Word Count: 3,184 Words
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One move!
Gu Yao, the Devil General and one of the Four Great Generals of the Black Submerged Army, had been defeated in a single strike by someone from the Xiao Clan, a clan whose Dou God Bloodline had long since withered!
Who could possibly believe such a thing!
If Xiao Yan's cultivation had far exceeded Gu Yao's, everyone present could have accepted the outcome. After all, even a Dou God Bloodline couldn't bridge a massive cultivation gap. Yet Xiao Yan's strength was actually a hair weaker than Gu Yao's; he had only just entered the 8-star Dou Venerate stage.
"How does Xiao Yan possess such unparalleled speed!" The leading 8-star Dou Venerate from the Lei Clan could barely believe his eyes. Though the Lei Clan didn't specialize in speed, their Dou Techniques were renowned for their fierce velocity. Yet even with his full power and Clan Mark activated, he couldn't achieve even a tenth of the speed Xiao Yan had just displayed.
In that brief instant, his speed had likely reached the level of a Nine-Change Dou Venerate!
"Damn, this kid's speed at the Void Lightning Pool wasn't even his fastest." Mang Tian Chi stroked his beard thoughtfully. Back at the pool, though he hadn't used his full speed either, he had already noticed Xiao Yan possessed a Tian Class flying Dou Technique.
That was why he had remained calm when he learned Xiao Yan would face Gu Yao; he knew the boy had a real chance. He just had not expected such a clean and decisive—no, such a terrifyingly absolute victory!
"Is that a flying Dou Technique refined from the Heaven Demon Phoenix Tribe's... no, from Ancient Heaven Phoenix bone wings?" A Shi Clan expert frowned deeply. His clan prided themselves on physical strength that surpassed even magical beasts, and they were quite proficient in refinement techniques, yet even they couldn't fully comprehend what they were seeing.
The flame wings behind Xiao Yan resembled those of an Ancient Heaven Phoenix, but their aura felt even more powerful, like some legendary super magical beast from ancient times.
Only Huo Xuan and Huo Zhi of the Yan Clan sensed something deeper.
"That special flame should be a Heavenly Flame," Huo Xuan said uncertainly. He had never heard of such a Heavenly Flame before!
A strange light flickered through Huo Zhi's beautiful eyes as she said hesitantly, "Merged Heavenly Flame..."
"Merged Heavenly Flame!!"
"Mm, it's possible. Like our Clan Head's Nine Serene Gold Rock Flame, it could be a completely new flame born from merging two or even multiple Heavenly Flames. This merged flame would greatly enhance Xiao Yan's flying Dou Technique. An ordinary Tian Class flying technique couldn't produce such explosive speed." Red flame danced in Huo Zhi's eyes. Her sensitivity to fire was exceptional, and she knew the Yan Clan's leader had once used his immense cultivation to forcibly merge two Heavenly Flames.
"Xiao Yan ge-ge... you finally..." Xun Er covered her mouth with a trembling hand, tears of excitement brimming in her eyes as she gazed at Xiao Yan, who stood out in the arena like a crane among chickens.
She had always known her Xiao Yan ge-ge would silence every Gu Clan critic in the most direct way possible!
And indeed it was so. Whether it was the Gu Clan's remaining three generals or the three elders, not a word was uttered. They all knew Xiao Yan was an outsider, and Xun Er's bloodline was simply too precious to let her marry outside the clan.
Yet viewed from another angle, if Xun Er married Xiao Yan, the Gu Clan would, in a sense, gain him as well.
Many Gu Clan elders simultaneously realized this arrangement might not be as disadvantageous as they had initially thought.
Xiao Yan stood in the center of the plaza. He had ended the fight in a flash, but it had not been effortless. He had simultaneously unleashed three Heavenly Flames—the Wind and Thunder Fury Flame and the Nine Dragon Lightning Flame with their wind and lightning powers, combined with the Ten Thousand Beast Flame's unique force—to push the Ancient Phoenix Wings to their most terrifying state.
Combined with the Skyfire Three Mysterious Change's temporary cultivation boost, he had achieved such fearsome power.
He could have defeated Gu Yao slowly. But the more dominant his display, the less pressure Xun Er would face within the Gu Clan. That was why he had acted so brazenly arrogant, to prove Xun Er's judgment was correct!
"Impossible! How can this be!" Gu Yao blasted away the rubble and forced himself to stand.
He cut a wretched figure. His chest had caved in, his body nearly shattered, blood trickling from his mouth. His bloodshot eyes blazed with disbelief across his face.
Still, he hadn't died from that kick. His Dou God Bloodline slowly emerged on his forehead, though he remained grievously wounded!
Xiao Yan's kick hadn't targeted his head, but at such speed, with terrifying physical power and the Octane Blast's eightfold hidden force, he had still suffered critical injuries.
"You! You must have used some external power! There's no way I could lose!" Gu Yao jabbed a trembling finger at Xiao Yan, his crazed eyes fixed upon him.
He couldn't bear his own failure, and even less could he bear being defeated in a single move!
At that moment, any thought of Xun Er had vanished from his mind, replaced by a pure, seething hatred for Xiao Yan. He simply couldn't accept such a loss!
Gu Zhen watched Gu Yao's state and sighed, shaking his head. "His mentality has collapsed. He's not just been defeated by Xiao Yan; he's been broken to the point of self-doubt."
It wasn't entirely wrong to say Xiao Yan relied on external power. The flying Dou Technique was indeed a refined external item, and Heavenly Flames could be considered divine gifts of heaven and earth. But these were all things Xiao Yan had personally refined, bled for, and risked his life to obtain. They were as much a part of his own strength as anything else.
Gu Yao gritted his teeth and staggered toward Xiao Yan step by step, refusing to accept defeat!
The Clan Mark on his brow shone with increasing brilliance as the energy of the world surged into his body. The immense pressure of a Tian Class Dou Technique began to fill the air.
"Gu Yao! What do you think you're doing!" Xun Er stood, her beautiful eyes showing rare disgust and anger as she said coldly, "If Xiao Yan ge-ge hadn't held back, you'd already be a corpse!"
Her words made Gu Yao's Dou Qi falter, and his eyes reddened with humiliation. Yet he still refused to concede.
Xiao Yan crossed his arms, a faint smile playing on his lips. "Right now, you must be telling yourself that I only won with a sneak attack. That if you'd been prepared, you surely would've beaten me. That all I have is a pair of Tian Class wings for a bit of speed, but my actual strength can't touch you."
"Isn't that right?"
Gu Yao stood stunned, his fists clenched tightly as he growled, "Xiao Yan! Do you dare to take one blow from me? If I lose then, I'll be utterly convinced!"
His words made not just the other Dou God Clans but even Gu Qing Yang and the other generals shake their heads. They looked down on someone who couldn't accept defeat. If this weren't the Gu Clan's territory, Gu Yao would already be dead.
"Xiao Yan ge-ge, don't. You've already won," Xun Er sent in a worried sound transmission.
Xiao Yan gave her a gentle smile before turning back to Gu Yao. "Very well. I now give you the opportunity to challenge me. Of course, whether you have the courage is your business."
These were the exact words Gu Yao had spoken to him earlier!
The Tenth Tianzun's face-slapping never waits overnight!
A deep hum resonated as the Clan Mark on Gu Yao's forehead began extending. Purple-gold light illuminated the entire ceremony plaza as purple-gold lines spread across his entire body.
Gu Yao's cultivation surged from peak 8-star to early 9-star. His hands moved in a blur of afterimages, and as the seals formed, the howling wind above fell completely still. Even the churning dark clouds overhead stopped moving. A heaven-encompassing aura of annihilation slowly emanated from his body.
As that aura washed over the plaza, the expressions of most onlookers changed. Shrouded in this power of extinction, they felt a sense of despair creeping into their hearts.
"Gu Yao's going all out... even releasing his Clan Mark completely."
High above, the three Gu Clan elders presiding over the ceremony wore grave expressions. They exchanged a look and nodded. With a simultaneous shout, they unleashed their Dou Qi without reservation, channeling all of it into the light barrier enveloping the plaza and causing it to thicken considerably.
"That's... the Great Silent Destruction Technique!"
"One of the Gu Clan's supreme inherited Dou Techniques!"
"And with the Gu Clan's Clan Mark's special ability... Xiao Yan is fast, but if he takes this head-on, he might not be able to block it!"
Watching Gu Yao slowly float into the sky and feeling the annihilation aura emanating from him, Xiao Yan finally dropped his dismissive attitude.
If his guess was correct, the true ability of the Gu Clan's Clan Mark was to enhance the power of Dou Techniques!
The Hun Clan excelled in souls, the Shi Clan prided themselves on physical bodies, while the Gu Clan reigned supreme through techniques!
Feeling the boiling power within him after fully unleashing his Dou God Bloodline, Gu Yao's confidence returned!
"Xiao Yan, this is a power someone without a Dou God Bloodline like you can never understand! Great Silent Destruction Finger!!" Gu Yao roared and unleashed a finger attack toward Xiao Yan.
Xiao Yan looked up calmly. The Great Silent Destruction Finger was a Low Tian Class Dou Technique. Combined with the Gu Clan's Dou God Bloodline, its power had probably reached the absolute peak of Low Tian Class.
He smiled faintly and glanced sideways at Gu Zhen watching from nearby.
Gu Zhen's heart trembled, his pupils shrinking. Xiao Yan hadn't said a word, but his deep, profound eyes said everything.
He would prove that the Dou God Bloodline was just that... nothing special.
With a wave, Xiao Yan dismissed the Ancient Phoenix Wings. The Heavenly Flames merged within instantly separated back into three distinct flames.
"He really can merge Heavenly Flames!" Shock filled Huo Zhi's beautiful eyes. And he was merging three kinds!!
"No! Those three are the Ten Thousand Beast Flame, the Wind and Thunder Fury Flame, and the Nine Dragon Lightning Flame! He… he has five Heavenly Flames!!" Huo Xuan's expression turned from awe to horror. They hadn't forgotten that Xiao Yan had also used the Fallen Heart Flame and the Yin-Yang Twin Flame in the tavern!
The next instant, the Fallen Heart Flame and Yin-Yang Twin Flame appeared, with all five Heavenly Flames occupying positions around Xiao Yan. The moment they appeared, the plaza's annihilation aura was instantly replaced by scorching heat!
Mang Tian Chi stared at the formless flame rotating around Xiao Yan and said in astonishment, "Fallen Heart Flame?"
He was the one who had set the seal on that flame years ago and was thus extremely familiar with it. He never imagined that the Heavenly Flame sealed at the bottom of the Jia Nan Academy's Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower would have also fallen into Xiao Yan's hands.
"This brat... had his sights on the academy all along. I wondered why he came to Jia Nan Academy." Mang Tian Chi rolled his eyes. It was obvious now what this fellow had been after.
"Five Heavenly Flames?! Damn, he really has five!"
"Five of them... How is that possible? How can five different Heavenly Flames coexist in one person's body? Isn't he afraid they'll clash and cause him to explode?"
"His Qi Method... it must have the divine ability to merge Heavenly Flames. Even my Yan Clan's guardian Qi Method, the 'Fire Emperor Profound Canon,' doesn't possess such an effect," Huo Zhi whispered, her delicate brows furrowed.
Elsewhere, a greedy glint flashed in the eyes of the man called Human Medicine. For an alchemist, Heavenly Flames held an irresistible allure. Despite his high status in the Yao Clan, he had only obtained a single Heavenly Flame after years of arduous effort. To think that Xiao Yan possessed five!
That was a number greater than all the Heavenly Flames in the Yao Clan combined.
'He can store five Heavenly Flames in his body without triggering a backlash, so he must be using something to suppress them. If I'm not mistaken, it must be the Qi Method he cultivates. If I get the chance, I'll capture this fellow and force him to hand over both his Qi Method and the flames. Heh heh, given time, perhaps even the position of the Yao Clan's Head will be mine…' Human Medicine's gaze grew hotter as he stared at Xiao Yan.
Of course, if they knew that the Flame Mantra had to be cultivated all the way from the lowest Huang Class, their greed might have cooled considerably.
The appearance of five Heavenly Flames drew every gaze in the plaza to Xiao Yan. Various thoughts raced through minds—envy, jealousy, amazement, and naturally, greed.
"He's... he's about to use a Dou Technique!!"
The explanation was long, but with his extraordinary fire control, Xiao Yan completed the process in a flash. Almost instantly, the five flames transformed and formed an array!
"Five Ring Flame Expelling Formation!"
The five spirits complemented each other, and terrifying heat immediately radiated outward. Even the dark clouds high above Gu Yao thinned visibly from the intense heat. Trees near the plaza withered yellow at a visible speed before exploding into ash with a resounding bang.
The five Fire Spirits formed a mysterious array with Xiao Yan positioned at its eye.
Of all the people present, only Xun Er showed unwavering tenderness at the sight of Xiao Yan surrounded by the power of his Heavenly Flames. She had always believed in him.
Facing the colossal finger of energy descending upon him, Xiao Yan's expression remained serene. "Gu Yao, the Dou God Bloodline is indeed strong. But in this world, on the Dou Qi Continent, there exist powers not inferior to the Dou God Bloodline! It's just that such power doesn't come easily."
"Go!"
BOOM!
The five Heavenly Flames merged and formed an array, instantly transforming into a five-colored beam that shot toward the descending massive finger.
The Great Silent Destruction Finger could annihilate all life, but Heavenly Flames equally possessed the power to incinerate all things!
BOOM!!
The massive explosion shook the land. The ground itself trembled. If not for the three Gu Clan elders combining their protective barrier, the entire plaza would have been destroyed!
For a moment, two terrifying powers collided, each trying to suppress the other. At the point of impact, everything was reduced to nothingness. Space and time themselves seemed to evaporate and be annihilated, leaving only a void.
When the five Heavenly Flames truly formed the Flame Expelling Formation, the resulting pillar of fire seemed capable of incinerating the sky!
It felt as though it could burn away the sun, moon, and stars in a single, brilliant instant!
"Xiao Yan! So what if you have five Heavenly Flames? My Gu Clan's Dou God Bloodline is the strongest!"
The purple-gold Clan Mark on Gu Yao's forehead illuminated the surrounding world with a deep hum. The arrogance of the Dou God Clans wasn't without reason; their bloodline was indeed exceedingly domineering.
"You're wrong. I told you. You're just like that Second Commander Lin Xiu. Both of you are one-move fodder." A strange light flashed through Xiao Yan's eyes. With a resonant hum, he finally erupted with his Spiritual Strength!
The moment Xiao Yan's Spiritual Strength exploded forth, everyone's soul felt heavy, including the Half-Saint elders. After all, being a Dou Saint didn't guarantee one's Spiritual Strength had reached the Heavenly State!
"Heavenly State Spiritual Strength!!" The members of the Hun Clan could no longer sit still. Hun Ya shrieked!
As someone with a Grade 8 bloodline from the Hun Clan, he was still a bit short of reaching Heavenly State Spiritual Strength!! Why did someone from the Xiao Clan have it!!
The instant the Heavenly State Spiritual Strength appeared, Gu Yao's face changed drastically. In the next second, the beam of Heavenly Flames exploded with power. The so-called Great Silent Destruction Finger shattered like a shard of ice, and the terrifying flames completely overwhelmed it, swallowing both the attack and Gu Yao himself.
"AHHHHHH!"
Gu Yao's agonized screams echoed across the entire plaza, shocking everyone's ears.
Invincible at the same level!
Even against the Dou God Clans, still invincible!
"Five Heavenly Flames… and a Heavenly State soul… I believe even Young Clan Leader Hun Feng had only just barely reached the Heavenly State when he was an 8-star Dou Venerate," someone murmured beside Hun Ya.
Hun Ya deeply regretted ever provoking Xiao Yan with harsh words!!
Xiao Yan didn't deliver a killing blow. He quickly retracted the flames. Defeating Gu Yao and killing him were two very different things. Gu Yao's faction was definitely not weak in the Gu Clan, just as the Xiao Clan also had a First Elder, Second Elder, and Third Elder—the relationships were intricate and complex.
Of course, in today's Xiao Clan, Xiao Yan's word was absolute law.
A charred, pitch-black figure fell slowly from the sky with a soft swoosh. Gu Yao was now indistinguishable from a lump of charcoal, with the sole exception that he was still breathing.
"That kid doesn't hold back." Third General Gu Xing shook his head. With injuries this severe, Gu Yao had no hope of entering the Heavenly Tomb. Xiao Yan had effectively erased his qualification.
The entire plaza fell deathly silent. Even the Gu Clan elders no longer dared to shout at Xiao Yan. The two elders who had given him trouble earlier, Gu Qian and Gu Xu, were drenched in cold sweat.
Although their strength was greater than Gu Yao's, their Dou God Bloodline wasn't as good as his, and they weren't that much stronger! Since even Gu Yao had been defeated so easily, the two of them together truly couldn't match Xiao Yan!
Gu Zhen's face had turned even paler. He was beginning to doubt himself. Was the Dou God Bloodline really so unimportant?!
First General Gu Qing Yang sighed deeply. "From now on, no one should mention the matter between Xun Er and Xiao Yan again. With his talent and strength, even if he's not quite equal to Xiao Xuan of old, he's worthy of the clan's attention."
Just then, Second General Gu Hua's face twitched as he looked strangely at Gu Qing Yang beside him. "Big Brother... Xiao Yan just took a Dou Qi recovery pill."
"And he seems to be looking at you..."
!!!!!!??