Bone Spirit Cold Flame

"Kid!" Dugu Bo cried out in alarm.

Why had this girl suddenly jumped down? This was clearly lava. Could a young girl like her survive after jumping in? Though he was not afraid of it himself, how was he supposed to explain this to Crown Prince Xue Qinghe? Dugu Bo paced anxiously along the shore.

Just as Dugu Bo hesitated over whether to go down and take a look, a golden figure jumped into the lava right after her.

To be safe, Dugu Bo immediately circulated his Soul Power, wrapping himself in it before jumping into the lava.

Within the lava, Dugu Bo quickly spotted the golden figure stopped ahead of him.

Following the golden figure's gaze, he saw that Youquan was completely unharmed. The two finally relaxed, exchanged a glance, and quietly returned to the shore.

"Who are you?" The moment he reached the shore, Dugu Bo used Martial Soul Possession and watched the other man warily.

Stingray Douluo did not reveal his true face. He was an elder of Spirit Hall, and if Dugu Bo saw what he looked like, Qian Renxue's identity could very well be exposed.

"I was ordered by the Crown Prince to protect Miss Youquan."

Hearing that the man was here to protect Youquan, Dugu Bo relaxed his guard somewhat. He could not help but feel surprised as well. He had not expected the Crown Prince to have a Titled Douluo-level expert behind him. With the support of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect as well, it was no wonder Xue Beng had gone so far as to pretend to be a fool.

Still, Dugu Bo said nothing more. Youquan belonged to the Crown Prince's faction, while Prince Xue Xing had helped him before. It was best not to get involved in this imperial struggle.

The two remained wary of each other, yet they patiently waited for Youquan by the shore.

Within the lava, Youquan protected herself with Soul Force while searching with all her might for traces of the Bone Spirit Cold Flame.

After a long search, Youquan finally saw a massive skeleton, seemingly the remains of some Soul Beast. Within those remains, a tiny, eerie white flame flickered.

"I finally found you." Youquan stared excitedly at the dancing flame before her.

Youquan came before the Bone Spirit Cold Flame and carefully wrapped it in Soul Force. Closing her eyes, she prayed, "Teacher, may you bless your disciple with success."

After finishing her prayer, Youquan abruptly opened her eyes, which were filled with determination, and swallowed the Bone Spirit Cold Flame in one gulp.

The instant the white flame entered her body, Youquan clamped her mouth shut. As soon as it entered her, her whole body convulsed as though struck by lightning. Her face, which had still retained some color, turned deathly pale in an instant.

Fortunately, I protected my heart meridians with Soul Power and Soul Force from the start. Otherwise, the moment this Heavenly Flame entered my body, I would have been burned into nothingness.

Youquan endured the scorching pain surging through her body, tightly closed her eyes, and gradually sank her consciousness inward.

The single cluster of Bone Spirit Cold Flame had split into countless tiny eerie white flames. Like mischievous children, they darted recklessly through Youquan's meridians. To fragile human meridians, this was undoubtedly a devastating blow.

Youquan's meridians were scorched by the Heavenly Flame's heat. Her face turned red and even twisted slightly.

Before Youquan could adapt, an ice-cold, bone-piercing sensation swept over her. The two extremes of cold and heat made her meridians even more fragile, as if they might shatter at any moment.

"Ah!" A miserable scream pierced the sky.

Dugu Bo and Stingray Douluo, who had been watching Youquan's movements closely, immediately rose to their feet and stared tensely at the lava.

"What exactly is she doing?" Dugu Bo paced about anxiously.

"Why don't we go down and take a look?" Stingray Douluo said uneasily. If anything happened to Youquan, his young mistress would never forgive him.

"Wait a little longer. Even if we go now, we can't help her," Dugu Bo said calmly.

The two Titled Douluo watched the lava with tense attention. Only after sensing Youquan's life force did they finally relax.

Within the lava, Youquan was still struggling against the Bone Spirit Cold Flame.

"Youquan, you have to hold on. It's only the Bone Spirit Cold Flame. You are the personally accepted registered disciple of the Fiery Emperor, who commands every flame beneath heaven!" Endless pain engulfed the little girl as she muttered to herself.

Youquan desperately circulated her powerful Soul Force, wrapping it around the eerie white flames that scorched her meridians. Her resolve grew ever firmer. Within her hazy sensory world, a towering figure gradually appeared in the girl's mind.

"Teacher!" the girl cried out unconsciously.

"Youquan, your teacher believes in you." A gentle, soothing voice sounded beside the girl's ear.

Somewhere in her daze, she seemed to hear her teacher's words, and Youquan's consciousness instantly cleared.

Youquan forced herself to sit up, calmed her breathing and focused her mind, then began trying to refine the Bone Spirit Cold Flame moving through her meridians. However, her first contact with the Heavenly Flame ended in failure.

Yet Youquan did not give up so easily. If Heavenly Flames were so easy to refine, they would not be called the sovereigns of all flames.

One failure, two failures, three failures...

Time passed second by second. Even Youquan did not know how long had gone by. She only vaguely knew that she seemed to have failed countless times.

Nearly numb, Youquan's heart suddenly jolted during one attempt at refinement. She hurriedly steadied her mind, then discovered in delight that the Heavenly Flame, which had been darting around wildly, had actually begun to move according to her guidance.

Sensing this change, Youquan carefully controlled her Soul Force, enveloping the Heavenly Flame and slowly guiding it through her meridians.

Within Youquan's battered meridians, a thread of white flame flowed slowly. Wherever it passed, white mist curled around the meridians and gradually transformed into tiny ice crystals, only to be swiftly melted by the Heavenly Flame's heat. Amid this extreme heat and cold, Youquan remained conscious as she struggled to refine the Bone Spirit Cold Flame.

After guiding the Bone Spirit Cold Flame through her meridians for one full cycle, Youquan's right hand stretched out unconsciously. The Elemental Stone in her hand floated in midair, its original patterns replaced by more intricate white markings. Eerie white flames coiled around the egg-shaped stone as they burned.

Youquan had no time to rejoice before she began guiding the Bone Spirit Cold Flame through the cultivation method of the Fennel Art once more. As the Bone Spirit Cold Flame was pushed into the Fennel Art, Youquan knew that the critical moment that would decide success or failure had arrived.

Today, she would either die alone in this lava and turn into nothingness, or successfully absorb the Heavenly Flame and officially obtain her pass to becoming strong.

As the Fennel Art circulated, the Bone Spirit Cold Flame, which had initially calmed down, seemed to sense that it was about to lose its freedom and became violent once more. Eerie white flames surged up, fiercely scorching Youquan's fragile meridians.

Youquan's experience refining flames many times in her previous life proved useful now. No matter how violent the Heavenly Flame became, it could not escape the inescapable net woven by Youquan's Soul Force. No matter how much it hurt, Youquan gritted her teeth and endured.

During the prolonged battle of attrition with the Heavenly Flame, Youquan's originally fiery red hair was gradually replaced by silver white. Her originally fiery red Soul Power also became eerie white, while the mutually restraining fire and ice elements within her body began to merge bit by bit.

Tempered by the Heavenly Flame, the phoenix was about to rise anew from the ashes.