Chương 1: A Cataclysmic Start

Northern part of the Dou Qi Continent.

In a small town on the outskirts of the Monster Mountain Range, the town was bustling with activity. Shops and stalls lined the streets, selling everything from animal bones to herbs.

A gray-haired boy of about thirteen years old was dragging his tired body down the street, carrying a half-meter-tall pheasant on his back.

I stopped in front of a shop that looked rather grand.

"Hey, Linzi, what brings you here again? Didn't you just come a few days ago?" Just then, a middle-aged man walked out of the store and said helplessly.

"What? You're doing business with your odds and ends, are you afraid of me coming?" the boy said calmly, but his eyes involuntarily drifted toward the counter inside.

"If it were anyone else, I'd certainly welcome them, but you? Heh..."

"You've come eight times this month already. Can't you come up with something else? I have so many pheasants piled up like a mountain, and I haven't sold a single one."

The boss started complaining bitterly, saying he was very frustrated because he couldn't make any money.

"Haha! He's not even a fighter, what are you going to let him do? The Ghost Cry Three Kills incident has been really bad lately, even catching a few pheasants is nerve-wracking."

"Yes! This child has had a tough time, being an orphan. Please take care of him."

"Yes! You should help Xiaoyao out. Look at his hair, it's turned a different color from worry."

"........."

The neighbors, witnessing this scene, couldn't help but speak up for the boy.

Listening to what everyone was saying, the boss was also in a dilemma.

"How about this, I'll give you half price on the pheasants I catch from now on. Even though you're catching a lot now, you'll make it all back when the peak season comes," the young man said, seeing his boss hesitate.

Sure enough, the boss's expression softened a bit after hearing this.

The shopkeeper twitched his fingers and took out two silver coins from his storage ring, handing them over and taking the pheasant from the boy's shoulder.

"Alright, I'll accept it. Here are two silver coins, take them."

"Little Lin, things haven't been safe in the mountains lately, you mustn't go! Take a rest."

Upon receiving the money, the young man first thanked the neighbors who had spoken on his behalf, and then glanced at the counter inside the shop.

There, displayed, was what he needed most right now—the cultivation technique!

The Wind Cleansing Technique, a high-level Yellow Rank cultivation method Ice Illusion Technique, Yellow Rank Intermediate Skill........

After scanning through them one by one, my gaze settled on a tattered scroll.

"Burning Technique" - a low-level Yellow Rank cultivation technique!

He glanced at the book "Ice Illusion" again before turning and leaving.

No one knew that this ice-attribute cultivation technique was his goal, because he had already broken through to the Dou Zhe stage a few days ago, but the cultivation technique had become a major problem.

The price is outrageously high, costing thousands of gold coins.

That's why he desperately hunted pheasants, which was the most valuable thing he could get right now. Pheasants were considered first-tier magical beasts, but they didn't have much attack power; they were just large and were used as food to make some money.

Before long, the boy returned to his home, which was really just a thatched hut with a fence around it. This was all he had, and it was what he had saved up with his life.

The room contained only a bed, a chair, a table, and a few personal belongings crammed together.

He pulled a box out from under the bed; it was full of coins, some gold and some silver, clearly having been stored there for a long time.

"This is less than a hundred gold coins. When will I be able to afford that 'Ice Illusion' book? Why am I an ice attribute?! This is so frustrating!" After putting today's earnings into the box, a hint of worry appeared on his still somewhat immature face.

"Sigh! Eight years! What a terrible start for me, Xiao Yao! I'll dig it up tonight; there should be some valuable stuff inside."

The boy's name was Xiao Yao. Eight years ago, he transmigrated into this body in the Dou Qi Continent. At that time, he was floating in the river and was fortunately rescued. He settled down in a place called Wuming Town.

From the original owner's memories, he knew that his name was Xiao Yao, that he was a rich young master, that his father was Xiao Gu, and that his mother was Lin Chan. He also knew that he had fled with his parents, and that was all the information he had.

After all, the original owner was only five years old, so how much could he remember? For safety reasons, he used the alias Lin Xiaoyao and lived here.

He had nothing on him except a storage ring.

He hid the ring, knowing the saying "a common man is innocent, but possessing a treasure is a crime."

Storage rings are not something ordinary people can afford. He was too young and his strength was not enough to open one, so keeping it on his person would be dangerous. Therefore, he built a grave for his deceased parents outside the city and buried the ring in it.

He goes to pay his respects every year, which can be considered as inheriting the original owner's responsibilities and identity.

After recalling these past events, Xiao Yao ate a few dry rations and rested. Catching pheasants was hard work, and he was quite tired. He waited for night to fall.

"It's almost time; there shouldn't be many people around at this hour..."

He waited until midnight before picking up a shovel and leaving his house.

After a while, Xiao Yao arrived at the wasteland in the woods outside the city, his target under a large tree.

The town behind us had long since disappeared into the night, with only a few points of light indicating its existence.

"We've finally arrived..."

A small mound of earth, overgrown with weeds, with a tattered wooden sign that reads: Tomb of Lin Xiaoyao's Parents.

"If it weren't for the wooden sign, it would have been really hard to find."

Xiao Yao looked around and, seeing that no one was around, began to make his move.

By the moonlight, they dug, shovel by shovel.

Soon, a small cloth bag appeared.

He was also exhausted; beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. He leaned against a big tree, holding his cloth bag, panting heavily.

Without a moment to rest, he peeled back the layers of cloth and finally saw the ring he hadn't seen for eight years. Looking at the ring, he felt an indescribable emotion, or perhaps it was because of this body that he felt the ring was even more dear to him.

With a nervous heart, I quickly bit my finger and dripped a drop of blood onto it.

Immediately afterwards, a strange feeling washed over me, and in an instant, I established a connection with the ring.

"What's this? The 'Burning Execution Manual'? And a ruler?"

"That's it? That's all?"

Staring at the dark scroll of martial arts techniques in his hand, he was greatly disappointed by the result.

"Sigh, although the rubbings of the 'Burning Technique' are now commonplace junk, at least they can be sold for some money. With a little more money, I can afford to buy the cultivation technique."

Why do I say that? Because Xiao Yan ruined the "Burning Scripture".

Legend has it that before the Five Emperors broke through the void, Xiao Yan used the "Burning Technique" as a bargaining chip to exchange with various powerful families.

Furthermore, they deliberately spread rumors that Emperor Tuoshe Gudi became a Dou Di by devouring a strange fire through the "Burning Technique" and obtaining the rare imperial source within the strange fire.

Upon hearing this news, a huge uproar instantly swept across the Dou Qi Continent. With a cultivation technique and the fusion of a strange fire, there was hope of becoming an emperor. Who wouldn't go crazy for that?

The Xiao Clan's rapid rise to power was due not only to Xiao Yan's Dou Di bloodline, but also to the "Burning Technique," which contributed significantly to its acquisition of abundant resources.

This has led to a proliferation of copies of the "Burning Technique" across the Dou Qi Continent, sparking a craze for cultivating different flames.

But people quickly realized that Xiao Yan had sealed the twenty-two strongest different flames in the Different Flame Plaza to suppress and refine the soul of the Soul Emperor.

Therefore, people used many methods to search on the mainland, but they only found some nascent or mid-stage strange fires, which were not enough for cultivation.

This result directly led to the transformation of the "Burning Technique" from a supreme and lofty cultivation method into a lowly and worthless one.

Without the strange fire, who would still cultivate the "Burning Technique"? Only those who are so poor that they have no other choice would choose it.

Some strange flames can indeed evolve the "Burning Technique," but they are extremely expensive. With that money, you could buy a high-level Yellow Rank or even a Profound Rank technique. Who would bother with this?