Xiao Yan wasted no time. He sat cross-legged and sank his awareness into his dantian.
The mass of purple flame, wrapped in layer upon layer of Dou Qi, flickered restlessly, radiating a savage aura.
According to Yao Lao's method, he should now draw it into his meridians and stage a brutal "beast-taming" spectacle within his body.
But now, there was naturally no need for that.
With a thought, Xiao Yan sent his soul power surging out like an invisible tide, precisely enveloping the mass of purple flame.
There was no earth-shaking display. This was a silent war.
Xiao Yan's soul power became a vast, boundless net, and the savage purple flame was the trapped beast within it.
The purple flame charged this way and that inside the net of Dou Qi, unleashing waves of scorching force.
Yet Xiao Yan's soul power was immensely powerful and resilient.
The purple flame could not break through his net at all.
Xiao Yan did not rush for results. He simply used his soul power as a millstone, grinding away the purple flame's wild nature bit by bit.
Time ticked by.
Inside the ring, Yao Lao held his breath and focused, his soul form watching Xiao Yan intently.
He could clearly sense the once-savage, untamable spirituality of the purple flame weakening and growing docile at a visible pace under Xiao Yan's seemingly mild yet utterly domineering soul pressure.
At last, when the final trace of savage spirituality had been ground away, leaving only the innermost spark of its true spirit, the purple flame became as tame and quiet as a candle flame at a banquet.
Done!
Xiao Yan opened his eyes, a smile curling his lips.
The living creature had now been turned into cooked meat. All that remained was to eat it, one mouthful at a time.
Nothing could be simpler!
Xiao Yan slowly released the Dou Qi wrapped around the purple flame and began feeding it into his meridians, strand by strand.
Once inside his meridians, the purple flame did not wreak havoc. Instead, it obediently blended with Xiao Yan's Dou Qi like fish taking to water.
The entire process went incredibly smoothly, without the slightest scorching pain or violent flare-up.
Two hours later, Xiao Yan opened his eyes.
The purple flame had been refined. Success!
But...!
After carefully sensing the purple flame, Xiao Yan frowned again.
His keen soul perception had detected something suspicious!
Xiao Yan sighed inwardly. Luckily, he had been cautious and kept his soul-related trump card hidden, or he might truly have come to grief!
Since transmigrating, he had retained few trump cards, and most of them had come from Yao Lao.
Only his greatest trump card remained unknown even to Yao Lao.
That was his soul cultivation method!
In his previous life, he had reached the Nascent Soul stage before transmigrating.
He had originally thought that, with the laws of heaven and earth differing here, most of his cultivation experience would be useless.
Yet to his surprise, his methods for cultivating the primordial spirit-in other words, the soul-could still serve as a reference!
Yao Lao had explained soul cultivation on the Dou Qi Continent. It was divided into the Mortal Realm, Spirit Realm, Heaven Realm, and Emperor Realm.
But after trying it himself, Xiao Yan discovered that, impressive as these realm names sounded, they were fundamentally just an accumulation of quantity, favoring volume over quality!
An Emperor Realm Soul might be ten thousand times greater than a Mortal Realm soul in quantity.
But in quality, it was at most ten times greater.
This was vastly different from the Cultivation World, where great importance was placed on condensing the soul while strengthening it.
The people of the Dou Qi Continent seemed utterly unaware of what condensing the soul meant. They only knew how to make it larger.
Supposedly, the mysterious Soul Clan's souls were far more condensed than those of ordinary people.
But judging from Yao Lao's description, Xiao Yan concluded that the Soul Clan's souls were only three to five times more condensed than an ordinary person's.
Yet if a soul condensed through his methods from the Cultivation World increased ten thousandfold in quantity, its quality would necessarily rise at least a thousandfold as well.
Only that qualified as a properly condensed soul.
In other words, for souls of equal volume, his soul's quality was a hundred times greater than an ordinary person's, and thirty to forty times greater than a Soul Clan member's!
This implied a truly terrifying fact.
If he wished, the Soul Clan of this world would be nothing more than walking nourishment for his soul!
They would not have even the slightest room to resist!
Hmm, I wonder whether there are any Soul Clan members on the Northwest Continent?
If there are, I could catch one and give it a try.
But this was not the time to think about that. Xiao Yan collected himself and turned his soul perception back to the purple flame.
Normally, once a flame was refined, its remaining spark of true spirit had to fully acknowledge the refiner as its master.
Only then could the refiner control the flame.
Yet after refining the purple flame until only a spark of true spirit remained, Xiao Yan made a startling discovery with his extraordinary soul perception.
Some mysterious power already seemed to hold control over the innermost spark of this purple flame's true spirit!
Even after he had damned well refined it, this purple flame still had another master behind it!
Xiao Yan could barely restrain the urge to curse!
With his experience, it went without saying: some mighty flame expert must be controlling all this from behind the scenes!
If he foolishly believed he had already refined the purple flame, then when its true master appeared at some crucial moment, making his flame turn against him would be as easy as turning over a hand!
After cursing, Xiao Yan mobilized his pure soul power and completely severed that faint connection within the purple flame. Only then did he begin absorbing its true spirit with peace of mind.
As he absorbed it, Xiao Yan could not help thinking with a cold sneer:
If I really face the master behind this purple flame someday, how entertaining will it be when he discovers he can't turn my flame against me?
In a secluded cave abode tens of thousands of miles away, Tou She Ancient God suddenly opened his eyes.
"Hm? Why has my control over the Amethyst Winged Lion King's beast flame been severed?
"Forget it. It was only a Dou Emperor-level flame. It probably died out on its own. No great loss."
After a brief pause, Tou She Ancient God looked up at the sky, his voice filled with emotion.
"You damned heavens! As a heavenly flame, I devoured myriad flames and attained Dou Di. Why won't you let me break through the heavens and leave? Why must I stay cooped up on this tiny Dou Qi Continent?
"Just because I don't have a human body? What kind of bullshit rule is that?
"Heh, but do you think this can trap me?
"Over these ten thousand years, I've wracked my brains and finally devised a brilliant method.
"All I need is for a human to use the Flame Mantra I created, absorb heavenly flames, and attain the body of the Flame Emperor.
"Then, not only can I attach myself to him and break through the heavens to leave the Dou Qi Continent, but even beyond the heavens, I can keep hiding behind him and draw nourishment from his flames!
"Heh, what's so great about a human body? As a magnificent Fire Elemental, why should I envy that bullshit human form?
"I! Tou She Ancient God! Will one day become the true Flame Dao Ancestor!"
After two bursts of wild laughter, Tou She Ancient God gave a listless yawn.
"The people of this Dou Qi Continent really are worthless!
"I've waited ten thousand years, yet no one has managed to rise through the Flame Mantra! How disappointing!
"I might as well sleep!
"From now on, I'll open my eyes once every fifty years and observe how the world has changed.
"That frequency should be enough.
"Even the most exceptional genius couldn't push things beyond my control in just fifty years, could he?"
With that, Tou She Ancient God closed his eyes and drifted peacefully to sleep.
Before you continue