Chapter 57 – Fire Lotus

“Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp!” The little spirit bird emitted urgent sounds; they were very loud.

Yun Xiguang pressed his finger against the bird’s head and said softly, “I see it, don’t panic yet.”

He felt something was amiss.

He wasn’t a biologist and didn’t know if carnivorous trees really existed in this world. Moreover, the world was vast, with many wonders. There were still areas unexplored by humans and many creatures unknown to humanity. Perhaps even botanists deeply versed in their field might not know all the plants in existence.

Perhaps there really were trees in this world capable of secreting strong acids to devour animals.

But Yun Xiguang had a nagging feeling that something wasn’t right.

“Is there really just the aura of a Phoenix Feather here?” Yun Xiguang asked.

“Chirp!” Chi Qiong responded with an affirmative chirp.

“Can a Phoenix Feather make two living beings evolve into spirit beasts?” Yun Xiguang asked again.

“Chirp!!” This time, Chi Qiong shook his head while chirping.

If Chi Qiong personally used the power of the Phoenix Feather, the energy from one feather could easily cause evolution, whether for two, twenty, or even two hundred living beings.

But now that the Phoenix Feather wasn’t with Chi Qiong, no creature could fully harness its power. Under the circumstances where Chi Qiong, in his original form, was conscious and suppressing his own strength, a single Phoenix Feather could only push an ordinary creature to the limits of becoming a spirit beast.

“But I feel that tree is also a spirit beast,” Yun Xiguang said, looking up at the tree. He thought it looked somewhat like a willow, but its existence defied logic.

It grew in the center of the swamp, its branches covering the entire marsh, except for the area around its roots, which was normal land. It seemed not that a tree grew in the swamp, but rather that the tree transformed this land into a swamp.

Ordinarily, some animals and plants would exist in swamps, but there was nothing in this swamp. Not only that, but within a kilometer radius around the swamp, there was no life.

As if this tree absorbed all the vitality in the area.

This situation was similar to ancient records of demonic beasts.

Spirit beasts were a general term for all creatures endowed with special powers, categorized further into divine beasts, demonic beasts, and ordinary spirit beasts based on their abilities.

Divine beasts and demonic beasts were equally powerful, with divine beasts being spirit beasts capable of grasping the fundamental truths of nature. Beasts like the Bai Ze, who could see through the secrets of heaven, the Mirage , capable of creating spaces, the Azure Dragon, who traversed the universe, and the Golden-Winged Great Peng, with its five hearts and supernatural abilities, all possessed a bit of the power of heaven and earth.

As for demonic beasts, ancient books only described them as “beasts of plunder,” with no further details.

Yun Xiguang had always been curious why, despite ancient records mentioning demonic beasts, only spirit beasts and divine beasts were seen in the world, never demonic beasts.

He knew one possibility was that demonic beasts were instantly burned to ashes by heavenly fire upon awakening. Because demonic beasts might plunder life force, anyone forming a contract with a demonic beast could immediately perish. Therefore, no one would bind themselves to a demonic beast, and thus, demonic beasts disappeared from modern society.

Even so, there should have been records.

Spirit beasts imparted knowledge about other spirit beasts to Spiritbond Masters. Much of the information about spirit beasts known to the Yun family was either discovered by Yun family members or shared by spirit beasts like the Kui Niu and the Azure Dragon with people like Yun Qi and Yun Guanyue.

Even if no one had ever seen a demonic beast, everyone should have known about them. Why were there no records?

During his days living with the Azure Dragon, Yun Xiguang once discussed this issue with him.

Having just taken a bath and enjoying a massage in his chair, the Azure Dragon opened his eyes and gave Yun Xiguang a resentful look before resigning himself to explaining what a demonic beast was.

“It’s because the origins of demonic beasts and spirit beasts differ, involving knowledge shrouded by the laws of nature. We aren’t withholding information from Spiritbond Masters; when we try to tell them, they can only hear beep beep beep sounds,” the Azure Dragon explained.

“Origins?” Yun Xiguang asked.

The Azure Dragon said, “Spirit beasts like me possess spirituality due to a powerful ancient phoenix sovereign who bestowed it upon the creatures of the savage era, allowing the world to have spirit beasts and transition from savagery to civilization. Countless spirit beasts wrote the first legend of antiquity, the first ancient chronicle of the primeval era.

“The difference between spirit beasts and divine beasts lies in whether they directly encountered the Phoenix Venerable. Those who came into close contact with the Phoenix Venerable, being stroked by his head feathers or horns, directly touched the essence of spirituality and received more inheritance, becoming divine beasts.

“The other spirit beasts were later recipients, as the Phoenix Venerable grew weary of individually bestowing his blessing. Instead, he ascended to the ninth heaven and rained down a shower of spirituality across the world. Creatures touched by these raindrops became spirit beasts.”

Yun Xiguang recalled a joke from school and said, “I see, it’s like the mythological story of Nu Wa creating humans. At first, she molded each one by hand, but later, tired, she flicked mud with a vine, and the specks that landed on the ground also became humans.”

The specks and those created by Nu Wa’s hands were fundamentally different.

Similarly, divine beasts were the ones crafted by Nu Wa’s hands, while ordinary spirit beasts were her mud specks.

“What about demonic beasts? Different origins mean that the paths of birth for demonic beasts and ordinary spirit beasts are completely different,” Yun Xiguang asked.

The Azure Dragon nodded. “Yes, in this world, there are two origins. One is yang, the other yin. The origin of most creatures in the world is yang, while demonic beasts are yin.

“They don’t become spirit beasts while alive; they are born from death, surviving by plundering the vitality of the world, thus called demonic beasts.

“According to ancient records, beings born from death that plunder the vitality of living creatures are all demonic beasts, such as the Drought Demon.”

“Will demonic beasts awaken? Will they be cleansed by the laws after awakening?” Yun Xiguang asked.

“Born from death, they are inherently against the laws of the world. Humans cannot come back to life after death, a fundamental truth of the Heavenly Laws. Demonic beasts are always targets for cleansing by the laws. Thus, demonic beasts are cunning, attaching themselves to living beings to evade the cleansing. But the laws slowly refine their rules over millennia, leading to fewer demonic beasts as time progresses. They don’t need to sleep to dwindle in numbers,” the Azure Dragon explained.

Yun Xiguang thought for a moment. “In other words, ordinary spirit beasts and divine beasts go into hibernation for certain reasons, but demonic beasts don’t. Many demonic beasts have already been cleansed, and even if a few remain in the world today, they pose no significant threat.”

“Exactly,” the Azure Dragon said, “Especially in your country that promotes cremation, leaving little room for death energy. Here, a demonic beast is like a fish in the desert, unable to survive for long.”

In other words, the number of demonic beasts was several dozen times less than the remaining wild Siberian tigers. If the spirit bonding community ever encountered one, they would quickly capture it for research without division, completely unafraid of its potential havoc.

Understanding this, Yun Xiguang didn’t delve deeper into demonic beasts.

Until today, seeing this Carnivorous Tree, Yun Xiguang sensed an uncomfortable feeling from it, feeling that although he hadn’t touched the branches or the ground, his stamina was rapidly declining.

He suspected his vitality was being drained by this tree.

Even without direct contact, he was losing vitality, albeit much slower than if he had touched it directly.

“Do you think it’s a demonic beast?” Yun Xiguang asked.

“Chirp?” Chi Qiong tilted his head and stared at the tree for a while before suddenly emitting a series of intense and urgent chirps. “Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp!”

Yun Xiguang felt that the little spirit bird was using some very dirty words to curse at the tree.

After cursing for a while, the little spirit bird spat on the swamp and extended his tiny claws, stomping forcefully twice, as if trying to crush the tree underfoot.

He must hate the essence of the Carnivorous Tree.

From this, it was evident that the Carnivorous Tree could indeed be a demonic beast.

Regardless of how disgusting the weaver ants were, they were spirit beasts. Spirit beasts and demonic beasts were natural enemies; demonic beasts absorb the vitality of spirit beasts. No spirit beast would willingly associate with a demonic beast.

Yet the cocoon of the weaver ant appeared to be protected by the Carnivorous Tree. A spirit beast colluding with a demonic beast.

After pondering for a moment, Yun Xiguang said, “This time, the weaver ants are the spirit beasts with the most acquired spirit energy we’ve ever seen. Could this be related to the Carnivorous Tree? The Carnivorous Tree is a demonic beast that plunders vitality. Is it possible that the weaver ants, unable to obtain too much of your power, collaborated with the Carnivorous Tree? The tree forcibly absorbs the power from the Phoenix Feather and then shares a portion with the ants, dividing your power between them.”

This explained why the weaver ants were so strong, strong enough to evade detection by the Bai Ze, and also why the demonic beast, their natural enemy, was protecting the spirit beast.

“Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp!” Chi Qiong started loudly cursing again, indicating that Yun Xiguang’s guess was correct.

Seeing his power misused by a demonic beast and the spirit beast, the weaver ant, conspiring with the demonic beast despite receiving his blessings, infuriated Chi Qiong.

Everything made sense, except for one thing Yun Xiguang couldn’t understand: why Hai Ruobo, the Spiritbond Master of a divine beast, would help the weaver ants harm the Bai Ze?

But that wasn’t the current issue to address.

The most pressing matter was recovering the fourth Phoenix Feather, preventing the little spirit bird’s power from being wasted any further, and stopping the tree from continuing to erode the land.

To deal with a demonic beast, one must cut off its source of absorbing vitality. For a tree, that source was either the roots or the branches.

Yun Xiguang decided to start with the roots.

The root system of this tree was likely far more complex than it appeared on the surface, possibly encompassing the entire swamp.

Yun Xiguang even suspected that the exposed branches were merely a decoy, intended to draw enemies toward them. While the enemy was entangled with the branches, the roots could emerge from the swamp to attack, delivering a fatal blow.

To deal with this tree, one had to deal with the entire swamp.

Yun Xiguang smiled slightly. “It’s not difficult.”

He took out the large gold chain around his neck. The pendant was a “bling bling” crystal bottle, containing the tuft of fluff granted to him by Chi Qiong.

“May I borrow your power?” Yun Xiguang asked.

“Chirp!” The little spirit bird nodded firmly.

Chi Qiong: Give it to me!

Yun Xiguang gently kissed the bottle. His action was devout and affectionate, causing Little Yellow Chick’s face to turn a suspicious orange.

It was common knowledge that mixing red and yellow resulted in orange!

Yun Xiguang retrieved the tuft of fluff and took a ball of flame from behind his fiery wings, infused it with the Heavenly Fire from his palm, and placed the tuft of fluff inside the fireball.

Combining the fiery wings, Heavenly Fire, and the Phoenix Venerable’s fluff released a pure, clear flame; it was a strikingly pure orange fire that bloomed like a lotus in Yun Xiguang’s palm.

Yun Xiguang let go and tossed the fire lotus into the swamp.

Instantly, a great fire engulfed the entire swamp, blossoming atop the dead land into a massive lotus flower.