"Brother Xiao Long, I'm coming in!"
Carrying the freshly made osmanthus cakes, Xiao Xun'er knocked on the gate to Xiao Long's courtyard. When no answer came, she carefully pushed it open.
Just as Xiao Long could enter her courtyard without announcing himself.
She naturally felt no need to announce herself before entering his.
But the moment she stepped into the courtyard, she felt the golden emperor burning heaven flame inside her suddenly run wild, as though it had encountered something utterly terrifying.
Gold instantly flooded her originally black pupils.
At the same time, the golden emperor burning heaven flame, which had not surfaced in a long time, seemed intent on escaping her body.
But the seal her father, Gu Yuan, had placed on it kept the flame firmly locked inside her. One struggled to escape, while the other held it captive.
And Xiao Xun'er was the one who suffered.
Dou qi began pouring out of Xiao Xun'er, carrying an extraordinarily terrifying, explosive golden flame.
This is bad! Elder Ling isn't here!
Xiao Xun'er had never expected the golden emperor burning heaven flame, which had remained stable inside her for so long, to run wild now.
The main problem was that, at worst, it would damage her meridians. But once it poured out, it could burn the entire courtyard to ashes.
Even Xiao Long inside could be burned to nothing by the golden emperor burning heaven flame.
She had to get out of here immediately!
But just then.
A figure emerged from the room across the courtyard and gathered Xiao Xun'er, who was wreathed in golden flames, into his arms.
"Hold your breath and focus!"
Feeling that familiar embrace and hearing that familiar voice, the panicking Xiao Xun'er found reassurance. She hurriedly calmed her mind and circulated her cultivation method.
Drawing on the shared origin of her cultivation method and the seal, she steadied the seal. At the same time, a familiar power entered her body from outside.
It expelled the golden emperor burning heaven flame produced by the disturbance. The next moment, the golden flames seemed to be drawn together by a force.
They converged from every direction into a small fireball, which Xiao Long swallowed outright, instantly alarming Xiao Xun'er.
"Brother Xiao Long, that's..."
She had been about to tell him that it was a heavenly flame. Even if it was not the origin flame itself, but merely power stimulated by her dou qi.
Its power was not something an ordinary Dou Shi could withstand.
But when she saw Xiao Long actually let out a golden burp, her unspoken words stalled. Xiao Long raised an eyebrow. "Tastes pretty good!"
Then he looked at Xiao Xun'er, only to immediately turn his head away. Good grief, he had nearly earned himself an electrocution!
"Brother Xiao Long, what's wrong?"
Xiao Xun'er had just asked why he was acting as though he did not want to look at her when she felt a chilly draft.
"Ah!!!"
Inside the room.
"How much did you see?!"
Xiao Xun'er wore Xiao Long's loose, baggy clothes. Her own clothes had actually been burned away by the rampaging golden emperor burning heaven flame.
Luckily, Xiao Long had been the only person nearby, but to think she had appeared before him without a stitch on.
"Uh, would you believe me if I said I didn't see anything?"
"No."
"Well, there you have it!" Looking at the blushing girl, Xiao Long had wanted to tease her with something about not a blade of grass growing.
But after thinking it over, he decided against it. If he actually said that.
The girl would probably refuse to speak to him for days.
"You... boo-hoo..."
Xiao Xun'er felt terribly wronged. How had things suddenly turned out like this? Not only were her osmanthus cakes gone, but her clothes were gone too!
The more she thought about it, the more upset she became. Seeing Xiao Xun'er suddenly burst into tears, Xiao Long hurriedly said, "Don't cry, don't cry!"
"I didn't mean to, either. I was worried something would happen to you. That's why I rushed out in such a panic."
Wiping her tears, Xiao Xun'er said, "I... that's not... what I meant..."
"I... don't know... why something that was fine suddenly went wrong again."
Xiao Long suspected it was the Tou She Ancient God Jade, or rather, his use of the Sheep Talisman to experience Tou She Ancient God devouring heavenly flames.
That trace of aura clinging to him had given the golden emperor burning heaven flame PTSD.
That was what had caused it to run wild.
Xiao Long could hardly explain that, so he could only comfort Xiao Xun'er, saying things like she would be marrying him in the future anyway.
His teasing prompted Xiao Xun'er to call him shameless, but she also knew it was not his fault.
She could only blame this unforeseen mishap-or blame her father!
He was the one who had sealed the golden emperor burning heaven flame inside her.
Far away in the Gu Clan, Gu Yuan sneezed. He sighed. That girl must be missing me.
Xiao Long helped Xiao Xun'er make another batch of osmanthus cakes. Only after they ate them together in the courtyard did she leave, satisfied.
The girl really was easy to coax.
Watching Xiao Xun'er's retreating figure, Xiao Long shook his head and sat down on a stool in his courtyard. His aura had already reached that of a two-star Dou Shi.
"So this is what a heaven-tier cultivation method paired with Shendu can do?"
All Xiao Long could say was that his cultivation method had been holding his talent back before. Otherwise, he might well have become a Dou Wang long ago.
He remembered that even heaven-tier cultivation methods in the original story had not been this powerful.
The main variable was still the Shendu template.
"And this... is it because of Shendu, the cultivation method, or the Tou She Ancient God Jade..."
Dou qi appeared in Xiao Long's palm. As he watched, a wisp of golden flame actually flickered around the edge of the flame-shaped dou qi.
This flame's temperature was far, far higher than that of flames produced by ordinary fire attribute dou qi.
And it seemed to contain an extraordinarily explosive quality.
That was a characteristic of the golden emperor burning heaven flame.
He had never expected that merely showing off in front of Xun'er would bring such a reward.
It certainly could not compare to a heavenly flame, but having his dou qi take on even a trace of the golden emperor burning heaven flame's properties would undoubtedly give his strength a tremendous boost.
"Looks like I'll have to head to the Magical Beast Mountain Range and wreak havoc on some magical beasts."
Xiao Long mulled it over. He had also felt what happened when he cultivated just now, and it truly carried Shendu's utterly overbearing presence.
If that happened every so often, the Xiao Clan's fire-attribute juniors might as well give up cultivating.
"But first, I need to test how far away I can get before Grandfather turns back into a stone statue."
The following afternoon.
Xiao Long descended from the sky and once again bestowed the Rat Talisman's power on Xiao Lin, who had turned into a stone statue. Xiao Lin hurriedly asked, "How did it go?"
"It's a bit troublesome!"
"At the very least, going to the Magical Beast Mountain Range definitely won't work."
Reaching Qingshan Town with a Dou Wang's cultivation would take almost a day. With the Rabbit Talisman and Chicken Talisman.
He could reach Qingshan Town in two days, but he had only been away for half a day just now before he sensed his connection to Xiao Lin break.
He had hurried straight back.
"What should we do, then? Will I have to go everywhere with you from now on?"
Xiao Lin had no solution, either. He could hardly keep Xiao Long tied to the Xiao Clan. Xiao Long looked at him and asked, "Grandfather, does turning back into a stone statue affect you?"
"Not really. It just feels like closing my eyes and opening them again..."
"Then after I leave, tell everyone you're going into seclusion to heal, and no one is allowed to disturb you. Dad is still handling most things anyway."
"All right!"
Once Xiao Long had made the arrangements, Xiao Lin held a meeting within the clan, announcing that he needed to enter seclusion to heal for a while and was not to be disturbed unless something major happened.
Meanwhile, Xiao Long said goodbye to Xiao Xun'er.
Xiao Xun'er still felt somewhat awkward seeing Xiao Long because of the accident two days earlier. Hearing that he needed to go away for a while, she even secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
She hurriedly said, "All right. Be careful out there, Brother Xiao Long."
Sensing that Ling Ying was not paying attention to him, Xiao Long took straight to the air and headed toward the Magical Beast Mountain Range.
This trip was not just for the magical beasts. He also intended to investigate the myriad beast spirit flame, which was very likely somewhere in the Magical Beast Mountain Range!
Before you continue