Devouring Beast Fire

"You..." Ga Lie Bi's face twitched as he shouted angrily, "Xiao Zhan, don't get smug. Don't think I can't do anything to you just because I have no evidence. My son, Ga Lie Ao, was castrated. It definitely has something to do with your son Xiao Yan and that little girl called Xiao Xun'er."

"Then come accuse me once you have the evidence. I was even about to say that my son Xiao Yan's Dou Qi disappearance was your son's doing." Xiao Zhan said with a relaxed expression.

"You win this round, Xiao Zhan. We've settled this grudge between us." Ga Lie Bi clenched his fist so tightly that his bones cracked.

"Enough, enough. All talk and no action is just empty posturing. Are you raising the bid or not? If not, I'm taking it." Xiao Zhan yawned, sounding somewhat impatient.

"Raise it? Why wouldn't I? Sixty thousand." Blinded by rage, Ga Lie Bi waved a hand and directly raised the price by ten thousand.

"Only ten thousand? You actually dare call that a raise? Eighty thousand." Xiao Zhan yawned again, his expression lazy.

"One hundred thousand." Without even thinking, Ga Lie Bi named an astronomical price.

But the moment the words left his mouth, he regretted them.

No matter how precious Nurturing Spirit Liquid was, it was ultimately only a Second-Rank Pill. Across the entire Dou Qi Continent, no one had ever heard of a Second-Rank Pill worth one hundred thousand Gold Coins.

"You win." As expected, everyone knew that Xiao Zhan had deliberately provoked Ga Lie Bi. It was only that Ga Lie Bi had been blinded by fury and foolishly failed to realize it.

Ga Lie Bi's expression froze. Only under Ao Ba Pa's gloating gaze did he finally realize that he had been played...

"Xiao Zhan, just you wait." After leaving behind that threat, Ga Lie Bi turned toward the auction stage and urged the auctioneer to conclude the sale...

In a secluded corner, Xiao Se did not know whether to laugh or cry. Remembering the original story, he had naturally assumed Xiao Yan's lost Dou Qi would cause trouble for Xiao Zhan. Who would have thought that there was always someone stronger out there? It had actually ended up tricking Ga Lie Bi instead. This really benefited Xiao.

After returning to the appraisal room, Xiao Se accepted the gold card and the Ring containing medicinal ingredients under Gu Ni and the middle-aged man's reverent gazes, then left the auction house.

After wandering around for a while, he found an empty corner. Once he was certain Ling Ying was not watching him, he removed his black robe and stored it in his Ring before returning to the Stone Chamber beneath the waterfall on the Xiao Family Back Mountain.

...Inside the Stone Chamber.

With Long Kui's Soul Power assisting him, Xiao Se's Dou Qi cultivation and Soul Power had both risen above the level of a Great Fighter. Without any surprises, he successfully refined a Tier 3 Pill—the Ice Spirit Pill.

The next morning.

Xiao Se spent the entire night adjusting his body and mental state to their peak.

"Brother, are you really going to devour this Beast Flame? It may pose no threat to Long Kui, but you only have the strength of a one-star Dou Zhe. Devouring it will still be very dangerous." Looking at the Jade Bottle containing the Beast Flame before him, Long Kui spoke worriedly.

"Don't worry. According to the method in that Pill Emperor remnant soul's memories, as long as I have the Ice Spirit Pill's assistance, I'll suffer nothing more than a little pain to my flesh." Xiao Se smiled.

In truth, Xiao Se was not entirely confident either. Using the Ice Spirit Pill alone to subdue a Beast Flame could only guarantee success when one's cultivation art had reached at least the mid Xuan rank. Xiao Se's cultivation art was currently only at the low Huang rank, and both its endurance and potency were far from sufficient.

But he could not worry about that now.

The future was unpredictable. Every additional bit of strength meant another chance to survive.

"But..."

"Long Kui, if I can't even bear this little risk, then how can I speak of becoming stronger? How can I speak of protecting you? How can I speak of staying with you forever?" Xiao Se answered firmly.

"Mhm." Moved by Xiao Se's conviction, Long Kui lightly raised her beautiful, fair chin. She transformed into a streak of blue light and entered the Demon Sword Tattoo on Xiao Se's right hand.

The instant she entered the Demon Sword Space, the gentle and virtuous blue Long Kui immediately transformed into the fiery and unrestrained red Long Kui. She murmured softly, "Brother... Long Kui won't let anything happen to you..."

Unlike a Heavenly Flame, a Beast Flame did not possess intelligence, so there was no need for Na Ling. One only needed to carve out a small space within the Dou Qi Cyclone large enough to contain the flame seed in order to subdue it.

It sounded easy, but doing it was difficult. In the original story, Xiao Yan had merely used the Amethyst Accompanying Source to cultivate an extremely weak flame seed, yet it had tortured him terribly and nearly cost him his life. The Beast Flame before Xiao Se, however, had been taken directly from the body of a Fifth Order Magical Beast, the Fire Devouring Flood Dragon. Even a Dou Wang would not dare touch it lightly.

Taking a deep breath, Xiao Se sat cross-legged on the cold ground and slowly closed his eyes. His hands formed the seals of the Burning Art as his Soul Power extended into the Dou Qi Cyclone to sense it.

Following the method in his memories, he began opening up a small space within the Dou Qi Cyclone in his body.

Half an hour later, Xiao Se suddenly opened his eyes. "It's done."

He took out the Jade Bottle containing the Ice Spirit Pill and removed its stopper. Tilting the mouth of the bottle, a snow-white pill the size of a longan rolled out and landed in Xiao Se's palm.

He brought it to his nose and sniffed it lightly before placing it in his mouth.

The pill melted as soon as it entered his mouth, instantly turning into streams of ice-attributed energy that flowed through Xiao Se's limbs and meridians, forming a faint layer of frost within his body.

Slowly exhaling a breath of cold air, he muttered, "Whether I succeed or fail depends on this. I just hope I can endure it."

Picking up the Jade Bottle containing the Beast Flame, Xiao Se felt the temperature in his hand surge. Gritting his teeth, he pulled out the stopper, brought the bottle to his lips, and swallowed the flame seed directly.

The moment the flame seed entered his body, Xiao Se was in so much pain that tears streamed from his eyes. It was like swallowing a freshly boiled, scalding tangyuan without chewing it, burning himself half to death.

As the saying went, when the cultivation art was lacking, pills had to make up for it.

This time, Xiao Se had prepared a full five Ice Spirit Pills.

Enduring the agonizing pain, Xiao Se took out another Ice Spirit Pill and put it into his mouth. Only then did he feel somewhat better. He circulated the Dou Qi within his body and, aided by his Soul Power, gradually guided the Beast Flame into the Dou Qi Cyclone space.

Subduing the Beast Flame was a long process. Without realizing it, two hours had already passed, and Xiao Se's Ice Spirit Pills had been completely used up.

"Just a little more... just a little more..."

Enduring the Beast Flame's scorching heat within his body, Xiao Se desperately guided it toward the Dou Qi Cyclone space.

Just as Xiao Se was about to reach his limit, the Demon Sword Tattoo on his right hand suddenly flashed with a dazzling blood-red light.

Affected by the blood-red radiance, the small portion of the Beast Flame that had yet to enter the Dou Qi Cyclone space seemed to be pulled by some force and abruptly shot into the space.

Even the meridians scorched inside Xiao Se's body were restored in that instant.

The Beast Flame had been successfully subdued.

"Long Kui, was that you?"

Powerlessly collapsing onto the ground, Xiao Se murmured softly.

"Brother, are you all right?"

The glow of the Demon Sword Tattoo on Xiao Se's arm changed from red to blue, and blue Long Kui emerged from it.

Seeing Xiao Se collapsed on the ground, she hurriedly helped him up.