Chapter 9: The Mystery of the Symbolic Flame (Part 1)

After capturing the first golden flame, Ku Mu failed to find a suitable one. Hearing Guo Shier’s call, he turned and flew over, asking, “Have you found it?”
Guo Shier pointed at a flame and said, “Master, look at this flame—it’s so strange…”
It was an extremely thin flame, only a foot tall and as thick as an ordinary candle. It was crystal clear, emitting a purple glow, like a polished purple gem. It was located next to an orange-yellow flame as thick as a bucket, and the two were so close that it was hard to spot this tiny purple flame without paying close attention.
Ku Mu glanced at Guo Shier, unable to hide the surprise in his eyes. Guo Shier asked, “What’s wrong, Master? Is this flame not good?”
Guo Shier wasn’t sure, as the flame was too thin and unremarkable compared to the others around it. Yet it was extremely beautiful; once noticed, it seemed like an invaluable purple gem.
“Top-quality!”
After observing for a while, Ku Mu reached this conclusion.
Overjoyed, Guo Shier said, “That’s great! Master, please help me capture it!”
Ku Mu nodded and said, “After incorporating it into your soul… don’t rush to use this symbolic flame or form your own soul flame. Your strength isn’t enough yet. You must wait until the time is right. Remember, otherwise, this flame will burn your soul to ashes!”
Guo Shier was shocked. His soul was his foundation, and since it was so dangerous, he hesitated about whether to incorporate the flame into his soul.
Seeing his hesitation, Ku Mu said, “Don’t worry. As long as you don’t touch it, there’s no danger. It would be a shame to give up just because of fear.”
Perceiving Ku Mu’s concern, Guo Shier said, “Okay, I understand.”
Ku Mu didn’t say anything more and began to capture the pure purple flame. Using a series of incantations and hundreds of virtual symbols, he quickly condensed the purple symbolic flame into a bead. He said, “Shier, it’s done. You can capture it now!”
The purple bead, the size of a sparrow’s egg, floated up and down in the air, emitting a faint purple glow. It looked extremely beautiful. Guo Shier thought it resembled a purple crystal bead. Imitating Ku Mu’s actions, he opened his mouth and sucked, causing the purple bead to fall into his mouth and instantly be drawn into his soul.
Like a high-grade symbol, the bead also began to rotate around his life symbol sphere.

Guo Shier didn’t help but smack his lips. Only then did he understand why his master made such a gesture—when the bead fell into the mouth, it was drawn into the soul, leaving no sensation in the mouth. But as soon as it was sucked in, one instinctively wanted to taste it, only to be disappointed to find no taste at all.

The Withered Wood had already flown away, while Guo Shier was still floating in the air, smacking his lips. He wondered in confusion: Why is there no taste?

Soon, Guo Shier realized what was going on. Watching from afar as his master searched for the next target, his heart burned with enthusiasm. Since there was no danger, he might as well collect more. Who knew if it would be useful in the future? It was better to prepare as much as possible now than to have nothing later.

Pure flames were rare. Guo Shier circled around the flame area for a long time before finding a light blue flame as thick as an adult’s thigh. This flame was four meters tall and contained no impurities at all, but Guo Shier thought its quality was slightly low. After some thought, he decided to take it anyway. This time, he didn’t call the Withered Wood but asked Zhu Juan to come and help.

Zhu Juan flew over and asked, “Shier, what do you need me for?”

With a smile, Guo Shier said, “Uncle Fat, help me…” He pointed at the flame.

Zhu Juan didn’t refuse. “This flame is of average quality. Do you really want it?”

Guo Shier nodded vigorously. “Yes!”

Zhu Juan quickly condensed the blue flame into a bead, though it was a bit large. Looking at the blue bead the size of a goose egg, Guo Shier said, “Uncle Fat, can you compress it further? It’s too big; I can’t swallow it!”

Zhu Juan laughed. “You silly kid. It’s not really meant to be swallowed through the mouth. Even I would have trouble swallowing such a large bead, let alone your tiny mouth… Don’t worry. Just swallow it without hesitation.”

Guo Shier gritted his teeth and sucked it in. As soon as the blue bead touched his mouth, it was drawn into his soul. This time, Guo Shier understood the process. “So that’s how it works!” It turned out the bead was absorbed by the life talisman sphere, just like when absorbing talismans—without passing through the mouth at all.

The blue bead turned into a blue dot, circling around the life talisman sphere. Suddenly, Guo Shier felt a warm sensation in his soul, which surprised him.

Zhu Juan asked, “It seems you have an Ancient Firebird Talisman?”

Guo Shier replied, “Mm. At first, I thought it was a real ancient talisman. Later, I thought its power was weak, so I thought it was a real spiritual talisman. Now it seems… it’s still an ancient talisman. The Firebird sealed inside seems to have some spirituality.”

Zhu Juan laughed. “Then why haven’t you released it yet?”

Guo Shier didn’t understand and asked, “Why release it? There are no enemies here.”
Zhu Juan replied, “Release it, and you’ll know.” With that, she flew away. The area was covered in flames, and it would take a lot of time to find a suitable one.
Guo Shier released the Fire Bird out of curiosity. As soon as it appeared, it circled around Guo Shier excitedly. It chirped once, then focused on the flames around it, chirping again. Guo Shier suddenly understood what the Fire Bird meant and was greatly surprised. He waved his hand, allowing the Fire Bird to move freely.
The Fire Bird didn’t stray far from Guo Shier; it flew within a hundred meters, circled a few times in the air, then dived at one of the flames on the ground. Guo Shier quickly flew over to take a closer look. It was an orange-red flame, likely of the lowest quality—pure orange-red with no impurities. The flame wasn’t very large either, only as thick as a child’s arm and about a meter high.
The Fire Bird chirped crisply and opened its mouth to suck in the flame. The flame began to tremble violently before suddenly turning into a stream of fire that was sucked into the Fire Bird’s belly.
The Fire Bird itself was bright red, but after the orange-red flame was absorbed, it emitted extremely high temperatures. Then Guo Shier saw fine flames grow on the Fire Bird’s body, layer by layer, also in orange-red—beautiful, tiny flames from which sparks occasionally flew off.
Guo Shier felt excited. So the evolution of the Fire Bird relied on these magical flames here? He immediately took the Fire Bird around to look for better flames.
After discovering that the Fire Bird could absorb magical flames, Guo Shier’s interest shifted to the Fire Bird. Since he himself didn’t have the ability to collect them yet, he decided to let the Fire Bird do it first. If he found high-quality flames, he would ask his master to collect them.
The Fire Bird continued to absorb flames. At first, it was only interested in orange-red flames, absorbing pure ones. After absorbing about six or seven orange-red flames, its attention shifted to pale blue flames. Guo Shier realized the Fire Bird had better eyesight than him; it could circle an area of flames once and quickly find its target.
After absorbing the first pale blue flame, changes occurred again on the Fire Bird’s body—its originally orange-red feathers were replaced by pale blue ones. Then the Fire Bird found more pale blue flames, and most of the feathers on its back turned blue.

The Fire Bird became even more lively, constantly chirping at Guo Shier and flapping its wings, sending sparks flying in all directions. Guo Shier flew toward another area of flames. The Fire Bird found a stream of golden flames. Instead of letting it absorb them, Guo Shier called for Monier to help condense them into beads and store them in his life talisman sphere. Undeterred, the Fire Bird continued searching and soon found another stream of golden flames. This time, Guo Shier did not interfere and let it absorb them. This time, the Fire Bird’s wings changed—its fiery feathers gradually turned a pale gold. A day passed quickly, and Guo Shier felt tired. Unable to hold on any longer, he recalled the Fire Bird and flew off first to find the tent built by the Eagle Demon outside. He went inside and fell into a deep sleep. The three from the Withered Wood group continued collecting flames in that area; for them, staying awake for days was no problem, so none of them came out. The next morning, Guo Shier returned to the flame area and first released the Fire Bird. He planned to let the bird explore first, searching for suitable flames to feed it and help it evolve further. To turn the Fire Bird into his most powerful weapon, he needed to evolve it as much as possible. After resting overnight, the Fire Bird became even more magnificent—its pale green feathers on its back became solid-like, and each feather on its wings emitted a dazzling golden glow. It circled above Guo Shier’s head once before flying into the flame area. Following the Fire Bird, Guo Shier could more easily find high-quality flames. After finding several streams of purple flames, Guo Shier asked his master to absorb two of them, leaving the rest for the Fire Bird to consume. To his surprise, after absorbing the first stream of purple flames, a long purple feather grew at the back of the Fire Bird’s tail. With each additional stream of purple flames absorbed, another long purple feather appeared. A crown of fiery feathers also grew on the Fire Bird’s head, looking very beautiful. Its body continued to grow, reaching over three meters in length, giving off a stunning presence. Even approaching it slightly sent a strong wave of heat his way. Once the Fire Bird had twelve long purple feathers, it stopped being picky—it absorbed any golden or purple flames, regardless of their purity. As flames fell into its mouth, its chirping grew more powerful, and Guo Shier could clearly sense its thoughts. Guo Shier felt an extraordinary harmony with the Fire Bird—a strange form of telepathy. The Fire Bird could now perform various actions based on his intentions and understand his commands.