Chapter 359: Three Thousand Burning Flame: Despicable Human!
The sudden attack startled Xiao Yuan. Blue lightning flared beneath his feet, and with a flash of movement, he reappeared more than ten meters away. His gaze darkened as it landed on the Three Thousand Burning Flame, who was swinging its massive tail.
At this moment, the Three Thousand Burning Flame's eyes gleamed with a greedy, almost human-like desire. It knew that if it could devour the Heavenly Flame within Xiao Yuan, even the Pill Tower's three great leaders wouldn't be able to stop it from escaping to freedom.
"Heh, want to eat me? Did you really think I came unprepared?"
A faint smirk formed at the corner of Xiao Yuan's lips. He raised his hand and pulled out a jade bottle from his storage ring.
The moment the jade bottle appeared, the Three Thousand Burning Flame suddenly grew restless. Its enormous body surged with flames, crackling with bursts of explosive noise.
It stared dead-on at the jade bottle in Xiao Yuan's hand, a look of fear flashing in its eyes.
Though it didn't know exactly what was inside, it could instinctively feel that whatever was in there posed a great threat to it!
Without waiting for the flame to attack, Xiao Yuan swiftly formed hand seals. With a crackle of lightning, a clone—Three Thousand Thunder Avatar—emerged from within him.
Thanks to his soul having reached the Spirit Realm and his terrifying talent in Dou Techniques, this Thunder Avatar now matched his real body in combat strength. It could even replicate several of his unique techniques.
Although methods like Black Demon Lightning and the Five-Ring Fiery Lotus weren't effective against the Three Thousand Burning Flame, Xiao Yuan had prepared other tactics specifically for this battle.
The two Xiao Yuans simultaneously formed seals, releasing a tremendous icy aura from their bodies. The temperature inside the Star Region, which had risen dramatically due to the flame breaking its seal, dropped sharply. The sudden chill even caused Dan Chen—already weakened—to go visibly pale.
At that moment, the two Xiao Yuans flashed forward, appearing at the dragon's head and tail. Changing their hand signs, they unleashed freezing energy that rapidly spread, forming a formation of black ice crystals.
This formation was a refined version of the Ice Sovereign Heaven-Freeze Array, originally obtained from the Ice Sovereign's ring. It had once been used by Ice River Valley to seal Ye City.
Back then, even Ice River Valley had needed over half its disciples to activate it at full strength. But despite its scale, its strength wasn't great—merely a three-star Dou Zun could break it. And someone with a Heavenly Flame could shatter it even more easily.
So Xiao Yuan modified it.
He first shrunk the formation's range while increasing its strength, then fused it with an Earth-Rank Dou Technique—Blood-Chilling Heaven Freeze, inherited from the late Demon Elder of Demon Flame Valley.
This Dou Technique required the Dark Ice Blood Art to activate—a cultivation method that turned one's blood to extreme coldness. When combined, it created a freezing power capable of icing over entire regions.
Alone, it wouldn't be enough to stop the flame.
But Xiao Yuan had one more ace—Zi Yan!
The Three Thousand Burning Flame had once been nurtured by an elder of the Taixu Ancient Dragon clan. It bore a dragon mark unique to that bloodline, which explained its dragon-like form.
And because of that lineage, it harbored a deep, instinctive fear of those with powerful Taixu Dragon blood.
Zi Yan wasn't just any Taixu Dragon—she was royalty. Using her blood as a medium, her bloodline's aura, combined with Xiao Yuan's mastery of Ice Sovereign Force, was more than enough to suppress the Three Thousand Burning Flame!
The flame seemed to sense something was wrong and prepared to ram Xiao Yuan—but he smiled confidently and crushed the jade bottle. A drop of violet-gold blood floated into the air, emanating a terrifying pressure that stunned the flame into stillness.
Xiao Yuan changed his hand seal again. The drop of blood exploded into countless filaments, weaving into the freezing formation.
The black ice crystals now shimmered with a faint violet-gold hue. That bloodline suppression spread through the array, preventing the flame from using its full strength. The icy aura alone could freeze a peak Dou Zong!
Under this dual suppression, the flame—which had already consumed much energy breaking free from the seal—saw its purple-black flames begin to weaken.
ROAR!
The Three Thousand Burning Flame sensed its power being suppressed. Its eyes turned crimson with rage. It spun like a top, creating a massive whirlwind of fire within the black mist.
SSSSHHH!
The purple-black firestorm ripped through the void, pulling the surrounding black mist into its vortex and vaporizing it completely.
"Hmph!"
Even Xiao Yuan felt the pressure of the attack and groaned. But he didn't stop. With a new hand seal, he summoned nine violet-black ice dragons, roaring as they encircled the Three Thousand Burning Flame.
Each dragon opened its maw, unleashing freezing breath upon the flame's body, forming clouds of mist with every strike.
Everyone—including Grand Elder Qiu Ling—watched in stunned silence.
Is this guy… even human?
But while the others were just shocked, Cao Ying felt something more complex.
Black-ice Dou Qi… Isn't Xiao Yuan an alchemist? Why does he have ice-elemental Dou Qi? And that white-clothed woman in the Pill Realm—didn't she use the same kind of Dou Qi? What's their connection?
Xiao Yan was no less surprised.
Third Brother's performance today had completely redefined his understanding.
He'd known Xiao Yuan had prepared in advance—but this level of preparation was just excessive!
Under this barrage, how could the Three Thousand Burning Flame possibly resist?
As the flame was frozen stiff, Xiao Yuan teleported to its fractured forehead scale. A half-meter black void was exposed—inside lay its true flame core.
Ice Sovereign Force: Heaven-Freeze Palm!
Without rushing in like a fool, Xiao Yuan prepared his technique and slammed it into the void.
At that moment, the Three Thousand Burning Flame suddenly stopped struggling. A cold glint appeared in its eyes.
It had no intention of going down easily.
SHHH!
Just as Xiao Yuan struck, a purple-black miniature dragon burst from the hole—its flames compressed and darkened to an ominous black, emitting a suffocating aura of annihilation.
"It's going all out! It's pulled out its flame core!"
Qiu Ling's face paled as he retreated further with the others.
There was no way he was jumping into that fight. Xiao Yuan was a freak, and the Three Thousand Burning Flame was a monster of legend. Let them fight it out.
The miniature black flame-dragon smashed into the Heaven-Freeze Palm, shattering it instantly. The resulting heat even burned away the debris.
It then flashed before Xiao Yuan, slamming into him.
CRACK!
Xiao Yuan's body shattered into icy shards—then vanished into vapor.
It missed.
Xiao Yuan appeared a distance away, raising his middle finger at the dragon.
!
The mini-dragon's eyes blazed with fury.
Despicable human!
It lunged at him again, determined to burn him to ashes.
But with Three Thousand Lightning Movement and nearly-indistinguishable Ice Doppelgangers, Xiao Yuan filled the space with afterimages. Even the ancient flame was getting dizzy.
Unknowingly, it had drifted farther from its true body.
Then—something felt wrong.
The dragon stopped midair and scanned the area suspiciously.
Did this cunning human lay a trap?
And then... every clone in the sky grinned mockingly.
Suddenly, powerful Dou Qi surged from afar. The dragon turned—and saw two identical Xiao Yuans at its head and tail, pressing their palms against it!
Extreme Freeze!
The chilling roar echoed through the void. A terrifying coldness swept over the dragon's body—powerful enough to freeze a five-star Dou Zun instantly.
In a blink, its massive body was sealed in ice.
Feeling the severed link with its true self, the flame core fell into despair.
Despicable human!
Looking at the two figures atop its true body, the Three Thousand Burning Flame's eyes shone with bloodlust. It had finally broken the Pill Tower's seal, only to fall into the clutches of another cunning monster.
POOF!
Black flames cloaked the dragon. Its tail swung like a whip, blasting toward the Xiao Yuan at its head.
Xiao Yuan didn't dare relax. He'd exhausted most of his Dou Qi with his earlier attacks. Completely sealing the body was nearly impossible. All he had done was sever the core's connection with the body.
But Heavenly Flames were still Heavenly Flames—it would break free eventually.
For now, he had to face the enraged flame core!
He popped three high-grade Tier Seven pills into his mouth, began refining them, and activated his Demon Lightning Physique. Dark lightning surged in his hand, forming a spear filled with destruction.
He hurled it straight at the incoming dragon.
CLANG!
The impact sent sparks flying and rang with the sound of metal clashing.
"What strength!"
Even with his physique active, the shock from the dragon's strength numbed Xiao Yuan's hand.
Still, that was all. The Black Demon Lightning's destructive force was on par with the flame's own might.
As the pills restored his strength, Xiao Yuan straightened and twirled the spear, filling the air with a storm of spear shadows that completely enveloped the mini-dragon.
He didn't want to destroy it—but he absolutely would not let it return to its body.
Meanwhile, the Three Thousand Burning Flame had gone completely mad.
No matter what it took—it would incinerate this despicable human into nothing!
(END CHAPTER)
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