Elf: Start with small diamonds, then mutate into Diancie!

After observing the seven Pokémon in Su Hao's team up close, Xia Jie couldn't help but sigh that Su Hao was a natural-born trainer.

From Diancie, which he sensed had a mysterious aura about it, to Shiny Metallica, which was destined to shine in the future, every Pokémon was enough to catch his eye.

Unfortunately, the Fire-type Pokémon in Su Hao's team still needs some proper training.

It's a Fire-type Pokémon, but all its talents are focused on its physical abilities.

Xia Jie picked up the porcelain bowl and took a sip of the steaming pork rib soup. He savored the deliciousness of the soup, his smile undiminished: "You've come to the right person when it comes to fire-related matters."

"If we say that the lineage led by the current Fire Element Four Heavenly Kings, Li Luoyan, follows the extreme flame temperature of the [Extreme Flame Flow] school."

"So the school of thought that I, this old man, have devoted my life to is how to shape a flame into all sorts of properties while maintaining a high temperature, making it a unique flame."

"As for the name of the school... since I haven't thought of one yet, let's just call it the 'Undecided' school for now."

Su Hao:........

Isn't it... a bit too hasty and casual?

"Well, seeing is believing." Xia Jie put down his chopsticks, wiped his mouth, and stood up. "Come to the backyard, let Grandpa show you the special features of my school."

Upon hearing this, Su Hao quickly put down his chopsticks and followed.

..............

Because he was once one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Fire, even after retiring, Xia Jie's backyard still had a spacious training ground.

Perhaps this is the persistence of a trainer.

"Release your Blazing Roaring Tiger first."

Xia Jie was dressed in an old man's three-piece suit, including a vest, shorts, and slippers, and looked no different from an old man on the street.

There's no indication that he once held the pinnacle of trainers, the position of Elite Four.

But his expression was very serious, with an imposing presence like that of an immovable king. Just by looking into his eyes, one could feel the pressure of a mountain pressing down on them.

When he was young, many of his enemies probably had their mental state completely broken by this pressure.

Su Hao nodded, understanding that Grandpa Xia was now officially entering teaching mode.

Grandpa Xia showed no mercy in this state, something Su Hao had heard about before when his mother told him embarrassing stories about his father.

Su Xu, who was still a college student, was often scolded by Xia Jie. For a while, he even felt more insignificant than the weeds by the roadside.

In particular, Su Xu had suffered quite a bit from the stick in Xia Jie's hand when he was young.

However, under the strict discipline, Su Xu still managed to become a useful person.

A flash of red light appeared, and the Blazing Roaring Tiger roared to the sky, seemingly intending to show off its powerful lung capacity in front of Xia Jie.

Xia Jie frowned, and with a very precise thrust of his pointer into the throat of the Blazing Roaring Tiger, silencing its roar, he said calmly, "Someone is taking a nap now, don't wake them up."

The Blazing Roaring Tiger was like a kitten with its throat being choked, intimidated by Xia Jie's imposing aura, while cold sweat trickled down its forehead.

The Blazing Roaring Tiger wore a fawning smile, its entire body trying to portray itself as a well-behaved little kitten.

Su Hao was amazed. Grandpa Xia was indeed quite capable to be able to subdue the savage Blazing Roaring Tiger.

Xia Jie moved the pointer aside, turned to look at Su Hao, and asked him, "What is the most powerful fire-type move it has mastered?"

Without the slightest hesitation, Su Hao quickly replied, "Flash Charge is an evolution of the Charged Flame Strike move after mastering it. Besides that, there's the special attack, Big Flame Burst."

Xia Jie nodded. The fact that this Blazing Roaring Tiger could learn the ultimate move, Flame Charge, on its own showed that it had some fire-type talent, but it still needed some guidance.

Once you've learned the Big Flame Burst, teaching this next move will be much easier.

"It seems it has mastered all the prerequisites for learning that move."

"Prerequisites?"

Su Hao tilted his head, his face showing confusion.

What techniques require prerequisites to learn?

With his hands behind his back, Xia Jie said passionately, "Before learning my style, teach it the ultimate technique that only Fire-type starter Pokémon can master!"

------------

The attached image is from Shin'o.

Chapter 420 The Road to Heavenly King

What is the ultimate technique of the Fire-type starter Pokémon?

As soon as Xia Jie finished speaking, Su Hao, who knew the key words, quickly retrieved the moves that the old man wanted to teach the Blazing Roaring Tiger from his memory.

Explosion and fire.

The starter Pokémon are called the starter Pokémon because they have different characteristics.

For example, three Oath moves of moderate power can be combined to trigger special effects.

The Oath of Fire, the Oath of Grass, and the Oath of Water.

In addition, there are three ultimate techniques with terrifying basic power, but with side effects.

Explosive flames, crazy plants, and water cannons.

These three moves have a base power of 150, making them truly powerful techniques.

Unfortunately, the only drawback of these three moves is that after using them once, the Pokémon will temporarily enter a "cooldown" state and be unable to move, requiring a certain amount of time to recover its mobility.

Of course, some trainers have also made a point of addressing the inability to move.

Aside from various techniques to ensure one is not attacked while in a cooldown state, the simplest way is that the side effects of using ultimate moves are greatly reduced when one has a strong physique.

Incineroar's Special Attack isn't very high, but with the help of "Candy" which boosts all Effort Values, its Special Attack output is more than commensurate with its level.

Even though the explosion and burning technique is a special attack move, Su Hao felt it was worth learning.

All the basic conditions have been met; now all that's needed is for the Blazing Roaring Tiger's flames to undergo a transformation similar to its physical body.

In a flash, Su Hao cleared his mind and turned his expectant gaze to Xia Jie, waiting for his next move.

Xia Jie was very pleased with Su Hao's attitude, which gave him a strange sense of satisfaction.

Xia Jie took out a Poké Ball whose red paint had faded somewhat, pressed the power button, and the Poké Ball opened instantly. A ball of red light slowly solidified into the figure of a tall Pokémon.

This is a Fire-type Pokémon covered in fur—Typhomon.

Su Hao noticed that the fur of this Tyrannosaurus was much darker than the picture in the encyclopedia, and in some places, patches of fur were matted together.

This is proof that the Pokémon is old; this Typhlosion is probably a veteran in Xia Jie's team.

When Typhlosion leaves its Poké Ball, it doesn't roar to the sky like its young and spirited brethren, nor does it burn the flames connecting its back and neck to show its dominance.

Its only concerns are being Buddhist-like and what to eat for dinner tonight.

Xia Jie smiled and stroked his old companion's fur, saying softly, "Old friend, I'll need you to teach that little tiger how to use [Explosive Flames]."

The Firestorm Beast nodded slightly, squinting its deep eyes at the Blazing Roaring Tiger, seemingly observing the Blazing Roaring Tiger's aptitude.

"Ow~"

After a while, the Firestorm Beast gestured for the Blazing Roaring Tiger to come with it, seemingly asking it to follow it to the mountain forest area behind the villa.

He looked just like a reclusive master preparing to impart unparalleled martial arts skills.

"Kahoo?"

The Blazing Roaring Tiger turned its gaze to Su Hao, awaiting his opinion.

Su Hao took a square box out of his bag and handed it to it, instructing, "Go, study hard."

Incineroar knew that Su Hao had given it a box containing energy cubes; they often bribed wild Pokémon in this way when they were in the wild.

The Fiery Roaring Tiger took the box and followed the Firestorm Beast into the forest, looking back every few steps.

"Alright." Xia Jie stroked his chin and took out another Poké Ball. "While Incineroar is learning Explosive Flame from Typhlosion, Xiao Hao will learn from me how to train its Flame trait."

Before the second trial of the Tower of Lakes opened, Su Hao also wanted to learn as much as possible in order to improve his strength.

Grandpa Xia was willing to let him stay here to study, which Su Hao couldn't have asked for more.

Su Hao nodded slightly in agreement, then asked, "What do you mean by cultivating flames?"

Is it the kind he imagined?

Instead of answering Su Hao's question directly, Xia Jie asked in reverse: "Do you know why your father's Charizard was able to reach the Champion level much earlier than the other Pokémon in the team?"

Su Hao hesitated before replying, "...Because it's his starter Pokémon?"

Just like Diancie, he always stayed far ahead of the other players in his team.

However, since Grandpa Xia has said so, there must be other factors involved.

"Yes and no."

Xia Jie shook his head, looking like he wanted to keep Su Hao guessing.

But he was confused by Su Hao's next reply.

"Is that so?"

"Ahem..." Xia Jie's face showed embarrassment. He lost interest in keeping them in suspense and directly revealed the secret: "How to transform the flames of Fire-type Pokémon into special flames."

"His Charizard was able to reach the Champion level ahead of schedule, entirely thanks to my nameless style."

"There are countless types of flames: flames with life force, flames with an evil aura, flames with extremely low temperatures, flames with explosive properties, and so on."

"It is precisely because of the ever-changing nature of fire that schools of thought have no names."

“Your father has never mentioned these things to you, probably because he felt it wasn’t the right time yet, after all, this is one of the paths to the Heavenly King level.”

Xia Jie's words immediately piqued Su Hao's curiosity: the path to the Heavenly King?

To be honest, most of the Pokémon in his team had their paths clearly laid out, so he never really worried about the Elite Four's path.

"Can a Fire-type Pokémon reach the Champion level simply by cultivating a special flame?"

"What about the other Pokémon that reach the Champion level?"

This was the first time Su Hao had ever heard of conditions being required to advance to the Heavenly King level.

Upon hearing this, Xia Jie cursed inwardly that his disciple Su Xu was practically letting Su Hao grow up without guidance. He then explained helplessly, "The process of a Pokémon's strength improvement is to continuously optimize its life essence. As the Elite Four level is a realm that only a very few Pokémon can reach, we must let the Pokémon find its own path in order to witness the splendor of the Elite Four level."