Alchemy? Refining People!

The essence blood wrapped in black flames had no Energy Fluctuation at all. It even felt like jelly to the touch, while the black flames encasing it transmitted no heat whatsoever. Yao Yan swallowed it easily and without any pain.

But before Yao Yan could even wonder about it, indescribable agony surged from his abdomen through his entire body. The Dou Qi Cyclone he had spent nearly ten years condensing was torn apart in an instant. Every inch of bone in his body felt as though it had been hammered. The pain made his vision go black, and he cried out. The color drained from his face, leaving it pale as paper as cold sweat poured down.

At that moment, he could only barely remain conscious as he felt all the Dou Qi within him vanish. The essence blood he had swallowed was like an insatiable Taotie, beginning to devour the power of his bloodline.

That agony, as though his bones were being pulled out and his marrow sucked dry, was beyond words.

"Very good. You seized this opportunity. Life and Death, the strong and the weak—these were always sorted through choice after choice. Endure this, and you will become strong in the future!"

Hun Xuzi clearly admired Yao Yan's decisiveness. Knowing the risk was immense, Yao Yan had hesitated only briefly before swallowing it without delay. Hun Xuzi was satisfied with this ability to seize an opportunity. Over the years, he had seen far too many people who feared death yet wanted to become stronger.

In this world, if you wanted something, you had to pay something in return.

If you wanted to become strong, you had to be more ruthless than others, dare to risk your life more than others, and be better at seizing opportunities to fight for that slim chance of survival!

Yao Yan had already lost the ability to speak. He could only curl up on the ground like a boiled shrimp, enduring wave after wave of pain from his body. His unusual Soul Power kept him conscious, allowing him to clearly feel every change within himself—as well as Hun Xuzi's murmurs.

Fuck your mother!!

Yao Yan's face twisted savagely as he repeatedly cursed Hun Xuzi's entire family in his heart, including the old mother whose whereabouts, dead or alive, were unknown. It was the only way he could vent the terror and unwillingness in his heart.

He had always known the Fantasy World was cruel, but he had never imagined it would come for him so quickly.

Without even the slightest preparation.

Without giving him any chance to grow.

Hun Xuzi floated in midair, the smile on his face gone. With his Soul Power, he was fully aware of every minute change in Yao Yan's body. This was merely the first step of the fusion. If Yao Yan could not even endure this, there was no need to continue.

The Tunling Clan bloodline was extraordinarily domineering, something ordinary people simply could not bear. If Yao Yan had not possessed a Dou Di bloodline and such vigorous vitality, he would have already died violently.

The Tunling Clan bloodline was quite interesting.

Ordinary people could not bear it, while bloodline power that was too strong could not coexist with it. To find the balance between the two, one could only keep trying.

As the black flames surrounding the essence blood gradually dispersed, the essence blood Yao Yan had swallowed completely unleashed its power. It madly devoured everything within him—vitality, bloodline power, Dou Qi... Like a ravenous Taotie, it devoured everything around it that could be devoured.

It was somewhat similar to Nihility Devouring Flame. The difference was that one was a Heavenly Flame born of heaven and earth, while the other was a living being!

Very quickly.

Yao Yan no longer had the strength to curse Hun Xuzi's mother. As a Six-Star Dou Zhe, how much could he possibly have in his body for the Tunling Clan essence blood to devour? In just a few breaths, his body shriveled up like a deflated balloon, and his consciousness began to blur.

"As expected, the Yao Clan Bloodline possesses stronger vitality. Compared to the Soul Clan's Dou Di bloodline, it contains more Life Energy and can withstand more abuse..."

Hun Xuzi looked at Yao Yan, who had been sucked dry by the essence blood, his gaze flickering as he muttered softly.

He had long known this.

He had conducted many experiments of this kind, not even sparing members of his own clan.

Before long, Yao Yan's youthful body had become something like a dried corpse. Even his hair had withered, utterly devoid of luster.

"The first step succeeded. It seems this little fellow has decent willpower."

Hun Xuzi looked at the gradually calming essence blood and spoke softly. Then, a terrifying force of Soul Power, wrapped in the Nihility Devouring Flame's sub-flame, swept toward Yao Yan. The illusory black flames covered Yao Yan's shriveled body in the blink of an eye.

The black flames blazed fiercely, yet no heat or aura leaked out. They were formless and invisible.

With a Palm Flip from Hun Xuzi, the black flames above his palm surged. The space within his palm began to distort, and a Jade Bottle shrouded in black flames appeared. When it was opened, dense bloodline power poured out, causing even the energy of heaven and earth around them to tremble faintly as it instinctively gathered toward it.

Had Nihility Devouring Flame not sealed off the surrounding space, the entire Yao Clan might have erupted into turmoil at that moment.

For the bottle contained none other than the Yao Clan's Dou Di bloodline. Hun Xuzi had extracted this special essence blood from the corpse of a Yao Clan Dou Sheng. The violent energy within it had already been refined and devoured by Nihility Devouring Flame, leaving only the purest bloodline power.

In this era, only Nihility Devouring Flame, which had devoured the Tunling Clan, could accomplish such a thing.

The Soul Clan relied on this very method to prevent its bloodline power from declining. They could continually extract bloodline power from deceased clansmen and bestow it upon their descendants.

They could even extract the bloodline power of other clans...

The concentration of Yao Yan's Dou Di bloodline was ultimately too low to withstand the devouring of that drop of essence blood. Since it came from the last Spirit Devouring King of the Tunling Clan, bloodline power of the same level had to be added to balance it. Perhaps then the two could fuse perfectly.

Without the slightest hesitation, Hun Xuzi poured this precious bottle of essence blood over Yao Yan's body.

Even if it failed, he was confident he could extract it again from Yao Yan's body. As a Ninth Grade Mysterious Pill Grandmaster, he had that much confidence. To him, this experiment involved no loss at all. As for Yao Yan's life... this world lacked nothing more than the lives of the weak.

Drops of blood like jade fell down. Under the refinement of Nihility Devouring Flame, they transformed into wisps of Miasma Qi and flowed into Yao Yan's body.

As they entered, Yao Yan's body, which had only just calmed down, began convulsing once more. His consciousness, which should have been unconscious, instead became clear beneath the empowerment of that powerful bloodline force. Even his Soul Power grew a bit stronger, allowing him to clearly perceive everything around him.

It also brought that agony deep into his soul, driving him mad.

His already shriveled body split apart completely. Had he not been enveloped in Nihility Devouring Flame, Yao Yan's body could not have retained even a human shape.

Neither this Dou Di bloodline nor the Spirit Devouring King Essence Blood was something Yao Yan could bear at his current level.

Hun Xuzi was indifferent to this. His attention was fixed on the clash between the two bloodlines. He needed to find their point of balance and refine them into Yao Yan's body. This method was very similar to alchemy, effectively tempering and reshaping Yao Yan's body.

Among Hun Xuzi's previous failed cases, quite a few had voluntarily given up because they could not bear the pain. As for the consequences of giving up, naturally, they were refined by Nihility Devouring Flame and their essence blood extracted again. As an Alchemist Grandmaster, he had all the patience in the world and did not fear failure at all.

Time passed slowly. Yao Yan wished he were dead, yet he could not even curse or scream. He could only endure passively.

Every breath felt unbearably long.

Who knew how long had passed? Yao Yan was nearly numb from pain, his consciousness beginning to blur, yet the two domineering bloodline powers within him still refused to yield to each other. They seemed to regard his body as a battlefield, fighting over every inch of territory. Yet during this process, his body gradually began adapting to the two bloodline powers. In particular, the Yao Clan's Dou Di bloodline power began actively merging with it, without the slightest rejection. They were unexpectedly compatible.

"Hm?"

Hun Xuzi keenly noticed this and muttered, "As expected, only members of the same clan are more compatible."

Over the past thousand years, the Soul Clan had devoured no small number of other Ancient Families through Nihility Devouring Flame and the Tunling Clan's offspring. Yet the bloodline power they obtained had never fused as smoothly as it was with Yao Yan now. They had needed to employ many methods, and in some cases, they even had to begin from the fetal stage.

As the immense bloodline power entered Yao Yan's body, it rapidly repaired his ruined body and nourished his soul, gradually restoring clarity to his consciousness. At the same time, the agony that penetrated his bones struck again—but this time, he endured it!

Because he did not want to die, at least not so inexplicably!

"The second step has succeeded. Next comes the final step. Whether it succeeds or not will depend on your luck."

Hun Xuzi spoke in an utterly even tone. Even he was not confident about this final step. He could only gamble.

As his words fell, vast Soul Power controlled the Nihility Devouring Flame's sub-flame, shattering the Spirit Devouring King Essence Blood into tens of millions of strands. Then, wrapping every strand of bloodline power in the Nihility Devouring Flame's sub-flame, he forcibly fused them into Yao Yan's body. Yao Yan was currently merging with his clan's Dou Di bloodline power, and with Nihility Devouring Flame's unique properties, it could take advantage of the opportunity to refine the Spirit Devouring King's essence blood into it.

This was clearly not Hun Xuzi's first time doing it.

Almost instantly, Yao Yan's will was scattered. His body changed drastically as a violent, bloodthirsty, evil aura burst forth. His eyes turned crimson and crazed, and he lost all reason. All that remained were the instincts of a beast. A roar escaped his mouth as he twisted his body madly like a frenzied savage beast.

Hun Xuzi's eyes gleamed at the sight. Not only did he not stop, he accelerated the refinement instead, because he discovered that Yao Yan's body had actually held on. It had not directly collapsed as the Spirit Devouring King's essence blood fused into it.

This was the first case in a hundred years!

As the essence blood fully merged, the sinister and violent aura around Yao Yan grew increasingly intense. Finally, his brow split open, revealing a dark crimson vertical eye.

The cold, emotionless bloody vertical pupil was filled with an indescribable aura, as though it could devour everything.

Even Hun Xuzi's Soul Power covering Yao Yan's body trembled, as if it had been glimpsed by some higher-order being. Yet this lasted only an instant. Yao Yan was too weak—so weak that he could not cause Hun Xuzi any trouble at all.

"It succeeded?!"

Hun Xuzi looked at the youth before him, who resembled a member of the Tunling Clan, and there was a trace of delight in his voice.

But Hun Xuzi quickly discovered a problem. Yao Yan had no rationality, only madness. His soul seemed to have been contaminated by the Spirit Devouring King's essence blood. This clearly did not count as success. What he wanted was not a madman. After pondering briefly, he directly used Nihility Devouring Flame to distort space and retrieved an Eighth-grade Pill—the Soul Cleansing Pill.

He had prepared this pill for the Heavenly Venerates of the Soul Hall who enjoyed devouring the souls of others. It could cleanse the soul and eliminate the lingering harm left behind from devouring other souls.

This was also one of the Soul Hall's methods for cultivating subordinates.

Without hesitation, he controlled the pill and sent it into Yao Yan's mouth. Then he used the Nihility Devouring Flame's sub-flame to assist in refining it, preventing any further accidents from occurring in Yao Yan's body.

To him, Yao Yan was now a rare treasure, worth far more than a Ninth Grade Treasure Pill.

He did not want anything to happen to him at this final step.

At the same time.

Yao Yan felt as though he had sunk into chaotic memories. Countless urges to kill and thirst for blood surged through his heart, dragging his consciousness down into them, until a cool sensation swept over his soul and pulled him free.