Word Count: 2,849 Words
******
"Ahhh!!" Xiao Yan roared, his voice hoarse with strain. Terrifying Spiritual Strength poured madly into the fire lotus cupped in his hands!
God Class. This was a domain he had never touched before!
He had long believed that after refining the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame, the Flame Mantra would stand a real chance of breaking through to God Class. After all, the entire Dou Qi Continent contained only a single Purifying Lotus Demon Flame.
For such a unique Heavenly Flame to elevate the Flame Mantra into God Class was not strange at all. The Angry Buddha Lotus Flame was a Dou Technique derived from the Flame Mantra itself. However strong the Flame Mantra grew, the Angry Buddha Lotus Flame grew with it. Like the Flame Mantra, it could continually 'evolve,' and so it possessed no fixed rank.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!!
The entire Demon Flame Space shuddered violently. Cracks spider-webbed across the surrounding spatial walls. Merging a fire lotus that surpassed even the Flame Mantra itself was absolutely no easy task.
Buzz.
The three-headed, six-armed Asura from the Asura Soul Reaping Technique's third tribulation sensed the terrifying power coiled within Xiao Yan's Angry Buddha Lotus Flame. Its 'human' face twisted into a feral grin, and dreadful Spiritual Strength surged from the figure into the Refining Sky Ancient Formation as it moved to seize the formation completely and refine Xiao Yan where he stood.
The Refining Sky Ancient Formation had once been the Purifying Lotus Demon Saint's most powerful killing move. With the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame still on its side, the outcome of this struggle remained far from decided.
…
Outside the Demon Flame Space, Little Fairy Doctor's expression grew ever graver. Through her connection with the Ghostly Poison Flame, she could sense the titanic forces clashing within, and at the heart of that maelstrom, the unmistakable signature of the Angry Buddha Lotus Flame.
He's staking his life on this throw...
The Angry Buddha Lotus Flame was the technique Xiao Yan kept hidden at the very bottom of his arsenal. For him to resort to it now, and even to 'borrow' external flames, could only mean one thing. Something had spiraled far beyond his original calculations. The situation inside had become truly desperate.
Xun Er watched the Demon Flame Space slowly contract, the figure of 'Xiao Yan' within growing more distant with each passing heartbeat. A strange, nameless feeling stirred in her chest. She could feel it. Xiao Yan needed her strength.
"Elder, once you return, please tell Father that Xun Er will be willful this one time!"
Gu Nanhai's eyes widened. "Young miss—"
Xun Er bit down hard on her lower lip. Before anyone could stop her, that jade-like hand shook free of Gu Nanhai's grip. With a single step, she plunged through the narrowing aperture. The Gold Emperor Incinerating Heavenly Flame erupted around her body and transformed her into a streak of golden light that shot toward the distant figure still struggling to condense his fire lotus.
The sudden movement left Gu Nanhai frozen, his hand still extended toward empty air.
Little Fairy Doctor watched Xun Er's departing silhouette and the Demon Flame Space shrinking bit by bit. Xuan Yi's words from back in the Three Thousand Burning Flame's Star Region suddenly echoed through her mind. Her grey eyes hardened with resolve.
'Xiao Yan's Heavenly Flame is with me. I cannot just leave like this.'
Chi!
Dark-green poison fire wrapped around her body. The flame took the shape of a gigantic Thousand-Eyed Night Zhen, its thousand eyes gleaming with eerie light. At the final instant before the space sealed shut, it condensed into a streak of verdant light and slipped through.
The Demon Flame Space closed completely. Cai Lin stood motionless, her fists clenched so tight her knuckles had gone white. Every instinct screamed at her to follow, to stay at Xiao Yan's side no matter what.
But she was no longer alone in this world. Xiao Xiao and Xiao Cai were still in the Snake-People Tribe. If she too vanished into that sealed space, who would protect their daughters?
"I'll leave him to you two. You must bring him back safely..."
…
Within the fully sealed Demon Flame Space, the battle for supremacy had reached a fever pitch. Xiao Yan's Angry Buddha Lotus Flame and the Refining Sky Ancient Formation had both gone utterly mad, each frantically plundering every wisp of Demon Flame energy this realm contained!
Yet the three-headed, six-armed Asura still possessed the Essence of the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame. Even wielding all of the Purifying Lotus Demon Saint's remnant power, Xiao Yan could not truly out-compete it.
Just as the balance threatened to tip against him, a wisp of golden flame streaked toward him from behind. The Gold Emperor Incinerating Heavenly Flame could incinerate the sky and shatter the earth, yet those golden wisps now behaved like docile kittens as they quietly merged into the Angry Buddha Lotus Flame, laying a streak of dazzling gold across its surface.
"Gold Emperor Incinerating Heavenly Flame?!"
Xiao Yan had been forced to devote every shred of Spiritual Strength to condensing the lotus. He hadn't even noticed that Xun Er had stayed behind. The sudden surge of familiar Heavenly Flame made his heart jolt with shock.
A graceful figure swept over on a faint drift of fragrance. A pair of warm, fair hands reached from behind and gently cupped the back of his right hand. Xun Er's beautiful eyes met his own, brimming with tenderness. "Xiao Yan ge-ge, this time around, let Xun Er accompany you to the very end."
Buzz!!
With Xun Er's Gold Emperor Incinerating Heavenly Flame and all of her Dou Qi flowing into it, the crushingly heavy Angry Buddha Lotus Flame suddenly felt much lighter in his grasp.
"Xun Er, you—"
Before he could voice his surprise, another familiar Heavenly Flame rushed toward him from behind. The dark-green Ghostly Poison Flame slowly wove itself into the fire lotus and returned once more under his control.
A different fragrance drifted over from his other side, subtle medicinal notes woven through it. A beautiful figure in a simple white dress extended both hands to cup his left, and powerful Spiritual Strength and Dou Qi poured from Little Fairy Doctor into the lotus, helping him condense this unprecedented, strongest creation!
"Your Ghostly Poison Flame is with me." Little Fairy Doctor revealed a gentle, tranquil smile. Back in the Three Thousand Burning Flame's Star Region, they had been lucky that Xiao Yan could resolve the crisis alone. This time, even Xiao Yan himself had no certainty. She refused to end up regretting her choice the way Xuan Yi had.
With Dou Qi and Spiritual Strength flowing into him from both sides, Xiao Yan felt the crushing weight lift from his shoulders.
Without Venerable Yao, he had walked this road alone for so long. Only he truly knew how heavy this fire lotus, fused with the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame, had become.
The burden on his shoulders had always been crushing.
Xiao Yan slowly closed his eyes and let out a long breath. In that moment, he felt lighter than he had in years. When he opened them again, all fear had vanished.
His gaze swung to the 'self' who had seized full control of the Refining Sky Ancient Formation. A confident smile spread across his face. "Since you're so desperate to be reborn, then go and reincarnate properly."
Buzz!!
The fire lotus took shape and bloomed. Fourteen petals slowly unfurled, and each represented a different Heavenly Flame.
Nihility Devouring Flame's Heaven Seed Flame, Ten Thousand Beast Flame, Yin-Yang Twin Flame, Green Lotus Core Flame, Wind and Thunder Fury Flame, Sea Heart Flame, Fallen Heart Flame, Bone Chilling Flame, Nine Dragon Lightning Flame, Three Thousand Burning Flame, Mysterious Yellow Flame. And now, added to their ranks, the Ghostly Poison Flame, the Gold Emperor Incinerating Heavenly Flame, and a portion of the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame.
If a mere portion of the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame had been insufficient to push the Angry Buddha Lotus Flame to God Class, then with Xun Er's Gold Emperor Incinerating Heavenly Flame and the Ghostly Poison Flame woven in as well, this fourteen-petaled lotus would absolutely reach that legendary realm!
"Hun Clan Mark, activate!"
The silent command thundered through his mind. With a resonant boom, Xiao Yan's Spiritual Strength exploded upward, soaring in an instant from the perfected Heavenly State into the Emperor State.
The moment that Emperor State Spiritual Strength poured into the lotus, a radiance of blinding brilliance burst forth, like the primal light at the dawn of creation.
A brand new God Class Dou Technique was born!
The three-headed, six-armed Asura silhouette beheld the God Class Angry Buddha Lotus Flame and unleashed a shrill, crazed screech. It immediately drove the colossal Refining Sky Ancient Formation downward in a desperate strike.
"Go, Angry Buddha Lotus Flame."
The Refining Sky Ancient Formation descended like a millstone large enough to crush the world. Xiao Yan's face had gone deathly pale, yet not a trace of fear showed in his eyes. Under the watchful gaze of all three, the God Class Angry Buddha Lotus Flame they had forged together shot toward the titanic array.
Set against the Refining Sky Ancient Formation spanning tens of thousands of feet, the tiny fire lotus looked utterly insignificant. A lone spark thrown against a falling star.
And yet—
"Explode."
BOOM—
At Xiao Yan's soft command, the fourteen-petaled lotus detonated. The entire Demon Flame Space flared with blinding radiance as power beyond imagination erupted outward in every direction.
Everyone beyond the Demon Flame Space sensed it in that same instant. Not only those nearby. Far off in the boundless void, one supreme existence after another raised their heads to gaze toward that distant point of light.
"This is… a God Class Dou Technique?" Within the Gu Realm, Gu Yuan's brows drew together. His Emperor State Spiritual Strength attempted to pierce through and observe the Demon Flame Space directly, but the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame's power of purification blocked even an Emperor State soul from seeing within.
Within the Hun Realm, Hun Tiandi sensed it as well. He stood with both hands clasped behind his back, a faint smile playing at the corner of his lips. God Class Dou Techniques were not particularly shocking to the Hun Clan, which had existed since ancient times. They possessed the God-Slaying Dou Technique, an invincible technique capable of killing even a Dou God.
Yet even he could not easily wield that power.
"It seems the one who ultimately obtained the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame is that fellow after all." A figure shrouded entirely in black robes emerged from a corridor of black flame and came to stand at Hun Tiandi's side, features completely hidden.
Hun Tiandi gave a light laugh. "With the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame emerging, there is finally a Heavenly Flame that can contend with you."
The black-robed figure was naturally the true body of the Nihility Devouring Flame. No Heavenly Flame in existence could resist his devouring power, save for the purification strength of the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame.
He and the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame were both unique in all the world, the most singular existences on the Dou Qi Continent. Only they could contend with each other.
The gap between second and third place on the Heavenly Flame Ranking was merely a hair's breadth. Beyond the top three, all others were ants by comparison.
The black-robed figure turned to regard Hun Tiandi, his voice cool and detached. "Since he has obtained the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame, you should make your move as well."
Splash.
Hun Tiandi casually tossed an ancient, unadorned piece of jade into the fish pond before him. The ripples sent the koi scattering in every direction. As the jade sank slowly through the water, it became clear that two other pieces already rested at the bottom.
This was the third.
Tou She Ancient God's Jade. The Ling Clan's piece.
Hun Tiandi now possessed three of them.
After dropping the jade into the pond, Hun Tiandi turned and walked away. His voice drifted back, light and unconcerned. "Once those people from the Shi Clan return to the Shi Realm, we move."
Xiao Yan would likely never have guessed that while he was using Hun Tiandi's assistance to obtain the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame, Hun Tiandi was simultaneously using him to draw the attention of the entire world, shifting the Gu Clan's vigilant gaze away from the Hun Clan and toward the Demon Flame Space instead.
All to give the Nihility Devouring Flame room to work…
…
Within the Demon Flame Space, the three-headed, six-armed Asura had clearly been driven to fury. The Refining Sky Ancient Formation erupted like stars detonating, and infinite destructive force hammered toward Xiao Yan's Angry Buddha Lotus Flame.
Yet Xiao Yan remained unmoved.
"No!!" The Purifying Lotus Demon Flame refused to accept this outcome. It let out a furious roar and unleashed all of its remaining strength in a single, desperate surge.
The God Class Angry Buddha Lotus Flame's imperial might crashed forward like an endless, roaring storm, crushing the entire Refining Sky Ancient Formation beneath its overwhelming momentum!
BOOM—
Everything exploded. At the final instant, the collision of those two forces made Xiao Yan feel as though his body had shattered into pieces.
Buzz.
A white-robed figure appeared before Xiao Yan and the two women, blocking the shockwave. It was naturally the remnant soul of the Purifying Lotus Demon Saint.
"You may truly be able to take that final step." The Purifying Lotus Demon Saint glanced at Xiao Yan. He had been called the one who came closest to becoming a Dou God, but 'closest' was all he had ever been. Like the Yellow Spring Demon Saint, he had never managed to cross that threshold.
"This is my inheritance. How much you can comprehend depends on you alone." The Purifying Lotus Demon Saint separated a wisp of his Spiritual Strength, containing the legacies of the Nightmare Heavenly Fog and the Refining Sky Ancient Formation.
Then, without the slightest hesitation, he flew straight into the heart of the explosion.
"This scene… it is just like the day I first found you."
A faint trace of melancholy surfaced on the Purifying Lotus Demon Saint's face. A soft sigh escaped his lips. "Together, let us vanish forever from this world."
BOOM!
…
The explosion raged before them with world-destroying force. The Purifying Lotus Demon Saint held back that instant of flame, and Xiao Yan wrapped one arm around Xun Er's slender waist and the other around Little Fairy Doctor's. His bone wings unfurled in a flash as they retreated at desperate speed.
The storm swept across the surrounding world. The boundless magma sea split open, and a rift hundreds of thousands of feet wide tore through its surface. Even the endless magma could not fill such a chasm in so short a time.
When the violent energy storm finally subsided, three figures emerged at the edge of the sky. They exchanged glances, then immediately shot toward the epicenter of the explosion.
Light flickered across the sky. Xiao Yan, Xun Er, and Little Fairy Doctor halted in midair and gazed upon the empty expanse before them. The Purifying Lotus Demon Saint and the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame had both vanished without a trace, as though that earth-shaking collision had reduced them both to nothingness.
"Where is the Essence Flame?"
Xiao Yan murmured as he stared at the empty sky. Had even the Essence of the Demon Flame been destroyed in that explosion? If so, this entire struggle for the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame would have been for nothing.
"Damn it."
Frustration laced his voice. He had spent over a decade collecting those ancient map fragments, then waited another three full years for this moment. Was this truly to be the outcome?
"Xiao Yan ge-ge, look!"
Just as bitter disappointment threatened to consume him, Xun Er's jade finger suddenly pointed toward the magma sea below, her voice bright with surprise.
Xiao Yan's gaze followed instantly. His heart clenched as though an invisible hand had seized it.
Upon that boundless sea of molten rock, a white lotus flower drifted slowly across the surface. Pink veins threaded through every petal, and as it moved, the energy of the entire sea seemed to flow ceaselessly toward it…
"The Essence Flame…"
Xiao Yan stared at that milky-white lotus tinged with faint pink. Above it floated a jade-like sculpture in the shape of a three-headed, six-armed figure. He could clearly sense that all consciousness within the Asura Soul Reaping Technique had been completely erased by the fire lotus.
He had won!
The Asura Soul Reaping Technique had finally reached perfection! This was a realm even its creator, Hun Lao Gui, had never achieved. Not even the technique's originator knew what heights the perfected Asura Soul Reaping Technique could reach.
Xiao Yan's body trembled with excitement he could not contain. Because the Flame Mantra was finally about to break through to God Class!