Chapter 148: Heavenly Flame Three Mystical Changes?

A suddenly sweet yet icy voice reached him, making Xiao Yan roll his eyes; he sent a mental message: "Listen, Mei Du Sha Queen. The path of cultivation isn't just about fighting and killing—it's about human relations. Is this how you run your kingdom? Always threatening others? No wonder your Snake People Empire keeps declining."

Suddenly, a chilling killing intent surged from the blue lotus within his Mysterious Ring—clearly, Xiao Yan had angered this king of the Snake People Empire!

Feeling Mei Du Sha Queen's icy killing intent, Xiao Yan remained utterly calm, walking as he spoke: "Don't threaten me. Not only am I not someone who yields to threats—even if I were, you couldn't threaten me."

Xiao Yan now had plenty of confidence! Now that his Soul Force had reached the level of a Sixth-Rank Alchemist, he was even less afraid of Mei Du Sha, who hadn't yet restored her full form.

Mei Du Sha wanted the Fusion Spirit Pill not only to resolve that unknown Soul Contract, but also because her soul had been injured when Xiao Yan struck her during her evolution, and she needed the Fusion Spirit Pill to recover.

Her soul's still wounded—what the hell do I have to fear from her?

Seeing no response from Mei Du Sha, Xiao Yan quickly thought to himself: "Mei Du Sha's still digesting the Earth Core Fire Lotus Seed. She clearly needs this Fusion Spirit Pill. I'm barely one step away from reaching Five-Grade. If I need her help again later, this Fusion Spirit Pill could become a bargaining chip."

If Mei Du Sha truly reshaped her body and broke through to Dou Zong, a single Sixth-Grade Fusion Spirit Pill could sway a Dou Zong—this deal was clearly profitable no matter how you looked at it.

Xiao Yan immediately made up his mind, clasped his hands together, and murmured inwardly as if in repentance: "Sorry, everyone, my fellow contenders for the Alchemist Convention title—I really didn't want to join, and I didn't want to steal your chances of winning. But this wicked woman Mei Du Sha wants the Pill Formula for the Fusion Spirit Pill. Blame her, not me. Vengeance has its source, debts have their owner—curse her, not me."

After this act of repentance, Xiao Yan felt perfectly at ease, deciding he would go to the Alchemist Convention and bully those poor, helpless "title contenders."

After returning to the Nalan Mansion, Xiao Yan told Nalan Jie of his plan to enter the Alchemist Convention.

"Hehe, an Alchemist with an Infernal Flame? In all the many sessions of the Jia Ma Empire's Alchemist Convention, I've never heard of one ever appearing. This year's convention will surely be interesting," Nalan Jie said with a smile, stroking his beard.

Xiao Yan, however, sounded uninterested: "I think it'll be boring."

"Hahahaha, that's true too."

After bidding farewell to Old Man Nalan Jie, Xiao Yan returned to his room and took out the Black Jade Piece to study it.

But no matter how much Soul Force he applied or how hard he squeezed it, the Black Jade Piece didn't budge at all.

"How do you even use this thing? It's not like a Soul Tool."

Ordinary Soul Tools can be activated with Soul Force or external force. The reason no one ever discovered the Black Jade Piece's uniqueness was because ordinary methods couldn't activate it.

If not for that strange, soul-deep pulsation he'd felt back then, Xiao Yan would've thought it was just an ordinary Black Jade Pendant.

"Could I need to burn it?"

Xiao Yan stared at the Black Jade before him and faintly sensed a warmth emanating from within.

With a soft whoosh, a tiny tendril of Blue Lotus Earth Core Fire appeared on his fingertip, gently touching the Pendant—and the result shocked Xiao Yan.

Though it was only a small tendril of Blue Lotus Earth Core Fire, it was still an Infernal Flame—yet it left not even a single mark on the Jade!

"Interesting. Let's see how much you can take."

His heart subtly quickened its beat; Xiao Yan swallowed hard, focused his mind, and instantly, a stream of blue flame burst forth from his fingertip.

With a flick of his palm, the Black Jade Piece was instantly engulfed in the blue flame spewing from his fingertip.

As time passed, the black substance on the surface of the Jade slowly vaporized.

"So it was this black substance blocking the Soul Force—only fire can burn it away."

"This feels like some kind of trial."

The instant the black substance on the Black Jade Piece vanished completely, a blinding light erupted violently from within.

Xiao Yan reacted instantly, sealing the surrounding area with Soul Force to prevent the light from escaping.

In an instant, the light nearly drowned the entire room in darkness. Though blinding, it didn't force Xiao Yan to close his eyes—because the moment the green glow flared, countless streams of text information automatically arranged themselves in midair, forming a unique Cultivation Method!

His gaze swept across the floating light screen, finally settling on the largest characters at the top. When he made them out, his pupils shrank in shock: "Heavenly Flame Three Mystical Changes?!!!!!!"

Xiao Yan's face turned pale! He had seen this Heavenly Flame Three Mystical Changes before—in the Heaven-Rank Treasure Hall of the Soul Palace!!

And back then, it was labeled as a Heaven-Rank High-Class Secret Technique?!!?!

"How could this be? How did something from the Soul Palace end up in Jia Ma Sheng Cheng? No, no—that's not right, the Soul Palace has a presence in Jia Ma Sheng Cheng too. But then again, how could a Heaven-Rank Secret Technique from the Soul Palace end up in the Jia Ma Empire? Was that man earlier from the Soul Palace?"

A flood of suspicions flooded Xiao Yan's mind.

He narrowed his eyes, quickly scanning the Cultivation Method, and his frown deepened—because this Secret Technique's rank was absolutely not Heaven-Rank, let alone Heaven-Rank High-Class!

It definitely didn't reach Heaven-Rank. Xiao Yan estimated it was barely Earth-Rank.

He had Secret Techniques in his Mysterious Ring, but none suited him, which was why he hadn't learned them—yet this Heavenly Flame Three Mystical Changes was perfectly suited to him.

Because this Secret Technique triggered the explosive release of internal flame to temporarily boost his Dou Qi.

After a moment's thought, Xiao Yan poured his Soul Force into the floating text. Sensing his Soul Force, all the characters instantly transformed into a stream of Soul Information and flooded into his mind.

The massive influx of information slammed into his brain; his face twitched violently several times. He gritted his teeth against the discomfort, sat cross-legged immediately, closed his eyes, and began absorbing the information containing the Secret Technique's cultivation method.

"This is strange. Even though this is only the First Change of the Three Mystical Changes, the cultivation method for the First Change is complete—and yet the effect alone can't possibly be Heaven-Rank… Could something be missing? Or did the Soul Palace mislabel it?"

"Impossible. With the Soul Palace's power, mislabeling a technique's rank is unthinkable. Could the remaining two changes make this Secret Technique reach Heaven-Rank High-Class? That's even more impossible."

This confused Xiao Yan thoroughly. Logically, such a Secret Technique with three stages should be cultivated step by step, with each next stage's difficulty not exceeding the previous one by too much—or else the progression wouldn't connect.

"The scroll in the Soul Palace originally described it as: A Secret Technique created by a peak elder of a Dou Emperor Family, capable of triggering the explosive release of internal Infernal Flames to achieve temporary, explosive power boosts. This method has three changes, each requiring a different Infernal Flame. When all three changes are activated, heaven and earth tremble."

"But now, the Black Jade Piece's Heavenly Flame Three Mystical Changes says any flame will work—only the power differs. Could the flame's type determine the Secret Technique's rank? Could using Three Infernal Flames make it reach Heaven-Rank High-Class?"

"Could it really be that simple?"

(End of Chapter)