After absorbing the Blaze Eye, Tang Jie strode into Holy Fire Valley. The flames of the valley no longer burned him, even opening a path for him.
This wasn't because he was using the Pale Cloud Flame to command the flames, but because his concept of Fire was making the flames retreat on their own.
Tang Jie was in no rush to head into the core region. Rather, he created several hundred duplicates and combed the valley for treasures.
Initially, if he wanted his duplicates to walk through the valley, they would have to be made from his blood, as only this kind of duplicate could cast protective spell arts. But thanks to the concept of Fire, he didn't even need to use blood and could make duplicates purely from spiritual energy.
Several hundred duplicates scattered through the valley, picking up all the treasure they saw.
Whether they were Fire-type spirit stones or Fire-type art relics, Tang Jie grabbed them up like a thirsty fish coming upon water, picking Holy Fire Valley clean.
No location in the Treasure Paradise had ever received such treatment before, and in the blink of an eye, Holy Fire Valley had been plundered.
All that was left was the core region.
The white Pale Cloud Flame was still burning, and inside it was a fan.
The Holy Fire Fan.
This was a low-level upper-grade divine treasure, but thanks to the thousands of years of tempering from the Pale Cloud Flame, it was stronger than Tang Jie's three divine swords, on par with the Herding Yang Pearl. It was something that the representatives would have found worth fighting over if they had the chance.
But Tang Jie had little interest in this item. He had decided to give it to Liu Qianyi as compensation for the Blaze Eye. If she didn't think that was enough, he would add some other stuff. In any case, he wasn't returning the Blaze Eye, so she had no choice but to take this deal.
Tang Jie sat down in front of the Pale Cloud Flame.
As he silently chanted the Triple Sense Art and circulated the power of his spark, the Pale Cloud Flame suddenly swelled and swept toward Tang Jie.
This was no longer a sliver of holy flame drawn out by the power of a Soul Transformation cultivator, but the entirety of this flame.
But just as that flame was about to ignite Tang Jie, his eyes glowed with divinity.
Countless flames danced in his eyes, taking in the form of the Pale Cloud Flame and reflecting an infinite expanse.
The white flame stopped its rampage, and it began to writhe and transform. With a screech, it transformed into a giant firebird with a wingspan of a thousand meters.
At the same time, a firebird flew out from behind Tang Jie. It was also made from the Pale Cloud Flame, but it was much smaller, as if it was the child of the giant bird, even letting out a few quavering cries like it was a chick.
The giant firebird flapped its wings of white flame, embracing that small bird like a protective mother, and its gaze towards Tang Jie turned gentler.
Tang Jie remained seated, gazing at the bird.
Thus, that firebird began to dissolve into tendrils of flame that merged with the smaller bird.
As the small bird absorbed the flames, it began to grow in size.
Tang Jie's body began to shake, and if one looked at the spark in his Spiritual Space, one would find that the spark was beginning to shed the outer shell it had formed not too long ago, the flames dropping into the Spirit Sea, where they continued to burn.
The blazing spiritual energy in the Spirit Sea surged upward and formed clouds that lingered about. Meanwhile, the spark continued to shed and reform its outer shell.
Each reformation of the shell made the spark tougher, but it also consumed immense amounts of spiritual energy. Tang Jie had no choice but to take pill after pill to recover.
The cycle of birth and destruction happened three times.
By the spark's third reformation, the giant firebird had shriveled up, leaving only a dim shell, and this too dissipated into the air. On the other hand, Tang Jie's firebird was now large and majestic.
If this firebird had originally been a chick, it could now be considered an adult.
It unfurled its wings, revealing that they had a span of one thousand meters, and it let out a cheerful cry as if it had an intellect of its own.
After letting out this cheerful cry, the large bird began to shrink, ultimately getting down to the size of a yellow oriole, and landed on Tang Jie's shoulder. It pecked at his shoulder a few times and occasionally gave him a puzzled look.
He knew that the Pale Cloud Flame could transform into all kinds of creatures, but he had never heard of a spiritual firebird being born like this. Shouldn't the Pale Cloud Flame that had been subdued have become a ball of attribute-less flame?
In the end, it was the Vermillion Bird who answered his question. "I didn't think that your luck would be this good. This flame is intelligent."
"'Intelligent'? Do you mean like how a monster becomes intelligent?"
"Correct!" the Vermillion Bird confirmed. "The Pale Cloud Flame is the flame with the greatest spirituality, or else it wouldn't be able to transform into all things, but even so, gaining intelligence is something extremely difficult, and it has to have an opportunity granted by the heavens in order to achieve it. Yes, yes, this is the Treasure Paradise, and Divine Genesis is there to grant all things in the world spirituality, turning them into treasures. The flame left behind by the Flame Celestial Sovereign was influenced by Divine Genesis, so it's not strange for it to have the potential to gain intelligence."
Only then did Tang Jie understand that Divine Genesis also had this function.
But Divine Genesis alone wasn't enough. The Vermillion Bird had also played a factor.
The Southern Divine Fire of the Vermillion Bird was a flame that affected the mind. Tang Jie had the blood of the Vermillion Bird in his body, and he had also used the Triple Sense Beholding Spirit Art, both of which acted on the mind.
Intelligence was gained only from the opening of the mind!
Tang Jie had used the Triple Sense Beholding Spirit Art to draw out the Pale Cloud Flame, and as the Pale Cloud Flame already had the capacity for intellect thanks to its residing in the valley for so long, it finally gained intelligence. Although it was only a basic intelligence, it was no longer a dumb creature, but possessed the intelligence of a bird.
As for why it had to be a bird, that could only be blamed on the Vermillion Bird essence blood in Tang Jie's body.
Under its influence, the Pale Cloud Flame that could transform into all things came to consider the firebird as its original form. Of course, once it got serious, it wouldn't be restricted only to the firebird form.
The Vermillion Bird's explanation allowed Tang Jie to understand that in the process of subduing the Pale Cloud Flame, he had inadvertently turned it into a fire sprite or fire monster. Although it didn't sound like anything much, having the Pale Cloud Flame turn into a fire monster was actually a major development, and Tang Jie could only be said to be just too lucky.
Tang Jie had always acted based on planning.
He had never placed his hopes on or relied on luck.
But this didn't mean that he couldn't be lucky.
Amid countless efforts, failure was inevitable, but there was also sometimes luck.
And today was clearly Tang Jie's lucky day.
He had killed the Blood River Lord's avatars, strengthened the Flesh Millstone, subdued the Pale Cloud Flame, and even gained an intelligent Pale Cloud Flame from it. The last was undoubtedly a wonderful surprise.
With a wave of his hand, the firebird turned into a ball of flame and vanished, and when it next appeared, it was in Tang Jie's Spiritual Space.
At this time, the Spirit Sea calmed down, and the spark reformed itself into a bird nest.
The little firebird roosted in the nest and fell asleep.
After all this commotion, Tang Jie's spark had reached greater attainment, the several refinements turning it into something extraordinary. What Zuo Quanming had needed decades to accomplish had been achieved by Tang Jie in a single day. If Zuo Quanming found out, he would probably bitterly say something like "Comparison can anger you to death", and then he would ask Tang Jie to teach him.
With this, the Pale Cloud Flame in the core region had completely disappeared.
With its disappearance, the flames across all of Holy Fire Valley weakened.
The flames still burned, but no longer with that demonic power that seemed capable of devouring everything.
Tang Jie initially thought that he could take the flames with him to feed the Pale Bird, but after some thought, he gave up on it. This was primarily because the flames of the valley extended to the skies, so if he took them, he would essentially be telling everybody that something had happened in Holy Fire Valley.
The Blood River Lord was definitely capable enough to grasp what was going on, and if he knew that Tang Jie had taken the Pale Cloud Flame, he would prepare for it. As for now, he would only think that Tang Jie would no longer have the holy flame once he left the valley.
In this battle, the Blood River Lord had both failed to make Tang Jie use all his trump cards and had actually given Tang Jie another one!
This was the source of his tragedy.
Finally, Tang Jie went up to the stone platform in the heart of the valley and took the Holy Fire Fan. Once he determined that there was nothing else, he left Holy Fire Valley and headed for the depths of the Treasure Paradise.
――――――――――――
Zuo Quanming inexplicably shivered.
From atop Fog Mountain, one could see an Immortal palace in the distance. This was the Hall of Three Immortals.
The Hall of Three Immortals was located in the middle of the mountains, floating atop a rainbow cloud. There were three halls in all, arranged in a triangular formation. The halls were respectively called the Soaring Immortal Hall, the Transformation Immortal Hall, and the Ascending Immortal Hall. Together, they were the Hall of Three Immortals.
The three halls were said to be where Reverend Celestial Hook had cultivated, and there were all sorts of secrets within. Even now, it was protected by the Yin Yang Division Sword, and it was considered the most core region of the Treasure Paradise, bursting with treasures.
Divine Genesis and the fourth Dao armament that the Flame Celestial Sovereign had taken away had both been found here.
Even now, the Hall of Three Immortals was still rife with traps and treasures. When the Flame Celestial Sovereign had come to this place, the pressure from the Yin Yang Division Sword and his own pickiness meant that many of the treasures had been left behind. And Divine Genesis was still creating more treasures, and the closer to Divine Genesis one was, the more likely it was to become a divine item, so there were many valuable items located within the hall.
Every time the Treasure Paradise opened, the Hall of Three Immortals would become a major source of contention for the four factions. One could say that this place was the decider for the outcome of this battle, and everything before that was just a minor skirmish.
As the most important area of the Treasure Paradise, the Hall of Three Immortals was protected by the original blade of the Yin Yang Division Sword, and anyone bold enough to approach it would be slaughtered. It was only at special times that the Hall of Three Immortals would be opened. Although the inside was still dangerous, it was still much safer than trying to force one's way in when it was closed.
This was why the Celestial Flame Pagoda had chosen this period to open the Treasure Paradise. After all the entrants had a certain period of free time, they would all gather here and prepare to enter the Hall of Three Immortals.
For the representatives, the Hall of Three Immortals was an opportunity that they couldn't miss out on!
Starting ten days ago, the protective sword light around the Hall of Three Immortals began to retreat, which meant that it wouldn't be long until that barrier would be gone and the Hall of Three Immortals would be opened.
Many representatives had already sensed this development and abandoned their exploration to gather and wait for the moment to go in.
This Fog Mountain that Zuo Quanming was on was the meeting place that the Eastern Heavenly King's representatives had agreed upon, but only thirteen people were here. The other seven either hadn't arrived yet or had already died.
Under a pine tree on the summit of Fog Mountain was a youth with a rather delicate and thin appearance.
At first glance, he would be under the tree, but on second glance, he would be on the other side of the tree, and at a third glance, he would be on the other side of the mountain.
That young man was actually just standing there, yet his location seemed to be constantly shifting, as if he was always moving around or else existed in multiple spaces at the same time.
Zuo Quanming looked a little too long and felt his mind going fuzzy. Realizing that he was under that man's influence, he hastily lowered his gaze, his heart shivering. He didn't know this person's name, only that he was a genius favored by the Eastern Heavenly King. He was called Young Master Hua, and though he was only at the Heart Demon Tier, he was much stronger than his peers, perhaps second only to Tang Jie.
The thought of his master instantly made Zuo Quanming inwardly moan at his misfortune in running into such a master. He had failed to get a divine treasure and lost his freedom in the process.
His only hope was that someone else killed Tang Jie so that he couldn't come, which would save him a lot of trouble.
Alas, he had just barely had this thought when he felt a warmth on his waist, and he realized that Tang Jie had sent a message. He quietly looked over and saw that Tang Jie had given him a mission. This mission gave Zuo Quanming a big headache, but he had no choice but to do it. He heaved a long sigh.
It was a rather loud sigh, and several people turned to look at him, that Young Master Hua even saying, "Sir Zuo, is there something on your mind?"
Zuo Quanming became nervous, so he laughed and said, "I was just thinking that when the Hall of Three Immortals opens, there's bound to be a fierce battle, and I wonder how many of us will come out alive."
A muscular man grunted, "I'm not sure who else is going to survive, but everyone knows about Sir Zuo's cunning and escape techniques. I'm sure you won't have a problem."
Zuo Quanming knew that this man was mocking him, but he didn't mind, saying, "The Zheng Clan of Hongwu's Heavenly Son Fist is majestic and awe-inspiring, and this one is nothing before its righteousness."
This person's name was Zheng Yuanjie, and he belonged to Zheng Clan of Hongwu, which had long ago produced a mortal emperor, a Son of Heaven, who had developed the Heavenly Son Fist, which gathered together all of the kingliness of the mortal realm, and it could be considered a top-class technique. The Hongwu Zheng Clan relied on this technique to make its name, and it was even rather famous in the Blood River Domain. In the end, this man had been recruited by the Eastern Heavenly King to be a representative in the Treasure Paradise.
After being flattered by Zuo Quanming, Zheng Yuanjie couldn't scold him too much. In the end, he just snorted and raised his nose to Zuo Quanming.
Only then did Zuo Quanming say, "But while the Heavenly Son is righteous, it is hard to avoid hidden injuries from lowly people. A king must safeguard his dignity against lurking snakes!"
Zheng Yuanjie narrowed his eyes. "What did you say?"
Zuo Quanming hastily said, "Brother Zheng, don't misunderstand me. This one just thinks that while the struggles in the Treasure Paradise, though always involving eighty representatives, have usually been able to control the level of losses, I feel like the situation this time is different…"
He cast his gaze toward a distant mountain.
Over there, an imposing Hemos stood—the Blood River Lord.
He was gazing at the hall, looking at nothing else besides it. Behind him, hidden in the mists, were even more of his avatars. Though they did not show themselves, it was still possible to sense his immense power.
This one was enough to intimidate everyone else to not mess with that man.
The sudden appearance of the Blood River Lord left everyone flabbergasted, and the four-way struggle became rather complicated. Nobody knew who this new faction was, how strong they were, why they had come, or how they had gotten in, which was exactly why everyone was so wary. If not for that side's impressive show of strength, someone might already have attacked them.
Nobody liked a wrench to be thrown into their plans, and through his actions, the Blood River Lord was actually already stealing food from the plates of others—after all, half of the treasures here would ultimately belong to the representatives.
There was another reason besides his strength that prevented anyone from attacking the Blood River Lord. It was that there were four factions, and not one, so they weren't united.
But at this moment, Zuo Quanming suddenly pointed his spear at the Blood River Lord.
Hearing the meaning in his words, a representative said, "Since he's here, he must have received the permission of the Four Heavenly Kings."
"Aren't we the same?" Zuo Quanming countered. "'Permission to come in' doesn't mean we aren't allowed to fight him."
"That's right!" another person chimed in. "Moreover, the Four Heavenly Kings didn't mention anything about this. It's not right for these Hemos to just come out of nowhere!"
"What about it? You want to go and kill them?" another person coldly snorted.
"From their aura, these people seem to be extremely strong. Provoking them might break disaster on our heads instead. And looking further ahead, even if we win, don't forget that the people of the other three Heavenly Kings are just looking to pounce," another person said.
"What if we all work together?" Zuo Quanming asked.
"'Work together'?" Everyone was startled, and then they shook their heads. "This is impossible."
None of the representatives trusted the representatives of the other Heavenly Kings. Even if they agreed to move together, no one could say that nobody would turn around and sell out the other.
Nobody here was naive. While they found the Blood River Lord annoying, they didn't have some deep-seated grudge against him. Thus, working together to kill him was ultimately a joke.
Zuo Quanming wasn't worried. He was just getting started with his mission. His first priority was to put the idea of working together in their minds, letting everyone know that there was such a choice in the future.
As for what came next, that would depend on other parties.
Meanwhile, on Drifting Peak to the south…
Liu Qianyi glanced at Tang Jie's message and helplessly sighed. "Everyone, don't you think that guy who popped up out of nowhere is annoying? Just like that, a millennia-old rule was broken…"
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