"Elder Yao, we can discuss this another time. Since we have all the materials, there must be a way. We can't just give up on something just because it's difficult, can we?"
Yan Qingshan smiled and continued, "I want to make a deal with you, Elder Yao. I can help you refine a new body. In return, you will give me this Fallen Heart Flame, and after I successfully refine your body, I'll need you to protect me for a period of time."
The Venerable Tianhuo was first stunned, then a knowing smile appeared on his face. "A period of time, kid? You're playing mind games with me! You should know, a Dou Venerate expert isn't someone ordinary people can just hire."
Yan Qingshan tilted his head and smiled. "To be honest, Elder, I am already a sixth-grade alchemist and will soon advance to the seventh grade. I can basically provide everything you need. And is it easy for you to find another person who meets these conditions?"
"A sixth-grade alchemist! Kid, you can't even be twenty yet, can you?"
The Venerable Tianhuo looked at Yan Qingshan in utter shock. He had guessed that Yan Qingshan could refine pill; a wood-attribute practitioner who had subdued a heavenly flame would likely be smart enough to learn alchemy.
But the Venerable Tianhuo never expected Yan Qingshan to be a sixth-grade alchemist. In the Central Plains, where experts were as numerous as clouds, an alchemist of this level was incredibly rare, and their status was far superior to that of a Dou Ancestor expert.
Yan Qingshan spread his hand, and the Green Lotus Core Flame on his fingertip pulsed and converged into a distinct miniature cauldron. "I'm the real deal! To be honest, the Soul Cultivating Saliva you just took was my creation."
The Venerable Tianhuo stared at Yan Qingshan for a long time. Finally, he tossed the other Fallen Heart Flame to him. "Kid, you win. It's yours."
Without hesitation, he tossed it. The young Fallen Heart Flame suspended in his hand floated toward Yan Qingshan.
Yan Qingshan caught the Fallen Heart Flame with a wave of his hand and quickly took out the "Fire Gathering Gourd" prepared by the Inner Academy. The Fallen Heart Flame fell into the gourd, and a faint temperature began to rise.
An invisible fluctuation was quietly spreading out. Being extremely familiar with the Fallen Heart Flame, he knew that this invisible fluctuation was the very "fire energy" needed by the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower.
"Thank you, Elder."
Yan Qingshan bowed to the Venerable Tianhuo. If the old man had not been willing to give up the other Fallen Heart Flame, he would have had to risk trying to separate a sub-flame from the one sealed in his storage ring. This was different from the wisp of sub-flame sealed in the jade bottle.
Yan Qingshan had previously obtained a wisp of the Bone Chilling Flame's sub-flame from Yao Lao, which could only be used a few times before dissipating. While it had an effect on the heavenly flame, it wasn't a major issue.
However, separating a sub-flame had a significant impact on the heavenly flame itself, akin to splitting off a clone. The sub-flame could, by a strange coincidence, even turn into a new heavenly flame, essentially forcibly splitting off another main body, causing significant damage to the original's core and requiring a very long time to recover.
"Sigh..."
The Venerable Tianhuo sighed. He watched as Yan Qingshan placed the Fire Gathering Gourd in the same spot where the Fallen Heart Flame had been sealed. He took one last, deep look at the heavenly flame that had accompanied him for a thousand years, growing from a seed to its current young form, before retreating into the storage ring and falling silent.
The light on Yan Qingshan's palm swirled, and a pair of jade-like bone wings appeared in his hand. They were the split-off wings of the Heaven Demon Phoenix.
As soon as the demon phoenix wings appeared, Yan Qingshan tossed them above the Fire Gathering Gourd. He then channeled the surrounding fiery energy, causing the Fallen Heart Flame, which resembled a tiny flame, to surge upwards. The invisible flame completely enveloped the entire pair of bone wings.
"Roar~~~"
A heaven-shaking beast roar suddenly rang out. The roar carried a terrifying ferocity and brutality. However, as the Fallen Heart Flame scorched the wings, countless gray energies were refined out.
Yan Qingshan's eyes narrowed slightly as he collected the wisps of gray energy. "Muddled soul essence is hard to absorb, but just the soul essence of one magical beast, refined from residual energy, contains such impressive power!"
After an unknown period, the residual energy hidden within the jade bone wings was completely refined and destroyed by the Fallen Heart Flame. The dissipated soul power was also fully collected by Yan Qingshan.
"Sky Bird Nine Flying Wings!"
A glint appeared in Yan Qingshan's eyes. He glanced at the Roc Demon puppet next to him, and a satisfied smile formed on his lips.
Yan Qingshan controlled his Dou Qi to pull the jade bone wings floating in front of him and gripped them. They felt cold to the touch, but also had a faint warmth, like a warm piece of jade, giving him a pleasant sensation.
The profound Green Lotus Core Flame once again surged, completely enveloping the bone wings. Inside a large cauldron of flame, the demon phoenix bone wings continuously bobbed up and down. Under the high temperature, wisps of residual gray energy were once again refined out.
This time, it took a very long time for the gray energies to stop acting up, and they were all completely refined and collected by Yan Qingshan.
After a continuous scorching for more than two hours, the jade bone wings finally changed. A drop of thick, jade-colored liquid dripped from their translucent surface. This drop of jade liquid didn't dissipate but instead floated and slowly rolled in the flame.
The appearance of this first drop of jade liquid seemed to trigger a chain reaction, as a steady stream of the same liquid began to ooze from the bone wings, making a faint dripping sound.
In less than half an hour, a small channel about half an inch deep had formed beneath the jade bone wings, while the wings themselves had shrunk by nearly half.
Yan Qingshan's expression remained unchanged as he controlled the temperature. After a long time, the jade bone wings completely vanished, leaving only a pool of thick, jade-colored liquid floating in the flame.
This pool of liquid formed tiny bubbles under the high temperature, and each time a bubble burst, it released a wisp of a strange, unique energy.
Following this, a dozen or so silvery bones appeared. They were directly cast into the flame, and to the sound of a strange, low rumbling, they gradually turned into silver powder and were sprinkled into the jade-colored liquid.
After this, Yan Qingshan successively took out some strange and curious items from his storage ring, including feathers, bone spurs, and many small wings.
Although these items were of different shapes, they all had one thing in common: they contained a certain energy. While this energy wasn't extremely strong, it was enough to give the new wings a significant boost.
When all these items were refined and merged into the jade-colored liquid, its originally translucent color became much more concentrated, and it even had a few different-colored streaks, making it look incredibly mystical.
After an unknown period, Yan Qingshan had refined this mass of jade liquid into a pair of massive bone wings, about ten feet wide.
The edges of these bone wings extended into small, silvery spurs about an inch long, and other parts had wondrous, differently colored patterns, giving them an incredibly mysterious and magnificent appearance, each with a different function and advantage.
This pair of Sky Bird Nine Flying Wings, with the Heaven Demon Phoenix bone wings as their main body, was finally complete.
Yan Qingshan guided the mini bone wings, which were only palm-sized, to face him, and a smile appeared on his lips. He bit his middle finger, and as he channeled his Dou Qi, a drop of crimson blood dripped out, slowly landing on the bone wings.
The moment the blood touched the bone wings, they quickly absorbed it and erupted with a powerful jade-colored light. With a swoosh, they turned into a streak of light and shot into Yan Qingshan's body.
As the bone wings entered his body, Yan Qingshan felt a scorching pain in his shoulders. Immediately, a pair of light purple wings dropped off from his shoulders. The domineering Heaven Demon Phoenix Wings had directly forced out Yan Qingshan's original Purple Cloud Wings.
The fact that it could so easily force out the Purple Cloud Wings showed that its grade was far higher. The Purple Cloud Wings were high-level Xuan tier, so this pair of bone wings was at least Di tier.
The scenery in the underground magma world was almost unchanging, and time seemed to stand still. Two months later, Yan Qingshan, who had been in seclusion for a long time, held a small gourd and pushed open the door to the tunnel.
"Ah! This feeling of advancement is really great! Thank you, Ah Xie (scorpion demon). You truly are my good subordinate, sending me such a big gift before your death."
Yan Qingshan's body made a series of sounds as he laughed heartily at the Scorpion Demon Puppet that had been guarding him. After more than two months of intense cultivation, his cultivation had made significant progress.
After a part of the Demon Poison Spot was refined, his cultivation advanced to the five-star Dou Emperor level. And it seemed that it had been less than a year since he broke through to the Dou Emperor realm. Four stars in one year—this speed was a bit exaggerated.
If the news of him breaking through four stars in one year were to spread, it would probably make many Dou Emperor experts ashamed to death. At the Dou Emperor level, the norm for most people was that they might not even be able to advance a single star even after one or several years of effort.
Yan Qingshan was able to progress so quickly for a few reasons. One was his decent talent, and the other was his much better cultivation environment. With the Fire Gathering Gourd, the Fallen Heart Flame was speeding up his cultivation the entire time. Two months of his hard work were equivalent to more than five months for others.
The Fallen Heart Flame was very useful, but the "good guy" from the Ten Thousand Scorpion Gate was "squeezed dry" by Yan Qingshan during this process.
The Ten Thousand Scorpion Gate's treasures enriched Yan Qingshan's personal vault, all of their books enriched his database, their soul was absorbed by someone else, and their corpse was used for its remaining value to become Yan Qingshan's bodyguard. Now, the dying curse of the Demon Poison Spot became an aid for Yan Qingshan's cultivation.
It's estimated that if this Dou Ancestor expert knew his corpse would be treated in so many different ways after his death, he might have chosen to self-destruct before he died. Unfortunately, there's no medicine for regret, so he could only endure it.