Battle Through the Heavens

Xiao Yan was slightly stunned upon hearing Yao Lao’s words. He was torn between laughing and crying as he said, “Why do I have the feeling that your words suggest something like rearing an animal at home, waiting for it to grow fat and then slaughtering it?”

“Hehe, it shares the same principle.” Yao Lao nodded as he smiled.

Xiao Yan nodded his head and his gaze stared at the writhing small Purple Flame on his finger which was his only hope of evolving his Qi Methods. The Heavenly Flames were a little too distant for him while this Purple Flame from the Amethyst Essence was just suitable for his current condition and strength.

“How do I refine it?” Xiao Yan sighed, raised his head and asked.

“Relax, this Purple Flame does not have an owner so it will not put up much resistance against you. Refining it into a Flame Seed should not involve too much danger.” Yao Lao said as he extended his finger and placed it on Xiao Yan’s head, “Follow my instructions.”

Feeling the large amount of information that was poured into his mind, Xiao Yan carefully savored it before nodding his head. He gradually closed his eyes and crossed his legs, adopting his training position. He observed his eyes, nose then heart as his mind gradually entered deep into his body.

His mind circulated through his Qi Paths and finally arrived at the vortex in his lower abdomen. The appearance of the Dou Qi vortex was strangely much smaller than what it was before. However, if one carefully observed it, the vortex contains was much more dense and agglomerated better than before.

Xiao Yan’s mind rotated around the vortex once. When he did not observe any problems, Xiao Yan followed Yao Lao’s instructions and began to act.

Xiao Yan’s mind went around the vortex and slowly entered it. At the same time, his Spiritual Perception repeatedly searched for the Purple Flame that he was controlling.

Xiao Yan carefully scanned the interior of the vortex. A long while later, numerous threads of extremely small purple colored energy began gradually appearing. When the purple colored energy appeared, Xiao Yan hurriedly controlled his Spiritual Perception and encompassed them in a lightning fast manner.

“Open a small hole in the vortex that can contain the Purple Flame...”

Recalling Yao Lao’s words in his mind, Xiao Yan swiftly surrounded the vortex with his Spiritual Perception. After a brief silence, his Spiritual Perception drove the vortex into spinning at a very fast speed.

Following the vortex rotating at a fast speed, the Dou Qi that was flowing in his Qi Paths also surged quickly and ferociously. However, Xiao Yan did not have the leisure to bother about them; his mind was entirely focused on the small empty space at the middle of the vortex that was formed from the fast rotation.

Seeing that his actions were effective, Xiao Yan increased the strength of his Spiritual Perception that was surrounding the vortex. Following the increase in strength of the spiritual awareness, the speed that the vortex was spinning at grew increasingly fast. In the end, the orbit of the pale yellow colored vortex could no longer be seen while the sound of a shapeless wind reverberated outside of the vortex. Xiao Yan’s mind continued to observe the middle of the vortex where the empty space was growing wider. When it was approximately the size of a fist, Xiao Yan finally gave a relieved sigh and slowly withdrew his Spiritual Perception from the vortex.

After the Spiritual Perception was entirely withdrawn, the rotation speed of the vortex also began to gradually become weaker. As for the hole in the middle of the vortex, it was able to form a strange equilibrium with its surroundings under the control of Xiao Yan’s mind and did not disappear with the slower rotation speed of the vortex.

Seeing that the empty space did not disappear, Xiao Yan let out another sigh in his heart. His mind slowly surrounded a thread of the purple colored energy and guided it through the blockade of the surrounding Dou Qi before inserting it into that small empty space.

Immediately after the purple colored energy entered the empty hole, Xiao Yan felt the entire vortex shake and he hurriedly used his Spiritual Perception to stabilize the vortex.

With Xiao Yan’s Spiritual Perception putting in great effort to maintain the situation, the vortex finally became steady. From within the center hole of the vortex, Xiao Yan could see that numerous threads of fire type Dou Qi were continuously escaping from the vortex and pouring into the purple colored energy occupying the empty hole.

Xiao Yan’s mind anxiously observed the small purple colored energy. As more and more fire type Dou Qi was poured into it, the purple colored energy let out a soft cry. A moment later, it began to transform under the observation of Xiao Yan’s mind.

The color of the purple colored energy became darker. When it darkened to a certain stage, the purple colored energy suddenly trembled and a faint flame rose from the purple colored energy. Instantly, the purple colored energy was consumed by the tiny purple flame.

In the dark empty hole, the purple colored flame flickered alone. Its faint warmth spewed and entered the Dou Qi vortex outside.

When the faint heat entered the Dou Qi vortex, Xiao Yan could feel that the rotation of the vortex became much faster. Xiao Yan’s initial reaction to this occurrence was shock and was instantly replaced by an uncontrolled joy. If the vortex could spin faster on its own, it meant that Xiao Yan did not need to manually control it. The Dou Qi from the surrounding environment would also automatically and continuously be poured into his body, allowing him to constantly be washed by Dou Qi. This kind of benefit was undoubtedly extremely useful for his training.

After the purple colored flame appeared in the empty hole, it was as though it had started a huge circulating machine that was slowly beginning to spin.

The purple colored flame needed to absorb the fire type Dou Qi from within the vortex in order to grow while the heat that it emitted, increased the Dou Qi absorption rate of the vortex. This ever repeating relationship significantly benefited both the Purple Flame and the vortex.

Xiao Yan’s mind observed the vortex once again. When he was certain that there were no problems, Xiao Yan finally withdrew his mind from within his body. He gradually opened his eyes and a purple light flashed across his pitch-black eyes. A moment later, his pair of eyes gradually recovered their original deep black color.

“How is it? Successful?” Seeing that Xiao Yan opened his eyes, Yao Lao, who was waiting patiently, asked.

“Yes, I’ve refined it into a Flame Seed.” Xiao Yan nodded his head and extended his palm. He rubbed his fingers gently. After a clear sound, a tiny purple colored flame rose from the tip of Xiao Yan’s finger.

With a gaze that was full of curiosity, Xiao Yan played with the purple fire that belonged to him. A moment later, his finger gently touched a mountain wall beside him. Instantly, the wall was charred.

“This thing appears to be much weaker than Teacher’s Bone Chilling Flame...” Xiao Yan bitterly smiled as he eyed the mark created by the flame.

“Of course. My Bone Chilling Flame is a Heavenly Flame and is ranked eleventh on the Heavenly Flames Ranking List. If this broken thing of yours can be compared with it, why would I have bothered taking the risk of being burnt into ashes to search for it?” When he heard Xiao Yan’s comment, Yao Lao immediately rolled his eyes and scolded him with a smile.

Xiao Yan helplessly shook his head. Those words of Yao Lao’s were a significant blow to him. Something that he had luckily obtained after going through so much effort was described as a broken thing by Yao Lao.

“Alright, stop looking so downtrodden. This Purple Flame of yours has just been born, how much strength can it have? After your raise it, it should not be too weak. Didn’t you see the strength of the Purple Flame attack by the Amethyst Winged Lion? Even that woman called Yun Zhi with her Dou Huang strength did not dare to simply block it. From this, it can be seen that this flame is not ordinary.” Seeing Xiao Yan’s disappointed expression, Yao Lao comfortingly said.

Xiao Yan sighed and nodded. With a bitter smile, he said, “If I want to raise this little Purple Flame to the strength similar to that of the Amethyst Winged Lion, I’m afraid it would take at least a few decades.”

“This is true if we use normal reasoning.” Yao Lao nodded. When he saw Xiao Yan’s depressed expression, he helplessly said, “But don’t you have the Amethyst Birth Essence? That thing is the best catalyst in raising the Purple Flame. As long as you can withstand the slight pain that it brings you, your Purple Flame should be able to grow at an extreme pace.”

“Amethyst Lion Birth Essence?”

Hearing this, Xiao Yan was momentarily stunned. Unrestrained happiness quickly filled his face as he clumsily took out a small jade bottle from the storage ring. He opened the cap and a warm unusual fragrance was emitted from it.

After taking in a deep breath of this scent that was filled with dense fire energy, Xiao Yan abruptly realised that the purple flame on his finger also became stronger under the scent.

“What a dense fire energy.” Xiao Yan involuntarily gasped as he felt the Purple Flame’s movement.

“When you train in the future, it will be best if you choose to do so under the hot sun. Additionally, you cannot consume too much of the Amethyst Lion Birth Essence. Of course, if you want to repeat the painful experience like the last time, you can ignore my words.” Yao Lao jokingly said.

Recalling the pain of his burning body the last time, Xiao Yan’s body shuddered. That feeling was not something he wanted to experience a second time.

“With your current strength, you should only use your finger to dip a little of it and swallow it into your body when you train. If you use too much you might end up burning yourself again.” Yao Lao seriously reminded.

“Ahh.” Xiao Yan quickly nodded his head. He did not dare make a joke out of this; it was more than enough to experience that kind of pain once.

“Using the Amethyst Lion Birth Essence to speed up the growth of the Purple Flame... how long will it take before it can be swallowed?” Xiao Yan tightly held the jade bottle in his hand, lifted his head and bitterly asked, “A few years? If I had that kind of time, I might as well go and search for the Heavenly Flame.”

“With the Amethyst Essence, you don’t need so much time. On top of that, it is not necessary for the Purple Flame to reach the strength of that the Amethyst Winged Lion achieved. With your current strength, if you really groom the Purple Flame to that extent, you might end up being burnt to ashes by it. If you don’t have sufficient strength, playing with fire will result in you being burnt.” Yao Lao shook his head and voiced his thoughts, “Perhaps, a month from now, you should be able to use ‘Flame Mantra’ to try and swallow the Purple Flame.”

“A month?” Xiao Yan licked his lips and softly mumbled. before quickly nodding his head seriously.

“Alright, a month from now, I’ll swallow the Purple Flame and evolve my Flame Mantra!”