Chapter 61: Devouring the Heavenly Flame
"Ah?"
Hearing this, Xiao Yixian's lips parted slightly, her expression a mix of surprise and embarrassment.
"The scent of medicine on you changed a lot—you didn't think I wouldn't notice, did you?"
Xiao Yuan spread his hands, sounding a little exasperated.
From the moment he reunited with Xiao Yixian earlier, he had noticed the difference in her medicinal scent compared to the afternoon. But he hadn't said anything—after all, with his foundation, the kind of poison she could make wouldn't be enough to take him down quickly.
Besides, before leaving, he had specifically asked Yao Lao to prepare some pills for him.
Naturally, antidotes were among them.
But Xiao Yuan didn't plan to waste one now—it wasn't necessary.
"If you knew I poisoned you, why did you still hug me so tightly?!"
Xiao Yixian bit her lip angrily.
Was teasing her really so fun?
"Well, you hugged me tightly afterward too."
Xiao Yuan blinked, speaking with perfect innocence.
"You—!"
Furious, Xiao Yixian pulled out a jade bottle and tossed it at him. "I should've poisoned you to death!"
After flinging the bottle, she sulked off and sat down on the stairs.
"Heh."
Xiao Yuan chuckled, then poured out a pill from the bottle and swallowed it without hesitation.
Seeing how casually he took the pill, Xiao Yixian's expression softened slightly. But when she noticed him looking at her, she immediately turned her head away with a pout.
Xiao Yuan walked over, placed the jade bottle gently beside her, and said softly:
"If things go wrong later, retreat back into the passage. The space here is huge, and the Heavenly Flame is still in its infant stage. Even if something happens, it won't reach that far."
With that, he turned and walked toward the Yin-Yang Dual Flame.
At the center of the cavern, the interwoven black-and-white flame quietly spun, completely unaware of the danger approaching.
Xiao Yuan suppressed his aura, hiding his Dou Qi in his Qi Vessels, appearing no different from an ordinary person.
Soon, he stood directly in front of the Heavenly Flame.
One lift of his hand, and he could touch it.
Staring at the flame, Xiao Yuan closed his eyes and took a deep breath, calming his racing heart.
When he opened his eyes again, they were calm and deep like an unmoving lake.
Resolute, he drew upon the Cold Sky Energy stored in one of the jade bottles, infused it with Dou Qi, and hurled it toward the flame.
Boom!
A wave of cold mist swept the cavern, dropping the temperature significantly.
Then, Xiao Yuan popped the Yin-Yang Yuan-Guiding Pill into his mouth and swallowed it.
Chilling Dou Qi surged into his palm as he released his soul perception, locking onto the core origin of the Heavenly Flame.
In the next moment, he thrust his hand toward the slightly weakened Yin-Yang Dual Flame.
Inside his body, his Five Element Qi Vessels trembled. Three of them merged, bursting forth with an aura comparable to a Dou Shi. On his hand, black ice crystal gloves formed, shielding him from the searing heat of the flame.
Even so, the weakened Heavenly Flame still radiated terrifying heat. Xiao Yuan felt as if he were standing in the middle of a scorching desert under a blazing sun.
"Hrk!"
Letting out a dry grunt, Xiao Yuan gritted his teeth and grabbed the flame's origin core, yanking it free.
As he did, the black-and-white flame shrank down into a small thread of fire and was absorbed back into the fire seed.
In Xiao Yuan's palm, the core now appeared as a marble-sized orb, constantly rotating with black and white energy like a Yin-Yang fish.
But instead of joy, his expression grew solemn.
From the flame's form alone, it likely wasn't without intelligence. To compress its origin so tightly, even under suppression, wasn't something easily done.
He'd have to be extremely cautious during the devouring process.
After a brief consideration, he decisively popped the flame core into his mouth.
In the next instant, his body trembled as if struck by lightning, and his face turned pale.
Inside him, the Yuan-Guiding Pill had already spread its medicinal power throughout his body. Though it couldn't block the flame's full intensity, it created an environment similar to its own nature, helping stabilize the fire.
Still, the Heavenly Flame's immense heat was unbearable.
The black-and-white fireball dissolved into tendrils of flame, racing wildly through his meridians. Wherever they passed, his meridians alternated between withering and softening, showing contradictory effects.
The pill's power kicked in, borrowing the Yin-Yang Dual Flame's energy to begin repairing the damaged channels.
In this repeated cycle of destruction and restoration, Xiao Yuan's meridians steadily grew wider and tougher.
In his Five Element Qi Vessels, Dou Qi boiled like a pot on fire, gradually being refined by the intense heat.
At the same time, influenced by the Five Vessels, Xiao Yuan's internal organs also began absorbing the energy released by the flame, starting their own strengthening process.
Sensing these changes, Xiao Yuan was astonished.
Could devouring a Heavenly Flame really be this manageable?
Inside his soul sea, the multicolored scroll began to unfurl, resonating with the flame. A booming voice echoed in his mind:
"In this world, Qi divides into Yin and Yang, becomes the Five Elements, births the Six Energies, and gives rise to all things…"
Hearing this familiar philosophy, Xiao Yuan felt a strange comfort—as if encountering a kindred spirit in a foreign land.
At the same time, new black-and-white patterns appeared on the scroll, emitting a profound aura that enveloped him. Even the raging flame within him quieted down, its heat gradually receding.
As his soul sense swept over the scroll's new contents, Xiao Yuan froze for a moment.
Could it really be done… like this?
Maybe it could!
Focusing, he directed both his Dou Qi and soul perception to chase down the rampaging Yin-Yang flames in his meridians, guiding them toward his Ren and Du meridians.
These two meridians—one yin, one yang—perfectly matched the flame's dual nature.
By using this correspondence, he could momentarily split the two: sending Yang Fire down the yang path, and Yin Fire down the yin path.
However, Yin cannot grow alone, and Yang cannot exist by itself. After a short separation, they would both weaken and eventually vanish.
So, as he guided them down toward his lower dantian, the two streams of fire would naturally seek to reunite—and in that instant of fusion, he could absorb the Spirit-Gathering Sand and fully claim the flame as his own!
(END CHAPTER)
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