Chapter 990: Tempering the Avatar

A bonfire was emitting a faint fire seedling within the dark forest. Light spread, causing the forest within a hundred meter radius to be dyed with a faint-red glow.

Xiao Yan was seated cross-legged beside the bonfire. The light from the flame lit up his face, and seemed to have covered his body with a layer of faint-red yarn. At this moment, both of his eyes were tightly shut. The fire seal between his eyebrows was emitting a faint, weak light.

This silence continued awhile before Xiao Yan suddenly opened both of his eyes. An invisible energy surged from between his brows. It swiftly wiggled beside him and transformed into a human figure. Moreover, the appearance of this person seemed like a replica of Xiao Yan.

Xiao Yan turned his head to look at this avatar. He could vaguely see the light, that was emitted from the flame, through its body.

“The strength of this avatar should be only at the Dou Ling class. Moreover, the time it can exist is too short. If it was someone with sharp eyes, the person would be able to tell what it is at a glance.” Xiao Yan frowned and softly muttered.

According to the training method within Xiao Yan’s mind, his first step was to form an avatar. If one successfully formed an avatar, all one needed to do next was to temper this avatar until it controlled a strength similar to the creator’s strength.

Although this was easy to say, it was extremely difficult to do it. Given Fei Tian’s ability, he had only gotten his avatar to reach the intermediate level despite having honed it for so many years. There was still a great distance before it reached the mastery level. Moreover, Xiao Yan had only just completed the first step. There was a vast gap until the next step…

“According to what the training method states, one needs to gradually merge the wind lightning strength into the avatar, and then use the wind lightning strength to hide the spiritual ripple. Thus, it would act as a defense as well as hide the spiritual secret…” Xiao Yan looked at the avatar beside him as this thought swiftly lingered in his heart.

“The lightning glow on the surface of Fei Tian’s avatar back then can likely be explained by this. Moreover, the wind lightning strength had also become the attacking technique of his avatar. Its strength is quite great… however… however, there is no Wind Lightning strength within my body. The little bit I had absorbed when practicing the Three Thousand Lightning Movement back then is far from sufficient to temper this avatar. What should I do?”

Xiao Yan frowned while he thought about this. If the avatar did not have the protection of the Wind Lightning Strength, it would definitely be at a severe disadvantage if it met with a powerful thing like the Fallen Heart Flame, that could cause damage to a spirit. The fate of Fei Tian’s avatar was the best case study.

“But… where can I get this Wind Lightning Strength? Back then, I had worked so hard only to end up absorbing a little Wind Lightning Strength, that is barely sufficient to practice the Three Thousand Lightning Movement…” The bamboo firewood in Xiao Yan’s hand was smashed into powder without him realizing it. He involuntarily laughed upon seeing this. This Three Thousand Lightning Illusionary Body had caused him to have a headache.

“Stupid, who says that you must definitely use Wind Lightning Strength? This is merely one of the tempering methods. It is also fine if you use other forms of energy. The strength of the ‘Heavenly Flame’ within your body is many times stronger than that Wind Lightning Strength, especially the Fallen Heart Flame. If you can merge it into the avatar, it would be unafraid of any strange energy that could subdue spirits in the future. Hence, the only imperfection of the avatar is remedied by you. Its strength would also be many times stronger than the avatar of Fei Tian…” Tian Huo zun-zhe teaching voice was suddenly emitted from the ring while Xiao Yan’s head ached

Xiao Yan was stunned when he heard his suggestion. He mumbled a little, “However, the training method has said to use the Wind Lightning Strength to temper the avatar. Would the usage of other energy not destroy the avatar especially if the Fallen Heart Flame is used? It is able to hurt spirits. Would the spiritual avatar not be refined into nothingness the moment they make contact?”

“Everything in the world is such that wealth is obtained from danger. The Fallen Heart Flame has already been completely refined by you. When have you seen it reject your soul? As long as you grasp the equilibrium of the tempering properly and proceed slowly, the mastery of the avatar will only be around the corner.” Tian Huo zun-zhe explained.

Xiao Yan was not a foolish person. His heart also came to a sudden understanding after Tian Huo zun-zhe’s reminder. A moment later, he inhaled a deep breath of air. It was really as Tian Huo zun-zhe had said, and it would be difficult for him to obtain a large amount of Wind Lightning Strength. Since this was the case, it was better if he attempted to strengthen the avatar with a ‘Heavenly Flame.’ He would not lose anything if he failed. However, if he were to succeed, this last remaining imperfection of the spiritual avatar would be remedied by him. It would definitely be a lot of help when he fought with others in the future.

“Since this is the case… let’s give it a try!”

Xiao Yan made up his mind in his heart. The hesitation in his eyes swiftly disappeared. There was already less than twenty days until the energy tide in the Heaven Eye Mountain Range began. Based on the distance he had to cover, he should be able to cross this mountain range after five or six days. At that time, he would go all out and hurry to the Heaven Eye Mountain Range. Hence, it was best if he could make progress during these five to six days. Otherwise, this Dou Ling class avatar would not be any help to him.

Xiao Yan’s finger pressed on the avatar beside him. It shook before transforming into an invisible light that entered the spot between Xiao Yan’s brows. With a wave of Xiao Yan’s hand, the Earth Demon Puppet appeared. It guarded him. Only then did Xiao Yan slowly shut his eyes. His mind moved, entering the Spiritual Sea in his brows.

Xiao Yan’s illusionary figure slowly surfaced in the sea region. The Spiritual Strength in front of him fluctuated slightly and a tiny light spot emitted a faint glow. Immediately, the avatar appeared amid the spiritual fluctuation below.

The spirit of Xiao Yan sat cross-legged while the avatar in front of him also swiftly sat down. Xiao Yan gently exhaled a breath of air after seeing this. He beckoned with his hand and a cluster of Fallen Heart Flame appeared.

The spiritual sea below Xiao Yan fluctuated the moment this cluster of Fallen Heart Flame appeared. Although this thing had already been subdued by Xiao Yan, its effect of restraining a spirit still caused the Spiritual Strength to keep its distance.

Xiao Yan was unconcerned about the reflexive action of the spiritual sea. He swung his hand and the Fallen Heart Flame flew out. Immediately, it wrapped around the avatar in front of Xiao Yan.

The flame had just wrapped around Xiao Yan’s avatar when its body abruptly trembled. Its originally illusory body had become paler.

“Lower the temperature… you must maintain the flame at a certain special temperature. As long as you calm yourself and avoid being disturbed, you should be able to do it with your fire control ability…” Tian Huo zun-zhe’s soft, deep voice sounded within the spiritual sea region.

Xiao Yan’s fingers moved. The flame wrapped around the avatar slowly became much dimmer, causing the temperature to gradually fell. Following the decrease of the Fallen Heart Flame’s temperature, the shaking of the avatar’s body was reduced slightly. However, it was still vaguely trembling.

Xiao Yan’s mind was maintained in an undistracted condition. He slowly suppressed the flame’s temperature. While the flame’s temperature fell, the various visual cues given by the avatar also entered Xiao Yan’s head. After which, Xiao Yan identified the best temperature in a lightning-like manner…

This was an extremely difficult form of control. It required an extremely harsh flame control ability. Under the refinement of the Fallen Heart Flame, the avatar was slowly becoming stronger. At the same time, Xiao Yan needed to control the flame’s temperature and raise it according to the resistance of the avatar. Thus, he had to repeatedly adjust the temperature of the Fallen Heart Flame in order to obtain the tempering effect.

This efficient control consumed a great amount of mental capacity. Even with Xiao Yan’s endurance, he was clearly able to sense a tired feeling slowly spreading out from deep within his soul…

Although the process exhausted a great amount of attention, it must be said that Xiao Yan’s control of the Fallen Heart Flame had already reached a perfect stage. The original illusory avatar was gradually becoming substance-like under the tempering of the Fallen Heart Flame. This process might be very slow, but if Fei Tian and those people in the Wind Lightning Pavilion who practiced the Three Thousand Lightning Illusionary Body were to see this, it was likely that their jaws would drop. Such a speed might appear slow, but it was already extremely frightening. Compared to this, the speed of them using the Wind Lightning Strength to temper their avatar seemed to be like a tortoise crawling…

Tian Huo zun-zhe smiled in a pleased manner upon seeing Xiao Yan enter a rhythm after a simple reminder. After which, he slowly disappeared.

Two Xiao Yan’s were seated facing each other within the spiritual space. One appeared solemn while the other was wrapped within an invisible flame. The avatars illusionary body was quietly fluctuating within the flame. While the flame was refining it, threads of extremely faint fire seedings slowly merged into the avatar, causing some invisible flames to appear in the transparent body….

Night slowly disappeared. When the first rays of morning sun scattered down, Xiao Yan, who was beside a bonfire, slowly opened his eyes. A tiredness was faintly present within them. The exhaustion of Xiao Yan’s Spiritual Strength during the night was not any less than the results of having fought a big battle with others.

“This avatar tempering is indeed difficult. According to this speed, it will likely require at least two months before it can reach the intermediate level. I don’t even know when it will be before I can reach complete mastery. The Three Thousand Lightning Illusionary Body is indeed the most difficult Dou Technique to practice within the Wind Lightning Pavilion…”

Xiao Yan stood up from the ground and involuntarily sighed as he muttered.

“Little fellow, you are really greedy. Although I am not familiar with this Dou Technique, Fei Tian has at least tempered his avatar for more than five years from the looks of it, yet you are not satisfied by being able to reach a similar stage in two short months?” Tian Huo zun-zhe’s helpless voice was emitted from the ring.

Xiao Yan involuntarily let out an embarrassed smile upon hearing this. Putting it this way, he was really greedy. Xiao Yan coughed dryly and returned the Earth Demon Puppet to his Storage Ring. After which, he raised his feet and walked in the northern direction of the forest.

“Let’s get moving. The Heaven Eye Mountain Range is likely already filled with people. I wonder if I will be able to snatch one of the ten places? This is the opportunity to breakthrough to the Dou Zong class. I will not give it up no matter what…”