Word Count: 2782 Words
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"Hmph, the Yao Clan is a clan of alchemists. Perhaps that title is better left in our hands!" Elder Wanhuo gave a cold snort. His figure flashed into the sky, where he locked eyes with Hun Huzi and refused to yield an inch.
Elder Wanhuo's arrival drew waves of cheers from the surrounding crowd. This was the Yao Clan's home ground, and none of them wanted to watch a member of the Hun Clan carry off a title that stood for supreme honor to their clan.
"This old man cares little for hollow fame. Still, if the title of the continent's number one alchemist were to fall to your Hun Clan, it would be no small disgrace to every alchemist of our generation." Old Man Shen Nong stepped across the empty air. The herb-woven staff in his hand swayed with each stride, and the jade bottles hanging from it clinked together in crisp, clear notes. He came to a halt in the sky beside the others. His tone stayed mild and unhurried, yet his distaste for Hun Huzi was plain to see. Among alchemists, the Hun Clan's reputation was foul beyond redemption.
"Elder Wanhuo, Hun Huzi, and Old Man Shen Nong! Those three are true titans of today's alchemy world. This clash is going to be a sight to behold!"
Commotion rippled across the square. Countless alchemists stared up at the three figures in the sky with fervent eyes, for the realm those three had reached was the lifelong pursuit of everyone watching!
Hun Huzi spared Elder Wanhuo and Old Man Shen Nong a brief glance and smiled faintly. He clasped both hands behind his back, and his every movement radiated the poised bearing of a grandmaster. Whatever one might say of his character, his attainments in alchemy were daunting enough to make anyone hesitate.
Character aside, his gift for alchemy truly stood at the pinnacle.
Once all three had taken the sky, every gaze across the square shifted at once and settled on the white-robed young man still seated in his stone chair.
Xiao Yan smiled under the weight of all those stares. His form blurred and left a faint afterimage behind, and a breath later he stood high in the sky as well. A clear, bright laugh echoed across the mountain peak.
"This junior studied under Yao Chen. Although my teacher is no longer in this world, if I can claim the championship of this Medicinal Ceremony... perhaps the old man will hear of it from the heavens."
Quite a few spectators were inwardly startled to see Xiao Yan rise and join the others.
Beside the other three, the contrast was simply too stark. He was absurdly young!
A fresh-faced youth had walked straight into a gathering of old relics!
"Jie Jie Jie... the younger generation is truly fearsome. Truly fearsome indeed." Hun Huzi eyed Xiao Yan with a look of unreadable depth.
Although he had never personally taught Xiao Yan alchemy, this fellow had still picked up a few fundamentals from their past encounter. In a sense, Hun Huzi had been the first to unearth Xiao Yan's talent and point him down this path.
Twenty years ago, Hun Huzi had discovered that the boy possessed extraordinarily strong innate Spiritual Strength. Barely in his teens and entirely self-taught, Xiao Yan had already shown a razor-sharp mind and had even solved a problem that had stumped Hun Huzi himself.
That encounter had planted the thought of recruiting him into the Hall of Souls and bringing him into the Di Pill Plan.
Truth be told, not even Hun Huzi had imagined back then that Xiao Yan would reach such heights. In a mere twenty years, the boy had grown enough to share the same stage and compete with him as an equal. Even Hun Huzi did not dare claim certain victory today, and he knew he would have to give this match everything he had.
So when he called Xiao Yan a fearsome junior, it was no hollow courtesy. He meant every word.
Old Man Shen Nong and Yao Wanhuo cared nothing for Hun Huzi, yet on this point both of them agreed wholeheartedly. Back in their own thirties, merely refining a tier 8 pill had been an achievement to be proud of.
"Hehe, enough idle talk. Let's begin. The audience has waited long enough." Hun Huzi chuckled softly and wasted no more breath. With a sweep of his sleeve, black flames surged from his body in an overwhelming tide. They condensed in the sky before him into a colossal black fire cauldron a thousand feet across, and a strange, devouring force radiated faintly from within its depths.
"The Nihility Devouring Flame?"
Elder Wanhuo and Old Man Shen Nong both narrowed their eyes at the cauldron forged of black fire.
"To think such a Heavenly Flame has fallen into the Hun Clan's hands..." Old Man Shen Nong frowned deeply, his expression solemn as he stared at the black fire cauldron. As a longtime senior of the alchemy world, he knew better than most just how terrifying the Nihility Devouring Flame's power truly was.
Yao Dan's brow furrowed as well, and he glanced toward Xiao Yan. Word had spread from the Demon Flame Space that Xiao Yan also possessed a wisp of black fire resembling the Nihility Devouring Flame.
Hun Huzi looked toward Xiao Yan at the same time and said evenly, "This is a Seed Flame of the Nihility Devouring Flame, not its true body. Go ahead and summon the Heavenly Flames within you. My Nihility Devouring Flame has been craving a taste of them for quite some time."
"A Seed Flame?" Quite a few people in the crowd blinked in surprise. They had never heard of a Heavenly Flame producing a Seed Flame.
"Perhaps that's an ability unique to the Nihility Devouring Flame, allowing it to split off Seed Flames."
"That's certainly possible. After all, it ranks second on the Heavenly Flame Ranking."
While the spectators murmured in speculation, an entirely different question surfaced in Yao Dan's mind.
Why does Xiao Yan also possess a Seed Flame of the Nihility Devouring Flame? Does the true flame belong to the Hun Clan? The Gu Clan? Or...
Even Yao Dan felt a moment of bewilderment. Why did it suddenly seem as though everyone was walking around with a Seed Flame of the Nihility Devouring Flame!
"If you want to devour our Heavenly Flames, we'll see if you actually have the skill for it." Elder Wanhuo gave a cold snort and swept his sleeve. A pale-black gale howled forth from within. The dark whirlwind shrieked like wailing ghosts and howling wolves, a baleful wind that sounded blown straight up from the depths of the Nine Serene hell.
The gale twisted and churned rapidly in midair, yet a closer look revealed that it was not wind at all, only a strange form of fire!
"The Nine Serene Wind Flame?"
Xiao Yan looked at the howling blaze Elder Wanhuo had conjured with a flash of surprise. This was not the first time he had laid eyes on the Nine Serene Wind Flame. Yao Xing Ji (Human Medicine) had carried this very Heavenly Flame when they met in the past, though by the look of things now, the clan had since reclaimed it.
"Hehe, old man Wanhuo, your command of the Nine Serene Wind Flame has only grown more refined." Old Man Shen Nong let out a hearty laugh at the sight. He tapped the empty air with his herb staff and smiled. "Since we are at it, this old man will have to make a modest display of his own."
No sooner had his voice faded than the herb staff in his hand ignited of its own accord. A wisp of liquid-like green flame drifted upward, then swelled against the wind into a vast emerald sea of fire. Layers of mist rose across its surface, and within that curling haze, countless rare medicinal herbs slowly sprouted and grew. A rich, stirring breath of life washed out over the sky.
Each rising tongue of green flame looked just like a tender blade of grass. Had it remained completely still, not even Xiao Yan could have easily told this Heavenly Flame apart from an ordinary weed by the roadside.
"This is... the Life Spirit Flame, ranked fifth on the Heavenly Flame Ranking?"
Xiao Yan's eyes glinted with wonder at that surging vitality. So the fifth-ranked flame had been in Old Man Shen Nong's hands all along. No wonder the old man had lived for so many years. He possessed the Life Spirit Flame!
Ranked fifth on the Heavenly Flame Ranking, the Life Spirit Flame was an extraordinary anomaly. Most Heavenly Flames, however much their forms differed, were steeped in destructive might. The Life Spirit Flame stood apart. It was renowned across the world not for destruction, but for the boundless vitality brimming within it.
It was said that once this Heavenly Flame spread open, any medicinal seed cast into its blaze would sprout and mature in moments. Anyone who owned it had little need to hunt for herbs across the continent. So long as they held enough seeds, they could harvest an endless supply of whatever ingredients they needed, a truly miraculous gift.
The Life Spirit Flame was also hailed as the Flame of Longevity. Its master could enjoy a lifespan rivaling even magical beasts famed for their longevity. Its sole flaw was its poor suitability for combat, since it offered only a modest boost to one's fighting strength.
Xiao Yan had long heard of the Life Spirit Flame's reputation, though this was his first time witnessing it in person. Just breathing in that intoxicating vitality left his mind and spirit wonderfully refreshed.
'If that's the case... then all twenty-two Heavenly Flames on the Heavenly Flame Ranking have now come to light.' Xiao Yan's heart gave a jolt. He now knew the whereabouts of every single Heavenly Flame on the Dou Qi Continent!
The second-ranked Nihility Devouring Flame belonged to the Hun Clan. The Yan Clan held the sixth-ranked Eight Wasteland Destruction Flame, the seventh-ranked Nine Serene Golden Ancestor Flame, and the seventeenth-ranked Fire Mountain Rock Flame. The fourth-ranked Gold Emperor Incinerating Heavenly Flame rested with Xun Er, while the twentieth-ranked Ghostly Poison Flame was with Little Fairy Doctor.
Every other Heavenly Flame on the continent was gathered right here in the Yao Clan at this very moment, including the Turtle Spiritual Earth Flame in Yao Tian's possession.
And even without counting Xun Er's or Little Fairy Doctor's, Xiao Yan alone carried thirteen Heavenly Flames inside his own body!
It was absurd. Utterly outrageous!
Hun Huzi kept his eyes locked on the Life Spirit Flame in Old Man Shen Nong's hand, and greed flickered in their depths. All living things in this world faced the end of their lifespan sooner or later. Claiming the Life Spirit Flame meant extending one's years enormously, a temptation potent enough to stir even a figure of his standing.
"So it really is the Life Spirit Flame. Old Man Shen Nong, your fortune runs deep indeed..." Elder Wanhuo laughed, unconcealed envy coloring his face.
Once the Life Spirit Flame took form, it possessed remarkably high intelligence. Under ordinary circumstances, it never appeared as fire at all, disguising itself instead as any number of medicinal plants and rooting quietly in the soil. A person could walk right past it without ever realizing what lay at their feet. Only someone blessed with extraordinary fortune could chance upon it and draw it out of the earth.
"Hehe, it was a stroke of luck. I stumbled across it by chance while out gathering herbs." Old Man Shen Nong stroked his beard with a genial smile. For a man who had no fondness for fighting, finding such a Heavenly Flame was the greatest blessing he could have asked for.
"Still, when it comes to fortune..." Old Man Shen Nong turned his eyes toward Xiao Yan, who was studying the green sea of fire overhead with open curiosity, and offered a warm smile.
Every gaze turned toward Xiao Yan at once. By now, the entire continent knew who held the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame.
Xiao Yan collected his thoughts and put the matter of the twenty-two Heavenly Flames out of mind. He gave a faint smile, and a spark of fire flared on his shoulder before Little Yi popped into view.
Little Yi, however, was fast asleep, arms wrapped tightly around Mao Wu.
"This is... a Heavenly Flame Spirit?!"
"And there are two of them!"
The expressions of the other three in the sky changed at once, and their eyes turned deeply solemn. From the sleeping Little Yi and Mao Wu, they could sense a spiritual intelligence no weaker than that of a human.
Standing at the very summit of the Dou Qi Continent's alchemy world, they understood full well what a Heavenly Flame Spirit meant to an alchemist. That legendary flame-born physique could draw out the power of a Heavenly Flame to absolute perfection.
Xiao Yan glanced at the two little sleepyheads, shook his head in amusement, and tucked them both back into his Acceptance Soul.
"Looks like the little fellow dozed off from waiting so long. I'll just use this one instead."
The temperature across the sky plunged the moment he finished speaking, and a wisp of eerie white Heavenly Flame slowly surfaced before him.
The Bone Chilling Flame. Yao Chen's Heavenly Flame.
The pale flame curled upward in the faint shape of a ghastly white skull, its shifting grain resembling interlocking bones.
Although the Bone Chilling Flame had not yet reached the stage of Little Yi and Mao Wu, capable of taking living form with keen intelligence, it had already begun evolving toward a true Heavenly Flame Spirit.
If there was one thing Xiao Yan never lacked, it was Heavenly Flames.
Down in the spectator stands, Yao Ling leaned forward slightly, and her dark eyes caught the pale reflection of the bone-white flame the instant it appeared. "The Bone Chilling Flame..."
The name slipped past her lips almost unconsciously, soft enough that only Yao Tian beside her could hear. Since returning to the Yao Realm, she had quietly sought out every detail she could find about Xiao Yan's past, and she recognized the flame at a glance. "That was Senior Yao Chen's Heavenly Flame. With it, he claimed the Pill Gathering championship and shook the entire Dou Qi Continent."
Yao Tian nodded, his expression solemn. "Xiao Yan intends to fight this match in his Master's stead."
"Not only that." Yao Ling's gaze never left the figure in the sky, and a faint, appreciative curve touched the corner of her lips. "It shows his confidence in his own alchemy. Even with a Heavenly Flame ranked below the other three, he still believes the championship is his to take. He won't lean on the advantage of a superior flame."
Yao Tian fell silent for a moment. Among the four contestants, the Bone Chilling Flame ranked eleventh, the lowest on the field. Yet Xiao Yan had summoned it without a flicker of hesitation.
That was confidence laid bare. He held far deadlier Heavenly Flames in reserve and simply chose to leave them idle, purely on the strength of his own certainty!
Since Xiao Yan had chosen to compete with the eleventh-ranked Bone Chilling Flame, his three rivals naturally had no cause to object.
"If the four of you are ready, then please open your cauldrons and begin refining." Yao Dan's resonant voice rang out from the seat of honor.
The four contestants separated at once and took up positions at the four corners of the sky.
Xiao Yan brought his hands together in a seal and poured surging Spiritual Strength and Dou Qi into the Bone Chilling Flame. A deep hum vibrated through the air as the flame expanded violently under his power. Countless bone-white threads of fire shot outward and wove together at breakneck speed. Within a single breath, two vast formations took shape, one above and one below.
This time, the Refining Sky Ancient Formation was forged entirely from the stark white Bone Chilling Flame. Pillars of pale fire rose in succession until a sea of Heavenly Flame filled its interior. Viewed from afar, the formation looked like a colossal, millstone-shaped medicinal cauldron built of living fire.
At the very heart of that blazing formation, the faint silhouette of an ancient tree stood tall amid the flames.
Xiao Yan had long since reached the realm where fire itself served as his cauldron. Laying the Black Demon Cauldron to rest had not hindered his alchemy in the slightest.