At first, Zhou Yanxi was barely managing to stay afloat, enduring the repeated battering of the sea storm's vortex against her body.
In the final second before losing consciousness, she swiftly put the Water-Avoiding Pearl into her mouth and tucked her weapon into her storage pouch.
She had no idea how much time had passed when she was awakened by the blinding sunlight stinging her eyes, forcing them open.
Her mind was still groggy and dazed—she couldn't react at all for a moment.
When she finally came to her senses, she immediately spit out the Water-Avoiding Pearl and the sand that had gotten into her mouth. Then, she stood up on the beach and realized that she had landed on an unmarked island not shown on any Endless Sea maps.
The island appeared to have recently experienced a violent volcanic eruption. The air was filled with a suffocating, pungent gas, and the mountains in the distance were blanketed in volcanic ash.
Faced with this situation, Zhou Yanxi immediately cast a protective aura, primarily because the stench in the air was unbearable now that she was conscious. It hadn't bothered her while she was unconscious, but now it was intolerable.
Looking at how this island had been ravaged by volcanic activity, Zhou Yanxi was extremely frustrated. It was bad enough that she'd been swept here by the sea storm, but now all the spiritual plants had been destroyed too.
But wait—something was wrong. A normal volcanic eruption wouldn't cause this level of destruction… unless an 异火 (Heavenly Flame) had appeared here.
She had to admit, reading extensively from the sect's library had been a wise move.
And sure enough, her guess wasn't wrong. The recent sea storm was closely linked to the emergence of this 异火—though that's a story for later.
Now that she had this clue, Zhou Yanxi's eyes lit up with excitement and energy. With the lure of a Heavenly Flame ahead of her, even a saint might lose composure—let alone a greedy little goblin like her!
Without wasting another second, Zhou Yanxi pulled out her flying artifact from her storage pouch and headed toward the area of highest fire spiritual energy on the island.
Eventually, she stopped in front of a volcanic crater. She was now certain that this was the place on the entire island with the richest concentration of fire energy.
However, due to the complex terrain, her divine sense could only probe about ten zhang (30+ meters) inside—anything beyond that was completely inaccessible.
Faced with this, Zhou Yanxi didn't sit around waiting. Instead, she began to circulate her "Fire-Wood Genesis Technique", hoping to draw out the Heavenly Flame by meditating and absorbing its energy.
Meanwhile, the Biyu Canglan Flame (碧玉沧澜异火) had just finished disposing of some intruders who disturbed its rest. Just as it was about to go back into hibernation, it noticed the surrounding fire aura rapidly diminishing.
Though the rate was slow, if it slept for another ten thousand years, by the time it woke up, its home would be an empty shell.
No way. Absolutely not.It had to go check who the damn turtle-egg was draining its energy!
As soon as Zhou Yanxi completed one full cycle of her technique, she saw a pale blue Heavenly Flame appear in front of her.
She quickly tried to match it with the recorded Heavenly Flames in her memory—but came up empty. It didn't resemble any she knew.
For now, she knew the first step was to appease this puffed-up little creature.
"I'm really sorry! I just thought this place was a spiritual hotspot, so I figured I'd cultivate here."
The Biyu Canglan Flame: Hmm, this girl seems decent. Not like those other jerks who tried to grab me right away.This is a blessed place—it's my home, after all. At least this person has some taste.
Zhou Yanxi could tell the surrounding fire aura had dropped significantly, meaning her flattery had worked. The little flame seemed at least not hostile for now.
Now came the hard part—how to coax this simpleminded flame to come with her.
"Say, would you be interested in going outside for a look?"
"You think I'm easy to trick?! You human cultivators are the worst.Bi'er (that's me!) won't fall for it!"
That said, Bi'er was actually really curious about the outside world.But no! Its inherited memory clearly warned: humans are bad, and only treat Heavenly Flames as tools or slaves.
So this little guy was called Bi'er. Zhou Yanxi chuckled inwardly—such a gullible flame, and it even gave its name away without prompting!
"Look into my honest eyes. We can form a Soul Coexistence Pact—that way, you'll have nothing to fear.Besides, you may not know this, but ever since the sea storm, the outside cultivators have been frantically searching for you."
First, she presented friendly intentions, then followed up with a veiled threat. She trusted that this smart little flame wouldn't miss the point.
Bi'er started to panic. It wasn't afraid of the girl in front of it—but if one of those mountain-moving, ocean-splitting cultivators from its inherited memories arrived, it would be helpless and imprisoned for life.
Comparing the two options—this relatively weak but respectful female cultivator, and some unknown terrifying figure—Bi'er obviously leaned toward Zhou Yanxi.
Watching the little guy swing back and forth in hesitation, Zhou Yanxi didn't push it. When negotiating, the one who stayed calm the longest usually won—and she wasn't about to blink first.
Sure enough, after half an hour, Bi'er finally agreed. It wasn't like it had a choice.
It could already feel a powerful aura approaching from the east—fast.
Bi'er immediately entered into a soul-level equality contract with Zhou Yanxi, dropping all earlier hesitation.
Because Bi'er knew very well—between the girl standing before it and the unknown monster coming from the east, it would rather trust Zhou Yanxi, who respected it.
During the soul-bonding process, Zhou Yanxi's soul was racked with excruciating pain, and her fire-type spiritual root was being scorched relentlessly.
If she hadn't undergone experiences across multiple worlds, or cultivated "Tempering the Spirit" ahead of time, even if she had forced the contract through, she'd probably have ended up a vegetable.
Just as she was about to celebrate her success, Bi'er suddenly warned her:
"A powerful enemy is coming. At least Nascent Soul-level."
Zhou Yanxi didn't dare hesitate—she immediately pulled out the long-range teleportation talisman her master had given her from her storage ring.