Chapter 693

A sudden hum, and a black flame appeared before Xiao Yan, blocking the residual shockwave of the pill fusion.

The true form of Void Swallowing Flame!

Void Swallowing Flame had not been refined by Xiao Yan; the fused strange fire used Mao Wu as a substitute for Heavenly Emperor Fire.

Xiao Yan glanced at Void Swallowing Flame but said nothing, instead focusing entirely on the pill fusion—merging tens of millions of medicinal materials with the Imperial Grade Embryonic Pill to fully complete it into a full Imperial Grade Pill was the most difficult step of this spirit refining.

Every single ingredient, from quantity to sequence, could not have the slightest error—not even a fraction of a second's deviation was allowed!

Each medicinal material merged into the Imperial Grade Embryonic Pill without the tiniest mistake; the fusion of every medicinal property was identical before and after, like billions of nanoscale puzzle pieces slowly and minutely assembling the entire pill.

One ingredient took one second to fuse; ten million ingredients required 115 days, 17 hours, 46 minutes, and 40 seconds.

Xiao Yan spent a full year refining the Imperial Grade Embryonic Pill!!

For Xiao Yan, this year was an agony and trial; the Burning Art blazed wildly, drawing Heavenly Energy from the entire Dou Qi Continent in an unceasing stream.

His cultivation realm rose from Eight Star Dou Sheng Mid Stage to Eight Star Dou Sheng Late Stage!

To complete the Imperial Grade Embryonic Pill, Xiao Yan collected every single medicinal material available across the entire Dou Qi Continent and drained all Heavenly Energy—so much so that the entire continent fell into a state of depleted Heavenly Energy.

Even refining a Mystical Pill could thin Heavenly Energy for ten thousand li around the Yao Realm; the energy required to complete the Imperial Grade Embryonic Pill was simply terrifying!

The very next second after 115 days, 17 hours, 46 minutes, and 40 seconds had passed since the fusion began, a Pill Fragrance appeared out of nowhere, detectable by everyone on the Dou Qi Continent.

It was as if the very space of the Dou Qi Continent had seeped with Pill Fragrance—no matter where one stood, it could still be smelled.

"The pill has formed!!"

"Imperial Grade Pill!"

At this moment, many eyes glowed with ferocity and madness; many looked up toward Xiao Yan's location.

Even with his cultivation at Eight Star Dou Sheng Late Stage, Xiao Yan could barely hold on—his face was deathly pale; refining the Embryonic Pill into an Imperial Grade Pill had pushed him to his absolute limit!

"Hmph!"

Suddenly, Hun Tian Di's cold snort echoed across a hundred thousand kilometers. Xiao Yan had already proven to him with his Alchemy skill that he could forge an Emperor Pill—let alone if Xiao Yan truly became a Dou Emperor, he might one day become a Pill Emperor, capable of truly refining Imperial Grade Pills!

One Xiao Yan could produce countless Imperial Grade Pills!

At this moment, even Hun Tian Di could not help but marvel: on the Dou Qi Continent, Alchemists were treasures—the most supreme profession.

But Hun Tian Di's goal was to become an Emperor; if he seized the Emperor Pill now, then during his own refining of the pill, Xiao Yan might slip away to inherit the legacy—and in the end, he himself might not fare well.

It seemed that no matter what he did, he would lose.

Xiao Yan dispersed the Refining Heaven Ancient Formation and recalled all strange fires; as the strange fires returned to his body, the Sky Phenomenon vanished—the Bodhi Ancient Tree was gone, and a single pill, the size of a Dragon Eye, wrapped in twenty-two concentric fire patterns, floated quietly.

But if one looked closely, each concentric pattern bore tens of millions of medicinal material designs, invisible to the naked eye—as if an unimaginable master carver had engraved every medicinal material on the Dou Qi Continent onto these tiny patterns, crafting them into a medicinal compendium.

Pill of All Beings to Break the Emperor!

Rank: Imperial Grade!

At this moment, every gaze fixed on the pill hovering before Xiao Yan, as if they had lost their sanity.

Cai Lin, Xun Er, Xiao Yixian, and others subtly activated their Dou Qi; if anything went wrong, they would protect Xiao Yan instantly—for them, the Imperial Grade Pill was not the top priority.

Yet everyone was captivated by the Pill of All Beings to Break the Emperor—even Hun Tian Di was no exception—so no one noticed that Xiao Yan's face held no joy, only solemnity as he gazed upward.

The first to sense something was wrong was none other than Hun Xu Zi, whose Alchemy skill ranked second only to Xiao Yan's.

"Why hasn't the Pill Lightning appeared?"

Hun Xu Zi's voice trembled with terror, faint yet crystal-clear to all present.

Only then did everyone snap back to reality, realizing Xiao Yan was staring at the sky—not at the pill.

The Pill Lightning had not appeared!!

Pill Lightning must appear—it cannot be concealed. For a pill, Pill Lightning is its validation, its recognition by Heaven and Earth; only a successful pill can summon it.

"Could it be… Xiao Yan failed?" Yun Yun's face turned ashen, unable to believe it. Even she could not fathom Xiao Yan failing at pill refining?!

Nalan Yanran furrowed her delicate brows and said, "No, Xiao Yan's expression doesn't look like a failed refining."

At this moment, all eyes turned to the heavens—Xiao Yan's face showed no despair, no frustration, no anger; it was heavy, burdened with thought.

"By the way, what does Imperial Grade Pill Lightning look like?"

"Golden Thunder?"

"Probably not."

The spirit's nimble, beautiful eyes slowly withdrew their gaze, paused in thought, then said: "According to our clan's Ancient Texts, our ancient Pill Emperor once refined an Imperial Grade Pill—when it formed, Sky Phenomena erupted, the entire Dou Qi Continent trembled, a colossal vortex appeared in the sky, and divine lightning descended from beyond."

"Beyond?!"

Xiao Yan slowly lowered his gaze, gestured with his hand, and the Imperial Grade Pill floated obediently toward him. He looked at the pill—it had succeeded; it had not failed.

But this Pill of All Beings to Break the Emperor, though containing unimaginable energy, held no spirit at all—because it had not been purified by Pill Lightning, had not been granted anything, had not been recognized, and was thus like an inanimate object.

"Source Qi… the stuff that only exists in the Heavenly Origin of this universe?"

Xiao Yan was a Transmigration; he had once heard that the universe originated from a great explosion, then expanded wildly outward—meaning the universe's origin must have a center.

Seeing no Pill Lightning descend, Xiao Yan now fully understood many things.

The Dou Qi Continent had no Source Qi because it had been severed from the 'Heavenly Origin'—or rather, exiled.

"Xiao Yan, what have you realized?" At this moment, Void Swallowing Flame appeared before Xiao Yan and asked.

All eyes turned to Xiao Yan—he was the Alchemist of the Imperial Grade Pill; he must have discovered something. After all, in ancient times, Dou Emperors were not nearly so rare.

Dou Emperor was merely a rank, like Dou Sheng or Dou Zun—not a unique, singular existence. The Ancestors of Dou Emperor Families were Dou Emperors!

"I once doubted why Source Qi suddenly vanished. According to the Dou Emperor Family's Ancient Texts, Source Qi had always existed—there was never any record of insufficient Source Qi preventing breakthrough to Dou Emperor."

"The only explanation is that the supply of Source Qi was cut off—and someone drained all Source Qi from the Dou Qi Continent."

Xiao Yan shrugged; if Source Qi were natural gas, then its absence meant the pipeline had been severed.

!?

"Who drained the Source Qi?" Lei Ying glared, furious—if Source Qi hadn't been stolen, none of this would have happened!

Xiao Yan shook his head with a smile and said: "Fifty thousand years ago, all Dou Emperors on the Dou Qi Continent vanished simultaneously, Source Qi ceased, and even the Source Qi within the continent was drained. Yet no battle erupted—it simply disappeared without reason. Who else could it be?"

"Could it be... a Dou Emperor?!"

If a battle had erupted and the Dou Emperor was killed, it would be easy to suspect an external invader. But if no battle occurred and the Source Qi vanished, and the Dou Emperor was not killed, then the only possible conclusion is that the Source Qi was erased and severed along with the disappearance of those Dou Emperors from the Dou Qi Continent!

Only a Dou Emperor can control Source Qi!

Gu Yuan was instantly stunned and asked, "How could this be possible? Why would our Ancestors do such a thing?!"

The Dou Emperors who vanished back then included our current Dou Emperor Family's Ancestors—why would our Ancestors harm them and prevent them from becoming Dou Emperors?

Soon, many young members of the Dou Emperor Family suddenly realized: if only one Dou Emperor had done this, he might be evil—but if all Dou Emperors together caused the Source Qi to vanish, then there is only one conclusion.

Our Ancestors did it for our own good.

Remember, "Dou Emperor" is merely a rank title. In ancient times, those Dou Emperors were none other than the Ancestors of the Dou Emperor Family. Just as Xiao Yan is the Continent's Number One Alchemist, in the Yan Alliance and the Xiao Realm, he is simply a husband, a father, a son—a common man.

The kind of person you see every day at meals—how could they possibly betray their own family?!

One possible? All Dou Emperors conspiring together? How could that be!

Somewhere beyond the heavens—or rather, at the origin of the universe—a great event must have occurred, forcing the Dou Emperors to sever the Source Qi and erase all of it, preventing anyone on the Dou Qi Continent from becoming a Dou Emperor!

At this moment, Xiao Yan gazed at the Tuoshe Ancient Emperor Statue not far away and said, "As for more specific details, perhaps we must ask this outsider from beyond the heavens."

"An outsider from beyond the heavens? You mean Tuoshe Ancient Emperor?!" Zhu Kun was instantly startled and quickly denied: "Impossible! Tuoshe Ancient Emperor is the Number One Emperor Flame on the Heavenly Flame Ranking—it gained consciousness, wandered the Dou Qi Continent, and devoured the other twenty-one Heavenly Flames to become an Emperor!"

Zhu Kun, unsurprisingly, is the oldest living being—his age may well reach ten thousand years. When Tuoshe Ancient Emperor became an Emperor, Zhu Kun was already the Dragon Emperor, which is why he was the first to discover the Tuoshe Ancient Emperor Cave Mansion.

Zhu Kun even witnessed the moment Tuoshe Ancient Emperor became an Emperor—when celestial omens descended and every volcano on the Dou Qi Continent erupted.

Xiao Yan looked down at the Heavenly Flame Square below, at the twenty-two massive stone pillars, and said, "The Number One on the Heavenly Flame Ranking has no official name. Among the twenty-two Heavenly Flames, whichever one emerges victorious by devouring the other twenty-one becomes the Emperor Flame."

"If Tuoshe Ancient Emperor were one of these Heavenly Flames, then the Heavenly Flame Square should have only twenty-one pillars—not twenty-two. Except for Void Swallowing Flame and Pure Lotus Demonic Flame, all the others have remnants of their respective Heavenly Flames."

!!!!!!!!

"He is indeed a Heavenly Flame—but not one from the Dou Qi Continent."

Xiao Yan looked down from above at the entire Inner Court. When he first participated in the Fire Energy Battle, he had been curious about the Inner Court's appearance.

【Behind the hill lay an enormous sunken basin, whose shape resembled a massive meteor that had crashed from the heavens, gouging out the land.】

The entire Inner Court is a colossal meteor crater.

"This is not only the location of the Tuoshe Ancient Emperor Cave Mansion—it is also the birthplace of the Falling Heart Flame. Master Yao once discovered two Falling Heart Flames here: one mature, one young." Xiao Yan waved his hand, and the Falling Heart Flame appeared.

"The conditions for the birth of the Falling Heart Flame are the same as those for the Green Lotus Earth Core Flame and other Heavenly Flames—hidden in its name: 'Falling,' 'Heart Flame.' It is born from a single thread of Heart Fire, formed over a thousand years by the impact of a meteor striking a magma Earth Vein."

The birth of every Heavenly Flame is extremely difficult; the lower its rank on the ranking, the easier it is not to be born. The emergence of any Heavenly Flame is pure coincidence.

The Falling Heart Flame can only be born when a powerful meteor strikes—and only if it strikes precisely upon a magma Earth Vein.

Of course, the most important reason is that every Dou Emperor on the Dou Qi Continent acted together to sever the Source Qi, preventing any new Dou Emperor from arising—this proves beyond doubt that no Source Qi remains on the entire Dou Qi Continent. No leak could possibly have escaped the collective action of all Dou Emperors.

Yet tens of thousands of years later, someone suddenly became a Dou Emperor—and left behind two portions of Source Qi.

Something the entire Dou Qi Continent searched for tens of thousands of years without finding—suddenly someone tells you he has three portions, used one himself, left two behind, and says: gather the Ancient Jade and you'll obtain them. Hurry up and find them.

Xiao Yan's first thought was that this was a scam call.

For a moment, everyone present exchanged glances—only now did they truly realize how strange this all was!

Source Qi was never a rare or precious thing—in ancient times, or at the origin of the universe, there must have been plenty of it!

Everyone fell silent, staring at the Tuoshe Ancient Emperor Statue, then at the entire Inner Court—could the plaza of the Tuoshe Ancient Emperor Cave Mansion have fallen from beyond the heavens thousands of years ago?!

Tuoshe Ancient Emperor came from the origin of the universe!

Xiao Yan looked down at the Imperial Grade Pill in his hand. He hadn't expected that the method he had used throughout his journey would still be the very one he needed now, at the brink of becoming a Dou Emperor!

Use an Elixir combined with Refining a Heavenly Flame—rely on the body-strengthening effect of Refining a Heavenly Flame to eliminate the instability caused by the Elixir's Qi, fully refine the Elixir, and break through the bottleneck!

Xiao Yan had used this exact method to break through from Dou Spirit to Dou King to Dou Emperor, and beyond—Heavenly Flame paired with Elixir: the perfect combination!

Xiao Yan looked at Void Swallowing Flame. On the Dou Qi Continent, it is now the only Heavenly Flame Xiao Yan has not yet refined—and only Void Swallowing Flame has the qualifications to do so, because Void Swallowing Flame is the true Number One Heavenly Flame on the Heavenly Flame Ranking!!

(End of Chapter)