Chapter 1540: Black Bead

The Fallen Mountain battle, which had shook the entire Central Plains, had finally come to an end with the defeat of the chief of the Hall of Souls, leaving many feeling that they had not watched their fill. The final result had somewhat exceeded many people’s expectations. The Hall of Souls, a faction that had stood as the overlord of the Central Plains for hundreds of years, had finally met a powerful faction that could keep them in check after having acted fearless and overbearing for such a long time.

The Sky Mansion Alliance, an alliance made up of a couple of large factions, which had not been given high regards by those from the older generations, had begun to rise at a shocking speed after a couple of years of integration!

Moreover, the number of experts gathered in the alliance had also caused some of the old factions to feel ashamed. A Dou Sheng class expert was an ancestor that guarded the sect, but this Sky Mansion Alliance had a total of ten of them. This number had caused everyone to understand that the Sky Mansion Alliance had not simply relied on luck to survive until this day.

This became very apparent when these elite Dou Shengs were led by an expert who had defeated a five star Dou Sheng, the chief of the Hall of Souls. That shock was unmatchable.

After this battle, everyone understood that the reputation of the Sky Mansion Alliance would spread to every corner of the Central Plains. That grand battle would undoubtedly be spread by an uncountable number of people in a respectful fashion.

The transfer of the position of overlord shook the Central Plains.

The result of the Fallen Mountain battle had stirred an earth-shaking level of shock and joy after being transmitted back to the Sky Mansion Alliance. During this half a month’s time, the entire alliance had descended into a wild joy. From this moment forth, the Sky Mansion Alliance would possess an unmatchable reputation within the Central Plains. All the members of the alliance, including the outermost members, would be able to stick their chests out with great pride when interacting with others because the uniform on their chests displayed a badge that told everyone that they belonged to the alliance.

The glory of the alliance was also their glory.

While the entire Sky Mansion Alliance had descended into a wild joy, no one forgot the person who had brought them this victory…

That earth-shaking battle was repeated from individual to individual and was regarded as the most outstanding battle among outstanding battles. Xiao Yan was being described as a divine being. These rumors caused Xiao Yan to involuntarily break into a stunned smile. However, these rumors had caused many members of the Sky Mansion Alliance to treat him like a divine being whom they could not offend.

This was a blind respect. It was the faith of a believer.

After one’s reputation had accumulated to a certain extent, it would quietly rise in one’s heart. The respect these alliance members felt for Xiao Yan was rising with a fervor. Yao Lao and the others were a little surprised at this situation, but they did not hinder this respect because such faith would increase their cohesion. Moreover, the only person in the Sky Mansion Alliance who had the ability to instill such faith was Xiao Yan…

The wild joy within the alliance continued for half a month before it gradually calmed down. Although the excitement of the ordinary members was a little crazy, the upper echelons of the alliance continued to remain calm. This narrow victory against the Hall of Souls gained the alliance an immeasurable amount of benefits. However, being in this peak spot would also mean that they would face open hostility and hidden schemes. In the past, the Hall of Souls was extremely powerful. Under the deterrence of its ferocity, no one dared to act against it. However, the Sky Mansion Alliance had risen a little too quickly. It had only been established for a very short period of time. Some of the old factions within the Central Plains plotted against it with ill-intent.

After all, the Sky Mansion Alliance and the Hall of Souls were fundamentally different. The Hall of Souls was extremely ruthless in everything they did. They completely ignored all other factions. If they had not possessed the secret support of the Hun clan, a resistance would have already formed given their actions. Now, the Sky Mansion Alliance had leaped ahead and become the new overlord. Naturally, it would not be able to adopt the same approach as the Hall of Souls. After all, they were not backed by an existence like the Hun clan.

Hence, soon after the big battle came to an end, the upper echelons issued orders to strictly prohibit any members from acting arrogant and overbearing toward others. All their actions should remain as usual. Those who disobeyed would be expelled from the alliance!

Under the suppression of this harsh punishment, the Sky Mansion Alliance appeared extremely calm from the perspective of others after obtaining a great victory. Hardly any matters that could damage the alliance spread, causing many people to quietly nod. They held the alliance in higher regard. Although the Sky Mansion Alliance had surpassed the Hall of Souls, the Hall of Souls was still in existence. Moreover, it did not suffer a great loss. They were looking at the alliance with ill-intent and waiting for it to make a mistake before attacking again…

While the Sky Mansion Alliance was steadily rising, an increasing number of factions across the Central Plains who hated the Hall of Souls began to join. These people had been afraid of the Hall of Souls in the past. Hence, they chose to endure their hatred. Now that this Sky Mansion Alliance had appeared out of nowhere and had surpassed the Hall of Souls, it was only natural for these people to swarm over and join them…

The alliance did not simply randomly absorb this huge number of members. They adopted a strict and complicated selection process before accepting them as outer alliance members. An exception was made only to those who werw extremely strong and could be trusted, allowing them to be absorbed into the inner alliance.

This orderly absorption caused the strength of the huge Sky Mansion Alliance to quietly soar once again.

A stream wandered through the forest within the deepest part of the star realm. It soon transformed into a silver waterfall that quickly fell down, landing in a clear lake below.

A human figure was seated on the surface of the water at the middle of the lake. He did not move. The ripples that fluctuated and spread across the water automatically disappeared when they were ten meters away from him, like there was an extremely quiet aura around him that was giving him a strange appearance.

“Buzz!”

This silence continued for around half a day before the human figure finally opened his tightly shut eyes. A faint fire glow flashed across his dark-black eyes. He lowered his head. He frowned as he glanced at his palm. There was a black bead suspended half an inch above his palm. The color of the bead was an extremely deep black. At a glance, it appeared just like a small black hole. It even felt like it was trying to pull one’s soul into it.

The human figure was naturally Xiao Yan. Three months had passed since the battle at the Fallen Mountain. During these three months, the Sky Mansion Alliance seemed to have undergone a complete transformation. Repeated and drastic changes continued to occur, but Xiao Yan did not intervene in these matters. He was not really good when it came to managing the faction. Forcing himself to get involved would only lead to more losses than gains. Yao Lao was also clearly aware of this point. Hence, he allowed Xiao Yan to train alone and did not disturb him.

Xiao Yan spent all of his free time in training. Xiao Xiao got along very well with the Little Fairy Doctor and Qing Lin. Hence, she did not really stick beside Xiao Yan. Moreover, there was also the old-fashioned and strict Xiao Chen constantly monitoring her training, so he ended up with the most free time after the big battle.

These three months of training did increase Xiao Yan’s strength. Currently, he had stabilized as an initial five star Dou Sheng. Even though the Flame Mantra had already evolved into a quasi Tian Class Qi Method, the three months of energy absorption was merely a drop in an ocean for Xiao Yan. Only at this moment did he discover just how difficult it was to raise one’s strength in the Dou Sheng class unless there were some special circumstances.

Although these three months of training did not allow Xiao Yan to increase his level, he still managed to make an exceptional gain. This gain came from when Little Yi had swallowed the Nihility Devouring Flame’s flame seed…

The Nihility Devouring Flame was said to be able to devour anything. It could even swallow energy and Dou Qi and was incomparably overbearing. Its strange devouring power would cause one to feel envious. Moreover, the thing that caused one’s heart to be truly attracted to it was that as long as one was able to refine a flame seed from the Nihility Devouring Flame, one would gain the chance of obtaining its ability. Although this ability was not comparable to the Nihility Devouring Flame, it was extremely useful for training. Hence, Xiao Yan had spent most of his time studying that devouring power.

Xiao Yan’s observations had not exceeded his expectations. A black-colored bead had gradually formed within Xiao Yan’s body after Little Yi swallowed the Nihility Devouring Flame’s flame seed since both of them were Heavenly Flames. Xiao Yan could sense a devouring power, which could even swallow one’s soul, within this bead.

Xiao Yan rejoiced after having obtained this black bead, which contained that devouring power. If he could gain this devouring power, he would undoubtedly be able to train a lot more effectively, but his joy did not last for long before he discovered something terrible. If this bead was placed in his body, it would gradually swallow the Dou Qi within his body. Moreover, Xiao Yan was even vaguely able to sense that his life force was also being absorbed along with his Dou Qi.

Xiao Yan had discovered that the energy absorbed by this devouring power was extremely impure, and the impurities within this energy agglomerated together because of the devouring power. It was extremely difficult to remove these impurities even when he used his Heavenly Flame. He was unable to absorb the energy that had been devoured.

“This damn thing…”

Xiao Yan’s expression had become quite ugly after sensing this situation. This thing was not only useless, it was also harmful.

“From the looks of this devouring power, an ordinary person would really not be blessed to enjoy it…”

Xiao Yan shook his head in disappointment. He glanced at the black bead before flipping his hand. He was just about to store it in his Storage Ring when a pink flame escaped his hand. Little Yi appeared. His flabby hand wrapped around the bead as desire filled his little face.

“Huh?”

Xiao Yan was startled upon seeing Little Yi appear.