BTTH : Wandering Soul

Yao Lao finally moved his gaze to the cat sitting on Xiao Yan's shoulders. Midway to the conversation it had taken its form and was curiously observing Yao Lao. It was a bit defensive and alert, as if ready to pounce at any moment.

He then moved his gaze to Xiao Yan and used soul perception to see changes inside his body. To his surprise the flame had taken Xiao Yan's body as vessel. He knew that Xiao Yan didn't have an acceptance soul, but he had though that maybe there's other treasure to contain the flame. But that wasn't the case at all.

Normally due to scorching heat and their nature, heavenly flames are hard to swallow. For even low ranking heavenly flames three things are needed to be prepared in advance. First is Blood Lotus peel, which is an essential thing that allows you to come into close contact with a Heavenly Flame. Without its protection, even a Dou Huang would not dare to simply come into contact with a 'Heavenly Flame'.

'Ice Spirit Cold Fountain' is the second one. If the 'Blood Lotus Pill' is meant to protect the exterior of your body, then this 'Ice Spirit Cold Fountain' is meant to protect the inside of your body. It can protect you from the destructive temperature of a 'Heavenly Flame' when you are refining it, preventing you from being burnt till nothing remains.

And The last item is known as 'Acceptance Soul'. This thing can create a special space in your body which is used to store a Heavenly Flame. After all, if you have not completely refined the flame, the kind of destructive ability of a Heavenly Flame would incinerate everything, including your vortex and body, except this kind of space of nothingness.

But Acceptance Soul is very rare. So Yao Lao had thought that the mysterious elder who had given his inheritance to Xiao Yan might have used some other treasure in its place. He was awake by the time Xiao Yan had started refining the heavenly flame, but due to the restrictions in that space he couldn't spread his soul perception to observe everything.

So he asked Xiao Yan. And as he explained a rare surprised look was seen on Yao Lao's face. As he explained everything, a look of realization spread across his face. So he observed Xiao Yan's body again, this time more carefully.

Xiao Yan couldn't take silence anymore and asked impatiently, "What is this physique that elder mentioned?"

Yao Lao sighed, finally taking his attention away and started slowly, "There are special physiques in this world. One example is Woeful Poison body. It is immune to poison and more poison one takes, stronger he grows. Speed of cultivation is unimaginable."

He stopped a moment and continued, "But these are very rare, appearing once in thousand years. But 'Primordial Chaos physique' is the most rare one. Most people don't even know that it exists. I just happened have read it in an ancient scripture. I had thought that it had gone extinct, but alas."

"It is a very powerful physique. It focuses on physical body rather than cultivation. But like that elder mentioned, As long as you keep pushing your body to the limit, your physical strength will keep increasing. That's why you could endure so much physical strain and became stronger in such short time.

It also has high tolerance for powerful medicines. As long as you don't die every physical damage will make your body stronger."

Yao Lao stopped and said in serious tone, "But its very dangerous as often owner of this physique, in pursuit of pushing their body to the limits, end up killing themselves. So you have to be very careful, never forget this. Remember you are not invincible."

Xiao Yan nodded with eyes full of determination. Yao Lao started again, like talking to himself "I see! Your physique is the reason that the heavenly flame can roam freely inside your body."

"Normally it doesn't stay inside body? Then where does it go?" Xiao Yan asked curiously.

"Normally one needs three things to refine a heavenly flame: Blood Lotus Pill, Ice Spirit Cold Fountain and Acceptance Soul. Because of help from that elder even with low strength you could refine the heavenly flame without first two materials, which are for protecting the body. But Acceptance Soul is very important and the heavenly flame is stored there to avoid the body from being scorched to ashes.

But in your case while it is mostly refined, you can't fully control it. In normal conditions your body would've been burned to ashes, but because of your physique as well as flame's unique nature, which is cold and hot at the same time, that instead of burning your body, its helping you constantly tamper it."

Yao Lao suddenly stopped coming to realization and asked in high pitched voice, "Are you controlling the flame right now to take the cat's form?"

Initially he thought that Xiao Yan was controlling the flame. It was rare to achieve such proficiency so early, but because Xiao Yan had so strong soul perception he didn't think much about it. But only now he realized that, until the flame isn't fully refined, it still has a bit spiritual intelligence.

Xioa Yan also got what Yao Lao was trying to say. He also knew that only two heavenly flames had spiritual intelligence akin to this one, and they were 2nd and 3rd ranked heavenly flames. He was also curious about this.

"No, it's acting on its own. But whenever I think of something, it immediately responds, as if following my thoughts without needing any explicit orders. Isn't that natural?" Xiao Yan admitted the first part honestly but feigned ignorance, pretending not to realize how abnormal it truly was.

"Only heavenly flames at the top in heavenly flames ranking can form intelligence. I've never heard of any low ranking flames doing this."

He pondered for a bit before coming to a conclusion, "Maybe that elder also used his body like you to store the heavenly flame instead of using acceptance soul. He must have left what little natural spiritual intelligence it had. As he grew stronger, the Heavenly Flame seemed to evolve alongside him, in terms of strength as well spirit. Over time it must have formed intelligence as he let the heavenly flame act on its own, without restraining it."

"That's why you were able to refine it so easily, as the elder gave you his inheritance, he also gave the flame with its memories intact. As the flame's intelligence wasn't developed that much, only akin to a small child, it readily listened to elder when he passed it to you."

Xiao Yan was surprised to listen these words. Indeed it made sense. If the heavenly flame had mature spiritual intelligence, it's d have tried to devour him or escape. Yao Lao truly had vast knowledge. What he couldn't figure out even with all the memories, Yao Lao figured it out with just a look.

As the heavenly flame possessed intelligence and the ability to evolve, Xiao Yan decided it deserved a name. While he could communicate with it effortlessly without words, he felt a proper name would reflect its uniqueness. He chose Mo Xue, meaning 'Ink and Snow,' a name that captured its profound and contrasting essence.