The moonlight in the small courtyard carried a faint chill. Xiao Yan placed the ancient ring and the Flame Jade Pendant side by side on the stone table, a wisp of soul power curling around his fingertips as he carefully examined the two keepsakes his mother had left behind.
After last night's maneuvering, the conflict between the Mo Family and the Misty Cloud Sect elder had reached a fever pitch. Both sides had fought fiercely in an empty residence in the western part of the city, ultimately leaving each other battered—the Mo Family had lost several core members, and Mo Feng himself had been injured by the shock waves from the Dou Wang elder's attacks. Although the Misty Cloud Sect elder had not revealed his identity, his haste to escape had exposed several hidden strongholds, leaving him too occupied to turn his attention back to the Xiao Clan for the time being.
The undercurrents in Wutan City had temporarily been diverted elsewhere, giving Xiao Yan a rare chance to catch his breath and enough time to calmly sort through everything he had gained of late.
He first turned his attention to his Storage Ring, extending his spiritual perception inside to take stock of his recent "spoils": the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame Fragment Map he had secured in the Magical Beast Mountain Range, the green lotus core flame obtained in the Tagor Desert, the Mo Family's Black Iron Token—which he had already "returned," though not before copying its patterns with his soul power—the Qi Condensation Pill gifted by the Mittel Family, and scattered fragments extracted from the Otherworlder's memories concerning the course the Dou Qi Continent would take over the next several decades.
Of all these gains, the half-complete Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame Fragment Map remained the one that concerned him most.
Xiao Yan took a roll of yellowed beast hide from his Storage Ring and carefully spread it open. Intricate flame patterns covered its surface, with a lotus bud at the center, poised to bloom. Faint golden light shimmered along the edges of its petals, and he could dimly sense an aura capable of burning the heavens and annihilating the earth. Even as a mere Fragment Map, it was enough to shake an ordinary Dou Zhe to the core.
"The purifying lotus demon flame, ranked third on the Heavenly Flame Ranking. A heavenly flame said to have been born from a lotus, with limitless power and the ability to purify all things..." Xiao Yan gently traced the patterns on the beast hide, a solemn gleam passing through his eyes. "In my previous life, I only heard its name and never saw it. I never expected to encounter clues to it so early in this life."
Yao Lao's soul form quietly appeared, his gaze settling on the fragment map as he spoke with a touch of wistfulness. "The legends of the purifying lotus demon flame are far older than those of the green lotus core flame. They say it was connected to a Dou Di from ancient times. Collecting every fragment map will be no easy feat."
"I know." Xiao Yan nodded. "But it's the key to advancing the Flame Mantra to a higher realm. No matter how difficult it is, I have to find it."
He sank his Emperor Realm Soul into the Fragment Map, carefully analyzing its patterns. Compared with his first encounter with it, his understanding of heavenly flames was now deeper, and his soul power more refined. Before long, he caught a trace of concealed spatial fluctuations amid the seemingly disordered lines.
"These patterns... aren't just a map." A sharp gleam flashed through Xiao Yan's eyes. "They're more like a guide to spatial coordinates."
He followed that faint fluctuation, working through its implications, and a hazy outline of a region gradually appeared in his mind—a wasteland covered in endless yellow sand, utterly unlike the Tagor Desert, with an air of deathly stillness and decay hanging over it.
"Where... is this?" Xiao Yan frowned slightly. This region clearly lay outside the Jia Ma Empire, and it did not resemble any known area in his memories.
Yao Lao sensed the anomaly as well and said gravely, "The Dou Qi Continent is vast beyond measure. Many ancient regions have long since been buried beneath the dust of history. Perhaps this is one of them. The Fragment Map's guidance is vague. We'll need more clues to pinpoint its location."
Xiao Yan rolled up the fragment map again and tucked it deep inside his Storage Ring. "I'll find it eventually. The immediate priority is to uncover the secrets of this ring and pendant."
He picked up the ancient ring and once again tried infusing it with soul power. This time, he did not rush for results. Instead, he used the exquisite sensitivity unique to an Emperor Realm Soul to seep into the ring's material bit by bit.
The ring's material was peculiar, neither metal nor jade. It seemed more like something refined from a meteorite that had fallen from beyond the heavens. Nourished by his soul power, the character "Xiao" on its surface gradually began to emit a faint golden glow.
Suddenly, the ring trembled slightly, and a torrent of information poured into Xiao Yan's mind like floodwaters bursting through a dam. It consisted not of specific words or images, but of broken fragments of insight concerning space, the soul, and the ultimate applications of flame. The profound realm embodied in them even seemed to brush against the threshold of the Emperor Realm!
"These are... cultivation insights?" Xiao Yan's mind shook violently. Though fragmented, every word of these insights was a pearl, as though an expert standing at the pinnacle of the Dou Qi Continent had condensed a lifetime of learning and imprinted it within.
He understood at once—this ring was no ordinary token, but an inheritance ring! It was a gift of cultivation knowledge left for later generations by an ancestor of the ancient Xiao Clan!
"No wonder the Misty Cloud Sect cares so much..." Xiao Yan tightened his grip on the ring, towering waves surging through his heart. "What they want probably isn't just the Jade Pendant, but the inheritance inside this ring as well!"
These fragmented insights would take time to absorb. Forcing down his excitement, Xiao Yan turned his attention to the half-piece of the Flame Jade Pendant.
After his earlier probes, he had confirmed that the pendant was directly connected to the Misty Cloud Sect elder's objective and could resonate with the green lotus core flame. Holding it in his palm now, he could clearly sense the warm, gentle energy within it, faintly answering the ancient aura emanating from the ring.
"Perhaps these two things were always meant to be together." Xiao Yan tried placing the ring and Jade Pendant against each other.
The instant they touched, the golden light of the character "Xiao" on the ring surged, and the flame patterns on the Jade Pendant lit up in turn, forming a complete flame totem!
"Humm—"
An even greater torrent of information arose from their resonance. This time, it was no longer fragmented insight, but a clear sequence of images:
Beneath an endless starry sky, a towering ancient city floated above the clouds, its walls covered in the same flame patterns as the ring and Jade Pendant. At the city's center, a lotus stretching from earth to heaven was blooming, golden flames burning upon its petals. It was none other than the purifying lotus demon flame!
Below the ancient city, countless figures fought and slaughtered one another. Some were experts wearing Misty Cloud Sect robes; others were Xiao Clan warriors clad in black battle armor. Blood flowed in rivers, and cries of anguish filled the land. In the end, the ancient city collapsed with a thunderous crash. The purifying lotus demon flame tore through the sky, breaking into countless fragments that scattered to the ends of the earth, while someone carried the ring and Jade Pendant away amid the chaos...
The images abruptly ended there.
Xiao Yan's eyes snapped open, cold sweat covering his forehead as his heart pounded violently. The scenes of slaughter had been too shocking—the opposition between the Misty Cloud Sect and the Xiao Clan, the shattering of the purifying lotus demon flame, and that mysterious ancient city... Countless clues intertwined in his mind, gradually sketching out an astonishing truth.
"In ancient times, the Xiao Clan and the Misty Cloud Sect fought a great war over the purifying lotus demon flame..." Xiao Yan murmured. "The ring and Jade Pendant Mother left behind are very likely the keys to opening that ancient city's ruins, and the Fragment Maps of the purifying lotus demon flame may be scattered around those ruins!"
If this conjecture held true, every mystery could be explained: the Misty Cloud Sect elder had hidden in Wutan City to find the keys, explore the ancient city's ruins, and seize the complete purifying lotus demon flame. As for his mother, she was most likely descended from the Xiao Clan members who had guarded these two tokens.
"So that's how it is..." Xiao Yan let out a long breath, an unprecedented clarity flashing through his eyes. "This isn't merely a personal grudge, but an entanglement between two groups stretching across a thousand years."
He slipped the ring back onto his finger and put the Jade Pendant into his Storage Ring, a clear plan already forming in his mind:
His short-term goal was to thoroughly resolve the troubles in Wutan City, including the Mo Family's remaining forces and the hidden Misty Cloud Sect elder, while making the most of his time to absorb the inherited insights in the ring and improve his strength;
His medium-term goal was to leave the Jia Ma Empire and follow the guidance of the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame Fragment Map to find more fragments, gradually drawing closer to the ruins of that ancient city;
His long-term goal was to gather every Fragment Map, subdue the purifying lotus demon flame, uncover the old grudges between the Xiao Clan and the Misty Cloud Sect, advance the Flame Mantra to the Dou Di realm, and restore the Xiao Clan's glory.
As the night deepened, Xiao Yan sat cross-legged on the stone stool and began sorting through the fragmented insights within the ring. One method of using soul power caught his attention—a secret technique called Soul Projection, which could condense soul power into a tangible projection. Though it possessed no actual combat strength, it could perfectly imitate his aura and deceive enemies.
This is just what I need to perfect my disguise. Inspiration stirred in Xiao Yan's mind, and he immediately began practicing according to the secret technique's instructions.
Under his control, soul power slowly gathered, forming an illusory figure before him that looked exactly like him. Its aura remained steady at Dou Qi Third Stage, and even the "timidity" and "resentment" in its eyes were imitated to perfection.
"With this technique, it'll be much easier to go out and take care of things." Xiao Yan dispersed the illusory figure, a faint smile appearing at the corners of his mouth.
Just then, his soul power suddenly detected a familiar aura coming from outside the city—the aura of surviving members of the Wolf Head Mercenary Group. There were not many of them, but they carried intense killing intent as they crept toward the Xiao Clan.
"The Mo Family really does have another card up its sleeve." A cold gleam flashed through Xiao Yan's eyes. "It looks like they want to strike from the shadows while I'm clashing with the Misty Cloud Sect and settle the score over the Black Iron Token."
He rose and walked to the courtyard wall. Watching those furtive figures in the darkness outside the city, he flicked a fingertip, and a barely perceptible wisp of green flame sank into the ground.
This flame was not the Green Lotus Earth Core Flame itself, but a trace of fiery energy he had condensed with the Flame Mantra. It spread along the underground roots, silently making its way toward those mercenaries.
Once he had done all this, Xiao Yan returned to the stone stool, picked up the rolled Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame Fragment Map, and spread it open again.
Beneath the moonlight, the flame patterns on the beast hide seemed to come alive, answering the flame at his fingertips from afar.
"The purifying lotus demon flame... ancient ruins..." Xiao Yan murmured, anticipation and resolve shining in his eyes. "Wait for me. Whatever belongs to me, I'll take it back with my own hands."
The night in Wutan City remained peaceful, but the flame within the young man's heart was quietly gathering strength, waiting for the day it would set the plains ablaze.
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