Choosing Fallen Heart Flame's Sub-Flame

[ Ding. Congratulations, Host. Which academy in Douluo Continent do you choose to join? ]

[ Choice One: Join the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy. Reward: Fallen Heart Flame Sub-Flame ]

[ Choice Two: Join the Star Luo Imperial Academy. Reward: Eighth-rank beast flame—Netherworld Demon Flame ]

[ Choice Three: Return to Shrek Academy and endure humiliation. Reward: Fifth-rank beast flame—Green Turtle Beast Flame ]

(Of these three choices, I can either go to the Sun Moon Empire or the Star Luo Empire, or even return to Shrek? How is that possible? And what kind of reward is a fifth-rank beast flame? Green Turtle Beast Flame? What kind of joke is that? I'm definitely not going back to Shrek. The Star Luo Empire only offers an eighth-rank beast flame, so I'll choose the Sun Moon Empire instead. It's a Heavenly Flame sub-flame—Fallen Heart Flame's sub-flame, no less.)

Fallen Heart Flame ranked fourteenth on the Heavenly Flame Ranking in the Dou Qi Continent. Transparent and colorless, it became one of Xiao Yan's core cheats on his path to growth after he subdued it.

Core ability: a cultivation cheat.

A cultivation cheat.

After successfully refining it, "Heart Flame" would continuously arise within the Host's body, automatically tempering Dou Qi at every moment. This made the Host seem as though he was constantly cultivating, multiplying his cultivation speed. However, the effect weakened as one's realm rose, becoming insignificant after reaching Dou Wang.

Stirring Heart Flame.

Fallen Heart Flame could draw upon an enemy's emotions to increase its power. In battle, it could silently plant "Heart Flame" within an enemy's body, forcing them to divide their attention to suppress it. Those with weaker strength, such as Dou Ling and below, could even be ignited from the inside out and burn themselves to death.

Burning souls.

It was one of the few Heavenly Flames capable of inflicting enormous damage directly upon soul bodies, making it the nemesis of all souls. In the later stages, Xiao Yan often used this trait to deal with and interrogate Soul Hall guardians.

Fallen Heart Flame's sub-flame would retain some of the original flame's abilities, though not completely. Rather, it was an inheritance of its "core traits in weakened form."

Fallen Heart Flame's "sub-flame," also known as a split flame or projected Core Flame—such as the wisp that shone upon Xiao Yan within the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower, or the juvenile Core Flame Xiao Yan later left behind for Jia Nan Academy—was essentially a flame separated from the original Heavenly Flame and sharing its origin. Therefore, its ability framework was the same as the original, but its intensity, duration, and activation conditions were weakened.

Specifically, compared to the original flame's abilities:

Automatically tempering Dou Qi, the cultivation cheat: retained. The sub-flame could still continuously generate "Heart Flame" within the body or tower to temper Dou Qi and solidify unstable Dou Qi. However, its efficiency was far below that of the original, and it declined more quickly as one's realm increased. After Dou Wang, it was basically useless.

Stirring an opponent's Heart Flame to distract or ignite them: the mechanism was retained, but its power and range were drastically reduced. The original could make Misty Cloud Sect disciples burst into flames by the dozen, while the sub-flame could mostly only assist in suppression, force low-level opponents to lose focus, and could not achieve large-scale instant kills.

Burning souls and countering soul bodies: retained. It still restrained soul bodies, but its temperature and penetrating power were inferior to the original. Interrogating Soul Hall guardians was something only the original could accomplish thoroughly.

Heavenly Flame fusion potential: the sub-flame could also participate in fusion, such as combining with other Heavenly Flames as material later on. However, the upper limit of the resulting flame was restricted by the sub-flame's purity, making it far less overbearing than the Glazed Lotus Heart Flame or Emperor Flame formed through fusion with the original.

Intelligence and autonomous rampage: the sub-flame possessed lower intelligence, or no independent intelligence at all, making it easier to control. That was also why academies dared to use it as a "public cultivation flame source."

Simply put, a sub-flame was a "stripped-down functional version" of Fallen Heart Flame. Its signature ability of "flame born from the heart, tempering Qi and refining bones" remained, as did its combat functions of detonating Heart Flame and burning souls, but they had changed from a "Dou Wang-level cheat plus area-of-effect killing move" into something suited for "assisting cultivation, suppressing low-level opponents, and controlling heat during pill refinement."

Although it might not be very useful after reaching Dou Wang in the Dou Qi Continent, it was still an acceptable trade. Besides, this was Douluo Continent. Whether even a Titled Douluo possessed the strength of a Dou Wang was questionable.

So, choosing the Sun Moon Empire was the best option—and it was all for the Heavenly Flame.

With this cultivation-cheat Heavenly Flame sub-flame enhancing him, he would definitely be able to cultivate to Soul Sage, Soul Douluo, or even Titled Douluo level more quickly.

"Teacher, I choose to join the Sun Moon Empire. It's decided."

"If you've made up your mind, then let's set off together. Tell the restaurant owner when the time comes, but I suggest that you continue staying in contact with him. Send him medicines regularly and have him sell them for you.

"That would benefit everyone. After all, you also need influence and connections. The restaurant owner may not be anyone remarkable, but he has connections that can help you exchange for plenty of cultivation resources and gold coins.

"Sometimes, even insignificant people can be of help."

"Understood."

What Electrolux said indeed made sense. Sometimes, many insignificant people could prove useful. In some Western fantasy or xuanhuan novels, when the protagonist encountered danger, the people who saved them were not powerful figures, but weak and insignificant people. Yet they could still help in whatever ways they could.

Although the restaurant owner was not some towering figure, merely an ordinary restaurant owner, he had some connections. More importantly, whenever Xiao Changge needed to gather resources or make use of connections, the restaurant owner had provided him with considerable help and had done his best to conceal Xiao Changge's affairs.

It could be said that the restaurant owner had helped him greatly and treated him like a friend as much as possible, without putting on any airs at all.

"Got it."

Very soon, the group contacted the restaurant owner. They met with him, and the two sides began discussing the matter.

"You're going to the Sun Moon Empire and joining the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy. I don't object. A genius like you will sooner or later need to join a powerful faction. But I don't understand—given your talent, you should have been able to join Shrek as well. You might not be a top-tier genius, but you shouldn't have received poor treatment either. Why not go to Shrek? Why choose the Sun Moon Empire instead?"

This was what the restaurant owner could not understand. In his eyes, Xiao Changge's talent was quite good. Though his strength at fifteen was not outstanding, he was already excellent. He could have earned a respectable ranking and become an outstanding student at Shrek Academy, so why choose the Sun Moon Empire instead of joining Shrek?

"I have my reasons. I'd rather develop in the Sun Moon Empire.

"I'll send the medicines back regularly and have you sell them for me. We'll still split the profits sixty-forty."

"Of course that's no problem. We have no relationship to speak of, but I still hope you'll be more careful. The Sun Moon Empire is, after all, the enemy of Douluo Continent."

That was only natural. Many people of Douluo Continent believed that the Sun Moon Empire was an invader. It came from the Sun Moon Continent beyond Douluo Continent, and after drifting over and colliding with Douluo Continent, it launched a war. That was why many people of Douluo Continent disliked that place.