Speedrunning Douluo, Paying the Plane's Will Some Interest

Ming Dou Mountains, a certain cave, the Death's Hand Thieves' Group's hideout.

"Boss, disaster! Someone's outside—"

Before the panicked voice could finish, a blaze of pure white fire burned the lackey to ashes from the inside out.

The three Soul Kings deep within the cave all frowned.

Something felt wrong...

The Death God Envoy's eyes suddenly widened. Why had the usually bustling bandits fallen silent?

Before he could think further, leisurely footsteps echoed through the cave.

Tap, tap, tap...

The footsteps drew closer, and Xiao Yan appeared inside the cave.

"You are—" Before the Soul King could finish speaking, Xiao Yan frowned slightly and glanced at him. The Soul King instantly turned to ash, utterly unable to resist.

"Shh!" Making a silencing gesture, Xiao Yan pulled a thick stack of papers from his robes.

After flipping through them, he pulled out a page and slowly compared it with the two men before him, who were furious but dared not speak. He nodded in satisfaction.

"The Death's Foot Thieves' Group, right?"

"...May I ask who you are—" As another Soul King spoke, the Death God Envoy released five soul rings and quietly shielded him, while his gaze fell upon several corpses on the ground as he secretly gathered power.

"The dead don't need to know that much." Xiao Yan smiled kindly. Flames surged around him, and in an instant, he transformed into his Dharma Body state.

Six soul rings slowly blossomed from within him.

Red, red, red, red, red, red!

The six hundred-thousand-year soul rings overlapped behind him, forming a fiery dharma wheel of crimson gold. Six flaming cloud patterns bloomed across it.

"!!!" ×2

"Six, six hundred-thousand-year soul rings?!" The Death God Envoy was horrified. Xiao Yan's smile looked like a demon's savage grin to him. Unable to care about anything else, his soul rings flared brightly as he instantly unleashed the Corpse Explosion Technique.

He then used his companion as a human bomb and fled at top speed.

In an instant, the corpses on the ground rapidly swelled as violent energy fluctuations spread.

"Worthy of being Douluo Continent's most overpowered corpse explosion technique. But unfortunately, I'm not an elder of the Holy Spirit Cult."

Closing his eyes to sense the fluctuations, Xiao Yan smiled faintly. Then, under the Death God Envoy's disbelieving gaze, he made a grasping motion with one hand.

The next instant, the reddened, enlarged corpses abruptly froze.

Xiao Yan slowly pushed his palm forward, and the uppermost flaming cloud pattern on the fire ring behind him shone brilliantly.

Endless fire erupted from his body, illuminating the cave.

A world of flames replaced the original cave.

With a turn of Xiao Yan's thoughts, the entire world became his to command.

Sixth Soul Skill: Endless Flame Domain!

A soul skill condensed from the origins of several fire- and space-attribute soul beasts. Xiao Yan became the domain itself, his Sea of Bitterness manifested outward, forming a world of his own.

"A mere Soul King was nothing special after all."

Blinking, Xiao Yan looked at the Death God Envoy, who had already been burned into nothingness, and cheerfully withdrew his domain.

Even a lion used its full strength when hunting a rabbit.

He had no desire to imitate Xuan Zi, the Holy Spirit Cult's elder. A dignified rank 98 Super Douluo had been toyed with by a rank 50 Soul King.

That would have been utterly absurd.

Raising his hand, he drew in the memory fragments left behind after the Death God Envoy had been incinerated. Piecing them together with intelligence from the evil soul masters he had killed over the past few days, Xiao Yan's figure dispersed into specks of firelight.

Within a desolate mountain range in the Heavenly Soul Empire, crimson glazed tiles gleamed with golden light, while a dazzling cluster of buildings stood atop the main peak.

The entire mountain range was colored gold and red, making it exceptionally eye-catching. Most remarkable of all, the mountains seemed to have been condensed from flames, yet not a trace of heat leaked out.

At the center of the buildings stood a plaza, where a peach tree towered. The fire-attribute natural energy across the mountain was especially abundant, and as its branches and leaves swayed, bursts of fragrance filled the air.

At the mountain gate, two bold, soaring characters stood out.

[Flame Alliance]

Firelight flowed as Xiao Yan's figure condensed from the slowly burning flame within the main hall.

Feeling as though heaven and earth themselves were empowering him, Xiao Yan found himself somewhat reluctant to leave this place.

He had already been favored by fate on the Dou Qi Continent, but after arriving on the Douluo Continent, Xiao Yan felt as though the entire world was aiding him. The laws of fire moved at his command, and his very existence seemed to embody a certain authority.

He had never experienced this on the Dou Qi Continent. After all, he was only a humble Dou Master.

But here, the timing and the world itself worked in his favor. Xiao Yan felt that if he possessed this level of power on the Dou Qi Continent, he would even dare challenge a Dou Zong.

Unfortunately, aside from the abilities engraved into his Dharma Body, he could not take the authority granted by heaven and earth with him.

It felt like the Heavenly Heart Seal from Shrouding the Heavens, or the authority of certain gods—something dependent on the world itself.

Xiao Yan only expressed his regret verbally. What he had gained from coming to the Douluo Continent had already far exceeded his expectations. Experiencing the realm of "I am the law" ahead of time would greatly benefit his future cultivation.

Even if cultivating here would make him number one for all eternity, Xiao Yan would not linger.

What was the point of ruling a tiny puddle? If he was going to dominate, then birds should soar into the heavens and dragons should enter the sea, reigning supreme through the ages in a broader world.

Coming back later to have some fun and experience Creation Mode would be fine, though.

"Alliance Leader, you're back?" The peach tree's branches trembled lightly, and a young man in blue and red robes stepped out from within. He was the Scarlet Sun Flat Peach Tree, who had named himself Scarlet Emperor.

Xiao Yan came back to his senses and nodded gently.

Even after all this time, he still felt that this fellow was a little too chuuni.

But when he thought about how the names of soul beasts across the Douluo Continent were polarized between being absurdly chuuni and absurdly casual, Xiao Yan accepted it.

Scarlet Emperor was better than being called Big Peach, at least.

"Later, I'll go to Star Dou and have a chat with those fierce beasts. If you want, you can come along and see Scarlet King." Remembering that Scarlet Emperor shared a name with someone else, Xiao Yan casually waved his hand. Back then, he had sensed something chasing him. After shaking it off for several days without success, he had temporarily left. Now, he could go take another look.

Over the past half year, he had wandered all over the continent and visited every volcano he could find. From all sorts of hidden corners, he had discovered quite a few concealed hundred-thousand-year soul beasts and various rare, exceptionally powerful soul beasts.

For those capable of communication, Xiao Yan generally showed them his strength first, then negotiated properly. In exchange for tempering their bloodlines and flames, he absorbed a large amount of their origins and used Divine Mechanism Hundred Refinements to condense soul rings.

For those who could not communicate and insisted on fighting, Xiao Yan could only tearfully add them to his meals.

His fifth soul ring had been formed primarily from a hundred-thousand-year Nirvana Red Lotus, fused with the origins of several other soul beasts.

By leaving behind origin flames as markers, he could shift back and forth between locations. In his Dharma Body state, as long as a single wisp of flame remained, he could instantly be reborn.

With that, he finally had the confidence to do something big.

"Old Peach, I'll leave this place to you. You know how this mountain was made. If necessary, just blow it up. The fire core I left behind can protect you while you relocate."

The evil soul masters in the three Douluo nations had mostly been killed. Everyone on the list Ma Xiaotao had provided was already dead. Xiao Yan planned to take a look on the other side, but before leaving, he would make another trip around Star Dou.

He would not bring Ma Xiaotao, that burden, along. She should cultivate properly.

He had taken so many benefits from the Douluo Continent, so he had to pay the plane's will some interest.

Xiao Yan raised his eyes toward the heavens and smiled faintly.

Let that great being experience what it felt like to have its head on fire.