Strongest Scammer: Scamming The World, One Death At A Time-Chapter 609: Testing The New Skill

Han Yu continued down the dirt road for nearly an hour before deciding he was far enough from the village to begin testing the Dancing Flame Art properly.

The winding path eventually brought him to a small stream that cut through the landscape like a silver ribbon. Its waters flowed gently over smooth stones and the soft gurgling created a peaceful background hum.

He stepped off the road and descended the shallow slope toward the rocky bank.

The area was open, with very few trees, and the ground was mostly stone and gravel. Even if something went wrong with the flame, there was nothing flammable nearby. And the stream was right at his feet. If the flames became unpredictable, he could easily leap into the water.

"A good place for testing." Han Yu took a slow breath and centered himself.

His spirit qi circulated through his meridians and his mind sharpened. He raised his hand and extended his index finger.

Following the mnemonic described in the Dancing Flame Art, he guided neutral qi from his dantian to his heart, letting the heart meridian convert it to fire elemental qi. He felt the shift almost immediately.

The energy took on a warm, vibrating quality. Then he guided it further through his arm and out of his fingertip.

SHUA

A flame bloomed at the tip of his finger.

It was small at first, no bigger than a droplet of molten wax. But it burned in a deep crimson shade, richer than the average orange or yellow flame. Its radiance reflected off the surface of the water.

Now began the test.

Han Yu followed the next step from the manual and detached the flame from his finger. The flame lifted free, hovering in the air like a tiny floating lantern. He then connected a thin thread of spirit sense to it, maintaining control as described by the book.

The flame did not flicker or float away. It remained stable.

"Good." He slowly moved it away from himself, caution visible in his posture.

The flame drifted through the air obediently. Han Yu guided it toward the stream, hovering it just above the water so that if anything went wrong, the water would instantly drown it.

He continued to move it farther.

One meter.

Two meters.

Five meters.

At eight meters, he felt a faint tug on his spirit sense, as if the control thread was becoming less stable. At ten meters, the limit became clear. Any further and the flame would simply destabilize or extinguish.

He nodded to himself.

His spirit sense could easily reach two hundred meters. But his proficiency with the skill was nowhere near that. The book had warned this would be the case. The Dancing Flame Art required long months of delicate practice before one could extend control over any meaningful distance.

Distance was only half the art though.

Next he tested the transformation exercises. He drew the flame back toward himself until it floated only a meter away. Then he attempted to expand it.

The flame grew rapidly. In the span of a breath it was the size of a fist. In another breath it was the size of a melon. Soon a burning orb the size of a watermelon floated between him and the water, glowing brightly.

He could feel the strain.

Keeping it stable at that size drained qi at an alarming rate. He guided it outward again. The further it moved from him, the smaller it became.

At five meters, the flame began to shrink.

At seven meters, it became the size of an apple.

At ten meters, the flame shrank to a candle flame.

He tested the reverse as well, pulling it close and shrinking it so small it became a tiny red spark. Like a smoldering ember. From there he expanded it again.

The closer the flame remained to his body, the more precisely he could control it.

Next he attempted to shape the flame. The art mentioned that with enough practice one could make the flame dance like a person. Hence the name.

Han Yu tried simple shapes first.

He stretched the flame into a thin line. It quivered unsteadily but held its shape.

He turned it into a ring. It rotated slowly, barely holding its circular form before collapsing into a blob.

He then tried to make it form a small blade shape. The flame elongated into a rough knife-like outline but the edges fluctuated violently.

These required much more practice.

Then he moved to the control drills listed in the book. The text had warned that these would drain qi quickly but were essential for mastery.

The first exercise was called Spiral Bloom. He created a small flame, then slowly expanded it and contracted it in rhythmic pulses. The goal was to keep the shape perfectly spherical while changing its size. The exercise refined stability.

The second was called Serpent Path. He guided the flame through a predetermined route. Up, down, left, right, in a zigzag across an imaginary grid. This trained directional control.

The third was Mirror Dance. He created two small flames at once, then tried to make them move in symmetrical motion. This was incredibly difficult. Maintaining one flame required a steady thread of spirit sense. Maintaining two required splitting that thread in two separate directions.

Han Yu struggled but kept trying.

After an hour of practice, sweat beaded on his forehead and his qi reserves had visibly dropped. Almost half of his qi had gone into the experiments.

He sat down on a smooth boulder beside the stream and let out a faint sigh. The skill had immense potential. But it demanded years of cultivation and practice before one could reach proper mastery.

Still, he had discovered something else.

He had used neutral spirit qi at first, but later he tried using blood qi. When blood qi and fire elemental qi mingled, the flame turned an even deeper shade of red. It grew brighter and hotter. Its presence felt sharper, almost intoxicating.