The Ancient Emperor's Past

"Turns out the Ancient Emperor was a Heavenly Fire from the World-Creation Continent?" Xiao Yan asked in shock. From Xiao Wanqing's behavior, Xiao Yan had naturally understood how precious Heavenly Fire was. Yet when Tuoshe Ancient Emperor said that he himself was Heavenly Fire, Xiao Yan's mind went completely blank.

"That's right. I spent over ten thousand years in the Battle Qi Continent, and there should have been a hundred thousand years here on the World-Creation Continent. Even after so many years, returning here still gives me a sense of familiarity," Tuoshe Ancient Emperor sighed.

Xiao Yan had some understanding of these ten thousand and hundred thousand years. One year in the Battle Qi Continent equaled ten years in the World-Creation Continent. Along the way, Xiao Wanqing had also introduced the World-Creation Continent to them, so they were not complete fools who knew nothing. Suppressing the curiosity in his heart, he quietly listened as Tuoshe Ancient Emperor recounted this secret.

"Back then, I was the weakest Heavenly Fire on the World-Creation Continent, so my cultivation time was often longer than others'. Both the World-Creation Continent and the Battle Qi Continent have an Otherworldly Flame Ranking, while this place has a Heavenly Fire Ranking. It records nineteen kinds of Heavenly Fire. As for the mysterious first-ranked Heavenly Fire, it seemed not to exist at all."

"Heavenly Fire possesses great advantages in cultivation. It can cultivate by drawing upon Emperor-Origin Qi. The higher-ranked a Heavenly Fire is, the greater its affinity with Emperor-Origin Qi and the faster its strength grows. But the drawback is that it becomes more dependent on Emperor-Origin Qi. As the last-ranked Heavenly Fire, I naturally held no advantage at all. I was even somewhat slower than humans."

"One day, while I was cultivating in seclusion, a group of human cultivators arrived. At that time, I was around the Middle-Grade Emperor Sovereign level, yet there was a Supreme Emperor among the humans, along with five Emperor Sovereigns. One of them was an extremely young man who was only a Lower-Grade Emperor Sovereign, but he was the leader of the group. At that time, he already controlled Fallen Star Flame, ranked fifteenth on the Heavenly Fire Ranking," Tuoshe Ancient Emperor said slowly.

"Could it really have been the Heavenly Fire I obtained by fusing the twenty-three Otherworldly Flames of the Battle Qi Continent?" Xiao Yan asked.

"That's right." Tuoshe Ancient Emperor confirmed Xiao Yan's thoughts.

"Could the person the Ancient Emperor mentioned be that peerlessly brilliant genius of the Murong Clan whom Huang Feng spoke of?" Xiao Yan recalled the owner of Fallen Star Flame Huang Feng had mentioned.

"Murong—yes, that was the surname. Even after ten thousand years, I could never forget that name." Tuoshe Ancient Emperor's tone carried a trace of fear.

"If you get the chance, you should visit the Murong Clan. If you can obtain that battle technique scroll, it will be of enormous benefit to your cultivation," Tuoshe Ancient Emperor said.

"A battle technique? What battle technique?" Xiao Yan asked.

"Listen as I tell you slowly. My time is running out, but it is still enough to tell you everything," Tuoshe Ancient Emperor said.

"That young master of the Murong Clan possessed only the strength of a Lower-Grade Emperor Sovereign, yet when facing me, he did not have his subordinates help him. Instead, he had them block off my escape routes and forced me into a one-on-one battle with him."

"Left with no choice, I could only engage him in a head-on clash. Though I was Heavenly Fire and stronger than him, his control over flames was not inferior to mine in the slightest, despite me being Heavenly Fire. With Fallen Star Flame, we fought to a draw. But it was only a temporary draw. In the end, he showed me what it meant to be crushed by absolute strength." Bitterness appeared on Tuoshe Ancient Emperor's lips.

"With a single move, he fused Heavenly Fire and Heavenly Water together. With that one move, the victor and loser between two evenly matched opponents were immediately decided." Tuoshe Ancient Emperor introduced a new term: Heavenly Water.

"Heavenly Water is a wondrous entity on the World-Creation Continent that exists alongside Heavenly Fire. Like the Heavenly Fire Ranking, it has a Heavenly Water Ranking, with the first position left vacant and nineteen kinds of Heavenly Water in total. Heavenly Water resembles Heavenly Fire; Heavenly Water of the same rank is absolutely no weaker than Heavenly Fire."

"Chapter Sixteen: The Ancient Emperor's Past"

"How could water and fire possibly coexist? Water and fire should be sworn enemies," Xiao Yan said.

"Yes, water and fire are incompatible. Almost everyone thinks so. That is why they are so short-sighted, believing their opponent is **ing, and that is why they fail. Back then, I thought the same way, which was why I was severely wounded by a single move."

"Didn't the Battle Qi Continent say that Otherworldly Flames could not fuse with one another? Yet weren't there two madmen who forcibly fused Otherworldly Flames together and thus broke through to become Dou Emperors? Certain traditional notions have shackled your thinking, making you afraid to try new methods. Water and fire cannot coexist, but if there is a **** that can make them coexist, you can obtain tremendous power," Tuoshe Ancient Emperor said.

"Ancient Emperor, did you tell me to go to the Murong Clan because you wanted me to cultivate this kind of battle technique?" Xiao Yan asked.

"It has been over a hundred thousand years. Whether the Murong Clan still exists on the World-Creation Continent is itself a question. Whether anyone else cultivates this battle technique is another question. Even if you obtain it, you may not necessarily be able to cultivate it successfully," Tuoshe Ancient Emperor said.

"This battle technique is divided into three scrolls: Flame Formula, Heaven-Transforming Formula, and Water-Fire Mutual Generation Formula. That is what that young master of the Murong Clan told me," Tuoshe Ancient Emperor said.

"After I was defeated, he did not attack me immediately. Instead, he introduced the three battle technique scrolls to me. You have already cultivated Flame Formula. Heaven-Transforming Formula is used to fuse Heavenly Water, while the final Water-Fire Mutual Generation Formula was the battle technique he cultivated. To cultivate the third battle technique, both Heavenly Fire and Heavenly Water must willingly allow themselves to be absorbed by you," Tuoshe Ancient Emperor said.

"Heavenly Water and Heavenly Fire must be willing? How is that possible? Heavenly Fire and Heavenly Water are both beings with intelligence. How could they so easily agree to be absorbed by someone?" Xiao Yan completely broke down.

"That is why he left such a deep impression on me. If he had not died young, the World-Creation Continent might have gained a supreme expert." Tuoshe Ancient Emperor did not conceal his admiration for his former enemy in the slightest.

"How did he die?" Xiao Yan asked.

"Just as he was telling me these things, we encountered the most terrifying sight of our lives: a battle between four Battle Gods. Battle Gods—existences as mythical as legends on the World-Creation Continent—yet four of them appeared at once." Tuoshe Ancient Emperor could not help sighing as he spoke.

"Don't tell me that while those four Battle Gods were fighting, you happened to be right in the middle of the battlefield," Xiao Yan said, swallowing hard. If that were the case, their luck had been unbelievably dreadful. They had not provoked anyone in their lives, yet they suffered misfortune simply because they stood in the wrong place.

"That's right. The members of the Murong Clan were killed by the aftershocks of that battle. Fallen Star Flame and I were swept into a spatial storm created by the battle and drawn into the turbulent currents of time and space, arriving in the Battle Qi Continent. Fallen Star Flame was grievously wounded and split apart, becoming the Otherworldly Flames of the Battle Qi Continent." Tuoshe Ancient Emperor finally told Xiao Yan why he, as Heavenly Fire, had come to the Battle Qi Continent.

Xiao Yan forcibly held back his laughter. Tuoshe Ancient Emperor's luck had been far too terrible. Still, this also reminded Xiao Yan that he could not let his guard down at any time. Otherwise, if his luck ever became like that young master of the Murong Clan's, Xiao Yan would vomit blood in frustration.

"You should be thanking me instead. If not for the small amount of Emperor-Origin Qi I brought with me, your Battle Qi Continent would have become a completely dead plane. You would never become a Dou Emperor until the day you died. But it is a pity that I never gave her that medicinal pill to take," Tuoshe Ancient Emperor said.

There was no prescription for Emperor-grade medicinal pills in the Battle Qi Continent. Tuoshe Ancient Emperor's origins provided evidence that Tuoshe Ancient Emperor had refined an Emperor-grade medicinal pill. But who had that Emperor-grade medicinal pill been refined for? And since Tuoshe Ancient Emperor had already become a Dou Emperor, why had he not returned to the World-Creation Continent?