The shrill screams still pierced through the clouds, and as the cries grew louder, three green dots in Qing Lin’s eyes suddenly glowed brightly. In an instant, the three tiny dots transformed into three extremely small green flowers. As these eerie green flowers appeared, a fierce glow suddenly shot out from them, illuminating the fire spirit snake in front of her. As the fire spirit snake was illuminated by the strange glow, its massive body suddenly stiffened, and its large eyes, filled with some fear, stared at the little girl in front of it.
The eerie glow slowly moved across the fire spirit snake’s body, finally stopping at the center of its two foreheads. Once the glow stopped moving, it began to shrink, and as its range diminished, the light within it grew brighter. The glow shrank to the size of a palm, and when it reached this size, it stopped shrinking. As the glow intensified, two tiny green flowers were imprinted on the fire spirit snake’s two heads.
When the flowers appeared, the glow gradually disappeared. After a while, the tiny flowers in Qing Lin’s eyes quickly dissipated, returning to their usual green. As her eyes returned to normal, Qing Lin’s body swayed, her eyelids drooped, and she finally collapsed to the ground.
After Qing Lin fell, the huge fire spirit snake remained dumbly in place, but whenever it looked at her, its ferocity and savagery would involuntarily fade, replaced by a gentle look.
“Go to hell!” While the fire spirit snake was in a daze, Xiao Yan finally arrived, smashing his black Heavy Scale Sword heavily onto its massive body. Instantly, blood splattered, and flesh split open.
“Hisss…” The fire spirit snake, struck again, finally came to its senses, turned its huge body, and glared viciously at Xiao Yan. But when it saw the huge Heavy Scale Sword, a flicker of fear passed through its eyes, and under the furious gaze of Xiao Yan, it dived back into the lava lake.
“Damn it.” Seeing the fire spirit snake choose to flee again, Xiao Yan couldn’t help but curse. Then, he flapped his wings, quickly appearing beside Qing Lin, and hastily picked her up, checking for a breath. Satisfied that she was still breathing, he sighed in relief. He took out a healing pill from his ring and put it in Qing Lin’s mouth. Carrying her, he slowly walked towards the passage, looking at the injured Xiao Ding with a wry smile. “How are you? Are you okay?”
“Cough. I’m fine, just need a moment to rest,” Xiao Ding said, swallowing the pill and breathing a sigh of relief with a wry smile.
Xiao Yan sat down slowly against the cave wall, holding Qing Lin in his arms, wiping the dust from his face, and sighed regretfully, “It’s a pity we haven’t found the Heavenly Flame yet…”
“Take Qing Lin back first. I’ll stay here and keep looking. Don’t worry, that beast will only run away when it sees me. There’s nothing here that can hurt me now,” Xiao Yan said after a moment of thought.
“Alright, that’s probably for the best. We’d just be a burden if we stayed here,” Xiao Ding nodded in agreement.
“But this underground area is so vast, and it’s filled with flames. Finding the Heavenly Flame here won’t be easy,” Xiao Ding sighed.
“Yeah, and we can’t stay too long, or other strong experts might sense our presence. That would be a real problem…” Xiao Yan nodded with a wry smile.
Xiao Ding nodded in agreement, well aware of the great attraction the Heavenly Flame held for powerful beings.
While Xiao Yan was feeling helpless, Qing Lin, who was in his arms, finally began to wake up. Shaking her groggy head, she lifted it, looked at Xiao Yan, her face slightly red, and rubbed her temples. Suddenly, she said softly, “Young Master, I might know where the Heavenly Flame is.”
“Oh?” Hearing this, both Xiao Yan and Xiao Ding were surprised. “How could you know?”
Smiling, Qing Lin suddenly broke free from Xiao Yan’s embrace and ran to the entrance of the passage, cupping her hands around her mouth and shouted, “Come out!”
As Qing Lin’s shout echoed, the giant fire spirit snake suddenly rose from the calm lava lake and slowly swam towards the entrance of the passage. Seeing the fire spirit snake reappear, Xiao Yan was startled and quickly stood up, grabbing the heavy sword, and warily watched the approaching snake.
“Young Master, don’t attack it. It won’t hurt us anymore,” Qing Lin quickly grabbed Xiao Yan, saying.
“What’s going on?” Xiao Yan asked, his eyes fixed on the fire spirit snake, noticing that it indeed seemed to have no intention of attacking.
“I’m not sure…” Qing Lin shook her head slightly, stepping forward, and her green eyes stared at the massive creature in front of her. “I somehow feel a strange connection with it. I can sense its thoughts…”
“Huh?” Xiao Yan was stunned, his eyes scanning the suddenly docile fire spirit snake, and finally stopping on the green flower on its forehead. This thing was definitely not there before…
“Ah, impressive, boy. I’m not sure if you’re lucky or unlucky, but the people you meet are always so peculiar. Last time it was a calamity poison body, and now it’s no less. You’ve met a girl with ‘Jade Snake Three Flower Eyes’…”
While Xiao Yan was puzzled, the Elder Pharmacist’s amazed laughter sounded in his mind.
“Jade Snake Three Flower Eyes? What’s that?” Xiao Yan asked in astonishment.
“Well… how to explain… It’s a kind of strange innate eye, seemingly only found in the descendants of humans and snake-people. When mastered, it can create illusions, making the opponent disoriented or even make them attack their own companions. How do you think that feels?” The Elder laughed slyly.
“Hmm… that would be quite fun,” Xiao Yan chuckled, wiping the cold sweat from his brow.
“Also, this eye is almost a natural enemy of all snake-like magic beasts, as it has a chance to form a one-sided binding contract with them. Think of it as a rare, mysterious contract in this world. Clearly, this fire spirit snake has been bound by this girl’s still unskilled ‘Jade Snake Three Flower Eyes.'”
“Damn…” Xiao Yan muttered, then lowered his head to look at the slightly timid Qing Lin. Now, this little girl had a formidable protector, a Dou Ling level magic beast. Tsk tsk… he had never seen anyone with a battle pet of this level.
“Young Master… it knows where the Heavenly Flame is,” Qing Lin pointed at the fire spirit snake, smiling proudly.
“It knows?” Xiao Yan was taken aback, licking his lips. “Where is it?”
“Um…” Qing Lin closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them, scanning the surroundings, and finally, hesitantly, pointed at the hot lava lake below, saying timidly, “It says… it’s down there.”
“Hisss…” Following Qing Lin’s finger, Xiao Yan’s eyes fell on the blazing red magma, and his mouth twitched. Under the magma? He didn’t expect the Heavenly Flame to be hidden beneath the magma. But here… was he supposed to jump in and find it? Wasn’t that suicide?
“Hehe, I see. No wonder I couldn’t sense the Heavenly Flame, it was hidden by the lava in the underground caverns,” the Elder’s laughter rang in Xiao Yan’s mind.
“Teacher… can we go down there?” Xiao Yan asked, pointing at the boiling, red-hot magma below with a dry laugh.
“Hehe, getting the Heavenly Flame won’t be easy. Are you brave enough to jump in?” The Elder asked with a faint smile.
Swallowing, Xiao Yan glanced at the fiery magma below, his throat rolling, and his expression fluctuating between determination and reluctance.
Standing to the side, Qing Lin watched Xiao Yan’s rapidly changing expression, also feeling nervous. She wasn’t sure about the fire spirit snake’s message, and if something happened to Xiao Yan, she might as well die too…
After a long silence, Xiao Yan let out a deep breath and turned to Qing Lin, saying softly, “Let it lead the way below!”
“Ah…” Hearing this, Qing Lin’s small body trembled, and she closed her eyes, giving the command to the fire spirit snake.
Receiving the order, the fire spirit snake’s large eyes clearly showed reluctance, but under the forceful connection, it let out a roar and dived into the magma, raising its huge head to stare mockingly at Xiao Yan, who stood frozen above.
“Phew…” Watching the fire spirit snake dive, Xiao Yan took a deep breath, his chest rising and falling. After a moment, he closed his eyes, and under the terrified gazes of Qing Lin and Xiao Ding, he leaped into the scorching magma.
As Xiao Yan leaped into the magma, Xiao Ding and Qing Lin’s hearts were in their throats, their eyes fixed on his rapidly descending figure. The intense, hot wind whistled past, and Xiao Yan’s heart pounded fiercely, each beat echoing in his ears.
The temperature grew hotter, and at one point, the outside noise was completely cut off…
With a splash like diving into water, the tension in the three people inside the cavern tightened like a spring ready to snap.
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