First Blood

"Unless..." Yun Shu narrowed his eyes. The Fallen Heart Flame was a transparent flame. If it could be used for sneak attacks—for instance, condensed into a tiny dagger or needle and stabbed into an enemy's body during battle...

Then the strange flame could explode directly inside the enemy's body!

But the explosive power of such a tiny weapon probably would not be all that great. At most, it would be comparable to the internal force of Xiao Yan's Eight Extremes Collapse, causing damage from within.

It would not be able to blow an enemy to pieces outright...

Compared this way, the two Dou Skills did not differ much in power. Besides, they were originally of the same rank.

"Forget it. As long as it's useful!" Yun Shu did not dwell on it. He happened to possess a strange flame that could be used with this Dou Skill, and he had obtained the skill for free anyway.

Next, Yun Shu began cultivating this Dou Skill. Since using a strange flame carried some danger, he went to the mountain cave outside the city where he had previously secluded himself.

"Fallen Heart Flame..." Yun Shu expended Dou Qi to draw the strange flame out of his body, then began compressing it.

"Hiss—this consumption is a little terrifying!!" He had only condensed enough solid flame to compress into a needle-sized weapon, yet nearly half the Dou Qi in his body had already been depleted.

And he had not even begun compressing the strange flame yet...

"Little brother! Be good!" Yun Shu knew that his strange flame could hear him, so rather than doing it himself, he spoke directly to the Fallen Heart Flame, hoping it would condense itself into a Strange Flame Needle...

This move was somewhat similar to the Buddha Fury Fire Lotus Xiao Yan would create later on. Both involved gathering and compressing strange flames, but Yun Shu's was far safer than Xiao Yan's.

Because he only used one strange flame, and this strange flame was exceptionally obedient.

Before long, the head-sized mass of transparent flame before Yun Shu gradually condensed into an embroidery needle only slightly thicker than a strand of hair.

"Why do I... look a little like Dongfang Bubai?" Yun Shu said with an odd expression, pinching the pale-red embroidery needle between his fingers.

In Yun Shu's memories, Dongfang Bubai seemed to be the only one who used embroidery needles as weapons. As for why the colorless Fallen Heart Flame had gained color after being condensed into a solid weapon, Yun Shu guessed it was because his Dou Qi had tinged the colorless flame with a trace of red...

"Whatever! Let's test its power!" Yun Shu formed a delicate finger pose and flicked the red embroidery needle outward. The instant it struck the stone wall, the strange flame erupted...

Boom!!!

After the explosion, Yun Shu looked at the fist-sized semicircular crater melted into the stone wall by the strange flame and his eyes lit up. This power was pretty good.

The inside of a human body certainly was not as tough as a stone wall. If even a stone wall could be blasted apart like this, then if the Strange Flame Needle pierced into a person's body, it could definitely kill an enemy in one strike.

Of course, it only dealt damage if it hit. If it missed, there was nothing to discuss.

Moreover, experts who had reached the Dou Shi realm or even the Great Dou Shi realm possessed Dou Qi Gauze Robes or even Dou Qi armor for defense. Whether this attack could achieve any effect remained uncertain.

Although strange flames seemed astonishingly powerful, Dou Qi was actually the most effective thing for suppressing them.

When Xiao Yan first absorbed a strange flame, he had still been a complete novice. Yet he could directly touch the strange flame seed with the Dou Qi in his body, and even let it run rampant within him without being burned to death by it. Aside from those medicinal pills and rare treasures, was that not because the Dou Qi in his body suppressed the strange flame's temperature?

Strange flames required vast amounts of Dou Qi to unleash tremendous power, but they could also be defended against with powerful Dou Qi. So possessing a strange flame did not mean one was invincible.

After that, Yun Shu tried forming other weapons and discovered that the larger and denser the weapon, the more Dou Qi it consumed. Over the next seven days, Yun Shu tried nearly every possible way of using this Dou Skill.

But the results were not very ideal. Yun Shu simply had too little Dou Qi in his body. This Dou Skill was basically meant for Fourth-Rank Alchemists and alchemists who possessed Beast Flames.

Since very few people possessed strange flames, the person who created this Dou Skill had not considered that strange flames consumed an enormous amount of Dou Qi.

After reviewing his cultivation over the past week, Yun Shu found that condensing the strange flame into nails or embroidery needles was more convenient for his current use.

If he condensed it into a nail, it would consume roughly seventy percent of his Dou Qi. If it was an embroidery needle, it would consume thirty to forty percent. At this stage, this Dou Skill could be considered extremely impractical.

Yun Shu was simply too weak. Perhaps only after he grew stronger would he be able to bring out this Dou Skill's true power.

Still, since he had already learned it, Yun Shu would not give up on it. Though this Dou Skill had rather demanding conditions for use, its power was still quite formidable if used properly.

"Whew—today is already the eighth day! If I head back now, there shouldn't be any problems, right?" Yun Shu looked in the direction of Wu Tan City, the corners of his mouth curling into a strange smile.

After tidying up the cave he had turned into a complete mess, Yun Shu returned to Wu Tan City and immediately went back to the Mittel Auction House.

"Miss is currently conducting an auction. It will be over soon!" When the maid saw Yun Shu asking after Ya Fei, she answered respectfully.

"An auction... Mm, that saves her from having to change clothes later." Yun Shu smiled.

When Ya Fei hosted auctions, she would change into a more seductive qipao. Naturally, this was to stir up the atmosphere within the auction house. As such, Yun Shu was looking forward to it even more now.

"Little brother, you came back, so why didn't you have a maid notify me?" After waiting in Ya Fei's room for around half an hour, Yun Shu heard Ya Fei's voice from the doorway.

"Didn't we meet now?" Yun Shu walked over, directly wrapped an arm around Ya Fei's slender willow waist, and said with a grin.

"Is an auction more important than little brother?" Ya Fei wrapped her arms around Yun Shu's neck in turn. She seemed to understand what was about to happen, gazing at him with captivating charm as she spoke.

"Don't change your clothes. I like this one..." The luxurious brocade robe Ya Fei wore at the moment, exquisitely crafted and finely detailed, perfectly outlined her wonderful curves.

"Mm..."

The next day.

Yun Shu looked at Ya Fei, curled up in his arms like a Little Cat, and the corners of his mouth could not help but rise. Before transmigrating, he had been single for twenty years. Yet after coming to the Dou Qi Continent, with the system's help, he had escaped singlehood in less than a year.

And his partner was such a stunning woman.

"But I need to work even harder!" Thinking of Ya Fei's circumstances in the Imperial Capital over the coming years, Yun Shu pressed his lips together. He had Ya Fei now, but he did not possess enough strength to protect her.

Therefore, Yun Shu planned to enter complete seclusion and cultivate for a while!