Ou Yangming’s mental power surged in his mind. The Military Fire in his sea of consciousness was similar to a boiling sea with monstrous waves at the moment.
This was the Heavenly Phoenix Fire—a real power that belonged to the Phoenixes.
Before this, Ou Yangming could use the Military Fire too, as well as its mysterious and unique power. Nonetheless, it was not until he was led by Feng Xiang he truly fathomed how fearsome the energy was, as well as its various unbelievable functions.
The same fire was destined to perform dissimilarly by different people.
As compared to Feng Xiang, which was a master of fire that had lived for countless years, Ou Yangming’s abilities at the moment were weak.
Even so, as weak as his power was, there was still a difference in his nature. When Feng Xiang revealed all of the fire’s mysteries in the young fellow’s sea of consciousness, he turned into a dry sponge as he absorbed all kinds of knowledge no matter what it took.
Ou Yangming was muddled for an unknown period. When he finally broke free from the scorching flame that could burn everything, he realized that he had suddenly arrived at a completely strange place.
Yuqi the Venerable One, the old macaque, and the others were nowhere to be seen. It was dead silent around him.
Ou Yangming was slightly moved, but he did not panic. He stood on the ground and checked out his surroundings with bright eyes as though there was something wonderful in the boundless and dark void that made him joyful.
All of a sudden, a light appeared in front of him.
It was a light, but it was unordinary as it was similar to a flower.
The light showed up bit by bit in front of Ou Yangming as if it was blooming like a flower.
Ou Yangming took a deep breath but smiled bitterly.
He would be too useless if he still did not know where he was at.
A spiritual world—while he was sensing the boiling fire, he had unknowingly been pulled into Feng Xiang’s spiritual world.
Almighty Beings from the Phoenixes seemed to have the innate ability to control spiritual worlds, which were very much different from the spiritual world that Ou Yangming comprehended through the merging of his Military Fire.
Perhaps this could also be distinguished through innate and acquired.
The spiritual worlds of Feng Xiang and Lil’ Red were their innate abilities, which were instinctive and could not be envied by others.
Ou Yangming had put in a lot of effort to apprehend and merge his Military Fire through many coincidences, which allowed him to sense his spiritual world. Nevertheless, there was a certain barrier; he could utilize the wonderful functions of his spiritual world, but the ability to control it with ease as Feng Xiang and Lil’ Red was unreachable for him.
The young fellow cupped his hands and bowed seriously. “Greetings… Senior Feng Xiang.”
He was about to address the giant bird as a sir when he recalled his close relationship with the little red bird, hence he immediately changed the term of address.
“You don’t have to be so polite. Hehe, due to the endless reincarnations among the Phoenixes, there’s no longer a clear order of seniority…”
The light finally stabilized and turned into Feng Xiang.
It looked interestingly at Ou Yangming and remarked with a smile, “You’re very smart—out of the countless living beings that I’ve seen, you have a strong comprehension ability and…” Its eyes flickered as it added with a faint smile, “Your display of affection toward Lil’ Red isn’t fake.”
Ou Yangming raised his eyebrows and responded, “Of course, I’m sincere toward it.”
To be honest, Ou Yangming and Lil’ Red had not known each other for a very long time. Despite that, their Heavenly Phoenix Fires were attracted to each other, and they experienced the Thunderbolts Disaster together, thus they shared an unusually close relationship.
In Ou Yangming’s book, other than his fellow humans, he cared about Big Yellow and Lil’ Red the most.
“It’s great that you think that way.” Feng Xiang nodded. It paused for a brief moment before it continued, “You possess our race’s Natal Heavenly Fire, so you’re considered to have received our inheritance but…”
Seeing as it kept quiet for a long time without saying a word, Ou Yangming was rather surprised.
Based on the giant bird’s frightening capability, was there anything that it would be afraid of?
Having said that, no matter how Feng Xiang acted, Ou Yangming would not take the initiative to raise any questions. After all, the disparity between them was too huge.
At last, Feng Xiang seemed to have come round. It expressed, “Fine. Since you’ve given the Dragon Coffin to Lil’ Red as a gift, you’re considered family, so I shouldn’t hide it from you.”
Ou Yangming’s eyes lit up a little. He was overwhelmed by the unexpected favor.
Family—what an honor it was for Feng Xiang to consider him family. He was well-prepared, but he still experienced an upsurge of an unordinary emotion when he heard what the giant bird said.
He quickly lowered his head and said, “Please guide me.”
Feng Xiang commented, “You have a good attitude. Ah, it’ll be great if Lil’ Red is half as good-tempered as you.” It was lamenting, which was evident that it was extremely troubled by the little red bird.
The young fellow found it funny, but he dared not express it.
“Ou Yangming, you have our race’s Natal True Fire, which means that you’re fated with us, but your fire seems to be quite…” Feng Xiang paused once more.
Upon hearing this, Ou Yangming tensed up, and he asked in a deep voice, “Senior, is this fire flawed? Is there something wrong with it?”
Ou Yangming would not panic too much if it was flawed; he was not a real phoenix, after all. He was fated enough to obtain the marvelous Heavenly Phoenix Fire, so he would only be grateful and would not be resentful even if it was imperfect.
However, if his Heavenly Phoenix Fire had a fatal defect, he would be deeply troubled.
Feng Xiang pondered and replied to him, “It’s not flawed, but it should be unprecedented in our race.”
Ou Yangming was stunned. “What does that mean?”
“The Natal Fire that you possess is a new fire source, which has never been recorded in our race.” Feng Xiang looked strangely at Ou Yangming, making him feel like he was being treated as a lab rat.
Needless to say, he was also shocked like never before at this moment.
The Phoenixes, and a new fire source.
Although Ou Yangming was not a real phoenix, he could more or less understand what that meant.
Feng Xiang chuckled. “Don’t be nervous. Your fire source might be unprecedented, but I don’t know if the change is good or bad, so we’ll have to wait for time to verify everything.”
Ou Yangming was dumbfounded. He vaguely understood something, so he looked up and said, “Senior, you’re asking me to cultivate on my own to verify that this fire source has the room and potential for growth.”
“You’re smart indeed.” Feng Xiang nodded. It explained sternly, “Lil’ Red is very fond of you, and you’ve also given it the Dragon Coffin. That said, you’re not a pure-blooded phoenix as you’re only a part of our inherited lines. If you fail to grow in the future, you’ll only be further away from Lil’ Red, and everything will only be an illusion.”
Ou Yangming blinked in confusion.
‘What do you mean by being further away, and that everything will be an illusion?’ At this time, he finally understood that he might not have done the right thing when he gave the Dragon Coffin away.
Feng Xiang continued, “But you don’t need to be upset; I’ve opened the door to your spiritual world and communicated with the path of inheritance, so you can cultivate slowly. As long as you’re capable enough, you’ll continue to unlock the Phoenixes’ inherited secret techniques until you’re qualified to enter Heaven.”
“Enter Heaven…” Ou Yangming’s eyes gleamed. It was his first time hearing about this, and he somehow had a strong urge. The urge came from his Military Fire, and it was an indescribable feeling.
“Yes, if you’d like to come and find Lil’ Red, you’ll have to first find the entrance to the path to Heaven.” Feng Xiang laughed before it continued, “If you can’t even find the entrance, you can forget about everything.”
Ou Yangming was struck dumb. “Find… Lil’ Red?”
‘Isn’t the little red bird here? Why do I need to find it?’ He looked up abruptly and asked, “Senior, are you taking Lil’ Red away?”
“Of course.” Feng Xiang made sure that there was no room for discussion. “Lil’ Red is still immature, where it’s not capable enough to protect itself yet, so we can’t let it wander outside. Heh, it was able to go out the last time because of its fate with you. Normally, we’ll turn a blind eye to it and let it play outside for some time, but it came back to seek help to save you.” The giant bird had a weird look in its eyes as it added, “Since it came back, it can’t anyhow come out anymore.”
Ou Yangming was touched. He pondered for a while and asked, “Senior, can’t you stay?”
“Me?” Feng Xiang burst out laughing. “If I stay, the Spiritual Realm will be in bad luck. This world can’t accommodate me.” It was indifferent.
Ou Yangming was moved. His heart pounded hard.
The giant bird sounded incredibly overbearing and ferocious.
It was not in this world not because it could not stay, but because this world would be in bad luck if it did.
This was because this world was too small to accommodate it.
When Ou Yangming thought about the scary reactions that were caused by Feng Xiang when it appeared, he knew it was not exaggerating it, but this was the exact reason everyone felt it deeply.
“Lil’ Red should go to where it should go, whereas you should continue to work hard in the Spiritual Realm. If you’re able to find the entrance to the path of Heaven, you’ll have the opportunity to become a real phoenix.”
Its voice eventually became weaker until it completely disappeared.
Ou Yangming was startled. He immediately saw the dark world in front of him starting to crumble, which meant that he was leaving the spiritual world.
Nonetheless, he was still puzzled.
‘Given how Feng Xiang treats this matter so seriously, so much so that it didn’t hesitate to build a spiritual world to avoid Lil’ Red’s watch, is everything as simple as it sounds?’
Ou Yangming was suddenly greeted with light as the spiritual world finally crumbled.