Refining Fallen Heart Flame

Medusa still wore that magnificent brocade robe, which tightly wrapped around her curvaceous delicate body. Every curve was perfectly accentuated, radiating a deadly allure. Below her was a snake tail that exuded a wild, seductive charm, swaying gently with her movements...

Clearly, Medusa's attire had not changed, yet every time Shi Kang saw her, he felt his eyes light up.

It was a beauty beyond words, possessing both the noble, icy elegance of a queen and the unique wildness brought by her snake tail.

Did Shi Kang have those sorts of feelings for Medusa?

Of course he did. Medusa was so beautiful, and her queenly aura made people want to conquer her. Besides, she was a character from the original work, which gave her a few strange bonus attributes.

A fair lady was the desire of every gentleman.

This was only human nature. Shi Kang felt there was nothing he could not admit about it.

As he had said before, the only reason Shi Kang had not tried to flirt with Medusa was that she had yet to evolve successfully.

That was all.

Honestly, even if Medusa had not evolved into the Seven-Colored Heavenly Swallowing Python and had not died, Shi Kang would probably have brought her back and kept her as a decorative beauty.

After all, such an exquisite existence was pleasing to the eye...

Medusa came back to herself. The moment she raised her head, she met Shi Kang's burning gaze.

That look seemed to carry a blaze, making her heart tremble. She quickly looked away.

"No. I just wanted to tell you that I'm ready. I can begin evolving."

She feared Shi Kang would grow impatient from waiting too long, or even change his mind. Thus, over the past few days, she had been hastily preparing everything needed for her evolution. Now, she had finally made all the preparations.

Shi Kang nodded. "All right, I understand. But I need to enter seclusion for a few days. We'll discuss your evolution after I come out."

Fallen Heart Flame was already in his hands, and Shi Kang could no longer wait to refine it and test the body-refining effects of the Cultivation Method.

Under such circumstances, even Medusa's evolution had to be postponed.

He would always put himself first. That was Shi Kang.

"Make sure you prepare thoroughly during this time. I don't want you to fail your breakthrough," Shi Kang added.

What Shi Kang meant was: If you fail to evolve, I'll be short one Dou Sheng thug in the future.

But it sounded somewhat different to Medusa. She felt that Shi Kang's words seemed to carry another meaning.

Furthermore, Shi Kang's gaze toward her held a trace of aggression amid its admiration, like a cheetah watching its prey. Medusa could not help but overthink it.

If anyone else dared to look at her that way, she would certainly make them pay the price. But this person was Shi Kang. Medusa could do nothing, nor did she dare do anything.

As the Young Clan Leader of Stone Clan, Shi Kang was not the sort of man who would take the initiative to cling to a beauty at first sight. Medusa also happened to be somewhat aloof. Whenever they were together, they never spoke for long before the conversation easily fell silent.

After casually exchanging a few more words, Shi Kang bid Medusa farewell and returned to his residence.

After returning, Shi Kang took Fallen Heart Flame from Shi Long and instructed Shi Fei and Shi Long to guard the entrance. No one was to approach and disturb him.

"You must guard this place well. No matter who it is, do not let them in," Shi Kang said sternly.

"Yes!" Shi Fei and Shi Long replied.

Shi Kang could no longer wait to refine his first Heavenly Flame.

Shi Kang was quite confident in the strength of his physical body. After all, he had always cultivated diligently, and his body had already reached a rather formidable level.

Refining the mere fourteenth-ranked Fallen Heart Flame, he felt, should not pose much danger.

Once Fallen Heart Flame was taken out, the seal Shi Long had left on it had already been removed.

At this moment, Fallen Heart Flame emitted terrifying heat, as though it could burn away all the Dou Qi in the air. Even the surrounding air became distorted.

Shi Kang adjusted his condition slightly and took a deep breath, calming himself.

Then, without hesitation, he directly thrust his hand into Fallen Heart Flame.

The power of Fallen Heart Flame had reached the level of a Dou Zong, so even with Shi Kang's powerful body, he could not be completely immune to it.

A faint burning sensation came from his hand. Shi Kang judged it to be mildly painful.

But all body refiners possessed formidable willpower. This little pain was truly nothing.

To Shi Kang, it was probably like an ordinary person being bitten by an ant. Nothing worth mentioning.

After feeling around slightly within Fallen Heart Flame, Shi Kang withdrew his hand. A small flame with purer fire-element energy had appeared in his palm.

This was the origin flame of Fallen Heart Flame!

Refining a Heavenly Flame was extremely dangerous. Thus, in order to raise their chances of success, ordinary people would generally prepare auxiliary materials to reduce the difficulty of refining one.

But Shi Kang had prepared nothing. It was not because he lacked such materials, but because the Myriad Spirits Body Refining Art worked this way.

Body refinement meant using the terrifying power of Heavenly Flames to temper the physical body. If he used those auxiliary materials, they would instead weaken the body-refining effect.

Not only could he not use auxiliary materials, he did not even need a spirit container.

A spirit container was like adding a small room inside one's body to hold a Heavenly Flame. Shi Kang, who cultivated the Myriad Spirits Body Refining Art, had no use for one either.

That was the domineering aspect of the Cultivation Method: it allowed the Heavenly Flame to constantly travel through the body, tempering the skin, flesh, meridians, bones, blood, and every organ at every moment.

The flesh served as a furnace, spiritual objects as true fire; sinews and bones were tempered like refined gold, organs forged like stars, until the physical body itself became a world of its own!

Upon reaching great mastery, one could achieve an indestructible body immune to all poisons.

From this, it was clear that danger and reward were proportional.

Even Shi Kang, whose will was firm, felt somewhat uneasy at the thought of the dangerous Heavenly Flame rampaging through his body.

After giving himself a little mental preparation, Shi Kang resolutely swallowed the clump of Fallen Heart Flame in his hand.

Shi Kang only felt a surge of heat enter his body through his throat, like a blazing fire dragon charging recklessly through him.

Shi Kang's body refinement had basically focused on tempering his skin. His internal meridians, organs, and viscera were not much stronger than those of an ordinary Dou Zong.

So he had felt no pain while holding it in his hand, but the moment he swallowed it, he immediately felt searing agony.

After entering his body, the Heavenly Flame began wildly darting through his meridians, continuously scorching his organs and viscera.

Shi Kang, seated cross-legged, frowned. Fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead as cold sweat began to flow.

It hurt a little, but he could still endure it.

Shi Kang began circulating his Myriad Spirits Body Refining Art. His Dou Qi flowed through his meridians toward the places where the Heavenly Flame was rampaging.

That Dou Qi charged toward the Heavenly Flame.

After all, this was Shi Kang's first time refining a Heavenly Flame, so he lacked experience.

He could only recall the experience Old Ancestor had imparted earlier and explore the process himself.

He had to use Dou Qi to surround the rampaging Heavenly Flame. After trapping it, he would first try to leave his own mark on it, then refine it for his own use.

The process was like taming a wild horse; it required patience and skill.