Starting at the Nascent Soul stage, a rogue cultivator is incredibly poor.

The cold of frost is the prelude to the silence of all things.

The annihilation of life is the final chapter of returning to nothingness.

Although they seem very different, they are subtly connected in their deeper meaning of ending.

However, the integration process was far more difficult than Qingyouzi had anticipated.

The Thousand Flames Technique requires one's own divine sense as a guide and magical power as a furnace to gradually dismantle the most fundamental fire nature of the two spiritual flames, to find their minute "commonality," and then to reconstruct and weave them using secret methods, just like creating a brand new flame life.

The slightest carelessness could lead to a clash of fire elements, backfiring on oneself. At best, it could burn the meridians; at worst, it could damage one's consciousness, extinguish the fire seed, or even cause one's magical power to go berserk, endangering one's life.

The nameless mountain where Qingyouzi was in seclusion had been emitting strange fluctuations over the past five years.

At times, the cold is bone-chilling, with frost covering the surrounding area for dozens of miles; at other times, life is desolate, and vegetation withers.

On several occasions, the illusory images of icy blue and dark green flames soared into the sky, stirring up the wind and clouds and attracting the attention of passing cultivators, all of whom were blocked by the outer formation.

Time passes unnoticed in the mountains; the passing of winter leaves one unaware of the years.

Five years is but a blink of an eye for a Nascent Soul cultivator. But the world order has been completely transformed.

After years of open and covert struggles between the conservative and reformist factions in the Wanxian Dynasty, they finally broke off all pretense of civility, escalating from localized frictions into a large-scale cultivator war that swept through the dynasty.

As war spread, lives were lost, and even the majestic imperial city was reduced to ruins and scorched earth in a devastating battle.

The increasingly stringent "Demon Hunting Order" imposed by Xuanxian City on the demon race of the South China Sea has intensified the oppression, ultimately provoking a large-scale backlash from the demons. Countless sea demons landed and engaged in a bloody battle with human cultivators, with flames raging along the coast for tens of thousands of miles.

Taking advantage of the chaos, the Guixian Sect explicitly supported the reformists, providing them with resources and even secretly involving powerful figures. At the same time, it also put pressure on and restrained the Xuanxian City, which leaned towards the conservatives, leaving it vulnerable from both sides.

In an instant, the three top powers of the Eastern Continent were caught in the vortex, the power structure was in turmoil, and chaos ensued. Countless small and medium-sized forces were forced to choose sides or suffered collateral damage, and a storm was brewing.

Deep in the mountains of the East.

The nameless mountain peak, which had been closed for five years, now presents a horrifying sight. Centered on the summit, the entire area within a hundred miles is engulfed in flames!

This fire was a deep, cold azure blue, burning silently. Wherever the flames passed, the air didn't warm up; instead, the temperature plummeted, and water vapor condensed and fell to the ground. Grass, trees, rocks, birds, and beasts—anything touched by the blue flames—were instantly frozen solid!

Even more bizarrely, the freezing was not the end.

Frozen objects, whether branches, leaves, or living creatures, shrivel and char within the ice layer at a visible speed, as if all life had been completely annihilated by the blue flames beneath the ice.

A hundred miles of land transformed into a desolate, burning blue ice field. There was no heat, only a bone-chilling cold and the utter desolation of all things.

The mountaintop.

Qingyouzi stood still, his aura harmonious and restrained, yet a chilling pressure naturally emanated from him.

He slowly raised his right hand, his five fingers spread, facing the sky.

The azure ice flames covering a hundred miles seemed to be summoned by an invisible force, swirling wildly and converging above his palm!

The spiritual energy in the air trembled violently. A "sun" with a diameter of over ten zhang, composed entirely of extremely condensed azure flames, slowly emerged!

The sun's rays were cold and eerie, casting endless chill and deathly stillness upon its light. Wherever the light touched, the air froze, and life withered away.

The cold will extinguish the demonic sun!

This is a brand new spiritual fire that Qingyouzi created after five years of painstaking effort, finally succeeding in fusing "Ice Flame" and "Ancient Azure Demon Fire", and the powerful supernatural abilities derived from it!

He could clearly sense that the Flame of New Life possessed both extreme cold and annihilation, making it far more powerful than a single spirit fire.

The "Ten Thousand Cold Destroys Demon Sun" divine power can unleash the power of flames to the extreme, with a wide range and terrifying destructive force.

Strength skyrocketed!

A divine light shone brightly in Qingyouzi's eyes.

He was certain that even if he were to face a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator head-on, he would have the strength to fight back, and even a good chance of winning.

With a slight thought, the azure sun in the sky slowly dissipated, and the hundred-mile-long icy flames were absorbed into the body, leaving only a devastated, lifeless, scorched frozen earth.

He opened his palm, and a wisp of azure, lively, leaping flame coiled around his fingertips.

After gazing for a moment, Qingyouzi frowned slightly.

The newly born spiritual fire was powerful, but it also seemed more unruly, and a subtle gap appeared in its compatibility with its own magical artifact.

With a thought, a wisp of myriad threads emerged from his sleeve and attempted to merge with the azure flames along his fingers, just as he had done with the Ancient Azure Demon Flame in the past, trying to imbue the flames with their properties to enhance their power.

The moment the tips of the myriad threads touched the flame, they emitted a faint sound, like erosion and melting. Though not actually damaged, the sluggishness and repulsion of the fusion were clearly felt.

Qingyouzi retracted the silk thread, seemingly lost in thought.

"As the quality of the spiritual fire improves, the precision of the spiritual energy required to control it also increases accordingly."

With my current cultivation level, I can easily control it and unleash my supernatural powers, but to imagine being able to use it as freely as before, perfectly integrating it into the myriad threads, is somewhat of a challenge.

"Either one's own cultivation breaks through again, and one's divine sense and magical power advance further, making it naturally easier to control."

"Either way, we need to find a way to improve the quality of our natal magic weapon!"

If we can find top-quality spiritual materials to refine it again, or find special techniques to enhance the essence of the magic weapon.

At that time, the power of the magical artifact will greatly increase, and its combination with the "Ten Thousand Cold Annihilation Flame" will be even more harmonious and seamless.

His eyes gleamed.

"If the quality of my magic weapon can keep up, and combined with this Flame Divine Power... my strength might truly surpass that of an ordinary late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, reaching the threshold of that level!"

Thinking of this, he suddenly remembered the "Heavenly Immortal Fruit" that was quietly stored in his storage bag.

"This fruit can help Nascent Soul cultivators break through their cultivation realm with a 100% success rate. I will definitely be able to advance to a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator in the future!"

Magical artifacts, spiritual fire, cultivation... if all three can be improved simultaneously.

"When that time comes..."

Qingyouzi gazed at the distant sea of ​​clouds, his eyes sharp as swords, as if piercing through the void and seeing the figures of some enemies.

"Below the Nascent Soul stage, who can rival me? In this vast world of cultivation, where can I not roam freely?!"

"Hahaha!"

A long laugh, filled with the exhilaration of finally achieving great success after five years of arduous training and boundless ambition for the future, echoed across the mountaintop.

Before the laughter subsided, the figure had already transformed into an almost invisible faint shadow, merging into the mountain mist and disappearing without a trace.

Only a hundred miles of scorched, frozen earth remain, silently telling a story.

Several hours later.

A desolate mountain path.

A late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator with a face full of scars and a murderous aura had just robbed a group of low-level cultivators and was counting his loot, a sinister smile still on his face.

Suddenly, a blur appeared before my eyes.

A long, steady hand, seemingly shrouded in a faint shadow, suddenly gripped the top of his head.

He couldn't even see the newcomer's face clearly, only vaguely catching a glimpse of a bamboo hat with a curtain of dark blue fire hanging down.

"Well……"

The soul-searching technique had been activated, brutal and direct. The light in the cultivator's eyes quickly dimmed and dissipated as countless fragments of memory were forcibly seized.

After a moment, he loosened his grip.

Jie Xiu's body went limp and he collapsed to the ground, his breath gone, a black spot between his eyebrows, his life force extinguished.

Qingyouzi stood quietly, digesting the scattered information obtained from the soul search, especially regarding the dramatic changes and chaos among the Myriad Immortals Dynasty, Xuanxian City, and Guixian Sect over the past two years.

"As expected, chaos has broken out..." he muttered to himself, the fire curtain on his bamboo hat fluttering slightly. "The imperial city is destroyed... Good, very good."

Chaos is the best time for revenge and resurgence.

He had already put his black conical hat back on, which concealed his presence and most of his aura.

Determine the direction.

Qingyouzi took a step forward, his figure merging into the wind, and sped off towards the former site of the Myriad Immortals Dynasty.

In the sound of the wind, a cold whisper seemed to drift:

"Some scores need to be settled."