arranged four tamed Third Rank Magical Beasts to pull his carriage, drawing countless stares as he returned home.

However, because the driver was that old steward, a Dou Ling expert absent from Wutan City, no one foolish enough dared approach too closely.

When the carriage entered the Xiao Family estate, the Jia Lie Family patriarch was so furious that he began throwing a tantrum and smashing a pile of furniture.

After returning home, Xiao Yan shut himself in his courtyard and cultivated in seclusion for seven days, breaking through to Five-Star Dou Zhe.

Then Xiao Yan refined the gentle Peach Blossom Flame and broke through to the Peak Six-Star Dou Zhe.

Although the Flame Mantra did not advance this time, Xiao Yan successfully fused the Dry Blue Water Flame and Peach Blossom Flame together, creating a more powerful flame and proving that the Flame Mantra possessed the ability to fuse flames.

Xiao Yan spent another month becoming familiar with the new flame, broke through to Seven-Star Dou Zhe, then refined the Earth Flame and advanced to Eight Star Dou Practitioner. The Flame Mantra finally broke through to Yellow Tier Advanced as well.

His physique was now comparable to that of a Second Rank Magical Beast, far surpassing his Dou Qi cultivation.