"Char!"
As Little Fire Dragon absorbed some of the energy drifting from the Red Orb, Xiao Yan also refined the Pseudo Bone Spirit Fire!
One hot, one cold—two forces at their extremes erupted at once!
Xiao Yan's Soul Power bottleneck shattered with a snap! Level 16! Level 17! Level 18!
The instant his Soul Power surged, dazzling white light burst from Little Fire Dragon's entire body, forming a gigantic cocoon of light.
It was the light of evolution!
Bathed in the white light, Little Fire Dragon's body gradually grew longer and leaner, and his limbs grew sturdier. He raised his head proudly, placed his Dragon Claws before his chest, then slowly tore through the white curtain of light.
A golden-yellow dragon body emerged!
The flame on his tail burned more vigorously than ever. Because Xiao Yan had absorbed the Pseudo Bone Spirit Fire, a hint of blue could be seen flickering within the flames.
The color was just like the flames of Charizard X after Mega Evolution.
"Little Fire... no, Charmeleon, congratulations!"
Xiao Yan stepped forward and clasped Charmeleon's Dragon Claw. Then, human and dragon clasped hands.
"Graaah!"
Charmeleon was just as happy to have evolved. Unfortunately, after breaking through the bottleneck, he had only reached level 18 and hadn't learned any new skills.
Still, Little Fire Dragon's evolution was a good thing in itself.
"All right. The Red Orb has been absorbed by you, and I've absorbed the Pseudo Bone Spirit Fire. This strange phenomenon will disappear before long."
"That giant python probably won't be interested in these Heavenly Flames, but Great Sun Rainbow..."
Xiao Yan couldn't help feeling a little troubled. As a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast close to a hundred thousand years old, Great Sun Rainbow was already extremely powerful. And just imagine how furious it would be after fighting for ages, only to discover that someone had stolen its treasure.
"Still, I've absorbed the Pseudo Bone Spirit Fire, and Little Fire Dragon... no, Charmeleon has evolved and absorbed the Red Orb..."
"The me of today is no longer the same man I was before."
Xiao Yan looked at Charmeleon again. All he saw in the other's eyes was a fierce, eager fighting spirit.
"Graaah!"
"Is that so? You want to fight one of the top Soul Beasts too..."
A trace of madness flashed through Xiao Yan's eyes.
Fine.
"Then let's show it what we can do after evolving!"
As his words fell, a wisp of pale flame surged skyward from his palm, pierced through the earth in an instant, and shot straight into the clouds!
The next moment, pale blue flames soared into the sky.
Great Sun Rainbow and the Fallen Heaven Python had been locked in fierce combat, but suddenly felt a chill run down their spines.
"Quack!"
It let out a croak as unpleasant as a duck's. The Fallen Heaven Python had just bitten its neck, slightly damaging its vocal cords, which was why it now made such a ridiculous sound.
Seeing Great Sun Rainbow stop attacking, the Fallen Heaven Python also paused to catch its breath.
Great Sun Rainbow was a real nuisance. If it ate that Earth Fire and advanced, the entire Sunset Forest might end up under its control!
That was unacceptable!
Suddenly, the Fallen Heaven Python sensed something was wrong. It turned around and saw that the earth-scorching spectacle heralding the Earth Fire's emergence had already faded.
The Earth Fire had emerged? But why was there no source of flame? And why was everything so quiet?
As it puzzled over the mystery, pale blue flames surged out of the fissure!
Earth Fire... no, Heavenly Flames!
The Fallen Heaven Python's eyes widened. Besides its fire attribute, these Heavenly Flames surely had an attribute connected to cold and darkness. That was the part it could absorb!
Hmph! It had originally thought it wouldn't hurt to let the scruffy chicken have the Earth Fire, as long as it didn't compete for it. But it looked like that was out of the question now!
Heavenly treasures and earthly wonders—such opportunities belonged to the worthy! If that scruffy chicken could absorb the Heavenly Flames, why couldn't the Fallen Heaven Black Underworld Python? What, were the Heavenly Flames too inconvenient to use or something?
Scruffy chicken! Prepare to die!
With a hiss, the Fallen Heaven Python charged at Great Sun Rainbow again. Great Sun Rainbow kept dodging, as if it didn't want to fight.
Go to hell, you mud loach! Can't you tell someone's absorbed the Heavenly Flames? We've been beaten to the punch!
To give credit where it was due, Great Sun Rainbow was smarter. It had noticed what happened with remarkable sharpness. But the Fallen Heaven Python wouldn't let up. Today, it was going to bite the life out of that scruffy... I mean, Great Sun Rainbow. The bird dodged and weaved, leaving it no chance to investigate who had absorbed the Heavenly Flames.
Xiao Yan charged out of the underground cavern, wreathed in Pseudo Bone Spirit Fire. The moment he saw daylight, he spotted Chang Wei... the Fallen Heaven Python beating up Great Sun Rainbow. His eyes lit up. How could he let such a perfect opportunity slip by?
"Charmeleon, Spit Up flames. Use your control to shape them into a vortex, then use Fire Spin!"
As he gave the order, Xiao Yan drew on the Pseudo Bone Spirit Fire, weaving it together with the flames Charmeleon breathed out. With his own mastery over fire, he wrapped and guided Charmeleon's flames, shaping them into a vortex.
Gradually, a massive vortex took shape. Red and blue flames intertwined, then, under the power of the Red Orb, condensed into an even more domineering orange blaze!
"Release!"
At Xiao Yan's command, Charmeleon exerted all his strength and shoved the enormous vortex forward with his Dragon Claws. It flew into the air and exploded with a thunderous boom in front of Great Sun Rainbow!
Great Sun Rainbow had been dodging and weaving, evading the Fallen Heaven Python's attacks. How could it have expected someone to sneak up behind it? It turned around and saw a familiar aura. Wasn't this the aura of the Earth Fire? Wait, someone had refined the Earth Fire—what?!
Boom!
The vortex exploded, leaving Great Sun Rainbow covered in soot from head to toe. It fell from the sky. Seeing this golden opportunity, the Fallen Heaven Python bared its fangs and shot forward like a black arrow, ready to finish Great Sun Rainbow off.
"Great chance! Charmeleon, let's get out of here!"
Seeing what happened, Xiao Yan decided not to stick around. They'd already tested their new finishing move, so there was no need to risk the Fallen Heaven Python chasing them by getting further involved in its fight. Best to get the hell out of there.
Great Sun Rainbow let out an unwilling cry, but could only watch in fury as Xiao Yan stole the flames that had been within its grasp. Now it still had to face the formidable Fallen Heaven Python.
"Hoothoot-gaga!!!" (Heaven is unfair!!!)
By the time Xiao Yan reached the gates of Shrek City again, three days had passed. After breaking through his bottleneck, he'd also spent several days quietly cultivating.
At last, the day had come... oh, no, there wasn't anything special about the day after all.
"Come on, Old Xiao. Let's go out and find something to eat."
Xiao Yan was roused from his cultivation by Xiao Yulü. Seeing his roommate looking utterly miserable, he thought the other man had run into trouble while cultivating. After some back and forth, Xiao Yulü finally explained.
Ever since Xiao Yan returned, he'd spent an entire week cultivating hard, living as if he were following a fixed routine.
Every day, he went to class, ate, and cultivated. He didn't do anything else—not even talk to his roommate, Xiao Yulü.
As a result, whenever Xiao Yulü made some progress in his cultivation and wanted to share it with someone, he didn't dare disturb Xiao Yan. He could only keep it bottled up inside.
After a whole week, he'd grown so restless that he finally decided to ask Xiao Yan to go shopping with him and have a sparring match while they were at it, so he could see how much he'd improved.
"You want to be a punching bag? You should've said so sooner. But the Freshman Tournament is coming up, and I can't exactly reveal some of my trump cards to you..."
Xiao Yan pondered for a moment, then suddenly had an idea.
"Hey, how about we go pick a fight with students from another class? At least we could get a feel for what the others can do?"
Before you continue