Once the fire spirit’s blood fell, as if it was a corroding substance, the magma below began to bubble up.
The reaction was so strong, it was as if something was trying to crawl out from below.
An unprecedented fire spirit energy burst upward, and as an ice attribute, mother dragon felt very uncomfortable being in such close proximity. Lin Jin advised her to retreat to the entrance and sure enough, she felt much better there.
In contrast, to Lin Jin and Zhao Jingyan, the fire spirit energy felt like a great supplement instead.
Inside Lin Jin’s body, Xiao Huo was cheered gleefully as he absorbed the constant supply of unique fire spirit energy.
The magma below then started to change in color.
It had previously been bright red and somewhat dazzling, but now, it turned green, dyeing the walls of the cave with the same color.
The magma began to stir as green flames emerged in the center of the pool.
These flames were so unique that Lin Jin and Zhao Jingyan couldn’t help but step back.
“This is the exotic fire, the ‘green blaze’!” Zhao Jingyan exclaimed.
So it seems Phoenix Palace had already given the exotic fire here a name, and it couldn’t have described the flames any better.
“Let us begin!” said Lin Jin, who was able to grasp first-hand, the terrifying might of this exotic fire.
‘As expected of a rare exotic fire. It would be really amazing if I were able to use it as my own,’ he mused.
Upon hearing his signal, Zhao Jingyan quickly took out her phoenix egg.
Speaking of which, although Zhao Jingyan had heard from Curator how to bathe her phoenix egg in fire to achieve rebirth, to actually carry out the activity was a whole new can of worms. With Lin Jin beside her, she grew somewhat anxious.
She glanced over at Lin Jin and asked, “Appraiser Lin, can you help me with this?”
She was terrified of failure.
In her current situation, she couldn’t afford to fail. After being betrayed by her subordinates, Zhao Jingyan fell hard, from her previous status as a great commander to being a nobody. Without her pet beast, she could never recover her status.
She wanted to ask those she used to call ‘sisters’ the reason behind their betrayal.
She also wanted to regain her authority at Phoenix Palace.
Lin Jin noticed Zhao Jingyan’s hesitation. Truth be told, it was indeed a little risky to let Zhao Jingyan perform the rebirth on her own. However, Lin Jin had previously enhanced the phoenix egg with a fire amulet in the Visitation Hall so technically, nothing should go wrong at this point.
Furthermore, he would be here to oversee the process, so should any accidents actually happen, he would intervene and assist Zhao Jingyan.
“Don’t worry, Miss Zhao. Just throw the egg into the exotic flames.” Perhaps Lin Jin’s composure was contagious, Zhao Jingyan took a deep breath before shifting her focus back to her egg. It wasn’t long before she finally mustered up the courage to toss the egg forward. It was clear that some spell was operating because of how slow the egg’s descent into the flames was. It was as if there was a cushion of air wrapped around it.
Following a loud boom, the exotic fire burned even brighter.
The phoenix egg was spinning inside the exotic fire, absorbing the green blaze’s might. Zhao Jingyan was so nervous that her fists were turning pale from being clenched too tightly.
Seeing this, Lin Jin advised her, “A phoenix will not achieve Nirvana the instant it bathes in the fire. More time is needed, so patience is key here.”
Upon hearing this, Zhao Jingyan finally relaxed a little.
Then, it was time for Lin Jin to handle his own business.
“Xiao Huo!” Lin Jin called out. A tiny ember immediately jumped up from his arm and gradually took the form of a mini fire wolf.
It was Xiao Huo.
“Xiao Huo, you only have average potential and under normal circumstances, Rank 3 should have been your evolutionary ceiling. You’re a Rank 4 now but your subsequent evolution will be much tougher than rare beasts. Thankfully, you’ve cultivated a Dharma body so you can enter the exotic flames to refine your body just like the phoenix. I will use the Thunderfire Needle to stabilize your Dharma body and soul. After you enter the green blaze, remember to listen to your own body. If you can’t endure the pain anymore, come out immediately.”
Xiao Huo nodded obediently.
With a flick of Lin Jin’s finger, the Thunderfire Needle entered Xiao Huo’s body.
“Go forth!”
Right after Lin Jin’s command, Xiao Huo leaped into the green blaze as well. The green blaze was overflowing with firepower. It would be such a waste to only use it for the phoenix’s rebirth.
Lin Jin knew that a phoenix was no ordinary bird. For it to achieve Nirvana, the fire energy it required was enough to deplete a medium-sized Earth Fire Spirit Stream, and that might not even be enough. After this Nirvana process, there was a chance that the green blaze would be completely extinguished. Since that was the case, why not fully utilize it when the exotic fire was still burning?
Why did the Phoenix Palace experts want to seal up exotic fires?
Other than trying to prevent others from finding them, it was also because exotic fires were extremely rare. Their formation was due to a combination of factors and after burning for a period of time, they would extinguish and cease to exist, hence the need to seal them up.
After closing them up, the rate at which exotic flames burned would be reduced by at least a hundred times, cutting down the speed of its exhaustion. One could draw an analogy of placing food in the refrigerator to prevent it from going bad in the near future.
Now that the seal was undone, it was allowed to burn freely, and not utilizing it would only be a waste.
Xiao Huo’s next evolution now depended on this green blaze.
Suddenly, Lin Jin heard a low growl.
Turning around, he saw Elder Mo’s fire-lizard pacing back and forth in great excitement. However, it was slightly fearful of the flames below. It didn’t even dare to approach the edge of the opening.
After giving it some thought, Lin Jin said, “Nature’s treasure can be shared with those who witness it. You and Elder Mo have done great service by guarding this place for more than twenty years. Since that’s the case, let me bestow upon you good fortune.”
Having said that, Lin Jin shot a silver needle into the fire-lizard and invoked a spell. As if it had received encouragement, the fire-lizard began scampering forward and then it dove straight into the fire pit.
Elder Mo was startled. Had this been a normal Earth-Fire Spirit Stream, his fire-lizard would do fine, but the same couldn’t be said for exotic fire.
Should anything happen, his pet beast might be burned to death.
Looking ahead, Elder Mo finally breathed a sigh of relief after seeing the situation down there.
The fire-lizard didn’t actually jump into the green blaze but it crouched near the flames, using its ambient heat to grill itself. Even though it was not in direct contact with the green blaze, it could receive the exotic fire’s nourishment.
Lin Jin had done what he could. What they had to do now was wait.
Everyone held their breaths as they watched. Behind them, mother dragon who held onto Senior Mo, stared at Lin Jin’s back profile with a glint in her eyes.
Having lived for several hundred years, mother dragon had heard of so much and had come across too many experts. After all, she was a Rank 5 jade dragon who wasn’t restricted by Jade Dragon Kingdom and was allowed complete freedom to roam the land.
However, it was terribly unfortunate that her children fell one after another to the schemes of her enemy. After she finally confronted this enemy, not only did she find out that she was no match for him, she was exasperated, even after surviving the duel. Resentment accumulated in her heart, and finally, she turned into a demon.
Once demonized, a tragic end awaited her because reverting back to normal was a near impossible feat to achieve. To her surprise, Appraiser Lin had managed to help remove all traces of demonic energy from her body.
However, mother dragon didn’t know much about Appraiser Lin so she asked her son quietly about the man.
Apart from this, she had great respect for Shang’er.
Being a monster herself, mother dragon was able to tell that Shang’er was just like her. However, Shang’er’s aura was much stronger than hers and the former seemed to have addressed Appraiser Lin as ‘Master Lin’.
She must be Appraiser Lin’s disciple.
To think an expert like Appraiser Lin accepted monsters as his disciple. Didn’t that imply that she had a chance to become one as well?
Having collected her courage, mother dragon bowed at Shang’er.
