Chapter 202
Chapter 202: Refining the Phoenix Clan’s Divine Fire—If It’s Not for Fighting, What’s the Point?
Chong Ming and Zhong Li He threw up ability barriers, blocking the worst of the exploding fragments. None of the scattered flames landed on them.
But the surrounding straw caught fire anyway.
The wind fed it.
In an instant, the blaze surged skyward and spread without limit, as if the entire Meng Ke Steppe had been set alight.
“Firefighting teams, take positions!” Chong Ming barked as he sprinted toward the crater. “Do not let the flames spread beyond the Meng Ke Steppe!”
The crater was deep and perfectly round. They’d assumed the black-and-white flame orb’s explosion meant the fire inside was gone.
They were wrong.
The largest orb had detonated—but at the bottom, a smaller black flame orb remained.
It was pitch-black, like a dead star. Only waves of heat rippled across its surface.
Zhong Li He couldn’t help running his mouth even now. “Chong Ming, you’re disgustingly lucky.”
“You struggle to reproduce. Fine. One night and you end up with a cub—fine. But now the cub’s mom is this insane? I’m jealous. I’m genuinely jealous.”
People like them, with high and complicated ability levels, weren’t always avoiding relationships because they didn’t want one.
It was because reproduction was hard. Finding a mate often meant a ninety-nine percent chance that mate would never have children.
Love could survive anything—until everything else was already satisfied and the desire for a child became the fuse. One spark, and it exploded.
Sometimes, for the sake of others and for the sake of themselves, people who couldn’t reproduce simply didn’t take a mate. It was responsibility.
Chong Ming got a cub in one night, and his mate was this terrifying. Who wouldn’t be jealous? Who wouldn’t be green-eyed with envy?
Chong Ming’s gaze stayed locked on the crater. He answered without looking away. “Be jealous all you want. It won’t change anything. There’s only one of her in the entire galaxy.”
Zhong Li He’s mouth twitched. He couldn’t stand Chong Ming’s smug pride, so he stabbed where it hurt.
“Right, one of a kind. By the way—have you registered marriage yet?”
Chong Ming hesitated for the first time. “Not yet.”
Zhong Li He lit up. “Oh? So you’re not officially registered. Meaning I still have a chance to swing my hammer and pry her away?”
He laughed wildly. “I don’t mind being a bargain dad. I don’t mind helping you raise a dragon cub.”
Chong Ming finally turned his head. His eyes were sharp as a blade. “I don’t mind ripping out all your feathers, twisting your neck, and stewing you in a pot.”
Zhong Li He scoffed. “Just you? Don’t talk so big. We’ll see who ends up in the pot.”
“When Jiang Tea Tea comes out, we’ll fight again. I refuse to believe I can’t put you on your back.”
“Commander-in-Chief!” A frantic report rang down from the sky. “The Meng Ke Steppe fire is out of control. We can’t fight fire with fire. We can’t put it out with water. Physical methods aren’t working either.”
Chong Ming’s brow furrowed. “Ice-sealing and freeze technology?”
“Also ineffective. Water, ice, fire countermeasures—nothing extinguishes it.”
“The blaze is burning hotter and spreading faster. Even grass and plants that weren’t withered are catching like they’ve been doused in fuel.”
It was spreading so fast that the only reason they weren’t all dead already was because this was the Meng Ke Great Prairie No-Man Zone. If it had been a residential area—or a primeval forest—it would have been catastrophic.
Chong Ming’s gaze slid to Zhong Li He. “Zhong Li He. Doesn’t the Phoenix Clan’s flame-orb fire get suppressed by freezing?”
Zhong Li He’s expression turned serious. “Good question. I want to know too why Phoenix Clan fire, after passing through Jiang Tea Tea’s hands, can’t be extinguished.”
“But don’t panic. I’ll have my people try. Maybe your fire-ability users and ice-type ability users simply aren’t high-level enough.”
Chong Ming nodded once. “Thank you.”
Zhong Li He immediately relayed orders to Kong Que.
Kong Que personally led a team down to fight the blaze.
Not only did they fail to put out even a sliver—it burned harder, wider, and fiercer, as if every attempt to suppress it was feeding it.
Ten minutes later, Zhong Li He received the update. He went still for a long moment before turning to Chong Ming. “Bad news. The fire… seems to have leveled up. My people can’t put it out either.”
“At this rate, it won’t take ten days to burn the entire Meng Ke Steppe.”
He swallowed. “You should probably send more people and dig a firebreak?”
But the steppe was too vast. Even with advanced technology, trying to carve a firebreak fast enough against this speed was fantasy. Impossible.
Chong Ming fell into thought.
Around the crater’s rim, there was no fire at all—only ash and scorched earth. Yet beyond that, red flames, green flames, blue flames, white flames streaked with black—five colors of destruction—raged like they’d gathered for a celebration, competing to burn brighter instead of dying.
Zhong Li He squatted at the crater edge. “If we can’t dig a firebreak… why don’t you shout down at Jiang Tea Tea?”
“Tell her to come up and put it out. The fire started because of her, changed color because of her—she has to be able to end it. Right?”
Chong Ming’s mind had already moved beyond the steppe. He was calculating the possibility of evacuating Ri Pan Star.
If no method worked, the options became brutal: evacuation—or retreating to already-burned areas where there was nothing left to ignite.
Zhong Li He, seeing him remain silent, gave up on subtlety. He cupped his hands around his mouth like a megaphone and bellowed into the crater.
“Jiang Tea Tea! It’s been ten days! You’ve been down there for ten days!”
“If you don’t come up, Chong Ming’s going to bury you alive!”
“Hurry up! Hurry up! If you’re fine, come out already!”
“The fire you made is about to burn Ri Pan Star into cinders!”
“Okay, sure, Ri Pan Star burning isn’t the end of the universe. It’s not even Da Xi Nation’s planet.” He sighed dramatically. “But Da Xi Nation is holding a weapons exhibition here. We haven’t even gotten many orders yet!”
“Zhen Lin Empire already has tens of trillions in orders. Da Xi Nation only has a handful. The orders aren’t even enough to cover my space-jump travel costs. I don’t want to lose early and hand Zhen Lin Empire the win!”
“You’re insufferable,” Chong Ming said flatly.
Zhong Li He tipped his head, eyes narrowing. “I have no ambition? The entire M31 Star System only has one person with ambition, and it’s me.”
“You’re the one who’s too serious. No flexibility. I don’t know what Jiang Tea Tea sees in you.”
Deep inside the black flame orb, Jiang Tea Tea was at the critical moment of forging her weapon. The outside world might as well not exist. She didn’t hear a single word.
Only when the black flame seeped fully into her natal branch did the forging finally reach completion.
The branch—just thicker than her thumb, over a meter long—turned jet-black, radiating searing heat. Her legs, which had transformed into roots, shifted back.
She grasped the blackened branch in one hand and rose.
With a casual flick of her wrist, the black flame orb around her split open like cloth being torn.
Zhong Li He, still squatting at the crater rim, saw the orb crack and the figure inside appear. He slapped Chong Ming’s shin hard enough to sting. “Chong Ming! Chong Ming! It’s her—Jiang Tea Tea! She’s fine!”
Chong Ming shifted his foot away, annoyed. “I can see.”
Zhong Li He’s voice rose proudly. “I told you—simple methods are the best methods! Look at that. I’m the best.”
He leaned over the crater and shouted down, “Jiang Tea Tea! Get up here already! What are you doing down there—incubating eggs?”
Jiang Tea Tea lifted her face. The black staff in her hand snapped once.
A palm-sized red flame orb shot upward like it had eyes.
It went straight for Zhong Li He’s face.
Zhong Li He’s pupils shrank. He twisted aside.
The red flame orb sliced past his cheek, smacked the ground, bounced up like a living creature—and came for him again.
Zhong Li He dodged again.
And again.
No matter where he moved, it pursued him relentlessly, refusing to dissipate.
With no other choice, he gathered ability power and formed a flame orb of the same size, slamming it into the one chasing him.
Bang.
The two flame orbs collided, detonated, and burst into sparks. The embers scattered to the ground and continued to glow—tiny lights that refused to die.
Zhong Li He stared, stunned. Jiang Tea Tea’s flame orb was… more obedient than his. His fire didn’t behave like this—missing its target, falling, then hunting the target down like a bloodhound.
At the bottom of the crater, Jiang Tea Tea murmured a weapon-binding incantation.
The black flames she had split earlier gathered again, condensing into a small black fireball that sank into her staff and vanished.
Then she sprang upward in a single leap, landing lightly at the rim.
Without her, the crater now yawned hundreds of meters deep.
She glanced around once, then looked straight at Chong Ming. “How many days have passed?”
Chong Ming swept his gaze over her from head to toe, checking for injury. When he confirmed she was truly unhurt, he answered, “Ten days. Exactly ten.”
Jiang Tea Tea’s eyes widened. “Only ten days?”
“Only ten?” Zhong Li He crowded in. “If another ten had passed, Mr. Big Golden Dragon over there would’ve probably charged down into the crater just to see if you were alive.”
Jiang Tea Tea arched a brow. “I don’t believe that. I made the flames burn that high. Anyone with eyes could tell I was fine.”
Chong Ming’s voice came low and steady, cutting over Zhong Li He’s. “When you’re in it, you can’t see clearly. When you care, you panic.”
His gaze sharpened. “Were you hurt? Are you uncomfortable anywhere?”
Jiang Tea Tea’s reply was bright, almost cheerful. “No injuries. Nothing uncomfortable. I feel better than I have in a long time.”
Using the phoenix’s rebirth divine fire to forge a weapon had raised her magic power by a full tenth.
Now she was at forty percent.
With forty percent, she could do far more. If she decided to fight, she could look across the entire M31 Star System and feel almost unstoppable.
Zhong Li He watched the two of them, eyes bouncing back and forth. Something about their atmosphere felt… polite. Distant.
Was it because they hadn’t registered marriage yet? Was that why they still held themselves apart?
Chong Ming’s eyes dropped, brushing over her lower abdomen. “Good. If you aren’t hurt… then earlier, I saw you collect the black fire. Can you collect the other fires too?”
Jiang Tea Tea blinked. “Other fires?”
Chong Ming pointed into the distance. “Those.”
Jiang Tea Tea followed his finger—and froze.
Far away, a raging wall of flame roared into the sky. Red, green, blue, white, and black fire churned together, smoke rolling.
Her hesitation showed. “Did… those fires come from what I flung out of the crater?”
Chong Ming didn’t blame her outright. He just said, “They spread out from the crater and started burning. They’re hard to extinguish.”
Jiang Tea Tea stared. Five colors of flame—she’d never seen it this directly before.
Phoenix divine fire reborn through nirvana.
Truly terrifying.
She nodded. “All right. I’ll try. Stay back.”
Chong Ming stepped away, slow and cautious, golden eyes locked on her.
Zhong Li He backed away too, unable to stop staring. Phoenix Clan fire—something every Phoenix could summon—had never been brought to its full potential in Phoenix hands.
But in Jiang Tea Tea’s hands, it had become monstrous.
Zhong Li He didn’t believe Chong Ming’s claim that Jiang Tea Tea had no Phoenix blood. Once he had time, he would investigate.
And if he found Phoenix genes in her?
Then she’d be Phoenix Clan.
And his hammer would have a much better chance of prying her away.
Jiang Tea Tea stood in place, closed her eyes, and silently recited a fire-retrieval spell. Then she formed a sealing gesture.
At once, the fires across the Meng Ke Steppe stopped spreading outward. As if they had life, they began to reverse course—flowing back.
Zhen Lin Empire’s firefighting teams and the Da Xi Nation forces under Kong Que stood frozen, stunned by what they were seeing.
In their minds, even if they threw their bodies in front of the inferno, they couldn’t have stopped it.
But now the blaze simply… stopped expanding.
And it turned around.
Fire that moved backward—who had ever seen that?
The five-colored flames rushed back even faster than they’d spread outward, converging from every direction.
And the flames seemed to avoid people—skirting the firefighting teams, veering around Chong Ming and Zhong Li He—then charging straight at Jiang Tea Tea.
Jiang Tea Tea lifted her staff.
The returning flames surged up with it, twisting into columns like fire-dragon pillars, wrapping around the raised black branch.
In the blink of an eye, the plain black staff was braided with five different flames—five colors twisting together like thick rope, winding tight around the weapon.
The once ordinary branch became extraordinary.
Jiang Tea Tea tightened her grip, her excitement impossible to hide. She swung the flame-wreathed staff in a horizontal slash toward Chong Ming and Zhong Li He.
“Chong Ming. Zhong Li He.” Her grin was sharp. “Come on—test my flame staff. Let’s see if it can put both of you on the ground.”