The Flame Dragon Armor gradually got further and further away until it completely disappeared into the distant sky.
“A Spirit Channeling grade precious treasure!”
Caught in tremendous shock, everyone’s eyes were fixed on the Flame Dragon Armor as it flew away.
Nie Tian’s tightly knitted eyebrows slowly relaxed as he whispered to himself, “It seems that after absorbing the numerous Earthflame Crystal Strings, its hidden soul has finally fully awakened.”
The dragon bone, also known as the Blood Core, had been in his possession since he was one year old, however, Nie Tian had never communicated with it before.
Not long ago, when the blood stone drained had all of the flame power within the Flamecloud gem mine and condensed it into a blood drop, he had only seen a few of its abnormalities. However, he never noticed any trace of the soul aura.
Only when the Flame Dragon Armor abandoned him and drilled into the earth’s core on its own account, despite his calling, did he come to realize that the Blood Core might have its own consciousness.
However at that time, he could only faintly sense some kind of connection between him and the Blood Core.
But just a moment ago, he had clearly received a wisp of a miraculous soul fluctuation from the Blood Core.
That soul fluctuation went straight to his soul sea, making him instantly understand that the seemingly strange behaviors of the Flame Dragon Armor were precisely for the purpose of collecting the Earthflame Crystal Strings from the Scarlet Flame Mountain Range.
It seemed that the Flame Dragon Armor needed them to further awaken its soul and at the same time, repair the damages it had sustained.
From the soul intent that it had transmitted to him, Nie Tian understood that the Flame Dragon Armor would return to his side after it had finished gathering every single remaining Earthflame Crystal String in the Scarlet Flame Mountain Range.
He immediately felt reassured.
“Hey!” Separated by numerous magma-filled ravines and creeks, Feng Luo was standing on top of a huge rock. He suddenly let out a cunning laugh and said, ”Eccentric Wu has indeed become a dotard; he actually bestowed a Spirit Channeling grade treasure upon a Lesser Heaven stage kid! Did he forget that Spirit Channeling grade treasures have their own souls?
“The soul is what truly controls the Spirit Channeling grade treasure. The souls choose those who can use them.
“How would a Spirit Channeling grade treasure be willing to be manipulated by a weakling at Lesser Heaven stage?
“Now look at this! The Spirit Channeling grade treasure that Eccentric Wu had gone through great lengths to obtain, has left on its own account. Knowing about this, Eccentric Wu will regret giving it to Nie Tian to the point that his intestines turn green!”
To make sure that Nie Tian and his group could hear him, Feng Luo intentionally raised his voice, and yelled in a taunting tone.
As he saw it, the departure of the Flame Dragon Armor was because it looked down upon its new owner Nie Tian due to his lack of strength and poor cultivation base, and deemed him undeserving to use it. As a result, it abandoned Nie Tian.
Even though he mocked Nie Tian with his words, his eyes seemed to be fixed in the direction that the Flame Dragon Armor had left in, his face filled with jealousy.
Spirit Channeling grade treasures were extremely rare in the Realm of Flame Heaven. He found it somewhat frustrating to watch such a precious and rare treasure slip away from in front of his eyes, while he could do nothing to stop it.
Nie Tian turned a deaf ear towards his mockery. With a tranquil and calm face, he seemed totally indifferent.
Jiang Lingzhu and Ye Gumo, who knew that the Flame Dragon Armor had actually been bought by Nie Tian at the Treasure Convention, did not respond to Feng Luo, but instead, looked towards Nie Tian, not saying a word.
When An Shiyi, An Ying, and Pan Tao saw that the Flame Dragon Armor had left, they secretly felt anxious for Nie Tian.
“Well…” Jiang Lingzhu hesitated for a while and asked, “did you know that it was a Spirit Channeling grade treasure when you bought it?”
Upon hearing these words, Pan Tao and the others all became intrigued, and also cast their gaze towards Nie Tian, eyes wide.
By that point, they had learned that the Flame Dragon Armor was something that Nie Tian had obtained at the Treasure Convention. However, they were all shocked by Nie Tian’s perfect judgment, and his insightful eyes that were bright like a torch.
Being capable of identifying a Spirit Channeling grade treasure and obtaining it before it showed any sign of its brilliance, that kind of ability… should be something that only the top equipment forgers like Fang Hui could possess.
“No, I didn’t.” Nie Tian shook his head. “It was pure luck!”
“Save it!” Jiang Lingzhu glared at him out of the corner of her eye and snorted. “Uncle Liu already told me everything. He said that the Flame Dragon Armor had been appraised by equipment forgers of the Treasure school to be nothing but a third level Medium grade spiritual tool, which definitely wasn’t worth nine thousand spirit stones! No one showed any interest in it even though it had been displayed for so long. Why did you set your mind on it and want to buy it when everyone else advised you against it and wouldn’t even bother to ask about it?”
“Third level Medium grade?” Pan Tao smiled bitterly and said, “Those useless morons of the Treasure school! They couldn’t even tell that it was a Spirit Channeling grade treasure!”
Among the crowd, An Shiyi was the only one who had calmly pondered for a while before saying, ”It’s unlikely that those people in the Treasure Pavilion were mistaken. There must have been some abnormalities in the Flame Dragon Armor before. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been appraised as a third level Medium grade spiritual tool. Oh, right. The Flame Dragon Armor belonged to that foreign Qi warrior Lai Yi, who previously demanded you to hand over some Blood Core. Does the Blood Core he spoke of have anything to do with the Flame Dragon Armor?”
“You’re pretty smart, Sister An.” Nie Tian smiled, but did not elaborate.
Upon hearing Nie Tian’s words, everyone was convinced that the reason Flame Dragon Armor didn’t show any abnormalities early on must have something to do with so-called Blood Core in Nie Tian’s possession.
Ye Gumo was confused. “Nie Tian, how come you don’t seem sad at all? The Flame Dragon Armor is a Spirit Channeling grade precious treasure, and since it has abandoned you and left, shouldn’t you be fuming with anger or drowning in regret?”
“It was something I obtained by luck in the first place, so losing it isn’t a big deal.” Nie Tian sounded like he didn’t care at all.
Jiang Lingzhu was the first one to voice her disbelief. “What kind of fools do you take us for!”
After the Flame Dragon Armor had left, everyone chattered on and on about it. They talked about the miraculousness of the Flame Dragon Armor as they went on to collect more Flame Crystals.
The group of people spent half the night collecting all of the Flame Crystals that could be seen in the lava creek.
They saw a few Flame Crystals in a distant lava lake, glittering with sparkling, fiery light under the night sky.
However, the lake was full of lava and seemed much deeper than the creek. It would be far more difficult to fish up those Flame Crystals from the bottom of the lake.
Besides, the lake was too far away from them, and there weren’t enough fallen stones around them that they could use to make a path all the way to the pond.
After a few attempts, they were convinced that it was indeed an impossible task, and returned to the mountain peak through the path they had come from.
Later that night, the party returned once again to the mountaintop, where they silently checked the Flame Crystals that they had gathered.
There was a small pile of Flame Crystals stored within Nie Tian’s bracelet of holding. He counted a total of nineteen pieces.
As a Premium grade spiritual material, one Flame Crystal had the value of nearly a thousand Flamecloud gems, the kind that the Nie clan used to mine. To match the value of those nineteen Flame Crystals, the Nie clan would have to mine Flamecloud gems for about ten years.
Nie Tian secretly sighed with mixed emotions. “So the things that the entire Nie clan gains for ten years of hard work could just barely match the value of a handful Flame Crystals.”
It wasn’t until then did he understand the how big of a difference there was between spiritual materials of different grades.
RUUUUMBLE!
Deep into the night, terrifying rumbles echoed out from the direction of the Spiritual Treasure sect, which were occasionally accompanied by the violent howl of the Earth Flame Beast.
Even though there was a significant distance between them, the thunderous roars of the Earth Flame Beast could still be heard, which indicated that the formidable Earth Flame Beast was now in a frantic state.
Everyone at the mountain peak all had grim faces as they realized that the loud noises came from the Spiritual Treasure sect. They did not have a clue of how bad the situation was over there.
Feeling insecure at heart, they all waited in silence.
As the curtain of night lifted and daylight shone on the Realm of Flame Heaven, the thunderous howls continued to ring out from the Spiritual Treasure sect.
It wasn’t until the day gradually darkened again did the attentive crowd notice that the levels of the lava that had filled the mountain range started to slowly go down as the lava seeped back into the earth.
This discovery greatly raised everyone’s spirits, and let them see the hope to survive.
It was precisely the burning lava that had kept them from leaving the Scarlet Flame Mountain Range.
Once the lava seeped back into the earth and the ground reappeared, they would get the opportunity to escape from the troublesome Scarlet Flame Mountain Range and get somewhere safe.
Sitting quietly on the mountaintop and gazing into the distance, Nie Tian suddenly felt a faint, unusual movement. “Hmm!”
The unusual movement came from within his bracelet of holding, more specifically from the command medallion that his master Wu Ji had given him.
Puzzled, he took out the command medallion. He carefully examined it but did not see any abnormalities.
However, seconds later, the sharp cry of the Thunder Beast echoed out from deep within the clouds.
“The Thunder Beast!” Nie Tian eyes immediately glittered with light of excitement.
Since the Thunder Beast was able to fly him to the Spiritual Treasure sect, it could also take him and soar away from the Scarlet Flame Mountain Range, pulling him out of this troublesome place.
After more consideration regarding the unusual movement of the command medallion, he suddenly realized that the Thunder Beast must have been looking for him all around the Scarlet Flame Mountain Range via the connection between it and the command medallion.
There seemed be a certain effective range to the connection between them. Perhaps, the Thunder Beast had already been around in other parts of the Scarlet Flame Mountain Range for a long time.
It wasn’t until now that the Thunder Beast finally flew to this area and detected the aura of the command medallion.
“That’s senior Wu’s Thunder Beast! We are saved!” Pan Tao seemed overjoyed.
The others also sprung to their feet. Everyone’s spirits were lifted as they watched the Thunder Beast slowly approaching from the distant sky, with its outline becoming increasingly clear.
Not long after, the Thunder Beast arrived and landed next to Nie Tian.
Upon touching the ground, it fixed its seemingly intelligent eyes on Nie Tian, as if it was urging him to climb up on its back.
After pondering for awhile, Nie Tian looked into the Thunder Beast’s eyes and said, “All of us need to leave the Scarlet Flame Mountain Range as soon as possible. You’ll need to let other people to climb onto your back before I do. Otherwise, I refuse to leave.”
He knew that this Thunder Beast was arrogant and hard to tame. Before, it wasn’t even willing to take Nie Tian to the Spiritual Treasure sect.
It was all because of Wu Ji’s deterrence that the Thunder Beast chose to submit and bring Nie Tian to the Spiritual Treasure sect, albeit reluctantly.
The Thunder Beast’s back was wide enough to take everyone and leave. However, Nie Tian feared that it wouldn’t be willing to undertake such an arduous but fruitless job.
As expected, as soon as it heard that it need to take everyone along, the Thunder Beast immediately let out a bellow, making its discontent evident to everyone present.
Just as Nie Tian was about to continue with his persuasion, An Shiyi pursed her lips and smiled. She took out three green jade pieces that flickered with lightning from her bracelet of holding and held them near the mouth of the Thunder Beast.
The Thunder Beast looked down at them, and its eyes suddenly lit up. It instantly swallowed all of them, as if it feared that An Shiyi would take them back.
“It’s okay now.” An Shiyi smiled sweetly and gently fondled the neck of the Thunder Beast before taking the initiative to climb onto its back.
Not only did the Thunder Beast not resist, it even bent forward so that it would be easier for her to get up.
A strange expression appeared on Nie Tian’s face. Eyes wide, he stared at the incomparably gentle Thunder Beast and said, “Now I finally understand why you were so reluctant to take me before. It was all because I didn’t give you anything in return!”
The Thunder Beast let out another bellow, as if it was saying to Nie Tian, you got that right.