Reborn and Remade

Brilliant sunlight streamed through the window, shining upon Xiao Yan.

"Mm!" Struggling to open his eyes, Xiao Yan immediately examined his condition.

His muscles were still somewhat weak, clearly not fully recovered. His hair and other body hair had also been completely burned away by the Volcanic Rock Flame, leaving his scalp bare.

Yet Xiao Yan was not discouraged by this. Instead, he wore a satisfied smile.

Opening his palm, where fresh skin had already grown back, Xiao Yan summoned a wisp of crimson flame. It was the Volcanic Rock Flame!

Not only that, the meridians destroyed during the refining of the Volcanic Rock Flame had regrown as well. They were even tougher than before, faintly radiating a glaze-like luster.

Although the Flame Mantra had not yet evolved, Xiao Yan could feel that its power had grown stronger, and his Dou Qi had become more abundant than before. Even his cultivation had risen, reaching the peak of three-star Dou Fighter, on the verge of a breakthrough.

Most importantly, he had successfully refined his first wisp of Heavenly Flame! As the saying went, all beginnings were hard. Though he had only refined a tiny fraction of the Volcanic Rock Flame, with this as a starting point, the next refinements would be much easier.

He swallowed the healing medicine he had prepared beforehand, got up and took clothes from the wardrobe, then found a hat to cover his bald head. After tidying himself up a little, he went out, fetched nearly ten pounds of food from the kitchen, and brought it back to his room. Once he wolfed it down, he returned to his cultivation routine.

Time flew by, and half a month passed in the blink of an eye.

Xiao Yan refined the Volcanic Rock Flame five more times, each time refining more than before. He successfully raised the Flame Mantra to the high Huang tier, while his cultivation rose to six-star Dou Fighter.

"Creak—" The door opened, and Xiao Yan, who had been cultivating in seclusion for nearly a month, stepped out of his room. Below, a pair of eyebrowless eyes were exposed.

"It was time to bid Father farewell." Xiao Yan murmured, then strode toward Xiao Zhan's study.

Inside the clan leader's study, Xiao Zhan looked at the young man before him and could hardly recognize him.

At nearly 1.7 meters tall, he looked nothing like a twelve-year-old boy. His bright eyes and faintly upturned lips gave him an air of confidence and youthful vigor. The faint aura of a six-star Dou Fighter emanating from him made it clear that he was a gifted talent not to be underestimated. Yet this young prodigy did not have a single hair or eyebrow on his head, creating an indescribably comical sight. Because he had repeatedly refined Heavenly Flames, the hair on Xiao Yan's body had never grown back. Thus, Xiao Yan had prepared a large hat that could cover his entire scalp, though he had taken it off when meeting his father.

"Th-this, Yan'er... is that you?" Xiao Zhan stared at Xiao Yan in astonishment.

"It is indeed me, Father." Xiao Yan said with a smile.

"Your hair and eyebrows..." Xiao Zhan asked.

"They were burned off while I was refining the Heavenly Flame," Xiao Yan replied.

"And your height..." Xiao Zhan asked again.

"It came from my body being reforged after refining the Heavenly Flame," Xiao Yan said casually.

Looking at Xiao Yan's missing eyebrows, his height, and sensing the aura of a six-star Dou Fighter from him, Xiao Zhan roughly understood just how much hardship his son had endured. His eyes filled with tears as he said, "My son has suffered greatly."

"It was nothing, Dad." Xiao Yan smiled.

Seeing this, Xiao Zhan wanted to offer more comfort, but he knew that was not what Xiao Yan needed. At the same time, he had guessed why Xiao Yan had come to see him, and for a moment, he did not know what else to say. Xiao Yan was the same. Father and son stood there awkwardly in silence.

In the end, Xiao Zhan broke the silence first. "Yan'er, you're leaving, aren't you?"

"Mm." Xiao Yan nodded.

"Where to?"

"The Magic Beast Mountains."

"The Magic Beast Mountains? That place is very dangerous. You... be careful." Xiao Zhan looked at Xiao Yan worriedly, his eyes filled with reluctance.

"Mm, don't worry, Father," Xiao Yan said.

That night, under the cover of darkness, Xiao Yan quietly left Wutan City.

On a hill outside Wutan City, Xiao Yan gave one last look at the city where he had lived for twelve years. Then he resolutely walked into the depths of the night.

Beneath the pitch-black night sky, a blaze of fire pierced the surrounding darkness, illuminating the young man.

The youth was not asleep. He held a jade slip in his hand as he meditated.

Suddenly, Xiao Yan, who had been still for a long time, opened his eyes wide in anger. Strands of pale-red Dou Qi carrying scorching heat instantly wrapped around his right hand.

Xiao Yan clenched his right fist. After gathering strength slightly, he shouted and violently drove his fist into the massive tree trunk beside him.

"Eight Extremes Collapse!"

"Bang!"

With a thunderous explosion, a huge tree more than a meter in diameter was blasted open with a charred hole. Crimson flames clung tightly to the walls of the hole, radiating searing heat.

With a turn of his Dou Qi, Xiao Yan withdrew the Volcanic Rock Flame that had been about to further burn the trunk, preventing the fire from spreading. This was a forest, after all. A wildfire was no laughing matter.

"As expected of a Heavenly Flame. What terrifying attack power!" Xiao Yan said in shock as he gazed at the pierced tree trunk. The hidden force of Eight Extremes Collapse could cause comparable destruction, but he had not even used it yet.

Originally, on his way to the Magic Beast Mountains, Xiao Yan had planned to seriously practice the hidden force of Eight Extremes Collapse as in the original story, so he could slaughter his way through the Magic Beast Mountains. But after recalling the Dou Technique Compendium he had obtained from the Gu Clan, he had the idea of integrating the Volcanic Rock Flame into Eight Extremes Collapse and creating a Volcanic Eight Extremes Collapse unique to himself.

Once the idea came to him, Xiao Yan acted without hesitation. He immediately took out the jade slip containing the Dou Technique Compendium and studied it together with the Eight Extremes Collapse in the Bone Flame Ring. He continued like this for several days. Xiao Yan's talent was indeed quite impressive, and he soon achieved results.

"Mm, the Volcanic Eight Extremes Collapse without hidden force is probably about as powerful as an ordinary Eight Extremes Collapse with hidden force. But because it has to activate the Heavenly Flame, it consumes more Dou Qi," Xiao Yan carefully compared. Even so, the Eight Extremes Collapse imbued with the Volcanic Rock Flame was far from meaningless. Due to the characteristics and extreme heat of the Heavenly Flame, Volcanic Eight Extremes Collapse was Xiao Yan's only current attack capable of threatening a Great Dou Master. From this standpoint, its significance was enormous. Moreover, since it did not require preparing hidden force, it could be unleashed faster. Most importantly, Volcanic Eight Extremes Collapse could also contain hidden force; Xiao Yan simply had not trained to that level yet.

"Eight Extremes Collapse says that when cultivated to mastery, eight layers of hidden force can stack together, with power comparable to a low Earth-tier technique. Heh, those claims about being comparable to high-tier Dou Techniques have never come true, but my Volcanic Eight Extremes Collapse will definitely reach the level of an Earth-tier Dou Technique!" Xiao Yan said smugly.

Over the following days, Xiao Yan practiced the hidden force of Eight Extremes Collapse while contemplating how to combine Eight Extremes Collapse with the Volcanic Rock Flame.

Before he knew it, time quietly slipped away. By the time Xiao Yan arrived at Green Mountain Town, he had trained Eight Extremes Collapse to three layers of hidden force, while Volcanic Eight Extremes Collapse had reached the level of one layer of hidden force.

Under the blazing sun, Xiao Yan looked at the bustling city gate before him and murmured, "Green Mountain Town, I, Xiao Yan, have arrived!"