Chapter 184

Chapter 184: Profound Thunder Violet Flame 3

“…But the other few had the same thoughts, so the four of them fought. Lei Hong Xuan became their main target. At that time, I had already become the formation core. I didn’t know whether Lei Hong Xuan won or lost, but the wisp of soul thread he left inside me always remained. It only fell into a sleeping state.

“I waited like that for a thousand years. Thankfully, a spirit vein nourished me, so I didn’t have to consume myself. But about four years ago, the spirit vein that nourished me disappeared…”

Hearing that, Yun Xi felt a little guilty and rubbed her nose, not offering any comment. The immortal spirit herb at the side was much calmer, as if it had not been the one that devoured an entire spirit vein.

Profound Thunder Violet Flame did not notice its master’s guilt and continued, “Not long after the spirit vein disappeared, the soul thread sleeping inside me moved. But this time, he wanted to devour my consciousness and completely control my body. I had already developed intelligence, and I didn’t want to be erased like that, so I fought with the soul thread. While we struggled, I deliberately destroyed the sealing formation and left the place that trapped me for a thousand years.

“When the sealing formation broke, the secret realm naturally couldn’t be contained anymore. It immediately attracted the great experts of this realm. I’m a strange flame. Of course they became greedy and fought over me, trying every possible way to capture me.

“While the Soul Transformation cultivator attacked me, I directly split my body. I chose to hide inside the smaller flame and escape, leaving my previous master’s soul thread in the larger flame. That way, those cultivators would block him for me. And after I became smaller, it was easier for me to hide.

“But no matter how I hid, I was still discovered. That annoying group of demonic cultivators set their sights on this strange flame too, so I had no choice but to leave my hiding place. After that, more and more people chased me, and they split into several groups. So I lured them all together, wanting to escape again while they fought, but you caught me, Master.”

After hearing Profound Thunder Violet Flame, Yun Xi linked everything together. Aside from the fact that Lei Hong Xuan had left a backhand inside Profound Thunder Violet Flame, the rest was basically the same as what she had guessed.

Still, she asked, “Why did you try to destroy my sea of consciousness and dantian the moment you entered my body?”

“Well… I thought you had already been taken over by Lei Hong Xuan, so…”

“Tsk. If you didn’t want to recognize a master, just say so. No need to use an excuse like that. At the time, I wasn’t even circulating Peerless Sword Thunder Art. How could you be sure I was taken over by Lei Hong Xuan? Why couldn’t it be that he passed the method to me?”

“…”

Now it was Profound Thunder Violet Flame’s turn to go silent. Could it admit it did not want to be contracted by another human cultivator, did not want to be trapped for another thousand years, and did not want to keep nourishing a human cultivator’s soul? The answer was no.

Seeing Profound Thunder Violet Flame look droopy, Yun Xi found it amusing. She poked the flame with her finger and teased, “Why aren’t you talking?”

“Hmph! If I hadn’t abandoned two-thirds of my body, you definitely couldn’t have endured my burning. With just one exchange, you would’ve turned to ash,” Profound Thunder Violet Flame said.

“Tsk. So you’re finally telling the truth?” Yun Xi said.

“When you’re under someone else’s roof, you have to lower your head,” Profound Thunder Violet Flame said.

“Not bad. You even know that,” Yun Xi said. “Even though this time I took advantage of your weakness, I didn’t forcibly erase your intelligence. You should be satisfied. Maybe one day, if there’s a chance, I can even take back that part of your body.”

Yun Xi began feeding it sweet talk.

The flame finally shifted, but it still sent a voice message. “It’s very hard. Lei Hong Xuan is so cunning. He’ll definitely pretend to be the intelligence that was born from the strange flame, then keep hiding. Maybe before you even find him, he’ll find you first. Your spiritual roots, your cultivation speed, even your personal space – they all look like they were tailored for him. He’ll never give up such a good body to seize.”

“It seems you understand your previous master well,” Yun Xi said.

“Yeah,” Profound Thunder Violet Flame said. “That’s why I’d rather abandon most of my body than have anything to do with him again. As for what you said about taking my body back from him, I don’t even dare hope for it. Instead of fighting for it, I’d rather let myself devour more other strange flames, so I can quickly grow strong again.”

Yun Xi understood the hint. Smiling, she replied, “Sure. We’re allies on the same boat now. You want to completely break free of your previous master, and I want to ascend to the spirit world. To reach our goals, we both have to clear away the same obstacle. I hope we’ll work together from now on.”

“Fine,” Profound Thunder Violet Flame said.

After they reached a basic agreement, they exchanged names. Yun Xi also gave Profound Thunder Violet Flame a name.

“You’ll take my surname like Dian Dian. You’re a strange flame, and you’re purple, so I’ll call you Wei Zi Yan. How about that?” Yun Xi did not know whether strange flames had gender, so she just picked a name she thought sounded nice.

“Wei Zi Yan is a good name. It’s much better than being called Little Thunder before. From now on, this strange flame will be called Wei Zi Yan,” Zi Yan said.

Zi Yan accepted the new name easily. It drifted around the space once, met Immortal Spirit and Dian Dian, then returned to Yun Xi’s dantian.

This time, it observed its new master’s Golden Core up close and confirmed she had formed a nine-pattern Golden Core. It became even happier. Its new master’s talent was far better than Lei Hong Xuan’s. By pure luck, it had found itself a very promising backer.

Only Frost Profound Ice Needles remained pressed close to the ice spiritual root, ignoring this new companion.

Yun Xi discovered that after being burned by Profound Thunder Violet Flame, her Golden Core had become more solid. It even faintly glowed with purple light, looking very beautiful.

After confirming that Zi Yan was hovering quietly inside her dantian, Yun Xi withdrew her inner sight. Then she sighed as she looked at her ruined robe. She really did not have many robes. Every time she went out once, she ruined one.

It was like that with the robe refined from the five-colored python before. The two robes she bought herself were the same. Even the Ruyi boots on her feet now only had one boot shaft left.

Now she only had the sect-issued robe for personal disciples left, but she did not want to wear a sect robe. That would be like telling other cultivators, come rob me, I have good stuff.

Yun Xi remembered she had emptied Wei Yun Qing’s personal space. There seemed to be a few decent robes in there, probably prepared for her by Du Ruo Lan.

After searching for a while, Yun Xi finally found a sky-blue robe that suited her taste. After changing into the robe and matching boots and tidying herself up, she contacted Fei Xia, who had been keeping watch outside.

When she entered the space earlier, she had considered that she would have to come out eventually. Afraid that stubborn cultivators might be waiting where she vanished, she had not brought Fei Xia into the space. And it was lucky she did not, because otherwise Fei Xia Butterfly would have been burned away by Zi Yan too.

For demon beasts like Dian Dian and Fei Xia, Profound Thunder Violet Flame was basically their natural enemy. This strange flame was born from a sea of lightning, and it was nurtured from the fiercest Nine Heavens Profound Lightning. That was why, when Yun Xi decided to seize the flame, Fei Xia left her hairpin and stayed outside as her master’s eyes.

Of course, while Yun Xi suffered through that roasting, Fei Xia could sense it as well. She felt that ever since recognizing a master, her butterfly life had become full of wild ups and downs. Death seemed to be around the corner at any time. It really could not be summed up with just the word “exciting.”