Xiao Yan: Let that kid take a trip to the Fire Spirit Clan. Fire Spirit Clan: How can you be so selfish? Ptooey!

The Bone Spirit Cold Flame transformed into a gigantic bone-white dragon and surged into the sky. A bitterly cold storm swept out in an instant, and snow whirled through the air.

"What a cold flame." Shock rose in Ice Empress's eyes. The low temperature radiating from the Bone Spirit Cold Flame made even her heart tremble.

Ice Empress's amber pupils suddenly contracted. To her utter shock, Xiao Jinchen grabbed the Bone Spirit Cold Flame and swallowed it.

"Pfft!"

Xiao Jinchen opened his mouth and sucked in a breath. The mass of bone-white Bone Spirit Cold Flame was drawn into his mouth like a whale gulping down water.

In an instant, a terrifying chill burst from within Xiao Jinchen. He felt as though he had swallowed a piece of ice that had lain frozen for ten thousand years.

Even with Emperor Flame protecting him from within, that bone-piercing cold spread through his entire body. His blood nearly froze, and then a terrifying burning sensation swept over him.

The Bone Spirit Cold Flame's terrifying bone-white fire had burned the clothes right off Xiao Jinchen. From the outside, he appeared completely engulfed in its flames. Even his originally jet-black hair looked bone-white as it burned in the Bone Spirit Cold Flame.

It wasn't that his hair had turned bone-white; bone-white flames were burning across it.

Still, compared to the unbearable agony of being burned alive when he had swallowed Heavenly Flames twice before, he could just about endure this sensation of alternating freezing cold and scorching pain.

Xiao Jinchen gritted his teeth and steadied his mind. He used Emperor Flame to wrap around the Bone Spirit Cold Flame, then moved it into his meridians and began circulating it along the Flame Mantra's cultivation route.

The refinement went on for who knew how long. A grave expression appeared on Xiao Jinchen's handsome face. The Soul Power he needed to keep refining the Bone Spirit Cold Flame was running dangerously low, and he hadn't even refined half of it.

"Damn it..." Xiao Jinchen cursed under his breath and hurriedly took several Soul-Returning Pills out of his Storage Ring. But before he could bring them to his mouth, the Bone Spirit Cold Flame's terrifying bone-white flames burned them into nothingness.

Heavenly Flames ranked near the top, like the Bone Spirit Cold Flame, could develop sentience. But Xiao Jinchen had swallowed it directly, leaving it no chance to struggle. Now his Soul Power was constantly draining away, and the Bone Spirit Cold Flame seized the opportunity to viciously batter his meridians.

A trace of blood had just seeped from the corner of Xiao Jinchen's mouth when the Bone Spirit Cold Flame instantly vaporized it into a bloody mist.

With the Soul-Returning Pills destroyed, the Bone Spirit Cold Flame ran completely wild, rushing along his meridians straight toward his heart. His consciousness blurred in an instant, and his body convulsed uncontrollably.

Watching Xiao Jinchen look as though he might drop dead at any moment, Ice Empress felt her heart ache. Pain welled up in her amber eyes.

"Idiot! Who told you to do that?" Ice Empress could no longer hold back. She flashed to Xiao Jinchen's side and pressed both hands hard against his chest. Her mighty Soul Power poured into his body without reservation as she tried to forcibly suppress the Bone Spirit Cold Flame.

But the Bone Spirit Cold Flame was far too fierce. Ice Empress's Soul Power couldn't suppress it at all. Xiao Jinchen had only managed to keep it in check because his Soul Power had been circulated through the Flame Mantra.

Ice Empress had never cultivated the Flame Mantra. Her Soul Power had no effect inside Xiao Jinchen's body. Worse, the clash between the two streams of cold energy enraged the Bone Spirit Cold Flame, making its flames burn even more fiercely.

Xiao Jinchen let out a pained groan. His body felt as though he had fallen into an icy cavern, and a thin layer of frost instantly formed over his skin.

"Bing'er, get away!" Xiao Jinchen cried out in pain. He was ready to stake everything and guide the Bone Spirit Cold Flame straight into his dantian, refining it from the inside.

If he failed, at best his Martial Soul would shatter, leaving him unable to cultivate Soul Power again—but he could still switch to cultivating Dou Qi.

At worst, he would die on the spot.

A blush rose to Ice Empress's cheeks. She gritted her teeth, and a resolute glint flashed in her eyes.

"If you dare die, this empress won't let you off!"

As soon as Ice Empress finished speaking, she climbed onto Xiao Jinchen's lap without hesitation, even as bone-white flames engulfed his body. She wrapped both arms tightly around his neck, and her Ultimate Ice Soul Power surged into him like a tide, helping him refine the Bone Spirit Cold Flame.

But the instant Ice Empress's soft, delicate body pressed against Xiao Jinchen's chest—

"Fssh!"

The Bone Spirit Cold Flame on Xiao Jinchen suddenly engulfed Ice Empress as well. With a soft hiss, her clothes turned to ash in an instant.

Ice Empress's entire body stiffened, and her Soul Power transmission came to an abrupt halt. The two streams of icy power collided without any barrier between them.

"Jinchen... you... don't do anything reckless..." Ice Empress sucked in a breath, mortified. Her cheeks were so red they looked ready to bleed, and she instinctively tried to pull away.

But the scorching heat brought Xiao Jinchen back to his senses. Instinctively, he clamped his arms tightly around the woman in his embrace, as though she were the only lifeline he had. The sensation of her body against his sent the temperature inside the Exotic Flame Space soaring.

"Mmm..."

Ice Empress let out a mortified, soft moan. In the end, she didn't pull away. She simply closed her eyes and poured her Ultimate Ice Soul Power into him, unceasingly, through their touching skin, giving herself to him without reservation...

A steamy scene was quietly unfolding inside the Exotic Flame Space. Far away, in the Great Thousand World, two pairs of eyes watched them.

Xiao Yan and Yao Lao looked at the entwined pair inside the Exotic Flame Space, then exchanged glances. Both saw the same unmistakable shock and bewilderment in the other's eyes.

"See no evil, see no evil..." Xiao Yan muttered, flailing his hands through the air twice. The pale-red screen showing the suggestive scene inside the Exotic Flame Space flickered several times, then vanished completely.

"This kid..." Xiao Yan couldn't help commenting. "Even swallowing a Heavenly Flame, he finds a way to make it look like that."

But as soon as he finished, Xiao Yan's heart gave a sudden lurch.

Wait, why did this scene look so familiar?

Naked bodies pressed together, skin against skin, clinging to each other because they had no choice but to swallow a Heavenly Flame...

Xiao Yan's pupils suddenly contracted, and a buried memory surged into his mind.

Back when he had refined the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame, hadn't he been in exactly the same situation?

He had been delirious then, nearly killed by the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame. Xun'er had thrown herself into his arms without hesitation and used the source of the Golden Emperor Burning Heaven Flame to help him refine the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame. Back then, Xun'er's cheeks had been flushed, her gaze resolute, and she had held on to him without letting go...

"Gasp!"

Xiao Yan sucked in a sharp breath, the corners of his mouth twitching like mad.

How was this refining the Bone Spirit Cold Flame? It was a perfect reenactment of what had happened between him and Xun'er back then!

"This is way too similar..." Xiao Yan muttered, the corner of his eye twitching.

Yao Lao, standing beside him, looked at Xiao Yan's ever-changing expression and asked, "Little Yanzi, what's wrong?"

Xiao Yan turned to look at Yao Lao's shameless old face. He opened his mouth, but for a long while, no words came out.

What could he say? That he knew this story inside and out? That it was a reenactment of what had happened to him?

"N-nothing." In the end, Xiao Yan could only choke out those words. He took a sip of tea with forced calm and said, "I just think... this way of refining a Heavenly Flame is pretty creative."

Yao Lao nodded thoughtfully. "It is pretty creative. But now that I think about it, weren't you in pretty much the same situation back in the Demon Flame Space?"

"Pfft!"

Xiao Yan spat out the tea he had just swallowed.

"Ahem, ahem." Xiao Yan coughed twice in a deliberate attempt to cover it up. "It's nice to be young."