Devouring Beast Flame

"Before you devour it, you still need to prepare a few things," Yao Lao said with a smile.

It couldn't be second-tier pills like the Meridian Protection Pill and Iceheart Pill, could it?

This was merely a mild fifth-tier beast flame, not a beast flame cultivated from the Purple Crystal Source that accompanied a sixth-tier magical beast like the Purple Crystal Winged Lion King.

If he still needed pills to assist him, then wouldn't the more than ten years he had spent at the Dou Qi stage tempering his meridians, widening his channels, and building his foundation be a joke?

"What else do I need to prepare?" Xiao Yan asked weakly.

"Don't worry, it isn't something needed for pill refinement. What I'm talking about isn't something you can obtain right now." Yao Lao chuckled. With a flick of his finger, a faint gray glow slowly rose from his fingertip.

The gray glow circled once in midair before gently landing on the stone surface. As the light faded, it revealed the object hidden within.

It was a thumb-sized gray stone, smooth as jade without the slightest flaw. At its core, a faint blue glow slowly wriggled, like a tiny living worm.

Staring at the inconspicuous little stone, Xiao Yan could not help asking, "What is this?"

Rather than explain directly, Yao Lao slowly said, "Your fire-attributed Dou Qi has already reached the level of Mystic Yellow Flame. If you directly devour the beast flame, the two flames may very well reject each other. Whether they harm you within your body or fuse into a single flame, neither outcome is what we want."

Xiao Yan nodded thoughtfully. If this mild Peach Blossom Fire Seed were devoured directly, it would most likely become nourishment for the Mystic Yellow Flame.

That would be a waste of the Peach Blossom Fire Seed.

Under the influence of his comprehension, the Flame Mantra had already changed.

Fire-attributed Dou Qi itself could evolve toward more powerful flames.

The greatest value of this Peach Blossom Fire Seed now was to personally experience the sensation of devouring a flame and evolving, thereby gaining new insight.

The Flame Mantra pointed toward a path of evolution. That was indeed extremely miraculous.

But that did not mean only the Flame Mantra could evolve.

As one's cultivation deepened and one's understanding grew, new insights could emerge.

For the overwhelming majority, cultivating their predecessors' techniques well and ensuring that the inheritance continued was already impressive enough, let alone modifying and advancing those techniques.

Thus, even Yao Lao had fallen into a misconception. A technique like the Flame Mantra, one that could evolve, was indeed extraordinary.

But such a misconception did not exist for Xiao Yan at all.

Ever since he had begun cultivating in his mother's womb, Xiao Yan had altered his cultivation methods several times.

That was the power of heaven-defying comprehension.

With the support of experience, he could comprehend even more powerful things.

There was nothing that could not be changed or touched.

Only then did Yao Lao introduce it. "This is called a Spirit-Nascent Stone. It is somewhat related to Storage Stones. It can only possibly be found at the very center of the highest-grade Storage Stones. You must know that high-grade Storage Stones are essential materials for creating high-grade storage rings, so you can imagine just how rare they are. Moreover, the chance of finding a Spirit-Nascent Stone within a high-grade Storage Stone is not particularly high. Now you should understand how rare a Spirit-Nascent Stone is, right?"

So it was a Spirit-Nascent Stone. Xiao Yan opened his mouth and froze in place.

Even a low-grade storage ring cost tens of thousands of gold coins. A mid-grade storage ring would cost at least ten times more, while a high-grade storage ring could serve as a token of inheritance for a great clan.

Compared to high-grade storage rings, however, Spirit-Nascent Stones were undoubtedly even rarer, so scarce that calling them few and far between would not be an exaggeration.

Forget him—even Xun'er would not be able to produce such a rare item as a Spirit-Nascent Stone in a short time!

Seeing Xiao Yan's stunned expression, Yao Lao finally regained some ground. Smiling, he said, "This thing can open up a special little space within your body. This space was originally specially meant for storing Heavenly Flames.

After all, given the destructive nature of Heavenly Flames, if you have not thoroughly refined one, then aside from this sort of void space, anything else will be instantly burned away, including your Qi vortex and your body.

But your current situation is special. Using it to store a beast flame is a bit of a waste, but if it can truly allow you to create the Myriad Beast Spirit Flame in the future, then it is worth trying."

Xiao Yan smiled faintly. "As expected, having an elder at home is like having a treasure."

"Alright, now it is time to begin devouring this Peach Blossom Fire Seed. I also want to see just how much a beast flame can evolve the Flame Mantra." Yao Lao exhaled, his voice filled with anticipation.

"It's already the new Flame Mantra," Xiao Yan reminded him. He opened the jade bottle and swallowed the Peach Blossom Fire Seed in one gulp.

At that moment, Yao Lao flicked his finger. The tiny Spirit-Nascent Stone on the ground turned into a streak of gray light and shot straight into Xiao Yan's body.

At the same time, the Peach Blossom Fire Seed rushed into Xiao Yan's meridians without awareness. Its mild flames slowly surged, seemingly curious about this new environment.

After directly swallowing this fifth-tier beast flame, Xiao Yan felt no pain aside from a slight rise in body temperature.

Besides the Peach Blossom Fire Seed being extremely mild, the main reason was the tough meridians Xiao Yan had forged over many years by relying on a method of cultivating Dou Qi far superior to the one widely practiced across the continent.

Seeing that Xiao Yan's face had merely reddened, Yao Lao nodded slightly. "If he cultivates like this for three years, then with Xiao Yan's strength and physical condition at that time, followed by careful preparations, the danger of fusing with the Fallen Heart Flame at Jia Nan Academy in the future will be greatly reduced."

Within his Dou Qi vortex, surging Mystic Yellow Dou Qi burst forth and flooded outward, surrounding the Peach Blossom Fire Seed.

Under the control of Xiao Yan's powerful soul force, it dragged the flame along the meridians through which the Flame Mantra circulated.

The moment the Dou Qi wrapped around the Peach Blossom Flame, the Peach Blossom Flame sensed danger and began crashing wildly against the surrounding Dou Qi energy.

However, Xiao Yan's Dou Qi was no ordinary Dou Qi.

Suppressed by the scorching heat of the Mystic Yellow Flame, the Peach Blossom Flame could only obediently follow Xiao Yan as it raced through his meridians.

As the technique circulated at high speed, Xiao Yan keenly discovered that the Peach Blossom Flame at the forefront had already begun fusing with his Dou Qi in a strange manner!

More precisely, the Peach Blossom Flame was gradually being devoured by the Dou Qi of Flame Mantra 2.0!

Seeing this, Xiao Yan grew extremely anxious.

From the looks of it, he could be certain of one thing.

If he did not force the Peach Blossom Flame into the Spirit-Nascent Stone quickly, this beast flame would be completely absorbed by the Mystic Yellow Flame.

The Flame Mantra accelerated further. The Dou Qi carrying the Peach Blossom Flame flowed toward a tiny gray point of light at the center of the vortex.

At the center of the vortex floated that tiny gray point. Within it lay endless, profound darkness, and at the end of that darkness seemed to be another hidden space, making it appear extraordinarily mysterious.

The instant they made contact, the light within the gray point rapidly vanished. A terrifying suction force erupted, swiftly drawing in the Peach Blossom Fire Seed.

Just as Flame Mantra 2.0 quietly began to evolve, Xiao Yan's cultivation of the technique once again brought him new insight under the boost of his heaven-defying comprehension.