After pouring countless Pill Thunder Orbs into it, the Yuan Spirit Flame finally carried a trace of destructive fluctuation. Unfortunately, this destructive force was artificially generated and still fell short of true Heavenly Flames that were birthed by heaven and earth. As a result, its power was still slightly inferior to genuine Heavenly Flames—but even so, Xiao Yan was more than satisfied.
However, while he was nurturing this flame, he constantly caught Xiao Yao squatting beside him and giggling foolishly. After asking her, he discovered that as a Flame Spirit, she originally shouldn't possess the ability to reproduce. Yet she saw this man-made Yuan Spirit Flame as the crystallization of their love...
Xiao Yan was utterly speechless. Especially when he learned that Xiao Yao had even named this artificial flame with a girl's name—his feet even began cramping. 'A Heavenly Flame… actually has a gender?'
Creating the flame seed was only the first step. To make it grow stronger, it needed to be constantly fed with flames. But Xiao Yan no longer had surplus beast flames on hand, and this world didn't even have such a thing. Just as he was planning to use ordinary flames as a substitute, he suddenly remembered his Heavenly Demon Phoenix slaughterhouse. Didn't those feathered beasts have beast flames? And their quality wasn't low either—perfect for feeding the Yuan Spirit Flame.
Thus, on top of being drained for blood, marrow, feathers, and wings, the Heavenly Demon Phoenix clan now had an additional procedure: flame extraction. Their already miserable captive life grew even more wretched. But under the nourishment of these beast flames, the Yuan Spirit Flame grew stronger by the day. Perhaps due to absorbing too many Heavenly Demon Phoenix beast flames, faint phoenix cries could now be heard from within the flame.
Just as Xiao Yan was rejoicing at the strengthening of the Yuan Spirit Flame, Qing Tan suddenly sought him out. Xiao Yan didn't have much of a favorable impression of this now strongest expert in the Tianxuan Continent. After all, they had no connection beyond the incident in the illusion realm. Qing Tan clearly had no fondness for this "savior" either. So her initiative to come find him genuinely caught him off guard.
Upon seeing her, Xiao Yan suddenly sensed the Ice Ancestral Symbol among the Eight Ancestral Symbols tremble slightly. It was as if it felt an inexplicable closeness to her. But as far as he remembered from what Lin Jing had mentioned before, Qing Tan was originally the wielder of the Darkness Ancestral Symbol. If there were any reaction, it should have been from the Darkness Symbol, not this one she had no ties to.
For some reason, Xiao Yan recalled what the Plane Spirit had once said—that Qing Tan had shown signs of fate-based energy fluctuations. Coupled with the past stories he'd recently learned from the Ancestral Stone about the Eight Ancient Masters and Lin Dong, he formed a bold hypothesis. Perhaps Qing Tan was the true Ice Master, and Ying Huanhuan had merely been the result of fate's interference.
The Ancestral Stone once said the Ice Master had been found by Fu Zu in a snowfield, and Qing Tan too had been adopted by Lin Dong's parents after being discovered in the snow. Moreover, she had frequently erupted with chilling energy as a child and was regarded as a cursed body. Her earliest cultivation techniques were also all ice-attributed.
But after Ying Huanhuan's appearance, Qing Tan's ice abilities vanished without a trace—replaced by dark power she had no former affinity with. Meanwhile, Ying Huanhuan, who'd never had any ice affinity before, suddenly became the Ice Master of the Eight Ancient Masters.
Of course, all of this was just Xiao Yan's speculation. One of the key figures was already dead, and dredging up the past now seemed meaningless. More importantly, Xiao Yan had no interest in correcting fate's twists. What intrigued him more was why this woman had come looking for him.
"Miss Qing Tan, do you need something?"
"I heard from the Plane Spirit… You're not from this world, right?" Qing Tan stared at the calm black-haired youth, her expression slightly complex. Even now, she didn't particularly like Xiao Yan. Yet she couldn't deny that he had indeed saved the world. As the current Lord of the Plane, it was natural that a hint of reverence crept into her tone while speaking to him.
Of course, reverence wasn't the main reason behind her tangled emotions. That lay in the things that had occurred within the Eternal Illusory Demon Flower's illusion. Xiao Yan might regard it as nothing more than a dream, but Qing Tan could not. Those hundreds of reincarnations had long carved themselves into her soul, leaving her with an extremely complicated view of Xiao Yan.
"That's right." Xiao Yan didn't deny it. There was no reason to. Even if he hadn't broken through to the Dou Di level, she wouldn't have posed any threat to him.
"Then… you should be preparing to leave this world soon, right?" Qing Tan asked. In her mind, Xiao Yan was like Fu Zu, someone who had come to the Tianxuan Continent for the sake of the Plane Embryo. Now that he had obtained it, it was only natural for him to leave.
She had no idea how wildly off the mark her theory was. While the outcome was correct, the reasoning couldn't have been further from the truth. Xiao Yan had known nothing about the Plane Embryo until he'd heard it mentioned by the Yimo Emperor. The only reason he ended up here was because he'd been tricked by the Plane Spirit…
"I'll leave after a while," Xiao Yan replied calmly. In truth, if not for his serious injuries needing time to heal—and the materials required to forge the Yuan Spirit Armaments being native to Tianxuan Continent—he would have left long ago. As the holder of the Plane Embryo, he could now open interdimensional gateways. That was how the Plane Spirit had brought him here in the first place.
"If you leave, then what about Jing'er? She's your disciple—are you just going to abandon her?" Qing Tan couldn't help but question him.
"What does her future have to do with me?" Xiao Yan frowned slightly. He had only accepted Lin Jing as a disciple on a whim and had never intended to bring her back to the Dou Qi Continent. "It's not like she'll die without me."
"But she relies on you a lot!" Qing Tan bit her lip lightly. She was no fool—she could tell that Lin Jing had feelings for Xiao Yan. Though the gap between them was immense, if Xiao Yan left this world, even the last sliver of hope would vanish.
"And didn't you rely on that Lin Dong a lot too? He's been dead for over ten years, but you're still alive and well." Xiao Yan gave her a cold glance. "Besides, I think staying in this world is the best for her. The Yimo are gone, and with her talent, she'll probably become a peak expert here in no time. Why should I worry?"
"But then who will take care of her?"
"First of all, she's not a child. As a mentally sound young woman, I don't think she needs someone to take care of her. Second…" Xiao Yan paused, turning his gaze toward Qing Tan as he said slowly, "You keep trying to push the responsibility onto me. But what about you? As her aunt—and perhaps even her adoptive mother—what have you done? Don't tell me you plan to slit your throat and join your precious Lin Dong in the afterlife."
(End of Chapter)
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