In the past two years, he never mentioned Xiao Huohuo's name, but quietly led the Pan Gate from one hundred to three hundred people.
The cultivation system left by Xiao Huohuo was perfected into a complete system, allowing every new member to adapt to the Inner Academy's cultivation rhythm in the shortest possible time.
Behind him were the original members of Pan Gate.
On this anniversary, they were all dressed in their most formal attire and arrived at the square an hour early. No one notified them, no one organized them; they simply came without prior arrangement.
On the other side of the square, Hu Jia and Wu Hao stood together.
However, the willful and capricious air on her face had faded considerably, replaced by a composure that came from experiencing great ups and downs.
She used to be a troublemaker before dawn, but now she can sit quietly in front of the statue for an entire afternoon.
Wu Hao remained as taciturn as ever, his arms crossed over his chest, the blood-stained blade he never parted with resting against his leg, its scabbard bearing several new scratches.
His gaze remained fixed on the statue, and he said nothing.
He was not a good communicator and never learned how to comfort others with words.
His only way of expressing concern has always been through his fists.
Only Zi Yan stood in the Pan Gate line, at the very front, in the position closest to the statue.
She was so close that she could reach out and touch the base of the statue.
She still looked so small, with long purple hair flying in the wind.
She has told others more than once that she has seen Xiao Huohuo's doppelganger.
She witnessed it with her own eyes, right outside the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower, shortly after the great battle ended.
But no one believed her. Everyone said she was hallucinating because she missed Xiao Huohuo so much.
Lian Hu Jia simply patted her on the shoulder and said, "We miss him too."
Zi Yan was so angry that she smashed things several times.
On one occasion, he even overturned the mahogany table in the lobby of the Pan Gate headquarters, pointing his finger at the old members and cursing them for being "heartless."
After yelling, he squatted in a corner and sulked.
Just as everyone in the square was lost in their own thoughts, an aura suddenly appeared in mid-air.
Great Elder Su Qian's figure appeared in mid-air.
His back was a little more hunched than it had been two years ago, but his eyes were still as sharp as an eagle's.
He served as the Grand Elder of the Inner Academy for most of his life, seeing off countless classes of students and witnessing countless geniuses fall by the wayside.
Some were only briefly listed on the Strong Ranking before disappearing without a trace; some were torn to pieces by Magical Beast during their training; and some suffered qi deviation and severed meridians while trying to break through the bottleneck of the Dou Wang.
But Xiao Huohuo is different. That kid has been causing trouble ever since he entered the Inner Academy.
On the first day of the Strong Ranking, he knocked the previous year's third- Strong Ranking off the stage.
Pan Gate transformed a group of scattered soldiers into a force that commanded respect throughout the entire Inner Academy.
He did far too many earth-shattering things, yet in the end, he turned to ashes in the deepest part of this tower.
Sometimes Su Qian would patrol the tower at midnight, carrying a lantern as she walked down the steps, one by one. When she reached the bottom, she would subconsciously listen carefully.
I can always feel like I can hear that kid's laughter—that kind of chuckle, a laugh that's a little roguish but you can't really hate.
"Alright, let's open the tower."
Su Qian withdrew her gaze, her voice not loud, but clearly reaching the ears of everyone present.
He waved his hand, and the heavy black iron door of the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower slowly opened, emitting a deep and long rumble.
Since that great battle, the Heart Flame within the tower has grown weaker and weaker, and now it is almost imperceptible.
This is also why the college had to establish "Peace Day".
The Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower is not as effective as before, and the output of its inner Heart Flame cannot keep up with the disciples' cultivation speed.
The tower gates must be closed periodically to allow the array at the base of the tower to regenerate on its own, in order to barely maintain the supply of the Heart Flame.
The establishment of the Rest Day was a choice Su Qian made out of necessity.
The disciples lined up neatly and began to enter the tower in an orderly fashion.
The first opening of the tower after the annual tower closure is always traditionally started by new students.
The newly admitted students walked at the front of the line, each with a mixture of nervousness and anticipation on their faces.
Some of them had heard of the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower before being admitted to the hospital, and knew that cultivating in the tower could accelerate the accumulation of Dou Qi, but they did not know the origin of the tower or the story behind it.
As they walked past the black statue in the center of the square, they couldn't help but look up.
Who exactly was this senior? Why did the academy erect such a large statue in his honor?
Why is his statue placed in front of the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower? Everyone slows down when they walk in front of the statue; some bow their heads and murmur something, while others reach out and touch the base of the statue.
The base of that black statue has been touched by countless hands, worn smooth to the point that it can even reflect human shadows.
Occasionally, veteran students would turn back and glance in the direction of the statue before entering the tower gate.
The statue at that angle was half-hidden by the shadow of the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower, revealing only half of its profile.
Xiao Huohuo has been gone for almost two years, but Pan Gate has not only not disbanded, it has grown stronger and stronger.
From its initial few dozen members, it has grown to its current size, becoming the second largest force in the Inner Academy, second only to the Academy's official power.
Just as Su Qian was about to withdraw his gaze and turn around, a very slight tremor suddenly came from the deepest part of the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower.
The tremor was so weak that no one in the square noticed it.
The students standing in the formation continued to enter the tower in an orderly manner, and the elders responsible for maintaining order continued to patrol their respective positions.
Not even a speck of dust fell from the bluestone slabs of the square. But Su Qian's expression suddenly changed at that moment.
His pupils suddenly contracted, and a look of shock flashed in his sharp old eyes.
His body suddenly stopped in mid-air, and he abruptly pulled back the step he had already taken.
His Soul Power senses detected an extremely familiar energy fluctuation in that instant. He had felt that fluctuation countless times before and could not possibly be mistaken.
The fluctuation emanated from the depths of the tower, piercing through layers of magma and arrays, like an ancient Ferocious Beast had been dormant for a long time finally awakening.
Su Qian's breath caught in her throat for a moment.
Having guarded the Inner Academy for so many years, he was more sensitive to the fluctuations of the Fallen Heart Flame than anyone else.
He still feels a chill when he thinks about the violent surge of energy when the Fallen Heart Flame broke through the seal two years ago.
Meanwhile, in the Magma World.
Here, the temperature is high all year round, and the molten lava stretches endlessly like an ocean, extending from one end of the world to the other.
The magma was a dark orange-red, turning a fiery white as it went deeper into the lava.
Bubbles rose and fell repeatedly on the surface of the viscous magma, making a gurgling sound. Each burst of a bubble brought out a wisp of dark red magma steam.
It cools rapidly in the air, turning into fine volcanic ash that falls in a flurry.
The air was thick with the smell of sulfur and the scorching heat of fire; an ordinary person would have their meridians invaded by the fire poison if they stayed here for even a short while.
His Soul Power was blocked, and he was eventually swallowed up by the magma beneath his feet, leaving not even a skeleton behind.
But for some, this is an excellent place for cultivation.
The immense fire-attribute energy contained within the magma makes it an unparalleled cultivation paradise for Soul Master who practice fire-attribute techniques.
Of course, that's assuming you can survive.
Several violent attacks exploded within the Magma World.
A dark green flame and an invisible, colorless, transparent flame darted rapidly across the surface of the lava, each collision sending up towering waves of lava several meters high beneath their feet.
The scalding lava splashed outwards like a torrential rain, crashing onto the lava surface in the distance and creating countless ripples.
The green flames carried an extremely eerie aura.
That was a deadly poison, a fusion of Queen Medusa's Dou Qi and the Fallen Heart Flame.
The deadly poison and the flames intertwined, forming a strange energy that was both scorching and chilling.
Each time the green flame swept across the surface of the magma, it left a dark green trail that lingered for Jiujiu, emitting a pungent, fishy smell that sent chills down one's spine.
Even the magma itself hissed and corroded under the corrosive power of that potent poison.
Queen Medusa's venom is a potent poison passed down through countless generations of the Seven-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python Clan, said to be so potent that even Dou Zong powerhouse would be wary of it.
Now, this deadly poison has merged with the scorching heat of the Fallen Heart Flame, making it even more difficult to guard against—it can both burn the meridians and erode the bone marrow.
Two streaks of fire flashed and disappeared within the magma, unleashing bursts of violent energy that turned the entire Magma World upside down.
The figure in front of him, flapping his Dou Qi Wings at high speed to dodge while cursing angrily, was none other than Xiao Huohuo, who had been devoured by the Fallen Heart Flame.
He was shirtless, his well-defined muscles gleaming bronze in the firelight of the lava.
Compared to two years ago, he is much more muscular, with prominent muscles in his shoulders and back, and each flap of his wings generates a powerful airflow.
Her black hair was much longer than before she went into seclusion, draped over her shoulders, with a few wisps of transparent flames of Heart Flame still clinging to the ends, swaying gently in the wind but never going out.
The pair of Dou Qi Wings on his back were formed from the Fallen Heart Flame, with a wingspan of three zhang (approximately 10 meters). They were completely transparent, with only a very faint crimson halo around the edges.
His body was also transformed under the tempering of the Heart Flame, his meridians became wider and his bones became stronger.
Through constant trials of life and death Flame Mantra within his body broke through its original bottleneck, and he began to gradually refine the primordial flame of the Fallen Heart Flame into his own body.
This process is extremely slow, and only a tiny wisp of Heart Flame can be refined each day, but little by little, it accumulates and eventually becomes a great tower.
The Fallen Heart Flame's resistance against him was getting weaker and weaker, while the power of the Heart Flame contained in his Dou Qi was getting stronger and stronger.
By now, the Fallen Heart Flame had completely integrated into his body and been successfully absorbed by him.
It's like his blood, his bones, his soul.
He could even feel the pulse of the Heart Flame within every inch of his skin—a wondrous resonance produced by the complete fusion of the Fallen Heart Flame and the Flame Mantra.
The green figure relentlessly pursuing him was Queen Medusa.
She still possessed that breathtaking beauty, her exquisite face filled with rage, but deep within her narrow, serpentine eyes lay a barely concealed hint of shame, anger, and murderous intent.
She wore a form-fitting dress made of Seven-Colored Snake Scale.
Her curvaceous figure was perfectly outlined, with a slender waist and long legs. Even in the thousands of years of history of the Snake-People Tribe, there has never been such a perfect queen.
A head of long, black hair flew in the heat of the lava, the ends curling slightly in the high temperature.
Behind her also unfolded a pair of Dou Qi Wings, with seven-colored light flowing across their surfaces—the unique mark of the Seven-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python bloodline: Seven-Colored Dou Qi.
Each flap of her fan propelled her dozens of feet forward, her speed so great that she left a white mark on the surface of the lava, plowed out by the wind pressure.
"Boy, I'm going to kill you!"
Queen Medusa's voice boomed through the Magma World, the fury in her voice causing the magma beneath her feet to surge violently.
A giant wave of magma was propelled skyward by the sound waves, exploding into countless orange-red sparks in mid-air.
Deep green flames burned in her narrow, snake-like eyes; these were not the Fallen Heart Flame, but rather a product of the fusion of her own Dou Qi and snake venom.
The furious roar of Dou Zong expert is not to be underestimated.
"Stop it! If you Xiao Xin again, I'll hit you back!"
"I just don't hit women, but if you keep doing this, I can't take it anymore."
As Xiao Huohuo dodged a green fire blade that grazed his ear, he roared angrily behind him.
The fiery blade flew past him almost grazing his scalp, singeing a few strands of hair at his temples to ashes.
His right wing was grazed by another blade of fire, leaving a small crack on the transparent surface, but the Fallen Heart Flame quickly repaired it.
The Heart Flame in my heart spread along the edge of the crack, like an invisible thread stitching the crack back together.
He spoke with great conviction, but he ran faster than anyone else.
He wasn't afraid of Queen Medusa —well, actually he was a little afraid.
This woman's strength has already reached the Dou Zong. If they were to fight, although he has refined the Fallen Heart Flame, his cultivation has only recovered to the Peak Dou Wang. He would definitely suffer a loss in a head-on confrontation.
Moreover, the reason this woman was chasing him made him feel a little guilty.