The hundred flowers bloomed and resonated with the Dao, forming one ring which enveloped Long Chen. Intense fluctuations caused the surrounding space to shake.

Long Chen let out an excited cry. Although he couldn’t sense Heavenly Dao energy, a scene appeared in his mind.

This Hundred Flower Dao Resonation Pill was supposed to be useless to Long Chen. Unlike others he couldn’t get closer to the Heavenly Daos, so he had only eaten one pill to test its efficiency.

However, when those flower marks appeared around his body, it was like a bolt of lightning had pierced his mind. Things that he hadn’t understood instantly became clear to him.

Long Chen had been continuously thinking about how to evolve the World Annihilation Flame Lotus. He had tested many things, all of which ended in failure.

Right now, he was only able to condense nine Star Falls on top of the nine petals of the World Annihilation Flame Lotus. What he wanted was to add even more Star Falls, but he was unable to figure out how he could do that. No matter what he tried, it instantly threw the lotus into disorder, causing it to explode.

With the aid of the Hundred Flower Dao Resonation Pill, Long Chen realized that he had been stuck on a dead path. He had been wanting to condense an energy source at the stamen of the lotus, which was the core of this technique. However, no matter what he did, he was unable to control it.

“I've always been going inside to out. How stupid. Why didn’t I try going outside to in?”

Long Chen looked at the flower marks covering his body. These flowers were absorbing Heavenly Dao energy into his body. Although it would quickly fade upon entering his body, it still gave Long Chen a chance for enlightenment.

A flame lotus condensed in Long Chen’s hand. It was the World Annihilation Flame Lotus. Long Chen was almost able to condense it instantly.

There were nine petals, with a small sphere above each one. Those were the Star Fall spheres. Powerful flame energy flowed within them, making every one of them like a flaming star.

“Condense!”

Another Star Fall condensed on top of each of the nine petals.

BOOM!

Those new Star Falls instantly exploded, and Long Chen’s hand was blown to pulp.

Long Chen’s expression didn’t even twitch. To evolve the World Annihilation Flame Lotus, he didn’t even know how many times he had been injured. He had long since gotten used to it.

“This way is wrong. Again.”

Long Chen once more condensed the World Annihilation Flame Lotus. This time, he didn’t blindly test anything. Instead, he focused on sensing the interior.

The energy lines were just like the meridians inside a person. They had powerful energy flowing within them.

“Since this pill was able to gather energy from a hundred different sources, my World Annihilation Flame Lotus must be able to do it too. I just haven’t found the correct path yet.” Long Chen grew increasingly confident.

There were many similarities between his flame lotus and the energy of the Hundred Flower Dao Resonation Pill. By contrasting and comparing them, he quickly thought of possibilities that made his eyes shine.

The golden flame lotus in his hand grew brighter and brighter. Long Chen was using the Heaven Incinerating Flame’s power to experiment because a failure with it would only blow up his hand. He wouldn’t dare to use the Black Illusion Dragon Flame, let alone the Inverse Dao Water Spirit Flame as that would be suicide.

As the golden lotus revolved, runes began to appear in the Star Falls on top of the petals.

The flame energy within the first Star Fall began to give birth to an additional sphere of light. That sphere gradually grew larger, until it fell away from the original Star Fall.

Long Chen’s expression was serious. He stared closely at the new Star Fall. Using the principles behind the Hundred Flower Dao Resonation Pill, he had the first Star Fall act as a mother giving birth to a new Star Fall.

Although all of Long Chen’s previous tests had ended in complete failure when he had tried to do this, he wasn’t dejected.

The new Star Fall had just been born when the flame lotus suddenly became imbalanced. The lotus twisted and expanded violently before exploding.

Rather than being depressed or angry, Long Chen grew excited. He once more summoned the flame lotus. The nine Star Falls on top of the petals lit up at the same time as they began to give rise to new Star Falls.

Nine new spheres fell from the original Star Falls. In a breath’s time, they grew to the same size as the original Star Falls.

“Success!”

Long Chen couldn’t help letting out an emotional shout. He looked at the World Annihilation Flame Lotus with its eighteen Star Falls. This signified that its power had doubled from before.

However, when he tried condensing the third set of Star Falls, the lotus exploded. This time, Long Chen was prepared, and he summoned the azure dragon scales to protect his hand. Despite that, his blood freely poured out after the explosion.

“What is going on?” Long Chen was dumbfounded. He had tried to condense an extra set of Star Falls from the original set, but when this third set appeared, it once more ended in failure.

“Can each Star Fall only give rise to one more Star Fall?'' wondered Long Chen.

He tested it again. This time, he tried to condense the third set from the second set of Star Falls. However, it failed once more.

Long Chen refused to give up. After calming down for a while, he continued. This time, after condensing the second set of Star Falls, he activated the first and second set together.

The two spheres on each petal actually merged back into one and then slowly began to split back into two.

Their appearance was different now. Their energies were pulling at each other even as they separated. A third sphere was slowly born between them, separating the two spheres.

At this moment, Long Chen found that he didn’t have to control them any longer. They began to activate on their own. The third sphere vanished, transforming into an arc that devoured the first and second spheres. A Taiji diagram appeared.

A fourth sphere appeared, a fifth sphere appeared, a sixth sphere…

“The Dao gave birth to one, one gave birth to two, two gave birth to three, three gave birth to all things.”

A flash of comprehension struck Long Chen. He had accidentally run into the middle of this principle.

Long Chen’s expression suddenly changed. Just as he was amazed by this principle, the flame lotus had grown larger and larger, with more and more Star Falls appearing on top of it. It was sucking away his Spiritual Strength and flame energy.

When the seventh set of Star Falls appeared, Long Chen’s soul panged painfully. Even Huo Long was getting uneasy because the flame lotus was sucking away too much of its energy.

The terrifying power of the World Annihilation Flame Lotus caused spatial cracks to form in the air. Long Chen began to dispel his energy hastily, and the Star Falls on top of it began to vanish one by one.

Six… five… four… all the way to three. Then the Taiji diagram that the first three Star Falls had taken the shape of also vanished. That terrifying power receded.

“That was close.” Long Chen sighed with relief. If he had allowed the World Annihilation Flame Lotus to keep absorbing his energy, it would have gone out of his control. When it exploded, it might have taken his life.

“Hahaha, I’ve finally created my own ultimate move!” Long Chen raised his head and laughed. The World Annihilation Flame Lotus had once more progressed. It might become his most terrifying trump card. A grand heroic feeling filled Long Chen.

“With just seven sets of Star Falls and the Heaven Incinerating Flame, it was already so powerful. Then what about with the Black Illusion Dragon Flame? Or the Inverse Dao Water Spirit Flame…”

After a moment of delight, Long Chen also thought of a problem. The bigger the move, the more control it required.

The Heaven Incinerating Flame was his weakest usable flame. If he tried to use the Black Illusion Dragon Flame, he might just incinerate himself.

“Hehe, well, it’s still another trump card. I’m growing more and more confident for the rest of this gathering,” chortled Long Chen.

Long Chen continued to test the World Annihilation Flame Lotus for the rest of his time. He found that every additional set of Star Falls would increase its power immensely.

It was not so simple as one plus one equals two. The new Star Falls took on a strange formation, one that even Long Chen found too profound to fully understand. He would need to take things slowly.

However, one thing was sure. The World Annihilation Flame Lotus would become an extremely terrifying killing move in his hands.

The few days passed quickly, and the runes on the walls began to blink when the time was up.

“The third auction is starting. Everyone coming has probably arrived by now.”