The Strange Flame Rekindles in Battle Through the Heavens

Chapter 104 Breakthrough to Eight Stars

Xiao Yan stepped out of the cave and came to the foot of the waterfall, letting the cascading water wash over his body. A wave of coolness washed over him, and Xiao Yan felt incredibly refreshed. He then raised his head, opened his mouth wide, and drank the water in large gulps; he was extremely thirsty.

This water acted like lubricant for a machine, causing Xiao Yan's previously stagnant cultivation technique to start running rapidly again.

The Yin-Yang Flames within Xiao Yan's body were like gasoline, rapidly circulating throughout his body and quickly repairing the hidden injuries.

"Cloud-Dispelling Palm!" Xiao Yan suddenly shouted, raising both hands upwards.

A surge of powerful battle qi erupted from Xiao Yan's palm, crashing towards the waterfall above.

A deafening roar echoed through the sky, reverberating throughout the entire valley. The rushing water was forced upstream by Xiao Yan's attack.

Hearing the loud noise, Yao Ye, who was inside the Water Curtain Cave, was startled. She knew that such a commotion was probably caused by Xiao Yan.

At this moment, Yao Ye really wanted to see what Xiao Yan was doing. Although she was very weak and had very little strength, she still managed to get up with difficulty, put her hands on the cave wall, and walked to the cave entrance.

After walking to the cave entrance, Yao Ye looked down, but after just one glance, her face instantly turned bright red. She gave a light peck and quickly turned away.

Because Xiao Yan was sitting cross-legged on the rock with his buttocks naked.

All around Xiao Yan, the energy of heaven and earth continuously poured into his body, and the internal cultivation technique began to operate rapidly, like a newly manufactured machine, moving at an extremely fast speed.

As the energy of heaven and earth continued to converge, a huge energy vortex descended from the sky, directly enveloping Xiao Yan's body.

Xiao Yan was like a glutton, indiscriminately absorbing all this energy, no matter how much it came from. His body was like a dried-up lake, and his meridians like dried-up rivers.

These energies of heaven and earth were quickly refined into battle qi, which then nourished Xiao Yan's body and meridians like rain.

The long-lost pleasure and satisfaction made Xiao Yan groan comfortably.

After the fighting spirit filled Xiao Yan's meridians, it was then channeled into Xiao Yan's vortex. The vortex grew at a visible speed, and a star appeared faintly within it.

"It hasn't been that long, and it's already upgraded another star level!" Yao Ye sighed inwardly as he looked at the huge vortex in front of him.

"No! The power generated by this breakthrough is far more terrifying than the last one. He has reached the eighth-star Dou Zhe level! He broke through two stars in one month! This is truly terrifying!" Yao Ye exclaimed in his heart.

After her initial shock, Yao Ye quickly leaned against the stone wall and returned to her stone bed, continuing to pretend to be asleep. After all, it would be incredibly embarrassing if Xiao Yan discovered she was peeking.

After Yao Ye returned to the stone bed, Xiao Yan's breakthrough was also nearing its end.

After the surrounding天地能量 (heaven and earth energy) had been completely refined, Xiao Yan suddenly opened his eyes, a barely perceptible glint in them. Then, Xiao Yan leaped into the air, raised his fist, and slammed it hard into the stream below the waterfall.

"Flame Fist!"

With a loud "bang!", water splashed everywhere, creating a mist.

After the mist dissipated, various kinds of fish floated on the surface of the stream. Xiao Yan collected the fish and cleaned their internal organs. He then dressed, gathered some firewood in the woods, and returned to the Water Curtain Cave.

After returning to the Water Curtain Cave, Xiao Yan placed the fish on the stone table and began to grill it. Soon, the fish was ready. Looking at the grilled fish, Xiao Yan couldn't resist eating it. He hadn't eaten for three days, only drinking the poisoned wine that Yao Ye had given him.

"How long are you going to pretend to be asleep?" Xiao Yan shouted at Yao Ye on the stone bed.

"You knew I was awake all along?" Yao Ye stopped pretending and got up to sit on the edge of the bed.

"My attack wasn't enough to knock you unconscious for a whole day," Xiao Yan said disdainfully.

"Then..." Yao Ye's face turned red again as she recalled what had just happened.

"Forget it! I'm a grown man, why would I be afraid of being watched?" Xiao Yan naturally knew that Yao Ye had been peeking at him, but did he care about being watched by a beautiful woman?

"So, what do you plan to do with me?" Yao Ye said calmly. She had indeed been somewhat flustered when she was first captured, but she had now calmed down. Yao Ye once again adopted a cold demeanor, making it impossible to discern her inner thoughts.

"What should I do with you? I'm in a dilemma too! I've been thinking about how to deal with you so that I can vent my anger. I feel like you're a chicken rib—tasteless to eat, but a pity to throw away! Killing you would be a waste; after all, I'm a kind-hearted person. Letting you go, though, would leave me feeling a bit unwilling, since you've made me suffer a lot! It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say you barely escaped death." Xiao Yan said helplessly.

"Does Mr. Nie Feng think he'd show mercy to women? You killed over four thousand men from three major mercenary groups, and you also killed over ten thousand men from my 100,000-strong army. In total, you've killed nearly twenty thousand men. And you call yourself kind-hearted? Is this all there is to kindness?" Yao Ye said disdainfully.

"Ahem! I never kill women! The three major mercenary groups suddenly attacked me, you must have played a part in it!" Xiao Yan coughed awkwardly twice, then changed the subject.

Actually, we really can't kill Yao Ye now. Jia Xingtian has probably already taken the Life-Shortening Pill and is practically useless now.

If Yaoye dies, the entire Gama Empire will be without a leader and will soon fall into chaos.

The Izumo Empire and other countries will not let this opportunity pass them by; they will unite to destroy the Gama Empire.

If the country fails, where will the people turn for refuge?

Although Xiao Yan had not personally experienced the consequences of being invaded by other countries, he was very clear about them from what he had heard and heard in his previous life.

So all we could do was teach Yao Ye a lesson and then let him go.

"Hehe, you're quite clever. It was indeed me who leaked your information, all to push you into a corner, so I could send troops to rescue you. That way, you'd owe us a favor and be involved with us. Unfortunately, I didn't expect these mercenaries to be so useless. The three mercenary groups combined had nearly five thousand men, including nine Grand Battle Masters, and they were almost completely wiped out. Of course, what I didn't expect was that you could not only refine those miraculous pills, but also terrifying pills that kill without leaving a trace," Yao Ye said with a smile. At this point, Yao Ye didn't want to hide anything anymore, since there was no point in hiding it anyway.

Yao Ye paused for a moment before continuing, "To prevent you from retaliating against us later, I have no choice but to send an army of 100,000 to deal with you. If we can subdue you, that would be ideal. If not, we will have to make compensation to resolve your hatred for the Jia Ma Empire. Besides, we don't have any deep-seated hatred between us, do we? I never intended to kill you; I only wanted to win you over and get you to join the royal family."

"This is your royal family's usual practice; they are very good at scheming. If they encounter someone with talent, they will subdue them if they can, and if they can't subdue them, they will suppress them. If they can't suppress them, they will assassinate them." Xiao Yan curled his lip and said disdainfully.

"Mr. Nie Feng really knows a lot about our royal family! Is this why Mr. Nie Feng has always been unwilling to join our royal family?" Yao Ye asked with a smile.

"That's part of the reason! To be honest, I hate all that scheming and plotting. I prefer to be straightforward. More importantly, I don't want to work for others, and I don't want to be controlled by anyone anymore," Xiao Yan said calmly.

"Mr. Nie Feng hates scheming and plotting?" Yao Ye rolled her eyes, looking utterly incredulous. Even she, a princess skilled in scheming, was defeated by Xiao Yan, and he claims to hate scheming!

Xiao Yan looked up and saw Yao Ye's clearly disbelieving expression, feeling somewhat embarrassed. But he really wasn't good at scheming! It was all because he'd watched too many TV dramas in his past life!

Like in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the strategies and schemes are endless, and some of the conspiracies and tricks are so elaborate that they are hard to guard against.

And then there's "Empresses in the Palace," whose intrigues and schemes are even more terrifying than those in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms."

(End of this chapter)