The Strange Flame Rekindles in Battle Through the Heavens

Chapter 8 Fusion Combat Techniques

In the woods behind the family's mountain, Xiao Yan stood before a large tree, his eyes slightly narrowed. He slowly circulated the Dou Qi within his body, directing it towards the Flaming Palm and Eight Extremes Collapse meridians and acupoints.

When two different fighting techniques are used simultaneously on the right arm, the impact generated by their crossing can damage the meridians. If the meridians are severely damaged, the arm will be rendered useless.

Xiao Yan knowingly walked into danger, and although his meridians and acupoints were in excruciating pain and his arms were slightly swollen, he gritted his teeth and forced himself to endure it.

With a sudden strike of his right hand, a powerful gust of wind swept out from Xiao Yan's palm, causing the large tree to sway and many leaves to fall.

This palm strike further intensified the impact on Xiao Yan's meridians. The excruciating pain in his arm became unbearable for him. He half-squatted down, clenching his right wrist tightly with his left hand, as this was the only way to slightly alleviate the pain. At this moment, Xiao Yan's arm was swollen beyond recognition, with his right arm noticeably thicker than his left.

"Sigh! Another failure! Why is the fusion of fighting techniques so difficult?" He felt his right arm become much heavier, and his palm became larger. His entire arm had completely lost sensation. Because the Eight Extremes Collapse places high demands on the physical body, even though Xiao Yan's body was already quite strong, he still felt extremely sore all over.

"Hmph, I refuse to believe it. Today I'm going to combine the Eight Extremes Collapse and the Fire-Blowing Palm techniques. My right arm is ruined, but I still have my left." After the pain subsided slightly, Xiao Yan stood up, ready to try with his left arm.

However, this time Xiao Yan was not so reckless. Instead, he first summarized the reasons for the failure, memorized all the wrong operating routes, and then eliminated them one by one.

The Fire-Blowing Palm is, after all, only a low-level Xuan-rank fighting technique. Its acupoints and meridian pathways are very simple. Therefore, Xiao Yan gradually modified the Fire-Blowing Palm to adapt to the Eight Extremes Collapse.

After pondering for a while with his head lowered, Xiao Yan slowly raised his left palm and circulated his internal Dou Qi along the newly invented acupoint pathways.

With a sudden swing of his left palm, a powerful wind pressure surged forth from Xiao Yan's palm, but this time it carried a trace of internal energy.

"Bang!"

When the force touched the surface of the thick tree, it caused a large chunk of solid bark to peel off.

"Ha! It's done!" Xiao Yan laughed heartily, but the aggravation of his right arm injury caused him to wince in pain.

"Not bad! Not bad! I didn't expect you to actually succeed." The old apothecary emerged from the ring in his soul form, stroking his beard and smiling as he spoke.

"I'm amazing, aren't I!" Xiao Yan said excitedly, this was the direction he would take on his path to becoming stronger.

"Impressive, but your arm is almost swollen like a pig's trotter." Yao Lao said jokingly, looking at Xiao Yan's thick right hand.

"What's a little price to pay if it leads to success?" Xiao Yan said, completely unconcerned.

"You really don't need to worry about it. Only you would dare to do something like this. If anyone else did this, their right arm would be ruined. To lose an arm just to fuse a fighting technique, only a fool would do that." Yao Lao rolled his eyes.

"Teacher, didn't you say it was okay for me to do this?" Xiao Yan said with a smile.

"It's not a problem, but if you don't treat your injuries soon, things will really get complicated," the old doctor said calmly.

"Alright! I'll take care of it right away." Xiao Yan walked to a boulder and sat cross-legged on it. However, his right arm was almost useless, so he could only form hand seals with one hand to cultivate, which looked quite comical.

Wisps of pale white Dou Qi in the air entered Xiao Yan's body through his mouth and nose, continuously strengthening him and healing his injuries. He felt a warm current flowing through his right arm, and the swelling in his once-thick arm gradually subsided until it returned to normal.

As the last wisp of Dou Qi in the air entered his mouth and nose and was refined, Xiao Yan suddenly opened his eyes, a flash of white light disappearing in his pupils. Feeling the abundant Dou Qi within his body, Xiao Yan slowly raised his palms, circulated the Dou Qi within his body, and followed the newly invented cultivation path, then slammed it fiercely towards the large tree in front of him.

"Cloud-Dispelling Palm!"

With a loud "bang!", wood chips flew everywhere, and the tree held on for a while before crashing to the ground again.

The big tree: "You really hold a grudge!"

"Hehe, not bad! And the name is also good, much better than the Fire-Blowing Palm." Old Yao praised without reservation.

"Not bad, right!" Xiao Yan chuckled foolishly. He hadn't actually come up with that name. He'd just unconsciously blurted it out when he waved his hands, remembering how similar it was to Bu Jingyun's Cloud-Dispelling Palm technique.

"Alright, I was planning to let you rest today, but you've been researching fighting techniques. Although the results are indeed impressive, you can't keep cultivating all the time. You need to know that work and rest are important. You don't need rest, but your body does." Yao Lao rolled his eyes at Xiao Yan, then transformed into a ray of light and disappeared back into the ring.

Xiao Yan stretched, turned his neck, and loosened his muscles and bones, which cracked and popped. After finishing, he quickly descended the mountain.

Just as Xiao Yan descended the mountain, an extremely angry voice suddenly came from behind him.

"Xiao Yan!"

Hearing the somewhat familiar voice, Xiao Yan turned his head and saw that it was Xiao Ning. He frowned slightly. Because Xun'er hadn't deliberately kept her distance for the past three years, Xiao Ning was extremely jealous. When his own cultivation talent was at its peak, he naturally wouldn't dare to do anything.

However, when Xiao Yan's cultivation regressed, Xiao Ning frequently caused trouble for him, both openly and covertly, and even once had someone directly attack him. That time, when Xiao Yan's father, Xiao Zhan, saw him covered in injuries, he was enraged and wanted to teach Xiao Ning a lesson. However, the three elders held him back, promising never to cause Xiao Yan any more trouble and confining Xiao Ning for a month before the father finally relented.

Looking at Xiao Ning, who resembled an enraged lion, Xiao Yan said calmly, "What is it?"

"Xiao Yan! I'm asking you, has Xun'er been bringing you breakfast every morning lately?" Xiao Ning stared at Xiao Yan with a ferocious expression.

This morning, when he got up early to use the restroom, he saw Xiao Xun'er carrying a food box, her expression quite joyful, clearly delivering food to someone. Xiao Ning, who had already considered Xiao Xun'er his other half, naturally couldn't bear to see his goddess serving someone else.

Xiao Ning followed Xiao Xun'er from a distance and discovered that Xun'er actually went to the room of Xiao Yan, that good-for-nothing from the Xiao family, placed the food box in front of and behind Xiao Yan's room door, and then quietly left.

After Xiao Xun'er left, Xiao Ning sneaked over, opened the food box, and saw that it was full of delicious food. The fire of jealousy in her heart could no longer be contained. She kicked open Xiao Yan's door, ready to teach him a lesson. However, Xiao Yan had been thinking about how to fuse his fighting techniques all night and hadn't rested much. He had impatiently climbed the back mountain before dawn to experiment with his techniques, so he wasn't in his room. Unable to teach Xiao Yan a lesson, Xiao Ning naturally wouldn't give up and lingered nearby, waiting for him to return.

"Heh, what's it to you? What business is it of yours if Xun'er and I are close?" Xiao Yan said with a cold laugh. Although he didn't want Xun'er to bring him breakfast every day, he was afraid that Gu Yuan would just kill him.

"You piece of trash, do you even deserve to be treated like this by Xun'er? Do you even deserve it?" Xiao Ning said with a slightly ferocious expression.

"Xun'er is good to me, so what can you do about it?" Xiao Yan deliberately provoked Xiao Ning. Even without me, Xun'er isn't your type, so go do whatever you need to do!

"I'll kill you!" Xiao Ning roared. He formed his hands into claws, ready to strike.

"Heh, aren't you afraid of being punished according to the clan rules?" Seeing that Xiao Ning was about to make a move, Xiao Yan showed no fear whatsoever.

"You piece of trash, you only know how to rely on your father. You've disgraced the family. Do you even deserve to be a descendant of the Xiao family? You're just a coward, a wimp..." When Xiao Ning's physical punishment failed, he resorted to verbal abuse, which grew increasingly offensive.

"Alright! Stop with your tricks. You just wanted to teach me a lesson, right? I'll give you that chance!" Seeing Xiao Ning rambling on, Xiao Yan wasn't going to let it go.

"Since you're so eager to experiment with my newly fused fighting technique, then I'll grant your wish."

Hearing Xiao Yan's immediate agreement, Xiao Ning was stunned, thinking he had misheard. Wasn't he just trying to provoke Xiao Yan into a duel? After all, the clan didn't allow private fights, but sparring was permitted. Broken arms and legs were normal; even if he crippled Xiao Yan, his father, Xiao Zhan, couldn't say much, since Xiao Zhan, though the clan leader, still had to follow clan rules.

"Are you sure you want to duel with me?" Xiao Ning asked uncertainly.

"Hehe, isn't this exactly what you wanted?" Xiao Yan said with a cold laugh.

"Alright!" Xiao Ning was overjoyed to see that Xiao Yan had actually agreed. Finally, he could openly teach Xiao Yan a lesson. Every time he saw Xiao Yan and Xiao Xun'er together, he was furious, but there was nothing he could do, and he could only force himself to eat the dog food.

This time, Xiao Ning was determined to teach Xiao Yan a lesson he wouldn't tolerate, ideally leaving him unable to care for himself. As for Xiao Yan's chances of winning, Xiao Ning hadn't even considered it. He was currently at the seventh level of Dou Qi, almost at the eighth. Xiao Yan was only at the third level, and even if his talent recovered, he would only reach the fourth level at most, with absolutely no chance of winning.

(End of this chapter)