The sudden charmi cold voice made Xiao Yan roll his eyes. He transmitted back, "I say, Queen Medusa. The path of cultivation isn't just about fighting and killing; it also involves interpersonal retionships. Is this how you rule as queen? Threatening others at every turn? No wonder your Snake-People Tribe is in dee."

  Suddenly, a wave of chilling killing i emanated from the Green Lotus within his ste ring. Clearly, Xiao Yan had ahis queen of the Snake-People Tribe!

  Sensing Queen Medusa's icy killing i, Xiao Yan remained unfazed. He tinued walking as he said, "Don't threaten me. Not only am I not someone who yields to threats in the first pce, but even if I were, you wouldn't be able to intimidate me."

  At this moment, Xiao Yan's fidence was through the roof! With his Spiritual Strength reag the level of a 6th-tier alchemist, he now feared the not-yet-fully-recovered Medusa even less.

  Medusa he Spirit Fusion Pill not only to resolve that unknown soul tract but also because during her evolution, Xiao Yan had injured her soul. She required the Spirit Fusion Pill to heal.

  Her soul was still injured. What the hell was he still afraid of?

  Xiao Yan quickly pondered inwardly when he saw Medusa's ck of response, 'Medusa is still digesting the Core-Fire Lotus Seed. It seems she really his Spirit Fusion Pill. I'm probably only a hair's breadth away from reag the tier 5. If I require Medusa's assistance again iure, perhaps this Spirit Fusion Pill could serve as a bargaining chip.'

  If Medusa truly restructed her body and broke through to the Dou Aor realm, then with a siier 6 Spirit Fusion Pill, he could enlist the aid of a Dou Aor. This rofitable deal no matter how one looked at it.

  Xiao Yan immediately made up his mind. g his hands together as if in prayer, he muttered to himself, 'Apologies to all the favorites to win the Alchemist Graing. I really didn't want to participate inally, nor did I want to crush your hopes of victory. But as, that wicked woman Medusa covets the recipe for the Spirit Fusion Pill. If you want to bme someone, bme her. The grudge has a source, the debt has an owner. If you wish to curse someone, curse her.'

  After this moment of pe refle, Xiao Yan instantly felt much more at ease. He decided to join the Alchemist Graing and show those pitiful, helpless 'favorites to win' what true petition looked like.

  …

  Upourning to the Nan Mansion, Xiao Yan informed Nan Jie about his iion to participate in the Alchemist Graing.

  "Heh heh, an alchemist possessing a Heavenly Fme, huh? In all the previous editions of the Jia Ma Empire's Alchemist Graing, I don't think there's ever beehis year's tour will surely be iing," Nan Jie said with a chuckle as he stroked his beard.

  Xiao Yan, however, replied with little enthusiasm, "I think it will be rather b."

  "Hahaha, that may be so," Nan Jie ughed heartily.

  After bidding farewell to Old Master Nan Jie, Xiao Yauro his room and took out the bck jade piece to study it.

  But no matter whether Xiao Yan used his Spiritual Strength or applied force to it, it remained pletely unresponsive.

  'How is this thing supposed to be used? It's different from typical soul tools.'

  Usually, soul tools only o be activated with Spiritual Strength or by applyiernal force. The reason no one had discovered the uniqueness of this bck jade piece was that it couldn't be activated by ventional means.

  If it weren't for the strahrobbing from the depths of his soul when he first found it, Xiao Yan would have thought this was just an ordinary bck jade pendant.

  'Could it be that it o be burned with fire?'

  Xiao Yan gazed at the bck-colored jade in front of him. He could vaguely sense a hint of warmth emanating from within.

  With a whoosh, a small wisp of Green Lotus Core Fme appeared on his fiip. He gently touched it to the jade pendant, but the result left him astonished.

  Although it was just a small wisp of the Green Lotus Core Fme, it was still a Heavenly Fme after all! Yet surprisingly, it failed to leave even the slightest mark on the jade pendant!

  'Iing. Let's see how much you withstand.'

  His heart rate quietly accelerated a bit. Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, he focused his thoughts, and suddenly, a surge of green fmes burst forth from his fiips.

  With a wave of his hand, the jade piece was immediately engulfed by the green fmes gushing from his fingers.

  As time passed, the bck substan the surface of the jade pendant began to slowly vaporize.

  'So it was this bck substance obstrug Spiritual Strength; it only be burned away with fmes.'

  'Why does this feel like some sort of trial?'

  The moment the bck substan the surface of the bck jade piepletely disappeared, a dazzling light suddenly burst forth from within.

  Xiao Yan's eyes were quick, and his hands were swift; he instantly used his Spiritual Strength to seal off the surroundings, preventing the light from leaking out.

  In an instant, the light nearly eclipsed all illumination in the room. Although the light was dazzling, it didn't cause Xiao Yan to close his eyes, because the moment the green light appeared, tless streams of textual information automatically arrahemselves in the air and formed a special cultivatiohod!

  His gaze swept over the light s suspended in the air and finally stopped at the few rge words at the very top. When he saw them clearly, his pupils instantly tracted as he excimed in shock, "Skyfire Three Mysterious ge?!!!"

  Xiao Yan's expression ged dramatically! He had seen this Skyfire Three Mysterious ge before—iian Css Treasure Hall of the Hall of Souls!!!

  Moreover, it was even beled as a High Tian Css Secret Teique back then??!!

  'How could this be? How could something from the Hall of Souls appear in the Jia Ma Sacred City? No, wait, the Hall of Souls does have a presen the Jia Ma Sacred City... but still, would the Hall of Souls' Tian Css Secret Teique end up in the Jia Ma Empire? Was that man earlier from the Hall of Souls?'

  For a moment, tless specutions swirled through Xiao Yan's mind.

  Narrowing his eyes, he quickly grasped the essence of the cultivatiohod after a brief read-through. However, his frown deepened, because the level of this Secret Teique was nowhere ian Css, let alone High Tian Css!

  It absolutely couldn't reach Tian Css! Xiao Yaimated it barely qualified as Di Css at most.

  In the mysterious ste ring, there were also Secret Teiques, but none of them were suitable for him to use, which was why he hadn't learhem. However, this Skyfire Three Mysterious ge happeo be just right for him.

  This was because this Secret Teique worked by erupting fmes within the body to temporarily enhane's Dou Qi.

  After p for a moment, Xiao Yan infused his Spiritual Strength into the words floating in the air. Sensing his Spiritual Strength, all the words instantly transformed into a stream of spiritual information that surged into his mind.

  The massive influx of information smmed into his mind. Xiao Yan's face twitched rapidly as he fought against the disfort. He quickly sat cross-legged and closed his eyes to digest the information taining the Secret Teique's cultivatiohod.

  'How strange. Although this is only the first ge of the Three Mysterious ges, the cultivatiohod for the first ge is plete. Yet, its effects are far from being of Tian Css... Could something be missing? Or did the Hall of Souls make a mistake?'

  'Impossible. With the Hall of Souls' capabilities, misjudging a teique's level is out of the question. Could it be that the tter two ges elevate this Secret Teique to High Tian Css? That seems even more unlikely.'

  Xiao Yan was thhly puzzled. Logically speaking, it was impusible for there to be such a vast disparity in power levels. For a Secret Teique with three stages like this, one o cultivate oage at a time, and the difficulty of the stage shouldn't exceed the previous one by too much; otherwise, it would be impossible to ect them and progress.

  'Back then, the scroll in the Hall of Souls introduced it as a Secret Teique created by a peak elite expert of a certain Dou God . It trigger the eruption of Heavenly Fmes within the body, thereby explosively increasing one's strength for a short period. This teique sists of three ges, each requiring a different kind of Heavenly Fme. When all three ges are activated together, it ge the color of the sky ah.'

  'But now, the Skyfire Three Mysterious ge in this jade pendant be used with any fme; it's just that the power will vary. Could the level of the Secret Teique be influenced by the kind of fme used? Using three kinds of Heavenly Fmes could elevate it to High Tian Css?'

  'Is it really that simple?'