After obtaining information about the heavenly flame and pills designed to deal with it, Xiao Yan changed his mind.
I have to subdue this Myriad Beast Spirit Flame.
First, the Myriad Beast Spirit Flame had only recently been born and possessed little intelligence. Its ranking was also relatively low, so the difficulty would not be too great.
Second, he now understood it. With the description of the Myriad Beast Spirit Flame in the alchemy book, Xiao Yan had developed a series of plans.
To begin with, the Myriad Beast Spirit Flame itself was relatively weak, but it could summon countless powerful Flame Beasts to protect itself.
Xiao Yan had already encountered the Flame Beasts on his way here. Every single one was at least at the level of a Da Dou Shi, making them extremely troublesome.
To approach the Myriad Beast Spirit Flame itself, Xiao Yan first had to bypass those Flame Beasts—or find some way to lure them away—then seize the chance to locate its true body.
Then he would use fire-attribute treasures to lure it into his trap, little by little.
As for those treasures, Xiao Yan happened to have just the thing: the three bottles of purple liquid he had obtained from the Amethyst Winged Lion King's cave abode.
Xiao Yan also had a way to lure away the Flame Beasts. He only needed to find a fast magical beast and have it keep fleeing in one direction, drawing the Flame Beasts' attention away and creating an opening for him.
Still, his target this time was a heavenly flame. He could not rush things and needed to make thorough preparations.
Xiao Yan took out the movement Dou Technique Yun Zhi had given him, a Black Tier, Intermediate Level movement Dou Technique called Explosive Step.
Although he could use Eagle Wings to accelerate his flight through the sky, there was nowhere to brace himself in midair, leaving him far too little maneuverability.
Besides, he would need to be on the ground to capture the young beast that was the Myriad Beast Spirit Flame.
The explosive acceleration and agility a movement Dou Technique offered were things a Flying Dou Technique could not provide.
Half a day passed. Night shrouded the land, making the already dim cave even darker.
Xiao Yan slowly opened his eyes. He had finally gained an initial grasp of this Black Tier, Intermediate Level movement Dou Technique.
Among movement Dou Techniques, Explosive Step was a technique focused on explosive acceleration. Its agility was somewhat inferior to that of other movement techniques.
He only needed to channel Dou Qi into both feet and release it against the ground, using the resulting thrust to accelerate himself.
Since each footfall produced a small explosion, it was called Explosive Step.
Xiao Yan did not remain idle that night, either. He tried returning to the area where the Flame Beasts appeared.
The thick mist at the bottom of the gorge made it easy to identify the Myriad Beast Spirit Flame's location.
Even if it had moved some distance away, Xiao Yan could still locate it by finding the area free of mist.
The next thing he needed to do was find a magical beast suitable for use as bait.
Xiao Yan headed east along Fallen Emperor Gorge. There were very few magical beasts at the bottom, and even those he found were lumbering creatures like Rock Snakes, utterly unsuitable as bait.
But Heaven never sealed off every path. After Xiao Yan had traveled several li from the cave, he discovered holes scattered across the cliffs on either side of the gorge, and his eyes immediately lit up.
"These are... Rock-Gnawing Mouse burrows!"
Rock-Gnawing Mice were small, agile first-tier magical beasts that usually lived among rocky cliffs and fed on various minerals.
They were extremely numerous and reproduced rapidly. They could be found both on the outskirts of the Magical Beast Mountain Range and in its depths.
Xiao Yan simply had not expected to find Rock-Gnawing Mouse burrows even at the bottom of Fallen Emperor Gorge.
An idea immediately came to him. He placed a clump of damp grass over most of the burrows, then heated it with Dou Qi until it caught fire.
The grass burned incompletely, producing billowing smoke that poured into the burrows.
The few burrows Xiao Yan deliberately left unsmoked were escape routes he had provided for the creatures.
After several minutes, Xiao Yan could clearly hear scurrying inside the burrows.
Soon, one Rock-Gnawing Mouse after another fled outside, unable to endure the smoke.
Yet the moment they left their burrows, they jumped into the specially made sack Xiao Yan had prepared, allowing him to catch them all in one net.
Using this method, he caught over a dozen Rock-Gnawing Mice. Deciding that should be enough, Xiao Yan left with the specially made sack full of mice.
He returned to the edge of the mist. Just one more step forward would bring him within the Flame Beasts' guarded territory.
Xiao Yan opened his mouth and slipped a Qi Recovery Pill inside, then opened the sack and released all the Rock-Gnawing Mice.
Already frightened, the Rock-Gnawing Mice immediately scattered in every direction, darting wildly through the Flame Beasts' guarded territory.
As the mice fled, the fire beasts guarding the Myriad Beast Spirit Flame instantly took shape.
A gigantic flaming python burst through the ground and caught one of the Rock-Gnawing Mice in its jaws. However, the mice successfully slipped past the larger, slower Flame Beasts.
As the Rock-Gnawing Mice fled, more and more Flame Beasts took shape and were drawn into the distance.
[Black Tier, Intermediate Level-Explosive Step]!
Xiao Yan crushed the Qi Recovery Pill between his teeth and activated Explosive Step, racing through the area at tremendous speed.
The divine pattern on his forehead emerged, beginning to sense the temperature in the air.
The closer he came to the flame's true body, the hotter it would become. Meanwhile, the Myriad Beast Spirit Flame itself was only a young beast and would not roam over a large area. That point was crucial.
Elsewhere, one Rock-Gnawing Mouse after another was overtaken by the Flame Beasts and burned to ash. Xiao Yan knew he had little time left.
But the changes in temperature were extremely subtle. With only a one-pattern divine pattern, he could not reliably pinpoint the flame's location.
Since it's so hard to find, I'll make it come looking for me instead.
With that, Xiao Yan took out a bottle of purple liquid and sprinkled it along his path, letting drops fall onto the ground.
Each bottle contained only ten drops of the purple liquid. Dropping one every ten paces, Xiao Yan could only leave a trail a hundred paces long.
But he was not finished yet. Xiao Yan decisively took out a second bottle of purple liquid and once again dripped it onto the ground every ten paces.
By now, almost all the Rock-Gnawing Mice had been wiped out, and the Flame Beasts were returning one after another.
Without the slightest hesitation, Xiao Yan immediately retreated, avoiding a clash with the Flame Beasts.
After leaving the area where the Flame Beasts roamed, he took out the final bottle of purple liquid. This time, he left one drop every twenty paces, using five drops in succession to lead the trail of bait toward the cave.
Xiao Yan placed the remaining half-bottle of purple liquid at the far end of the cave, leaving it uncapped as bait.
Then he concealed himself against the cave ceiling and slowed his breathing, waiting by the stump for a rabbit to come his way.
In truth, Xiao Yan did not know whether this trick would
work, but he still chose to trust the notes the alchemist had left behind.
At the same time, this was a huge gamble. If the young beast brought all the Flame Beasts along to scout the way and trapped him inside, he would be in grave danger.
Time ticked by, and Xiao Yan kept his breathing slow as he waited for his target to take the bait.
An hour passed, and nothing seemed to have happened.
Still, Xiao Yan chose to wait. Subduing a heavenly flame was no easy task; he had to be patient enough.
Another half hour passed, and doubts began to creep into Xiao Yan's mind. Was the bait I scattered useless, or had it evaporated before it could do anything?
Just as Xiao Yan decided to watch for another hour before going down to check, the thick mist shrouding the cave entrance began to dissipate!
Wild joy surged through Xiao Yan. He knew this meant the Myriad Beast Spirit Flame had moved, evaporating the thick mist here!
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