In the inner courtyard, in a quiet courtyard.
The outer courtyard dean, Hu Qian, was drinking tea with the inner courtyard's Grand Elder, Su Qian. Looking at the old man's calm expression, he couldn't help but ask, "You're just leaving him in the inner courtyard like this? Actually, I think this kid is very worthy of cultivation. A Dou Wang under eighteen years old, and also a fifth-grade alchemist. He'll definitely become a strongman in the future."
"But his identity and background are very complicated. It's not a good thing for Canaan Academy to be too deeply involved with him. As things are now, I think it's very good."
Su Qian took a sip of fragrant tea, his gaze slightly lowered, his tone somewhat solemn, and slowly said.
The more one understands those clans, the more one can discover their arrogance and domineering nature. That arrogance revealed in their very bones is absolutely undeniable. Take Yao Yan, for example. Although it was only their first meeting, and the other party seemed very 'down on his luck,' having wandered here, the other party didn't show the slightest reverence even when facing him, a Dou Zong powerhouse.
That calmness and composure seemed to speak of his own confidence.
Could an ordinary young man remain so calm and composed when encountering a true Dou Zong expert?
"Not refusing, not engaging in in-depth communication... means you don't have to take responsibility either. You old fool, you're really cunning. This way you don't offend either side, but it seems you can't befriend this little monster either," Hu Qian said with some regret. He had high hopes for Yao Yan, as the other's talent was terrifying, unlike anything he had ever seen.
"He's already a five-star Dou Wang. Canaan Academy can't offer him much more help anymore..."
Su Qian said softly, a hint of melancholy in his eyes. Over the years, he had seen countless prodigies leave. Every gifted individual, after reaching the Dou Wang level, would choose to leave Canaan Academy and venture out into the world, some even going directly to Zhongzhou.
Some of them would make a name for themselves in Zhongzhou, while others would disappear without a trace.
Generation after generation...
"That's true,"
Hu Qian said, startled, then sighed softly.
Canaan Academy trains its students starting from the Dou Zhe level, taking approximately three to five years to cultivate them into Great Dou Shi. Those with exceptional talent can then pursue further studies in the inner academy, gaining the qualification to enter the Heavenly Flame Refining Tower, thus maintaining a rapid cultivation speed.
However, this cultivation speed decreases significantly after reaching the Dou Wang level.
Canaan Academy struggles to offer sufficient attraction for cultivators above the Dou Wang level, both in terms of natural energy and cultivation resources, making it difficult to retain them. Someone like Yao Yan, who proactively sought him out, is the first such case in many years.
Su Qian pondered for a moment, looking at Hu Qian, and said, "If you hadn't said he possessed the Azure Lotus Earth Core Flame, I would have even suspected he entered Canaan Academy for the Fallen Heart Flame."
He still harbored some wariness towards Yao Yan, this outsider.
Hearing this, Hu Qian couldn't help but laugh, "You're overthinking it. Even if he did, it wouldn't matter. That place has a seal left by the Dean; with that kid's strength, there's no way he could break it."
The Dean was a Dou Zun-level expert; that powerful spatial seal was extremely difficult for even a Dou Wang to approach, let alone break.
Su Qian nodded, then stopped dwelling on the matter. Whether Yao Yan had a problem or not would be known after some time. No one could hide forever. If he remained obedient, Canaan Academy wouldn't mind having another monstrously talented instructor.
"By the way, where did that little girl you brought back a while ago go?" Hu Qian suddenly asked, somewhat puzzled.
Hearing his old friend's question, Su Qian's face immediately showed heartache, and he said helplessly, "She went to the mountain range."
"You're relieved?!"
Hu Qian was stunned and said with some surprise, because when he saw the little girl, she looked only five or six years old, clearly a magical beast cub. How could Su Qian, this old man, dare to let her go alone to the mountain range full of magical beasts?
Su Qian smiled bitterly and said, "I don't know what kind of magical beast that little girl is in her true form. Her physique is incredibly strong. Ordinary third or fourth-tier magical beasts are no match for her at all. She even dares to touch fifth-tier magical beasts. I was worried about her before, but later I stopped paying attention to her... I couldn't control her anyway, her appetite is too big."
There was something he didn't say, which was that if he continued to raise her, he might not be able to afford it.
Those humans ate rare and precious herbs that would easily cause them to explode, but that little girl ate them like candy. Her mouth was like a bottomless pit, accepting everything without hesitation, as if she were a starving ghost reincarnated, who knows how many years she had been starving.
"So monstrous?!"
Hu Qian was somewhat surprised upon hearing this. Unlike humans, magical beasts mostly rely on bloodline inheritance or evolution. Generally, offspring of powerful bloodlines can display their formidable bloodline talents from a young age, such as strength, defense, and recovery. These are the most basic standards.
"Her true form is very special." Su Qian nodded, his expression becoming more serious. "I even suspect that her parents are eighth-tier magical beasts... This is why we didn't keep her in the inner courtyard. Furthermore, I discovered that she can use spatial power, which may be related to her racial talent."
Spatial power?!
Hu Qian was shocked, because spatial power is a power that only those above the Dou Zong level or seventh-tier magical beasts can use. There seem to be very few magical beasts that are good at using spatial power, and he had never heard of a cub being able to do it.
"This is a real gem!" Hu Qian couldn't help but laugh.
"Bao is indeed a treasure... but she eats way too much."
Su Qian said, somewhat amused and exasperated. He didn't know whether to be happy or sad. A gifted magical beast cub needs a massive amount of resources to grow up. He'd been raising her for months and was almost out of money, which was why he'd abandoned her in the mountains.
"Stop complaining about being poor. Just consider it raising a daughter. This old man needs to go back and see his granddaughter. I'm off!"
Hu Qian smiled, stood up to take his leave, and then, under Su Qian's gaze, strode away with a smug look.
"..."
Su Qian fell silent at those words. After a moment, a hint of melancholy appeared on his face as he thought of his own bygone years. Who hasn't been young... who hasn't fallen in love with a woman in their youth...
?
Meanwhile, Xiong Zhuang had been completely subdued by Yao Yan. Facing a teacher far stronger than himself, he was quite pragmatic.
As the saying goes, pragmatism is the mark of a hero!
Admitting defeat when you can't win isn't shameful.
Xiong Zhuang was clearly the most outstanding among them. Amidst the stunned gazes of the group, he bowed and scraped, serving Yao Yan and introducing the Heavenly Flame Refining Tower to his new teacher. He said, "Teacher, this is your first time here, so please be careful. Once inside, an invisible flame will appear within your body. It will help us refine our battle qi and increase our cultivation speed, but the first time might be a little painful."
Not a bad person at all,
Yao Yan thought. He understood Xiong Zhuang's character better now; he knew Xiong Zhuang was giving a well-intentioned warning. Entering the Heavenly Flame Refining Tower for the first time could easily lead to injury. The Fallen Heart Flame was no joke; even a small amount of it could instantly injure a Great Battle Master. If one wasn't careful, even a Battle Spirit would suffer a great loss.
"Thank you for the reminder,"
Yao Yan smiled, and together they stepped into the Heavenly Flame Refining Tower.
Xiong Zhuang chuckled憨厚ly and followed obediently behind him. He wasn't being kind; it was simply because Yao Yan was too strong. Even without his warning, nothing serious would likely happen. On the contrary, if Yao Yan suffered a loss inside the tower and then sought revenge, things would be terrible.
A smart person knows how to solve this problem.
At this moment, Yao Yan had already entered. As the light dimmed, his feet touched solid stone, and a burning sensation rose from the depths of his heart. That warmth instantly ignited his internal fighting spirit, and invisible flames appeared out of thin air in his limbs, radiating unparalleled heat, causing his body to mist.
Xiong Zhuang experienced the same thing, but he temporarily suppressed it with his fighting spirit and didn't immediately begin cultivating. He turned to look at Yao Yan and found that the strange phenomena around Yao Yan had disappeared, and an invisible flame appeared in his palm, as if he had drawn the invisible flame from within his body.
"?!"
Xiong Zhuang was somewhat dumbfounded. This scene was beyond his comprehension. He had seen people resist with battle qi, and he had seen people cultivate cross-legged, but he had never seen anyone be able to extract it from their body. Just how strong was this teacher?! Was he
a Battle King or a Battle Emperor? It couldn't be a Battle Ancestor, could it?!
This was too terrifying!
"Interesting~"
Yao Yan did not resist. He felt the heart fire constantly surging within his body and began to sense it with great interest. He even directly used the Burning Technique to refine it. You should know that he had long since merged with the Azure Lotus Earth Core Flame. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he was a humanoid strange fire. This kind of heart fire was completely his cultivation resource.
Unlike others who used heart fire to cultivate, he completely used heart fire as cultivation resource, absorbing all the energy of this wisp of heart fire.
"Teacher... what is your strength?"
Xiong Zhuang asked with a shameless grin.
"A five-star Dou Wang,"
Yao Yan replied, dispelling the inner fire in his palm. This wisp of inner fire was far too scarce to provide him with sufficient assistance, and given the sheer volume of Dou Qi within him, he didn't know how long it would take to refine such a small amount of inner fire.
He couldn't help but look at Xiong Zhuang and ask, "There should be a cultivation chamber here, right?"
"Of course, teacher, this way please!"
Xiong Zhuang's attitude was even more humble at this moment, respectfully leading Yao Yan towards cultivation chamber number twelve. That was his daily cultivation place, the result of his many years of hard work. Although he only acquired it after surpassing the previous senior, it still demonstrated his talent.
The first level of the Heavenly Flame Qi Refining Tower had nearly a hundred cultivation chambers, divided into low-level and high-level chambers. The effects of cultivation differed between the two, and they also had certain requirements for strength. Similarly, the number of fire energy points required also varied.
However, Yao Yan soon stopped, as the two had arrived at the center of the first level.
At this moment, in the center lies a bottomless black hole, like an abyss, almost piercing through the entire Heavenly Flame Refining Tower. If not for the tower's spire shielding it, it might be visible from the sky.
Upon closer inspection, one could sense that the temperature here was far more scorching than other places; it felt as if something here was constantly radiating heat.
"The Fallen Heart Flame..."
Yao Yan's eyes flickered, a strange, azure flame appearing deep within them. As his eyes were enveloped in this flame, an invisible soul force probed into the depths of the black hole. He intended to first assess the Fallen Heart Flame's strength and see how far it had grown.
However, Yao Yan quickly discovered that he didn't seem to need to investigate anything, because the Fallen Heart Flame remained crouched around the black hole, its body constantly radiating a temperature powerful enough to distort space, scorching the surrounding spatial seals.
The spatial seal left by Mang Tianchi was indeed terrifying, but it couldn't withstand the constant burning of a strange fire. A year or two might not be noticeable, but after decades, even centuries… the so-called spatial seal had already been burned open.
"Hiss~"
Seemingly sensing the probing, the invisible fire python lying on the spatial seal opened its ferocious eyes and let out a roar. At the same time, the surrounding temperature rapidly increased, even baking Yao Yan's spiritual power to nothingness, making it impossible to approach. "
Truly worthy of the Fallen Heart Flame…" Yao Yan thought to himself, praising it. In terms of dealing with spiritual power alone, the Fallen Heart Flame was undoubtedly superior to the Azure Lotus Earth Core Flame.
"Do you want freedom?"
Yao Yan looked at the Fallen Heart Flame and transmitted his voice through his spiritual power.
However, he clearly overestimated the Fallen Heart Flame's intelligence. This thing was incapable of thought; it only possessed a violent desire for destruction. Unlike Ling'er's, this aura of annihilation was extremely pure. Upon sensing Yao Yan's presence, it directly pounced towards his spiritual power.
Helpless, Yao Yan condensed his soul power into a palm print and slammed it down.
"Hiss!"
The invisible fire python formed from the Fallen Heart Flame roared, being heavily slapped away, utterly unable to withstand Yao Yan's powerful soul power.
Only at the level of a seven or eight-star Dou Huang… Yao Yan instantly assessed the Fallen Heart Flame's true strength. Without the advantage of the environment, its combat power could at most contend with a peak Dou Huang. However, a strange fire is ultimately a rare treasure born of heaven and earth, especially in its birthplace; its combat power is far more than just its physical form.
The entire Heavenly Burning Qi Refining Tower, filled with the heart fire, was its aid.
In other words,
the entire Heavenly Burning Qi Refining Tower was a powder keg, and the Fallen Heart Flame was constantly accumulating power until it burst!