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**
After waiting for about ten minutes, Yao Chen returned to the Bone Flame Ring to continue his recovery.
Then, with a faint sigh, he said, "I know you have many questions. Some things... it's time I told you."
"That Dou Huang who possessed a Heavenly Flame earlier, his name is Han Feng. He was once my student—the one I once considered the most perfect successor. His talent in alchemy was no weaker than yours.
When he was still just an infant, I rescued him from the cold ruins and raised him as my own son, nurturing him to become the perfect heir. By the age of thirteen, he was already attempting to refine fourth-tier pills. At sixteen, he had already become a low sixth-tier alchemist."
At this point, a trace of sorrow crept into Yao Chen's voice.
He shook his head slightly and continued, "But in the end, for the sake of certain things, he colluded with outsiders to betray his master. The reason I ended up in this state today... is because Han Feng and another alchemist who walks a twisted path joined forces against me."
"That bastard deserves to die!"
Hearing the grief in Yao Chen's voice, Xiao Yan, who had spent so much time with him, naturally felt a surge of injustice on his behalf.
Inside his sleeve, his fist clenched tightly.
He hadn't expected that his master had such a painful past.
At the same time, regarding that so-called "senior brother" he had only met once, Xiao Yan's feelings now burned with a near-certain intent to kill.
If before, he had only wanted to kill Han Feng for the sake of obtaining the Heavenly Flame...
Then now, he had a far more important reason: to cleanse the sect!
After a moment of silence, Xiao Yan suddenly recalled something strange and asked in confusion, "Right, master, didn't you say before that if someone hasn't cultivated Flame Mantra, their body can only hold one Heavenly Flame?
I saw earlier that Han Feng already possessed a Heavenly Flame—it looked like the fifteenth-ranked Sea Heart Flame. So why is he still after your Heavenly Flame?"
He had noticed during the fight that Han Feng clearly already had a Heavenly Flame.
And yet, the man's gaze kept drifting back with greedy intent toward the Bone Chilling Flame in Yao Chen's hand.
This nagging question had lingered in Xiao Yan's mind, and he finally couldn't help but ask it aloud.
As soon as Xiao Yan finished speaking, Yao Chen fell into a deep silence.
It was a long while before he finally responded in a hoarse, low voice, "Because... he has also cultivated Flame Mantra."
"What?!"
Xiao Yan was shocked by the revelation.
The sudden movement caused the burns on his body to split open again, and pain shot through him as he grimaced.
But in his eyes, there was only disbelief.
"However, the Flame Mantra he cultivated is only the lower volume," Yao Chen added slowly, upon seeing Xiao Yan's reaction.
Only then did Xiao Yan finally breathe a small sigh of relief.
But soon, he asked again in confusion, "The lower volume? master, I thought Flame Mantra only had one scroll?"
"Heh, the scroll you have is the original copy I acquired back then. I divided it for convenience while researching it. Because I had written down a lot of my insights, a single scroll couldn't hold all the information. So, I split it into two: an upper volume and a lower volume."
"Back when he was still my disciple, he seized the chance to ambush me with the help of the Soul Hall. But at that time, I only had the lower volume of Flame Mantra with me—the upper volume was stored in the Bone Flame Ring.
So in the rush, he was only able to obtain the lower portion of the cultivation technique. As for the upper volume, which contains the methods for devouring and merging Heavenly Flames, he never got it."
Yao Chen's voice carried a rough hoarseness, as if he was reliving those bitter memories.
Xiao Yan nodded slightly, and in his mind, Han Feng's image began to form once again.
He hadn't expected that Han Feng had also cultivated Flame Mantra...
Although it was only the lower volume of the scroll, Xiao Yan still felt an inexplicable sense of unease. That feeling was—he must kill Han Feng!
And this sensation didn't stem from Xiao Yan's own thoughts, but rather from something closer to instinct.
That instinctive reaction burrowed deep into his mind, causing the killing intent he harbored toward Han Feng to intensify several times over.
After all, the might of Flame Mantra was something he had experienced firsthand.
So long as he continued devouring powerful flames, not only could he upgrade the technique itself, but his Dou Qi cultivation would also increase without any side effects.
Back when he first refined a Beast Flame, Yao Chen had been utterly envious.
Because, according to Yao Chen, when he devoured a Heavenly Flame in the past, it had been with a risk of near-certain death, and even then, it had only been with incredible luck that he was able to find a chance to advance.
As for directly absorbing the energy of a Heavenly Flame to improve his cultivation—that was something even Yao Chen had never seen before.
Usually, when ordinary cultivators wanted to absorb a Heavenly Flame or Beast Flame, they first had to grind away the innate energy of the flame.
Only once its energy was completely depleted and it turned into a seed flame could it be absorbed safely.
So naturally, the idea of absorbing a Heavenly Flame's power to directly improve cultivation was practically unheard of.
Suddenly, a memory flashed through Xiao Yan's mind.
Just earlier, in order to escape, Yao Chen had thrown out a scroll.
With a trace of nervousness—half as if trying to comfort himself—Xiao Yan asked, "Master… that scroll you threw earlier… that wasn't Flame Mantra, right? It must've been a random scroll you tossed out, right?"
Having spent so long together, Yao Chen understood his disciple's temperament well.
Toward his own people, Xiao Yan was extremely kind and loyal.
But when it came to outsiders, he was ruthless and selfish.
Now that he knew someone else was cultivating the same heaven-defying technique, his killing intent was naturally surging.
Because the Heavenly Flames required to cultivate Flame Mantra were far too rare—even if you scoured the entire continent, you might not find more than a hundred in total.
In this situation, having even one more person cultivating Flame Mantra meant another deadly rival standing in his way.
After all, Xiao Yan wasn't the type to hand over his precious cultivation resources to anyone else.
Of course, Yao Chen didn't dislike this kind of mentality. In fact, he appreciated it.
Only with this mindset could one survive on this brutal Dou Qi Continent.
As for those true "nice guys"… they were probably long dead, feeding the soil and nourishing the plants in silence.
After a long silence, Yao Chen finally shook his head and answered honestly, "I didn't know I'd run into that bastard… so I didn't have time to make a fake Flame Mantra.
And back then, the scrolls I used to copy Flame Mantra were made from special materials. I don't have any more of those now. If I'd thrown out just any scroll, that brat wouldn't have taken the bait. So that scroll… was real."
Upon hearing that, Xiao Yan's fists clenched tightly.
The killing intent in his eyes was practically overflowing.
He had to kill Han Feng and take back the Flame Mantra!
Otherwise, once Han Feng grew stronger, things would become truly troublesome.
After all, the man had started from a higher point—and had a greater chance of finding more Heavenly Flames!
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