Samadhi True Spirit Awakens, Calamity of Yin Fire Descends!

The tiny golden fire seed, seemingly containing the destructive intent of the supreme Dao of flame, swayed lightly within Xiao Yao's Sea of Consciousness.

Yet it was just that one sway!

Upon the Green Lotus Platform below, the Green Lotus Core Flame that had been wantonly radiating terrifying power capable of burning the heavens, boiling the seas, and warping space suddenly froze mid-flicker!

Then, this Heavenly Flame ranked nineteenth on the Heavenly Flame Ranking began flickering wildly and uncontrollably, like a child scared out of its wits!

It was fear rooted in its very origin! An absolute, irresistible suppression born of the hierarchy of flames! The awe of an inferior before a superior!

Then it actually surrendered of its own accord, leaping into Xiao Yao's Sea of Consciousness and circling beneath the Samadhi True Fire as though paying homage.

"This... this really is..."

Xiao Yao was somewhat dumbfounded. "Is this the power of Samadhi True Fire? That's insanely cool! I wonder how imposing the even higher-grade Six Ding Divine Fire is. I'll work hard to ascend. One day, I'll surely receive my master's true teachings again!"

He settled Qing Lin and the Two-headed Fire Spirit Snake, who were equally shocked, at the edge of this lava world.

Only then did he take a deep breath and walk step by step onto the Green Lotus Platform.

At the center of the platform was a millstone-sized, pockmarked depression containing eleven lotus seeds resembling green jade, each wreathed in a faint glow of fire.

They were the heavenly treasures nurtured by the power of ten thousand years of earth fire—the Earth Fire Lotus Seeds!

Xiao Yao casually picked one up and tossed it straight into his mouth.

Crunch!

It was crisp, and a surge of pure, immense yet gentle fire-element energy instantly burst forth in his mouth. Rolling heat flowed into his limbs, bones, organs, and entrails!

"Mm, not bad energy. Great flavor too!"

Xiao Yao felt warm all over, incomparably comfortable. He nodded in satisfaction.

Then he began thoroughly refining the Green Lotus Core Flame. The Eight-Nine Arcane Arts circulated in support, and as the Great Grade Heavenly Immortal Art completed its cycle and immortal power flowed, Xiao Yao seized the Green Lotus fire seed in his Sea of Consciousness and refined it in one go!

The Green Lotus Core Flame instinctively erupted again, trying to resist the refining power.

At the same time, the golden Samadhi True Fire seed in his Sea of Consciousness fully bloomed!

An indescribable divine might, supreme and seemingly above every flame in all heavens and worlds, erupted from Xiao Yao's body!

Puff—!

Before that terrifying imperial divine might, the Green Lotus Core Flame was like a punctured balloon. All its resistance and fury vanished in that instant!

The soaring green flames immediately withered, looking weak, pitiful, and helpless.

Then it proactively transformed into a thumb-sized green lotus-shaped flame, incomparably docile and even carrying a hint of ingratiation. It obediently flew into Xiao Yao's palm and, as though sentient, affectionately rubbed against his finger.

Xiao Yao: "..."

Speechless, he absorbed this absurdly obedient Green Lotus fire seed into his Sea of Consciousness.

The moment the green flame entered Xiao Yao's Sea of Consciousness, it carefully and humbly drifted beside the golden Samadhi True Fire, like the most loyal minister paying court to its sovereign.

Then a sharp, mature woman's voice—magnetic and full of a fiery temperament—rang abruptly through Xiao Yao's Sea of Consciousness.

"Yo! You're not bad, little guy. You woke big sister up earlier than I expected. Not bad at all—you haven't let down your master's expectations. And where did you find this little flame? It looks pretty fun."

The instant Xiao Yao heard that voice, he was stunned. He had assumed that something bestowed by Laojun and produced by Tushita Palace would have the spirit of an ancient elder like Grandpa Lu. He had even imagined an irritable old man in flaming red, and was just about to address her as a junior when he heard such an unexpected voice!

The awakened spirit of the fire seed differentiated from the legendary Samadhi True Fire actually had such a mature woman's voice.

"Samadhi..."

"Big sister!" the fire spirit's coquettish shout rang in his mind.

"This junior, Xiao Yao, pays respects to Sister Samadhi!" Xiao Yao was certain that he was an obedient disciple.

"Ah, you're a good little guy. Big sister will help you break through your realm!"

The Samadhi Fire Spirit officially awakened at that moment!

At the same time, the instant Xiao Yao completely refined the origin of the Green Lotus Core Flame, the skies tens of thousands of meters above the Tagor Desert changed dramatically!

The previously cloudless sky and blazing sun were instantly swallowed by an endless dark storm! Strange pitch-black clouds emerged overhead and surged in madly from all directions, forming an enormous, slowly rotating vortex of death above the heart of the desert!

Its might was several times more terrifying than the Pill Lightning phenomenon Xiao Yao had summoned when he refined the Human-Supplementing Immortal Pill!

Throughout the Northwest Continent, countless reclusive experts and cultivators in closed-door training raised their heads in horror, staring toward the Tagor Desert with utmost fear!

[ Ding! Congratulations, host, for successfully collecting the first Heavenly Flame and taking a crucial step toward repairing this world's natural laws! The Heavenly Dao favors you; merit has descended! ]

[ Congratulations, host, for receiving 3,600 merit points! ]

The system's notification exploded in Xiao Yao's mind!

As that massive amount of merit poured in, combined with the enormous pure energy accumulated over ten thousand years by the Green Lotus Core Flame, Xiao Yao felt the barrier at the peak of Refining Essence into Qi within him shatter like a bursting dam!

"Refining Essence into Qi, break! Today shall be the day I, Xiao Yao, enter Refining Qi into Spirit!"

Unprecedented brilliance burst from Xiao Yao's eyes. Without further hesitation, he sat cross-legged atop the Green Lotus Platform, which brimmed with vitality!

"Great Grade Heavenly Immortal Art, circulate!"

The Golden Mana within him surged like a rushing galaxy, cycling through his body at an unprecedented speed!

Yet just as he was about to press onward in one breath and charge into the higher realm!

A fatal sense of crisis, without any warning and originating from the depths of his soul, suddenly descended!

He abruptly raised his head. His dazzling gaze seemed to pierce through ten thousand meters of earth, seeing the terrifying phenomenon above that was gathering endless destructive power!

"The first of the Three Calamities... the Calamity of Yin Fire!"

"It has finally come!"

Without any warning!

A wisp of pitch-black tribulation aura descended from the heavens, and a strange black flame, thin as a hair yet seemingly capable of burning all tangible and intangible things in the world, filled with ominous and destructive intent, silently ignited out of nowhere beneath the Yongquan acupoint on the sole of his foot!