Wang Wei was not the only one momentarily frozen but also everything around him. The flame in the room, the dust on the ground, the spirit of inheritance, and even the space in the surrounding.
When everything returned to normal, Wang Wei found himself standing in his original place, before he raised his hand to take the scripture. He could not tell whether time returned backward before he raised his hand, or he just subconsciously did so.
He did not know when but a young man stood in front of him, He had long hair dancing with the wind, dressed in blue robes with flame patterns on them.
He was handsome but not too handsome; he appeared to be more like a mortal than a cultivator. His eyes were very bright, and after one glance at them, Wang Wei was almost fascinated.
He saw time, space, matter, chaos, and many other concepts. But all of these concepts were burned off by this indescribable flame. This flame seemed to be one yet millions of different ones at once.
If he did not control himself, he could feel that he would be lost in these eyes, and even would his Dao would be affected and change to Flame. So, he used his will to remove himself from the state of enlightenment that he felt was coming.
Immediately, he guessed the identity of this person: the Flame Emperor. After realizing this, Wang Wei was a little surprised as the Flame Emperor gave him a different feeling than Emperor Kong that he met.
He felt more mysterious, more powerful.
'From what I guessed, Emperor Kong was most likely an Empyrean, does that mean the Flame Emperor is a Paragon? Or is he in a higher stage than Empyrean but not yer a Paragon?'
While Wang Wei was looking at the Flame Emperor and analyzing him, the latter was doing the same too. A few seconds after appearing, the Emperor finally spoke.
"What an ingenious method, stealing the fate of someone and taking on their identity, talent, memories, soul, Luck, and even Karma."
Then, he slightly waved his hand and Wang Wei and Lou Cheng were instantly separated. Lou Cheng laud unconscious on the floor while Wang Wei stood calmly looking at the Flame Emperor.
Meanwhile, the latter waved his hand and the [Ten Thousand Flame Sutra] that was floating in the air rushed into Lou Cheng's Sea of Consciousness and was sealed away.
"Although this lad is not as talented as you, he is destined to inherit my mantle," said the Flame Emperor as he looked at Wang Wei.
"Are you the descendant of the Qiyuan Emperor?"
"Junior has seen the Flame Emperor."
"*Sigh* Your Wang Clan is truly a blessed bloodline."
Wang Wei felt that these words did not just praise his talent but had a different meaning. However, he did not ask any further questions. The moment he saw the Flame Emperor, he had the urge to ask about his plan to use the Origin Pill Flame Scripture to refine his Primordial Spirit; whether it was possible to succeed, and what other things to watch out for.
However, he refrained from doing so as this would involve his Paragon Soul. Wu Hong has warned him not to reveal this secret to anyone, and she even helps train in the [Empress Wu Sealing Sutra] to place a seal on his soul to prevent others from peeping at it.
So, he immediately gave up the idea.
"I understand that one of the main reasons that he was able to achieve so much in such a short period of time is because of you. So, I will not let you waste your time in vain," continued the Flame Emperor.
With a wave of his hand, a blue cauldron appeared in the room, then, Wang Wei was absorbed inside of it. Meanwhile, the Flame Emperor shook his head calmly.
"What a talented young lad. As an Eternal Talent, he has a high chance of becoming an Eternal Emperor."
Thinking about Eternal Emperors, the Flame Emperor sighed with a little dejection. When he proved the Dao, he was so close to becoming one, you could say that he missed a single step.
Back then, he had the strength of an Eternal Emperor but unfortunately, not their means and abilities. This has been a sore spot for him in his path of cultivation.
After shaking his head slightly, he had a look of regret on his face:
"If this lad was not a Supreme Outlaw, his accomplishments would still be unimaginable. And if survived, he will probably shake things in the Eternal Ascencion World and maybe even cut off the roots of these parasites."
After saying these words, the Flame Emperor paused as he suddenly had a whim. As higher dimensional creatures, his whims were not for no reason. So, his eyes suddenly changed to contain space and time.
He no longer perceived time as one-dimensional or linear but experienced all of it at once: past, present, and future. That way, he can calculate the reason for his whim.
After seeing countless futures and possibilities, Flame Emperor began to deduce the truth. And right he was about to succeed, he felt an instinctive fear: the fear of death.
So, he immediately withdraw from his deduction with the information he managed to gather.
"Ultimate Taboo? Is this kid involved with the ultimate taboo?"
The Flame Emperor frowned deeply. The last time the Ultimate Taboo occurred, he did want to participate so he ran to hide in Chaos. However, even then, he was not totally safe.
Nevertheless, his actions allowed him to survive the incident intact, without losing much of his powers. Yet, part of him still regretted it.
"This time, I may not be able to run away," he muttered. "In that case, I should take this opportunity to accomplish my dream; I have to escape this cage."
After making a decision, the Flame Emperor no longer hesitated. A seed appeared in his hand before throwing it into Lou Cheng's body. The seed blended with his bloodline, changing his natural talent for the better.
As for Wang Wei, after entering the cauldron, he found himself in a world of fire: yellow fire. The fire began to burn his body. To be precise, the impurities and imperfection in his fleshly body.
The things that even Wang Wei and Wu Hong could not spot. After all, the current Empress Wu was nothing compared to her former self, she has too many limitations and worries.
The process was quite painful but nothing he could not bear. And once everything was over, Wang Wei knew what the main change occurred to him.
After refining Ji Song's Heavy Ax Physique, he did not completely absorb all his talents since his alchemy back then was shoddy at best. There were many residues left in his body that was not properly absorbed.
Now, the Yellow Flame helped him absorb these residues, thus increasing the strength of his fleshly body by a few percent, and increasing his talent for body refining. And the changes did not stop there.
The flame optimized all the other body parts that he previously tempered–including the 7 Chakras. After he was done, Wang Wei really felt that he achieved "true perfection".
The yellow flame entered his heart where the Phoenix Heart Pill was located and absorbed it. Then, an unimaginable amount of life force came out from the flame heading towards Wang Wei's blood.
His blood seemed very thirsty as they absorbed as much life force that was granted. In the process, they quickly turned golden-purple. Wang Wei did not know how long the process lasted.
Maybe an instant, maybe days, months, and even years. However, what he knew was that once it was finished, he completed the second step of tempering his blood: Life Force Absorption.
Only the last step of Comprehension remained.
Standing inside this world of flame, Wang Wei clenched his hand to feel the power flowing through his veins. According to his calculation, he was only one single step from the strength of Quasi-Emperors.
And regular Quasi-Emperors could not kill him.
'Is this was Sun Wukong felt like in Laotzu's Furnace?' thought Wang Wei for a moment before removing this thought from his head. The Yellow Flame gave him one last opportunity.
It gave him the Flame Emperor's understanding and use of the Chaos Flame. Immediately afterward, Wang Wei found himself in the previous inheritance space with only Lou Cheng on the floor.
Another message was sent into his mind. He can continue his plans as Lou Cheng but the latter must not be harmed in any way. Wang Wei hesitated for a moment before using the [Fate Stealing Technique] once more to become him.
Then, he exited the space.
As soon as he left, he met his cheap master who has been waiting for him outside.
"Did you succeed?"
Wang Wei shook his head. Although the sutra was sealed inside Lou Cheng's mind, he could not get access to it.
"So, even you cannot pass this trial?"
"Master, I did pass it. However, the Flame Emperor appeared and said that it was not the destined time for his inheritance to appear.. So, he sealed inside my Sea of Consciousness."