Chapter 1059: Section 1060: Primeval Flame
“Last time I was here, I sensed the fleeting presence of the Primeval Flame, and I wasn’t sure if it was just an illusion, Master Greerwu, shall we go in and have a look?”
Greerwu hesitated for a moment but then nodded. Previously, he had felt nothing special here, but now upon returning to the Hunting Museum, there was an inexplicable feeling… Greerwu felt as if his flames were more lively than before, as if they were eagerly anticipating something.
With this strange feeling, Greerwu and Tandin stepped into the Hunting Museum.
They crossed the cold, black and white checkered floor, where candlelight flickered weak and dim. Greerwu even felt a chill breeze that made the flames on his body flicker like dying embers about to extinguish.
Tandin frowned, the atmosphere of the Hunting Museum was too desolate and chilling, not at all like an environment that would nurture the Primeval Flame.
It was Tandin who had suggested coming here, but at this moment, he couldn’t help but ask himself: Is there really a Primeval Flame here?
On the contrary, it was Greerwu, who had initially been adamant that there was no trace of Primeval Flame here, yet now his round eyes had turned into inverted triangles due to his furrowed brows, repeatedly muttering, “This place is very strange.”
He had a kind of premonition that this might be the place where Aoluxiya was searching for the Primeval Flame.
Yet, as a descendant of the Pattern tribe, Greerwu strangely couldn’t sense the presence of the Primeval Flame at all, as if his inner premonition was nothing more than a joke.
“Is anyone there?” Tandin called into the empty hall, receiving only his echo in response, with no one to answer.
“Let’s go check the inner court.” Greerwu listened intently and faintly heard whispers coming from the direction of the inner court.
The further they walked, the more distinct the murmuring sound became, as if countless people were whispering in his ear, like crazed shouts, desperate whispers, and malevolent curses.
Greerwu shuddered all over, suddenly feeling reluctant to move forward.
“Master, what’s wrong?” Tandin looked over, puzzled. It was Greerwu who had suggested moving forward, so why had he stopped now?
“Don’t you hear it?” Greerwu was shaking like a sieve, unable to stop trembling. The falling embers hissed as they touched the ground, producing a brief burst of smoke before being completely extinguished. “Those voices, can’t you hear them?”
“What voices?” Tandin said solemnly, “Master, I haven’t heard any sound. If you feel something is off, perhaps we should withdraw for now?”
Greerwu shook his head but said nothing, continuing to tremble as he moved forward, though his steps were much smaller.
If Angel were here, he would probably remark in surprise that this mischievous child could actually be scared too.
Seeing that his young master had no intention of retreating, Tandin hesitated for a moment but still followed.
All the way, Greerwu was troubled by whispers that were pitiful, despairing, or mad. Before every step, he felt as though a terrifying Nightmare with a ferocious smile might appear in front of him, yet everything remained calm when they arrived at the Exhibition Hall of the inner court.
Standing at the entrance of the Exhibition Hall, Tandin asked, “Master Greerwu, are you alright?”
Greerwu gazed into the pitch-black doorway of the Exhibition Hall. He could sense that the whispers lingering around his ears were emanating from within.
“We’re going in.” Greerwu ignored the concern in Butler Tandin’s eyes and walked into the Exhibition Hall on his own.
The Hunted Specimens in the Exhibition Hall naturally didn’t scare a fledgling demon of fire.
While Butler Tandin was scanning the Exhibition Hall for anything out of place, Greerwu approached a painting alone. Planting his tail firmly on the ground, he tried hard to push his body upwards, until he could see the burning flame in the painting at eye level.
Greerwu looked at the flame and felt an odd familiarity.
After confirming there was no danger within the Exhibition Hall, Tandin joined Greerwu’s side. As he arrived next to Greerwu, he unexpectedly saw a mist clouding Greerwu’s eyes, who was staring unwaveringly at the painting on the wall.
Tandin saw nothing special about the painting.
He observed carefully; the painting was rather ordinary, its only distinction was the flame amidst the dark background, which was painted with great realism.
“Master, there’s a door beside us, should we have a look?”
Greerwu didn’t respond to Tandin, instead pointing at the flame in the painting, “The whispers are coming from the flame…”
The emotion was saddening, as if the flame was burying some special sentiment.
Tandin looked at that flame, still hearing no sound, nor sensing anything unusual. Hesitating, he extended his dark hand, with embers at the tips, and touched the flame in the painting.
Hiss—
Smoke arose, and Tandin swiftly withdrew his fingers.
As a fire attendant demon, Tandin felt a burning pain when his fingers touched the painting? A fire demon scorched by fire would be the joke of any other demon if they heard it.
Yet the fact remained.
As Tandin wondered what was happening, Greerwu suddenly exclaimed, “The painting changed!”
Tandin looked up and saw that the flame in the center of the painting, set against the dark backdrop, began to multiply. In a brief moment, the central flame completely covered the darkness; originally, the darkness occupied more than eighty percent of the painting, but now the flame seemed to challenge it for supremacy.
“Why has the flame in the painting suddenly multiplied?”
While Tandin was still puzzled, Greerwu suddenly spoke with an excited tone, “I feel it, the presence of Primeval Flame, right within this painting!”
Greerwu’s words stunned Tandin. The Primeval Flame they had been searching for was in the painting?
As Tandin wondered what exactly was going on with the painting, another change occurred; in the center of the painting, where the flames burned brightest, a ripple suddenly formed.
As the ripple appeared, the flames on Greerwu’s body seemed to resonate with some frequency, and a series of images drilled into Greerwu’s mind.
All these images were of flames or, rather, of flames under the night sky within the painting. However, they were not simply flames. The flames enveloped various objects being scorched: indigenous people who had just given birth, lying in bed panting; Half-Blood Demons with dog-like lower limbs; creatures domesticated by the Indigenous People; tree demons from the Abyss; and Magical Creatures drawn by the fire…
All these beings were being scorched by the flames, letting out pitiful screams accompanied by sorrowful melodies.
Suddenly, Greerwu realized that the whispers it had been constantly hearing were perhaps the lingering echoes of these creatures that were burned to death.
At this moment, when Greerwu looked at the painting on the wall, it no longer felt that it merely depicted darkness and flames.
Hidden within this painting was much more information, only buried beneath the night sky and destroyed by the flames.
The ripples continued to expand upon the canvas, like a stone cast into a placid lake, creating circles of ripples. When the ripples completely diffused across the entire painting, a tall figure slowly emerged from the flames at the center of the image.
Upon seeing the figure, Tandin immediately pulled Greerwu behind him, watching the opposite side with a wary face—
The Half-Blood Demon who leisurely stepped out from the painting.
Its fiery hair blazed, the patterns on its face fierce and twisted, but its expression was cool and calm.
Although it was only a Half-Blood Demon, Tandin inexplicably felt fear. A Pureblood Demon like itself, actually feeling fear towards a mixed-breed? This was simply unbelievable.
While Tandin was on guard, the Half-Blood Demon opposite them finally appeared to set its gaze upon them.
“I thought it would be him who came,” the Half-Blood Demon said, eyebrows drooping, murmuring in a voice near delirium, “Turns out it’s just a couple of pawns.”
Tandin, “According to you, you knew we would come? Who are you?”
As Tandin asked, the young Fire Demon Greerwu suddenly popped out from the other side, its large eyes intently staring at the Half-Blood Demon across from it, and after a while, it said, “The aura of the Primeval Flame is on its body, but… it seems it hasn’t fully awakened yet.”
Greerwu’s words made Tandin freeze. The Primeval Flame was born on a Half-Blood Demon? Such a situation had never occurred in history.
“How is that possible?” Tandin muttered, “Why would the Primeval Flame appear on a Half-Blood Demon?”
On the other hand, the young Fire Demon wasn’t caught up in the distinction between Half-Blood and Pureblood, but was eager to complete its mission and took the initiative to speak to the Half-Blood Demon that emerged from the painting, “My name is Greerwu, I’ve been sent by Lord Aoluxiya to find the Primeval Flame.”
The Half-Blood Demon, looking down from an elevated position, said indifferently to the fireball in midair, “I am the curator here, Yan.”
…
While the young Fire Demon was meeting with Yan, Angel at this moment was immersed in Mind Space, constructing a model of a door.
Finally, when a new Pattern was successfully added to the model, Angel breathed a sigh of relief.
At the same time, the wind chime in the courtyard suddenly rang out.
Angel stretched lazily, glanced at Toby’s condition inside the bracelet, then used his spiritual power to sense the nest of the Pliant Worm, ensuring that the Dreamweaver Ant and Pliant Worm were still maintaining a balance of power; only then did he come down from the attic.
As soon as he descended the stairs, he saw Canaan in the courtyard, covering a large heap of Magical Creature remains with a water membrane.
Seeing Angel come downstairs, Canaan turned his head and said in a puzzled tone, “Boss, I’ve bought these remains of Magical Creatures as you instructed, but… what are they good for? They don’t even taste nice.”
Angel replied with a smile, “They might be useless to you, but they are very useful to me.”
Previously, Angel had been thinking that while staying here for the next few days, he should earn some Demon Gold Coins and acquire a batch of materials unique to the Abyss.
He had asked Canaan if it had a channel for buying special materials, and Canaan’s answer was negative, so Angel was counting on the curator Yan to help him purchase them.
However, to his surprise, when he was entertaining a new group of clients this morning, a Blood-eyed Naga who came from the Dark Ocean Maelstrom didn’t pay with Demon Gold Coins, but offered the carcass of a sea Magical Creature as compensation for the debt.
At the time, Canaan looked disgusted, muttering that this thing couldn’t be sold off.
But when Angel saw it, he immediately nodded in agreement to the transaction without hesitation.
Because Angel discovered that the largely hollowed-out carcass of the sea Magical Creature was actually that of a Wizard Level creature!
Even though the most useful parts had been taken by the Blood-eyed Naga, the remaining bones, blood, and skin membrane were all left behind.
To the thick-skinned and hardy Demons, these were not worth much and would not sell for a high price.
But to a Wizard, these things were of considerable value!