Chapter 194: A Single Word Is Enough

Watching the azure flames that occupied half the sky, Xiao Yan sat on the soft sedan chair, utterly helpless.

Cold one moment, hot the next—do you think you're cooking a dish?!

"Looks like accelerating Dou Qi cultivation is the only way to go." Xiao Yan was quite puzzled—clearly he was the one who had refined the Strange Fire, yet others wielded it far more powerfully.

Although Xiao Yan had indeed fully refined the fire seed of the Strange Fire, to bring out its full upper-limit might, his Dou Qi cultivation was still far too lacking.

This terrifying azure sea of fire was visible not only to the spectators watching the battle at Yun Lan Sect's plaza, but even to the common folk of Jia Ma Sheng Cheng.

"Look quickly at Yun Lan Sect's direction!"

"What on earth happened at Yun Lan Sect? What is that azure firelight?!"

"Didn't Master Xiao Yan head to Yun Lan Sect early this morning? The Mu Clan, Nan Lan Clan, and Miter Clan all followed!"

"You're saying this was caused by Master Xiao Yan?!"

In the Miter Merchant Guild, Ya Fei raised her head to look toward Yun Lan Sect, her hands pressed together as if in prayer, her face full of worry.

At this moment, within the boundless azure sea of fire, Medusa Queen resembled an empress commanding the azure flames—azure fire cradled in her palm, gazing down upon all the world with contempt.

For Medusa, already at half-step Dou Zong, manipulating the Azure Lotus Earth Core Fire was as easy as pie; the Azure Lotus Earth Core Fire was like an extension of her own arm.

This wasn't only because Xiao Yan had refined it—one must remember that the Azure Lotus Earth Core Fire had once resided within her body, so saying she had some connection to it would not be an exaggeration.

"Sigh, and just like that the Azure Lotus Earth Core Fire went cheap to that cunning human."

Medusa's beautiful eyes could not help but show a trace of lament and unwillingness, because her original plan had not been as simple as merely completing her bloodline evolution—she had also wanted to completely control the Azure Lotus Earth Core Fire for her own use.

The gap between magical beasts and humans lay not only in talent; magical beasts' Dou Techniques were also far weaker than those of humans. To bridge the gap in Dou Techniques, Medusa needed to possess a Strange Fire.

But Medusa only felt it was somewhat a pity, with no other thoughts. After all, even without Xiao Yan's appearance, she would not have been able to fully realize her original idea. Using the Azure Lotus Earth Core Fire for evolution was bound to fail, and the Ten Thousand Beast Spirit Flame had long since fallen into Xiao Yan's hands.

The azure fire dissipated. Medusa's beautiful eyes turned toward Yun Shan, whose expression was grave not far away, and she gave a cold smile. "Heh, looks like you, a Dou Zong, are rather unworthy of your reputation."

Yun Shan lowered his head to glance at his scorched palm. He had not expected that a Earth-tier Dou Technique wielded by a Dou Zong like himself would not only be neutralized by Medusa, but his palm would even be burned by the Strange Fire.

"Strange Fire—you actually possess two kinds of Strange Fire!" Yun Shan's gaze turned cold and fierce as he looked down at Xiao Yan, who sat calmly below. He could never have imagined that Xiao Yan not only possessed two kinds of Strange Fire, but that Medusa could wield one of them so skillfully!

"Oh dear, didn't your guest Elder, the Jia Ma Empire's greatest Alchemist, the Dantian Alchemist Gu He, tell you? He once tried to raid the Snake-Person Empire to steal Medusa Queen's Azure Lotus Earth Core Fire, but I heroically rescued the beauty and ruined his filthy scheme." Xiao Yan didn't even need to draft his lies—he could spin them straight from his mouth.

Yun Yun even shot Xiao Yan a glare. What kind of hero rescuing a beauty was he? He was clearly one of the robbers himself—truly, he spoke more sweetly than he sang.

Yun Shan looked at the several battlefields across the plaza below, and he actually discovered that the vast Yun Lan Sect seemed truly unable to do anything to this eighteen-year-old boy!

Xiao Yan's rallying power was far more terrifying than he had imagined—this had already reached the rallying power of a Sixth-Rank Peak Alchemist!

One half-step Dou Zong, two Dou Huangs, three Dou Wangs, and four Dou Ling shadow guards! Even he, Yun Shan, was wary of such a lineup.

He even somewhat regretted listening to Yun Leng's words.

Yun Shan looked at Medusa cradling the azure fire, a trace of wariness in his eyes—the Strange Fire's power was truly fearsome.

Yun Shan, who had originally been somewhat furious, suddenly fell silent. Lowering his head, his gaze swept across the entire Yun Lan Sect, looking at all of its disciples, and his voice rang out across the vast sect as he bellowed to the thousands of disciples: "All disciples of Yun Lan Sect, hear my command!"

"Activate the Sect-Protecting Demonic Array! Form the Yun Yan Fu Ri Formation!"

Yun Shan's voice was low and深沉, reaching every corner of Yun Lan Mountain.

Yun Lan Sect had far more disciples than just those at the plaza before them—the entire sect was enormous, with disciples too numerous to count. Many disciples had not come to watch the battle, having no interest in such matters.

"Former Sect Master Yun Shan has even brought out the Sect-Protecting Demonic Array—looks like he's truly been driven half-mad by Xiao Yan!" Hearing Yun Shan's roar, even Gu He was stunned, his brow slightly furrowed.

Yun Lan Sect naturally had its own rules. Some of its disciples and Elders had always stayed out of worldly affairs, focusing only on cultivation—like Gu He, for instance. He paid no heed to such matters; whether Yun Leng got beaten or someone got killed, he would never invoke his name as a Sixth-Rank Alchemist to rally people for revenge.

But once the Sect-Protecting Demonic Array had to be activated, it was different. This represented a life-or-death moment for Yun Lan Sect, and every member of the sect had to contribute their strength.

Hearing the cold shout that echoed across the plaza, countless Yun Lan Sect disciples were first stunned, then the countless disciples who had been cultivating rushed to the various nodes of the Demonic Array—at plazas, great halls, training grounds, dormitories, and so forth—and answered in unison before slowly closing their eyes.

Moments later, wisps of white energy rose from these great halls, an endless stream of white misty energy ascending into the sky. Even Gu He, standing in the plaza, channeled his Dou Qi into the Demonic Array.

In the end, the white energy nearly obscured the entire sky. At a glance, it resembled a sea of clouds, and Yun Shan happened to be at the very center of this cloud sea.

Seeing that the entire Yun Lan Sect had activated the Sect-Protecting Demonic Array, Medusa once again drove the Azure Lotus Earth Core Fire forward, but this time the boundless azure flames were actually blocked by some thick white energy!

Medusa's eyes flickered with seven-colored light, and the bloodline power of the Seven-Colored Devouring Sky Serpent within her erupted like a waterfall. The Azure Lotus Earth Core Fire transformed into an azure heavenly python that coiled fiercely around the entire Demonic Array and bit down hard upon the white energy.

But even so, she could not break through Yun Lan Sect's Sect-Protecting Demonic Array in a short time!

"Xiao Yan, careful!" The instant the Demonic Array took shape, Hai Bodong sensed something and shouted a warning to Xiao Yan!

The next second, a ball of white energy suddenly burst from the ground around the soft sedan chair and shot explosively toward Xiao Yan!

Crack crack crack!!! Countless strands of white energy, like Spiritual Energy Sealing Chains, instantly bound Xiao Yan's four limbs.

"Boy, though the Strange Fire is strong, it cannot overcome the countless disciples of Yun Lan Sect." Yun Shan's voice rang out from midair—his objective had always been to keep Xiao Yan here.

Bound, Xiao Yan looked up at Yun Shan in the sky and shook his head helplessly. "Sigh, what a hassle."

"Ling Lao, if I were to ask you to act, I wonder what conditions you would require."

The moment Xiao Yan's words fell, the shadows on the side of the soft sedan chair began to wriggle eerily. Moments later, a black shadow slowly emerged, and in the blink of an eye, a figure clad in a black robe appeared in everyone's sight out of thin air.

With the black shadow's appearance, the expressions of Hai Bodong, Jia Xingtian, Fa Ma, Yun Leng, and the others present changed drastically almost instantly.

Another Dou Huang has arrived?!

Ling Ying slowly bowed and said respectfully, "Only a single word from Young Master Xiao Yan is enough."

This was the trump card Xiao Yan had been hiding all along: living off a woman! Xiao Yan didn't want to live off a woman either! But it was simply too delicious!

"Is that so? Then sorry to trouble you, Ling Lao."

Ling Ying's gaze hardened, and instantly Dou Qi erupted from his entire body. The surrounding Heavenly Energy actually turned violent at that very moment.

"Mountain-Opening Seal!"

(End of this chapter)