Xiao Zhan remained sunk deep in unconsciousness, lying motionless at the bottom of the glassy crater, like an ancient war god asleep in the river of history. Yet now, a faint golden-red mist began to steam around him, bearing illusory visions of dragons roaring and phoenixes singing. It rose in curling wisps, dreamlike and unreal, as though it were an auspicious omen from the Immortal Realm. Each of his long breaths was like the low murmur of an ancient giant, stirring a faint resonance in the Earth Vein Dragon Qi. His aura was deep and immense, as if an even more terrifying new power were taking shape amid the ruined ashes, like a dormant volcano about to erupt at any moment with energy capable of destroying heaven and earth.
Halfway up the Demon Peak of Bones, a seed of fire seemed to quietly kindle, lighting the first glimmer of hope.
At the edge of the enormous glassy crater, Xiao Yan sat cross-legged, eyes tightly shut, like a stone Buddha deep in meditation. But he was far from calm. His teeth were clenched, making a "crack, crack" sound, while his handsome face twisted out of shape from the unbearable pain, as if an invisible giant hand were kneading it at will. Beads of sweat as large as beans, mingled with blood and grime, kept rolling down his forehead and sliding along his cheeks, splashing onto the ground and blooming into tiny flowers of blood.
His body was like a blazing furnace, his skin a horrifying dark red, as if it had been scorched by fierce flames for a long time. Countless fine cracks spread across its surface like those on a delicate porcelain vase about to shatter, each one revealing the immense pain he was enduring. Beneath the fissures was no ordinary flesh and blood, but a churning, boiling, chaos-colored demonic flame. Like a living thing, it rampaged through his body, as if determined to devour him completely.
He was enduring an agony beyond imagination! Forcibly drawing the Chaos Demon Flame into his body was nothing less than a gamble with death. Even though the original light that had erupted from the Immortal Hall's core fragment had briefly "tamed" the flame's violence, its nature—one that incinerated all things and defiled souls—remained as savage as a ferocious beast. It was more than the body and soul of a Da Dou Shi could bear.
Sss, sss, sss—!
The demonic flame surged wildly through his meridians, scorching them as it passed. They seemed to have been plunged into searing lava, giving off a piercing hiss as they melted, like life itself crying out in agony. The resilient Dou Qi of the Flame Mantra was as fragile as paper before the demonic flame, instantly igniting, assimilated, and vanishing into the formless fire. His bones crackled as they burned, as if they might turn to ash and scatter on the wind at any moment. His soul, meanwhile, felt as though it were being pierced by billions of red-hot steel needles. The agony surged like a raging tide, nearly tearing his consciousness apart and dragging him into endless darkness.
"Ugh—aaah!" A beastlike groan of pain burst from Xiao Yan's throat, a desperate cry that seemed to have been wrenched from the depths of his soul. His body trembled violently, like a withered leaf in a gale, ready to fall apart. The cracks on his skin resembled ravines across parched earth, and viscous, dark-red blood like molten lava seeped from them. It dripped onto the ground with a sizzling sound, as though even the earth were enduring indescribable pain. He felt as if he were trapped in a raging inferno, about to be burned to ashes from the inside out and vanish from the world.
At that life-or-death moment, when disaster hung by a thread!
Hum—!!!
The seemingly plain black ring on the index finger of Xiao Yan's left hand once again burst with a chaotic, dark-golden light. Like a rising sun, it pierced the darkness and despair, instantly illuminating everything around him. A gentle yet boundless power, at once like a babbling stream and a surging river, poured into Xiao Yan's battered body. Rather than recklessly confronting the rampaging demonic flame head-on, this power acted like the most masterful guide, carrying boundless wisdom and tenderness. In an instant, it soothed the flame's most violent surges and gradually calmed its wild rampage. At the same time, it deftly stirred the source of Bone Spirit Cold Flame deep within Xiao Yan's dantian—the source that had slumbered for ages like a coiled dragon.
The pale-white flame erupted from his dantian with a thunderous roar, like an awakened ice dragon, carrying a bone-piercing chill and immense power! But this time, Bone Spirit Cold Flame did not engage the demonic flame in a fight to the death as it had before. Guided deftly by the dark-golden radiance, the two assumed a strange, intermingled form. They coiled around and seeped into each other, like two dear friends reunited after a long separation, finally making peace after enduring countless hardships.
Sss—!
The instant the frigid Bone Spirit Cold Flame touched the annihilating Chaos Demon Flame, a dense chorus of erasure rang out, like countless tiny needlepoints scraping across glass—sharp and piercing. Yet amid that erasure, there was more than mere destruction and oblivion! Wisps of incomparably pure, gray-white, chaos-colored flame energy were quietly born at its heart. This newborn energy was like a tender shoot just breaking through the soil, brimming with life and hope. It held both the extreme cold of Bone Spirit Cold Flame and the annihilation and chaos inherent in the Chaos Demon Flame, yet somehow achieved a higher balance, like nature's most perfect creation. Like a living sprite, it slipped swiftly and lightly into Xiao Yan's meridians and bones, already battered by the demonic flame, bringing him a trace of cool comfort and a glimmer of hope amid despair.
Wherever the new Chaos Fire Seed passed, the raging demonic flame seemed to hear its commander's order and immediately reined in its arrogance, becoming docile and obedient. Like a masterful teacher, it led the demonic flame and gradually assimilated it, turning the dangerous power of the fire into a part of itself. The pain of being scorched receded swiftly from Xiao Yan's body like the ebbing tide, replaced by an indescribable feeling of relief. It was as if every cell in his body were cheering, undergoing a complete rebirth, while power trickled into every limb and bone like a babbling stream.
His badly damaged meridians were gently wrapped in the gray-white chaos flame, as if being meticulously repaired by the finest craftsman. Wherever the flame passed, his meridians were not only restored, but also grew wider and more resilient, gleaming with the cold, dazzling sheen of metal, as if able to carry an even mightier torrent of power. Under the flame's tempering, his bones became as translucent and pure as glass, like finely carved jade. Every bone held explosive power within it, as though even the slightest movement could trigger landslides and tsunamis.
[ Ding! Host has successfully fused 'Chaos Demon Flame (Tamed)' and 'Bone Spirit Cold Flame'! Flame Mantra has undergone an unknown evolution! A new flame source has emerged: Chaos Fire Seed (Embryonic Form)! ] The system's notification rang through Xiao Yan's mind like celestial music from the highest heavens, clear and pleasant.
[Chaos Fire Seed (Embryonic Form): Contains the three properties of chaos, ice, and annihilation. Potential unknown. Current state: Stable (requires continued nurturing to evolve).] Though brief, this description was like a key, opening a door to an unknown and mighty power for Xiao Yan.
[Flame Mantra rank increased! Current: Quasi-Earth Tier Low Grade!] The increase in the technique's rank meant Xiao Yan had taken another firm step along the path of cultivation.
[Host cultivation level breakthrough! Current: Peak Five-Star Da Dou Shi!] The breakthrough let Xiao Yan feel the more immense power surging within him, as if he could easily shake mountains.
[Spiritual power greatly increased! Current: Mortal Realm Great Perfection!] The increase in his spiritual power made Xiao Yan's inner world wider and deeper.
This string of system notifications rang like heavenly music, filling Xiao Yan's heart with joy and exhilaration. He suddenly opened his eyes. Gone was the dimness and despair he had shown while enduring the pain; instead, blazing chaos-colored flames burned within them, as if they could pierce every obstacle and light the road ahead. He opened his palm and focused his thoughts.
Pfft!
A fist-sized flame of a peculiar gray-white hue rose quietly in his palm. Within it, chaotic currents seemed to slowly swirl, at times radiating a bone-piercing chill that made one feel as if they had fallen into an icy cellar, at times erupting with enough heat to incinerate all things and turn the world to ash. Yet amid the disorder lay an inner stability and balance, like the order present at the birth of the universe—mysterious and powerful.
The Chaos Fire Seed! He had done it! Looking at the flame in his palm, Xiao Yan felt an excitement he could scarcely contain. He knew his life had now embarked upon an entirely new and glorious path.
"Teacher... Father... I did it!" Xiao Yan's heart surged as he felt the immense power rushing through him like a mighty river, far beyond what he had possessed before, and stared intently at the newborn flame in his palm. His eyes shone with the exhilaration of surviving a calamity and the wild joy of growing stronger, their light seeming to pierce every shadow. He slowly raised his head and looked toward the figure at the bottom of the crater, wreathed in steaming golden-red mist. Reverence and gratitude surged through his heart like a tide. He knew that if his father had not risked his life to destroy the Saint's projection, he would long since have been reduced to ashes in that merciless struggle, without leaving behind even the slightest trace.
At the foot of the demonic peak, a mysterious Purple-Gold Brand quietly appeared, as if telling a story unknown to all.
Xiao Yi Xian sat quietly on a relatively flat piece of dark-red crystal, her body gently enveloped in a hazy, dark-purple glow, as if she were in a dreamlike fairyland. Yet her face remained pale as paper, and her breath was weak and feeble, as though a breeze could topple her. Earlier, she had condensed the Crossing-Tribulation Poison Dragon to cross the ancient river, then suffered a devastating blow to her soul from You Lao. Her source had been gravely wounded, each trace of pain engraved deeply in her body and soul. But now, she had immersed all her attention in her dantian, as if it held some wondrous power capable of healing every hurt.
The one dragon-eye-sized, its entire body
Woe Poison Pill floated quietly in the center of her dantian, slowly rotating like a mysterious star. Within it, a deep-purple nebula swirled like a vast cosmic vortex, radiating a mysterious and dangerous aura. But the dark-golden light at its core, which had originated from the Immortal Hall's immortal radiance, had now undergone a strange and subtle change, as if it were brewing a world-shaking transformation.
At the instant the Immortal Hall's core fragment shattered completely and released its final, anguished ripple! A tiny, nearly imperceptible point of purple-gold light, pure and concentrated to the utmost, flew like a firefly through time and space. Carrying a mysterious and powerful force, it ignored the distance between them and silently merged into Xiao Yi Xian's Woe Poison Pill, perfectly blending with the dark-golden light at its core, as if fate had arranged this wondrous encounter to open the way to a new legend.
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