As the blood-red flame entered his body, countless memories began pouring into Xiao Yan's mind.
The myriad beast spirit flame, ranked twenty-second on the heavenly flame ranking, was a blood-red heavenly flame in which the forms of myriad beasts faintly appeared. Formed from the souls and bloodlines of myriad beasts, it could often scorch the souls of magical beasts, producing unexpected effects.
Within his body, surrounded by layer upon layer of azure fire, the myriad beast spirit flame did not give up its struggle. Instead, it thrashed violently like a trapped beast, constantly releasing heat that was almost negligible to Xiao Yan.
His soul force pierced through the flames, fixing a fierce gaze on the myriad beast spirit flame. With a shift of Xiao Yan's will, the flames churned, and streams of azure fire extended outward, finally plunging into the blood-red myriad beast spirit flame like pipes.
Because it had lived as a parasite within a soul beast, the myriad beast spirit flame had developed a measure of consciousness. If Xiao Yan wanted to devour and refine it completely, he first had to erase that consciousness.
Otherwise, forcibly devouring and refining it would only cause the two heavenly flames to reject each other. Once they erupted, he would inevitably be the one to suffer.
The myriad beast spirit flame naturally understood Xiao Yan's intent, so it resisted with all its might. But at this point, it was already a fish on the chopping block. Any resistance was futile.
Time slowly passed amid the tedium.
The blood-red flame went from its initial violent resistance to its present quiet gentleness, its consciousness gradually fading away entirely.
At the same time, a yellow soul ring took shape around Xiao Yan.
A slight pain pricked his head, and Xiao Yan sensed strange memories beginning to pour into his mind.
His head felt faintly swollen as a flood of information poured in. Only after a long while did his mind gradually clear.
"Blowing Flame Palm: A control skill that releases powerful wind pressure forward!"
"Purple Cloud Wings: A flight skill that allows the practitioner to form a pair of purple wings, granting the ability to break free of the earth's bonds and soar into the clouds!"
As his mind slowly cleared, the cultivation methods for these two skills had already been roughly imprinted in Xiao Yan's memory.
The age of a soul ring formed through heavenly flame ring fusion was determined by the highest age Xiao Yan's current physical strength could withstand.
Without any external aid, his body could currently withstand a soul ring of roughly eight hundred years at most. That was also the age of his second soul ring.
As his awareness slowly returned, Xiao Yan first looked around in slight bewilderment, only to discover that he was on the yellow sand rather than inside the giant serpent's belly.
Clearly, the blood-red giant serpent had already been burned to ashes.
With a gentle flick of his hand, a ball of yellow flame appeared in his palm. As it emerged, the surrounding yellow sand grew restless.
"Azure and green fused into yellow?" Xiao Yan murmured to himself as he gazed at the flame in his palm.
"Let's try the skills this heavenly flame gave me first." The soul power within him moved at his will, and a faint purple radiance spread from his back, finally taking the form of solid wings.
Reaching back to touch the purple eagle wings, Xiao Yan made them flap gently, only to discover a slight buoyant force beneath him.
But that lift was far too weak to carry him off the ground.
"Using the Purple Cloud Wings proficiently should require a considerable amount of soul power. With my current strength, I can probably only fly and glide for a short time." Xiao Yan stopped releasing his soul power and withdrew the eagle wings on his back.
He slowly stretched, then headed out of the desert.
Having obtained his second soul ring, he was ready to return to Nuoding Academy.
Across the boundless desert, golden sand was the only dominant hue. Fierce winds carried scorching heat as they swept through the world, their howls ringing endlessly in his ears.
On a dune, the bare-chested Xiao Yan habitually reached back to touch the Black Ruler before setting off toward the edge of the desert.
Under the blazing sun, Xiao Yan walked for nearly two hours, his head drenched in sweat. Just as he was about to stop for a rest, his brows suddenly rose. Turning his head, he spotted a figure fleeing in a sorry state across a nearby dune.
The man wore a gold-and-red outfit. As he fled, he stumbled and rolled straight down the sandy slope, finally landing in front of Xiao Yan and briefly losing consciousness.
Looking at the man before him, Xiao Yan shook his head helplessly, took a waterskin from inside his clothing, and poured its contents over the man's face.
Roused by the cold water, the briefly unconscious man slowly opened his eyes. Seeing Xiao Yan before him and realizing he was a person rather than a soul beast, he finally let out a breath of relief.
Xiao Yan gave the man a casual glance. His clothes seemed familiar, but Xiao Yan could not recall where he had seen them. He took out a bag of clean water and handed it to the man, then rose and continued toward the edge of the desert.
Xiao Yan was no indiscriminate do-gooder. Giving some water to an injured stranger he encountered in the desert was as far as he was willing to go.
"Young brother, please wait." Seeing Xiao Yan turn to leave, the man froze briefly before calling out urgently, "Our teammates were ambushed by soul beasts and poisoned. Could you help save them?"
"You'll have to pray for your own good fortune. I'm only a Soul Grandmaster."
Without looking back, Xiao Yan waved a hand behind him and declined indifferently.
With his current strength, he had no desire to meddle in other people's affairs.
"Young brother, we're students from Blazing Fire Academy! The soul beasts surrounding our team are only hundred-year soul beasts-Yellow Sand Scorpions. If our captain and vice-captain hadn't accidentally been poisoned by those beasts, we could have handled them ourselves. With your strength as a Soul Grandmaster, you might be able to save our team!" Watching Xiao Yan walk farther away, the man shouted with all his strength.
He had to seize this last straw that might save their lives.
"Blazing Fire Academy? The one among the Heaven Dou Empire's Five Elemental Academies known for cultivating fire-attribute martial souls?" As the man's shout faded, Xiao Yan stopped abruptly, suddenly recalling the people he had encountered at the inn yesterday.
Every student at Blazing Fire Academy cultivated a fire-attribute martial soul. Perhaps for that reason, Xiao Yan had quite a favorable impression of the academy.
"Take me over for a look." A moment later, Xiao Yan turned and walked back to the man's side, speaking quietly.
"All right. Our team is just behind that dune." The man rose shakily and pointed toward a nearby dune.
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