"Big Brother Xiao Ting, are you saying you plan to cultivate the Flame Mantra?"
Xun Er pretended not to know his thoughts.
Given the conversation so far, it was only reasonable for her to guess this.
"No." Xiao Ting tightened his grip on her hand and spoke earnestly. "If I were still at Dou Practitioner or Dou Master realm right now, I would definitely cultivate the Flame Mantra.
"That path is difficult, but it holds the opportunity to become one of the top powerhouses in the world. And if I want to stay with you forever and gain approval from your family, I would need that strength.
"But I am already a Dou Spirit and have found another path of strengthening that belongs solely to me, so there's no need to cultivate the Flame Mantra.
"I want you to cultivate this technique instead."
"Me?" A perfectly timed look of surprise appeared on Xun Er's face.
"Yes, you." Xiao Ting's tone had never been more serious. "Of course, not immediately. Swallowing the offspring flame of the Amethyst Winged Lion only proves the technique is indeed bizarre and capable of evolving, but whether it can swallow Heavenly Flames remains uncertain.
"My idea is to wait until Third Brother swallows the Green Lotus Core Flame. If the technique truly evolves again, then you can start cultivating it.
"I already explained my reasons earlier—I believe you can have a path that belongs to you from the very start.
"Your background force may not lack high-level Earth-tier or even Heaven-tier techniques, but that doesn't mean they are absolutely suitable for you.
"A technique that can evolve by swallowing Heavenly Flames could theoretically one day surpass Heaven-tier and be perfectly suited to you.
"The only difficulty might be acquiring Heavenly Flames, but if you trust me, don't worry about that. I have special ways to find them for you."
Xiao Ting was completely serious about having Xun Er cultivate the Flame Mantra.
Not to mention Han Feng barely succeeding with an incomplete version, the first known person to fully succeed was Tou She Ancient God. He obtained the technique by chance and grew from a tiny Heavenly Flame to an Emperor Flame—this proved the technique was not exclusive to Xiao Yan.
The fact that the Flame Mantra could evolve aligned with the cultivation path of the Primal Origin Body. The technique originating from heaven and earth rather than human creation further supported this.
Tou She Ancient God breaking through to Dou Emperor via the Flame Mantra might be because the two Heavenly Flames—Pure Lotus Demon Flame and Nihility Devouring Flame—contained Di Origin Qi.
But it was also possible that the Flame Mantra evolved beyond Heaven-tier, allowing one to condense and obtain the Emperor's Origin through some method to complete the breakthrough.
Either way, cultivating the Flame Mantra would be beneficial for later obtaining the Ancient Emperor inheritance and the Emperor-tier prototype pill from Tou She Ancient God's cave to break through to Dou God.
Deciding for now to let Xiao Yan and Xun Er break through to Dou God was neither selfless sacrifice nor simple laziness on Xiao Ting's part—it was a backup plan.
With the Journal, his first Great Dao blessing had granted him the Purple Beast Flame. What about the second, third, and beyond?
He felt he wouldn't even need the God-making opportunity inside Tou She Ancient God's cave to break through.
He hadn't written this in the Journal at the time because he was observing from an outsider's perspective.
He wouldn't write it now because the Journal could be seen by others.
Xiao Yan becoming God could awaken his Dou God bloodline—there were benefits to lying low.
Helping Xun Er become God was because she deserved it and would wholeheartedly help him in return.
"Can Xun Er not trust Big Brother Xiao Ting?" After patiently listening to Xiao Ting's long explanation, Xun Er only responded to the last part with a gentle, beautiful smile. "Then we'll wait until Cousin Xiao Yan swallows the Green Lotus Core Flame. Xun Er will decide then whether to cultivate the Flame Mantra.
"A technique that can evolve by swallowing Heavenly Flames—I'm actually quite tempted. But if Big Brother Xiao Ting doesn't bring it up, I wouldn't feel right fighting Cousin Xiao Yan for it."
"If it's fair competition, I'll definitely help you," Xiao Ting replied without hesitation.
After that, the two stopped discussing the topic and chatted casually, talked about Dou Techniques, or shared stories of remarkable people.
When the sky gradually darkened, Xiao Ting returned to his own courtyard and began recording in his Journal.
…
[I gave Queen Medusa the name Cai Lin. This time her mouth was both soft and hard again, but ultimately not harder than mine. She accepted the name.]
[She has successfully broken through to Dou Ancestor and now needs to slumber for a while to adapt to the sudden surge in bloodline and strength, solidly building her foundation.]
[Her companion snake soul, the Quiet Purple Flame Serpent, has also successfully evolved into a Seven-Colored Heaven-Swallowing Python soul. I named it Little Cai. In the future, I'll find a way to let it exist independently, so Cai Lin will have her first absolutely trustworthy tribesman who knows her roots.]
[Although Cai Lin is asleep, with Little Cai around, she won't need to fear even ordinary Dou Emperors—especially with Hai Bodong in Wu Tan City.]
[The seal inside Yun Yun hasn't been undone yet, but she has already met Xun Er and knows Xun Er's background is extraordinary. She probably won't do anything stupid like breaking the seal and escaping.]
…
Yun Yun: !!!
Why did every mention of her in the Journal somehow involve the word "stupid"?
Xiao Ting definitely had a bias against her!
"I must prove myself—I'm not stupid!" Yun Yun thought angrily.
…
[On Xun Er's side, I already talked to her about cultivating the Flame Mantra. She trusts me completely and plans to follow my suggestion. If Brother Yan swallows the Green Lotus Core Flame without issue and the Flame Mantra truly evolves, she will start cultivating it.]
[She trusts me so much—I absolutely will not betray that trust. I will help her obtain the Tou She Ancient God cave inheritance.]
[Moreover, according to my guess, the Flame Mantra is related to the Great Thousand World's Primal Origin Body.]
[This is essentially a ticket to the Sovereign Realm.]
…
All the women: !!!
Xiao Ting's Journal update had ended, but the women inside were deeply shaken and couldn't recover for a long time.
They didn't know what the Primal Origin Body was or what kind of realm the Sovereign Realm represented.
But one thing was certain: the Primal Origin Body's value far surpassed anything on the entire Battle Qi Continent.
After all, due to the lack of Di Origin Qi, the Battle Qi Continent could no longer produce Dou God powerhouses.
Yet Tou She Ancient God had become the only Dou God in over ten thousand years after cultivating the Flame Mantra.
As for the possibility that Nihility Devouring Flame and Pure Lotus Demon Flame contained Di Origin Qi, peak nine-star Dou Saints before Tou She Ancient God would surely have noticed—so the chance that the Flame Mantra synthesized it was higher.
Such a powerful and bizarre technique was merely a prerequisite for cultivating the Primal Origin Body. One could imagine how precious the Primal Origin Body truly was.
And the Sovereign Realm—just the name sounded overwhelmingly powerful. It was at least a realm above Dou God.
"As expected, Xun Er's position in Xiao Ting's heart is irreplaceable," the women thought.
Getting on good terms with Xun Er was absolutely the correct move—nothing could be more right.
…
Time flew like an arrow; days passed in the blink of an eye.
One day, Huo Zhi appeared within the Burning Flame Valley's territory.
Yao Ling also appeared within the Pill Tower's territory, arriving in Cao City.
…
…
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