A solution was soon provided for Bai Shengyi.
Ning Changchao, feeling a sense of camaraderie with the divine envoy, asked loudly, "Divine Envoy Cui, are you mistaken? Tianhuo Mountain is shrouded in perpetual mountain fires and is unsuitable for ordinary people to survive."
Divine Envoy Cui snorted, "Are you ordinary people?"
Ning Changchao was rendered speechless.
From the day they were brought to the divine temple, someone had been responsible for teaching them cultivation. They were now all cultivators, of course, not ordinary people.
Divine Envoy Cui's cold gaze swept over the crowd, quickly retracting before it met Bai Shengyi's. He then turned to Ning Changchao and berated him, "Think with your brain before asking questions in the future! Don't use a pig's head to think!"
Because of Divine Envoy Bai's presence, he showed Ning Changchao no mercy.
"Pfft!"
The other Holy Sons also burst into laughter without restraint.
"Alright, I will explain the rules of this selection competition," Divine Envoy Cui said. "There are no time limits or means restrictions. Whoever retrieves ten Heavenly Fire Lotuses from Tianhuo Mountain first wins."
"Master, this person is instigating your own people to fight against each other," Qing Mengteng whispered. "If someone smart doesn't look for Heavenly Fire Lotuses and instead waits to ambush others, wouldn't they win quickly?"
The problem that Qing Mengteng had thought of, everyone else had also considered.
Therefore, when Divine Envoy Cui brought everyone to Tianhuo Mountain and shouted, "The selection begins!", none of the ten people left first.
Divine Envoy Cui had already departed, leaving the guards of the divine temple to guard the outermost perimeter of Tianhuo Mountain, to notify him immediately when the results were out.
Ning Changchao spoke first, "Let's make an agreement. We are all from the same divine temple, so we cannot act like villains and resort to sneak attacks."
He cast a pointed glance at Bai Shengyi and Yao Er.
Bai Shengyi's gaze was indifferent, "Certainly, but will you lead the way and make a Dao oath first?"
"Yes, Ning Changchao, as long as you make a Dao oath first, I will follow immediately," Yao Er said with a playful smile, his sun-kissed, handsome smile hiding his calculations.
The other several people remained silent.
Ning Changchao's face darkened. Just as he was about to speak to Bai Shengyi, he saw Bai Shengyi's cold gaze. He subconsciously recalled what had happened yesterday.
"Ugh!" Ning Changchao continuously wiped his lips, feeling the pain all over his body surge back.
Yao Er's face instantly changed, and he jumped far away.
His appearance, covering his mouth as if about to vomit, startled several Divine Maidens.
"Are you... alright?"
"We're fine. What could be wrong with us?" a Holy Son dressed in blue stepped forward and said to the Divine Maiden who had spoken, "Hongyao, let's go. There's no need to waste time here."
"I'm leaving too."
In just a moment, everyone tacitly chose different directions and left one after another, none of them showing Ning Changchao any respect.
Ning Changchao stood there, retching, like a joke.
"Heh! Some people always want to be the boss, but they don't even look at what they're relying on! Is it because your mouth is redder than everyone else's?" Yao Er snorted and walked past Ning Changchao.
Because Ning Changchao kept wiping his lips, the skin was already broken, looking disgusting and sticky.
Ning Changchao clenched and unclenched his fists tightly, lowered his voice, and said sarcastically, "It's better than someone who tries to sow discord, fails to achieve their goal, and gets dealt with instead."
"Ning Changchao!"
Yao Er angrily wanted to demand an explanation, but he saw that Ning Changchao had already summoned a spiritual beast and was riding it, quickly flying away.
Damn it, he forgot that Ning Changchao had a contract with a Swift Wind Beast.
With this thought, Yao Er immediately headed into the mountain.
Tianhuo Mountain resembled rising flames, composed of countless small peaks.
These peaks clustered together, and from the center towards the tip, their color became increasingly red.
As Bai Shengyi reached the summit of a small peak, she was met with a rush of scorching heat.
"Such dense fire elemental energy," Bai Shengyi exclaimed.
She had thought that the spiritual energy of the Green Glory Minor World only contained wood elements.
Qing Mengteng was listless and said weakly, "Master, we are the first to reach the mountain peak. The fire energy here is so strong, it's likely there is divine fire."
"We'll know when we go see."
Without hesitation, Bai Shengyi snapped her fingers, and a cluster of bright red flames shot from her fingertips, flying towards the center of Tianhuo Mountain.
With the Radiant Sun Crimson Fire leading the way, Bai Shengyi immediately followed.
The closer she got to the center, the more desolate the surroundings became. Upon reaching her destination, all Bai Shengyi could see were rocks.
"Master, there's a cave ahead!" Qing Mengteng whispered.
Bai Shengyi looked over and saw rolling heat waves of bright red spewing from the cave entrance. As the heat waves passed, the remaining stones at the cave entrance turned to ash.
The Radiant Sun Crimson Fire flew out from the cave, circled Bai Shengyi, and then drifted inside.
"It seems to be truly divine fire."
Bai Shengyi followed behind the Radiant Sun Crimson Fire. The divine fire inside had clearly sensed an intruder encroaching on its territory, and suddenly unleashed even more surging and intense heat waves than before.
Bai Shengyi waved her hand, and a barrier made of flames appeared before her, steadily blocking the heat waves.
Not only that, but the barrier even completely isolated the heat of the flames.
Perhaps sensing a similar energy, the heat wave did not immediately recede. Instead, it suddenly transformed into the shape of a flower and landed lightly on Bai Shengyi's barrier, as if questioning why Bai Shengyi was unharmed.
"This fire..."
Bai Shengyi's gaze deepened. Before she could finish speaking, she heard Qing Mengteng's weak voice.
"Master, I can't anymore. I'm going to sleep for a while. This flame is making me very uncomfortable..."
Before he could finish speaking, he fell into a deep sleep.
Bai Shengyi frowned.
Because Qing Mengteng's main body was a spirit-eating wood, its appetite for spiritual items outweighed its fear of them. Furthermore, it was possible that because she, as its contracted master, had also contracted other divine fires, Qing Mengteng's reaction to the Radiant Sun Crimson Fire had not been this intense before. This made her overlook the fact that fire counters wood.
Bai Shengyi worriedly touched Qing Mengteng's small leaves and sent some of her own wood spiritual energy to it.
The cave was very deep, going all the way down. After walking for a while longer, Bai Shengyi reached the lowest level and saw piles of white bones, as well as scorching lava that churned like waves.
On the rock walls above the lava, clusters of crystal-clear red lotuses hung upside down, beautiful and alluring.
"Heavenly Fire Lotuses."
Bai Shengyi curved her lips into a smile. With a wave of her hand, she prepared to complete the mission first.
As soon as she touched a lotus petal, she heard a "whoosh," and a stream of lava rushed towards her like waves crashing against rocks!
Fortunately, Bai Shengyi was prepared.
With a light spin in mid-air, she immediately picked a Heavenly Fire Lotus. Then, with a backflip, she landed steadily, and the Radiant Sun Crimson Fire barrier shifted its direction to block in front of her.
Not a single drop of lava touched her.
Easily, a Heavenly Fire Lotus was in hand.
At that moment, a confused and wronged voice sounded from within the lava.
"Human, didn't you yourselves say that taking something without asking is stealing? Are you going to steal my things?"