Nether Poison Flame

"Hey, don't leave yet. Although I don't know what Heavenly Flames are, our Cartography Pavilion really does have a map related to them. I once heard the Pavilion Master and stewards mention that map."

"If you want to take a look, I can help apply to have it taken out of the Fragmented Map Repository."

Seeing that she spoke so convincingly and did not seem to be lying, Xiao Ming hesitated.

To be honest, the possibility of this Heavenly Flame Map being genuine was truly too low.

After all, if it were real, it would likely have been sent to Eight Gates' annual auction long ago instead of gathering dust in the Cartography Pavilion's warehouse.

There were quite a few alchemists in the Black Corner Region. Given their obsession with Heavenly Flames, a map with a definite location would never lack buyers.

But what was happening now? A Female Guide was actually trying to sell him this map. Judging by how practiced she was at it, she had probably done this plenty of times before.

Yet the map was still here, which explained a great deal.

Either they had copied many versions of this map, or it was severely incomplete—or it was simply fake.

Thus, Xiao Ming was somewhat uninterested. Still, he had nothing better to do, and taking a look would not hurt.

So Xiao Ming agreed to the Female Guide's request.

Seeing that Xiao Ming was willing to stay and have a look, the Female Guide became excited.

After giving a brief instruction, she hurried away.

Xiao Ming returned to the counter, found a chair, and sat down.

After waiting for about fifteen minutes, just as Xiao Ming was growing impatient and wondering whether he should leave, the woman rushed out from the back room and ran up to him.

Behind her followed a kindly old man with a smiling face.

"Sorry, Eldest Brother, for making you wait so long."

"It's fine. And this is?"

Seeing that Xiao Ming did not hold it against her and instead asked about the steward behind her, the woman was just about to introduce him when the steward spoke first.

"Hehe, I presume this gentleman is the one who wishes to purchase our pavilion's Heavenly Flame map? I am a steward of the Cartography Pavilion. You may call me Steward Bai. Matters concerning the Heavenly Flame Map fall under my authority."

Seeing this, the guide, whose words had been interrupted, had no choice but to close her mouth and retreat to the side, leaving the two of them space.

Xiao Ming sized up the old man who called himself Steward Bai. His Soul Power told him that Steward Bai was not stronger than him, so he did not pay much attention.

He only wanted to look at the map anyway. Having Steward Bai here made no difference, so he nodded and said,

"That's right. Where is the Heavenly Flame Map I wanted to see?"

Hearing Xiao Ming's question, Steward Bai did not immediately take out the map. Instead, he smiled leisurely and said,

"No rush. The Heavenly Flame Map is the treasure of our pavilion. Its price is quite considerable. I wonder about Your Excellency's strength... hehe."

Steward Bai's meaning was very obvious. The map was expensive, so if Xiao Ming had no money, he should not bother looking.

Treasure of the pavilion? Did he take me for a three-year-old child? What kind of pavilion treasure was not enshrined away, but instead hawked by guides every day?

Beneath his black robe, Xiao Ming remained expressionless as he impatiently opened his mouth.

"If the map is real, I should be able to scrape together some money. Besides, your map is Not Necessarily genuine, or it Would Not Have still been sitting here." As he spoke, Xiao Ming slightly revealed his aura. Ordinary Da Dou Shi cultivators generally had some wealth.

Sensing Xiao Ming's Da Dou Shi aura and hearing his blunt words, Steward Bai did not get angry. He still wore a smiling expression. After all, people in the Black Corner Region had hot tempers. This was nothing.

Moreover, To Be Honest, the black-robed Da Dou Shi was not wrong. There was indeed something wrong with that map.

"Hehe, my words just now were somewhat offensive. Please forgive me. This is the Heavenly Flame Remnant Map. Please examine it."

A flash of white light appeared In Their Hands of Steward Bai, and a green map Appeared Before In Their Hands before he Handed To Xiao Ming.

"This is the Heavenly Flame Remnant Map?"

Xiao Ming stared blankly at the map Before Their Eyes, which was only the size of two palms.

There were obvious signs of damage around the edges of the map. That was fine, since it was a remnant map, but the lines on the map were rather unclear.

The various detailed annotations were also indistinct. Most Important of all, a map only two palms in size contained far too little information. The surviving portion was clearly only a small part of the original map. Although a flame symbol on it proved that this was the map's core section, that was useless.

Because he could not even find the exact location. What was the point of knowing where the core section was? What difference was there between having this map and not having it?

For this thing, what were you putting on airs for just now?

Xiao Ming could not help rolling his eyes. "Steward Bai, I would like to know where you obtained this map. Do you know what place this map depicts? And what Heavenly Flame is it a map of?"

Steward Bai also knew that the Heavenly Flame Map was far too incomplete. Somewhat embarrassed, he said, "This map was actually obtained by our Pavilion Master by chance in a Cave Mansion. It was already damaged beyond recognition at the time. According to the records in the Cave Mansion, this should be a place called Netherworld Marsh. As for where Netherworld Marsh is, I'm Not Clear. Oh, and this Heavenly Flame seems to be called Nether Poison Flame."

"Nether Poison Flame?"

No wonder this map could not be sold, Xiao Ming thought to himself.

Leaving aside how incomplete the map was, the flame itself was also a problem. Nether Poison Flame was a Heavenly Flame ranked twentieth on the Heavenly Flame Ranking. It was said to be a flame that existed within the ancient Netherworld Poison Marsh.

After being steeped for tens of millions of years in the sky-covering Poison Miasma of the marsh, the flame devoured endless poisonous miasma. It developed intelligence after a hundred years and took shape after a thousand. Once fully matured, it took on a greenish hue, like ghost fire drifting through the marsh's poisonous haze.

Since this flame had gained intelligence after being nourished by Poison Miasma, it was highly toxic. So long as someone was touched by even a spark for a moment, they would be afflicted by a deadly poison, let alone attempt to devour and fuse with it! Precisely because of this, unless someone was tired of living, no one would seek this Heavenly Flame. As a result, few people even knew of its existence.

Xiao Ming even dared to say that people might possess other types of Heavenly Flames somewhere on the Dou Qi Continent, but absolutely no one could possess this poison flame. No normal person could withstand it. Even Poison Masters who specialized in cultivating Poison Dou Qi could not handle this thing.

Xiao Ming even felt that Xiao Yan and Han Feng from the Original Work, both of whom cultivated the Flame Mantra, would not set their sights on this Heavenly Flame. This fire was simply too treacherous and completely unsuitable for alchemists. Who would use this fire to refine medicine? What they produced would probably be poison.

Apparently misunderstanding the reason for Xiao Ming's silence, Steward Bai said anxiously, "This Heavenly Flame Map is absolutely genuine, with no deception whatsoever. It was even verified by Eight Gates' auction."

"Then why wasn't it auctioned off?" Xiao Ming asked in return.

Wasn't it because Nether Poison Flame had no market?

Steward Bai fell silent and did not say those words aloud.

To Be Honest, if he could, he would not even want to reveal which Heavenly Flame the map recorded.

After all, no normal person would seek this flame. Yet if he did not reveal that piece of information, no one would buy the map given how incomplete it was. As for only giving the location without naming the Heavenly Flame and deceiving someone into buying it, that was even more impossible.

People were not fools. If he merely mentioned Netherworld Marsh, anyone with even a little knowledge of Heavenly Flames would know that this was no ordinary fire.

Just As Steward Bai thought this deal was about to fall through, Xiao Ming spoke.

"I'll buy this map. Name your price."

"You want to buy it?" Steward Bai was overjoyed. He Didn't Expect that someone would still want to buy it after learning what Heavenly Flame it was. Did Xiao Ming have too much money?

"Mm. How much?"

Of course, Xiao Ming did not have too much money. Judging from the material, the map had indeed existed for quite some time. From that perspective, it was likely genuine.

If it was genuine, then it held some value for Xiao Ming. Although the map was extremely incomplete and it would be very difficult to find the real location,

Xiao Ming had the Simulator. After buying it, he would definitely keep an eye out for clues. Perhaps in one of his simulated lives, he might find it.

At worst, he could also gain another Heavenly Flame entry.

As for the fact that Nether Poison Flame was extremely troublesome, that was only a minor issue to him.

He would not devour this flame personally. Ling could devour it instead.

Whatever Ling devoured would not affect him at all. For example, Green Rock Profound Water possessed corrosive properties, but after Ling devoured it, Xiao Ming's Dou Qi remained his original fire-attributed Dou Qi without the slightest change.

Of course, if Xiao Ming wanted to possess that corrosive property, he Can Also do so. He merely needed to control Ling and have Ling share it with him.

To put it plainly, the traits Ling possessed after devouring something were like removable buffs for Xiao Ming. Moreover, for Ling, those buffs could also be equipped and removed quite freely.

Thanks to readers 20171108014246811, Red is the Best, and 1349668378849746944 for their Monthly Passes. Thanks, everyone, for the Recommendation Tickets.