Chapter 22: The Twentieth-Ranked Heavenly Flame, Netherworld Poison Fire

The Magical Beast Mountain Range.

In a valley of breathtaking beauty.

"Here we are. This is my secret hideaway. I don't tell just anyone about it, you know," Xiao Yi Xian said with a smile.

Xiao Yan glanced at the wooden cabin and nodded.

It was simple, but it had everything they needed.

"Wait. There's something strange about this place..."

Xiao Yan had been sitting on the wooden steps outside the cabin, head tilted back and hands behind his head, enjoying a rare moment of peace, when the Old Lord's voice suddenly sounded.

"Millions of years ago, this may have been a vast Poison Marsh. I don't know how it became what it is now. Everything looks lush and green, but a faint trace of poisonous marsh gas remains."

"Hm?" Xiao Yan looked startled.

"A Poison Marsh?"

No wonder Xiao Yi Xian had chosen this place. Her Woeful Poison Body must have drawn her here. If the Old Lord was right, traces remained even after the marsh itself had vanished with time.

But the poisonous air had almost completely dissipated. Finding any sign of it would be difficult.

Perhaps only a top-tier Powerhouse could sense that something was amiss.

"Maybe it's because of that girl, but some poison has gathered here," the Old Lord said, pointing around them. Brightly colored poisonous mushrooms and herbs had appeared among the grass.

"But one weak poison body wouldn't be enough to rekindle that ancient marsh, not even as a catalyst." The Old Lord shook his head.

"Teacher, you mean..." Xiao Yan froze.

"That's right. A Heavenly Flame." The Old Lord smiled.

"I've never seen what this world's Heavenly Flames look like, but I can faintly sense a scorching presence in this marsh. It should be comparable to one."

"Netherworld Poison Flame!" Xiao Yan's pupils contracted sharply as he spoke each word.

It was a flame born in the Ancient Netherworld Poison Swamp. After steeping for millions of years in the Heaven-Covering Poison Miasma, it had consumed untold amounts of poisonous gas.

It gained awareness after a hundred years and took form after a thousand. At full maturity, it was greenish and drifted through the marsh miasma like a ghostly flame.

What the Old Lord had sensed certainly fit.

But millions of years had passed. With the marsh gone, the Netherworld Poison Flame had vanished as well.

Before Xiao Yan could speak, the Old Lord stroked his beard with a smile. "Even if that girl with the Woeful Poison Body were a Dou Sheng, she'd have to stay here as a catalyst for a thousand years before the Netherworld Poison Flame could reform. But... I can draw in the spiritual energy of this world and gather it anew."

Xiao Yan sucked in a sharp breath.

"As expected of you, Teacher!"

"Watch closely."

Smiling, the old man stroked his beard. His fly whisk swept through the air, and the world around them seemed to boil. Countless streams of spiritual energy grew almost tangible, converging here before Xiao Yan's eyes.

On the grassy hillside, ghostly green wisps of flame began to rise, flickering like fireflies.

"Those are ordinary marsh flames."

Xiao Yan narrowed his eyes and kept watching.

Then, among the ghostly flames spread across the hillside, one distinct green wisp appeared. It flickered with awareness and began devouring the flames around it, growing stronger.

Xiao Yan's eyes lit up.

"There it is!"

The green wisp swallowed another of its kind and swelled several times over. It was about to burrow underground to rest when a scorching fire serpent coiled around it, forming a cage.

Hiss!

The two flames collided, sizzling against each other.

Xiao Yan controlled his Qi Fire and studied the struggling Netherworld Poison Flame inside, delighted. It had only just been born and was still weak. At no more than Dou Shi strength, it posed little threat to him.

Refine it! Refine it!

Seeing that the Old Lord had withdrawn his power and returned to the Storage Ring, Xiao Yan hesitated no longer. He sat cross-legged, focused his mind, and directed his Qi Fire to devour the flame.

Unlike in the original story, he needed no Pills or forty-nine days of being burned alive. His path was to command fire with Qi.

He would use his own Qi Fire to consume this poison Flame Seed.

Come to think of it, if he commanded fire with Qi, could he eventually use Qi to combine several Heavenly Flames?

He could use Qi Fire as the catalyst, much like Buddha's Fury Fire Lotus, and fuse all his other Heavenly Flames. Buddha's Fury Fire Lotus could become one of his greatest trump cards.

"Huh? Where did these marsh flames come from?"

Xiao Yi Xian had finished cooking and stepped outside to call Xiao Yan to eat. A scarf wrapped around her head, she stared in surprise. Then she spotted him sitting cross-legged near the cabin, flames swirling around him, and her eyes widened.

Is he... absorbing a marsh flame?

Her lips parted to warn him, but she knew he was at a critical point. If she disturbed him, all his effort would go to waste.

So she sat down not far from Xiao Yan, cupped her cheeks in her hands, and watched him with curious pale-violet eyes.

He really is mysterious.

"Phew..."

After an unknown length of time, Xiao Yan breathed out slowly and opened his eyes. Delight flashed through them.

Success!

He opened his palm, and a ghostly green flame rose from it, giving off a cold, eerie sensation. Perhaps it was his imagination, but after he had fully absorbed it, its color seemed even more vividly green. It bore a slight resemblance to the Life Spirit Flame, ranked fifth on the Heavenly Flame Ranking.

Could this thing... be used to refine medicine?

Xiao Yan's expression turned odd. As the Netherworld Poison Flame, it naturally contained an ancient, lethal poison. An ordinary person would die from touching it. Only someone born with a poison body, like Xiao Yi Xian, might withstand its effects.

But...

He had certainly never heard of an alchemist using this flame to refine Pills.

"What's that?"

Xiao Yi Xian leaned in close. The green flame cast an eerie glow over her face, startling Xiao Yan so badly that he nearly slapped her.

His soul perception still needed work.

He hadn't mastered the Eight-Nine Arcane Arts yet.

"Still..." Xiao Yan pondered for a moment, then looked at Xiao Yi Xian. A gleam appeared in his eyes.

"Come here!"

In front of the cabin.

Xiao Yi Xian swallowed, her face faintly red. She looked up at Xiao Yan with some hesitation. "Will eating this really make me stronger?"

Xiao Yan folded his arms and looked down at her. "Stop talking and keep eating."

"Mmph... It's so bitter."

Xiao Yi Xian struggled to swallow a clump of Netherworld Poison Flame, her face scrunching up. The next instant, warmth flowed down her throat and into her chest. Her whole body seemed to welcome the power as it spread through her blood and into every corner of her being.

"I broke through?!"

Her lips parted. The cultivation level that had held her back for so long had given way in an instant, bringing her to Fifth Stage Dou Qi. She stared at Xiao Yan in disbelief.

"Tsk. Getting stronger just by eating poison... I'm honestly jealous." Xiao Yan shook his head.

No wonder she was one of the women who had stayed by his side the longest in the original story.

Her potential was enough to rival even a genius like Gu Xun'er.