Word Count: 2,630 Words
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'So this is the space sealing the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame? Where are Xun Er and the others?' Xiao Yan's brow furrowed as his gaze swept the empty surroundings. He had clearly stepped into this place alongside them. Why was he now alone?
He hovered in mid-air, his body suspended within a dense sea of fire. All around him, countless wisps of milky-white flame rose in tight columns, packed so close through the surrounding space that not a single gap remained between them.
For someone who had refined more than ten Heavenly Flames and entered many such spaces, he understood at once. These milky-white flames were not the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame itself, but the stray Heavenly Flame energy saturating this Demon Flame Space.
The realms of the Fallen Heart Flame, the Three Thousand Burning Flame, and other Heavenly Flames had all contained similar fires. Back then, one major reason his cultivation had skyrocketed during the refining was that he had devoured this ambient energy at the same time, fueling his rapid surge in strength.
Now, however, attempting to absorb this Demon Flame energy before refining the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame itself would be no different from suicide.
Even at his current strength, he didn't dare let a single thread of that milky-white fire touch him. It might not be the Demon Flame's main body, but it still could not be underestimated. Strangeness permeated every inch of this place. On the surface everything seemed calm, yet killing intent lurked beneath. A measure of extra caution here was no fault at all.
'Better leave this area first.' His gaze swept outward again. Even with his Spiritual Strength at the perfected Heavenly State, he couldn't simply spread his senses through this place. Any Spiritual Strength he extended would be purified the instant it touched the milky-white fire.
After a brief probe, he tapped the empty air with his toes and shot forward. This place left him uneasy. Finding the others came first.
His figure tore across the sea of fire. The terrifying heat billowing from every direction forced him to suppress his speed. Even cloaked in the power of eleven refined Heavenly Flames, faint stinging pain still prickled at his skin. Here, even the air had been completely evaporated, and an indescribable desolation filled every corner of the space.
Chi!
He flew on for nearly ten minutes, and as the time dragged out, his expression grew steadily uglier. The sea of fire showed no sign of ending, and not a single other figure crossed his sight. It was as if this ocean of flames truly had no shore.
'How big is this space? Were we all scattered the instant we entered? But when I stepped through, I didn't sense any spatial transfer at all...' His thoughts churned with confusion.
'Voices ahead!'
Faint traces of conversation drifted over from not far in front. A ripple of joy moved through him, and his figure blurred as he shot forward. He had barely crossed a short distance when his body halted abruptly. Not far ahead, Venerable Yao stood smiling kindly, looking straight at him.
'Oh. So that's how it is.' Xiao Yan rubbed his nose. This Purifying Lotus Demon Flame truly was absurdly terrifying. Even with perfected Heavenly State Spiritual Strength and eleven Heavenly Flames protecting him, he had still fallen for its trick without noticing. Beyond frightening indeed.
Truly worthy of the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame, the one and only third-ranked entry on the Heavenly Flame Ranking.
"Sorry, Master. I don't have time to chat today." Xiao Yan gave a faint smile and nodded. Ignoring the scalding ground, he slowly sat cross-legged. The instant he settled, endless milky-white Demon Flames surged toward him like a flood. Sizzling sounds like meat searing in a pan rose from his body.
His mind stirred, and the Flame Mantra began to circulate. The merged Heavenly Flame formed from his eleven individual flames coursed through every meridian and pore, following the technique's prescribed routes.
A low hum reverberated through him. The milky-white Demon Flames that had unknowingly slipped into his body suddenly sensed danger. By the time they tried to flee, it was already far too late.
A cold sneer curved Xiao Yan's lips. The Flame Mantra exists to refine Heavenly Flames. You insist on drilling into my body to refine me? Then let's see who refines whom!
Time lost all meaning. He eventually exhaled slowly. Those threads of flame that had seeped in without his awareness were genuine Purifying Lotus Demon Flames, born from the Essence Flame's fire seed. They were not the true Essence Flame itself, but for Xiao Yan they still represented an excellent source of energy.
After circulating the Flame Mantra and absorbing every last wisp, he rose to his feet and wiped the sweat from his forehead, murmuring, "Truly worthy of the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame. This illusion is in no way inferior to the Hundred Lifetimes Reincarnation beneath the Bodhisattva Ancient Tree."
He had barely regained full clarity when a familiar voice floated over from a distance.
"Xiao Yan ge-ge!"
He turned. Xun Er crossed the distance in a single stride and appeared before him.
Wariness flickered across Xiao Yan's expression as his Spiritual Strength swept over her in an instant. Only when he sensed the Fallen Heart Flame coiled within did he relax. The Xun Er before him was real.
"Xun Er, you broke out of this Heavenly Flame illusion even faster than I did. Your cultivation really is much higher than mine." He looked at her with genuine gloom. Guarded by both her Divine Grade bloodline and her Heavenly Flame, she remained more inscrutable than ever.
From the very beginning, Xun Er's true strength had been a mystery. Even Xiao Yan couldn't determine what realm she had reached. Behind her stood the immense Gu Clan and a natural Divine Grade bloodline. To them, the Bodhisattva Heart he had obtained would count as a precious treasure at best, and no more than that.
Xun Er smiled and lightly tapped her own forehead. A faint seven-colored glow shimmered there, and around it coiled a thin thread of gold, the two together resembling an eight-colored Clan Mark.
"I only relied on my Divine Grade bloodline and the Gold Emperor Incinerating Heavenly Flame to break the Nightmare Heavenly Fog one step ahead of Xiao Yan ge-ge."
"Nightmare Heavenly Fog? So this is the Purifying Lotus Demon Saint's strongest Dou Technique?" Xiao Yan started, glancing around at the milky-white flames. Because of them, thin wisps of pale mist hung over everything.
He hadn't expected this to actually be the Nightmare Heavenly Fog!
He had seen the name in information the Hun Clan provided. It could plunge an entire city of millions into shared dreams without any of them realizing what had happened. To manipulate millions of thoughts simultaneously required what kind of terrifying Spiritual Strength? Dragging millions of souls into a single shared illusion... even the Abyss Submersion of his Asura Soul Reaping Technique couldn't accomplish such a feat.
Xun Er nodded gravely. "According to the records of when the Demon Flame last surfaced a thousand years ago, the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame hadn't yet mastered the Nightmare Heavenly Fog back then."
"This space is the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame's domain. The moment we entered, we fell into its grasp. Where each person ended up is entirely its choice," she added.
Xiao Yan opened his right palm, and the Fallen Heart Flame rose into view. Even here, within the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame's own space, the little serpentine form of the Fallen Heart Flame shrank in on itself, its tiny head tucked back in undisguised fear.
"The others are fine. They should just be somewhere else." Through the Fallen Heart Flame, Xiao Yan could sense the other strands of Heart Flame he had planted, all of them still present. That alone was enough to tell him the others were, at the very least, still safe.
Xun Er's lips curved as she reached out and laced her slender fingers through his. Gentle warmth seeped into his palm. "Xiao Yan ge-ge, let's go together. Once we refine the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame, Sister Cai Lin and the others will naturally be safe."
Xiao Yan nodded. With their strength, an illusion of this caliber wouldn't trap them for long. The crucial task was finding the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame's Essence Flame. Once he refined it, the entire Demon Flame Space would fall under his control.
Before long, the two flew forward hand in hand. Along the way, they passed more than a few figures with milky-white flames burning over their bodies, every one of them carrying the aura of a Dou Venerate. Xiao Yan felt no urge to interfere with these greedy gamblers hoping to get lucky.
Back when he was weak, hadn't he done the same? Pitting himself against Yao Ao and the entire Snake-People Tribe for a Heavenly Flame? Every glorious achievement was paved over countless corpses.
Now that they understood they were inside the Nightmare Heavenly Fog, Xiao Yan and Xun Er moved forward unimpeded. The two joined forces to cloak themselves in their Heavenly Flames, and even the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame's energy didn't dare draw too close.
After all, Xun Er's Gold Emperor Incinerating Heavenly Flame ranked fourth on the Heavenly Flame Ranking, directly beneath the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame, and it possessed the power to incinerate all things. Dou Techniques, Soul Skills, even traces of the Heavenly Dao itself could be burned away by it.
And Xiao Yan was in no way inferior. Ten of his eleven Heavenly Flames might rank outside the top ten, with only the Three Thousand Burning Flame at ninth, but merged together they elevated the Flame Mantra to High Tian Class. Most importantly, he possessed the Heaven Seed Flame of the Nihility Devouring Flame. Against these scattered scraps of Demon Flame energy, he felt no pressure at all.
Before long, the two arrived before an enormous gate. At the very end of their path, that gigantic door loomed like a wall.
"According to our clan's elders, it was the same last time," Xun Er said. "Follow the road beyond this door, and we'll naturally reach the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame. But beyond the gate lie layers upon layers of obstacles. To behold the Demon Flame itself, we must break through every one of them."
"This place is the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame's own construction. Forcing our way through won't be easy." Xiao Yan frowned.
He had just started to speak again when the surrounding space rippled violently. A terrifying heat slowly spread outward from every direction.
"Careful!"
Xun Er didn't truly need to warn him. Xiao Yan was already on full alert. They stood back-to-back and watched the space around them grow ever more distorted. This Demon Flame Space was too strange. Utmost caution was the only option.
BOOM! BOOM!
The distortion intensified, and cracks tore open through the air. From within those rifts, torrents of milky-white flame surged out like crashing waves. Figures wreathed entirely in that same pale fire spilled from the fissures in a living tide, and within heartbeats the sky of the entire space was packed with blazing silhouettes.
Flame coiled around their bodies. Their hands gripped long spears of fire, and emotionless eyes stared down at the pair.
Xiao Yan studied the swarm of burning figures in astonishment. They actually possessed solid physical forms, and each one's aura was not weak at all.
"Xiao Yan ge-ge, be careful! These are Fire Slaves, experts the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame has refined into another kind of puppet!" Xun Er warned, her voice solemn.
Xiao Yan's brows pulled tight. His gaze shifted to the experts in the distance, still entranced by the Nightmare Heavenly Fog. So that was the fate awaiting those who failed to break free of the illusion. They became Fire Slaves. And the dense mass swarming before his eyes had to be the accumulated harvest of every opening of the Demon Flame Space across the long ages, every expert who had poured in to vie for the Heavenly Flame, only to be refined over uncounted years.
ROAR!
Xun Er's warning had barely fallen when the tens of thousands of flaming silhouettes thundered in unison. They launched forward together, sweeping toward the pair in a vast, overwhelming tide. The sheer momentum of it shook the surrounding world.
In life, their cultivation had perhaps only reached Dou Venerate. But after countless years of refinement within the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame, the weakest among them now stood at 9-star Dou Venerate. The stronger ones had reached Half-Saint, and Xiao Yan even sensed a handful whose auras matched Dou Saints.
His brows drew together at the ferocious onslaught. His palm curled, and terrifying Dou Qi burst outward as he shouted, "Great Heaven Creation Palm!"
A deep hum rang out. A massive black sphere appeared in midair, and the black hole of the Great Heaven Creation Palm expanded in an instant. Every Fire Slave that touched it was crushed to nothing.
"Hmm?"
Xiao Yan's eyes narrowed. The moment the Fire Slaves shattered, streaks of Purifying Lotus Demon Flame erupted from within their bodies. That Demon Flame actually managed to purify even the annihilating force of the Great Heaven Creation Palm.
He had only destroyed a dozen or so, yet the black hole's devouring power was already being neutralized by the Demon Flame hidden inside the Fire Slaves.
Even Xun Er's Great Silent Destruction Technique met the same fate. The Fire Slaves' individual strength might not be terrifying, but every one of them was like a living bomb. Each body harbored a wisp of Purifying Lotus Demon Flame, and the moment they were destroyed, that wisp erupted and purified everything in its path.
In a single exchange, Xiao Yan and Xun Er erased nearly a hundred flaming figures between them, yet their brows only furrowed deeper. No matter how fierce their assaults, no matter how far above the Fire Slaves their Dou Qi cultivation stood, more and more burning puppets kept pouring out of the rifts, as if they could never be cut down to the last.
"Killing them like this is pointless. Let's head inside first!" Xiao Yan shouted.
Xun Er nodded. The two exchanged a glance and thrust out their palms at the same instant. A sea of Heavenly Flames erupted between them, surging in every direction until it drowned the entire space in fire. Under the cover of that blazing tide, they tapped their toes against the ground and shot forward like arrows loosed from a bowstring. When they reached the giant door, they shouted in unison and slammed their palms forward together, crashing heavily against the gate.
BANG!
Clan Mark power erupted from both of them at once. The seven-colored radiance of their Divine Grade Clan Marks illuminated the entire space, and the giant door exploded apart with a thunderous crash. The instant it shattered, the endless Fire Slaves behind them halted as one, hovering motionless in midair in a dense, silent mass.
"Xiao Yan ge-ge, according to our clan's elders, the end of this Demon Flame Hall is where the Demon Flame's main body lies!" Xun Er reminded him.
"Mm. Stay close, and don't leave my side." Xiao Yan caught her jade-like hand in his. Ahead lay the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame's true lair.
"Mm. Xun Er knows."
She smiled softly and nodded, her fingers tightening around his. She followed behind him, and the two of them swept through the shattered door together.
Yet for some reason he could not name, an inexplicable unease lingered stubbornly in Xiao Yan's heart.
He still did not know that he had been marked out long, long before.