Fusing the Sea Heart Flame

"The Dou Di realm is still far beyond your reach. Although I said you have the talent to become a Dou Di, you still need to keep your feet firmly on the ground for now." Hun Tiandi lightly tapped the wooden chair's armrest, a playful curve tugging at his lips.

"Is that so?" Xiao Yan nodded, without much disappointment.

Since Hun Tiandi said he could do it, then he definitely could!

"Next, I'll help you fuse with the Sea Heart Flame. Relax your body and don't resist." Hun Tiandi lightly tapped the Naling, which slowly rose into the air and drifted toward Xiao Yan.

Xiao Yan was overjoyed. Although he already possessed the Origin Flame of the nihility devouring flame, it refused to pay him any attention, and the power he could draw from it was limited.

If he could fuse with another Heavenly Flame now, his strength would surely rise again, and he would be one step closer to resurrecting Yao Lao.

"You're going to fuse with a Heavenly Flame just like that? This will damage Little Yanzi's foundation!" Yao Chen had still been basking in the joy of securing his future body. Hearing that Hun Tiandi intended to have Xiao Yan fuse with a Heavenly Flame right here, he immediately stood up to stop him.

He also shook his head inwardly. Although Hun Tiandi was immensely powerful and seemed every bit the strongest expert on the present-day Dou Qi Continent, he was no Alchemist, after all. He did not understand the risks ordinary people faced when fusing with Heavenly Flames-or perhaps he was so powerful that he simply disregarded those risks.

Devouring a Heavenly Flame was a trial of life and death.

Yao Lao still remembered when he had devoured the bone spirit cold flame. Back then, he had sat dumbly holding its flame seed for nearly two hours. Only at the very end, trembling incessantly with fear and prepared to die, had he gritted his teeth and slammed the Heavenly Flame's seed into his abdomen...

Now, seeing Hun Tiandi so casually hand the sea heart flame to Xiao Yan for him to devour, Yao Lao could not possibly sit still. As Xiao Yan, who understood nothing, seemed genuinely ready to begin the fusion straightaway, he had to step forward and stop him, no matter what.

"You must at least prepare enough ice spirit cold spring," Yao Chen added.

"Do not worry, Venerable One." Hun Tiandi's movements did not pause at Yao Chen's objections. With his expression remaining calm, he sent the Naling containing the sea heart flame floating straight up to Xiao Yan.

Xiao Yan's mouth opened involuntarily, and he swallowed the Naling in a single gulp, sending it sliding straight down his throat.

To Yao Chen's surprise, however, Xiao Yan showed no reaction whatsoever after swallowing the sea heart flame. His Flame Mantra began circulating on its own, and the sea heart flame's seed flew out of the Naling and began traveling through his meridians.

It was actually being refined without the slightest resistance.

"This, this!" Yao Chen was so astonished by the sight that he could not even finish his sentence.

When he had devoured the bone spirit cold flame, his meridians had been scorched until they twisted, his muscles had spasmed constantly, and his blood vessels had bulged beneath his skin, writhing like fleshy worms. That nearly crippling ordeal had continued to jolt him awake from nightmares even years after he had devoured the bone spirit cold flame.

Even after achieving fame and success, looking back on his decision to devour the bone spirit cold flame still filled him with sighs.

But what was happening with Xiao Yan?

How could devouring a Heavenly Flame be so easy?

At that moment, Xiao Yan had also closed his eyes to sense what was happening inside his body. He could see that the sea heart flame's seed was anything but gentle. Just as Yao Lao had feared, it was rampaging wildly through his meridians.

Yet the walls of Xiao Yan's meridians were coated in a layer of pitch-black energy. No matter how desperately the sea heart flame tried to hurt him, that layer swallowed every bit of its assault.

At first, Xiao Yan thought the nihility devouring flame had somehow altered his body, but he soon realized that was not the case. This pitch-black layer of energy came from his own cultivation method, the Flame Mantra.

After fusing with the nihility devouring flame, the Flame Mantra had advanced to Advanced Earth Tier and was gradually revealing all manner of extraordinary properties.

Even before this, Xiao Yan had wondered why a cultivation method capable of evolving on its own, like the Flame Mantra, differed so little from ordinary cultivation methods in so many respects.

Even the Advanced Black Tier cultivation methods treasured by Wutan City's minor clans came with numerous special abilities. Yet aside from producing slightly higher-quality Dou Qi than other methods of the same tier and allowing him to fuse with different Heavenly Flames, the Flame Mantra had no additional extraordinary properties whatsoever.

To be honest, when he had first chosen his cultivation method, he would never have picked the Flame Mantra if he had not wanted to help resurrect Yao Lao.

The Flame Mantra was about to complete the final stretch of its circulation. As though sensing a faint unease, the sea heart flame, which had already completed a full cycle, suddenly grew violent once more.

The sea-blue flames struggled frantically. This time, Xiao Yan finally felt some pain, and his face grew pale. Clearly, the Advanced Earth Tier Flame Mantra could not yet completely neutralize the Heavenly Flame's corrosive assault.

Xiao Yi Xian stood up in concern and walked over to ask Xiao Yan how he was doing. Only after receiving his reassurance did she turn a worried gaze toward Hun Tiandi.

Yao Chen, who had thought everything was already settled, also looked helplessly at Hun Tiandi. Naturally, he did not dare lose his temper with such a powerful expert. He was merely worried about both Xiao Yan's future and his own.

Yet Hun Tiandi still looked as though everything was firmly in his grasp, leaving Yao Chen utterly baffled.

Meanwhile, inside Xiao Yan's dantian, the nihility devouring flame slowly raised a question mark as it watched the sea heart flame rampaging wildly.

?

It emerged from the little world it had created inside the Naling and glared furiously at the fellow disturbing its blissful slacking.

"Where the fuck did this stray dog come from?!" The nihility devouring flame unleashed an immense pressure, instantly frightening the sea heart flame into immobility.

Throughout its long existence as a Heavenly Flame, the sea heart flame had never experienced such an overwhelming aura or such suppression from a higher rank. Possessing only rudimentary intelligence, it did not dare resist at all and could only obey every command of its superior.

"Get the hell out of the way!" The nihility devouring flame slapped it, instantly shattering the sea heart flame into pieces. Only its tiny flame seed remained, scurrying to the spot the nihility devouring flame had designated, burdened with immense psychological trauma.

The sea heart flame's seed curled into a ball in a corner of Xiao Yan's dantian. Ordinary people could hardly imagine just how deep a psychological scar that one mighty slap from the nihility devouring flame had left on the sea heart flame's newly born intelligence.

The nihility devouring flame crawled back into the Naling, cursing all the way. Because of the Flame Mantra's restrictions, it could not forcibly devour another Heavenly Flame inside Xiao Yan's body. It could only tell them to find somewhere cool and stay out of its way. Otherwise, given its temper, not even a scrap of the sea heart flame would have remained.

Xiao Yan recovered from the brief bout of excruciating pain and extended a finger. A wisp of sea-blue flame appeared at its tip.

By now, everyone knew that the fusion with the sea heart flame had succeeded.

"It was actually that easy?!" Yao Lao was shaken to his core. For the first time, he considered dispersing his cultivation and starting over with the Flame Mantra.