Wang Dong trembled slightly at the mention of the Tang Sect and asked in surprise, "You're from the Tang Sect?"
Tang Ya nodded repeatedly. "Yes! There are only two of us in the Tang Sect now, but we used to be the number one sect on the continent! I'm the current sect master, and this is Bei Bei, my first disciple. Well? Surprised, aren't you? Come on, the Tang Sect welcomes you!"
After a brief moment of stunned silence, Wang Dong hurriedly nodded. "Yes! I've long heard how amazing the Tang Sect Hidden Weapons are. Sect Master Tang, I'd like to join the Tang Sect. Please accept me!"
"Uh..." A flicker of hesitation crossed Tang Ya's eyes. She hadn't expected Wang Dong to agree without a second thought when she'd only asked in passing.
Her Purple Demon Eye flickered faintly, and Tang Ya could see that Wang Dong was no ordinary student. Her essence was held within, her soul power dense and solid-she was clearly a child of a great clan. But that only deepened Tang Ya's suspicions.
"Have you really thought this through? You should know that the Tang Sect no longer has a residence. Our ancestral holdings were seized, and right now, Bei Bei and I are its only members!" Tang Ya asked again to be certain.
"That's perfect!" Wang Dong nodded earnestly. "I want to join the Tang Sect and learn hidden weapons from you!"
At those words, Bei Bei's gaze immediately changed. He looked at Wang Dong's almost flawless, sweet puppy-like face, then at Tang Ya beside him. An emotion called wariness crept into his eyes.
No demands at all, just dead set on joining this fallen sect? Then what exactly are you after?
Wang Dong, my foot! You look more like that wife-stealing Wang next door!
"All right. As the Tang Sect's sect master, I grant you permission to join." Tang Ya pondered for a while, but ultimately couldn't resist the temptation Wang Dong presented.
"After joining the Tang Sect, you must keep improving your cultivation and growing stronger. When the sect needs you, you must contribute. I won't deceive you with grand boasts. Our Tang Sect has indeed declined, but all its cultivation arts remain. However, I have one condition: once you join the Tang Sect, you belong to it for life. If you ever wish to leave, you must return every one of the Tang Sect Secret Arts."
"I understand, Teacher Xiao Ya," Wang Dong said with a nod.
Hearing her address Tang Ya as "Teacher Xiao Ya," another strange look flashed through Bei Bei's eyes, and his gaze toward Wang Dong grew even warier.
"Oh, little junior sister, would you like to join the Tang Sect?" Catching sight of Xiao Xiao heartily munching on skewers out of the corner of her eye, Tang Ya hurriedly asked.
"Me?" Xiao Xiao gave Tang Ya a bewildered look, then turned toward Wang Dong beside her. Her pretty face immediately flushed.
Seeing this, a smile curled across Tang Ya's lips, and she continued coaxing her. "Junior sister, once you join the Tang Sect, we'll all be one family. If there's anything you don't understand while practicing the Tang Sect Secret Arts, I can have Wang Dong teach you hand over hand..."
One family... hand over hand... Xiao Xiao's eyes grew dreamy at those words, and her face flushed deeper and deeper.
Fantasy time.JPG
"All right, I'll join the Tang Sect!" Unable to resist the beauty trap, Xiao Xiao finally nodded and agreed to Tang Ya's invitation.
"Wonderful! Did you see that, Bei Bei? Our Tang Sect has expanded to four members!" Tang Ya was so happy she almost jumped for joy.
Then her eyes narrowed, and she smiled at Huo Yuhao. "Little Yuhao, our Tang Sect has grown much stronger now. Would you like to..."
"Sister Xiao Ya, I really don't have any plans to join a sect or organization right now. After all, I'm an orphan with no one to depend on. Wherever I go, I'll only bring people trouble..."
Huo Yuhao circulated his soul power and fiercely stimulated his tear glands. His eyes reddened, and great drops of tears rolled down his face.
God King Technique: Depression, activate!
"Little Yuhao, I never knew you were carrying such pain in your heart. All right, I won't push you. When you've worked through it someday, we can talk about this again..."
Seeing Huo Yuhao in such a state, Tang Ya naturally couldn't keep trying to persuade him.
She and Bei Bei led their two newly recruited members over, moving their table and stools beside Xu Sanshi's table. With Xu Sanshi's whole roast lamb, they began the Tang Sect's welcoming feast.
Xu Sanshi: Fuck! Why am I always the one getting hurt?
Late that night, after seeing Ma Xiaotao off, Huo Yuhao sat cross-legged on the wooden bed, dark red light flickering in his eyes.
"Flame, rise!"
With Huo Yuhao's low cry, dark red flames abruptly surged up from his right palm.
Now, the Phoenix Evil Fire could envelop not only his hand, but his entire upper body, like a suit of dark red, blazing armor.
The room instantly grew scorching hot. Huo Yuhao casually picked up a table knife from the table. Beneath the Phoenix Evil Fire, the silver knife melted into liquid in an instant.
"Hmm, its power is barely passable. But the strength of this Phoenix Evil Fire is already approaching the limits of your control. If you keep cultivating it, the backlash will likely come soon." Yao Lao emerged from the Black Ring as he spoke.
"In that case, I'll devour it before it can turn on me!" Huo Yuhao said with a faint smile.
"Hmm. Here are a Pulse-Protecting Pill and an Ice Heart Pill. Remember to take them before you devour it." Yao Lao took out two small jade bottles and set them on the table.
"When you devour the Phoenix Evil Fire, you must circulate the evil fire along the Flame Mantra's cultivation route. Flames absorbed from someone else's body are nothing like your own soul power. They cause considerable damage wherever they pass, so you'll need the pills to protect your meridians."
"And this Phoenix Evil Fire is extremely violent and sinister. It will affect your mind. If your mind is corrupted, you'll have no choice but to abandon the attempt. The Ice Heart Pill can protect your mind from its influence, keeping you in a state of pure clarity throughout."
Huo Yuhao nodded, his gaze sweeping over the two small jade bottles before him. Then he closed his eyes and slowly sank his awareness into his body.
The soul power in his meridians began circulating rapidly, while he forcibly separated the Phoenix Evil Fire's core flame within his body from his own soul power.
Then surging, pale yellow soul power poured forth like a tide blotting out the sky, enclosing the Phoenix Evil Fire tightly. Under the control of Huo Yuhao's spiritual power, it dragged the Phoenix Evil Fire along the Flame Mantra's meridian route.
At that moment, the Phoenix Evil Fire's core flame instinctively sensed the danger and began battering madly against the soul power prison Huo Yuhao had erected. As the evil fire burned, searing pain tore through his meridians, and sweat instantly beaded on his forehead.
"Take the pills!" Yao Lao commanded in a low voice beside him.
Hearing Yao Lao's words, Huo Yuhao picked up the two small jade bottles without the slightest hesitation and swallowed the two pills, their refreshing fragrance filling his nose.
The instant the pills entered his stomach, they dissolved into a gentle, warm current that swiftly coated every meridian required for cultivating the Flame Mantra in a thin film of white energy.
His spiritual power also felt traces of cold. Rather than causing pain, the chill left his consciousness wonderfully refreshed and comfortable.
With the pills' medicinal power protecting his meridians and mind, Huo Yuhao immediately drove the soul power surrounding the Phoenix Evil Fire at full force, sending it racing madly through his meridians.
As his soul power carried the evil fire along the Flame Mantra's meridian route, Huo Yuhao's spiritual power immediately detected a strand of soul power beginning to fuse strangely with the evil fire.
No, rather than fusion, it was more accurate to say that Huo Yuhao's Flame Mantra soul power was gradually devouring the Phoenix Evil Fire.
After three more complete circulation cycles, the Flame Mantra soul power within Huo Yuhao had fully fused with the Phoenix Evil Fire. His originally pale yellow soul power had turned ink-black, with faint black flames burning over it.
At last, the now-black soul power rushed through the final meridian. After completing a perfect circuit within his body, it flowed toward Huo Yuhao's eyes.
Huo Yuhao's eyes snapped open. Two jets of black-and-gold radiance, almost tangible, burst from his Flame God Eyes, while the soul power fluctuations around his body abruptly soared.
"To think this chance encounter would let you break through to level 19 soul power. But the flames have actually changed color. That's rather strange," Yao Lao said in surprise.
"No, this is the true appearance of the Phoenix Evil Fire-or rather, the Dark Phoenix's source flame. Ma Xiaotao fears the power of her own martial soul and refuses to fuse its innate darkness attribute with herself. That's why she suffers backlash," Huo Yuhao said with a smile.
"So that's how it is." Yao Lao shook his head helplessly, then hurriedly asked, "Check whether the Flame Mantra has evolved! What tier is it now?"
Looking at Yao Lao's expectant face, excitement flashed through Huo Yuhao's eyes as well. He said happily, "Mid Yellow Tier!"
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