Black Flame

After deciding to cultivate the technique Yao Lao called the Flame Mantra, Xiao Yan immediately closed his eyes and prepared to convert his Dou Qi. The initial conversion would not take long, nor should it pose any danger. Yet just as Xiao Yan began circulating his Dou Qi along the Flame Mantra's pathways, he suddenly sensed a scorching fluctuation from within his body.

"What's going on?" The sudden change nearly caused Xiao Yan to suffer a backlash. Although he used his powerful Soul Force to straighten out the Dou Qi that had almost fallen into chaos, the trickle of blood at the corner of his mouth betrayed his condition.

Seeing this, Yao Lao, who was watching from outside, was stunned. Surely the Flame Mantra could not be this dangerous? Xiao Yan had only just begun circulating it, yet he was already coughing up blood?

Xiao Yan took a deep breath and immediately mobilized his Soul Force to investigate the situation inside his body. Under its frantic scanning, he soon discovered a wisp of pitch-black flame burning silently at the location of his vortex.

At the sight of that black flame, Xiao Yan's heart jolted. This was precisely the flame that had shot into his body at the very last moment of his previous life. He had never expected this strange flame to be reborn along with him!

Fortunately, after carefully sensing it, Xiao Yan discovered that the flame was not as powerful as it had been in his previous life. It, too, was at its weakest stage. Even so, if it erupted inside his body, his only fate would be to turn straight to ash...

Xiao Yan had no desire to keep a ticking time bomb inside his body that could explode at any moment. He simply had not noticed it before, but now that he had, he naturally would not allow it to continue running rampant within him.

This thing is a flame, too. I wonder whether it can make this so-called Flame Mantra evolve. With that thought, Xiao Yan immediately mobilized the Dou Qi inside his body and wrapped it around the wisp of black flame.

The instant his Dou Qi enveloped it, the black flame seemed to realize that it was Xiao Yan's target. The previously quiet flame immediately erupted into a frenzy, and the mass of Dou Qi surrounding it was soon almost entirely burned away.

Seeing this, Xiao Yan swiftly drew upon the Dou Qi in his vortex, sending an unending stream toward the black flame. Yet no matter how much Dou Qi he supplied, it was burned into nothingness the instant it touched the Black Flame. As time passed, the Dou Qi in Xiao Yan's vortex began to show signs of running dry.

Xiao Yan cursed inwardly. He knew the Flame Mantra's shortcomings were beginning to show. At merely Yellow Tier Low Grade, the Flame Mantra could store only a very limited amount of Dou Qi. If he were cultivating a Black Tier technique now, his reserves would never have begun running dry so quickly.

If the energy inside my body isn't enough, I'll make up for it with energy from outside! Xiao Yan immediately formed a cultivation hand seal and began drawing in external energy to replenish his Dou Qi. Whatever else might be true, this was still his home ground. No matter how formidable the black flame was, it remained water without a source. As long as he persisted, he would surely bring it under control.

Under Xiao Yan's control, the abundant Heaven and Earth Energy came into direct contact with the wisp of black flame before it could be refined. Most of it was burned into nothingness just like the rest, but a tiny portion survived. Xiao Yan had intended to gather this remaining energy and use it to envelop the black flame as well, only to discover, to his surprise, that the surviving trace of energy was extraordinarily pure!

Could it be... that this thing has inadvertently purified the energy for me? After thinking it through carefully, Xiao Yan understood what had happened. Powerful though the black flame was, the Heaven and Earth Energy was vast in quantity. In its weakened state, it naturally could not burn all of it away in one go. The energy that escaped destruction had effectively been refined by it, which was why it had become so pure.

After realizing this, Xiao Yan continued drawing in Heaven and Earth Energy to contend with the Black Flame while dividing his attention to send the pure Dou Qi refined by the black flame into his vortex. As he absorbed this energy, Xiao Yan's strength quietly rose as well...

Yao Lao knew nothing of what was happening inside Xiao Yan's body. He was merely puzzled as to why converting his Dou Qi was taking so long. However, since he had never cultivated the Flame Mantra and did not know its specifics, he could only attribute this series of problems to the technique's peculiar nature.

What Yao Lao had not expected was that Xiao Yan would remain in this state for three full days!

This three-day tug-of-war finally ended in the black flame's defeat. After burning continuously for three days, its power gradually weakened considerably, until it could no longer escape the surrounding Dou Qi. Seizing this opportunity, Xiao Yan immediately circulated his Dou Qi, driving the wisp of black flame along the Flame Mantra's pathways.

Despite the Dou Qi wrapped around it, the Black Flame's heat still inflicted a burst of pain that pierced deep into Xiao Yan's marrow. Yet having already experienced all manner of suffering in his previous life, Xiao Yan naturally remained unaffected. Instead, he accelerated the technique's circulation.

As the technique circulated, the Dou Qi inside Xiao Yan's body gradually fused with the wisp of black flame. His originally pale-yellow Dou Qi began turning a deep black. When the final circulation pathway was completed, all the Dou Qi inside him had transformed into black Dou Qi. Not only that, faint flickers of black flame seemed to dance upon it.

Xiao Yan's Dou Qi Vortex now also seemed to be enveloped in black flame. The instant Heaven and Earth Energy entered the vortex, it was swiftly tempered into Black Flame Dou Qi, which flowed through Xiao Yan's meridians.

"This can't go on..." Seeing that Xiao Yan still had not emerged from cultivation, Yao Lao, who had waited outside for three full days, frowned. Just as he prepared to forcibly interrupt Xiao Yan, Xiao Yan slowly opened his long-closed eyes. An aura more than ten times stronger than before instantly surged from his body.

"What exactly happened?" Yao Lao breathed a sigh of relief when Xiao Yan emerged from cultivation, then hurriedly questioned him. He had never seen a technique that required three days to complete a conversion. Clearly, some unexpected change had occurred inside Xiao Yan's body.

Xiao Yan did not answer Yao Lao directly. He simply opened his hand, and a mass of pitch-black flame instantly sprang from his palm. The scorching heat that washed over Yao Lao left even him momentarily stunned. As he stared at the black flame in Xiao Yan's palm, astonishment filled his heart. "Is this... a Heavenly Flame?"