The blazing sun hung high in the sky, casting down scorching flames.
Someone set up an hourglass beside the platform!
The blue bricks of the martial arena cracked with sharp snaps.
Xiao Yan's black robe fluttered without wind, and as its hem billowed, the pulsing Crimson Ancient Script on his neck was faintly revealed.
The runes seemed to be formed from flames, and each flicker sent waves of heat through the air.
This was the phenomenon produced after Xiao Yan cultivated the Fire Cloud Art. He seemed to have awakened some kind of constitution.
These runes were innate divine abilities similar to Dou Techniques, but he had yet to fully comprehend them.
"Dou Master One Star?"
"Impossible!"
The white tassel on Nalan Yanran's sword moved without wind, and the mockery at the corner of her lips deepened.
"A piece of trash who used a secret technique to forcibly raise his realm—what makes you worthy of standing here?"
The Xiao Family disciples in the spectator stands snapped out of the intimidation of Xiao Yan's aura.
They had just opened their mouths in shock, only to fall silent as one.
They saw crimson scale patterns slowly emerge along Xiao Yan's neck, as though magma flowed beneath his skin.
A deadly aura of danger spread through the air.
Yao Chen's phantom hid in the shadow of an ancient tree, his fingers unconsciously rubbing the Fen Jue hidden in his sleeve.
"Are all the swords of the Misty Cloud Sect as dull as your tongue?"
Xiao Yan flicked a finger, and a wisp of crimson flame leaped onto his fingertip.
"Three moves."
"What did you say?" Nalan Yanran's sword tip trembled slightly.
"If you're still standing after three moves..." Xiao Yan suddenly vanished from where he stood, his voice exploding from all directions at once.
"I'll sever my own meridians!"
"Playing tricks!" Nalan Yanran pointed her sword at the ground, fully unleashing the aura of a Three-star Dou Zhe.
The moon-white combat outfit specially made by the Misty Cloud Sect suddenly rippled like water. It was made from special materials that enhanced defense.
Xiao Yan gave a light laugh and tapped the ground with his toes. Thirty-six lines of fire suddenly lit up across the arena.
They intertwined into a burning star chart—this was the highest realm of the Shadowless Step.
The Heavenly Gang Step.
The teacup in Xiao Ning's hand shattered with a crack.
Biluochun dripped through his fingers.
"Th-this is that trash?"
The first afterimage appeared to Nalan Yanran's left. Her sword light swept across, but it only cut apart a few sparks.
A sound tore through the air from her right. When she turned to block it, she found Xiao Yan's fist only three inches from her nose!
As she stumbled backward in panic, the silver bell ribbon binding her hair suddenly snapped, and her long black hair spilled loose.
"First move."
Xiao Yan twirled the ribbon around his fingertips, and the flames burned it into ash.
Cries of shock erupted from the spectator stands.
Xiao Xun'er abruptly rose to her feet. The green lotus patterns on her skirt moved without wind, and light shimmered in her eyes.
The branches and leaves of the ancient tree in the shadows trembled slightly. Ling Ying's pupils turned faint gold—he could not see through the true nature of those flames!
"Cloud Split Nine Transformations!"
Nalan Yanran bit through her tongue, and her sword momentum suddenly turned fierce.
Nine sword shadows, both real and illusory, emerged together. This was a secret killing move passed down by the Misty Cloud Sect.
She had once used this Dou Technique to defeat a Six-star Dou Zhe above her level!
The wind howled as sword qi swept through the air, leaving cuts three inches deep in the blue bricks.
Yet Xiao Yan seemed to be strolling through flames. Every step he took landed precisely within the gaps of her sword momentum.
The hidden force of the Eight Extremes Collapse stacked layer upon layer with his steps.
When the ninth sword shadow cleaved toward him, he suddenly flicked his finger.
A wisp of Crimson Flame raced up the blade and onto Nalan Yanran's wrist.
"Ah!"
The refined steel sword fell to the ground with a clang, and five finger-shaped dents had been melted into its hilt.
Nalan Yanran staggered back. A charred Qilin Claw Mark emerged on her right wrist.
"Second move."
Xiao Yan shook the sparks from his fingertips. The crystal hourglass at the edge of the arena had only drained one-tenth of its sand.
Elder Ge Ye suddenly crushed the armrest of his chair. The Realm-Measuring Jade Plate he had brought showed that the temperature of those flames rivaled that of a Fourth-Tier Magical Beast!
Xiao Zhan suddenly burst into loud laughter, but as he laughed, his eyes reddened. That was right. He had never been wrong!
His child should have always been like this—wild and unrestrained!
The final move came without warning.
Xiao Yan suddenly transformed into nine fiery shadows, each forming a different hand seal.
Just as Nalan Yanran was about to unleash a protective Dou Technique, she discovered that the air around her seemed to have frozen solid.
At the instant the nine fiery shadows merged into one, she saw Crimson Inscriptions flowing within Xiao Yan's eyes.
Those ancient words seemed to have come from the Primordial Era.
It was precisely the incomplete Dou Technique Xiao Yan had comprehended from his awakened constitution!
"Nine Flame Lock Scales!"
Crimson Dou Qi intertwined into nine blazing red chains of flame!
"Burn."
As Xiao Yan softly uttered that word, the nine chains suddenly contracted!
The air around Nalan Yanran abruptly twisted. Her long hair vaporized in an instant, and her moon-white combat outfit burst into flames.
Just when everyone thought she was about to be reduced to ashes.
The flames on the crimson chains stopped burning, binding her tightly in place.
"Kneel." Two airy words, yet they drove Nalan Yanran's knees heavily into the blue bricks.
It was not pressure, but a trembling from the depths of her bloodline.
The pride rooted in her heart, the pride that came from the Misty Cloud Sect.
At this moment, it was melting away like thin ice beneath the blazing sun.
When the flame chains dispersed, the entire arena fell deathly silent.
Nalan Yanran trembled as she reached for the top of her head. Half of her waist-length hair had already been burned away.
Only uneven, charred stubble remained, with melted fragments of her jade hairpin still stuck among it.
Xiao Yan stepped forward and came before her.
"You..."
Nalan Yanran struggled to raise her head and saw that the youth's pupils had turned into Molten Gold Vertical Pupils.
She felt that she was not facing an opponent, but rather a sword blank being tempered within a furnace.
Xiao Yan pressed two fingers together like a sword and lightly traced them across her brow.
"After today, the Misty Cloud Sect will understand..."
The sparks trailing from his fingertips condensed in the air into a blood-red Divorce Letter.
"Who exactly has been cast aside."
"Xiao Yan!"
She suddenly raised her head with a hoarse scream, her eyes bloodshot.
"You're not trash. You've been deceiving everyone all along."
"But I can't lose!"
"Three years! Three years from now, at Misty Cloud Summit!"
"Three years?" Xiao Yan interrupted with a sneer.
A wisp of flame ignited at his fingertip.
"How childish! Do you think I'm some scavenger?"
"Besides, I don't have time to play house with you."
Xiao Yan turned away and delivered his final words without looking at her again.
"Take the pride of the Misty Cloud Sect and crawl back to your mountain gate to weep."
"Pfft!"
Nalan Yanran spat out a mouthful of blood, crimson droplets splashing onto the Divorce Letter.
She suddenly discovered that when the Blood Beads touched the fiery words, they made a sizzling sound.
Even her blood was unworthy of staining this Divorce Letter!
The light in her eyes dimmed.
And just as the entire arena stood in dead silence, everyone stunned beyond words.
A silvery laugh suddenly rang out from the eastern side of the spectator stands.
Xiao Xun'er's eyes curved into crescents, green lotuses blooming along her skirt as starlight flowed in her gaze.
Her voice was as tender and affectionate as ever.
"Brother Xiao Yan, Xun'er has learned how to make lotus seed soup."
As she spoke, she lightly tapped with a fingertip. A grain of golden flame branded the Divorce Letter onto the banner of the Misty Cloud Sect, yet the fabric remained completely unharmed.
Ling Ying, hidden in the shadows, sucked in a breath.
The trace of aura his young lady had leaked just now had made his hair stand on end!
To stamp a Divorce Letter, she had actually used the Golden Emperor Burning Heaven Flame.
Was that really necessary?
Outside the arena, Elder Ge Ye waved his sleeve with a livid expression.
"We're leaving!"
The two Misty Cloud Sect disciples had just moved to support Nalan Yanran, but she fiercely shouted them away.
The girl who had once been as proud as a phoenix staggered to her feet and walked toward the Xiao Family gates.
Every step left a bloody footprint on the blue bricks.
It was not because her injuries were severe, but because blood dripped from her bitten lips.
The instant the Xiao Family gates slammed shut, a light rain began to fall from the already gloomy sky.
Yao Chen's phantom gazed at Xiao Yan's back through the curtain of rain.
A constitution capable of making Heavenly Flames submit, along with that supreme flame control capable of forming writing from fire.
He was simply a peerless genius meant to cultivate the Fen Jue and the art of alchemy.
He had actually taken in such a disciple. As he watched Xiao Yan's proud figure standing in the arena.
A faint, imperceptible smile curved his lips.
Was this... Heaven's compensation to him?
Before you continue