Switching to the Flame Mantra, Dou Wang Falls to Great Dou Master

Inside Yao Xuan's room.

After seeing Xiao Zhan off, Yao Xuan once again examined the black scroll in his hand.

What Yao Xuan hesitated over was not whether to cultivate the Flame Mantra, but when to switch to it...

After all, without the system's support, the Flame Mantra was the only path for Yao Xuan to become the strongest person in this world.

Yao Xuan knew that every time he devoured a Heavenly Flame while cultivating the Flame Mantra, it would evolve, and his strength would increase as well!

He already possessed the Yellow Mysterious Flame. Though it ranked last on the Heavenly Flame Ranking, it was still a Heavenly Flame.

The Flame Mantra was currently only Yellow-Tier Low Grade. After devouring the Yellow Mysterious Flame, it should be able to reach Yellow-Tier Intermediate Grade.

With that thought, Yao Xuan made up his mind. "Since I decided long ago to cultivate the Flame Mantra, I would have to do it sooner or later! Then I'll switch tomorrow!"

Yao Xuan had originally intended to wait until he found a second Heavenly Flame before switching to the Flame Mantra, but on second thought, delays could bring unforeseen changes.

It was best to switch right away!

The next day, at the back mountain of the Xiao Household...

Xiao Yan and Yao Lao had arrived early to cultivate there.

When Yao Xuan arrived, Xiao Yan called out excitedly, "Brother Xuan, you're here..."

Yao Xuan nodded. Then Yao Lao emerged from the Storage Ring once more and looked at Yao Xuan solemnly.

"After a night of consideration, what have you decided?"

Looking at the Flame Mantra in his hand, Yao Xuan said, "Uncle Chen..."

"I've made my decision. Today, I will switch to cultivating the Flame Mantra!"

"After all, this is the only way I currently have to avenge myself against Yao Wangu!"

"Even if I must disperse my cultivation, I will have no regrets!"

Yao Lao hovered in midair, his aged eyes fixed on Yao Xuan below, his expression incomparably solemn.

"Have you truly made up your mind?"

Yao Lao's voice was low.

"You are currently a Four-Star Dou Wang, with a stable foundation. If you cultivate normally step by step, your future path would be relatively smooth. But once you switch to the Flame Mantra, you must completely destroy your current Dou Qi foundation and disperse all your cultivation..."

"One wrong step, and your meridians will shatter. Your cultivation will never progress again, and there will be no chance of recovery."

Yao Xuan tightly gripped the ancient black Flame Mantra scroll in his palm without the slightest hesitation.

"Uncle Chen, my mind is made up. You should be able to understand the humiliation of being cast aside by the Yao Clan, as well as the hardship of those destitute days."

"With ordinary cultivation methods, I could never reach the Dou Saint realm in this lifetime, much less shake Yao Wangu. This Flame Mantra is my only hope!"

Xiao Yan stood quietly at the side, confusion visible in his eyes.

From Xiao Yan's perspective, it was truly a pity to gamble an entire Dou Wang cultivation on such an uncertain possibility...

Seeing that Yao Xuan had made up his mind, Yao Lao finally nodded slowly.

"Fine! Since you insist, I will respect your choice!"

"But remember this: throughout the entire process of dispersing your cultivation, you absolutely must not resist even the slightest external force."

"The pain of dispersing cultivation bores into the tendons and erodes the bones. If your mind slips, your foundation will collapse completely!"

As his words fell, Yao Lao's pale soul body trembled slightly. A thread of incomparably pure soul power flowed from his fingertips, gently wrapping around all of Yao Xuan's meridians and his dantian.

This layer of soul protection was a safeguard Yao Lao had set up to prevent Yao Xuan's violent energy from tearing apart his meridians while dispersing his cultivation.

It was also one of the few ways Yao Lao could help Yao Xuan.

"Relax your mind, circulate all the Dou Qi in your body, open your dantian, and draw the Flame Mantra formula into your body!"

Yao Xuan closed his eyes as instructed, casting aside all distracting thoughts and mobilizing the vast Dou Qi of his Four-Star Dou Wang realm.

In the next instant, the aged, yellowed incantation of the Flame Mantra spread through Yao Xuan's sea of consciousness and unfolded deep within his soul.

The moment Yao Xuan began operating the Flame Mantra!

His dantian suddenly shook. The once stable, condensed, full, and complete Dou Qi within instantly began to churn violently, grow restless, and even collapse!

Switching from a high-grade cultivation method to a low-grade one already required dispersing one's cultivation and starting over!

And the Flame Mantra was now merely the most ordinary Yellow-Tier Low Grade!

Thus, cultivating the Flame Mantra at this moment turned Yao Xuan's painstakingly cultivated Dou Wang strength into a useless burden!

"Urgh..."

An indescribable agony instantly swept through every limb and bone in Yao Xuan's body!

It was not the pain of external injury, but the agony of his meridian origin and dantian foundation collapsing!

Countless Dou Qi patterns embedded within his meridians were forcibly torn apart, washed away, and erased.

Yao Xuan could feel the once smooth and solid sea of Qi within his dantian collapsing at a visible rate.

At the same time, the deep, majestic aura of a Dou Wang expert around him began to plummet wildly!

Four-Star Dou Wang!

Three-Star Dou Wang!

His realm fell crazily, and the Dou Wang pressure that had once surrounded him rapidly thinned until it vanished.

Yao Xuan's body trembled faintly, veins bulging at his temples as cold sweat instantly soaked through his clothes.

Yet Yao Xuan still forcibly steadied his wavering mind, because he knew that he absolutely could not lose control now!

"Hold steady! Without removing the old foundation, the new path cannot be born!"

Yao Lao shouted deeply, his soul power firmly protecting Yao Xuan's meridians, which were on the verge of rupture.

"Do not cling to your current cultivation. Let it all go completely! Let the Flame Mantra shatter every trace of the old Dou Qi!"

Yao Xuan did as instructed, completely relinquishing control over the Dou Qi in his body.

In an instant, the remaining Dou Wang Dou Qi in his body lost all restraint and was crushed and broken down piece by piece...

Two-Star Dou Wang!

One-Star Dou Wang!

In just over a dozen breaths, Yao Xuan's entire Dou Wang cultivation had completely vanished.

His Dou Wang realm had fallen completely!

As the barrier of the Dou Wang realm shattered, Yao Xuan's aura did not stop falling and continued dropping toward the Dou Spirit realm.

"Teacher, what realm will Brother Xuan fall to..."

Seeing this, Xiao Yan finally could not help asking.

But Yao Lao shook his head. "Even I cannot predict it. But judging from the current situation, it should be impossible for him to stabilize at the Dou Spirit realm..."

Time slowly passed...

Yao Lao kept his gaze locked on Yao Xuan, constantly fine-tuning the soul barrier and helping him correct the flow of energy.

Who knew how long passed before the violent energy fluctuations within Yao Xuan finally began to subside.

His plunging aura finally stabilized at Nine-Star Great Dou Master...

"Fortunately, the situation I feared, where all of his Dou Qi dispersed, did not occur. At least he remained at the Nine-Star Great Dou Master level..."

Feeling Yao Xuan's stabilized aura, Yao Lao also let out a breath of relief.

Xiao Yan, standing nearby, could not help drawing in a cold breath.

Only after his aura stabilized did Yao Xuan slowly open his eyes and exhale a mouthful of foul air through his nose and mouth. "Uncle Chen..."

"Have I successfully switched my cultivation..."

But Yao Lao shook his head. "Dispersing your cultivation only counts as completing the first step..."

"The core of the Flame Mantra lies in devouring and fusing different flames. You happen to have both the Yellow Mysterious Flame and that Beast Flame within your body..."

"So whether the Flame Mantra can truly succeed still depends on whether it can devour the Yellow Mysterious Flame and the Beast Flame, fuse the two, and evolve..."

"But the danger of fusing these two flames is no less than the dispersal of cultivation just now..."

Yet Yao Xuan smiled faintly.

"Uncle Chen..."

"Now that I have reached this point, turning back is even more impossible..."

"Right now, I can only give it a try!"