Nine Nether Illusion Demon Flame

At that moment, Xiao Yan naturally knew nothing of what had happened in Wutan City. Even if he had known, however, he would not have taken it to heart, for he was working hard to fuse the two flames within his body.

Although he had successfully refined the Netherworld Poison Flame, that did not mean his work was finished. Quite the opposite-his work had only just begun. To advance the Flame Mantra once more, the most important step was to fuse these two flames together, creating an entirely new Heavenly Flame.

This fusion differed from the one used to create the Demon Fury Fire Lotus. The Demon Fury Fire Lotus merely harnessed the violent energy released when flames fused, whereas fusing Heavenly Flames required the two flames to merge completely.

Even Xiao Yan in his previous life had never accomplished this. After all, the fusion of Heavenly Flames had to take place within his own body, and the first Heavenly Flame he had obtained back then was the purifying lotus demon flame. No matter how skilled and daring he was, he would not have dared experiment with that inside his body.

Besides, although he had subdued several other Heavenly Flames through his formidable strength in his previous life, he had merely forced them to remain within his body. He had never refined them, let alone fused them.

As far as he remembered, it seemed that only the Yan Clan's clan leader had ever fused Heavenly Flames. He had once fought that clan leader, so the matter had left a fairly deep impression on him. Although the Yan Clan leader's fused flame had been powerful, it had still fallen far short of his purifying lotus demon flame.

Even so, that flame's power had been quite extraordinary, so Xiao Yan felt some anticipation toward the new flame born from the fusion of the Nine Nether Flame and the netherworld poison flame.

Before he knew it, a month had passed since Xiao Yan began devouring the netherworld poison flame. During that month, the people of the Chu Yun Empire had naturally noticed the tremendous explosion in the Heavenly Poison Swamp. But the swamp was simply too dangerous. Although many were curious about what had happened, not a single person dared come to join the commotion.

Deep within the Heavenly Poison Swamp, poisonous mist still swirled. The origins of those black trees were unknown, but they grew incredibly fast. In just a month, they had once again formed a dense forest. Anyone who had not personally witnessed this place being razed to the ground would have found it hard to believe that, a month earlier, an explosion powerful enough to make even a Dou Wang expert tremble in terror had occurred here.

Leaves drifted slowly down from the sky, burying the bottomless pit along with Xiao Yan, who sat cross-legged inside it, cultivating...

Just like that, another month passed. Gradually, people stopped mentioning the great explosion in the Heavenly Poison Swamp. Whatever had happened, the swamp remained unchanged, and nothing had changed in the outside world either, so everyone stopped paying attention. At most, they speculated over tea or after a meal whether some high-ranking magical beast living there had detonated its magic core.

The Heavenly Poison Swamp remained as silent as ever. Soon, however, an unusual sound broke the stillness of this forbidden land that had lain quiet for two months. A flame suddenly flared within the pit that had been filled with leaves, burning them all to nothing. Immediately afterward, a black-haired youth leaped from the bottom of the pit and landed silently on the ground.

He slowly opened his eyes. A violet-black gleam suddenly appeared within his once ink-black eyes, but it vanished without a trace after only an instant. Yet a massive black tree before him abruptly burst apart, reduced to fine dust.

"Phew..." Xiao Yan let out a long breath. Paying no heed to his nakedness after refining the Heavenly Flame had burned away his clothes, he slowly extended his palm. With a thought, an eerie Purple-Black Flame emerged from it.

This violet-black flame was precisely the new Heavenly Flame formed by fusing the Nine Nether Flame and the netherworld poison flame. By Xiao Yan's estimate, this newly fused flame would deserve a place among the top ten on the Heavenly Flame Ranking. Its power surpassed even the bone spirit cold flame Yao Lao had left him by a considerable margin.

"I'll call you the Nine Nether Illusion Demon Flame." Xiao Yan toyed with the Purple-Black Flame in his hand and casually gave it a name. The word "illusion" naturally came from the netherworld poison flame's terrifying neurotoxin. Although releasing it into the surroundings was unlikely to affect experts above the Dou Zong level, against anyone below Dou Wang, it was an absolute weapon for wiping out entire groups.

When Xiao Yan had subdued the purifying lotus demon flame in his previous life, he had once fallen into an illusion called the Nightmare Sky Mist. Like the Heaven Refining Ancient Formation, this technique had been a secret art unique to the Purifying Lotus Demon Sage, later inherited by the purifying lotus demon flame. Even Dou Sheng experts could fall victim to this Nightmare Sky Mist. Had Xiao Yan not gathered all the fragments of the purifying lotus demon flame map beforehand in his previous life, he might have remained lost there forever.

Once unleashed, this Nightmare Sky Mist could envelop an area tens of thousands of miles across, trapping every living being within it in an eternal illusion. Even Xiao Yan at his peak had deeply coveted such miraculous power. Unfortunately, although he had inherited the method for using the Heaven Refining Ancient Formation, he had not inherited this Nightmare Sky Mist. Otherwise, he would have dared to single-handedly slaughter the Hun Clan.

With the Nine Nether Illusion Demon Flame, Xiao Yan could use its neurotoxin to unleash an extremely watered-down version of the Nightmare Sky Mist. Although he could not trap millions of people in an illusion for hundreds of years as the Purifying Lotus Demon Sage had, he could still make an entire city's inhabitants die without a sound.

After putting away the Nine Nether Illusion Demon Flame, Xiao Yan willed the Flame Mantra within his body to circulate rapidly. Sensing its circulation pathways and the speed at which it absorbed Dou Qi, he easily determined its current tier. After devouring the netherworld poison flame, the Flame Mantra had successfully evolved to Earth Tier.

In truth, had he refined an ordinary netherworld poison flame, the Flame Mantra probably would not have evolved to this level so smoothly. After all, although the netherworld poison flame was a Heavenly Flame, its ranking was too low, while the energy needed to advance the Flame Mantra was enormous. The further it advanced, the more terrifying its energy requirements became.

Thus, in principle, even after successfully devouring the netherworld poison flame, the Flame Mantra should at most have risen to the peak of Black Tier. However, the netherworld poison flame Xiao Yan had obtained had existed for ten thousand years, accumulating a truly terrifying amount of energy. It was precisely this ten-thousand-year accumulation that had made up in quantity for the Heavenly Flame's lacking quality, allowing the Flame Mantra to reach Earth Tier smoothly.

"Earth Tier, huh... that's enough." Xiao Yan smiled faintly. He took a set of clothes from his Storage Ring and put them on before walking toward the edge of the Heavenly Poison Swamp. "Then... it's time to leave."