As they stood there, challenging Zen in the confirmation test, the fire spirit flew around them with its
golden, radiant body circling above as if it was a rainbow that fell upon them creating a beautiful sight
to behold. Upon sensing antagonism in the atmosphere, the bird flew down and rested in the woman's
palm. Tilting its head sideways, the bird watched Zen with its clean, golden eyes and chirped as if it
could read its owner's mind and it too was terrorizing Zen.
Despite the test, the woman herself attracted Zen's attention all the more.
He never once expected to come across such a mysterious, powerful woman with a fire spirit in her
possession in the Imperial Capital. 'Who could she possibly be? How has she hidden in Weapon
Pavilion for so long without anyone ever noticing her capability and strength? Although she looks
merely 20-year-old, but seeing the fire spirit acting so docile towards her, she could never be a
common citizen. And moreover, how am I unable to detect her strength as I have always been able to
with other people?
Such an extraordinary person who owns a fire spirit? I doubt even Cloud Sect would be able to raise
such a capable person, ' Zen contemplated in his heart as he looked with an absorbed expression at
the bird.
Nonetheless, Zen was exceedingly confident about his ability to display his fire in front of the mighty
woman. He smiled vaguely and inquired, "So your proposal means that, if I could show you the fire,
then you will give me the sword without any other strings attached?"
The woman smiled again and shook her head to express disapproval. "It wouldn't be that easy. You first
need to prove yourself and that does not mean that you simply need to show me your fire. You know
Chase, right? You don't really expect me to disappoint him, do you? If what you are going to display is
just an ordinary fire, then I am sorry, you are not qualified and worthy, and I am not allowed to give the
sword to you. Who knows what you will refine the sword into when you have no capability at all? Maybe
a top grade spiritual weapon, or maybe your ability only allows you to refine it into a medium grade
spiritual weapon. If that is the case, I will fail Chase and his entire life's hard work and effort will vanish
into thin air. That is the last thing I want," she said, staring right into Zen's eyes.
A contemptuous smile came across Zen's face. He walked up to Manager Qi who had been intently
listening to their conversation and politely requested, "I am sorry, can you excuse us for a few
minutes?"
Manager Qi was taken aback a little at first by his sudden request, but then in an instant, he exchanged
an understanding look and retreated off silently obliging humbly. After being in business for so many
years, he clearly knew that as much as he was filled with curiosity and eager to find out about Zen's
true capability, comparing to his own pure curiosity, business always came first.
After Manager Qi left the chamber and the door was closed, the test officially began. Zen closed his
eyes and started to make a connection with the giant furnace in his mind.
Within a short moment, a flame of black fire came spitting out, right from the middle of his brows, and
began floating about in front of him.
It was evident that this fire would create a rise in temperature or even bring heat to the surroundings.
And it was not easy for any kind of fire to withhold its heat inside. Even the fire spirit, though it had
contained most of its heat inward, was not able to restrict it completely. It was just because that woman
was an extraordinary person who could prevail over heat, then the bird could be able to rest in her palm
without burning her. Otherwise, she could have suffered serious burns just by being so close to the fire
spirit.
However, to their astonishment, the fire that Zen summoned out from his body was in complete dark
colour exhibiting no sign of heat inside. It was as if a small phantom was floating, swaying around them
and was trying to send across a message.
Within seconds, the black fire not only terrorized the woman, but also horrified the fire spirit. The
moment the black fire came out, the fire spirit started to react in a rather odd manner with weird motion
that the woman had never seen it exhibit before. Apparently, it had encountered a strong and powerful
opponent this time. Its body began to shiver, its feathers all erected up, and flames of fires ejected from
its mouth.
For a moment, the woman stood stone cold there in perfect silence. In her heart, she sensed the strong
and profound power of the black fire swaying in the air between them. Her mind contemplated over the
situation that she was caught in. She lost confidence that her fire spirit could power over the mysterious
and rather cool black fire.
Once the fire spirit sensed its owner's fear, the terror in its heart intensified and it suddenly stopped
emitting fire from its mouth. Then in an instant, he flew off and circled in the air for a few turns with
hastened and tense flapping wings before finally swooping down and hiding back in the furnace again.
"This fire that you summoned out..." The woman started speaking rather discreetly as she asked, "Is it
a fire spirit?"
Upon hearing her enquire, Zen did not answer at once. Instead, he watched his black fire that circled
around in the air for a few more moments. And then again, he closed his eyes and recalled it back into
his body. As the fire spirit had already admitted its inferiority to his black fire, there was no need to have
the black fire wandering around any longer exemplifying his power. In all honesty, Zen did not have
absolute control over the black fire at the moment. It came out partly because it was hungry and tried to
find some prey.
The black fire had a wide range choice for food. In addition to its choice of devouring weapons, other
fires could also be its food.
But after all, a fire spirit could never be a prey that it could often see, let alone get. Seeing the living,
delicious fire spirit sitting across, it had been waiting eagerly to rush to his battle. However, to its
disappointment, before it could chase after the fire spirit, Zen had already ordered it back.
The black fire had no choice but to obey him as Zen's body was its home that it must inhabit peacefully.
And also, it was smart to know that as long as it lived in his body, Zen would provide food and shelter to
look out for it. So after circling around in the air hesitantly for a short time, while lusting over the bird, it
finally came down and disappeared into the middle of Zen's brows upon receiving the command.
After the test was completed, Zen turned to the woman who was still standing all frozen and numb with
her mouth partially opened wide in shock as to what she had just witnessed. "I cannot say that it is a
fire spirit. I am not certain myself either. But anyway, you saw the result. So I hope now you will fulfill
our agreement that we decided upon," he reminded politely.
However, the woman remained silent. It was clear that she still needed some time to recover from the
shock she received from witnessing the majestic black fire. So for a while, standing in a trance-like
state, her mind was arrested by the thought about that black fire.
In the past, she had encountered a number of different fires and fire spirits. But nothing she had seen
could even compare to this one and part of the shock came because she least expected to see it
coming from this young man. According to her vast experience and knowledge about fires, it was not
the disruptive strength and ability of releasing heat that defined their capability. On the contrary, it was
the ability to introvert its heat inward that defined their power. The cooler, the stronger!
If a fire spirit had the ability to fly close over the wood without igniting it, then it was considered a strong
and powerful fire.
62fb1bb41dcb31934bd49bda