Defying Heaven in a Sudden Enlightenment, Becoming Emperor Flame

"Teacher, strange flames are still a bit too far off for me. Shouldn't you be preparing a beast flame for me? Maybe a beast flame could also let the Flame Mantra evolve," Xiao Yan said, seizing the opportunity.

Yao Lao pondered. "That is possible. But Wutan City is simply too small. Even whether the largest auction house here has an alchemy cauldron is uncertain, let alone something as rare as a beast flame."

"No matter. It only needs to be delivered to us sooner or later." Xiao Yan was not in a hurry.

Yao Lao waved his hand. "We'll discuss that later. This time, I only had you prepare gold for a storage ring, an alchemy cauldron, and medicinal ingredients."

His eyes narrowing slightly, Yao Lao picked up the Purpleleaf Orchid with his left hand as the Bone Chilling Flame in his palm abruptly surged upward.

In an instant, the temperature in the room rose considerably.

Yao Lao's expression remained calm. Refining something like Foundation Establishment Spiritual Liquid was as easy as breathing for him.

One medicinal ingredient after another was tossed into the flames. Yao Lao also explained to Xiao Yan the detailed traits and conditions of birth for strange flames such as the Mystic Yellow Flame and Myriad Beast Spirit Flame.

Xiao Yan listened intently, his dark eyes fixed on the Bone Chilling Flame. Thinking of how the Flame Mantra could fuse multiple flames and advance to its peak, he suddenly recalled something a sword cultivator had once said—was he himself not the strongest sword?

Xiao Yan could not help asking himself: Why could his own fire-attributed Dou Qi not be cultivated into the strongest flame in heaven and earth?

In that instant, Xiao Yan's heart suddenly trembled.

For a strange flame to be born between heaven and earth already required a vast amount of time. Even after another long period of growth, it still could not make that strange flame truly invincible.

But for a person to reach the peak of the Dou Qi Continent, as long as they had sufficient opportunity, it would not take too long...

[Through your understanding of the Golden Emperor Burning Heaven Flame and Bone Chilling Flame, as well as your deduction of information regarding strange flames, you have attained enlightenment and comprehended Flame Mantra Version 2.0.]

[Flame Mantra Version 2.0: Retains Flame Mantra Version 1.0's effect of fusing strange flames. The advantage of this technique is that it allows the cultivator to become heaven and earth, nurturing their own fire-attributed Dou Qi toward a strange flame. What strange flame is nurtured and how powerful it becomes are greatly related to the cultivator's comprehension, strength, and opportunities.]

"Heaven and earth, mystic and yellow, conceive divine spirits; a blazing furnace tempers true gold. Starlight illuminates the ancient moon's brightness; unknown chaos conceals mystic tones..."

Xiao Yan muttered within his heart, yet his entire body stood rooted in place like a statue.

As Xiao Yan entered a motionless state, the surrounding air suddenly shuddered. With a hum, the energy of heaven and earth came surging in madly.

In the blink of an eye, Xiao Yan seemed to transform into an incomparably massive black hole, ceaselessly absorbing the energy of heaven and earth flooding frantically into his body.

"What is happening?" Yao Lao stared blankly. He had been in the middle of teaching, and then Xiao Yan broke through...

Judging by the scale of the energy of heaven and earth, even the breakthroughs of a Da Dou Shi, Dou Ling, or Dou Wang seemed far inferior!

Yao Lao was truly frightened. If Xiao Yan absorbed this terrifying energy, enough to allow a peak Dou Wang to break through to Dou Huang, he would be burst apart.

Ya Fei and Gu Ni, the two people in charge of the Mittel Auction House, also looked toward Xiao Yan's room in utter astonishment.

"This energy of heaven and earth... what happened?" Ya Fei did not know much about cultivation and asked in surprise.

Gu Ni had never seen such terrifying energy fluctuations either. "Could an alchemist be advancing in rank? Or is he refining some terrifying pill?"

Even Yao Lao could not understand such a strange occurrence, much less Gu Ni.

"Make arrangements immediately. No one is allowed near that room." Gu Ni swiftly retreated.

No matter the reason, energy of heaven and earth on this scale was extremely important to the person inside. The Mittel Auction House merely needed to do its duty.

The instant Xiao Yan attained enlightenment, the surging energy of heaven and earth was like a massive boulder thrown into a tranquil lake, kicking up terrifying waves.

At this moment, the Flame Mantra circulated at a terrifying speed, and a fierce suction force burst violently from within his body.

With one side surging wildly and the other absorbing madly, the combined effect caused the mottled energy between heaven and earth to form a gleaming curtain of energy several yards around Xiao Yan, dazzling to the extreme.

Yao Lao floated in midair, his brows tightly furrowed as he watched the scene Xiao Yan had created.

"What is this little fellow up to now? He dares to directly absorb such mottled energy?"

The amount of energy of heaven and earth was no longer something that could merely be described as immense. It contained far too many impurities and had to be refined and purified through the meridians before it could be completely absorbed. Otherwise, it would contaminate the Dou Qi one had painstakingly cultivated.

The current Xiao Yan clearly did not possess the ability to refine such an excessive amount of energy of heaven and earth.

Yao Lao frowned deeply and slowly exhaled, suppressing the anxiety in his heart. He quietly watched Xiao Yan, prepared to intervene and save him at any moment.

While Yao Lao was deeply perplexed and worried, Xiao Yan knew nothing of the changes outside. He wanted to elevate his Dou Qi to the level of a strange flame, one day reaching the level of the Emperor Flame, then surpassing even the Emperor Flame.

Countless strands of energy of heaven and earth circulated along the Flame Mantra's route. Amid the high-speed cycles, an exquisite sensation that seemed to exist within his soul rose in Xiao Yan's heart.

Just as Xiao Yan's mind sank deeper into that wondrous sensation, the energy of heaven and earth around the Mittel Auction House began to churn madly.

It then spun rapidly, eventually forming a spiral funnel above Xiao Yan's head, narrow at the bottom and wide at the top. Its narrow end connected to the crown of Xiao Yan's head, crazily pouring that enormous energy into his body.

As such a vast quantity of energy poured in, Xiao Yan's soul force continuously compressed his explosively expanding Dou Qi. At last, a distinct change occurred within his body.

Inside the cloud-like Dou Qi vortex, a wisp of mystic yellow flame rose. Like a candle flickering in the wind, it seemed liable to extinguish at any moment.

Yet the scorching heat carried by that tiny flame was not to be underestimated in the slightest. Even Xiao Yan's robust body was affected.

The instant that flame was born, Xiao Yan's body temperature abruptly soared. His flushed cheeks looked like a warning sign of spontaneous combustion.

"What exactly is happening?" Yao Lao was utterly baffled, having completely lost his mind for alchemy.

After spacing out for a moment, the violent energy released by the magic core reacted intensely with the medicinal liquid refined from the ingredients. The instant Yao Lao noticed, he quickly raised a hand and condensed a protective barrier around Xiao Yan's body, isolating all outside sounds.

Just as Yao Lao finished doing all this, the Foundation Establishment Spiritual Liquid in his palm failed to refine and exploded with a boom.

The immense force of the explosion made the entire room violently tremble.

Hearing the sound from within the room, Gu Ni's eyes narrowed slightly as he murmured, "It seems a third-tier alchemist failed in refining a pill."