After walking slowly down several streets, Xiao Yan stopped outside a hostel and entered, ascending to the second floor, where he knocked gently on the door of a quiet room before pushing it open. Inside the spacious room, Hai Bo Dong sat cross-legged on a chair, his eyes slightly closed, a faint white cold aura swirling around him. With each breath, the cold energy flowed in through his mouth and nose, filling his body and subtly radiating a warm, jade-like glow on his weathered face. "No wonder he's a Duke-level powerhouse. Though much older than Nalan Jie, his vitality is remarkable. If nothing goes wrong, he'll likely remain active and vigorous for at least another fifty years. And if luck smiles upon him, reaching the Master-level strength, he might well ascend to the rank of those ancient, venerable beings." Gently closing the door, Xiao Yan moved silently through the room, observing Hai Bo Dong's radiant and vibrant face, in contrast to the earlier image of Nalan Jie, who had been enveloped in a dense aura of death. Though Xiao Yan's movements were extremely quiet, to a powerhouse like Hai Bo Dong, they sounded as if thunder had rolled right beside his ears. As a result, the icy energy surrounding him was swiftly drawn into his body and stored. Opening his eyes, he quickly surveyed the room, his body still tinged with a sense of cold. Only when his gaze settled on Xiao Yan did the chill gradually subside, and the sharp, commanding aura that had been radiating outward gently receded into his core. Noticing Xiao Yan's weary expression, he asked, "All settled?" "Nalan Jie has been severely affected by the poison. Though the toxicity has been temporarily alleviated today, it will still take at least seven days to fully expel the 'scorched poison,'" Xiao Yan replied lazily, seated on the soft bed. "Oh…" Sea Bo Dong nodded, slightly astonished and smiled, "It seems you have a very good command of the hetero-flame. You've managed such a high-level medical procedure—using the hetero-flame to enter a person's body—something even renowned alchemy masters would hesitate to attempt." As a Duke-level warrior, Sea Bo Dong naturally understood the risks involved in introducing hetero-flame directly into the human body to expel toxins. "Just lucky," shook his head, Xiao Yan knew that his skill in handling the Qinglian Earth-Heart Flame stemmed largely from having consumed the Earth-Flame Lotus seeds recently. Removing his shoes, he settled onto the bed in a lotus position, rubbed his tired face, then extended his hands from his sleeves. With a slightly furrowed brow, he glanced at the fingertips, which had turned a bit black, and then slowly formed the hand seals for cultivation, gradually closing his eyes. As he entered his cultivation state, Xiao Yan's mind swiftly focused on the spiraling aura. With a subtle shift of consciousness, a strand of jade-colored flame was expelled from his spiritual reservoir, wrapped by his battle energy and gently spiraling above the aura. Gazing intently at this continuously swirling jade flame, after a long while, under Xiao Yan's control, the flame surged violently, its temperature suddenly rising sharply. As the temperature increased, delicate black mist appeared spontaneously at the core of the flame. "Such a fierce toxin—it not only withstands the intensity of the hetero-fire but also seamlessly integrates itself without making a sound. Had it not been for my high affinity with the Jade Lotus Earth-Heart Flame, I would have hardly noticed it. Truly, no wonder it's a toxin that even the strongest cultivators at the Battle Emperor level dread." Xiao Yan murmured softly, gazing at the black mist. "Pure them, or else these things lingering within the body will be an unpredictable bomb—explosive at any moment, with no warning. The consequences... After a moment's pause, Xiao Yan's spirit stirred, and the jade-green flame wrapped in the black mist surged and rippled as if boiling, its intense heat steadily rising. While treating Nalan Jie of the toxins, Xiao Yan had carefully kept his unique flame at a gentle temperature, fearing he might inadvertently burn him to ash. But now, purifying the toxin mist within his own body, due to the natural harmony between them, he no longer needed such caution. As the jade-green flame's temperature surged rapidly, the clusters of black mist began to tremble and ripple. Yet this toxin liquid was no ordinary substance—despite the intense heat, it remained remarkably resilient, refusing to dissipate immediately. Under the scorching heat, the volume of the black mist gradually shrank. After a moment, the slender strands of black mist began to merge together, forming a deep, obsidian-like sphere. Within the sphere, a soft luminescence flickered, as if brimming with powerful energy. This unusual transformation of the "Seared Poison" left Xiao Yan utterly astonished. He stared in wonder at the black sphere rolling within the jade-colored flames. Through his spiritual perception, he clearly sensed that the sphere contained a profound and robust energy. "Wait—how is this possible? The Seared Poison cannot possess such energy!" murmured Xiao Yan, puzzled, his eyes fixed intently on the dark sphere. The jade-colored flames suddenly surged in temperature once more, and the intense heat began to strain even his spiritual strength. As the azure flame once again intensified, the black orb finally began to stir, its surface trembling slightly, and thin strands of black mist seeping out from within. These misty threads were then purified by the scorching flame and dissipated into nothingness. Continuous streams of black mist emerged from the orb, and the color of the orb gradually shifted from deep black to a lighter, paler black. Watching the orb's color slowly fading, Xiao Yan breathed a sigh of relief and accelerated the purification process. Once the final strand of black mist rose from the orb, the once pitch-black sphere transformed into a small, luminous orb glowing with a soft, gentle white light. Within the translucent membrane, a flowing, rich liquid energy could be clearly seen. "Such pure energy..." Staring in astonishment at the small, transparent sphere,萧炎 frowned after a long pause, murmuring to himself, "According to theory, a toxin like Scorch Toxin should not possess energy of this purity. Could it be... that these energies belong to someone else?" "Someone from Lan Lan Jie's..." The sudden thought made his heart skip a beat, but after a while, he calmed down and pondered deeply. Gradually, he felt at ease. These Scorch Toxins had been residing within Lan Lan Jie for so long, slowly eroding his body and occasionally consuming some of his Qi. Over time, they had accumulated a substantial amount—something that might have been a source of irritation for Lan Lan Jie. Yet for Xiao Yan, who had unexpectedly carried these toxins into his own body, it was truly a windfall. Given the exceptional purity of this energy, it was entirely possible that Xiao Yan could extract and absorb it completely. Upon being struck by this unexpected windfall, Xiao Yan stood in stunned silence, yet a quiet smile of satisfaction gradually spread across his heart. By nature, he would never return the funds to Nalan Jie, so he simply regarded the abundant energy as interest and kept it for himself. As his mind stirred, a slender filament of emerald flame condensed into a fine needle of flame, which gently touched the transparent orb. Instantly, the orb exploded, releasing a substantial flow of liquid energy that slightly leaned toward blue. As it surged outward, eager to scatter in all directions, Xiao Yan swiftly controlled it, guiding it along the pathways of his meridians. After completing one full circulation, the faint blue hue was entirely eliminated, transforming the energy into a pure, universally absorbable form. Although the current energy stream had already become exceptionally pure, Xiao Yan remained cautious and carefully re-refined it with the unique fire once more, only feeling confident enough to channel it into the whirlwind when it began to subtly thicken. Once inside the whirlwind, the liquid energy rapidly assimilated into a uniform hue and then separated, trembling as it broke into droplets of perfectly identical size, which were then scattered throughout the vortex. Feeling the growing fullness within the whirlwind, Xiao Yan couldn't help but shake his head internally. He had calculated that this single infusion had added nearly twenty droplets of refined liquid energy to the whirlwind. At this rate, with just three more such infusions, he would likely reach the rank of Seven-Star Combatant within less than two weeks. "Indeed, the energy condensed within a Battle King's body is no ordinary thing—just a small portion of it is already so vast..." Internally sighing, Xiao Yan slowly opened his eyes and exhaled gently. Seeing Xiao Yan's expression, Hai Bo Dong was momentarily stunned, then stepped forward and examined the darkened fingers of the former. His own face also grew pale as he furrowed his brows, asking, "This... is a scorching poison? How did it get onto you?" "I don't know. I never thought such a poison could withstand the intense heat of my Heterogeneous Fire." "That's impossible. Ordinary scorching poison cannot resist the heat of Heterogeneous Fire. As for this change now... perhaps it's due to the poison having been dormant within Lan Jie's body for a long time, causing some kind of mutation." With a deeply concentrated expression, Hai Bo Dong pondered for a while before slowly addressing Xiao Yan, "Try to see if your body feels any discomfort." Xiao Yan nodded. With his right hand extended and open, a surge of jade-colored qi rose suddenly. Both of them kept their eyes fixed on the qi. Under their watchful gaze, the jade-colored qi, after swirling for a while, gradually began to reveal faint black streaks on its surface. "Hmm, it's actually penetrated into your qi—no wonder it's called the Seared Poison. Truly frightening." Gazing at those black streaks, Haibo Dong shook his head involuntarily. "How do you feel?" "Not really anything out of the ordinary..." Xiao Yan furrowed his brows, puzzled, his face showing confusion. With a slight movement of his palm, the black streaks on his qi rotated along with it, yet they caused him no harm. In fact, he felt as though the attacking power of his qi had grown stronger. "Hm... I'm not entirely sure what's going on, but right now it seems the Seared Poison isn't showing any adverse reaction against you. Maybe... it's been fully absorbed and integrated into your own qi?" Haibo Dong shook his head, saying. Xiao Yan bit his lips, his gaze tightly fixed on the jade qi that had slightly mixed with patches of black streaks. As he focused his intent, the jade qi surged violently, and the black streaks were forcefully driven into the middle finger of his right hand. From his expression, it seemed as though he was testing whether he could expel them. The black streaks surged in a bustling tide into the middle finger, and after a moment, the entire finger had turned an utterly dark, deep hue, glowing with a subtle, eerie luminescence—most unusual. After a while, with no sense of discomfort, Xiao Yan gently shook his head and extended his middle finger, then suddenly looked up at Hai Bo Dong. "What are you doing?" Seeing Xiao Yan's strange expression, Hai Bo Dong hurriedly stepped back. "Could you try this out for me and see what effect it has..." Xiao Yan smiled, and before Hai Bo Dong could respond, he swiftly jabbed his finger into Hai Bo Dong's chest. "Hey! Don't move! This is scalding poison—I'm telling you!" Taking several steps back, Hai Bo Dong watched as Xiao Yan charged forward with surprising speed, only to curse under his breath, extending and reaching out with both hands, and suddenly a piece of dark, icy mirror-like surface appeared before him. With momentum flowing through his body, Xiang Yan's fingers plunged straight into the ice mirror without flinching, and as they made contact, fine threads of black energy seeped out from his fingers. The ice mirror—capable of withstanding a direct blow from a senior Battle-Style master—was swiftly corroded, forming a deep hole. His fingers pierced through it, then suddenly shifted horizontally, and the solid pyrite mirror was severed in two. Xiao Yan smiled at Hai Bo Dong, his eyes reflecting a range of emotions as he gazed at the strangely dark fingers. The destructive power of the scorching poison far exceeded his expectations, and the sudden, inexplicable nature of the attack left him both delighted and somewhat wary. Though the black fingers were potent, their essence was the very scorching poison that even Hai Bo Dong himself feared. While the poison currently seemed responsive to Xiao Yan's commands, he couldn't help wondering whether it might suddenly erupt into something far more formidable in the future. Remembering how Lan Jie, a fighter of Duke-level strength, had been reduced to such a pitiful state by the poison, Xiao Yan's lips subtly trembled. Seeing Xiang Yan's expression, Haibo Dong naturally understood his apprehension, stepping down slightly but maintaining a reasonable distance, offering reassurance. "You don't need to worry too much. The scalding toxins within your body—I believe they stem from a certain mutated form. Otherwise, such a situation wouldn't arise. Regardless of how they evolve, as long as you have the unique fire to protect you, you won't end up like Lan Jie." "Ah, perhaps you should be grateful that, by chance, you've developed an unusually strange ability. In the future, this black finger might prove to be a decisive advantage, causing many to fall under your grasp." "Indeed, I hope so..." With a sigh, Xiang Yan managed a wry nod. As he focused his intent, the dark finger gradually faded from black, and within a moment, it fully returned to its normal hue.