Yao Wan Battles the Poison Dragon

"That is..."

Xiao Yan watched the poison dragon rise from the viscous toxic swamp and howl toward the sky. An exceptionally powerful pressure, accompanied by a pungent stench, assaulted him head-on.

"Urgh...!"

Yao Wan immediately stepped in front of Xiao Yan and waved a hand, blocking the poisonous gust.

"What terrifying pressure..."

Although Miss Wan had shielded him from most of the pressure, his cultivation was only at the Dou Zhe level. Even the lingering aftershock was almost too much for him to bear.

"That is the fire spirit of the Nether Poison Flame."

Old Yao explained from within Xiao Yan's Storage Ring.

"Judging by that pressure, it is probably at least as strong as a Dou Emperor?"

"Cough, cough, cough!... A mere Heavenly Flame ranked twentieth on the Heavenly Flame Ranking can actually gather a fire spirit with the power of a Dou Emperor?"

Xiao Yan coughed violently. Although the Spirit Cleansing Pill had temporarily protected him from the Poisonous Barrier surging all around them, his body still suffered an unavoidable rejection reaction, and physiological tears filled his eyes.

"You brat has no right to call the twentieth-ranked Heavenly Flame 'mere.'"

Though he could not help lecturing him, Old Yao still helped Xiao Yan block the Poisonous Barrier that seeped in through every opening.

"Even the Mysterious Yellow Flame at the bottom of the Heavenly Flame Ranking would make countless alchemists across the entire Dou Qi Continent flock to it."

"And the Nether Poison Flame is a Heavenly Flame countless Poison Masters dream of obtaining. Do not set your sights too high, brat, or you will suffer for it someday."

"Enough. Let us quickly find somewhere to hide."

With that, Old Yao brought Xiao Yan down onto a jagged rocky shoal in the toxic swamp and hid him there.

"Girl, we will leave this side to you. No problem?"

"Yes. Since I brought you out here, I naturally have the confidence to deal with these troubles."

Seeing Xiao Yan retreat to a relatively safe area, Yao Wan finally let out a breath of relief.

After all, with Xiao Yan, who was currently only a Dou Zhe, accompanying her, there were simply too many restraints in a fight.

And now, Xiao Yan had hidden himself away.

As Yao Wan relaxed, her aura began to rise sharply as well.

"Teacher, look!"

Having just hidden himself, Xiao Yan watched the graceful figure in the plain dress overhead with concern. Just now, when she stood before him, she had seemed like nothing more than a lone boat, barely able to preserve herself amid the poisonous tide.

Yet now, she resembled a jagged reef along the shore. No matter how the poisonous waves battered and scoured her, she remained unmoved.

The change in her aura was completed almost instantly.

"Hmm?"

Old Yao looked at Yao Wan in the air and faintly furrowed his pale brows, a few suspicions stirring in his heart.

Yet he suppressed his doubts and continued watching for the moment.

"...I will give you a chance."

Yao Wan looked at the twisted poison dragon roaring before her, her tone indifferent. "Submit to me, and I can preserve a trace of your intelligence, allowing you to witness the birth of the king of all flames."

The faint intelligence nurtured over a thousand years by the fire spirit of the Nether Poison Flame could not think like a human, but it could more or less understand Yao Wan's words.

However, the poison dragon narrowed its blackish-purple eyes and roared angrily at Yao Wan, as though facing a great enemy.

Thinking about it, that made sense. Heavenly Flames were naturally formed creations of heaven and earth, practically synonymous with destruction. How could they possibly submit so easily?

Yao Wan's words instead thoroughly enraged the poison dragon. With the lower half of its body still submerged in the toxic swamp, it immediately thrashed its tail wildly and pulled its enormous, foul-smelling body completely free.

Then, without any time for hesitation or caution, the poison dragon lunged madly at Yao Wan.

"Hmph. Hopelessly stubborn."

Yao Wan snorted coldly.

"Teacher, can Miss Wan really deal with that poison dragon?"

Xiao Yan could not help worrying about Yao Wan's safety. After all, Miss Wan's apparent cultivation was merely that of a Dou Wang, while the poison flame spirit before them was unquestionably a Dou Emperor-level powerhouse according to his teacher.

Not to mention that it was the spirit of a Heavenly Flame. A thing as destructive as a Heavenly Flame could reduce even a Dou Emperor to ashes with the slightest contact. Could Miss Wan, a Dou Wang, really handle it...?

Concern flickered in Xiao Yan's eyes.

Old Yao stood beside Xiao Yan. Hearing his concern, he could not help shaking his head.

"Rather than worrying about that girl's safety, I am more concerned about how you will refine such a violent Nether Poison Flame."

Old Yao said, "Heavenly Flames are already dangerous enough, and the Nether Poison Flame is lethally poisonous upon contact. This will surely be a matter of surviving nine deaths out of ten..."

Xiao Yan sighed helplessly. Since he could not get an answer from his teacher, he could only watch for himself.

Please be careful, Miss Wan...

Xiao Yan felt as though his heart had risen to his throat.

High in the sky, amid the fierce wind and poisonous tide, Yao Wan faced the charging poison dragon. At long last, she circulated the Dou Qi within her body again and activated the cultivation art she practiced.

For a moment, heaven and earth converged, storms roared, and countless streams of Dou Qi were forcibly drawn out under Yao Wan's guidance and poured into her body.

"...Di Xi Chan Ge. As expected, this girl..."

Amid the howling winds and the hissing, burning sounds of foam and poisonous smoke bubbling across the reefs, Xiao Yan heard his teacher's voice sound so shocked for the first time.

"Teacher, what is Di Xi Chan Ge?"

Xiao Yan asked instinctively, confused.

"...It is the cultivation art that girl practices."

Old Yao's expression shifted slightly before he regained some of his usual calm and explained.

"Judging from your tone, Teacher, that cultivation art must be very powerful, right? What grade is it? Could it be a Heaven-tier art?"

Xiao Yan stared intently at everything unfolding overhead and asked instinctively, but this time, Old Yao did not answer.

However, Xiao Yan had indeed guessed correctly.

The cultivation art Yao Wan practiced, Di Xi Chan Ge, was a mid-grade Heaven-tier cultivation art created by the ancestor of the Yao Clan, the Yao Emperor.

It had nine stages in total, with each stage corresponding to a major realm. Yao Wan had already cultivated it to the fifth stage.

With every movement, she breathed in and out the energy of heaven and earth.

Yet in the face of Yao Wan's drastically changed aura, the poison dragon felt no fear whatsoever. With an angry roar, it opened its bloody maw and lunged at Yao Wan, seemingly intending to swallow this blind human whole and turn her into a pool of blood after scorching her with its poison flame.

"You want to eat me? Aren't you afraid of breaking your teeth?"

Yao Wan gave a light laugh. Her plain dress remained unaffected by the howling gale around her.

Only the Dou Qi wrapped around her body condensed into a glazed-colored radiance.

"That is..."

Xiao Yan watched as the glazed figure merely waved a hand and blocked the poison dragon's bite.

"The Glazed Body Sculpting Art... A secret technique said to be accessible within the clan only upon reaching the Dou Zun realm... No wonder that girl dared to clash head-on. So she had learned this kind of body-tempering art as well."