"Don't worry. With Brother Tian's guidance, I'm very skilled at this. There won't be any problem at all."
Xiao Yan nodded firmly. Then he remembered how, when he first proposed the idea to Xiao Tian, he had found that Xiao Tian had already been doing it for a long time, while he himself was still hesitating over whether it would even work. In the end, Xiao Tian had even produced a book full of experience and insight on controlling flame fusion and keeping the flames in balance, with still more detailed instructions and precautions for many different fusions.
Flipping through a few pages, Xiao Yan found that it seemed to have been written entirely for him, and he was moved to tears at once. He believed that Xiao Tian had compiled it especially for him from his own experience and other information. After all, among all the people Xiao Tian knew in the Boundless Heaven Divine Palace, there were very few who even had a fire attribute, let alone who played with multiple flames. Every time he thought of it, Xiao Yan was deeply touched and endlessly grateful for Xiao Tian's help. This Dou Technique especially was his greatest trump card, and it gave him the confidence to challenge opponents far above his realm.
Xiao Tian: "See? You hand him his own stuff, and he still thanks us."
"Don't worry. With this old man here, there will be no problem," Yao Lao's voice came slowly.
"Thank you, Teacher Yao!" Nalan Yanran bowed slightly to Yao Lao, then said to Xiao Yan, "I'll wait for you." She set off toward the peak he had pointed out.
Once she was gone, Xiao Yan nodded slowly to Yao Lao. "Teacher, I'm going to start." But after he spoke, he seemed to hit a dilemma. He stood where he was and scratched his head.
"What's wrong?" Yao Lao looked at him in confusion. His disciple had never been indecisive or overly soft-hearted, so why had he stopped after making up his mind?
"Teacher, how many kinds do you think I should fuse?"
"Fuse them all. With me here, there's nothing to fear."
"I'm not afraid. I'm wondering whether fusing them all will blow up the Storage Rings, too."
At his words, Yao Lao's brows twitched. He had thought the boy was struggling to choose, but he had not expected him to worry about losing the spoils of war. He truly was his black-bellied disciple, one who would pluck the feathers from a goose that merely flew past. In his mind, the earlier scene played over by itself: Xiao Yan, rear in the air, licking clean the scattered Amethyst Companion Source. You are still you, unchanged.
"Then just fuse two different flames. The power should be about the same. If they don't die, we can finish them off later." Yao Lao seemed to remember something else. "And don't add the sub-flame that brat Xiao Tian gave you, or there won't even be dregs left."
Xiao Yan was richer than ever now: the Golden Emperor Burning Heaven Flame's sub-flame, the Fallen Heart Flame, Sea Heart Flame the Green Lotus Earth Core Flame, the beast flame of the Amethyst Winged Lion King, and that strange Life-forming Flame.
"Good!" Xiao Yan set to work at once.
"What's going on? Why do I feel such a powerful fire-attribute energy fluctuation?" The Southern Pavilion Master of Wind and Thunder looked toward a place some twenty li away, his eyes full of doubt. Then a look of pleasant surprise crossed them. He knew that whenever ruins appeared, there were always powerful energy fluctuations.
He turned to the few remaining elders and disciples. "Everyone, follow me."
He took the lead and headed toward the place where the energy had erupted. But just as he began to move, a man in black robes appeared above them. "None of you are going anywhere."
The Southern Pavilion Master heard the voice, one he would never forget in his life, and looked around with a ferocious face. "Damn dog, if you have the guts, come out! If I, Yuan Lei, don't kill you, I swear I'm not a man!"
Then he saw no one, but an exquisite Fire Lotus with a long trailing tail coming toward them.
"Pavilion Master, what is this? Is it meant to compensate us with treasure?" a core disciple asked with curiosity, watching the Fire Lotus draw rapidly closer.
"Compensate your mother!" Yuan Lei kicked the foolish disciple away. He had felt a terrifying, deadly threat from above, and the aura of this Fire Lotus was the same as the energy fluctuation he had sensed earlier.
"Unleash the Luo Tian Lightning Net!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, his fingers formed seals frantically, and a clone identical to him appeared at his side, though its aura was clearly weaker than the main body's. It quickly cast a Dou Technique. The elders behind him hurriedly circulated their Dou Qi and formed the same hand seals.
The Fire Lotus with the trailing tail swelled in the wind, growing from the size of a washbasin to more than ten meters across. It fell with a terrifying whistle, twisting and shattering the space it passed through. Several beams of light shot up from Yuan Lei and the Wind and Thunder elders and wove together in the air into a massive lightning net, trying to intercept the terrifying Fire Lotus.
Boom!
An earth-shaking explosion rang out. The giant Fire Lotus bloomed in the air, beautiful, and in an instant engulfed the whole valley. At the moment the Fire Lotus burst, the temperature climbed to several thousand degrees, twisting and tearing at space itself. The lightning net cast by the Wind and Thunder Pavilion shattered like thin paper before the energy and heat of the explosion.
The massive energy shockwave and heatwave leveled the whole hillside. The elders and disciples of Wind and Thunder Pavilion had no time even to scream before they were blasted to shreds by the shockwave and then vaporized by the heat.
On a cliff far from the explosion, Xiao Yan's sleeves were torn, and he was breathing slightly hard. This time, the Fire Lotus he had condensed had consumed nearly half his Dou Qi and soul.
"Yan'er, well done. This time you condensed it much faster, and it cost you much less." Yao Lao took out several pills and flicked them into Xiao Yan's mouth, including ones to restore Dou Qi and soul.
"True, but I still need more practice. I'm still far from the realm Brother Tian spoke of, where I can shove a Fire Lotus into an enemy's mouth the moment I meet him."
Condensing a Fire Lotus did cost a great deal, but who was he? An Alchemist! A hero is full of courage, and he was full of pills!
Yao Lao covered his face helplessly and blamed Xiao Tian. What kind of good person teaches his younger brother to open with a big move? How was anyone supposed to play like that? "That brat is only fooling you."
"Impossible." Xiao Yan pulled out a book, turned to a folded page, and pointed at a sentence. "Teacher, look. Brother Tian must have played this way too; otherwise, he wouldn't have reached such a conclusion."
Yao Lao leaned over and read it. It said, Too lazy to waste so many words on you. Go talk to my Lotus Fury.
He glanced at the excited Xiao Yan and could not help shaking his head. A scene even appeared in his mind: his own direct disciple, stuffing Fire Lotuses onto the enemy, asking why they wanted to be his foe. Still, it did seem rather good. He was a civilized man, after all, always winning people over with virtue. If one Fire Lotus was not enough, then two. In the end, the opponent would listen quietly to him.