Flame Mantra, Emperor Tier

In the room, tears streamed endlessly down Xiao Yuting's face. In this world, she felt that only her sister treated her well, that only her sister was sincere toward her. Yet for her sake, her dearest sister had fallen from an Emperor Sovereign powerhouse to an ordinary Dou Emperor whom anyone could bully. Thus, for revenge, she chose to cultivate poison arts. Over the past year, she had devoted all her time to cultivation and searching for alchemists who possessed special flames, moving from an innocent and kindhearted girl toward becoming a demon.

She had only one goal: to help her sister recover her strength and once again display her former brilliance. There were three major ranks on the World-Creation Continent: Battle God, Battle Immortal, and Dou Emperor.

Each of those three ranks was further divided into four states: Supreme, Sovereign, King, and Spirit Realm. Each state was in turn divided into Peak, Upper Grade, Middle Grade, and Lower Grade. Taking Dou Emperor as an example, it included Supreme Emperor, Emperor Sovereign, Emperor King Realm, and Emperor Spirit Realm. Emperor Spirit Realm experts were likewise divided into Peak, Upper Grade, Middle Grade, and Lower Grade.

Everyone who first arrived on the World-Creation Continent was a Lower-Grade Emperor Spirit Realm cultivator. On the World-Creation Continent, only those who reached the Battle Immortal realm could wield the power of space and walk through the air like Dou Zongs from the Lower Plane. Of course, while there were no battle qi wings here, flying battle techniques could still be used.

On the World-Creation Continent, the number of Battle Gods seemed to be strictly limited, and every Battle God possessed heaven-reaching divine power. No one knew exactly how many Battle Gods existed on the World-Creation Continent, but no one dared doubt their strength. Yet precisely because Battle Gods appeared so rarely, Battle Immortals became the strongest figures openly known across the continent.

Advancing from Dou Emperor to Battle Immortal was a qualitative transformation, but to go from Peak Supreme Emperor to Battle Immortal, one had to pass through the gates of hell: the Heavenly Tribulation. The Heavenly Tribulation, also known as the Death Tribulation, was the most effective means by which the World-Creation Continent reduced the number of supreme experts. This was not a lightning tribulation like Pill Lightning, but a calamity created by the laws of heaven and earth according to each person's life experiences. Only when one reached that stage would one understand what one's Heavenly Tribulation was.

The difficulty of advancing each level within the Battle Immortal realm far exceeded that of advancing as a Dou Emperor. An Immortal Supreme could be said to stand at the top of the pyramid. As long as a family had one Immortal Supreme, it could become a super faction in one stroke. Below Immortal Supreme came Immortal Emperor. Only those at the Immortal Emperor level or above possessed the special means of the World-Creation Continent to erase a person's memories.

What Xiao Ming and the others said about directly erasing memories was indeed somewhat exaggerated. Given the Xiao Clan's current situation, only their mysterious clan chief had reached Peak Supreme Emperor, but he had disappeared one day. The elders of the Xiao Clan explained that the clan chief had gone out to train, so the Xiao Clan was currently led by the First Elder.

Naturally, the Xiao Clan could not erase the memories of its own members, so it became an affiliated family of another clan and had an Immortal Emperor from that clan act on its behalf. However, the Xiao Clan had to pay half the price of purchasing a slave. Therefore, even the Xiao Clan would not easily use this method to obtain slaves; after all, the cost was too high.

Flame Mantra, Emperor Tier

"It has been a year. Why make yourself suffer like this? Is there any point in disguising yourself?" A jade-like hand gently wiped the tears from her face.

"And what about you, Sister? Don't you want to recover your strength? Who was it that hugged her blanket and cried in the middle of the night? Who pretended every day not to care, while inwardly yearning for strength and for others' respect?" Xiao Yuting murmured as she tightly embraced Xiao Wanqing.

"Enough. Don't you think highly of that Xiao Yan? I'll see whether he has a way to solve this. If he can, then change your poison arts. From now on, Sister will protect you. How does that sound?" Xiao Wanqing comforted her.

"No, I still have to protect Sister. If he can't do it, I'll kill him. How dare he deceive our feelings?" Xiao Yuting said.

"Feelings? Yuting, don't tell me you've taken a liking to that Xiao Yan brat. Hmm, not bad taste. How about Sister..."

"You're the one who likes her..." Xiao Yuting viciously hurled her pillow at Xiao Wanqing.

In the small courtyard, Xiao Yan sat on the ground as the surrounding Emperor-Origin Qi began surging madly toward him. The Flame Mantra within Xiao Yan's body began circulating wildly. The twenty-three Heavenly Flames were also absorbing Emperor-Origin Qi, and the impurities within the flames were gradually removed bit by bit as their quality began to rise.

Gradually, the twenty-three Heavenly Flames began a new round of fusion. Yes, fusion. Back on the Battle Qi Continent, when Xiao Yan received the inheritance of the Tou She Ancient God, the Heavenly Flames had already undergone one fusion. Yet although that fusion was ultimately completed, it had not been perfect. After the Battle of the Twin Emperors ended, Xiao Yan had been reborn through the Heavenly Flames, but the flames had gradually dispersed again. Though Xiao Yan's strength as a Dou Emperor was enough to suppress them, he still could not achieve a perfect state. Xiao Yi had also been unable to maintain human form at that time and disappeared. Now, the problem seemed clear: during their fusion, they had lacked a medium—Emperor-Origin Qi.

The existence of Emperor-Origin Qi not only raised the quality of the flames, but also gave them an added vitality. In Xiao Ming's words, it gave them an added spirituality.

Gradually, one Heavenly Flame after another began to merge. When the final flame fused, the Emperor-Origin Qi around Xiao Yan erupted in violent fluctuations. A pale yellow flame appeared in Xiao Yan's hand. Its color remained the same, but its temperature had changed drastically. A scorching wave of heat spread in every direction. Huang Lin and the others stared at Xiao Yan, their eyes filled with astonishment.

Xiao Yan sensed the changes in his body and smiled. This advancement of his Flame Mantra had not reached the earth-shaking level of the Quasi-Heaven Tier, but its power was undoubtedly stronger. On the Battle Qi Continent, the Flame Mantra had been restricted to the High Heaven Tier. Now, through misfortune turned fortune in this competition, Xiao Yan had advanced the Flame Mantra. That was right—it had reached the Emperor Tier, and his injuries had also healed in the process.

Could this really be the Heavenly Fire Xiao Yuting had mentioned? Xiao Yan's eyes grew somewhat unfocused.