In the Burning Valley, far away from the entrance, Damon stood in the middle of the desert as he witnessed the breathtaking scene before him.
A jewel-like blue pillar of fire pierced through the sky, pulsing with pure energy. Everything in its vicinity was incinerated as the hot flames—fierce as the sun—burned brightly.
"Soul-grade spirit…" Damon muttered unconsciously as he looked at the semi–soul-grade flame that was in the middle of its ascension.
The Burning Valley, which had experienced a fire calamity near the flaming pillars, now had a temperature so high that even Damon was unwilling to approach it.
Its flames, beautiful and mysterious as royal fire, burned with a nobility unmatched by any elemental spirit Damon had ever seen.
The fire calamity had enhanced the already powerful elemental spirit, pushing it to the ranks of the soul-grade—barely a step away from completely reaching that level.
The flame glinted brilliantly with power as Damon observed it, fascinated not only by its discovery but by its unique nature.
It was powerful—but more than that…
"It has no consciousness."
After a spirit is born, it develops consciousness, an ego, over time. But the flame spirit before him had none.
'Maybe it was a newborn spirit that was directly baptized by the fire,' Damon thought. The spirit was likely newly formed, yet to develop awareness before the fire calamity descended—evolving it to the next grade before it even had time to awaken its own mind.
"What do you think?" Damon murmured to himself as rose flames surrounded his hands, their bright radiance paling in comparison to the blue ones before him. "Think you can absorb it?"
A spirit-grade flame absorbing a soul-grade one—it was a ridiculous notion.
Elemental spirits could indeed absorb each other, but the consciousness of the higher-grade flame would always dominate, resulting in the destruction of the weaker one.
Under normal circumstances, it would be laughable to let the Rose Flames near a soul-grade spirit. But before an egoless spirit, even the Rose Flames dared to try.
Wisps of rose fire rose from Damon's hands, slowly encircling the blue pillar of flame before a strand merged with its center. Sensing the intrusion, the radiance and intensity of the blue fire surged, the high temperature scorching Damon's skin as his body continuously repaired itself.
A blinding white light flashed at the point of contact as the pinkish flames encircled the blue ones, their mingled colors painting a mesmerizing spectacle in the sky.
The blue gradually darkened as the pinkish hues faded. The flames burned brighter and stronger than before, their noble aura and majesty reaching another level.
The pillar of fire roared toward the heavens as it uprooted itself from the earth. The link between the blue and rose flames deepened until finally, only the blue flames remained—reigning supreme in Damon's hands.
Inside his spirit world, the Rose Flames had vanished completely. In their place, the blue fire took the royal throne, discarding the shell of its predecessor. The new soul-grade "Imperial Flames" glowed brighter than ever.
"Hehahaha—!" Damon's grin widened as the blue flames in the material world dissolved into blue petals of fire, flowing gracefully around him—an ethereal, captivating sight even to his own eyes.
"Wonderful…" he muttered as the flaming petals drifted from the sky, blanketing the barren land in fire.
The petals did not extinguish upon touching the ground. They continued burning, blackening the earth wherever they fell—each passing second, their heat intensified as more petals fell.
Inextinguishable flames—burning stronger with every breath of time. Sevenfold amplification of power, a destructive and majestic flame carrying its own Domain of Fire.
The discovery lit up Damon's mind as he reveled in the newfound strength coursing through him.
But as the saying goes—good things never last long.
Buzz! Buzz!
"Damon! Lingling here! Mo Fan is trapped inside the lava! He—"
***
Elsewhere in the valley...
Above the flattened peak—the residence of the ruler of Burning Valley—a brown-eyed man looked up at the figure of an elemental human before him.
"Can you understand our language?" exclaimed Mo Fan, staring at the Fiery Sorceress.
The flaming female figure floated beside him, her expression unreadable beneath the burning light.
"Either way, thanks for saving my life…" Mo Fan laughed.
After being trapped in the lava, when he thought his end had come, his life was saved at the last moment by the fire goddess who carried him to the peak he had long wished to reach.
Even though his contact with the Black Totem Snake had been brief in this timeline, Mo Fan remembered that it had understood human speech. Therefore, when he encountered the extraordinary Fiery Sorceress of the Northern Burning Valley, he was not entirely unprepared.
"Can I ask—are you the Flame Belle?" Mo Fan asked firmly, taking a closer look at her fiery form.
The flaming creature shook her head as she floated in the air, circling him. Mo Fan laughed nervously.
The Fiery Sorceress' gesture made it clear—she was not the Flame Belle.
"Oh, you're asking what I'm doing here?" Mo Fan understood her gestures and replied honestly, "I'm looking for the Flame Belle. I'm a Summoner. I'd like to sign a Flame Belle as my Contract Beast."
The Fiery Sorceress shook her head, as if telling him that wasn't a great idea.
Jiang Feng—once human, Chen Yi's mother—had eaten the Fire Calamity Fruit and taken the mantle of ruler of the Burning Valley. This was the true identity of the fiery sorceress who hovered above Mo Fan.
Even though she had given up her humanity, her memories and past life gave her a soft spot for humans. Those who visited the valley were welcomed with warmth and kindness, treated as kin.
Night fell like dark curtains, and stars adorned the sky like scattered jewels. Lying on the mountaintop, Mo Fan felt as if he were surrounded by the cosmos itself. Even when he gazed into the distance, the starry expanse lingered in his view.
It was his first time having such a tranquil experience—lying atop a mountain, chatting with a being of living fire—until suddenly, the fiery sorceress stiffened mid-conversation. Her head turned sharply toward a direction Mo Fan couldn't see.
Though her expression was hidden behind the flames, the air around her shifted, filled with curiosity. Mo Fan followed her gaze—and saw a human figure descending from the night sky, black magical wings fading behind him.
"Yo!"