"Please forgive me, Senior Chisongzi. I had no intention of disturbing you maliciously. Cultivation is difficult in this age, so I merely wish to borrow the power of this Solar Trueflame."
Yan Kuan stood beneath the Celestial Chime Bells and bowed reverently. The great figure within the tomb was kind-hearted, but he still had to show the proper attitude.
This journey away from home in search of opportunity was not for any treasure, but for environmental resources that could aid his cultivation.
Mount Lu and Mount Ba Ling were his final two choices. He had ultimately chosen Mount Ba Ling because there was no malice from powerful experts here, and that was extremely important.
A Sage had been imprisoned to death in the Mount Lu Underground Palace. The powerful expert who had laid down the restrictions was ruthless, and he certainly would not show mercy to outsiders. It was best not to go there without some means of protection.
As for the Ancient Sage Tomb at Mount Ba Ling, the status and methods of its creator far surpassed those of the Mount Lu Underground Palace. Yet it was not overly dangerous. That ancient Sage had not set traps within the tomb to ambush reckless intruders, something exceedingly rare among the tombs of powerful experts.
Ordinary powerful experts would leave behind all sorts of methods to deal with uninvited guests so that later generations would not disturb them. In the burial ground of an Ancient Great Saint, even Great Abilities might perish.
Yet in the original work, this Sage tomb on Mount Ba Ling had actually been opened by mortals. A group of low-level cultivators had even pushed their way to the deepest part of the tomb. It was unbelievable just to think about.
Of course, those intruders in the original work had paid the price as well. But that was purely because they overestimated themselves. With such weak cultivation, they still insisted on barging in. If they did not die, then who would?
How nice would it be to have self-awareness like Yan Kuan? If he did not recklessly barge about, those Sword Intent and sword qi capable of slaughtering Great Abilities would not attack him on their own.
Deep within the Sage's tomb, strands of celestial music drifted into his ears, gradually calming Yan Kuan's heart. He adjusted his state, suppressed his excitement, and carefully considered the vast amount of information in his mind before slowly closing his eyes.
His hands formed cultivation seals. His eyes observed his nose, his nose observed his heart, and his mind gradually relaxed as it sank into his body.
His inner awareness traveled through his body along his meridians before finally arriving at the Battle Qi Cyclone in his lower abdomen. The crimson Sea of Bitterness churned without end, and a phenomenon was taking shape within it.
His current Battle Qi Cyclone, or rather, his Sea of Bitterness, was slightly smaller than when he had first opened it. Yet anyone who observed closely would notice that the power contained within it had become far denser and more condensed.
His awareness circled the cyclone once. Only after confirming that there were no problems did he begin his first adventure according to the plan in his heart.
Before entering the Ancient Tomb at Mount Ba Ling, Yan Kuan had considered many things. With his foreknowledge, special flame constitution, and the Burning Art inheritance, he could have cultivated step by step and waited until the Nine Dragons Pulling Coffin arrived before following the group through the plot. Even if he hid until then, he would still possess a considerable advantage in the early stages.
But after careful thought, he abandoned that idea. The universe of Shrouding the Heavens was a world that valued "striving." Anyone with ambitions of attaining the Dao could never avoid competing on the Emperor Road.
As one walked between heaven and earth, one never knew whether one might encounter some natural calamity, nor whether the aftermath of battles between powerful experts might kill one.
The universe was vast, and it was dangerous. It was definitely impossible to blindly cling to the plot and think about following the group. If Yan Kuan truly wished to seize control of his own fate, then he had to become powerful. With sufficient strength, he could ignore everything. So, how did one become powerful?
It was simple: cheat. Among all the top experts of the Myriad Heavens, which one did not cheat? Using ordinary methods, one could forget about catching up to the greatest prodigies in an entire lifetime. If one wanted to become powerful, one should not think that hard work, desperate effort, or study would be enough. Those things were merely the basics, and sometimes they were not even necessary.
If Yan Kuan wanted to transform rapidly through cultivation, he had to take shortcuts. He had to cheat. That was an essential condition for becoming a supreme expert, the basic quality required of one.
Yan Kuan still possessed advantages over most people in this world. His foreknowledge allowed him to take the lead at every step, while the Burning Art and the Flame Emperor's Legacy were the capital he possessed to cheat.
And now, he was going to turn that capital into reality, allowing himself to advance rapidly in this End of Dharma age.
His awareness sank into the Sea of Bitterness within his dantian. The perception of his trained soul began guiding the Flame Divine Power within the Sea of Bitterness into rotation. The divine power flowing through his meridians also began to react, and a tiny hollow gradually formed at the center of his Sea of Bitterness.
Yan Kuan suddenly raised his head. Fire flickered in his eyes as two streaks of flame cut through the air, narrowly passing through the crisscrossing sword light and sword qi before plunging into that fiercely burning mass of Solar Trueflame.
With a muffled boom, the two streaks of flame seemed to produce no reaction after entering the Solar Trueflame. But soon afterward, the temperature throughout the Ancient Tomb abruptly rose.
A bright blaze rapidly filled Yan Kuan's vision, and scorching waves of heat rushed toward his face, making him feel as though he were staring directly at the sun.
Yan Kuan immediately calmed his mind and held his breath. The Burning Art Wheel Sea Chapter circulated madly, greedily absorbing the increasingly dense flame power in the air. The divine power within his body grew at an astonishing rate. Under the eruption of this special flame, his aura swiftly surged by a great deal.
The surging Solar Trueflame ultimately did not truly reach Yan Kuan. The Trigram Treasure Box floated before him, spinning lightly.
This was his final line of defense. At a critical moment, it could carry him away so that he could flee without hesitation. Fortunately, his plan had succeeded. For now, everything was proceeding according to his intentions.
Yan Kuan's eyes flickered. The two flames rolled back with a thread of special energy containing a trace of Solar Trueflame power, arriving before him. At that moment, he was incomparably cautious, his heart thumping wildly.
Solar Trueflame was a powerful flame capable of incinerating a Dao-Slaying King. Even a mere trace of it could easily burn Yan Kuan, who was only in the Wheel Sea Realm, into ash.
Ordinary cultivators would not dare touch such terrifying power at all. But he possessed the Burning Art, which could devour all flames to evolve. Perhaps he was not yet capable of swallowing an entire sea of Solar Trueflame and condensing a Fire Seed, but he could try to make this tiny bit of trueflame power his own.
"Sizzle..."
Yan Kuan carefully extended his hands. Threads of crimson divine power wrapped around the two streaks of flame like rising fire. The instant they came into contact, they reacted violently as though blazing oil had met a raging flame, and Yan Kuan's face instantly turned deathly pale.
Intense burning pain swept through his entire body, but he forced himself to endure it. This was a step one had to pass through to become powerful. To grow during this End of Dharma age, one had to experience pain. Every opportunity here was incomparably precious and had to be fought for.
Yan Kuan's spiritual power gradually spread into the flame light in his palms. That tiny amount of trueflame power was ultimately an ownerless, lifeless thing, and he eventually suppressed it for his own use. After steadying his mind somewhat, he carefully drew this special "flame" into his body.
A wisp of Solar Trueflame power passed through his meridians wrapped in Flame Divine Power, finally entering the tiny hollow he had just opened within the Sea of Bitterness in his dantian.
At that instant, Yan Kuan's Sea of Bitterness shuddered violently and began boiling once more, frightening him into immediately mobilizing all his strength to calm it again.
Within the Sea of Bitterness, the Flame Divine Power wrapped around the Solar Trueflame gradually dispersed. This foreign flame power instantly erupted with immense might, but the power of the Burning Art had already begun circulating within Yan Kuan's body, mobilizing all the Flame Divine Power within him.
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