Leaving Wutan City (Part One)

"Hah!"

Xiao Yi Xian sat cross-legged on the bed. The Dou Qi within her body circulated through a special set of meridians, passed through the sword case, then returned to her dantian.

"Hah!"

Xiao Yi Xian exhaled a faint gray breath—the impurities within her body. After refining the sealed Poisonous Gas in her body all night, her cultivation had surged forward, reaching the seven-star Dou Zhe level.

Purple Dou Qi wound around Xiao Yi Xian's fingers as she sighed inwardly, As expected of the Calamity Poison Body!

Eating poison could make her stronger, just like an experience potion. If only there were no side effects.

Xiao Yi Xian lifted her clothes and saw that the Seven-Colored Poison Lines on her lower abdomen seemed to have grown a little longer.

Xiao Yi Xian looked at Xiao Ling'er, who was still asleep beside her, in confusion. She seemed to have been sleeping for quite a long time, hadn't she?

"Brat, don't worry. She's undergoing a transformation. When she wakes up, she may already be a Dou Zhe." Yao Lao suddenly appeared before Xiao Yi Xian, looking at Xiao Ling'er with clear surprise.

Xiao Yi Xian looked at Yao Lao and asked happily, "When did you wake up?"

Yao Lao clasped his hands behind his back and replied calmly, "Just now."

Looking at Xiao Ling'er, Xiao Yi Xian asked curiously, "Yao Lao, do you know what's happening to her?"

Yao Lao stroked his chin and said seriously, "This should be a cultivation method unique to Heaven and Earth Spirits. Your cultivation technique may have triggered her bloodline. One transformation, and she becomes a Dou Zhe."

Surprise flashed through Xiao Yi Xian's eyes. "Then if she transforms nine times, or even ten times..."

Yao Lao gazed at Xiao Ling'er with profound eyes. "Even becoming a Dou Di isn't impossible, but it would be far too difficult."

Hearing that it was too difficult, Xiao Yi Xian relaxed. What kind of species was this, to seemingly possess the potential to become a Dou Di, even if the difficulty was immense?

Yet the book Battle Through the Heavens had barely mentioned it. It had only described most common magical beasts and had never written of such an aberrant existence.

Perhaps it would not be wrong to call her a magical beast, but calling her a spirit among demons would not be an exaggeration either.

Xiao Yi Xian looked at Yao Lao and said calmly, "Yao Lao, once Xiao Ling'er wakes up, I'll be leaving."

Yao Lao nodded. Wutan City was too small, with nothing worth lingering over. If one wanted to grow stronger, one had to travel far and see the vast landscapes of the world.

Yao Lao drifted about as he said calmly, "Once Little Yan becomes a Dou Zhe, I'll take him out as well."

Xiao Yi Xian nodded. "Jia Nan Academy has the fourteenth-ranked Fallen Heart Flame."

"Oh? It's actually the Fallen Heart Flame?" Upon hearing this, Yao Lao's eyes lit up. Though he had sensed the presence of a Heavenly Flame within Jia Nan Academy, he had never expected it to be the Fallen Heart Flame.

Fire was born from the heart, tempering Qi and refining bone. The Fallen Heart Flame was known as a "cultivation cheat device."

Not only could this Heavenly Flame accelerate cultivation, but once one successfully refined the Fallen Heart Flame, an endless supply of heartfire would be generated within the body.

This heartfire required no control and would burn the Dou Qi within the body day and night, every moment of every day. Under such nearly ceaseless tempering, it was as though the body remained in a state of cultivation at all times.

Moreover, this cultivation state was even more effective than ordinary cultivation. Such cultivation naturally far surpassed normal cultivation, which was why it was called a cheat device.

Yao Chen turned around, then thought of Xiao Yan's strength and said dejectedly, "Even if Xiao Yan breaks through to Dou Zhe, he still won't be able to absorb a Heavenly Flame ranked fourteenth."

He understood all too well how difficult it was to absorb a Heavenly Flame. Even he had expended enormous effort to absorb one back then.

Xiao Yi Xian smiled. "Then what about the Green Lotus Core Flame?"

"What?"

Yao Lao immediately grabbed Xiao Yi Xian by the shoulders and asked in disbelief, "Are you sure?"

Xiao Yi Xian nodded. "The Tagor Desert contains the Green Lotus Core Flame, and Queen Medusa has been reluctant to part with it."

"Hm?"

Yao Lao froze upon hearing this. Why would a yin-attributed snake be interested in a Heavenly Flame of utmost yang?

Could it be...?

Xiao Yi Xian smiled at Yao Lao. "That's right. She plans to evolve through the Heavenly Flame. We'll meet in the Tagor Desert then. Whether Queen Medusa will have already taken the Heavenly Flame by that time is impossible to say."

Yao Lao nodded. Every piece of information Xiao Yi Xian gave had provided him and Xiao Yan with a clear goal, allowing them to grow quickly.

"But what about the third Heavenly Flame?"

Yao Chen did not know where to find a third Heavenly Flame. If he removed his Bone Spirit Cold Flame, his life would be in danger as well.

Xiao Yi Xian looked at Yao Lao mysteriously. "The Sea Heart Flame. And it's already under someone's control—someone Yao Lao knows especially well!"

"Hm?" Yao Lao was bewildered by Xiao Yi Xian's words. When had he ever known someone who controlled the Sea Heart Flame?

"Han Feng!"

The moment Xiao Yi Xian spoke those two words, Yao Lao's pressure burst forth instantly, and his blood-red eyes filled with fury.

"Han Feng!" Yao Lao pronounced the name one word at a time. The killing intent contained in each word plunged Xiao Yi Xian into endless darkness.

As though realizing something, Yao Lao withdrew his aura and looked somewhat apologetically at Xiao Yi Xian.

Not long ago, he had still been the foremost alchemist who roamed Zhongzhou freely. It had all begun because he passed through a village and saw a child.

He had thought the child could inherit his legacy, but he had never imagined that it would mark the beginning of his fall into the abyss.

Out of compassion, he had accepted a disciple. Because he had worried whether the Flame Mantra could be cultivated, he had not given it to him. Yet he had never imagined... never imagined...

At this thought, Yao Chen gritted his teeth in secret. He had raised that disciple for countless years, yet that bond had been worth less than a few words from someone else?

A few casual provocations had been enough for him to dare devour his master. He truly was an ungrateful, vicious wretch.

Seeing Yao Lao lost in thought, Xiao Yi Xian knew she had made him recall many painful memories.

Han Feng had been an orphan Yao Chen saved. He had grown up under Yao Chen's doting care.

He should have had a bright future, yet his mind had changed...

Ambitious and treacherous, Han Feng had been provoked by Mu Gu into choosing to murder the master who had raised him, Yao Chen, all to seize a cultivation technique called the Flame Mantra.

Moreover, the conditions required to cultivate the Flame Mantra were extremely harsh, and it carried a certain degree of danger. That was why Yao Lao had never intended to give the technique to Han Feng.

But Han Feng did not see it that way. His twisted mind had driven him to commit the most heinous act.

"Betraying his master!"

This was also a necessary part of Yao Lao's role as Xiao Yan's golden finger... Without such a background, Xiao Yan's limits would have been obvious at a glance.

After reducing Yao Chen to ashes, Han Feng feared that Yao Chen's close friends, Venerable Feng and Gu Ling, would uncover the truth. He fled to the Black Corner Region with Yao Chen's belongings, where he acted as a local tyrant and became the Black Corner Region's foremost alchemist, the "Medicine Emperor."

No matter how one put it, Xiao Yi Xian could only describe that traitor with one word: "Stupid!"

He did not trust his master, and the influence of his childhood had turned him into this. In the end, he only became a Dou Huang.

And he died quite happily in the end. One word: "Serves him right!"