Return, a Small Test of Skill

Xiao Yan's body stiffened. He slowly raised his head, only to discover that what stood before him was not the Ruthless one he had imagined, but merely an ancient tree shaped like a human.

Though it felt somewhat strange, Xiao Yan still let out a long breath. Better to mistake every blade of grass for a soldier than have Ruthless suddenly appear in his face.

He really had been a little too bold.

Looking around, he saw two youths about his own age lying where they had fallen.

They were Ye Fan and Pang Bo, who had likewise returned to their younger forms.

Just as he was about to do something else, Xiao Yan realized that his body had begun to turn intangible.

A complicated mix of emotions immediately welled up within Xiao Yan.

Too soon.

Yet these few short days had brought about earth-shaking changes in him.

Xiao Yan now understood.

This time, the cooldown period would be greatly shortened compared to normal. Having already formed certain bonds with this world, he would be able to come here again in the near future. By then, the time he could remain would also increase dramatically.

And that would be the moment for him to make his mark.

Ye Fan's sword was sharp, but was Xiao's sword any less sharp?

Taking advantage of the remaining time, Xiao Yan took out all the leftover Buddhist artifacts. He circulated his divine art and extracted all their essences, dividing them into three portions. One portion was absorbed into himself, while the other two were each merged into a relatively intact Buddhist artifact and left for the two of them.

After he altered their properties, they could be used against enemies or consumed during cultivation.

He also left behind two jade slips containing some information.

In the sky, a figure as graceful as a divine maiden flew toward them.

At that moment, Ye Fan and Pang Bo finally awoke as well.

Seeing this, Xiao Yan laughed heartily.

"I am Yan Xiao. I leave these two friends of mine in your care, Fellow Daoist. Both are rare immortal seedlings."

Before his words had even faded, Xiao Yan winked at Ye Fan and Pang Bo. His figure then dissolved into a mist and vanished.

The next time they met, everything would be different.

"What?!" Ye Fan's eyes widened.

"Damn, Yezi, was Old Xiao a human or a ghost?"

"...Probably human?" Ye Fan's mouth twitched wildly. Xiao Yan's habit of making up names was not something an ordinary person could wrap his head around.

Before they could speak further, the elegant young woman in the sky had already descended upon a rainbow beam.

Weiwei: (一`ˊ一)

Pang Bo: (一`ˊ一)

Ye Fan: (눈_눈)

Xiao Yan: (∥•/ω/•∥)

Beneath the forbidden zone, a pair of eyes quietly closed, and the sliver of divine sense that had been sent out was fully withdrawn.

It seemed as though something had been murmured, yet it also seemed as though nothing had been said.

Dou Qi Continent, outskirts of the Beast Mountain Range.

Xiao Yan strolled onward.

He needed a whetstone.

Before long, a third-tier magical beast discovered him.

It was a colossal creature.

A massive snake head shot out, its eyes flashing with viciousness. Its body was as thick as an embrace, and its scales were several times thicker than those of ordinary snakes, gleaming with a metallic luster.

"Hiss—"

This was a Diamond Anaconda, quite formidable even among third-tier magical beasts. It fed on ore, and when fighting, it could activate the scales on its body, making them even stronger than the Dou Qi armor of an ordinary Da Dou Shi.

The instant it spotted Xiao Yan, the Anaconda let out a hiss and swept its long tail toward him.

"Good!" Xiao Yan laughed. He had no intention of using Dou Qi. His soul power locked onto the trajectory of the Anaconda's tail, and he spread his five fingers. Strands of divine radiance surged from his dantian into every limb and bone as he met the attack with a palm strike carrying the roar of wind and thunder.

Bang!!

It was like metal striking metal. Air currents churned, earth and stone scattered in every direction, and the marks on the ground radiated clearly from the point of impact.

"Hiss!" As Xiao Yan exerted force, the Anaconda immediately cried out in pain. Under that single palm strike, its bones broke, its tendons snapped, and its tough scales shattered.

Watching this, Xiao Yan clenched his fist and felt the abundant power within his body. His brows immediately rose.

What a stat monster.

Though he did not know the principle behind it, he seemed able to cultivate the systems of multiple worlds at once, taking the essence from each.

This path was different even from cultivating multiple Emperor Scriptures. It was clearly far more dangerous; the slightest mistake could cause him to explode and die. Yet Xiao Yan felt as though he had taken to it like a fish to water.

Any minor imperfections could be slowly corrected within the Gray Mist Space, at the cost of dying from exploding countless times.

He could only attribute it to good fortune.

After briefly reflecting on his current stats, Xiao Yan looked at the clearly fearful Anaconda and smiled faintly.

Xiao was not a particularly magnanimous man. Since it had dared to attack him first, it could stay behind.

As his vastly transformed Dou Qi began to circulate, flames immediately ignited around Xiao Yan's body. He held his hands together before his abdomen as though embracing empty space, drawing upon the power within every limb and bone. Vital essence and Dou Qi intertwined as he raised his left arm high, pale yellow flames representing the Low Yellow Rank Flame Mantra covering it.

Flame Splitting Wave-Cleaving Ruler! Using his palm in place of a ruler, he swung it down heavily. A solid flame more than three meters long slammed forth. In an instant, the blazing heat incinerated all the surrounding vegetation. Smoke and dust rose, thick white mist rapidly spread, and the stench of charred flesh mixed with the aroma of roasted meat rushed toward him.

"Hiss... Hah!" The Anaconda's roar no longer carried its previous ferocity. It was outwardly fierce but inwardly weak, its helplessness laced with shock and fury.

"Huh? Surviving is one thing, but you still dare hiss at me?"

Using his soul power to sense that the Anaconda intended to counterattack, Xiao Yan could not help clicking his tongue in amazement.

Not only did the enemy refuse to run, it even dared to fight back?

Since returning from the world of Shrouding the Heavens and refining all that immense origin power, Xiao Yan felt as though his condition had risen to a new level every day.

Time. He needed time to digest the gains from this journey.

This harvest had been too great.

An enormous amount of vital essence, origin power enhanced by an unknown number of times, talent and aptitude that had undergone a complete transformation...

This was—

Within the Sea of Bitterness at his dantian, Xiao Yan's Dou Qi Vortex had undergone earth-shaking changes compared to those of ordinary Dou Qi cultivators.

Its very form was continuously transforming toward flame.

From the perspective of Xiao Yan's knowledge of physics from his previous life, fire did seem to be a high-temperature gas. But on the Dou Qi Continent, both flame and Dou Qi were special forms of energy.

Though it was somewhat strange, its increased strength was undoubtedly a good thing for Xiao Yan.

"They say the three treasures of essence, qi, and spirit cannot lack any one of them. I've tested essence and qi already, so now it's spirit..."

Glancing at the Anaconda, whose ferocity had been aroused as it tried to launch a sneak attack, Xiao Yan slowly raised his left palm and spread his five fingers. The three treasures of essence, qi, and spirit underwent their ultimate sublimation, and the pale yellow flames around him instantly turned pure white.

This technique originated from the Wuhou Sect's ultimate secret art in the world of The Outcast. It united the three treasures of essence, qi, and spirit to ignite the life flame. Nothing could withstand its burning, ordinary methods could not extinguish it, and it directly affected one's origin.

It could injure only the soul without harming the physical body.

After Xiao Yan's enlightenment through the Immortal Coffin, this technique had completely transcended its original limitations. Its sealed upper limit had been opened, and its form of existence became closer to Xiao Yan's origin flame.

Moreover, as Xiao Yan's cultivation in essence, qi, and spirit increased, the power of this flame would rise in tandem.

Most importantly, by uniting essence, qi, and spirit, improving any one of them could feed back into the other two. If all three were cultivated simultaneously, it would produce the effect of stepping on one's own left foot to rise higher.

"Burn to ashes."

Xiao Yan covered his face with one hand, revealing only pupils flickering with white flames. In the next instant, pure white blazing fire erupted across the Anaconda's massive body and burned fiercely.