Subduing the Heavenly Flame!

Xiao Yan quickly regained consciousness. Without dwelling on the reason, he poured in Dou Qi with all his strength for his final struggle against the Myriad Beast Spirit Flame.

In a daze, Xiao Yan's consciousness passed through his body and entered a peculiar space.

This was his Divine Pattern space, housed within that white ring of the Divine Pattern. It was utterly empty, seemingly devoid of anything at all.

Yet within this Divine Pattern space, Xiao Yan spotted a blood-red Little Milk Puppy in the distance, scurrying about in fear of its unfamiliar surroundings.

That was the Myriad Beast Spirit Flame, which the Divine Pattern had completely swallowed and sent into this space.

But the Divine Pattern could only imprison the Heavenly Flame. Truly subduing it still depended on Xiao Yan himself.

He took a few steps toward the blood-red Little Milk Puppy. Upon seeing Xiao Yan, it grew extremely wary and kept backing away.

Yet curiosity made it glance back from time to time.

Seeing this, Xiao Yan simply stopped chasing the Little Milk Puppy and crouched down, softly calling, "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Tsk, tsk, tsk."

That peculiar sound made the Little Milk Puppy stop in its tracks, and much of its wariness toward Xiao Yan faded.

Xiao Yan clapped his hands, then condensed his Dou Qi into the shape of a flame.

Xiao Yan was a fire-type Dou Zhe himself, and to the Little Milk Puppy, his Dou Qi was a delicious treat.

Lured by the food, the Little Milk Puppy could no longer resist. Its four little paws pattered as it ran over, lowering its big head to lick the flames in Xiao Yan's hand.

The Little Milk Puppy completely dropped its guard against Xiao Yan, and he reached out to stroke its head.

It did not resist. Instead, it rolled over and exposed its belly, clearly enjoying itself.

"All right. From today onward, you're my little puppy." Smiling, Xiao Yan scratched the Little Milk Puppy's belly with his index and middle fingers.

The once-terrifying Heavenly Flame did him no harm at all. Instead, it filled Xiao Yan with warmth.

At last, the Myriad Beast Spirit Flame had fully accepted Xiao Yan.

Wisps of fiery power flowed into the Divine Pattern. In moments, a second, blood-red ring emerged around the ring-shaped Xiao Clan Divine Pattern on Xiao Yan's forehead!

It had successfully subdued the Heavenly Flame!

At the same time, after absorbing the Heavenly Flame, Xiao Yan's strength soared.

He shot straight from a Three-Star Da Dou Shi to an Eight-Star Great Dou Master!

Moreover, with a mere thought, he could draw the Heavenly Flame's power from the Divine Pattern.

Xiao Yan tried summoning the Myriad Beast Spirit Flame, and a wisp of blood-red fire appeared at his fingertip.

Seeing the Myriad Beast Spirit Flame dancing within his body, Xiao Yan could not help grinning and bursting into laughter.

"Hahaha! Now I've got a Heavenly Flame too!"

Although he had barely escaped death this time, the rewards were extraordinarily rich. Not only had his strength increased tremendously,

but the Xiao Clan Divine Pattern had also evolved into the double-pattern divine pattern, allowing him to unleash its amplification twice in succession!

Most importantly, Xiao Yan had also inherited the Myriad Beast Spirit Flame's ability. By expending Dou Qi, he could summon Flame Beasts!

Naturally, he had to put this tremendous increase in strength to the test.

Xiao Yan smashed through the rocks blocking the entrance and left the cave.

He immediately activated the first layer of his Divine Pattern, raising his strength from an Eight-Star Great Dou Master to the peak of nine stars!

His Dou Qi was burning away very slowly, too. Xiao Yan even felt he could sustain it for half an hour without any trouble.

Then Xiao Yan activated the second layer of his Divine Pattern, using the Myriad Beast Spirit Flame to ignite his Dou Qi. His strength surged again, forcibly breaking through the limits of a Da Dou Shi and reaching the level of a Two-Star Dou Ling!

However, once the second layer awakened, his Dou Qi burned away far too quickly. Xiao Yan estimated that he could sustain it for five minutes at most, so he could not fight a prolonged battle.

Of course, even so, Xiao Yan was already thoroughly satisfied.

After deactivating his Divine Pattern, Xiao Yan began summoning Flame Beasts with his Dou Qi. In the blink of an eye, three Flame Beasts took shape around him.

These Flame Beasts were roughly at the level of one- to two-star Da Dou Shi, about as strong as those summoned by the Myriad Beast Spirit Flame itself.

Still, Xiao Yan believed that as his strength increased, both the number and the quality of the Flame Beasts he could summon would improve tremendously.

For now, his limit was three Flame Beasts, the equivalent of gaining three one- or two-star Da Dou Shi fighters. That was a tremendous improvement in itself.

Finally, Xiao Yan thought of the other Divine Pattern that had awakened on his forehead at the last moment. By now, it had gone completely dim.

Xiao Yan searched the Divine Pattern space and eventually found the hourglass divine pattern in a corner.

But it was now completely dim, and it seemed he would not be able to use it again anytime soon.

Xiao Yan soon returned to his senses. Recalling the woman he had seen just before dying, he realized she must have been his mother.

That Divine Pattern's power seemed to be restoration, which had allowed his condition to improve in defiance of heaven within such a short time.

But upon closer consideration, Xiao Yan felt that was not quite right. After all, restoration could at most repair his body and replenish his Dou Qi. Why had even the medicinal effects that had already vanished from his body been reactivated?

If he examined it carefully, that ability seemed more like rewinding-as though time had flowed backward, returning Xiao Yan's body to an earlier state.

Xiao Yan grew curious about this mother he barely remembered. Could she also have been a descendant of a Dou Di, and had he inherited that second Divine Pattern from her?

Xiao Yan became increasingly curious about the origins of his clan.

Unfortunately, Xun'er had left Wutan City. Otherwise, with her knowledge, she would surely have been able to clear up his confusion.

Still, Xiao Yan did not dwell on the matter too much. His current strength could only be considered fairly good.

He was still far behind those truly at the top. Once he became strong enough someday,

the whole truth would surface on its own.

"It's about time to head back."

Xiao Yan traveled several miles away and dug up the other Storage Ring he had hidden beforehand. Most of his treasures were inside it.

He had done this for two reasons. First, if he failed to subdue the Heavenly Flame and died, these things could still be passed on.

Second, if the Heavenly Flame's temperature proved so high that it destroyed his Storage Ring, it would have been a terrible waste to see everything he owned go up in flames.

The outcome now proved that Xiao Yan had indeed shown foresight.

He took a fresh set of fitted black clothes from the Storage Ring and put them on.

His business in the Magical Beast Mountain Range was more or less finished.

"Thinking about it, I'd originally planned to return in half a month, but this whole trip ended up taking more than a

month. I wonder how Xiao Yi Xian is doing."

This trip to the Magical Beast Mountain Range had taken far too long, leaving Xiao Yan a little worried about Xiao Yi Xian.

She was only a One-Star Dou Zhe. Even if she had improved over the past month, she was probably only around two stars.

He still had not given her the third-tier poison-type monster core in his possession. He would return to Qingshan Town first, then decide what to do next.