"An alchemist can actually fight like this?" Xiao Yan murmured as he gazed at the two figures in the sky.
All this time, Xiao Yan had regarded alchemy purely as an auxiliary profession. Deep down, he had always believed that battle relied on cultivation methods, Dou Techniques, and secret techniques, while the various methods of an alchemist were of little use in actual combat.
However, what he was witnessing today had almost completely overturned his previous understanding.
Thus far, Lin Yuan had not used a single Dou Technique in this battle. By relying solely on the most basic combat techniques combined with his control over flames, he had already forced his opponent into a desperate situation.
"Heh, there's still plenty you don't know, kid!"
Yao Lao's amused voice suddenly sounded in Xiao Yan's heart.
"Although it's normal for alchemists to lack combat strength, truly powerful alchemists, especially those who possess Heavenly Flames, are ridiculously strong when fighting opponents of the same level."
"High-level alchemists are naturally skilled at multitasking. This allows them to use Dou Techniques while simultaneously wielding their soul power."
"When a Heavenly Flame is combined with powerful flame-control abilities, its destructive power is enough to rival powerful Dou Techniques."
"In such a situation, they are equivalent to having the combat strength of two people. And not just two ordinary combatants, but two combatants whose minds are completely connected. Can you imagine how terrifying that kind of power is?"
Hearing this, Xiao Yan felt the Wind and Thunder Fury Flame within his body and his mind immediately filled with wonderful possibilities. His eyes lit up.
"But an alchemist like you, who possesses a Heavenly Flame yet cannot make full use of it, is also quite rare."
Yao Lao interrupted his fantasies and said faintly, "Work hard, Xiao Yan. Don't disgrace the Wind and Thunder Fury Flame."
Hearing this, Xiao Yan couldn't help but chuckle bitterly inwardly. His expression soon became much more serious.
He understood that compared with Lin Yuan and Yao Lao, his control over the Heavenly Flame was indeed far too crude.
"I'll have to work hard on flame control and alchemy from now on."
He secretly made up his mind.
He then continued looking toward the sky, watching the two figures who seemed to be on the verge of determining the outcome.
Seeing Xiao Yan's expression, Yao Lao nodded before also looking toward the sky through the Bone Flame Ring.
"But an alchemist like Lin Yuan, who is this powerful among those of the same level, is also exceedingly rare!"
Yao Lao had no intention of telling Xiao Yan this.
An outsider watches the spectacle, while an expert sees the intricacies.
As an Alchemy Grandmaster and a master of flame control, Yao Lao was able to appreciate Lin Yuan's strength far more deeply than the others.
"'Born from a single thought and moved according to one's will.' This level of flame control is already no weaker than that of many eighth-grade alchemists. This technique also incorporates a formation, and it is an array of Heavenly Flames that fully utilizes the characteristics of the Green Lotus Core Flame. It should be a self-created or modified formation."
"How did this kid, Lin Yuan, learn so many things in such a short period at such a young age, and even manage to integrate them all so perfectly?"
At this moment, Xiao Yan asked inwardly, "Teacher, is this battle going to end just like this?"
"Hard to say!"
Yao Lao shook his head and said solemnly, "If it were an ordinary person, there should be no suspense regarding the outcome by now. But that Gu Yao is a member of the Gu Clan. If he is willing to pay a certain price, he still has ways to turn things around You have seen it yourself."
"Hmm?"
Xiao Yan's expression became more solemn. Suddenly, a flash of insight passed through his mind, and he glanced at Xun Er beside him.
"Is it the technique Xun Er used back then…"
Thinking of this, a trace of anticipation appeared in Xiao Yan's eyes as he looked upward.
Meanwhile, among the ranks of the Black Annihilation Army.
The numerous Black Annihilation Army soldiers became restless and chaotic when they saw Gu Yao rapidly showing signs of defeat.
Gu Zhen stared at the two figures in the sky, his heart filled with astonishment.
"From the very beginning of the battle, he was able to force Gu Yao into this state. Even Commander Gu Qingyang, who is at the same level, wouldn't be able to accomplish this. Lin Yuan's strength among those of the same rank is truly frightening."
"Big Brother Gu Zhen, is Deputy Commander Gu Yao really going to lose?" Ling Quan asked unwillingly.
He was a descendant of the Gu Clan. During the bloodline test at the Gu Clan's sacred land, the Ancient Sacred Mountain Range, he had been selected because of his powerful bloodline, thereby obtaining his current strength and status. He was deeply proud of his own Dou God bloodline.
Therefore, seeing Gu Yao, whose bloodline was far stronger than his own, being easily suppressed by a young man from a remote region was something he found difficult to accept.
Glancing at Ling Quan, Gu Zhen shook his head and said solemnly, "It won't be that easy. The Deputy Commander still has methods he hasn't used. Given his pride, he won't allow himself to lose like this, especially in front of Miss."
Before his voice had even faded, the situation in the sky suddenly changed.
Within the Green Flame Lotus, sensing his rapidly weakening aura, a deep ferocity flashed through Gu Yao's eyes. He stared heavily at Lin Yuan.
"I, Gu Yao, am a favored son of the heavens within the Gu Clan. I absolutely will not lose to you like this!"
"You should prove that with your strength, not your words."
Lin Yuan continued to hold Gu Yao's hands and spoke indifferently.
At the same time, a trace of anticipation flashed through his eyes.
If he defeated Gu Yao this easily, how could he properly gauge the standards of the Central Plains?
"As you wish. Blood Transformation Technique!"
A low roar erupted from Gu Yao's throat.
A streak of blood-red energy surged forth. His black-and-white hair extended and fluttered wildly in the wind, while blood-colored energy swirled within his eyes.
His aura suddenly surged explosively, rising higher and higher.
In the blink of an eye, Gu Yao's aura had risen by four stars, reaching the level of a Seven-Star Dou Ancestor.
"Ah!"
With a furious roar, an extremely cold aura far stronger than before spread out from Gu Yao's body.
His overwhelming Dou Qi surged forth like an ocean, spreading across the sky and earth as it roared violently, furiously bombarding the Green Lotus Flame Formation.
"Blood Transformation Technique?" Ling Quan exclaimed in shock.
"Hehe!"
Seeing this, Gu Zhen nodded slightly and chuckled.
"As expected, the method of breaking the deadlock is the Blood Transformation Technique. Gu Yao's Dou God bloodline is extremely dense. In his hands, the Blood Transformation Technique is practically a preliminary version of the Clan Pattern secret technique."
"As long as he doesn't overuse the Blood Transformation Technique, he can recover after resting properly for a few days. Ling Quan, you're different from him. Don't casually use the Blood Transformation Technique."
Ling Quan nodded, his tone solemn.
"A secret technique that could potentially damage one's Dou God bloodline. How could I possibly use it casually? I only hope that I'll never have to use it."
The Gu Clan's Blood Transformation Technique was precisely a secret technique used by Gu Clan members who had yet to be bestowed with a Clan Pattern, allowing them to draw upon the power of their Imperial Bloodline in place of the Clan Pattern.
Its exact effect depended on the density of one's bloodline. The denser the bloodline, the greater the increase in strength and the smaller the subsequent side effects.
For example, Gu Yao could increase his strength by four stars at the Dou Ancestor level. If it were Ling Quan, he could barely increase his strength by two stars.
As the two conversed, the battle above underwent a drastic change.
Under the impact of that fierce Dou Qi, the Green Flame Lotus held out for a moment before exploding apart with a tremendous boom.
"Heavenly Fiend Shattering Qi Claw!"
At the same time, with the support of his powerful Dou Qi, Gu Yao finally broke free of Lin Yuan's restraint.
His five fingers curled into claws, and a sinister, bone-chilling aura instantly condensed around his fingertips. His body flashed, and his claw slashed toward Lin Yuan's throat.
Wherever the claw passed, space was torn open into a pitch-black crack, accompanied by an ear-piercing howl.
"Cloud Dragon Seven Appearances!"
Lin Yuan lightly tapped his foot.
The long-unused close-combat specialized movement technique, the Cloud Dragon Movement Technique, was unleashed.
With speed that seemed to shrink the distance to nothing, several afterimages appeared in succession. His true body and afterimages interlaced, making it seem as though several Lin Yuans were simultaneously engaging Gu Yao in battle.
At the same time, soul power filled the area around him, simultaneously interfering with Gu Yao's perception and tracking his movements.
Gu Yao's ghostly movement technique and sharp claw techniques had nowhere to hide before Lin Yuan's powerful soul perception. Every movement was completely seen through and captured by Lin Yuan.
However, during this extreme clash, Gu Yao's perception seemed to be obscured by a layer of mist within that tiny area. He could not instantly distinguish which one was Lin Yuan's true body.
That instant of investigation, that instant of deciding on his target, became an instant of hesitation.
And an instant of hesitation meant an opening.
Lin Yuan, who had been prepared for precisely this, naturally would not let such an opening slip away.
"Heavenly Origin Eight Character Formula: Shattering Spiral Penetration!"
Condensed force gathered around Lin Yuan's fist.
He punched out, the scorching force of his fist mixed with fierce energy as it accurately struck the weakest point of the force surrounding Gu Yao's claw from below.
"Bang!"
Fist and claw collided.
The opposing forces crashed together, and a ring of intertwined hot and cold shockwaves spread outward.
Immediately afterward, a tremendous surge of blood-and-qi power combined with the spiraling force on Lin Yuan's fist erupted.
Gu Yao's arm was involuntarily forced upward, instantly exposing his entire front.
Lin Yuan stepped forward with the momentum, bent his arm, and slammed a heavy elbow into Gu Yao's chest.
"Ugh!"
A muffled groan escaped Gu Yao's mouth as his body was sent flying backward.
He stepped several times through the air before finally stabilizing himself dozens of meters away from Lin Yuan.
After suppressing the violently surging blood and qi within his body, Gu Yao looked at Lin Yuan, who stood calmly before him. His expression had been completely replaced by solemnity.
Even after using the Blood Transformation secret technique to raise his strength to the level of a Seven-Star Dou Ancestor, and even after using a mid-level Earth-Class claw technique in combination with the Void Roaming movement technique, he had still been firmly suppressed when fighting Lin Yuan at close range.
This guy's attainments in close combat were simply too high.
With great interest, Lin Yuan looked at Gu Yao and said indifferently, "A secret technique capable of raising your strength by four stars. The Gu Clan's Blood Transformation secret technique is indeed impressive."
"But…"
His tone suddenly changed.
"Your control over this suddenly increased power is somewhat lacking. It seems you don't use it very often. In such a situation, you shouldn't engage an expert in close combat. It's far too easy to expose an opening."
"If you want to improve, you might consider strengthening your soul power. It should help you to some extent."
His words sounded almost like he was instructing a student, but they caused an even deeper trace of crimson to appear in Gu Yao's eyes.
This bastard, What did he take himself for?
A surge of extreme coldness erupted from Gu Yao's body.
"Lin Yuan, I'm going all out now. Don't die!"
A pale-white chill swirled around his body as Gu Yao's emotionless voice slowly rang out.
With a flick of his finger, a crystal-clear spear seemingly forged from profound ice materialized in his hand. He gripped it tightly, its sharp tip pointing directly at Lin Yuan.
Seeing this, Lin Yuan let out a cold shout in his heart.
"Heavenly Flame Three Mysterious Change: Green Lotus Change!"
The Green Lotus Core Flame flowed through his meridians, releasing a scorching and violent force.
Like a bamboo splitting through rotten wood, Lin Yuan broke through two stars in succession, instantly raising his strength to the level of a Four-Star Dou Ancestor.
Immediately afterward, boundless green flames gathered in Lin Yuan's palm, condensing into a long spear of green flame.
Using his soul to guide his energy, Lin Yuan rotated the spear. Dou Qi and flames spiraled upward, and as they rotated and compressed, an extreme sharpness condensed along the spearhead.
"I'll take you on, Gu Yao. Let me see just how much weight a genius of the Gu Clan truly carries."
Lin Yuan spoke indifferently.
"Myriad Beasts Spear Technique!"
Gu Yao shouted coldly and stomped his foot.
His ghostly figure appeared above Lin Yuan as if he had teleported there.
He swung the crystalline ice spear in his hand, causing sharp spear flowers to bloom one after another.
As the spear shadows flashed, beast roars continuously echoed through the air. Wave after wave of fierce force surged toward every vital point on Lin Yuan's body like a raging tide.
Lin Yuan curled a finger.
Green flames swept outward, and as they spun, they transformed into a rotating green-flame barrier.
The icy force struck the barrier. The cold energy was reduced to nothing by the Heavenly Flame's scorching temperature, while the force was deflected by the rotating energy, leaving Lin Yuan completely unharmed.
"Myriad Beasts Spear Technique, Beast King Roar!"
Seeing his attacks easily neutralized, Gu Yao suddenly changed his spear technique.
The spear shadows condensed as vast Dou Qi poured into them. In the blink of an eye, the phantom image of a ferocious beast took shape.
The long spear drew a strange and treacherous arc before viciously stabbing toward Lin Yuan's heart.
Lin Yuan sensed it with his soul power and instantly discovered the killing move hidden within the ferocious beast phantom.
He calmly raised his spear to meet the attack.
The green-flame spear traced an eerie trajectory before fiercely stabbing toward an empty spot in the void.
"Clang!"
A crisp metallic collision suddenly rang out through the air. At the exact spot where Lin Yuan's spear had stabbed into nothingness, space suddenly trembled, and a faint spear shadow burst out from within. Its spearhead happened to collide with the tip of Lin Yuan's azure flame spear.
An attack that was difficult to perceive. It was indeed quite impressive, but against Lin Yuan, whose soul perception was exceptionally powerful it was useless.
The two spears crossed, and the frigid and scorching forces violently collided. Fine spatial cracks spread outward like a spiderweb, sending shivers down one's spine.
The two exchanged a glance, as though they had simultaneously received some kind of signal.
Thunder flashed, and space rippled. Two figures, one azure and one blue, vanished from their original positions at the same time.
In the next instant, Lin Yuan and Gu Yao suddenly appeared a hundred meters away as if they had teleported there. Their spears collided, and a violent roar swept across the surrounding area.
Immediately afterward, their figures once again disappeared from everyone's sight.
Two figures, one azure and one silver, streaked across the horizon. Every time they appeared before the spectators, it was accompanied by the collision of their spears and the clash of ice and flame.
As the two fought, waves of energy rolled through the air, violent energy storms raged, and pitch-black spatial cracks occasionally tore open in the void.
As time passed, the anxiety in Gu Yao's eyes grew increasingly intense. The Blood Transformation Art absolutely could not be maintained for too long.
However, although he was fighting Lin Yuan, a Four-Star Dou Ancestor, with the strength of a Seven-Star Dou Ancestor and seemed to have suppressed his opponent, he had failed to achieve any real results.
Although Lin Yuan's movement technique was inferior to his Void Traverse, it was still extremely agile.
Most importantly, Lin Yuan's physical body and perception were simply too powerful. His movements were completely under Lin Yuan's control. His frequent attacks lacked sufficient killing power to cause any damage, while attacks powerful enough to injure Lin Yuan were easily detected and avoided.
"Damn it. This guy is too troublesome. I can't continue fighting like this. I need to use a decisive killing move and win in one strike."
Thinking of this, Gu Yao stopped chasing Lin Yuan and began circulating his cultivation technique.
"Ancient Profound Ice Mirror, Absorb!"
With a cold shout, Gu Yao formed several profound hand seals. His body suddenly erupted with a powerful suction force, causing a vast amount of surrounding natural energy to howl toward him. Streams of tangible energy surged violently into his body.
With the infusion of natural energy, the Dou Qi Gu Yao had consumed while repeatedly using high-level Dou Techniques was finally replenished by a considerable amount.
"Gu Yao, have you realized that I'm fighting a battle of attrition with you?"
Lin Yuan smiled faintly.
"A battle of attrition is unfavorable for someone maintaining the Blood Transformation Art at full power. As for me, with my current physical strength, maintaining the Azure Lotus Transformation is practically effortless."
Lin Yuan felt rather novel about this.
In the past, it had always been others who tried to drag things out and exhaust the duration of his secret techniques.
This time, it was finally his turn to take the initiative and fight someone in a battle of attrition.
Lin Yuan stood in the void. While circulating the Heavenly Capital Flame Canon to replenish his energy, he observed Gu Yao's movements as he absorbed energy and restored his Dou Qi.
"As expected, the cultivation technique Gu Yao is currently practicing is at the same level as the Heavenly Capital Flame Canon, rather than an Heaven Class cultivation technique. It seems that even members of the Ancient Clan won't switch to Heaven Class cultivation techniques until their cultivation reaches a sufficient level. Naturally, the same applies to Heaven Class Dou Techniques."
"Perhaps these young geniuses who possess powerful Dou God bloodlines are more fragile than I imagined."
"Their weakness is their physical bodies!"
On the Dou Qi Continent, every level of cultivation technique had its own basic cultivation requirements.
The more powerful the cultivation technique, the greater the amount of natural energy it could absorb into the body. However, the natural energy absorbed by a cultivation technique was by no means gentle. It was powerful energy capable of unleashing the force to shatter mountains and overturn seas.
If one cultivated an excessively high-level cultivation technique before one's physical body and meridians were strong enough, the enormous amount of energy drawn into the body would instead injure the cultivator.
This was especially true for Heaven Class cultivation techniques, which could even cause phenomena in the heavens and earth when brought into the world.
There were two ways to solve this problem.
The first was to wait until one's cultivation was sufficient before switching to a higher-level cultivation technique.
The second was body refinement, strengthening one's physical body to withstand the impact of the energy.
Most people chose the first path.
For example, before reaching the Dou Spirit realm, Gu Xun'er had cultivated a Black Class cultivation technique. Only after reaching the Dou Spirit realm did she switch to the Nine Phoenix Flame Art given to her by Xiao Yan.
As for why she didn't refine her body and directly cultivate a high-level technique instead.
The Ancient Clan certainly wasn't lacking in resources.
Lin Yuan had already vaguely figured out the answer to this question.
"Are these Dou God bloodline possessors worried that body refinement would cause undesirable changes to their Dou Emperor bloodlines?"
"The so-called Dou God bloodline isn't actually that stable. And body refinement definitely carries considerable risks for their bloodlines."
Take Gu Xun'er as an example. Losing some of her bloodline power could potentially cause the grade of her bloodline to decline, and she would even have to wait until reaching the Dou Saint realm before she could marry.
Even something as minor as that could cause changes to a Dou God bloodline, let alone body refinement.
As someone highly accomplished in body refinement, Lin Yuan understood this all too well.
While body refinement strengthened the physical body, it was often accompanied by changes in one's bloodline.
Throughout the process of body refinement, bloodline changes occurred quite frequently. Lin Yuan's bloodline had already undergone countless changes and was no longer purely that of a human. It had gradually acquired certain characteristics of magical beasts, or more precisely, the Ancient Void Dragon.
Under these circumstances, the geniuses of the Ancient Clans naturally wouldn't dare to casually practice body refinement before they had completely excavated and utilized the power of their own bloodlines.
Even after they had fully utilized the power of their Dou God bloodlines, they might still not choose body refinement to increase their strength, all for the sake of preserving the concentration of their descendants' Dou God bloodlines.
This was probably one of the limitations of possessing a Dou God bloodline.
Among most of the Ancient Clans, there were very few people with exceptionally powerful physical bodies. It was simply that their overall formidable strength cleverly concealed this weakness.
"A Dou God bloodline can barely be considered a double-edged sword."
Lin Yuan sighed inwardly and calmly looked at Gu Yao, who was rapidly forming hand seals.
"I've already figured out the foundation of Gu Yao's strength. It's time to end this battle."
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