The impression Mo Xiaoqi gave Yang Kai was one of mystery.
He had a vague feeling that the innocence and naivety she displayed were all an act, but he could never find any flaw in it. Moreover, judging from how generously she dispensed items and the concealment secret art she commanded, her origins were almost certainly extraordinary.
How could an ordinary Void King Realm cultivator possibly store so many Void King-grade Artifacts in her space ring, each one of impressive quality? And on her person herself, waves of powerful energy fluctuated intermittently—clearly she was wearing numerous potent Artifacts as well.
This girl definitely had a background, and not a minor one at that.
This was why Yang Kai had always kept one eye on her.
But now that she claimed to have a method for dealing with that fire bird, he believed her about seventy or eighty percent.
Eating from someone else's table makes you soft-spoken, and accepting gifts makes your hands go limp. Though Yang Kai didn't want to get any more involved with the affairs of Yuqing Mountain, he had already taken her benefits, and simply bowing out midway didn't sit right with him. So he had no choice but to see this through to the bitter end.
"Miss Xiaoqi, you say you have a way to deal with that fire bird—could you share the details? After all, that creature is no pushover, and we really don't want to end up following in other people's footsteps." Xu Qing asked with some hesitation.
Yu Ruomei nodded as well, agreeing with Xu Qing's sentiment.
Mo Xiaoqi furrowed her delicate brows, looking rather troubled. After a long moment, she seemed to make up her mind and spoke: "I can't go into the specifics, but I have an Artifact that counters its power. Please, everyone, trust me—I won't ask you to do anything too dangerous."
Hearing this, Xu Qing and Yu Ruomei exchanged a glance and nodded slightly. The former smiled: "Since Miss Xiaoqi has put it that way, I, Xu, will press no further. I only hope that when the time comes, Miss Xiaoqi will surely deliver."
"No problem, leave it all to me!" Mo Xiaoqi beamed at his words, patting her chest with an air of taking full responsibility. "Now let's track its location. Even though we don't know where it's gone, as long as we follow the trail, we should be able to find it."
As she spoke, she once again took the lead and headed forward.
They ventured deeper for well over an hour. Amid the tense and anxious atmosphere of the group, Mo Xiaoqi suddenly halted once more.
The trail ahead had abruptly cut off.
Just as she frowned, about to search for new clues, a wave of extraordinary power surged abruptly from somewhere nearby. The energy was scorching hot, and the moment it appeared, the temperature in the surrounding air skyrocketed. The verdant trees in the vicinity withered and dried up in an instant under the extreme heat, then burst into flames.
"Look out!" Yang Kai called out in a low voice.
There was no longer any need for his warning. All four cultivators present were Void King Realm Third-Stage warriors, highly sensitive to the ebb and flow of power. The moment that searing fluctuation rippled outward, all four had already dodged in different directions.
Whoosh…
A ball of flame as black as ink, roughly the size of a washbasin, slammed into the ground where they had all been standing moments before. The area was turned completely into scorched earth. The black flames roared and burned fiercely, seeming as though they would never be extinguished. Whether it was the eerie, dark color or the terrifying destructive force, the sight made everyone's expression shift.
"So it really is here!" Far from being alarmed, Mo Xiaoqi was overjoyed, her delicate face full of excitement as she stared fixedly at a certain spot.
There, perched at that location, was a strange bird roughly ten feet in length, its entire body a blazing crimson. Its eyes were filled with fierce, savage light as it regarded the four of them. It looked as though it had been forged from flames itself, its body wreathed in scorching fire, a long tail trailing behind it. Exquisitely beautiful in appearance, it was like an elemental spirit born of fire.
"Liu Yan?" Yang Kai stared in confusion.
This fire bird that had suddenly appeared looked, from its appearance alone, as though it had been cast from the same mold as Liu Yan's true form. But he quickly realized that the bird before him was not Liu Yan.
Because no matter how much it looked like it was forged from flame, it was still a living creature of flesh and blood. Moreover… Yang Kai could faintly sense a subtle aura of majesty emanating from within it—an indescribable kind of power. Even someone as strong as himself felt a twinge of unease in its presence.
"Damn it all, who spread the rumor that this thing was an Artifact Spirit?" Xu Qing cursed from the other side, brimming with indignation.
Outside Yuqing Mountain earlier, numerous cultivators had spread the word that a sentient Artifact Spirit resided within, drawing crowds from every direction. But it was now clear that was entirely false. He had no idea which blind fool had started that rumor.
Not that it mattered anymore.
"It's coming again!" Yu Ruomei shrieked, her slender figure flickering as she left a trail of afterimages, darting away from her position in a flash.
The next instant, a ball of black flame smashed into the spot where she had just been standing.
When Yu Ruomei revealed herself from another direction, her face was still pale with lingering fear. She could clearly feel the tremendous destructive power contained within those black flames. If she were to be careless and get hit, her end would likely be no better than that of the Jiang Family's Third Elder.
So many Void King Realm powerhouses had already met their deaths, their Dao extinguished, as testament to how tenacious and terrifying this fire bird was. Yu Ruomei wouldn't dare let her guard down for a moment.
"Everyone, please help me hold it off for a while—I need to start preparing!" Mo Xiaoqi called out urgently, then suddenly leaped away from her position, her hands forming a series of mystical seals. Her entire bearing transformed in an instant.
The innocent, guileless quality vanished from her, and Mo Xiaoqi became solemn and imposing. Her red lips moved gently as the seals in her hands continued to shift and change—she appeared to be chanting something, though the words were indiscernible. At the same time, a water-blue sphere materialized before her. Within it surged an extraordinarily powerful torrent of water energy—vast and profound, like an entire ocean contained in miniature. If one listened carefully, one could even hear the sound of crashing waves and roaring tides coming from inside.
"A Dao Source-grade Artifact?!" Xu Qing's eyes went red on the spot, his breathing quickening as he stared greedily at the blue sphere before Mo Xiaoqi.