'This kid may look young, but his control over flame is terrifyingly refined. Compared to those old fossils of the Fire Spirit Clan, he might even be stronger. Where in the world did such a monster of a genius come from?' Mandala couldn't help but murmur inwardly as she felt the scalding temperature that brushed within a hair's breadth of her heart, without causing even the slightest damage.
The Fire Spirit Clan was acknowledged throughout the Great Thousand World as the race most proficient in flame control. Mandala had previously fought Earth Sovereigns from that clan, and their fire mastery had left a deep impression on her. She had once believed that to be the peak of flame manipulation—but now, comparing them to Xiao Yan felt like comparing a child to a master.
That realization only made her more curious about Xiao Yan's background. Given her status, she was well aware that there were still ancient races more powerful than even the Fire Spirit Clan. Could this guy be a descendant of one of those ancient clans?
The black thorns wrapped around Mandala's heart were far tougher than the ones that had burst out earlier and were burned away with ease by the Emperor Flame. These were the true core of the curse, its original body. Even the Emperor Flame couldn't completely incinerate them in one go. However, as time passed, the black thorns slowly began to melt under the intense blaze, dripping away as inky-black liquid.
Xiao Yan didn't dare to let even those drops go unchecked. They were manifestations of pure curse energy—if any reentered Mandala's body, a new curse might take root. Splitting his focus, he continued directing the Emperor Flame to burn away the thorns while summoning another flame to form a glowing net that gathered the droplets. Vicious as these things were, they might prove useful as poison or weapons in the future.
Sensing the threat to its existence, the black thorns began a desperate counterattack. Knowing it couldn't overcome the Emperor Flame, it suddenly lunged toward Mandala's heart, clearly intending to drag her down in a suicidal burst. Even an Earth Sovereign would suffer severe consequences if their heart was damaged—survival wouldn't be impossible, but it would be extremely dangerous.
Xiao Yan, however, had foreseen this. He had long since wrapped Mandala's heart in a thin membrane of flame. No matter how the black thorns flailed or attacked, they couldn't penetrate the protective barrier. Instead, they were slowly incinerated further by the Emperor Flame's power.
When the thorns failed to breach the membrane, they abruptly changed course and surged toward Xiao Yan himself. Though he had earlier instructed the Spirit of the Ancestral Stone to guard his body, none of them had expected the curse to go on the offensive against him.
By the time they reacted, the black thorns had already entered Xiao Yan's body through his fingertip. Mandala's face went pale as she watched. Having endured the curse for so long, she understood its terrifying potency—if it truly invaded Xiao Yan's body, things could go very wrong.
But to her surprise, Xiao Yan's expression remained calm and composed, as if the soul-tearing agony she had once endured didn't even affect him. A moment later, flames erupted from his entire body, coating him in a radiant blaze that formed a translucent crystal-like shell over his skin—brilliant and impervious.
This was the Destruction Fire Body, a state created through his fusion with Xiao Yao. Rarely used, it transformed Xiao Yan into a body of pure flame, much like Xiao Yao herself. In this state, the invading curse was completely overpowered. The thorns melted instantly like snow against fire.
Just as the last of the curse's energy was about to be expelled, a thought struck Xiao Yan. He used his soul energy to guide the liquid to the tip of his finger. As the digit turned pitch black from the absorbed curse, he activated the Emperor Flame and etched a seal into it.
This wasn't the first time Xiao Yan had done something like this. Back during the Road to Reincarnation, when he helped Nalan Jie purge his soul poison, a remnant had been left behind and turned his finger black—his infamous Black Finger, a secret weapon with terrifying lethality. Now, he mimicked that process and created a second Black Finger, this time forged from curse energy.
A curse strong enough to torment an Earth Sovereign was no trivial matter. If he used it strategically, it could deal tremendous pain to his enemies in future battles. In fact, Xiao Yan slightly regretted having wiped out Nalan Yanran's entire clan; otherwise, he might have tested this new power on them just for fun.
To bind the curse, he used the Heavenly Flame Seal once developed by Yao Lao to suppress the Woeful Poison Body. Of course, that old seal wouldn't have worked here, so Xiao Yan modified it, enhancing it with the properties of the Emperor Flame. Now, the seal was strong enough to completely subdue the vicious curse energy.
Once the curse was sealed at his fingertip, Xiao Yan withdrew the last traces of the Emperor Flame from Mandala's body, taking with it the remnant droplets of black liquid. He sealed those in a specially prepared jade bottle. The thorns still embedded in her flesh had already been burned to ashes, leaving not a trace behind.
Mandala, realizing that not a single thread of the curse remained in her body, broke into a smile—one filled with genuine relief and joy. After so long living in the shadow of that curse, she had only dared to hope for partial suppression. To be free of it entirely had once seemed impossible.
Still caught up in her happiness, Mandala didn't notice a tiny detail: though the black thorns had vanished from around her heart, a small flame seal now rested deep within her body. It burned softly and harmlessly, invisible to the untrained eye. But should Xiao Yan will it, that seal could unleash pain a hundred times worse than the curse itself.
If Mandala ever betrayed him or turned hostile, the consequences would be unimaginably dire.
Luckily, she showed no such signs, which allowed Xiao Yan to quietly exhale in relief. At least for now, the situation remained under control.
(End of Chapter)
---
This Fanfiction Has Been Completed on Patreon, There is 2 Chapters Ahead of Release for Free Members on my Patreon.
Support me if you like this Fanfiction.
Patreon,com/Fallen_Archangel_
(Remove comma for dot.)
Leave a 5 star Review and a Power Stone.