Secluded Cultivation

Hun Clan, Soul World.

At the center of the Soul World stood a rather gloomy-looking grand hall.

Seated upon the throne within the hall was a handsome man in grayish-white robes, around thirty years old. His pair of eyes were exceptionally bright, as though they could see straight into people's hearts! The first impression he gave was one of refined elegance. If he held a scroll in his hands, he would be no different from a scholar!

This scholar-like man was the current clan leader of the Hun Clan!

Hun Tiandi!

At this moment, Hun Tiandi sat high upon his throne, looking down at a man kneeling below him, his entire body wrapped in a black robe.

"Clan Leader, the spies we sent into the Yan Clan have sent back word. The Ancient Jade lost by the Xiao Clan is now in the Yan Clan," the black-robed man said respectfully to Hun Tiandi.

"Is this information accurate?!" Hun Tiandi asked excitedly.

"Absolutely true. The person planted in the Yan Clan Ancestral Hall said that today, the Xiao Clan's Ancient Jade was personally placed in the Ancestral Hall, where it was entrusted to the Ancestral Hall Elder for safekeeping."

"Leave."

"Yes." The black-robed man quickly withdrew.

"Hehe, I never expected this, truly never expected this! So the Xiao Clan incident was your doing, Yan Jin. Yan Jin, it seems I underestimated your ambitions."

Yan World. It was already late at night.

"Huff..." Huo Xuan slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, then gradually opened his eyes, ending his cultivation.

Knock, knock, knock. At that moment, a knock suddenly sounded at the door.

Upon hearing it, Huo Xuan swiftly got out of bed and opened the door.

The person standing outside was none other than Huo Xuan's father, Huo Zhen.

"Father."

"Xuan Er, I have something I want to discuss with you."

Hearing this, Huo Xuan immediately invited Huo Zhen inside. He knew what his father had come to speak with him about.

"Xuan Er, regarding the plan you mentioned during the day, what are its chances of success?" Huo Zhen asked.

"Rest assured, Father. Even accounting for the effects of every unknown factor, the final chance of success is at least seventy percent."

"Seventy percent?" Huo Zhen was somewhat surprised. It was not because he thought the odds were too high, but because he thought they were too low.

"Father, without risk, there is no reward. To break through to the Dou Emperor realm and revitalize the Yan Clan, a seventy percent chance is already very high."

"Then proceed according to your own ideas. But Xuan Er, remember that you are a member of the Yan Clan and also its Young Clan Leader. Do not do anything that would harm the Yan Clan."

Huo Zhen had come only to impress this one point upon Huo Xuan. Huo Xuan was his son, and he was very willing to support his ideas. Yet aside from being Huo Xuan's father, he was also an elder of the Yan Clan. The Yan Clan held great weight in his heart, and what he least wished to see was the Yan Clan destroyed by his own son.

"Alright, it's getting late. Rest early." With that, Huo Zhen left Huo Xuan's room.

The next day, at dawn.

Huo Xuan had already risen while the sky was still barely light.

In the Yan World stood an exceedingly steep mountain peak, like a giant sword piercing straight into the clouds. Looking up, one could see only the swirling mist and clouds, while its summit remained hidden from view.

The energy of heaven and earth in this place was also exceptionally dense. Cultivating here would likely yield far better results than elsewhere.

Halfway up the mountain was an extremely spacious Mountain Cave. This Mountain Cave had been carefully chosen by his father, Huo Zhen, as a place for him to undergo Secluded Cultivation. Aside from his parents and Huo Zhi, no one else was permitted to enter without authorization.

This time, Huo Xuan entered Secluded Cultivation to refine the Sea Heart Flame, while also dealing with a few personal matters.

Huo Xuan did not hold overly great expectations for this refinement. The Sea Heart Flame was only ranked fifteenth among the Strange Fires. If devouring it could raise his strength by three or four stars, that would already be quite good.

"Refinement begins!"

Huo Xuan took out the Sea Heart Flame and began refining it.

For the current Huo Xuan, refining these lower-ranked Strange Fires was no longer difficult at all. As the energy contained within the Sea Heart Flame was continuously absorbed by Huo Xuan, his aura began to surge sharply.

Council Hall.

"Great Elder, how is it?" Yan Jin asked from the seat of honor.

"Clan Leader, Huo Xuan was right. One of the elders guarding the jade in the Ancestral Hall has indeed been controlled by someone from the Hun Clan—or rather, his soul has fused with that of a Hun Clan member," the Great Elder said.

"Hehe, very good. Now, make sure not to alert the enemy."

Hearing this, all the elders understood. Yan Jin intended to stake the entire Yan Clan on a gamble. Otherwise, with Yan Jin's temperament, he would definitely have slapped that Hun Clan member to death at the first opportunity.

"Then, Clan Leader, what should we do next?" the Great Elder asked.

"For the next step, follow Huo Xuan's plan and help the Void Ancient Dragon clan achieve unification. Great Elder, immediately send people to search for Ancient Dragon Island, which is hidden within the void."

"Yes, Clan Leader."

As the Sea Heart Flame was successfully refined by Huo Xuan, his aura once again began to surge sharply.

Five-Star Dou Zong

Six-Star Dou Zong

Seven-Star Dou Zong

By devouring the energy contained within the Sea Heart Flame, he had risen from a Four-Star Dou Zong to a Seven-Star Dou Zong, while the Flame Mantra had advanced from Earth-Rank Middle-Grade to Earth-Rank High-Grade.

Huo Xuan sensed his own strength. Devouring the Sea Heart Flame this time had only raised his strength by three stars.

For his strength to improve significantly from here on, he would need to devour at least a Strange Fire ranked among the top ten.

It was time to deal with some other matters. Huo Xuan took a crystal box from his Storage Ring.

Within the crystal box lingered a faint, mysterious glow. As the light spread, a fist-sized mass of unusual viscous matter with a slight emerald-green tint slowly wriggled and drifted inside, like some soft-bodied creature. Layer after layer of liquid churned as it squirmed, making it look alive.

This was Bodhi Transformation Saliva!

Bodhi Transformation Saliva was a miraculous substance secreted from the surface of the Bodhi Heart formed by the Bodhi Ancient Tree. Consuming it could transform one's body and improve certain constitutions that differed from those of ordinary people.

In the original story, Xiao Yan had refined a Bodhi Seed from this Bodhi Transformation Saliva. That Bodhi Seed had greatly aided Xiao Yan during his journey to the Bodhi Ancient Tree, so Huo Xuan intended to refine a Bodhi Seed from the Bodhi Transformation Saliva as well.

With a slight curl of his palm, a suction force drew the mass of Bodhi Transformation Saliva from the jade box beside him into his hand. Huo Xuan narrowed his eyes, summoned the Eight Desolations Destruction Flame, and enveloped the Bodhi Transformation Saliva within it.

The moment the Eight Desolations Destruction Flame came into contact with the Bodhi Transformation Saliva, the latter began to churn violently as if stimulated. It looked as though it wanted to break free from the flames.

Huo Xuan clenched his hand slightly, and the Eight Desolations Destruction Flame surged even more fiercely. Under that terrifying heat, after holding out for two or three minutes, the Bodhi Transformation Saliva finally gradually stopped wriggling...

Under the burning of the Strange Fire, countless emerald-green particles gradually precipitated from the Bodhi Transformation Saliva. The particles slowly drifted downward, yet did not entirely separate from the mass. Instead, they continually gathered at its bottom, and in the blink of an eye formed an emerald-green bead smaller than a thumb.

The instant the emerald-green bead took shape, the Bodhi Transformation Saliva trembled slightly. The bead then fell free from it and was caught in Huo Xuan's hand.

The emerald-green bead did not feel smooth to the touch, but rather somewhat rough. Yet when he held it in his palm, he could sense vigorous life force within it.

"Success at last! A Bodhi Seed!"

Although Bodhi Seeds produced by the Bodhi Ancient Tree were slightly inferior to Bodhi Hearts, they could be used to refine Bodhi Pills. A Bodhi Pill could increase a Dou Zun expert's chance of breaking through to Half-Saint by twenty percent. To those at the peak of the Dou Zun realm, it was an irresistible temptation.

After carefully examining the Bodhi Seed, Huo Xuan stored it in his Storage Ring.

After putting away the Bodhi Seed, Huo Xuan took a Magical Beast corpse from his Storage Ring.

The Magical Beast corpse was quite large, but it appeared to have been dead for a long time. Its flesh and bones had dried out completely.

The most eye-catching feature of the corpse was its pair of enormous wings, now reduced to white bone. They resembled jade stone and emitted a faint glow.

This corpse was naturally the Heaven Demon Phoenix corpse he had seized from the Black Emperor Sect.

Huo Xuan swept his gaze over the Heaven Demon Phoenix corpse. With a flick of his hand, a sharp longsword appeared in his palm. A layer of faint black flame quietly spread out, eventually winding around the sword's edge. The searing temperature caused the fine steel sword to emit wisps of white mist.

Holding the longsword, Huo Xuan viciously stabbed at the joint between the jade stone bone wings and the dried Magical Beast body. Gripping the hilt tightly, he slowly sliced through the Magical Beast hide at the base of the jade stone bone wings. As the hide peeled back, it revealed strange pale-white chunks of flesh beneath, but not a trace of blood seeped out.

Huo Xuan opened two large holes in the back of the Heaven Demon Phoenix corpse, then removed the pair of jade stone bone wings and set them aside. The Heaven Demon Phoenix's bone wings were excellent material for crafting a Flight Fighting Skill.

After removing the bone wings, Huo Xuan summoned Strange Fire and burned the entire corpse. As the heat penetrated it, the corpse continuously gave off hissing sounds. After roughly dozens of minutes of such refinement, traces of cyan-red gradually surfaced across its exterior.

As the flames intensified, the cyan-red color grew increasingly dense. In the end, it fully condensed into drops of Cyan-Red Blood that seeped out from the surface of the flesh.

Seeing the blood dripping toward the ground, Huo Xuan swiftly took out a jade bottle from his Storage Ring and caught the Cyan-Red Blood within it.

The five crystalline drops of cyan-red blood were the Ancient Phoenix Blood Essence of the Heaven Demon Phoenix Clan. This Ancient Phoenix Blood Essence was an excellent spiritual medicine for strengthening the human body. If it were refined into medicinal pills, its effects would likely be even greater...

"I'll leave this blood essence to those old alchemists."

After extracting five drops of blood essence containing immense energy, Huo Xuan also refined a Cyan-Red Magic Core. It was a powerful Magic Core close to the Eighth Rank.

After dealing with the Heaven Demon Phoenix corpse, Huo Xuan looked at the ring on his hand, and a fierce glint flashed through his eyes.

"Yao Chen, you're next..."