Refining the Fallen Heart Flame

At the thought that absorbing the Fallen Heart Flame would grant him an extraordinarily fast cultivation speed, he became immensely excited.

Fusing with a Heavenly Flame was an extremely important matter, one that could take weeks at a time. That was assuming everything went smoothly, of course.

The urgency of fusing with the Heavenly Flame drove Xiao Kun straight back to the Xiao Family. After telling his father, Xiao Zhan, that he wanted to enter seclusion to break through his bottleneck, he ran to the back mountain to find a cave where he could refine the Heavenly Flame in seclusion.

The back mountain was a place Xiao Kun often visited, and he quickly found a natural cave. It was not particularly spacious, but it was more than enough for him to enter seclusion.

After entering the cave, he carefully inspected it several times before finally feeling at ease. He then found a huge boulder and blocked the entrance, leaving only a few narrow gaps for air to seep through.

Once those preparations were complete, Xiao Kun considered that fusing with a Heavenly Flame would likely cause quite a commotion. He asked the system whether it could conceal the phenomenon caused by his fusion with the Heavenly Flame. Only after receiving an affirmative answer did he relax.

Having completed all his preparations, he let out a long breath and went to sit cross-legged in the center of the cave.

Thinking about what he was about to do, Xiao Kun first took out the Earth Spirit Pill, Blood Lotus Pill, Ice Spirit Cold Spring, and Spirit Absorption from the System Space.

The Blood Lotus Pill and Earth Spirit Pill were stored in two nearly transparent jade bottles. Through the bottles, he could see two pills the size of longans—one blood-red and one azure-blue.

The Ice Spirit Cold Spring was contained in a snow-white jade bottle, with a faint white chill mist curling around it. It seemed to exude an elusive, mysterious aura.

Spirit Absorption was an exceptionally precious variant of the Spirit Stone.

Yet it looked like nothing more than a thumb-sized gray stone, smooth as jade throughout and without the slightest flaw.

Within its core, a faint blue glimmer slowly writhed, like a tiny living insect.

"So these are the four spiritual items that aid in refining a Heavenly Flame." Xiao Kun sighed as he looked at the four treasures.

After examining the spiritual items that would assist in refining the Heavenly Flame, Xiao Kun prepared to take out the true star of the show: the Fallen Heart Flame.

With a thought, a tiny milky-white snake-shaped flame appeared before Xiao Kun. The little snake remained completely still, as though it were asleep.

Yet the intense heat it emitted still warped the space around it.

The little snake was the flame seed of the Fallen Heart Flame. Because of the system, it appeared exceptionally docile.

Recalling the proper order for refining a Heavenly Flame, Xiao Kun swallowed the Blood Lotus Pill and Earth Spirit Pill.

The moment the Blood Lotus Pill and Earth Spirit Pill entered his mouth, they transformed into slightly chilly energy that swiftly flowed into the meridians throughout Xiao Kun's body. In the end, they slowly seeped into his meridians and bones like layers of blood membranes.

As the blood membranes seeped in, blood began to ooze from the surface of Xiao Kun's body, making him look extremely horrifying.

Not long after appearing, the blood rapidly solidified, eventually forming a crimson keratin layer. It wrapped around not only Xiao Kun's hands and feet, but even his eyes were completely sealed within it.

It could be said that Xiao Kun was now wearing a suit of crimson armor.

Xiao Kun stretched out a hand wrapped in crimson armor and grabbed the flame seed of the Fallen Heart Flame. The seed's high temperature instantly melted a small portion of the armor, but that was all. His palm remained well protected by it.

After grabbing the flame seed, he swallowed it.

He then turned his awareness inward and discovered that the flame seed had transformed into milky-white flames spread throughout the meridians of his body, remaining completely obedient without moving recklessly.

Unlike when Xiao Yan had devoured the Green Lotus Core Flame, whose flames had rampaged through his meridians and destroyed many of them, causing Xiao Yan unbearable pain.

Next, Xiao Kun swallowed the Ice Spirit Cold Spring to further protect his body. Then he circulated the Xiao Family's high-grade Yellow-tier technique, Flame Refining Incineration, to further refine the Heavenly Flame.

The Fallen Heart Flame was even more obedient than he had imagined. It obediently followed the circulation route of Flame Refining Incineration once, thereby becoming refined.

Finally, Xiao Kun absorbed the Spirit Absorption into his body and used his qi force to guide the Fallen Heart Flame into contact with the gray point of light formed by the Spirit Absorption. Drawn by its suction, the Fallen Heart Flame entered the space formed by the Spirit Absorption.

The refinement of the Heavenly Flame was truly complete.

This refinement lasted nearly two weeks. During that time, Xiao Kun's aura also changed, rising from a Four-Star Dou Shi to a Five-Star Dou Shi, then a Six-Star Dou Shi, and finally a Nine-Star Dou Shi.

Come to think of it, Yao Lao had said in the original story that refining a Heavenly Flame did not increase one's cultivation. The Flame Mantra was an exception.

So why had his cultivation still increased by so much this time?

Although it was because this Fallen Heart Flame had only just been born, meaning it increased his cultivation far less than when Xiao Yan refined the Fallen Heart Flame in the original story.

After thinking it over, he could only attribute it all to the system's special nature.

Breaking through five stars in one go and reaching the Nine-Star Dou Shi level from this Heavenly Flame refinement was already enough to delight him immensely. This was the equivalent of more than a year of his previous cultivation progress.

It also left him somewhat unaccustomed to his own strength.

Although this refinement had gone extremely smoothly, the process itself had still been rather painful.

This made Xiao Kun sincerely admire the Xiao Yan from the original story. After all, Xiao Yan's situation had been far more painful and dangerous than his own.

After finishing the refinement, Xiao Kun examined his physical condition and discovered the special quality of the Fallen Heart Flame.

At that moment, a continuous stream of heartfire was being generated within Xiao Kun's body. Without any control from him, this heartfire tempered the Dou Qi inside him every moment. Under such nearly unceasing refinement, it was as though his body was always in a state of cultivation.

Moreover, this cultivation state was even more effective than ordinary cultivation. Under these conditions, one day of automatic cultivation seemed to be worth at least ten days of his previous active cultivation.

If he cultivated actively as well, then one day would be equivalent to eleven days. This was incredible.

At this rate, he would be able to break through to the Da Dou Shi level within two weeks.

He spread his hands and circulated his Dou Qi. A mass of transparent, colorless solid flame gathered in Xiao Kun's palm.

Solid flames generally required a fourth-tier alchemist to condense, yet Xiao Kun had fused with a Heavenly Flame. Though he was not an alchemist and was only a Dou Master, he could still summon solid flames.

Seeing the space above the flames faintly distort and the rocks beside the cave melt away, Xiao Kun could not help but marvel at the terrifying temperature of a Heavenly Flame.

Having received the system's novice gift package, Xiao Kun now wanted to test the system's so-called opportunity critical-hit compensation.

He stood up, glanced at his tattered clothes, and decided to return to his room and wash up first.

On the way back to his room, he encountered quite a few clan members. They were all curious why the third son of the Xiao Family patriarch, whose talent was renowned throughout the Jia Ma Empire, looked so disheveled. Amid their discussions, Xiao Kun returned to his room.

He intended to save his first critical-hit compensation for Xiao Yan.