Chapter 3 – Heavenly Fire

Although Spiritbond Masters played a crucial role in the founding of this nation, their power was too far removed from reality, and ordinary people were unaware of the existence of Spiritbond Masters. Only the upper echelons of the government knew about them and would provide positions in the real world for the Spiritbond Masters, whose identities were considered state secrets.

Intelligence agencies of other countries had vague knowledge of the existence of Spiritbond Masters. They had long speculated that Huaguo was home to a mysterious, extraordinary organization, but they were unaware of the true power of the Spiritbond Masters.

Due to confidentiality policies, young aspiring Spiritbond Masters like Yun Xiguang had to attend school. They not only had to learn history related to Spiritbond Masters, the basics of spirit beasts, and secret methods of contract formation but also had to study knowledge of the real world. They needed to be proficient in literature, science, philosophy, and foreign languages.

An excellent Spiritbond Master often hid in important positions within the country. Some even served as ambassadors accompanying diplomatic delegations to other countries, and it was essential for them to be well-rounded talents.

Currently, Yun Xiguang was a student at the Zhuzhao Private Academy.

This school was registered in the academic information system. In the minds of ordinary people, Zhuzhao Academy was among the top institutions nationwide.

It only admitted twenty students each year, who went straight from elementary school to university. Every graduate became an elite in society or a high-ranking official, with a master’s degree upon graduation. If children were accepted into this school, their parents would never have to worry about their future.

Zhuzhao Private Academy held its entrance examination once a year, on the day of Awakening Thunder in the senior year when the students turned eighteen.

Those who passed the exam would be promoted to university and directly assigned employment. Those who failed the exam would have to take the college entrance exam that year, entering an ordinary university, thus losing their chance to become a Spiritbond Master.

Today was the day of Awakening Thunder, a critical day for the current batch of students that determined whether they could become Spiritbond Masters in the future.

Zhuzhao Private Academy was located at the foot of Two Principles Mountain, which was the habitat of ancient spirit beasts.

According to the handwritten notes left by Yun Qi, since the establishment of the first dynasty in human history, spirit beasts gradually disappeared, and their last known movements all pointed to several famous mountains and rivers, including Two Principles Mountain.

After the first spirit beast, Kui Niu, awakened, every year, some spirit beasts would awaken one after another on Two Principles Mountain.

Initially, these spirit beasts were mostly cleansed by the laws of nature upon awakening, turning to ashes in the Heavenly Fire, without posing a threat to the rules of the world. However, over time, the force of law weakened, and some powerful spirit beasts managed to survive the burning of Heavenly Fire, roaming freely in the world.

Some spirit beasts were inherently vicious, harming many living beings, and were exterminated by Spiritbond Masters.

Others were cunning, hiding among humans, forming contracts with those of ill intent, secretly building their own forces, still active behind the scenes today.

Therefore, departments such as national security and criminal investigation also required at least one Spiritbond Master to deal with cases involving spirit beasts.

To prevent more spirit beasts from wreaking havoc in the major spirit mountains, several Spirit Contracting academies were established around the spirit mountains, led by Zhuzhao and Youying academies.

When spirit beasts awakened, they would be attacked by Heavenly Fire. Even if they survived, they would become extremely weak, making it the best time to form a contract with them.

Thus, sending students up the mountain to form contracts with spirit beasts on the day of Awakening Thunder each year not only prevented spirit beasts from causing trouble but also cultivated new Spiritbond Masters, tested the students’ qualifications, and assessed their determination, strength, and opportunity to become outstanding Spiritbond Masters.

Yun Xiguang, Yun Xinglei, Qi Liu, and other students went up the mountain today to seek out spirit beasts compatible with themselves to form contracts.

However, Yun Xiguang, who had lost his spirit root between his eyebrows, had been tacitly deemed unqualified by the academy elders before the day of Awakening Thunder. Before going up the mountain, teachers had spoken to him, advising him not to go, as his academic performance was good enough for him to prepare directly for the exams.

The teacher also advised Yun Xiguang that although he couldn’t become a Spiritbond Master, as someone privy to the secrets of Spiritbond Masters, if he got into a good university, he could be assigned to positions related to Spiritbond Masters. Coupled with the resources of the Yun family behind him, if he entered politics, his future development might not be inferior to that of a Spiritbond Master, so there was no need for him to risk going up the mountain on the day of Awakening Thunder.

After all, Two Principles Mountain on the day of Awakening Thunder wasn’t a safe place.

Heavenly Fire and the ferocious spirit beasts awakening, either one posed a fatal danger.

Other students had spirit roots between their eyebrows. As long as they formed contracts with spirit beasts, they could borrow the power of the spirit beasts and leave Two Principles Mountain safely.

Yun Xiguang was half-disabled and unable to subdue spirit beasts. He was likely to be caught in the crossfire between spirit beasts and Heavenly Fire and die on the mountain.

From any perspective, Yun Xiguang shouldn’t have gone up the mountain.

But surprisingly, Yun Xiguang rejected the teacher’s suggestion and chose to go up the mountain anyway.

His public explanation was that he wanted to try to establish a connection with a spirit beast through emotional communication, giving himself one last chance. But in reality, Yun Xiguang had another purpose for going up the mountain.

Thinking of this, Yun Xiguang’s expression darkened slightly, and a golden light flashed across his eyes.

He immediately lowered his gaze, concealing that light.

His goal on the mountain wasn’t the spirit beasts but something else much more important. As for the little spirit bird, it was an unexpected pleasure.

Thinking of this, Yun Xiguang’s facial expression softened, and he gently stroked the soft, warm body of the little spirit bird.

He had already mentally prepared himself for leaving the mountain empty-handed and was planning for the upcoming college entrance exam.

Even if he couldn’t become a Spiritbond Master, he could still work in positions related to Spiritbond Masters, achieving his goal in the same way.

But now, he had a contracted spirit beast, seemingly enabling him to become a mediocre Spiritbond Master.

When weighing the pros and cons, Yun Xiguang believed that the best strategy to achieve his goal was to become the top-tier Spiritbond Master, actively participating in important works related to spirit beasts, thereby uncovering the true cause of his parents’ deaths. The middle strategy was to handle logistics work related to Spiritbond Masters, which was the career the teacher had urged him to choose. This would allow him to participate in spirit beast incidents and have access to confidential information. The worst strategy, or even the worst of the worst, was to become a mediocre Spiritbond Master.

Mediocre Spiritbond Masters were often assigned to auxiliary positions, unable to directly participate in spirit beast incidents or access information. They could only bear the title of a Spiritbond Master, living a life of idleness until death.

The worst choice…

Yun Xiguang lightly touched the tip of his finger. The soft and warm sensation of the little spirit bird still lingered. Feeling the warmth in the crook of his neck, Yun Xiguang’s heart, which had been cold for a long time, experienced an extremely tender emotion.

This little spirit bird wouldn’t live long without him. This little spirit bird needed his care. This little spirit bird could give him the warmth of humanity he hadn’t felt in a long time.

Yun Xiguang had tasted the bitterness of falling from a high place and understood the principle of the tree falling and the monkeys scattering. He had a natural wariness of everything. Even if the spirit root between his eyebrows hadn’t been destroyed, he might not have been able to accept a powerful spirit beast.

Only such a harmless, adorable creature could enter his heart and be accepted by him.

He craved the feeling of being needed.

For this reason, even if it was the worst choice, Yun Xiguang accepted it.

Yun Xiguang had enough confidence in himself that even if he took the worst path, he absolutely had the ability to achieve his goal.

Thinking of this, the golden light in Yun Xiguang’s eyes grew stronger, and he involuntarily gripped his arm. His body trembled uncontrollably as if he was enduring great pain.

His skin was hot, his body temperature far exceeding that of ordinary humans. At that moment, if someone placed a flammable, dry branch next to him, that branch would probably ignite instantly.

After all, at that moment, a trace of Heavenly Fire resided within Yun Xiguang.

This trace of Heavenly Fire was also the purpose of Yun Xiguang’s ascent to the mountain.

In the ten years since his parents’ deaths, Yun Xiguang had been investigating the cause of their deaths, confirming that the tragedy that befell his entire family was closely related to spirit beasts.

He couldn’t become a Spiritbond Master and lacked the power to oppose evil spirit beasts or Spiritbond Masters, but he must possess the strength to overcome them.

And what power could be greater than Heavenly Fire, the fire that could burn everything bestowed by the laws of the world?

This was the nemesis of spirit beasts and Spiritbond Masters.

In those ten years, Yun Xiguang endured the ridicule and bullying of the Yun family, stubbornly staying in the Yun family and Zhuzhao Academy to read the relevant classics of the Yun family and the academy, searching for information about Heavenly Fire.

In the handwritten notes of his ancestor Yun Qi, there was a record of an event. After Yun Qi formed a contract with Kui Niu, the Heavenly Fire didn’t immediately disappear but burned on them for a while before dissipating.

During this process, Yun Qi didn’t feel the burning sensation, while Kui Niu still suffered greatly.

But before the contract was formed, Yun Qi had also been burned by Heavenly Fire, leaving a red scar on his arm shaped like a flame.

Therefore, Yun Qi deduced that under certain specific conditions, Heavenly Fire might not harm humans but could still severely injure spirit beasts.

Many people had read this handwritten note, and quite a few had attempted to control the power of Heavenly Fire, trying to subdue Heavenly Fire at the instant of contract formation, but all ended in failure.

There were Spiritbond Masters with fire control abilities who manipulated the Heavenly Fire that temporarily didn’t hurt people during others’ contract formation, but they were backfired and burned to ashes. Some had developed machines to absorb Heavenly Fire, hoping to harness the vast energy, but they exhausted manpower and resources, barely capturing a trace of Heavenly Fire, only to have the entire experimental base burned down upon bringing it back.

Yun Xiguang’s parents had also participated in this experiment but left no records of the experiment, only a diary from the experimental period that had been studied countless times, recording trivial details of the experiment, such as what dishes they ate that day, how many days they hadn’t seen their loved ones, and how they recently increased their late nights, resulting in severe hair loss.

Their experimental diary lay in the most inconspicuous corner of the Yun family library, rarely looked at by anyone.

Only Yun Xiguang had read it countless times over ten years, memorizing every word inside.

He would never forget his mother’s last words.

At that time, his mother, covered in blood, protected him under her body. Before her life dissipated, she revealed her final smile and said to him, “Do you remember the missing word game we used to play? You’re a smart child. You understand what Mom means, right?”

When he was learning language, his parents had played a missing word game.

For example, they would say to him, “Tonight I ate pork —. Which word is missing in this sentence?”

Little Yun Xiguang thought for a moment and quickly replied, “It’s the word ‘ribs.’ Tonight I ate pork ribs.”

Yun Xiguang knew that this was the last message his parents left him before their deaths.

The missing words in their experimental diaries were extremely secretive. To find these missing words, one not only had to read each sentence carefully but also understand the speech habits of his parents.

For example, his father spoke in a methodical manner, never messing up the word order and never simplifying sentences due to colloquial language.

There was a sentence in the diary that read, “Today, the sky is very good, sunny and bright.” Others would see it as just a casual use of colloquial language, but Yun Xiguang could tell that even when writing a diary, his father would never write “the sky is very good,” but would certainly write “the weather is very good.”

Through these clues, he judged from “moved to the new bedroom, very hot” that the sentence should be “this place is very hot,” finding the missing character “place.”

These missing characters were extremely hidden. Yun Xiguang was only eight years old at the time and found it difficult to find them all.

He first determined the possible missing characters and then spent seven years rereading the diary, recalling his parents’ speaking style, finally filling in the gaps, eliminating unnecessary words, and deciphering nine book titles from his parents’ two diaries, each title followed by a number.

These nine books were commonly used books in the Yun family and Zhuzhao Academy, easily borrowed. His parents had also borrowed these nine books. However, since his parents loved reading and had borrowed thousands of books, these nine books were hidden among them, impossible to find without clues.

Yun Xiguang found these nine books and, according to the numbers following the book titles, obtained a character from each book.

These nine characters were: Heart’s Blood Falls, Heavenly Fire Remains, Spirit Beast Codex.

Yun Xiguang had ample reason to believe that the deaths of his parents were due to these nine characters.

They must have learned a secret powerful enough to shake the entire Spiritbond World, which was why they were murdered.

On the surface, they died in a car accident, but Yun Xiguang would always remember that night, when the sky was filled with dark clouds, and a pure black giant snake seemed to be weaving through the clouds, its body stretching for kilometers, with scales flashing faintly within the dark clouds, terrifying to behold.

Then wind, rain, thunder, and lightning rained down together, and boulders fell from the sky. Young Yun Xiguang felt his eyebrows twitch as if something was trying to drill into his head.

All of his parents’ spirit beasts appeared, flying up toward the sky. And his mother decisively drew an ice spike from her shoulder blade, mercilessly piercing Yun Xiguang’s eyebrows, puncturing his spirit root between them.

Yes, his spirit root wasn’t destroyed due to injuries from the car accident but was personally destroyed by his mother.

But Yun Xiguang knew that this was for his own good.

At that time, his eyebrows felt cold, as if something bad was trying to enter his brain. Only after the spirit root was destroyed did that feeling stop.

Mother was decisive and acted swiftly and cleanly, making a choice in an instant, saving Yun Xiguang’s life and leaving him a glimmer of hope with her last words.

Yun Xiguang repeatedly pondered these nine characters and finally decided to take a bold gamble in this year’s Awakening Thunder examination, attempting to subdue Heavenly Fire.

Before encountering the little spirit bird, he had come across a spirit beast reduced to mere remains by Heavenly Fire.

Heavenly Fire was the executor of the laws, capable of evading all worldly prying. Where there was Heavenly Fire, unless seen with the naked eye, no means, technology, or ability could probe the situation there.

Taking advantage of the absence of others, Yun Xiguang pulled out a dagger, undid his buttons, and stabbed fiercely into his chest.

With his hands covered in blood from his chest cavity, he reached out to the Heavenly Fire, successfully scooping up the cluster of Heavenly Fire and placing it inside his chest cavity.

Heavenly Fire merged with the blood, sinking into Yun Xiguang’s chest, and the heart-piercing burning sensation spread through his limbs and bones via the bloodstream. Yun Xiguang didn’t utter a sound, merely hugging his chest, curling up in the mountain pass, and enduring it all.

After Heavenly Fire traveled through his entire body with the blood, Yun Xiguang’s suffering lessened slightly, and a fiery red scar that resembled wings appeared on his back, extending to his waist.

Heavenly Fire transformed into a golden light, occasionally flickering at the bottom of his eyes.

He had finally successfully subdued a cluster of Heavenly Fire. Even though he wasn’t a Spiritbond Master, he possessed the power to battle spirit beasts.

After doing all this, the weakened Yun Xiguang headed down the mountain.

But he was in too much pain and momentarily lost his direction. He not only failed to head downhill but instead entered the deepest part of Two Principles Mountain, coincidentally encountering the bullied little spirit bird.

When he rescued the little spirit bird, Yun Xiguang was extremely weak, merely persevering.

If Yun Xinglei had dared to step forward, he would have immediately realized that Yun Xiguang was just a spent force.

But he didn’t have the guts.

When he lifted the little spirit bird, Yun Xiguang felt a bit better, finally having the strength to discern his direction and head down the mountain.

Along the way, Heavenly Fire surged in his veins from time to time, which was the reason Yun Xiguang had yet to reach the foot of the mountain after seven hours.

At that moment, the Heavenly Fire surged again, more violently than ever before. Yun Xiguang didn’t dare touch anything, only clutching his arms tightly, enduring the pain.

At this time, the small tuft of fluff in his chest pocket emitted a faint glow, and a higher temperature but non-injurious spiritual energy flowed from the pocket into Yun Xiguang’s body.

Instantly, Yun Xiguang didn’t feel any pain, and his body temperature dropped.

He even had a feeling that this cluster of Heavenly Fire seemed to be suppressed by something, finally willing to settle down and be subdued by him.

Yun Xiguang touched his chest, as if the pain just now was merely an illusion.

Yun Xiguang didn’t associate this change with the small tuft of fluff. After much thought, he finally guessed that this was probably the last and most violent backlash of Heavenly Fire. As long as he endured it, he could completely subdue Heavenly Fire.

He let out a slight sigh of relief and looked up towards the distance, seeing that the lights of the gathering point were not far from him.

“I’ll take you home,” Yun Xiguang said to the little spirit bird.

At that moment, the sleeping Chi Qiong was having a happy dream of playing with a Heavenly Fire ball with his claws.

The Heavenly Fire ball was his toy during his childhood!