Fusing with the Nihility Devouring Flame

The Ancient Eight Clans, the Gu Clan, Gu Xun'er... how could that girl who had never left his side be an undercover agent sent to steal the Tou She Ancient God Jade?

Xiao Yan held his forehead with one hand. The merging of two sets of memories caused him unbearable agony, and his soul, already no more than a lingering wisp, suddenly seemed ready to gutter out at any moment.

But as a cool stream of energy fell from the sky, Xiao Yan's remnant soul visibly returned to wholeness, and the pain caused by the merging memories disappeared with it.

The nihility devouring flame.

Xiao Yan recognized the pitch-black flame in the sky at a glance, but why had it appeared here?

In the memories of his past life within the Stone of Three Lives, it seemed to have been his bound heavenly flame.

Why is this brat standing there like an idiot? The nihility devouring flame seethed inwardly. It truly could not understand why that old bastard Hun Tiandi insisted on making it fuse with a little brat whose strength amounted to no more than a Dou Zhe.

But cowed by the latter's oppressive might, it could not muster any thought of resistance and could only comply.

Once I find the Flame Mantra, enter Tuoshe Ancient Emperor's Cave, and ascend to Dou Di, I'll make you wag your tail and beg for my mercy, following my every lead! the nihility devouring flame thought viciously. Then it compressed its immense sea of fire, which stretched for countless miles, before hurtling toward Xiao Yan.

Yet in Xiao Yan's eyes, all this looked like his bound heavenly flame rushing toward him, its heart already racing home, eager to reunite with him.

"Nihility..." Xiao Yan felt a surge of emotion.

"Keep your mind anchored! What comes next will hurt!" the nihility devouring flame said with a cold laugh.

As the pitch-black flames plunged into Xiao Yan's soul, masses of flesh and blood abruptly appeared around him. Refined by the nihility devouring flame, they dissolved into pools of liquid blood, which slowly cast a body in midair.

The body closely resembled Xiao Yan. The only difference was the extra trace of gloom lurking between its brows.

"Xiao Yan, what do you think of the new body I prepared for you?" The nihility devouring flame formed a human face from the black flames surrounding Xiao Yan and grinned at him smugly.

"A new body? You're going to bring me back to life?" Looking at the body before him, which was almost identical to his own, Xiao Yan naturally arrived at that possibility.

But he was also shocked. According to Yao Lao, reviving a soul required at least three heavenly flames and a Dou Zong's corpse. Without either, resurrection was impossible.

Yet the nihility devouring flame had actually conjured flesh and blood directly from the void, then used nothing but its own power to refine that mysteriously appearing flesh into a body.

Wasn't Yao Lao a Dou Zun? And an eighth-tier alchemist who had refined the powerful bone spirit cold flame, ranked eleventh on the Heavenly Flame Ranking.

Yet even he had to pin his hopes on Xiao Yan cultivating the Flame Mantra and finding three heavenly flames to help revive him.

Just how powerful was the nihility devouring flame, then?

It had to be a terrifying heavenly flame ranked in the top ten-no, the top six!

"Hurry up and get in," the nihility devouring flame urged impatiently. Once it had helped revive Xiao Yan, it would begin the fusion.

With Xiao Yan's paltry strength, it would undoubtedly dominate the fusion, but the thought of being fused with a Dou Zhe from some mountain backwater made it uncomfortable all over.

That meant it would have to be exceedingly careful to avoid burning Xiao Yan to ashes.

After all, although most powerful members of the Hun Clan chose to fuse with its child flame, almost every hundred years, one unlucky clan member would burn to ashes during the process.

Xiao Yan nodded and guided his soul into the new body.

Then excruciating pain struck. This was the natural rejection between his soul and the new flesh, and no one could help him.

Xiao Yan could only endure it on his own.

"Hold on." After offering Xiao Yan a word of encouragement, the nihility devouring flame began fusing with him.

Pitch-black flames burrowed through every limb and bone of Xiao Yan's new body into his meridians and dantian. Even the faint Dou Qi given off by the nihility devouring flame instantly filled his dantian.

Because of this, prompted by Xiao Yan's subconscious, the Flame Mantra began circulating on its own.

The nihility devouring flame seized the opportunity to carry out the fusion and transformation. Xiao Yan's Dou Qi rapidly turned pitch-black, and a closer look would reveal eerie black flames burning across its surface.

Time passed, second by second, minute by minute. Xiao Yan's soul finally settled fully into his new body, and the pain that had made him wish for death faded away.

Xiao Yan struggled up from the ground, then gazed at his hands, as white as jade, his heart brimming with emotion.

So this was resurrection?

The nihility devouring flame's fusion with him was nearing completion inside his body. He wondered whether he could use its power to help revive Yao Lao.

Clearly, Xiao Yan still cared about Yao Chen. Even setting aside their bond as master and disciple, he was someone who placed great weight on promises. Once he agreed to do something for another person, he would see it through.

Besides, Xiao Yan was deeply attached to Yao Lao.

As for whether Yao Lao and Xiao Yi Xian had survived that Gu Clan expert's earlier attack, Xiao Yan was not particularly worried. While queuing on the Yellow Springs Road, he had not seen either of them.

So they probably had not died.

But how was he supposed to leave the underworld? Xiao Yan felt lost.

Suddenly, Xiao Yan sensed something unusual inside his body. The Flame Mantra, originally only mid Yellow Tier, abruptly began soaring through the ranks.

High Yellow Tier

Low Black Tier

Mid Black Tier

Mid Earth Tier

High Earth Tier!

The Flame Mantra's evolution only stopped once it reached high Earth Tier, and the Dou Qi inside Xiao Yan's body instantly became dozens of times purer, if not more.

But the one who felt this most keenly was not Xiao Yan. It was the nihility devouring flame inside his dantian.

"What's going on?" The nihility devouring flame grew alert. Just now, at the very instant it completed its fusion with Xiao Yan, nearly half its power had suddenly been siphoned away and vanished without a trace.

Meanwhile, Xiao Yan's Dou Qi around it visibly grew more condensed.

The nihility devouring flame was filled with doubt. By all rights, it should have dominated this fusion. It could retain its own consciousness, power, and properties. Xiao Yan should neither have been able to draw on its power nor possessed the ability to siphon it away.

In a sense, Xiao Yan had not fused with the nihility devouring flame; the nihility devouring flame had fused with Xiao Yan. It was the one that could sever the agreement at any time.

The moment Xiao Yan ceased to be useful to Hun Tiandi, the nihility devouring flame intended to sever their bond and leave.

But why was this happening?

Wait!

The nihility devouring flame noticed that the circulation path of Xiao Yan's Dou Qi had changed. The cultivation method's once-crude circulation route had suddenly become profoundly intricate and complex.

"Why does this cultivation method's circulation route look so familiar?" the nihility devouring flame muttered to itself.

Then its entire being began to tremble.

This... this was fucking...!!!

"The Flame Mantra? Holy shit, how could it be the Flame Mantra?!" The nihility devouring flame shook all over in terror.

No wonder the fusion had gone so smoothly. No wonder Xiao Yan could siphon away nearly half its power. He was actually cultivating Tou She Ancient God's cultivation method, the Flame Mantra!

"Hun Tiandi, you old bastard! I've bent my back and exhausted myself serving your Hun Clan, ten thousand years as faithfully as a single day, without taking even one day off! I honestly thought I was only coming to rebuild his body, and this is how you fucking treat me?!" The nihility devouring flame's despairing roar failed to escape Xiao Yan's dantian.

Nor did it reach Hun Tiandi's ears.