Sea God Island, the wooden cabin beside the Golden Ancient Tree.
Fang Yang stood before the window, his gaze distant as he looked toward the shimmering sea in the distance.
Morning light filtered through the thin mist, coating him in a faint golden halo.
After a moment, he spoke softly, "Gu Yue, go bring Xiao Yan back."
"Alright."
Gu Yuena nodded slightly.
She extended her delicate jade hand and traced lightly through the air. Where her fingertips passed, silver light flowed, and the surrounding space rippled like water.
A silver-white spatial gate slowly formed, with specks of silver light inside leading to another place.
Gu Yuena turned back to look at Fang Yang, her eyes swirling with light. "Over here..."
"It's fine."
Fang Yang waved his hand gently. "I have my own measure."
Gu Yuena said no more. She turned and stepped into the spatial gate.
With a faint spatial fluctuation, her figure completely disappeared from where she stood, leaving only a few strands of silver light slowly dissipating.
As for Na'er, she had gone to Ya Li's side early in the morning.
Fang Yang stood quietly before the window for a moment, sensing the life aura emanating from the Golden Ancient Tree.
Then he slowly walked to the meditation cushion in the center of the room and sat cross-legged.
He closed his eyes, his breathing gradually becoming long and rhythmic as his consciousness slowly sank into his body.
A faint Dou Qi fluctuation emanated from him, causing even the air to tremble.
In the next moment, his consciousness instantly sank into the interior space of the Heavenly Flame Orb.
The world before his eyes began to twist and change. When Fang Yang opened his eyes again, the familiar Heavenly Flame Plaza stood before him.
Twenty-three towering pillars stood majestically, each wrapped in flames of different colors, emitting heart-palpitating energy fluctuations.
Currently, Fang Yang's strength has reached five-star Dou Zong.
The remaining four Heavenly Flames toward the back of the Heavenly Flame Rankings would temporarily be of little help to him.
This time, Fang Yang intended to devour the top ten Heavenly Flames from the rankings.
His gaze slowly landed on two of the towering pillars.
One pillar was wrapped in black flames, with yin winds howling. Faintly, one could hear strange wind sounds emanating from within, making one's mind uneasy.
The other pillar held purple-black flames, upon which brilliant starry sky patterns emerged, as if containing the entire Milky Way within.
"Tenth on the Heavenly Flame Rankings, Nine Serene Wind Flame, and ninth on the Heavenly Flame Rankings, Three Thousand Burning Flame."
Fang Yang's voice echoed through the empty plaza, carrying some heaviness.
Nine Serene Wind Flame, born in the endless abyss of extreme yin lands.
There, yin winds blew year-round, and this Heavenly Flame formed where the wind gang was most violent. This flame had a strange wind sound emanating from within.
And this wind sound, when entering human ears, would cause one to feel a trace of unusual irritability. This strange sound could trigger emotional fluctuations.
The Three Thousand Burning Flame was also known as "Three Thousand Starry Sky Flame." It formed in the starry sky and could continuously grow stronger by absorbing star power.
When star fire descended from the heavens, a thousand miles of land would be like a desert, with no distinction between day and night, no stars visible, and no blazing sun emerging.
Because it existed in the starry sky, a place ordinary people could hardly reach, the Three Thousand Burning Flame generally existed for longer periods than other Heavenly Flames, and possessed higher spiritual intelligence.
And precisely because of this, it was given sufficient time to evolve. So most discovered Three Thousand Burning Flames belonged to the category of super heaven-and-earth spiritual objects with quite high spiritual intelligence. Even if one found them, capturing them would be extremely difficult.
This Heavenly Flame possessed an especially special ability—the so-called "Three Thousand Starry Sky Constitution" of legend.
Some experts who had once fought against those who possessed Three Thousand Burning Flame called it the "Undying Body," possessing extremely powerful recovery abilities.
As long as one wasn't blasted into meat paste, any injury could recover—it was only a matter of time.
Fang Yang sat cross-legged before the two towering pillars.
As his thoughts turned, the Heavenly Flame Orb within his body began to tremble violently. The ancient runes inscribed on the pearl's surface seemed to come alive, emitting mysterious light.
"Release!"
Accompanied by a low shout.
Crack... crack...
The ancient sealing runes binding the Nine Serene Wind Flame and Three Thousand Starry Sky Flame on the two giant pillars cracked and shattered inch by inch, emitting crisp shattering sounds.
The moment the seal broke, the black and purple-black Heavenly Flames suddenly went berserk!
The Nine Serene Wind Flame transformed into a huge black phoenix, spreading its wings and crying out long. Eerie winds howled, and strange wind sounds echoed through the space, disturbing people's minds.
The Three Thousand Starry Sky Flame transformed into a purple-black giant dragon, with starlight speckling its body. It roared toward the sky, and scorching flames swept across the entire plaza.
The two terrifying energies intertwined yet repelled each other, raising towering fire waves on the Heavenly Flame Plaza.
Scorching air currents assaulted his face, and even space twisted slightly under the high temperature.
Fang Yang's expression was grave, and vast Dou Qi surged out from within his body.
The black Nine Serene Wind Flame and purple-black Three Thousand Starry Sky Flame intertwined and circled in the air, emitting deafening rumbles.
Wave after wave of scorching fire surges impacted Fang Yang's protective Dou Qi, and the entire Heavenly Flame space trembled violently.
The Flame Mantra within Fang Yang's body operated frantically, with Dou Qi continuously emerging to form a huge vortex, beginning to forcibly devour the two Heavenly Flames.
"Roar—!"
The purple-black giant dragon formed by the Three Thousand Starry Sky Flame let out a heaven-shaking roar, its dragon tail sweeping across with destructive force straight at Fang Yang.
The black phoenix formed by the Nine Serene Wind Flame emitted ear-piercing screeches, with strange wind sounds striking directly at the depths of the soul.
Fang Yang grunted, and a trace of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.
Simultaneously confronting two top-ten Heavenly Flames, even with his five-star Dou Zong strength, he felt extremely strained.
But his eyes remained determined, operating the Flame Mantra to its extreme.
"Devour!"
Fang Yang shouted hoarsely, and black light flourished around him.
The vortex formed by the Void Black Flame suddenly expanded, forcibly drawing the two Heavenly Flames into it.
The Nine Serene Wind Flame and Three Thousand Starry Sky Flame struggled frantically, trying to break free.
Black and purple-black flames collided fiercely within the vortex, erupting with terrifying energy fluctuations.
The entire Heavenly Flame space shook violently.
Fang Yang's face was pale, and fine beads of sweat seeped from his forehead.
He could sense the terrifying energy contained within the two Heavenly Flames madly impacting his meridians.
But he still gritted his teeth and persisted, operating the Flame Mantra without stopping, refining these two powerful Heavenly Flames bit by bit.
Time crawled slowly. After who knew how long, the struggles of the two Heavenly Flames gradually weakened.
The figures of the black phoenix and purple-black dragon began to blur, finally transforming into two streams of pure energy that Fang Yang completely devoured.
"Whew..."
Fang Yang let out a long breath and slowly opened his eyes.
A flash of black light and purple light passed through his eyes, and the aura around him was several times stronger than before.
"First Turn Dou Zun!"
(T/N: The wiki calls it the 'Nine Changes to turn Sheng')
Fang Yang sensed the surging power within his body, and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
Simultaneously devouring two top-ten Heavenly Flames had caused his strength to achieve a qualitative leap.
The strange wind sounds of the Nine Serene Wind Flame and the Undying Body characteristic of the Three Thousand Starry Sky Flame would both become powerful aids for him.
His consciousness returned to reality, and Fang Yang slowly opened his eyes. The life aura emanating from the Golden Ancient Tree made him feel a burst of comfort.
"Next, I should prepare for the matter of heading to Mingdu." Fang Yang murmured softly, his gaze looking into the distance.
"Tomorrow, the Sun-Moon Federation capital parliament is about to convene. At that time, the fate of the entire continent will welcome a new turning point."
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