Word Count: 2,674 Words
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Yun Yun had served as a Sect Leader, after all. She understood that certain matters could not be handled with excessive gentleness or kindness, because too much softness was its own form of cruelty toward one's own people.
The moment she learned that Xiao Yan had entered the Demon Flame Space and could not emerge, she decisively accepted the Flower Sect's inheritance and took the Bodhisattva Pill. She had to step into the Dou Saint realm and guard the Yan Alliance until Xiao Yan returned.
Nalan Yanran's approach was far simpler. Her temperament was as sharp and unyielding as a sword. She came out of seclusion, learned that Xiao Yan was trapped within the Demon Flame Space, and flew straight to the Demon Flame Plains without wasting a single word, stationing herself in the most chaotic region.
By now, the Demon Flame Plains could truly be called a gathering ground of experts. The Hall of Souls had established an open branch hall there, with a 1-star Dou Saint named Hun Qing stationed to oversee it. Their purpose was to mine the Demon Flame Rock scattered throughout the region.
The Yan Alliance, the Pill Tower, the Nine Serene Deep Ground Python Tribe, the Heaven Demon Phoenix Tribe, and even the Dou God Clans had all staked claims across the Demon Flame Plains. None of them, however, had moved on a scale to match the Hall of Souls. Most had merely posted a few Half-Saints to hold their ground.
Since the Yan Alliance had always suffered from a shortage of Dou Saints, it had never managed to gain much of an advantage.
Had Xiao Yan's lingering prestige not remained as a deterrent, their situation would have been considerably worse.
Everything changed after Nalan Yanran arrived.
She had been the first person ever to dare challenge Xiao Yan, even if she had been beaten quite miserably for it. That kind of perseverance and courage could not be underestimated.
If Xiao Yan himself was willing to count someone as a unit of combat strength, how could Nalan Yanran's battle talent possibly be weak? At the same level, she was virtually unstoppable. Unless a Half-Saint or a Dou Saint personally took the field, nothing could halt this Sword Goddess who had comprehended the Bodhisattva Ancient Tree.
That was why Yun Yun had asked about the Demon Flame Plains the moment she emerged from seclusion.
And Yun Yun's breakthrough to Dou Saint meant the Yan Alliance had begun sounding the horn of counterattack.
Time did not stop for any person or any thing.
Two full years after the Demon Flame Space sealed itself, aside from Cai Lin, Yun Yun, and the others bound to Xiao Yan by deep ties, even many Yan Alliance disciples had gradually begun to forget the man who had established the Yan Alliance.
And it was precisely at the two-year mark that Xiao Yan's cultivation within the Demon Flame Space finally reached completion.
…
All the Heavenly Flame energy inside the Demon Flame Space had vanished. High above the magma sea, a colossal crystal egg hovered in the empty air. Its surface shimmered with rippling light, and faint tongues of flame occasionally leaped across it like sprites, brimming with a life of their own.
Crack!
A faint sound broke the silence. On the surface of the crystal egg, a thin fissure had slowly opened. As that first crack appeared, more and more fractures crawled across the shell, until at last a large section of crystal slid from the top and fell away.
Boom!
The crystal egg split apart and dissolved into a curtain of light that poured down from the distant sky. Three figures emerged from within, and they were naturally Xiao Yan, Xun Er, and Little Fairy Doctor.
"Phew. We've finally absorbed every last bit of energy in the Demon Flame Space."
Xiao Yan stretched hard. The bones throughout his body gave off muffled cracks like rolling thunder, and the sound echoed across the sky. Then he chuckled and swept out one arm, gathering the two women beside him into his embrace.
Xun Er and Little Fairy Doctor's heads bumped against his chest. The two exchanged a glance, and certain memories from their time inside the Demon Flame Space rose unbidden in their minds. Both pretty faces flushed scarlet at once.
Little Fairy Doctor still wore the plain white dress she had entered in. Xun Er's situation was far more miserable. She had brought no spare clothing, so she remained in Xiao Yan's alchemist robe, and the loose garment shifted with every movement to reveal glimpses of spring. There was nothing underneath it at all.
Little Fairy Doctor flickered free of Xiao Yan's wolf claws and stepped to one side. They were returning to the outside world today, and with her temperament there was no chance she would behave so openly with him out there. She had always been a quiet person.
Xun Er glanced at Little Fairy Doctor, then turned and shot Xiao Yan a fierce glare. Her slender fingers found his waist and pinched down hard.
"Hss, hss! Ow, ow, that hurts!" Xiao Yan sucked in a breath through his teeth.
"Hmph. Who told Xiao Yan ge-ge to keep misbehaving?" Certain memories made Xun Er's cheeks burn all over again. Even now she could not work out what had come over her back then.
It must have been the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame affecting my emotions!
"Hehehe. How could that be called misbehaving? Leaving before we had absorbed all the Demon Flame energy here would have been such a waste. It must have been the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame's influence. Blame it, not me." Xiao Yan promptly began playing the fool. Two years of cultivation had been dreadfully monotonous, and he was fortunate not to have spent them alone.
Two years ago, Xun Er might still have half believed his nonsense. Now she knew better. The Demon Flame losing control, the Heavenly Flames clashing, all of it was one lie stacked on another!
"Cousin Xiao Yu wasn't wrong. Xiao Yan ge-ge really is a huge pervert," Xun Er said flatly.
Little Fairy Doctor nodded firmly beside her. Who would have guessed that the sharpest judge of character among them was Xiao Yu, who had not even reached the Dou Venerate realm? She had seen straight through Xiao Yan from the very start!
"Yi waaa~~~"
An infant's cry suddenly rang out from the void, and a tiny baby scarcely a few months old squeezed out of the empty air. Its skin was white and tender with a faint rosy flush, and it burrowed happily into Xun Er's arms.
A gentle maternal warmth spread across Xun Er's face as she held the child. She turned toward Xiao Yan and teased, "Xiao Yan ge-ge, listen to that. Even Little Yi says you're a bad person."
"Ahem." Xiao Yan rubbed his nose awkwardly and found himself, for once, with nothing to say.
Little Yi, or Xiao Yi, was not human. It was a Fire Spirit, the spirit born from the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame. Even Xiao Yan had never imagined that completely absorbing the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame would produce such a result!
The Purifying Lotus Demon Flame had merged with a portion of Xun Er's Gold Emperor Incinerating Heavenly Flame, and from that fusion a fire infant had been born!
By now, though, Xiao Yan had grown accustomed to such things. He and Cai Lin already had a soul fetus between them, so one more fire fetus hardly seemed worth a fuss.
Then, as though he had suddenly thought of something, Xiao Yan turned his head toward the quiet Little Fairy Doctor.
When she saw him looking over, Little Fairy Doctor offered him a tranquil smile. "I'm fine."
Xun Er looked over as well, and sorrow and pity flickered through her eyes.
Xiao Yan had indeed discovered another affliction of the Woeful Poison Body.
It could not bear children.
The Woeful Poison Pill he had refined did not cure the Woeful Poison Body or restore Little Fairy Doctor to normal. It merely left a Poison Pill inside her, and that Poison Pill continuously absorbed the toxins her constitution produced.
Put simply, the Woeful Poison Body remained exactly as it was. His method had only found a roundabout answer to the problem of poison accumulating until it killed her. It had not eliminated the Woeful Poison Body itself.
And the Woeful Poison Body was fundamentally incapable of supporting new life. There was not the slightest trace of life force within her. Anything that entered her body would only be poisoned and corrupted, and nothing could develop as it should.
No one with such a constitution had ever survived to reach this stage, let alone lived long enough to consider bearing children.
The Woeful Poison Body had not merely tried to take Little Fairy Doctor's life. It had taken her right to be a mother as well.
Seeing that faint smile of hers, Xiao Yan felt an ache rise in his chest. He caught her jade hand and spoke with grave sincerity. "Little Fairy Doctor, don't worry. I solved the poison eruption of the Woeful Poison Body back then, and I'll solve this too. If a Tier 9 Mysterious Pill isn't enough, then a Golden Pill. If a Golden Pill isn't enough, then I'll refine a God Pill. Whatever it takes, I'll resolve the Woeful Poison Body for you completely."
He was not making an empty boast. When Xiao Yan entered the Demon Flame Space he had only just reached the early 3-star Dou Saint. Now, after two years of absorbing every trace of Demon Flame energy within, his cultivation matched what the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame itself had once possessed. He stood at the peak of the 5-star Dou Saint, a single step from the 6-star stage.
Xun Er's cultivation had risen along with his, and she had entered the early 5-star Dou Saint. Little Fairy Doctor had strained to suppress her own progress, unwilling to raise her strength further, and so remained at the early 2-star Dou Saint.
If Xiao Yan were to fight the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame again now, he was confident he could defeat it alone!
After all, his Qi Method was no longer merely High Tian Class. Even Xiao Yan himself did not dare imagine the true power the Flame Mantra now held. He knew only that God Class stood to Tian Class as a Dou God stood to a Dou Saint. There was simply no comparison.
He was not a Dou God, yet he could at least claim to wield one of the powers belonging to that level. Once his cultivation reached the peak of the 9-star stage, a man with a God Class Qi Method could call himself a quasi-Dou God without exaggeration.
With that behind him, his odds of successfully refining a Tier 9 Mysterious Pill were far from low.
"Xiao Yan..." Little Fairy Doctor raised her head and looked at the man before her. Tears blurred her vision. Through that haze, she seemed to see the scene from the small valley long ago. Back then, Xiao Yan had also promised to resolve the poison eruption of her Woeful Poison Body.
He had never changed.
"Sister Fairy Doctor, with Xiao Yan ge-ge's alchemy, he will certainly resolve the Woeful Poison Body," Xun Er said softly as she walked over to comfort her.
"Mm."
A short while later, once they had all gathered their emotions, Little Yi turned into a cluster of pink flame and slipped into Xiao Yan's body.
Xiao Yan then drew on the power of the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame and tore open the Demon Flame Space with ease, leading the two women out.
With their departure, the Demon Flame Space finally fell into complete silence. This realm would never appear again, and in time, it would gradually be forgotten in the endless river of years…
…
"What happened to the plains?"
Stepping out of the Demon Flame Space, the three of them found a landscape so changed that it felt like waking from a dream. It had looked nothing like this when they entered!
Enormous fissures thousands of feet across sprawled over the Demon Flame Plains like the bodies of great centipedes. Waves of scorching heat rose out of them, leaving the whole region parched and dry.
More importantly, all three of them sensed battles of every scale erupting across the plains, as though countless factions were tearing at one another over something.
"Xiao Yan ge-ge, it seems a great deal must have changed across the Dou Qi Continent while we were inside." Xun Er swept her gaze over the region. Forces large and small had gathered here, and many of the banners were unfamiliar, which meant they belonged to powers that had risen only in the past two years.
Xiao Yan nodded. His Spiritual Strength spread outward and found no familiar auras, so he saw no reason to linger.
It was perfectly normal for the Yan Alliance to contest resources. He could not step in every single time, and he had no interest whatsoever in this so-called Demon Flame Rock.
He tore open the void, and the three of them returned directly to the Xiao Clan's main compound within the Misty Cloud Sect in the Jia Ma Empire. As luck would have it, the first person they ran into was Xiao Yu.
She had just finished cultivating and stepped outside for fresh air. When three figures appeared out of nowhere in front of her, Xiao Yu froze in astonishment. They had been inside the Demon Flame Space for two full years!
"You... you... Xiao Yan! You're back?!" She was so shocked that she hardly knew what to say.
Only upon seeing a familiar face did Xiao Yan finally feel that he had truly come out.
He exhaled slowly and looked toward Xiao Yu, whom he had not seen in a long time. She was still tall and lithe, though two years had lent her frame a mature, womanly fullness. Her waist remained slim and taut, narrow enough that a pair of hands might have circled it, while above it her chest had grown fuller and more shapely, the soft curves beneath her robe drawing the eye without needing to announce themselves.
But it was those long legs that truly commanded attention. They were arguably her most perfect feature, their proportions flawless. Any longer and they would have been excessive, any shorter and their elegance would have been ruined. They were beautiful enough to make anyone want to reach out and trace those smooth lines.
Xun Er and Little Fairy Doctor wore rather odd expressions as they looked at Xiao Yu. Xun Er covered her mouth and laughed. "Cousin Xiao Yu, you were right."
"Huh?" Xiao Yu blinked.
Little Fairy Doctor nodded solemnly. Xiao Yu had seen Xiao Yan clearly from the very beginning. She was the only truly clear-headed person among them!
"Ahem." Xiao Yan coughed twice, hard, and steered the conversation well away from dangerous ground. "Er... Xiao Yu, go and inform Father, Big Brother, Second Brother, and Sister Ya Fei. I want to hear what happened while I was in the Demon Flame Space."
That all-too-familiar voice finally convinced her that he had truly returned. Xiao Yu wiped the tears gathering at the corners of her eyes and shot him a withering glare. "All you know how to do is order me around... Fine, I understand."
She did not kick him this time. After all, he was not the only one standing there.
Before long, the three of them had changed into fresh clothes and made their way to the Xiao Clan's main hall. Word of Xiao Yan's return spread swiftly, and Xiao Zhan and the others came flying over in a great hurry.
After a round of warm reunion talk, Ya Fei began recounting everything that had happened over the past two years, along with the Yan Alliance's current state of affairs.