Refinement

His consciousness had remained within the Prajna Heart Lamp for an unknown length of time, yet only an instant had passed in reality.

When Lin Yan's consciousness returned, even the two women beside him noticed nothing unusual.

Yet waves surged through Lin Yan's heart at that moment. Quietly sensing the Prajna Heart Lamp that had returned to silence deep within his sea of consciousness, he could not help but think to himself, So this is where you came from!

One-third of the force that had brought him across worlds had temporarily been expended to help him complete his reincarnation.

The remaining two-thirds had manifested the illusory Heart Lamp he had visualized in his previous life into a genuine Companion Spirit Treasure...

What unsettled Lin Yan even more was that one-third of that force had apparently been left behind somewhere!

At that thought, Lin Yan instantly recalled the Mecha that had inexplicably appeared on the Sun and Moon side, as well as the sudden upheaval in the Far North this time. The source of all these variables now seemed to have been found!

The fiery sea phenomenon above the Far North's skies did not last long. When the Ice Lotus within the underground ice cavern completely condensed into form, the sea of fire gradually dispersed.

"Junior Brother, does it seem like it's all right now?"

Zhang Lexuan's gentle voice interrupted Lin Yan's somewhat chaotic thoughts.

Temporarily suppressing his musings, Lin Yan gave a slight nod and led the two women back down onto the floor of the ice cavern.

When the three of them stepped closer once more to the Ice Lotus floating in midair, what greeted them was no longer bone-piercing cold, but a faint warmth.

However, the warmth of ordinary flames came from the heat released by their own burning.

The warmth of this Ice Flame was entirely different. It released no heat itself; instead, it continuously devoured all the cold energy around it.

As the biting cold was completely swallowed by the Ice Flame, a slightly warmer region naturally formed around it compared with the rest of the ice cavern.

He extended his spiritual power toward the Ice Flame, but the instant the two came into contact, his spiritual power froze!

Seeing this, Lin Yan willed it and summoned Emperor Flame over his hand, cautiously reaching toward the Lotus Heart Ice Flame.

The moment he approached, the first sensation to sweep over him was an ultimate chill capable of freezing all things!

But when Lin Yan increased his Soul Power output and thrust his palm completely into the heart of the flame, the extreme cold suddenly receded, replaced by an ultimate heat like molten lava!

One cold, one hot—ice and fire coexisted!

This was clearly an ultimate ice-fire flame, icy on the outside and fiery within, where extreme yin gave rise to yang!

As he carefully sensed the characteristics of this strange Ice Flame, heaven and earth seemed to impart the knowledge to him. Lin Yan naturally learned its true name: the Extreme Cold Mystic Ice Fire!

Seeing Lin Yan withdraw his hand, Jiang Nannan immediately asked in a soft voice, her eyes full of curiosity, "Brother, what exactly is this flame?"

A smile lingered on Lin Yan's lips, and he was clearly in high spirits. He replied softly, "It's a wondrous flame nurtured by heaven and earth—a Heavenly Flame called the Extreme Cold Mystic Ice Fire."

Under the amazed gazes of the two women, Lin Yan briefly explained the Extreme Cold Mystic Ice Fire's extraordinary nature—ice outside, fire within.

After hearing this, the amazement in Zhang Lexuan and Jiang Nannan's eyes deepened. They had never expected such a bizarre flame to exist in this world!

The two utterly opposing extreme powers of Ultimate Ice and Ultimate Fire could actually coexist within one body. It completely overturned everything they had always believed!

As he watched the two women's shocked yet delighted expressions, Lin Yan grew secretly solemn. They now faced a crucial problem: how were they supposed to deal with this Extreme Cold Mystic Ice Fire?

By "deal with it," he was not referring to how it should be divided. From Zhang Lexuan and Jiang Nannan's expressions, it was obvious that they had assumed from the beginning that this Ice Flame belonged to Lin Yan.

What concerned Lin Yan was how they could take it away!

A Heavenly Flame with the dual ultimate attributes of ice and fire was naturally tyrannical beyond measure. Ordinary Storage Soul Tools simply could not withstand the scouring of such ultimate ice-fire power.

At present, aside from the Ice Lotus that had nurtured it, Lin Yan had nothing capable of containing or carrying it.

Using the Ice Lotus directly as a vessel and carrying it with them was not feasible either.

The endless cold energy of the Far North was precisely the best nourishment for the Extreme Cold Mystic Ice Fire.

Once they brought it out of the underground ice cavern, it would inevitably devour the surrounding cold energy frantically, creating vast vortices of cold. With such a disturbance following them, escaping the Far North would become even more impossible.

Moreover, based on Lin Yan's observations, only power at the ultimate level could forcibly sever and suppress the Mystic Ice Fire's plundering of cold energy.

But with Lin Yan's current total amount of Soul Power, if he forcibly sealed it away, his Soul Power would be exhausted before long!

As for leaving it here temporarily and returning to the academy to call others to retrieve it, Lin Yan considered it for a moment before abandoning that plan.

They had no idea how long the round trip would take. Who knew whether some other unforeseen change might occur in the meantime?

Besides, the Extreme Cold Mystic Ice Fire had only just been born and was still relatively mild.

But if he allowed it to devour cold energy freely and rapidly pass through its infancy, the difficulty and danger of refining it later would absolutely soar!

After weighing the options in his heart, it seemed that only one path remained to him—rather than thinking about taking it away, he would refine this Heavenly Flame right here!

Heavenly Flames were completely different from the Origin Beast Fire Lin Yan had previously extracted from soul beasts.

Once Origin Beast Fire was refined, all its original impurities and energy had already become kindling and burned away completely, leaving behind only the pure essence of flame.

That was why Lin Yan could store it within the Martial Soul Origin space and allow Emperor Flame to refine it slowly over time.

But a Heaven-born Heavenly Flame like the Extreme Cold Mystic Ice Fire, even in its infancy, could never be directly stored in the Martial Soul Origin space given its terrifying power!

If Lin Yan truly dared to do that, there would be only one outcome awaiting him: self-destruction!

Unlike the slow, gentle process of refining Beast Fire, refining a Heavenly Flame was violent and ferocious. Success meant survival; failure meant death. This also meant that the refinement time would be greatly shortened!

That made refining the Heavenly Flame on the spot feasible!

Having made his decision, Lin Yan told Zhang Lexuan and the others his analysis. However, to keep them from worrying, he deliberately glossed over the dangers of refining a Heavenly Flame.

In truth, Lin Yan himself did not possess absolute confidence in refining a Heavenly Flame for the first time.

But with the Prajna Heart Lamp deep within his sea of consciousness, its suppression as an existence of supreme rank would be enough to forcibly subdue the Heavenly Flame and expel it from his body should the refinement fail. That was Lin Yan's greatest confidence in daring to take the risk!

Even though Lin Yan had deliberately concealed the danger of refining a Heavenly Flame, Zhang Lexuan and Jiang Nannan were not fools. Just from the tyrannical dual-ultimate nature of this Heavenly Flame, they could more or less guess the risks involved.

As Lin Yan's first two Spirit Rings lit up and Emperor Flame coiled around his body, ready to reach for the Extreme Cold Mystic Ice Fire—

Jiang Nannan's face turned pale. Panic rose in her heart, and she instinctively grabbed his arm. "Brother!"

"Don't worry. I know what I'm doing."

Lin Yan patted the back of her hand, then turned to look at the two women with a confident smile. "Rest easy. I won't treat my life as a joke."

When his words fell, Lin Yan took a deep breath, suppressed the distracting thoughts in his heart, and stopped hesitating. He slowly walked to the front of the Ice Lotus.

The next moment, Lin Yan thrust out his right hand, wrapped in overwhelming nine-colored Emperor Flame, and seized the Extreme Cold Mystic Ice Fire from the heart of the Ice Lotus!

"Boom—!"