Flame Prison Takes Shape, the Road to Jia Nan Is Long

(I)

The morning light in Iron Ridge City carried the smell of rust. Xiao Yan sat on the roof of the inn, turning the Associated Source Crystal he had just taken from the lava behemoth's lair between his fingers. The crystal gleamed gold and red in the sunlight. It was heavier than the previous one, and a tiny, flickering flame seemed trapped inside it.

[System notification: The high-grade Associated Source Crystal can be absorbed directly. Estimated increase in Green Lotus Core Flame purity: 30%. Absorb?]

"Absorb." Xiao Yan closed his eyes and let the crystal turn into a warm current that surged into his dantian. Unlike the gentle warmth of the last time, the power this time was scorchingly overbearing, as if countless tiny flames were exploding in his meridians, only to be gently enveloped and subdued by the Green Lotus Core Flame. Half an hour later, he opened his eyes. The flame rising from his palm now bore a trace of gold and red, casting a warm glow on his eyelashes.

[Ding! Green Lotus Core Flame purity: 30%. Unlocked the first layer of the high Xuan-tier Dou Technique "Flame Prison": Prairie Blaze.]

"Xiao Yan!" Ya Fei ran onto the roof with a stack of clean bandages in her arms, bits of grass clinging to the hem of her skirt. "Wang Gang brought a physician. Come down and have your wounds treated!"

When Xiao Yan leaped down from the roof, he came upon Wang Gang standing with his hands on his hips, berating his soldiers. "You couldn't even stop a rock wolf! What use is keeping you good-for-nothings around?" His expression softened somewhat when he saw Xiao Yan come down. "Kid, thanks to you, Ya Fei was safe this time. Iron Ridge City owes you a favor."

"It was nothing." Xiao Yan rolled his shoulder. The spot where the lava behemoth had struck him yesterday still ached faintly.

The physician drew a sharp breath as he examined the wound. "You're a tough one, young man. Two cracked ribs, and you could still run that fast? Any later and bone fragments would have pierced your lungs."

Ya Fei's eyes reddened as she listened. She secretly slipped Xiao Yan a piece of osmanthus cake. "Have something sweet, and it won't hurt anymore."

Xiao Yan took a bite. The sweetness and the scent of osmanthus melted on his tongue, and it really did take away some of the medicinal taste.

(II)

Three days later, Wang Gang had a carriage sent over. "Jia Nan Academy's recruitment party will pass through Iron Ridge City in another three days. This carriage will take you to the waystation outside the city. Get there early and wait, so you don't miss them."

Ya Fei climbed into the carriage with her treasure chest in her arms. It was stuffed with wound medicine, dry rations, and several bolts of cloth she had woven overnight-she said they could be exchanged for travel money on the road. Xiao Yan sat in the driver's seat, unconsciously tapping his fingers against the carriage board. Suddenly remembering something, he took a palm-sized wooden token from his Storage Ring. An eagle with outstretched wings was carved on it.

"What's this?" Ya Fei poked her head out.

"A token of the Mittel Family." Xiao Yan handed it to her. "Once we reach the academy, if anyone gives you trouble, show them this."

Ya Fei held the token and suddenly smiled. "You always seem to protect me as if I were a little girl."

Xiao Yan didn't answer. He cracked the whip and drove on. The wheels creaked over the stony road, while the distant mountains loomed in and out of the morning mist-that was the direction of Jia Nan Academy.

(III)

The waystation stood beside the official road, its square courtyard crowded with students from all over. Xiao Yan had barely brought the carriage to a stop when he heard an argument.

"Why does he get the best room?" A young man in brocade robes pointed at a scholar in blue in the corner. "He's just a penniless nobody with no backing. What gives him the right to a superior room?"

The scholar clutched his book chest, his face pale with anger. "I have the room contract. I booked it first!"

"The room contract?" The brocade-robed youth knocked the scholar's chest from his hands, scattering bamboo slips across the ground. "At this waystation, what I, Wang Teng, say is the rule!"

The people around them were angry but dared not speak, and Wang Teng was evidently a man of some influence in the area. Xiao Yan had not intended to meddle, but he saw that Ya Fei had already rushed forward and helped the scholar up. "How can you be so unreasonable?"

"Where did this wild girl come from?" Wang Teng looked at Ya Fei askance, then his eyes suddenly lit up. "You're pretty. Come back to my residence and be my maid, and I'll let you have the room. How about it?"

Ya Fei trembled with anger. She was about to lash out when Xiao Yan caught her wrist. He picked up a bamboo slip and said calmly, "Apologize."

"Who do you think you are?" The guards behind Wang Teng immediately surrounded him, every one of them at Peak Dou Master.

Xiao Yan didn't move. He merely turned the bamboo slip between his fingers. Sunlight fell through the waystation's window lattice onto his hand, and a layer of gold and red appeared on the ordinary slip-the force of Flame Prison had quietly attached itself to it.

"I'll give you three breaths."

"One."

The guards were still snickering.

"Two."

Wang Teng's expression darkened.

"Three."

Before the word had faded, the bamboo slip shot from Xiao Yan's fingers in a gold-red afterimage. It grazed Wang Teng's cheek and pinned itself into the wooden pillar behind him, sinking in halfway. Even the surrounding air seemed to grow hotter.

Wang Teng staggered back in fright and touched his face. A speck of blood stained his fingertip-the force had cut him.

"Scram." Xiao Yan's voice was flat, but it made the guards stop in their tracks.

Wang Teng looked at the trembling bamboo slip in the pillar, then at the flame flickering in and out of sight in Xiao Yan's palm. He gritted his teeth. "Let's go!" He slunk away with his men.

The scholar hurriedly thanked them. "I am Lin Xiuya. Many thanks to you both for helping me."

"It was nothing." Xiao Yan helped him gather the bamboo slips and discovered that they bore a fragment of the Burning Heaven Art. "You're an alchemist?"

Lin Xiuya's eyes lit up. "I am! You know alchemy too, sir?"

"A little." Xiao Yan recalled Yao Lao's notes and tapped the bamboo slip with his fingertip. "An auxiliary ingredient is missing here. Fire Condensing Grass would work better as a substitute."

Lin Xiuya stared for a moment, then clapped his hands and laughed. "Of course! How did I not think of that? What a discerning eye you have, sir!"

(IV)

After nightfall, a bonfire burned in the waystation courtyard. Lin Xiuya was demonstrating alchemy to everyone. A cyan flame licked at the medicine cauldron, melting several herbs into a jade-green liquid.

"This is a Qing Ling Pill. It can dispel fire poison over a small area." He carefully poured the liquid into a porcelain bottle and handed it to the old man beside him. "Grandpa Zhang, give it a try."

The old man had just taken the bottle when hoofbeats suddenly sounded outside the courtyard, accompanied by wave after wave of wolf howls. The waystation owner rushed in, his face deathly pale. "Terrible news! It's a pack of Black Wind Wolves! At least fifty of them!"

Everyone panicked at once. Several students at the Dou Shi level drew their weapons, but the owner stopped them. "Don't fight them head-on! These wolves have a wolf king leading them. They say it's almost reached the Dou Ling level!"

Xiao Yan walked to the courtyard gate and saw dozens of pairs of eerie green eyes gleaming in the darkness. The one at their head was a size larger than an ordinary Black Wind Wolf, with a tuft of white fur on its forehead. It was growling at the waystation.

"Ya Fei, take everyone into the inner courtyard." Xiao Yan gathered the Green Lotus Core Flame in his palm. "Lin Xiuya, prepare the Qing Ling Pills. The wolves' claws are poisonous."

"All right!"

The waystation's wooden gate stopped the Black Wind Wolves' first charge, but the boards soon began to creak and groan. Xiao Yan seized his chance and flung the gate open. "Flame Prison: Prairie Blaze!" Gold-red flames surged out like a tide and burst among the pack. Several wolves caught fire instantly, letting out piercing screams.

The wolf king roared and sprang at him itself, its claws carrying a foul wind as they slashed toward Xiao Yan's throat. Xiao Yan sidestepped and swept his flaming iron ruler across, but the wolf king blocked it with its thick hide-the beast's defense was on par with a rock wolf's.

"Xiao Yan!" From inside the courtyard, Ya Fei threw several darts, forcing the wolf king back half a step.

"Fire Condensing Grass!" Xiao Yan shouted.

Lin Xiuya immediately tossed him a stalk of Fire Condensing Grass trailing sparks. Xiao Yan caught it and infused it into the iron ruler. The flames surged, a thread of emerald green mixing with the gold and red. "Flame Splitting Wave Ruler: Burning Wilds!"

The iron ruler struck the wolf king's flank, where its fur and hide were thinner. Flames immediately burrowed into the wound. The wolf king let out a terrible howl and turned to flee, but Xiao Yan caught up and drove the iron ruler through its eye socket. It went completely still.

[Ding! Killed the Black Wind Wolf King (Initial Dou Ling). Gained 8,000 points.]

["Flame Prison" proficiency increased to 20%.]

Seeing that their king was dead, the remaining Black Wind Wolves scattered and fled. Only then did everyone breathe a sigh of relief. They gathered around Xiao Yan, thanking him all at once. Lin Xiuya handed him a bottle of Qing Ling Pills. "Quick, apply some. The wolf's claws grazed you just now."

Only then did Xiao Yan notice a bloody mark on his arm. The skin around the wound had turned blackish purple-it was poisoned, just as he had thought.

(V)

Early the next morning, Jia Nan Academy's recruitment party finally arrived. At its head was an old man in purple robes. His hair and beard were white, but he was hale and hearty. He was Su Qian, an elder of the academy.

"Little ones, get aboard." Su Qian stroked his beard and smiled. "It's another three thousand li to the academy. That gives me a chance to test your practical combat abilities on the way."

The recruitment carriage was a massive beast-drawn vehicle pulled by four griffins, with an interior as spacious as a room. Xiao Yan, Ya Fei, and Lin Xiuya had just sat down when an argument broke out next door-it was Wang Teng again.

"Why do the three of them get to sit together? I want to change seats!"

Su Qian's voice was lazy. "You want to change? That depends on whether they're willing."

Wang Teng's attendant immediately knocked on their carriage door. "My young master would like to exchange seats with Miss Ya Fei. This is a gift of thanks." He passed in a brocade box containing a pearl the size of a pigeon's egg.

Xiao Yan didn't look up. He simply pushed the box back with his iron ruler.

"You don't know what's good for you!" The attendant flew into a rage and was about to make trouble when Su Qian's voice stopped him. "What nonsense is this? Once you enter the academy, strength does the talking. Make any more noise and go straight back home."

The beast carriage set off, the scenery outside the window racing past. Lin Xiuya was studying the fragment of the Burning Heaven Art that Xiao Yan had amended, while Ya Fei changed the dressing on Xiao Yan's wound. Suddenly she said, "Oh! The wolf king's pelt is very soft. It would make a nice vest."

Xiao Yan looked at her intent profile and suddenly felt that perhaps the three-thousand-li journey wouldn't be so hard to bear after all.

(VI)

The beast carriage traveled for five days, and Su Qian tested everyone with questions each day. Sometimes they had to identify herbs; sometimes they had to break down Dou Techniques. Xiao Yan always answered quickly and accurately, and even Su Qian couldn't help asking him a few more questions. "Who is your master?"

"My master's surname is Yao," Xiao Yan answered vaguely.

That afternoon, Su Qian stood on the carriage roof and announced, "Black Wind Gorge lies ahead. There's a Gold-Devouring Rat King inside at Intermediate Dou Ling. Whoever can bring me its gallbladder, I'll take as my personal disciple."

The carriage immediately erupted in commotion. The Gold-Devouring Rat King fed on metal, and its teeth were sharp enough to gnaw even black iron to pieces. On top of that, it was extremely fast and difficult to catch.

Wang Teng was the first to step forward. "I'll go!" Carrying a golden axe, he charged confidently into the gorge.

Half an hour later, a scream came from the gorge. Wang Teng fled in a sorry state with the Gold-Devouring Rat King chasing him, his clothes gnawed to tatters and a chip bitten out of his axe.

"Useless." Su Qian shook his head.

Xiao Yan was about to rise when Lin Xiuya held him back. "Sir, the rat king is afraid of fire. Why not try your Flame Prison?"

Xiao Yan nodded and was about to leave when Ya Fei pressed a sachet into his hand. "There's sulfur powder inside. Rats are afraid of it."

The gorge was filled with the smell of rust, and claw marks covered its rocky walls. Xiao Yan had just entered when he heard squeaking. A dark shape charged at him too fast for the naked eye to follow-it was the Gold-Devouring Rat King! Its teeth gleamed silver, plainly astonishingly hard.

Instead of retreating, Xiao Yan advanced. "Flame Prison: Prairie Blaze!" He unleashed it with all his strength, weaving a net of gold-red fire before him. The Gold-Devouring Rat King struck the net with an ear-piercing sizzle. Plainly afraid of fire, it turned to flee.

"Trying to leave?" Xiao Yan's figure blurred as he caught up with Wind Spirit Shadow-Splitting Step, his flaming iron ruler cleaving toward the rat king's hind leg. The rat king recoiled in pain and spun around to bite, leaving a notch in the iron ruler!

Xiao Yan was startled. Its teeth were as hard as a Dou weapon! He immediately took out the sulfur powder and scattered it toward the rat king. Sure enough, it flinched, its movements slowing for a moment.

"Flame Splitting Wave Ruler: Flame Prison!"

This time, he completely fused the Green Lotus Core Flame with Flame Prison. The gold-red flames formed a spinning ball of fire that completely enveloped the rat king. A series of piercing screams rang out. The fireball gradually died down, leaving only a charred corpse on the ground.

Xiao Yan cut out the rat's gallbladder and was about to leave when he spotted someone hiding behind the rock wall-Wang Teng. He was holding a poisoned dagger aloft, evidently intending to launch a sneak attack.

"You thought I hadn't noticed you?" Xiao Yan sneered, pointing his iron ruler straight at Wang Teng's throat.

Wang Teng went deathly pale. His dagger clattered to the ground. "I... I only wanted to help you..."

"Scram."

Watching Wang Teng flee in disarray, Xiao Yan crushed the thin membrane around the rat's gallbladder. A stream of blood-sweet liquid flowed into his palm-exactly what Su Qian wanted.

[Ding! Killed the Gold-Devouring Rat King (Intermediate Dou Ling). Gained 12,000 points.]

["Flame Prison" proficiency increased to 50%. Unlocked the second layer: Burning City.]

(VII)

Back at the beast carriage, Xiao Yan handed the rat gallbladder to Su Qian. The old man weighed it in his hand and nodded with satisfaction. "Not bad. Faster than I expected. From today on, you're my personal disciple."

An uproar broke out in the carriage, while Wang Teng's face turned as white as paper.

Ya Fei laughed and gave Xiao Yan a playful punch. "Congratulations, personal disciple!"

Lin Xiuya cupped his hands as well. "You really are amazing, sir!"

Xiao Yan was about to speak when the beast carriage suddenly jolted violently. Su Qian's voice came from the roof. "Trouble! It's the Black Wind Bandits!"

Everyone immediately went on guard. Xiao Yan lifted the carriage curtain and saw dozens of bandits riding Black Wind Leopards closing in around them. Their leader was a one-eyed man with a knife scar on his face, and his cultivation was at High-Level Dou Ling.

"I opened this road, I planted this tree!" the one-eyed man roared with laughter. "Leave your valuables and your women, and we'll spare your lives!"

Su Qian landed in front of the bandits and stood with his hands behind his back. "You think you're capable of that?"

"Old fool, you're courting death!" The one-eyed man swung his saber at him, the wind from the blade carrying the foul scent of his Black Wind Leopard.

Su Qian sidestepped and flicked several streams of Dou Qi from his fingertips, instantly piercing the shoulders of three bandits. But the bandits had numbers on their side, and they quickly closed in again.

"Xiao Yan, take everyone and defend the carriage!" Su Qian shouted.

Xiao Yan nodded and shielded Ya Fei and Lin Xiuya behind him, gold-red flames leaping along his iron ruler. "If you want to get inside, you'll have to get past me first."

Fearless in the face of death, the bandits charged one after another. Xiao Yan's Flame Prison barely stopped, its gold-red flames driving them back again and again. Before long, the ground was piled with howling men.

[Ding! Killed Black Wind Bandits (Peak Dou Master) x5. Gained 5,000 points.]

[Ding! "Flame Prison" proficiency increased to 60%.]

Amid the fierce battle, Xiao Yan suddenly noticed the one-eyed man quietly circling around the back of the carriage with a black ball in his hand-an Exploding Flame Bomb!

"Watch out!" Xiao Yan roared and charged over, swinging his iron ruler at the one-eyed man's wrist. The man hadn't expected him to arrive so quickly. The Exploding Flame Bomb flew from his hand and landed not far from the carriage.

"Get out of the way!" Xiao Yan shoved Ya Fei aside, but the blast wave hurled him into the rock wall. Everything went black.

(VIII)

When he woke, Ya Fei was wiping his face with a damp cloth, her eyes red. "You scared me to death!"

Xiao Yan stirred and found a purple robe covering him-Su Qian's. Su Qian sat beside him by the fire. Seeing him awake, he handed him a clay pot. "Have some meat broth. It'll build you back up."

"Thank you, Master." Xiao Yan took the pot, the word "Master" coming naturally to him.

"I crippled that one-eyed man's Dou Qi and threw him to the wolves." Su Qian gazed into the flames. "The way you risked yourself to protect the others just now reminded me of a friend I had when I was young."

Xiao Yan said nothing and drank the broth. It had angelica root in it, and it flowed warmly down his throat and into his stomach, making him feel comfortable.

Ya Fei peeled an apple and handed it to him, then secretly slipped him a piece of candy. "The doctor said you only have a mild concussion. You'll be fine after a couple of days' rest."

Lin Xiuya came over with a yellowed book in his hands. "Sir, this is the General Compendium of Alchemy, passed down in my family. Would you take a look at it?"

Xiao Yan opened the book, his fingers brushing its yellowed pages. Suddenly, he felt that this jolting beast carriage, the dancing bonfire, and the laughter and conversation around him made him feel more at ease than his peaceful days in Iron Ridge City.

Of the three-thousand-li journey, only the final stretch remained. On the distant horizon, the outline of Jia Nan Academy was already faintly visible. That sacred place of cultivation standing at the edge of the Black-Corner Region was waiting for them to take a new step forward.

[Ding! Main quest "Road to Jia Nan Academy" progress: 80%. Approaching destination.]

Xiao Yan gazed at the outline as it grew clearer and tightened his grip on his iron ruler. He knew that the real challenge had only just begun.