Chapter 721
The Dominant Flame
After Shao Xuan finished speaking, He Bian looked over at him as if he was a complete idiot.
Of course, they had thought about swallowing a fire seed whole before, but the Di Fish had been the dominant one and had been swallowing their fire seed slowly. So many years had passed since then, and they still couldn’t wholly devour their fire seed. Now he was suggesting for the Di Mountain tribe to swallow the Di Fish’s fire seed? How long would that take?
“What I’m suggesting is not exactly like what you might be thinking,” Shao Xuan explained. “Of course I know that engulfing a fire seed whole takes a long time, but what I mean is you guys can take the part of the fire seed that belongs to you, put it inside your bodies, and use it to battle the Di Fish’s fire seed slowly.”
“Put it inside our bodies?” He Bian couldn’t understand what Shao Xuan was saying.
Even Dian Dian, who was playing with the fish, looked curiously at Shao Xuan.
Gui Ze understood what Shao Xuan meant. “That’s right. There’s a way, but it’s not completely safe, though a lot more effective than the idea you guys mentioned.”
“According to what I heard from you guys, there are two fire seeds in the fire pond in your tribe. These two fire seeds are bound and mixed, and many Di Mountain people cannot tell them apart. Seeing how the Di Fish’s fire seed could get to this form today, they only succeeded by gaining extra energy from swallowing the Di Mountain tribe’s fire seed. Their part of the fire seed already has the Di Mountain fire seed’s energy. Even if you can’t sense it, I’m sure understand what I’m saying. However, even though it’s hard to notice, these are still two different fire seeds. You guys can still utilise the part that the Di Fish didn’t swallow, or choose to let the Di Fish swallow it whole.”
When Shao Xuan noticed that He Bian and Dian Dian were both listening carefully, he continued, “The reason these two fire seeds could mix and mingle was the fire pond. If you guys want to migrate, you guys can’t make the decision alone. Both the Di Mountain tribe and the Di Fish have to agree before you guys are allowed to migrate. The Di Fish definitely won’t agree to this, so this means there was no way for you guys to move your fire seed. Instead of battling them, why not merge the part of the fire seed that belongs to your tribe with your bodies? That way, the Di Fish can no longer take it away from you. Plus, even if the fire seed was weak and incomplete, totemic warriors with merged fire seeds are much stronger than those without.”
“Merge the fire seed with our bodies?”
This concept was too new to He Bian and Dian Dian. They would never have thought about this.
“You guys can probably sense that the Flaming Horn tribe doesn’t have an ancient fire seed,” Shao Xuan said.
He Bian had only just noticed this fact. For the past few days, he had been worrying about their tribe and Dian Dian and didn’t have the time to mind anything else. It was also partially because their tribe rarely interacted with any other tribes, doing their best to avoid people on their way up the Flaming River. Naturally, they forgot what the repulsion from other fire seeds felt like.
As for Dian Dian, even though she had been trained as the next shamaness, she lacked experience and never experienced any strong repulsion from other tribes’ fire seeds.
Her knowledge was limited to the theories that the shaman taught her. Now that Shao Xuan mentioned it, she recalled learning about this before.
“Ancient fire seed?” Dian Dian caught onto this phrase. This was the first time she heard this phrase.
“Yes, the fire seed in your fire pond at the Di Mountain tribe is an ancient fire seed. Now, in the Flaming Horn tribe, we don’t have this ancient fire seed.”
“How is that possible?!” He Bian’s world-view was refreshed once again. In just one day, his perception had changed several times.
“Nothing is impossible. Blood and fire come from the same origin, and many tribes on this continent have already merged their ancient fire seed. All the larger tribes have already merged with their fire seed, and the middle to smaller sized tribes are also following in our footsteps. You guys don’t talk to any other tribes and live so far away, so you naturally won’t know about this. But this is already old news. If you don’t believe me, you can try asking the people at the Flaming River Trading Point. It’s just on the other side of the stone bridge. It’s a large trading market we built and many people from all over the continent come here on expedition trips to trade,” Shao Xuan said.
He Bian’s jaw dropped. He was speechless and didn’t know how to react, but he knew that this Grand Elder wasn’t lying.
The Di tribe never liked socialising and lived in a remote area, so most people in their area probably didn’t know about the merged fire seeds too.
It was rare for Dian Dian to show any signs of excitement, but now, she was suddenly curious. “Are you sure it can be merged?”
If they couldn’t remove their part from the fire seed, why not just merge the part that still belonged to them with their bodies? Now that they thought about it, it wasn’t impossible.
Perhaps the solution the shaman told them about really exists?
After some contemplation, Dian Dian pushed herself up from the side of the stone fish tank. He Bian pushed her down. Pleading was his job. She didn’t have to do it.
Without waiting for Shao Xuan to respond, He Bian fell to his knees and bowed to Shao Xuan. “Please help our tribe, Grand Elder!”
Before this, He Bian had already told Gui He that if they needed anything from the Di Mountain tribe, they would try their best to give it to them, even if it meant diving into the sea to search for rare pearls and jewels.
“Get up, let me finish my sentence,” Shao Xuan said helplessly.
“Oh.” He Bian stayed on his knees and knelt beside the stone fish tank. He waited expectantly for Shao Xuan to finish his sentence. He was waiting to plead again after Shao Xuan finished what he was going to say. If the Flaming Horns could help them, who cared about the embarrassment? So what if they would lose face? These were all small matters to him.
“What I wanted to say was, your tribe is an exceptional case. Something unpredictable might happen during the merging process, and even if your tribe was like other tribes, the act of merging fire seeds itself was risky enough,” Shao Xuan went on and told them about the tribes that had failed to merge their fire seeds.
He Bian was suddenly doubtful after hearing such risks but Dian Dian was very excited. Her eyes were gleaming with hope. “We’ll take it! This is the solution! I believe that this is the best solution!”
He Bian opened his mouth but remained silent. He couldn’t change what Dian Dian had decided on.
“Can you teach us how to merge our fire seed?” Dian Dian asked hopefully.
“I can only tell you some things you need to watch out for during the usual merging process. It is slightly different for every tribe, so you have to figure out the rest on your own,” Shao Xuan said.
Dian Dian struggled to her feet and bowed respectfully to Shao Xuan. She said solemnly, “Thank you so much!”
He Bian hurriedly held onto Dian Dian as it was very exhausting for Dian Dian to stand up. For the past few days, she had been lying in the stone fish tank. Only the symptoms on her hand had alleviated.
Shao Xuan looked over at Dian Dian and asked again, “Can I check the totemic energy in your body?”
Shao Xuan pointed a finger to his forehead as he said this, hinting the totemic energy in her sea of consciousness.
“No way!” He Bian objected immediately. It wasn’t the gender issue. Different tribe’s energies repelled each other. Their fire seeds and totemic energies are different, so if Shao Xuan suddenly entered Dian Dian’s sea of consciousness, she might suffer a strong repulsion. What was more, Dian Dian’s body was also in critical condition. If they tried this, wouldn’t it end her life?
“Okay.” Dian Dian did not object. She felt that since Shao Xuan was willing to help them and teach them how to merge their fire seed, this was a reasonable request. Perhaps he could give some valuable advice and opinion after observing the situation in her consciousness. This was enough. She never planned on going back to her tribe alive. If she could gain some valuable information to help her tribe before her death, this was already more than enough for her.
He Bian was mad and started to talk to her in their dialect again, but Dian Dian shut him up with one sentence. Dian Dian gave a wry expression and looked nervously at Shao Xuan as she waited for his instructions.
Shao Xuan walked over and asked, “Are you ready?”
“Yes.” Dian Dian was very calm.
Gui Ze unknowingly took a few steps backwards. She tried to stay away from them because she had the Flaming Horn’s fire seed’s energy. She was worried that being too close might affect the process.
He Bian also moved back when he saw Gui Ze move backwards. He retreated to the door and kept guard outside as he watched.
Gui Ze wanted to tell He Bian that Shao Xuan was a unique person in their tribe who wasn’t afraid of repulsion. Other fire seeds wouldn’t react to his energy, but she had to step back because her fire seed was different. She wanted to tell He Bian that he didn’t have to stay far away because his energy was the same as Dian Dian’s, but seeing how he nervously guarded the door, she kept quiet.
He Bian leaned against the door with both fists clenched. His eyes stared unblinkingly in their direction as Shao Xuan lifted a finger and pointed to the space between Dian Dian’s eyebrows.
Dian Dian was also paying close attention to what was happening in her consciousness. Inside, the Di tribe’s totemic sign was similar to the second drawing she drew. Some new lines had appeared on the other side of the face, and a blurry outline of a fish’s mouth was coming to completion.
The flames around the totemic sign didn’t look strange at all. It was all blue. However, she knew that this was a mixture of two flames, but mostly the Di fish’s flames. The Di fish’s flames surrounded the Di tribe’s flames and were almost ready to engulf it. That was why she was so ill.
However, a part of the Di tribe’s fire seed was also constantly fighting back, but it was stuck in the centre, surrounded by the Di fish’s fire, so it wasn’t obvious.
Suddenly, a white flame appeared in Dian Dian’s consciousness. When this flame appeared, the other two flames in her consciousness suddenly calmed down.
It was just like how two enemies in a battle suddenly stopped fighting when they saw a stronger opponent. They were caught by surprise.
Dian Dian’s illness was getting severe because the two flames were battling each other. Now that this battle suddenly stopped, Dian Dian also felt more relaxed. The pain caused by the sores were still there, but it was a lot weaker than before.
He Bian finally calmed down when he saw that Dian Dian wasn’t in pain anymore.
Shao Xuan saw the situation in Dian Dian’s sea of consciousness. From his perspective, the Di tribe’s totemic flames were blue, rolling like waves across an ocean of fire.
The totem was clear, and seeing how the fish’s mouth was slowly coming into shape, he knew that what Dian Dian told them before was indeed the truth. The totemic flames seemed only to have one colour, but Shao Xuan could tell clearly which part belonged to the Di tribe and which part belonged to the Di fish. Even though they were similar and both blue, they appeared as different as black and white in Shao Xuan’s eyes.
The situation was indeed critical. The Di fish’s flames were surrounding the Di people’s flames, and on the surface, it seemed like only a small fraction of the Di people’s flames were still struggling to fight.
At this moment, Shao Xuan felt that he could perhaps lend them a hand?
The white flames gushed toward the totemic flames, yet Dian Dian did not feel any repulsion. This was strange. It was entirely different from what the shaman had taught her.
The white flames tested the fires and tried to dive into the blue. It was like a sword splitting apart eternal darkness.
As this happened, the Di tribe’s flames took this chance and gushed upward as they tried to escape!