"What approach?" the Ice Empress asked.
"I've named this technique Multiple Casting."
Xiao Yan went on to explain, "When I release the first Soul Skill, I release the second one at the same time. I call it Multiple Casting when the effects of two or three Soul Skills work together. Once I've gotten used to it, I can start trying Ring Fusion."
"What a brilliant idea!" the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm praised him. "Not only will it make Ring Fusion easier later on, but it will also improve your understanding and use of Soul Skills. You could even call it a stripped-down version of Ring Fusion!"
"Still, it could be optimized further. I was just observing the flow of Soul Power inside you..."
"What are you two talking about?" The Ice Empress looked utterly baffled.
Listening to Tian Meng and Xiao Yan talk at length, she felt as though she were listening to a heavenly scripture. Weren't Soul Skills and the like just instinct? What was this 'multiple' business? What meridians?
Watching the two of them chatter on without end, the Ice Empress got bored and burrowed back into the Sea of Consciousness for a long nap.
Xiao Yan, meanwhile, gained a great deal from his conversation with Tian Meng.
Tian Meng's spiritual power was far greater than Xiao Yan's, so he could observe the changes inside Xiao Yan's body in greater detail.
They hadn't developed Ring Fusion yet, but they had indirectly given Xiao Yan another fighting method in Multiple Casting, which could probably increase his combat strength by thirty percent.
This approach was correct, but he wasn't yet proficient enough in using Multiple Casting, and there was a risk of failure. Xiao Yan would need to practice more, until he could use it at will; only then would he have succeeded.
After the Ring Fusion experiment ended, Xiao Yan had used up almost all the Soul Power in his body.
"Sorry for the trouble, Tian Meng. I'll get back to cultivating first," Xiao Yan said with a slight nod.
"Leave it all to big brother. When you practice, I'll use my spiritual power to stabilize your Martial Soul, and your success rate will rise greatly. Get a better feel for it, and you'll succeed one hundred percent of the time."
With that, Tian Meng also burrowed back into Xiao Yan's Sea of Consciousness to continue his long nap.
At the same time, Xiao Yan also began cultivating.
Flame Mantra was a cultivation technique that seized the fortune of heaven and earth. Its difficulty was beyond comparison with any cultivation technique on the Douluo Continent.
Naturally, its effects and the speed at which cultivation improved were also far from ordinary.
And this was only the effect at High Yellow Tier. If he absorbed another Heavenly Flame and reached Mid Black Tier, he could not only improve the quality of his Soul Power, but also speed up his Soul Power cultivation and begin trying Fire Fusion!
Back when he read the original Battle Through the Heavens, Xiao Yan's Fire Fusion had been his strongest explosive trump card.
In the end, he had created Buddha's Fury Fire Lotus, a technique that represented the pinnacle of fire arts, allowing him to stand above the rest even as a Dou Di.
As Xiao Yan's thoughts gradually drifted away, green-gold Soul Power slowly filled his body.
Only by using his own spiritual power to examine himself from within could he discover that his flesh and meridians were tinged with snow-white.
This was how his body manifested its deep fusion with Bone Spirit Cold Flame. Once the fusion was complete, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call Xiao Yan a Heavenly Flame in human form.
Two months later.
Xiaoshan City was decked out in festive decorations, red lanterns lined both sides of the streets, and pedestrians came and went in an endless stream. The end of the year was already drawing near.
The setting sun had painted the Xiao Clan's training ground a warm shade of gold.
The winter chill seemed a little warmer in this open space.
Xiao Yan had just finished instructing Xiao Xiao and had yet to leave when he saw a familiar figure walking toward them.
It was Xiao Zhan, striding over with a broad smile. "There are only five or six days until the new year. You two aren't even taking a break?"
"I happened to have nothing else to do, so I taught Xiao Xiao a little more," Xiao Yan replied.
"I'm not surprised at you, but Xiao Xiao seems like a different person. Could it be that you can't bear to see your brother leave?" Xiao Zhan asked with a smile.
"No, I can't!" Xiao Xiao retorted. "I just love cultivating. What's wrong with me cultivating a little longer?"
"All right, all right, as long as Xiaoxiao loves cultivating." Xiao Zhan waved a hand and called the two of them to join him at the main hall for the dinner banquet.
"Come on, come on. The banquet's about to begin."
"Oh, yeah! Time to eat!" Xiao Xiao was the first to dash out.
Clearly, she was tired after a whole afternoon of instruction from her brother. Now that her father had come to her rescue, she couldn't wait to finish and leave.
In a flash, she was gone.
"Hey..." Xiao Yan couldn't help smiling.
One moment she'd been saying how hard she worked, and the next she had vanished.
"Yan'er, I've prepared everything you need," Xiao Zhan said, taking a golden card out of his Storage Soul Tool.
"This card is your exchange student ID from the Star Luo Empire's Royal Academy. It has your identity information on it. With this proof of identity, you can enter the Soul Guidance Technology institute at the Sun Moon Empire's Royal Academy to study."
"So soon?" Xiao Yan asked.
Xiao Zhan gave no definite answer and shook his head. "We have the Ling Clan to thank for their help."
Although the Xiao Clan had accumulated many connections, they were far from comparable to those of a long-established Titled Douluo family like Ling Luochеn's, which had some influence among the upper ranks of the Star Luo Empire.
"Father, thank her for me," Xiao Yan said.
Earlier, after agreeing, Xiao Yan had first helped Ling Luochеn remove the Evil Fire remaining in her body, then used a few wisps of Bone Spirit Heavenly Flames to try to help her evolve her Martial Soul.
After some experimentation, he found that Bone Spirit Cold Flame could indeed improve Ling Luochеn's Martial Soul somewhat, but because Xiao Yan's cultivation level was not yet very high, the power of Bone Spirit Cold Flame had not been fully developed.
If they continued in this direction, it could also help bring out the Martial Soul's potential.
So Ling Luochеn returned the favor by helping him in another way.
However, Ling Luochеn had already returned to Shrek Academy half a month ago.
"No problem." Xiao Zhan continued, "There's also this bracelet. I'm giving it to you as well."
With that, he took out an ice-blue bracelet set with six red crystals the size of thumbs, its surface covered in a dense network of fine silver patterns.
"What is this?" Xiao Yan asked, puzzled.
Xiao Zhan didn't keep him guessing. "This is a Level 6 defensive Soul Tool, the Blood Crystal Protective Bracelet."
"When you face a fatal threat, it will activate automatically and shield you from lethal damage. At most, it can defend against an ordinary Titled Douluo's attacks for three seconds. Take it. Better to be prepared than caught unawares."
Xiao Yan took the bracelet, and warmth welled up in his heart.
A Level 6 Soul Tool would cost at least a million Gold Soul Coins...
"Yan'er, don't think too much about it. Money is earned to be spent. What use would it be if I just held on to it?"
Xiao Zhan laughed. "I'm not going to be a miser!"
"I understand, Father." Xiao Yan nodded.
"If there weren't really no way to obtain a Level 7 Soul Tool, I'd have wanted to buy you one of those." Xiao Zhan shook his head.
In the Star Luo Empire, Soul Tools above Level 5 were basically priceless treasures with no market.
"Then I wouldn't have accepted it," Xiao Yan said with a smile.
"Hahaha..."