Departure, Reaching the Destination, Mu Gu's Plan

The sky was beginning to brighten, with the first rays of dawn breaking.

Xiao Yan was ready to set off.

A few months is neither a long nor a short time.

Xiao Yan went to the Alliance, told his elder brother Xiao Ding, and then set off.

With Venerable Skyfire in charge, the Tian Shu Alliance will not encounter any problems in the Northwest Continent.

Xiao Yan didn't bring anyone with him on this trip.

He originally intended to take Xiao Yi Xian with him, but as his own cultivation improved, his physique, Soul Power, and cultivation all reached new levels. With the use of some trump cards, his own combat strength was no less than Xiao Yi Xian's.

Since that's the case, there's obviously no need to bring Xiao Yi Xian along.

Even if he encounters some danger, if he can't handle it himself, Xiao Yi Xian won't be of any help. On the contrary, it might even put Xiao Yi Xian in danger as well.

Even if all else fails, once that Ancient Character Token is revealed, there won't be many people on the entire continent who can harm him.

Northwest Continent.

Above a continuous mountain range, a small spatial rift suddenly appeared.

The crack slowly widened, and Xiao Yan emerged from it.

He held a map in his hand, looked at the red dot marked on it, and flew directly over it.

There is no doubt that Dou Zun expert can travel at a fast speed, let alone Xiao Yan, who has the Heaven-Swallowing Talent of Space Control. His speed of Space Shuttle is much faster than that of an ordinary Dou Venerate.

Therefore, even including the time for locating the direction, Xiao Yan only took ten days to reach the vicinity of his destination.

Based on the features marked on the map, Xiao Yan further refined the location of the destination.

After about an hour, using the map as a guide, Xiao Yan finally arrived at his true destination.

This is a huge basin surrounded by mountains on three sides. The basin is about the size of two or three football fields. It is covered with lush green flowers and grasses, which completely cover the entire basin. The fragrance of herbs is refreshing.

The environment here is truly wonderful.

The problem is, his goal this time was to find the Secret Realm and take away the Yin-Yang Dual Flame, not to admire the scenery.

According to his subordinates' reports, the entrance to the Secret Realm should be visible from the basin, and one could even see the Yin-Yang Dual Flame inside through the entrance.

But why can't he see anything now?

Even the invincible Fire Spirit Body lost its ability to perceive.

In the past, as long as he wasn't too far away from the Heavenly Flames, he could sense it. Even if there was some energy barrier, it wouldn't affect his perception.

"Could it be that the Secret Realm has some special mechanism, and isn't always open?" Xiao Yan frowned, finding it rather troublesome.

Having come this far, Xiao Yan naturally wouldn't give up just because he couldn't find the Secret Realm.

He closed his eyes, straining to sense the fluctuations in space, searching for the Secret Realm whose location was unknown.

With the help of his [Space Control] Heaven-Swallowing Talent, Xiao Yan keenly sensed an extremely faint spatial fluctuation above the basin.

The fluctuation was extremely faint; if Xiao Yan hadn't strained his senses, he would never have been able to detect it.

Using his Soul Power to lock onto the location, Xiao Yan directly controlled the power of space, attempting to open a Space Channel connecting his current location with the place emanating from the spatial fluctuations.

At this moment, atop a large mountain.

Two figures dressed in black robes completely concealed their presence, their eyes fixed on the figure in the basin.

"Mu Gu, is he your target this time?" a man in black robes asked.

A glint of greed flashed in the Old Man Mu Gu's eyes as he replied, "That's right, Zhai Xing, that's my target, the Alliance Leader of the Tian Shu Alliance, Yan Xiao."

"Just as I predicted, as long as I use the Heavenly Flames as bait and set up some difficulties, he will definitely come and take the Heavenly Flames himself."

The Old Ghost Zhaixing asked in confusion, "You spent a lot of effort to find this Yin-Yang Dual Flame. You have longed for this Heavenly Flames Heavenly Flames for a long time. Why did you use it as bait? Why didn't you absorb it yourself?"

Old Man Mu Gu sneered, "What do you know?"

"Although the Yin-Yang Dual Flame are Heavenly Flames, they are among the lowest-ranking Heavenly Flames, containing very little energy and having a relatively low flame temperature."

"As a dignified Eighth-Rank Alchemist, even if I couldn't find a top-ten ranked Heavenly Flames, I certainly wouldn't settle for one of the lowest-ranked Heavenly Flames."

"Han Feng, who helped me ambush and severely wound Yao Chen to death back then, has now found Sea Heart Flame, who is ranked fifteenth."

"Since Han Feng was killed by Yan Xiao, the Sea Heart Flame must have fallen into Yan Xiao's hands. My target is this Sea Heart Flame."

The Old Ghost Zhaixing nodded thoughtfully, as if he believed this explanation.

What he didn't know was that this was just something Mu Gu had thought about a long time ago.

After Han Feng was killed, he learned of the news some time later.

That was indeed his thought at the time; he only wanted to reclaim the Sea Heart Flame.

However, his cautious approach led him to investigate Yan Xiao before taking action.

It would have been better if he hadn't investigated; once he did, he discovered some unusual things.

From the moment Yan Xiao first appeared at the Alchemist Conference of the Jia Ma Empire, he revealed his Heavenly Flames, the Myriad Beast Spirit Flame.

Subsequently, he discovered that Yan Xiao seemed to have made a brief appearance in the Chu Yun Empire to help the Poison Sect Master.

The Poison Sect had previously found a Nether Poison Flame.

Then, Yan Xiao killed Han Feng and obtained the Sea Heart Flame.

He even went to the Jia Nan Academy, which was suspected of possessing the Fallen Heart Flame, and became a guest elder of the Jia Nan Academy.

At the same time, Jia Nan Academy unusually shut down the Heavenly Burning Qi Refining Tower, only reopening it after some time.

All of this made him realize in an instant that Yan Xiao was intentionally searching for Heavenly Flames.

But who exactly needs so much Heavenly Flames?

For an ordinary Alchemist, absorbing even one Heavenly Flames is already extremely difficult; absorbing several Heavenly Flames is simply impossible.

Unless... that person possesses the Flame Mantra!

Recalling that he hadn't found Yao Chen's Soul Body back then, Mu Gu guessed that Yao Chen hadn't died at all, but had somehow managed to survive and take on a disciple to train. That disciple was Yan Xiao.

This explains why a high-level Alchemist like Yan Xiao suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

It's important to know that Alchemist place great emphasis on lineage; without the guidance of an equally high-level Alchemist, it's simply impossible to become a high-level Alchemist.

He had never heard of any Eighth-Rank Alchemist in Central Plains taking on a new disciple.

Then the possibility that this suddenly appearing Yan Xiao is a disciple of Yao Chen becomes even greater.

Subsequently, the Tian Shu Alliance, established by Yan Xiao, began searching for Heavenly Flames and Beast Flame, which further corroborated his conjecture.

Yan Xiao is Yao Chen's disciple. He has learned the Flame Mantra and is currently collecting Heavenly Flames.

In order to Flame Mantra and the Heavenly Flames that Yan Xiao had already collected, he spent a lot of manpower, resources, and money to find information about a Heavenly Flames, namely the Yin-Yang Dual Flame.

If his guess is correct, Yan Xiao will definitely come.

Just in case, he also specially called over Old Ghost Zhaixing.

With two Dou Venerate joining forces, he refused to believe they couldn't defeat Yan Xiao!