The wind of the Black-Corner Region swept across the volcanoes, carrying the scent of sulfur. In the underground sealing chamber of Jia Nan Academy, the crystal coffin glowed with a gentle red light. Xiao Yan sat cross-legged before it, the Mysterious Yellow Earth-Core Flame spiraling in his palm. The golden flame formed from three fused heavenly flames licked his fingertips, and each breath drew pure fire energy into his meridians. After seven days of nurturing, he could now control this newborn heavenly flame at will. His Five-Star Dou Zong power lay like a sleeping volcano, poised to erupt.
"Brother Xiao Yan, an urgent report from Ten Thousand Beasts Valley!" Xiao Chen's voice shattered the sealing chamber's silence. Dust smeared the young man's face, and the communication Jade Slip in his hand flashed urgently red. "Han Feng has brought a large force to besiege the valley entrance! A Dou Zong expert in black armor is leading them. The valley master can't hold out much longer!"
Xiao Yan's eyes snapped open, and the Mysterious Yellow Earth-Core Flame surged three inches higher. "Perfect timing." As he rose, his Azure Luan Wings stirred a fierce wind. Nourished by the new heavenly flame, the gold-and-blue-green wings now bore faint golden patterns along their edges. "Where are Xiao Yi Xian and Elder Nalan?" Xiao Chen hurriedly answered, "Senior Xiao Yi Xian is reinforcing the herb garden's barrier. Elder Nalan is leading the Wind Spirit Team on patrol around the academy!"
"Tell them to meet me underground at once." Xiao Yan seized the Heavy Sword, its blade gleaming like molten gold in the firelight. "Tell the valley master to hold out for fifteen minutes. I'll face this Dou Zong expert myself." As he rushed out of the sealing chamber, he made a point of taking the bluestone box beside the crystal coffin-it contained the Ten-Thousand-Year Earth-Core Essence left behind by the Soul Hall's ninth elder, his final trump card for fusing heavenly flames.
Ten Thousand Beasts Valley, west of the volcanoes, had become a battlefield. The black-armored Dou Zong hovered above the valley entrance, his pitch-black Dou Qi forming a colossal fist a hundred feet across. Every strike made the valley's defensive barrier shudder violently. Han Feng stood behind him, his Five-Star Dou Emperor aura more condensed than before. Green poison fire flickered in his hand. "Lord Mo Cheng, once we break through the entrance, we can march straight on Jia Nan Academy. The Fallen Heart Flame and Xiao Yan's heavenly flames will all be yours!"
The black-armored Dou Zong called Mo Cheng sneered and brought his fist down again. "Once I have the heavenly flames, I'll make you the Black-Corner Region's first Dou Zong alchemist." The valley master's furious roar rang out from within. "Keep dreaming! Young Xiao Yan will be here soon, and he'll make sure none of you leave alive!" Before his words had faded, web-like cracks appeared across the barrier.
"Oh? Let's see who dares boast so boldly." Mo Cheng's massive fist paused in midair, and the lone eye beneath his black armor turned toward the land beyond the valley. Xiao Yan was tearing through the clouds. The gusts from his Azure Luan Wings sent volcanic ash swirling across the sky, while the Mysterious Yellow Earth-Core Flame trailed a thousand-foot golden tail behind him. Dou Zong pressure swept over the battlefield like a tsunami.
"A Dou Zong?!" Han Feng's expression changed drastically. He clearly remembered that Xiao Yan had only been an Eight-Star Dou Wang last time, yet he had crossed two major ranks in just seven days. "Impossible! How could you..." Gravity flashed through Mo Cheng's eye. "This aura... it's more domineering than an ordinary Dou Zong's. That's the power of heavenly flames."
Xiao Yan stopped before the valley entrance, his Heavy Sword angled toward the ground. "Han Feng, you were lucky to escape last time. You won't be so fortunate today." He looked at the black-armored Dou Zong. "Mo Cheng? The leader of the Black-Corner Region's underground forces. I hear you specialize in turning living people into Dou Qi puppets. Today, I'll carry out heaven's justice."
Murderous intent flashed through Mo Cheng's lone eye. "Big words from a little brat. Try taking one of my punches!" The pitch-black fist hurtled toward him with a shriek that tore through the air. Wherever its force passed, rocks melted into magma and vegetation blackened instantly. Xiao Yan neither dodged nor retreated. The Mysterious Yellow Earth-Core Flame condensed into a shield before him, and the instant the golden fire met the black fist, a light erupted that robbed heaven and earth of their color.
Boom! The shock wave blasted the volcanoes' smoke and dust into the highest heavens, and the valley's barrier shattered completely under the aftershock. The valley master seized the chance to lead his people back. Xiao Yi Xian's poisonous vines and Nalan Yanran's wind blades struck together, blocking Han Feng's troops outside the valley. "Focus on Mo Cheng! Leave Han Feng to us!" Nalan Yanran's voice pierced the chaotic battlefield, and the blue-green arcs traced by her Wind Spirit Sword resembled crescent moons.
Xiao Yan and Mo Cheng had already carried their battle above the volcanoes. The Dou Qi around Mo Cheng's black armor was impregnable; even the Mysterious Yellow Earth-Core Flame's searing heat could leave only faint scorch marks on it. "Your heavenly flame is certainly unusual, but it isn't enough to break my Blacksteel Puppet Armor!" Mo Cheng spread his arms. A phantom puppet formed from Dou Qi appeared behind him, and over a dozen black, barbed chains shot toward Xiao Yan.
"Purifying Spirit Burning Heaven Art: Flame Prison!" Xiao Yan plunged the Heavy Sword into the void. The Mysterious Yellow Earth-Core Flame burst outward, turning into a self-contained golden cage that trapped Mo Cheng and all his chains. Purification runes from the Mysterious Yellow Flame flowed along its inner walls. The moment Mo Cheng's chains touched them, they began dissolving with a sizzling hiss.
"Interesting." Mo Cheng's phantom puppet suddenly swelled, and blood-red patterns surfaced across his black armor. "Secret Art: Puppet Transformation!" His body expanded to thirty feet tall. A thick, bloody stench mingled with his pitch-black Dou Qi, and corrosive venom began dripping from the chains' barbs, slowly eating away at the fiery cage.
Xiao Yan's heart tightened. Mo Cheng's Dou Qi also carried traces of lingering Otherworldly Demon energy. He took out the bluestone box and poured the Ten-Thousand-Year Earth-Core Essence into his palm. The instant the milky liquid touched the Mysterious Yellow Earth-Core Flame, it became countless silver threads that merged with the fire. Dazzling milky-white light rose from the golden sea of flames. Its purification power increased severalfold, forcing the venom back in an instant.
"Is that... the essence of heaven and earth?" For the first time, shock appeared in Mo Cheng's lone eye. His phantom puppet trembled violently in the milky-white firelight, as though it were about to be purified and broken apart. Xiao Yan seized the opening and unleashed all the source power of his three heavenly flames. "Mysterious Yellow: Returning to the Heart!" The golden fire abruptly contracted into a flame sword barely an inch long, which pierced precisely into a gap in Mo Cheng's black armor.
"Aaargh!" Mo Cheng let out an inhuman scream. His pitch-black Dou Qi dispersed like an ebbing tide, and the phantom puppet shattered inch by inch under the flame sword's purification. Dark green blood seeped through the cracks in his armor-the poisoned blood produced by years of backlash from refining puppets. Xiao Yan did not pause. His Azure Luan Wings accelerated his dive, and his Heavy Sword cleaved into Mo Cheng's shoulder with crushing force.
Crack! The blacksteel armor shattered, and Mo Cheng plummeted toward the volcanoes like a kite with its string cut, finally crashing into an erupting magma pool. The golden flame sword continued purifying him from within. His screams were soon swallowed by the magma, leaving only a wisp of remnant soul shrieking in despair amid the flames before it was utterly annihilated.
The instant he finished Mo Cheng, Xiao Yan turned toward Han Feng, who was entangled in Xiao Yi Xian's poisonous vines. Han Feng was already an arrow at the end of its flight. His green poison fire withered beneath the lingering might of the Mysterious Yellow Earth-Core Flame, and his Five-Star Dou Emperor aura flickered erratically. "Xiao Yan! You can't kill me!" Han Feng struggled frantically, the vines' thorns already piercing his meridians. "I know the Soul Hall's secrets! I also know where your father is!"
Xiao Yan landed before him and pressed the Heavy Sword against his throat. "I should have guessed long ago that you were colluding with the Soul Hall." A wisp of Mysterious Yellow Flame condensed on his fingertip, and he lightly touched Han Feng's dantian. "Hand over the Sea Heart Flame, and I can give you a quick death." Han Feng's face turned deathly pale. Feeling the domineering purification power inside his dantian, he knew further resistance would only end with his soul scattered and destroyed. He could only close his eyes in anguish.
As Han Feng yielded, a deep blue flame rose from his dantian, rippling like seawater. It was the seventh-rank heavenly flame, the Sea Heart Flame. The moment it left his body, it tried to flee, but Xiao Yan's prepared Mysterious Yellow Flame enveloped it. Golden and deep blue fire intertwined and spun. Guided by the purification power, the Sea Heart Flame gradually grew docile, finally becoming a blue flame seed that merged into Xiao Yan's palm.
"You can actually subdue a heavenly flame directly..." Xiao Yi Xian and Nalan Yanran approached, their eyes filled with wonder as they watched the golden and blue flames coexist harmoniously in Xiao Yan's palm. Xiao Yan put away the Sea Heart Flame and bound Han Feng with Dou Qi. "He has a lead on my father. He's still useful alive." He looked toward the crater where magma churned. "Fragments of Mo Cheng's puppet armor may contain intelligence on the Soul Hall. Send people to retrieve them and examine them carefully."
The valley master came forward with his people to offer their thanks. The wounded had been properly settled, and the surviving magical beasts gathered around Xiao Yan, giving affectionate low growls. "Thanks to your timely arrival, young Xiao Yan, Ten Thousand Beasts Valley escaped annihilation today." The valley master handed him a beast-bone token. "This is the key to the valley's forbidden grounds. Inside are records on heavenly flames collected by generations of valley masters. They may help you fuse the Sea Heart Flame."
As Xiao Yan accepted the token, he suddenly felt a strange resonance between the Sea Heart Flame in his palm and the Mysterious Yellow Earth-Core Flame. He tried guiding the two flames to mingle. The Mysterious Yellow Flame's purification power and the Sea Heart Flame's water energy nourished one another, and blue ripples gradually appeared within the golden fire. Its power seemed to rise yet again.
"It seems the Sea Heart Flame wasn't our only gain today." Nalan Yanran watched the changes in the fire and smiled. "We captured six of the Dou Emperor subordinates Han Feng brought with him. Interrogating them may uncover more evidence of collusion between the Black-Corner Region and the Soul Hall." Xiao Yi Xian added, "I detected Otherworldly Demon energy in Mo Cheng's phantom puppet. It came from the same source as the Otherworldly Demon remnant soul that contaminated you last time. They're very likely using Otherworldly Demons to refine weapons."
As the sun sank westward, the smoke and dust over the volcanoes gradually dispersed. Xiao Yan stood at the highest point of Ten Thousand Beasts Valley, gazing toward the Black-Corner Region while intertwined golden and blue flames burned quietly in his palm. With the Sea Heart Flame subdued, he now possessed four heavenly flames. Although he could not fully fuse them yet, the Mysterious Yellow Earth-Core Flame's power already rivaled that of a Seven-Star Dou Zong. Han Feng was confined in a specially built cell within the valley, closely guarded by members of the Xiao Clan. His fate would be decided once they extracted useful intelligence.
"What do you plan to do next?" Nalan Yanran came to his side. The blood had been wiped from her Wind Spirit Sword, and its blade gleamed coldly in the fading light. Xiao Yan gazed at the distant clouds. "First, return to Jia Nan Academy to stabilize my cultivation and fuse the Sea Heart Flame. We'll need to plan carefully before pursuing the Soul Hall secrets and my father's whereabouts that Han Feng mentioned." He paused, a sharp light flashing through his eyes. "Besides, I have a feeling the Soul Hall won't let this rest. Their schemes in the Black-Corner Region may run deeper than we imagine."
Xiao Yi Xian approached with newly refined pills, a crisp medicinal fragrance drifting from the jade bottle. "These Spirit-Calming Pills were refined using volcanic lotus seeds and embers of the Sea Heart Flame. They'll help you master the new heavenly flame faster. We've finished analyzing the fragments of Mo Cheng's puppet armor. The runes on them are indeed connected to the Soul Hall. They seem to be forming some kind of teleportation array."
Xiao Yan accepted the jade bottle, feeling the pills' gentle warmth through his fingertips. In the distance, the volcanoes belched thick smoke once more, like the breathing of the earth. He knew subduing the Sea Heart Flame was only a new beginning. As his understanding of the Soul Hall and the Otherworldly Demons deepened, more dangerous challenges awaited him. But now, he had enough strength and confidence to face any wind and storm.
When night fell, Jia Nan Academy's Heavenly Flames Tower lit up once again. Xiao Yan stood at its summit. Behind him, the Mysterious Yellow Earth-Core Flame and Sea Heart Flame intertwined into golden-blue wings of fire, even grander and more magnificent than his Azure Luan Wings. In the square below, the surviving students were rebuilding their home. Shouts from Dou Technique sparring mingled with the sound of craftsmen hammering stone, brimming with life and hope.
As Han Feng was escorted to the Academy Dungeon, he looked up at the golden-blue figure atop the tower, his eyes filled with despair and bitter resentment. He knew he had not merely lost his heavenly flame and his freedom; he had witnessed the rise of an expert powerful enough to reshape the Black-Corner Region. And all of this had only just begun.
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