Flame Mantra's Second Consecutive Advancement

As time slowly passed, Yao Lao floated cross-legged in midair within the quiet cave, his eyes fixed tightly on Xiao Yan.

"By my reckoning, it should have succeeded by now," Yao Lao murmured.

Not long after Yao Lao spoke, the scorching temperature within the cave slowly withdrew into Xiao Yan's body.

The cave, which had been blazing hot just moments ago, suddenly became unusually cool.

Yao Lao smiled slightly. "It succeeded! I wonder how far the Flame Mantra has advanced?"

Yao Lao speculated to himself, "In any case, it can't leap straight to the Xuan tier. The gap between every tier of cultivation method is worlds apart. Peach Blossom Flame might be able to evolve the Flame Mantra's grade, but to evolve its tier..."

Yao Lao smiled and shook his head without continuing. That was unrealistic.

Beast flames and Heavenly Flames were both unusual flames by nature; it was simply that Heavenly Flames had existed longer and contained energy far surpassing that of beast flames.

The energy contained within the mere fifth-tier Peach Blossom Flame was far inferior to that of a naturally born Heavenly Flame.

The reason cultivating the Flame Mantra was so dangerous was precisely because it required devouring the most violent Heavenly Flames and using the immense energy contained within them to evolve.

That was something Peach Blossom Flame could never possess, and it was also why Xiao Yan's Mystic Yellow Flame, which was practically newborn, could not be directly used to upgrade the Flame Mantra.

Even among Heavenly Flames, there was a distinction between mature flames and immature flames.

What the Flame Mantra needed to devour were naturally the powerful mature Heavenly Flames on the Heavenly Flames Ranking.

Having personally witnessed the cultivation of the Flame Mantra, Yao Lao had gained some understanding of this cultivation method.

After fusing with Peach Blossom Flame, Xiao Yan sank his consciousness into his body.

The enormous Mystic Yellow Dou Qi vortex continued to revolve. At its center, a pink point of light flickered faintly.

As Xiao Yan observed his vortex, his mind stirred, and a wisp of Dou Qi tinged yellow and pink flowed out. It then surged along the circulation route of the Flame Mantra.

Finally, as the Dou Qi flowed through specific meridians, Xiao Yan noticed wisps of fire-attributed energy beginning to seep from the surrounding space. They passed through his skin, entered his meridians, and were carried by the purple Dou Qi to complete a perfect circulation cycle of the cultivation method.

After completing one cycle, Xiao Yan noticed that the strand of Dou Qi drawn from the vortex had become far more vigorous and abundant than it had been a few minutes earlier.

As he watched Xiao Yan cultivate, Yao Lao knew that ordinary standards could not be applied to Xiao Yan due to his unusual constitution. Still, Yao Lao had remained by his side all this time, and after some calculation, he finally determined the cultivation method's grade.

"Yellow tier, middle grade. It only evolved by one grade."

Yao Lao smiled as expected. The evolution of a cultivation method required a Heavenly Flame with unimaginably vast energy. For the mere Peach Blossom Flame to barely raise the cultivation method by one grade was already quite good.

Yao Lao had still somewhat overestimated Peach Blossom Flame's power. If Xiao Yan had not modified the Flame Mantra and brought it to version 2.0, Peach Blossom Flame alone would have struggled to make the cultivation method evolve even once.

As Flame Mantra 2.0 continued circulating, the feeling in Xiao Yan's heart became clearer and clearer.

[Drawing upon your cultivation experience with Flame Mantra, you have attained enlightenment and comprehended the Great Flame Mantra.]

[Great Flame Mantra: Derived from Flame Mantra 2.0, it retains Flame Mantra 2.0's advantage of upgrading fire-attributed Dou Qi and retains Flame Mantra's characteristic of evolving by devouring Heavenly Flames. Its initial grade is Xuan tier, low grade.]

[Note: The Great Flame Mantra's Xuan tier, low-grade classification is based on the host's cultivation circumstances after comprehending Mystic Yellow Flame and fusing Peach Blossom Flame.

If this cultivation method were cultivated from the beginning without the host's fortuitous opportunities, its grade would be around Yellow tier, high grade to quasi-Xuan tier, low grade.]

"This is the right path!"

"Since those before me could create the Yellow-tier, low-grade Flame Mantra, then I can naturally comprehend an even higher-grade cultivation method."

"Great Flame Mantra is only the beginning. A cultivation method's evolution does not have to rely solely on beast flames and Heavenly Flames. I also have heaven-defying comprehension."

Only by discarding the old and creating the new could cultivation continue to flourish. If one merely lived off old foundations, then with the severing of inheritances, one would sooner or later reach a dead end.

Having comprehended the Great Flame Mantra, Xiao Yan immediately began trying to cultivate it.

His Dou Qi rapidly circulated along an even more intricate meridian route, and Xiao Yan's body once again seemed to turn into a massive black hole, frantically devouring the energy of heaven and earth.

"Of course something weird happened again!" Yao Lao's expression instantly became extremely grim. Xiao Yan had displayed abnormalities many times while cultivating; Yao Lao was almost used to it by now.

The terrifying energy of heaven and earth directly formed an energy vortex, stirring the winds and clouds.

Mystic yellow flames burst forth. Each wisp of flame seemed to be erupting from Xiao Yan's pores.

The scorching heat that felt as though it were burning his muscles, bones, and cells caused Xiao Yan to rapidly refine and absorb the dense energy of heaven and earth. His Dou Qi increased at a rate visible to the naked eye.

However, Xiao Yan's strength did not increase.

After this growing Dou Qi entered the Dou Qi vortex, it caused the vortex, which resembled a nebula, to release waves of energy ripples in all directions.

The two palm-sized Dou Qi vortices began expanding at this moment, while the increasingly deep-yellow Dou Qi flowing within them was of a quality far beyond what it had been before.

On the Dou Qi Continent, the difference between cultivation methods depended on four factors.

First was the vortex's capacity for Dou Qi. If two people were at the same level, one who cultivated a Xuan-tier cultivation method would certainly have far greater endurance in battle than one who cultivated a Yellow-tier cultivation method.

Second was the difference in Dou Qi quality. At the same level, if a person cultivating a Xuan-tier cultivation method expended one portion of Dou Qi, then someone cultivating a Yellow-tier cultivation method would need to expend ten times as much, or even more, to achieve the same effect.

Third was the efficiency of absorbing the energy of heaven and earth and refining it into Dou Qi during cultivation. For the same person, the energy of heaven and earth absorbed in one minute through a Xuan-tier cultivation method might require an hour or even longer to absorb through a Yellow-tier cultivation method.

Fourth, in battle, a person cultivating a Yellow-tier cultivation method could never wield their Dou Qi as smoothly and swiftly as one cultivating a Xuan-tier cultivation method.

Taking all these factors together, the higher the grade of the cultivation method, the greater the benefits it brought.

After frantically absorbing the energy of heaven and earth for quite some time, everything finally returned to calm. Xiao Yan silently stared at the spacious vortex, now as vast as a small lake, and only gradually came back to his senses after a long while.

With a stir of his mind, a wisp of Mystic Yellow Dou Qi flowed out from the vortex and swiftly coursed through his meridians.

As the Dou Qi circulated, Xiao Yan could clearly feel the powerful strength within his body gradually rising to a peak he had never reached before.

His mind fixed tightly on the route of the Dou Qi's circulation, Xiao Yan clearly discovered that although the evolved cultivation method's route was obviously far more complicated than before, the time needed to complete one circulation cycle was becoming shorter and shorter.