Chapter 252: Cultivating the Celestial Fire Illusion Body

Chapter 252: Chapter 252: Cultivating the Celestial Fire Illusion Body

WHOOSH!

A dark figure darted swiftly through the dense forest. Wary of ambushes and pursuers, Yi Xiaoyao traveled at top speed, his eyes vigilantly scanning his surroundings.

Along the way, Yi Xiaoyao sensed several powerful auras. They felt remarkably similar to Han Yuan’s sinister, cold-blooded Qi, but they were many times stronger.

’They must be from the Cold Blood Alliance, rushing over as reinforcements after receiving a message.’

Little did they know that Han Yuan was already dead, and his killer was escaping right beneath them.

The figures hurried past overhead, moving in the opposite direction from Yi Xiaoyao. It was a close call, but he remained undiscovered.

At last, after exiting the canyon, Yi Xiaoyao shot up into the sky and departed, treading on the very air.

...

Half a day later, a dark figure shot down from the sky, landing in a tranquil mountain valley.

Yi Xiaoyao’s figure appeared beside a stream. After washing his face, he saw his reflection in the rippling water, the corners of his mouth curving into an irrepressible smile.

This time, Yi Xiaoyao’s haul was simply immense. He had originally only wanted the tattered Secret Treasure Map, but he never expected to also obtain the two grand finale treasures from the auction, courtesy of Han Yuan: the Nirvana Holy Fruit and the Celestial Fire Illusion Body.

Either of these two treasures would have caused a massive stir in the entire Great Xia Empire or the Chaotic Alliance Domain, yet both had ultimately fallen into Yi Xiaoyao’s hands.

It was just as Han Yuan had said: the heavens were smiling upon him.

However, Han Yuan had only been half right. The person the heavens were smiling upon wasn’t him, but Yi Xiaoyao.

"Little Hei!"

At his call, Little Hei shot out from behind Yi Xiaoyao’s neck with a WHOOSH and dove straight into the stream, leaping about and sending splashes flying everywhere.

Then, the sixth-rank Demon Core Yi Xiaoyao had bought at the auction shot from his hand. Little Hei leaped up excitedly to catch it.

Yi Xiaoyao grinned as he watched Little Hei cradling the Demon Core, which was even larger than its own body.

’After Little Hei eats this,’ Yi Xiaoyao mused, ’it should not only break through to become a fourth-rank Demon Beast, but its strength should see an even greater leap.’

After all, Yi Xiaoyao had spent a high price of several million Spirit Stones on this Demon Core. Furthermore, it was the Inner Core from a sixth-rank Demon Beast, a creature that had surpassed the Nascent Soul Transformation Realm. The boost it would give Little Hei was easy to imagine.

With that, Yi Xiaoyao paid Little Hei no more mind and took out the Storage Pouch he had obtained from Han Yuan.

A jade box appeared in his hand. Through the material, he could faintly see a warm, fiery-red glow radiating from within.

Yi Xiaoyao eagerly opened the jade box, and a rich, fruity fragrance immediately wafted out.

"Nirvana Holy Fruit!"

At that moment, gazing at the fruit that glowed with a fiery light, Yi Xiaoyao’s excitement was impossible to hide. His breath even started to tremble.

CRUNCH~

He took a bite, and the juice flowed past his teeth and into his mouth. An unprecedented, delicious flavor instantly erupted across his taste buds.

In the blink of an eye, the entire Nirvana Holy Fruit was in Yi Xiaoyao’s stomach.

"That was so good! It’s the most delicious fruit I’ve ever eaten!"

After a contented sigh, Yi Xiaoyao lay on the ground, thoroughly enjoying the moment and savoring the endless aftertaste.

"Hm?"

Suddenly, Yi Xiaoyao sat bolt upright, a look of utter confusion on his face.

He realized that, aside from being delicious, the so-called Nirvana Holy Fruit hadn’t had any other effect on him so far.

’That can’t be right... The Nirvana Holy Fruit was made out to be something legendary, comparable to a Miracle Elixir. How could eating it feel no different from eating an ordinary piece of fruit?’

In the next moment, a realization seemed to dawn on Yi Xiaoyao.

He recalled that the auctioneer had mentioned that the Nirvana Holy Fruit and its effects were only legends; no one had ever actually eaten one.

Even the most senior Appraiser at the Celestial Cloud Auction House was only fifty percent certain that the fruit possessed its fabled effects.

’Looks like what I just ate was, in all likelihood, a fake.’

At this thought, Yi Xiaoyao gave a wry, helpless smile.

He wasn’t too dejected, though. It wasn’t like he’d spent his own money on it. He could just consider it a very delicious, ordinary piece of fruit.

With that, Yi Xiaoyao put the matter out of his mind. With another flip of his hand, he took out a red Jade Slip.

’The Nirvana Holy Fruit might be a fake, but this high-grade Celestial Tier Spiritual Skill can’t be, right!’

After muttering to himself, Yi Xiaoyao opened the Jade Slip that recorded the Celestial Fire Illusion Body and began to study it.

From the discussions he’d overheard at the auction, Yi Xiaoyao had learned that the Celestial Fire Illusion Body was the signature treasure of the Celestial Fire Alliance, the number one alliance in the Chaotic Alliance Domain.

Now that he was looking at it, he could see it truly lived up to its reputation.

As a Body Technique Spiritual Skill, the Celestial Fire Illusion Body was also divided into three stages, with their power corresponding respectively to the low, middle, and high levels of Celestial Tier Spiritual Skills.

The first stage: Celestial Fire Instant Illusion.

After mastering this stage, one could instantly condense a Flame Illusion Body at a great distance and simultaneously swap places with it. The higher one’s Cultivation, the farther this distance could be.

It was easy to imagine the power of this technique.

In the middle of a battle, you could, with a single thought, instantly appear hundreds or even thousands of feet away to dodge a fatal blow;

Or, you could appear from hundreds or thousands of feet away in an instant, right before your enemy, to deliver a fatal strike!

Reading this, Yi Xiaoyao’s eyes began to gleam. He suppressed his excitement and continued to read.

The second stage: Celestial Fire Hundred Illusions.

This allowed one to create hundreds of Flame Illusion Bodies over a large area, each with an aura nearly identical to one’s own. The user could then swap positions with any of these hundreds of illusions at will.

The third stage: Celestial Fire Thousand Illusions.

Similar to Celestial Fire Hundred Illusions, but upon reaching this stage, one could create over a thousand Flame Illusion Bodies!

You could swap positions at will among a thousand Flame Illusion Bodies, and these illusions were so realistic they were impossible to tell apart. If an enemy couldn’t even determine which one was real, how could they possibly fight you?

"Haha! Such a powerful Body Technique Spiritual Skill! I’ve really hit the jackpot!"

Yi Xiaoyao couldn’t help but throw his head back and laugh. No wonder people said that by mastering this Body Technique Spiritual Skill, even someone in the Nascent Soul Realm could remain undefeated when facing a Nascent Soul Transformation Realm expert, and could easily escape completely unscathed.

「Half a day later...」

FWOOSH!

With the roar of a flame, Yi Xiaoyao suddenly vanished. In the spot where he had just been standing, a Flame Illusion Body appeared out of thin air.

As for Yi Xiaoyao, he reappeared at a spot... roughly a hundred feet from the Flame Illusion Body.

’The distance is a little short, and the Instant Illusion was a real struggle, but I finally succeeded!’

Yi Xiaoyao exhaled, muttering to himself with some delight.

What he didn’t know, however, was that even the Alliance Leader of the Celestial Fire Alliance—the one who had mastered this technique to perfection—had taken over half a month to learn the first stage, Celestial Fire Instant Illusion.

And Yi Xiaoyao had done it in just half a day!

If the Alliance Leader of the Celestial Fire Alliance ever found out, he would probably be so shocked—or enraged—that he would cough up blood and die on the spot.

The reason for this, naturally, was that the Celestial Fire Illusion Body was a Fire Attribute Spiritual Skill with extremely high requirements for flame manipulation.

But Yi Xiaoyao possessed the Heaven and Earth Fire Essence, giving him a level of flame control far beyond that of any ordinary person.

As a result, not only could Yi Xiaoyao learn this Spiritual Skill at a staggering speed, but the power he could wield with it would also be far greater!

...