Absorbing the Green Lotus Core Flame

"Xing'er, hadn't you already broken through to Dou Zong before setting out on your training? What's going on with your cultivation now...?"

Grandpa Jiang had long noticed Jiang Xing's cultivation level. Worried, he asked what had happened.

Jiang Xing gestured for Grandpa Jiang not to worry, then took the Flame Mantra from his Storage Ring and handed it to him.

"Grandpa, my cultivation fell because I switched to this cultivation method."

Hiding things from one's family was a very foolish thing to do.

"Switched cultivation methods?"

At first, Jiang Cheng did not understand. Could switching cultivation methods really cause one's cultivation to regress?

But he quickly realized what Jiang Xing meant and looked at him.

"You switched to a low-grade cultivation method?"

This was no small matter. If something went wrong...

Jiang Cheng hurriedly took the Flame Mantra Jiang Xing had handed over.

He opened to the first page. Seeing the words Yellow Rank, Low Grade, he frowned, but still patiently continued reading.

Only when he saw that the cultivation method's grade could be raised did he finally relax a little.

Before long, Jiang Cheng had finished reading it and gained a general understanding of the Flame Mantra.

A cultivation method that could help one fuse multiple Heavenly Flames to evolve truly was miraculous.

It was not as though Jiang Cheng had never seen cultivation methods capable of evolution, but those methods generally had limits. In other words, they could at most evolve to High Grade Earth Rank.

Jiang Cheng was somewhat worried about how this cultivation method would evolve in rank.

"Can this Flame Mantra evolve to the Heaven Rank?"

"Grandpa, the Flame Mantra can evolve without limit by devouring Heavenly Flames. If I have enough Heavenly Flames to absorb, it can even surpass the Heaven Rank."

Jiang Xing explained.

Jiang Cheng fell silent.

What he wanted to say was: how could Heavenly Flames be so easy to find? He only knew of ten in total, and some of them were even within Dou God Clans.

Aside from the Heavenly Flames within the Dou God Clans, there was the Nine Dragon Lightning Flame in Burning Flame Valley, as well as the Bone Chilling Flame possessed by Yao Chen, who had once won the Pill Tower Alchemist Convention.

Oh, right. There was also a Three Thousand Burning Flame in the Pill Tower's Star Region.

He was not afraid of Burning Flame Valley's current patriarch, a One-Star Dou Saint, but he had heard that the Nine Dragon Lightning Flame's restrictions had been reinforced by every generation of sect master. Even he was not confident that he could break those restrictions.

As for the alchemist Yao Chen, there had been no news of him for decades.

Although the Pill Tower possessed a Three Thousand Burning Flame, the Pill Tower Grand Elder was also a Six-Star Dou Saint like him, so he could not simply seize it by force.

At this time, no one yet knew that Old Man Shen Nong possessed the Life Spirit Flame.

He somewhat blamed Jiang Xing for switching cultivation methods without discussing it with him first. But since his grandson had already succeeded, Grandpa Jiang said nothing more.

Silently, he made up his mind to do everything he could to help his grandson find Heavenly Flames.

Jiang Xing knew what Jiang Cheng was worried about and did not want his grandfather to fret over his future cultivation progress.

So he took out the Bone Chilling Flame and the Green Lotus Core Flame.

"Grandpa, you don't need to worry. Heavenly Flames may be rare, but they aren't impossible to find. I found two of them during this trip to the Northwest Continent."

"Bone Chilling Flame!"

He was not surprised that the Green Lotus Core Flame was here. What truly caught his attention was the eleventh-ranked Bone Chilling Flame.

Wasn't this Heavenly Flame with Yao Chen? How had it appeared in the Northwest Continent?

Jiang Xing did not intend to hide it from his grandfather, so he briefly told Jiang Cheng about how he had found Yao Chen through Xiao Yan.

Finally, to put Jiang Cheng completely at ease, Jiang Xing specifically asked Jiang Cheng to stand guard for him while he absorbed the Green Lotus Core Flame.

The Bone Chilling Flame's rank was a little too high, and Jiang Xing did not intend to take the risk now.

He decided to keep the Bone Chilling Flame for the time being and absorb it later.

Inside the secret chamber, Jiang Xing sat cross-legged. Before him was the lotus pedestal containing the Green Lotus Core Flame.

It was his first time absorbing a Heavenly Flame, so Jiang Xing was still a little nervous.

He took out the items needed to absorb a Heavenly Flame from his Storage Ring.

A Blood Lotus Pill, Ice Spirit Cold Spring, and a thumb-sized Soul Ingestion Bead.

After steadying himself, Jiang Xing gave his grandfather a slight nod.

"Let's begin!"

He swallowed the Blood Lotus Pill. Its icy energy swiftly coursed into every one of Jiang Xing's meridians, finally condensing into a layer of blood-colored keratin on his body.

Using his soul power, he separated the lotus pedestal from the Green Lotus Core Flame.

Freed from the lotus pedestal's restraint, the Green Lotus Core Flame suddenly swelled to nearly several times its former size, radiating an even more terrifying temperature.

Though his palm was already wrapped in a layer of blood-red keratin, Jiang Xing still felt it was not safe enough and enveloped his hand with Dou Qi as well.

He directly grabbed the Green Lotus Core Flame in his hand, and no matter how wildly it leaped about in his grasp, he showed no intention of letting go.

Staring at the green flame in his hand, Jiang Xing found the right spot and decisively thrust his palm into it, directly pulling out the source flame seed at the very center of the Heavenly Flame.

Feeling the terrifyingly hot strip of green magma in his hand, Jiang Xing did not hesitate and directly put it into his mouth and swallowed it.

The moment he swallowed the Heavenly Flame, Jiang Xing felt it burning inside his body, and his face instantly turned deathly pale.

"Damn it, I'm already a Dou Emperor. Why does it still hurt this much?!"

Enduring the searing pain, he sank his consciousness into his body.

Sensing the green flame coursing through his body, Jiang Xing grabbed the jade bottle containing Ice Spirit Cold Spring and drank it down.

He then guided it through the meridians within his body. Once it completed a cycle, he wrapped the Heavenly Flame with Dou Qi and drove it along the Flame Mantra's circulation route...

As time passed, the refinement of the Green Lotus Core Flame and the evolution of the Flame Mantra neared their end, while Jiang Xing's strength began to rise rapidly.

In the end, Jiang Xing's cultivation settled at Eight-Star Dou Emperor, while the Flame Mantra evolved from Yellow Rank Low to Mysterious Rank Low.

Seeing that the technique's rank truly could be raised, and finding no abnormalities after examining Jiang Xing's body, Jiang Cheng was finally completely relieved.

After the incident with Gu Xun'er, Jiang Cheng worried that his grandson might encounter danger here. He spent an entire day opening a Space Tunnel within the Snake-People Tribe that connected to the Eastern Central Plains.

With this tunnel, Jiang Cheng would be able to reach this place much faster in the future.

Not only that, before leaving, Jiang Cheng also said that he would assign Jiang Xing a stronger guard.

Jiang Xing originally wanted to refuse.

Jiang Xing believed that after Gu Xun'er learned he had a Six-Star Dou Saint grandfather, she should no longer come looking to provoke him.

Gu Xun'er might be thoughtless, but the Gu Clan was not. If the Gu Clan learned that their young lady had fallen for a worthless remnant of the Xiao Clan, they would probably want nothing more than to kill Xiao Yan.

Moreover, Jiang Xing believed that the Gu Clan would not be foolish enough to provoke a Six-Star Dou Saint for the sake of someone from the Xiao Clan.

But it was better to be safe than sorry. What if they sent someone to ambush him again tomorrow?

He was a cautious person. Betting his life on others not daring to provoke him? That was absolutely out of the question.

As for why he did not ask Jiang Cheng to stay, it was because Jiang Xing knew that his grandfather needed to keep watch over his parents.

For his own safety, and so that his grandfather could rest easy, Jiang Xing agreed.

With this Space Tunnel, the Half-Saint summoned by Jiang Cheng to protect Jiang Xing arrived very quickly.