Nether Poison Flame

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

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

Seeing that she spoke with such conviction and did not seem to be deceiving him, Xiao Ming hesitated.

Honestly, the chances of this Heavenly Flame Map being genuine were far too low.

After all, if it were real, it would probably have been sent to the 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 Alchemists' obsession with Heavenly Flames, a confirmed map like this would never lack buyers.

But what was the situation now? A female sales clerk was actually trying to sell him this map. Judging from how practiced she was at pitching it, she must have done this plenty of times before.

Yet the map was still here. That alone said a great deal.

Either they had copied it countless times, it was severely incomplete, or it was simply fake.

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

Thus, Xiao Ming agreed to the sales clerk's request.

Seeing that Xiao Ming was willing to stay and have a look, the sales clerk grew excited.

After giving a brief instruction, she hurried away.

Xiao Ming returned to the counter and found a chair to sit in.

He waited for nearly a quarter of an hour. Just as he was growing impatient and wondering whether he should leave, the woman hurried out from the back and ran up to him.

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

"Sorry, sir, for keeping you waiting so long."

"It's fine. And this is?"

Seeing that Xiao Ming was not offended and had instead asked about the steward behind her, the woman was about to introduce him when the steward spoke first.

"Hehe, I presume you are the gentleman 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 responsibility."

Having been interrupted, the sales clerk had no choice but to fall silent and retreat to the side, leaving the two of them room to speak.

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

He only wanted to look at the map anyway. Having Steward Bai present made little difference, so he nodded.

"Yes. Where is the Heavenly Flame Map I wanted to see?"

Upon hearing Xiao Ming's question, Steward Bai did not immediately produce the map. Instead, he smiled leisurely and said, "No rush. The Heavenly Flame Map is the treasured heirloom of our pavilion, and its price is not low. I wonder about your strength, sir... hehe."

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

Treasured heirloom of the pavilion? Did he take him for a three-year-old? What sort of pavilion's treasure was peddled by sales clerks every day instead of being displayed reverently?

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

"If the map is real, I should be able to scrape together some money. Besides, your map may not even be genuine, or it would not still be here." As he spoke, Xiao Ming released a trace of his aura. Ordinary Da Dou Shi usually had some savings.

Feeling Xiao Ming's Da Dou Shi aura, Steward Bai was not angered by his blunt words. He still wore a smiling expression. After all, people in the Black Corner Region were rather hot-tempered. This was nothing.

Besides, to be honest, the black-robed Da Dou Shi was right. There was indeed something wrong with that map.

"Hehe, my words earlier were somewhat offensive. I hope you will forgive me. This is the Heavenly Flame Remnant Map. Please take a look."

A flash of white light appeared in Steward Bai's hand, and a green map materialized there. He then handed it to Xiao Ming.

"This is the Heavenly Flame Remnant Map?"

Xiao Ming was rather dumbfounded as he looked at the map, which was only about the size of two palms.

The map's edges bore obvious signs of damage. That was understandable, since it was a Fragment Map, but the lines on it were somewhat unclear.

The various detailed markings were also not very legible. Most importantly, the tiny two-palm-sized piece of paper contained far too little information. The surviving piece was clearly only a small portion of the full map. Though a flame symbol on it proved that this was the map's core section, that was useless.

Because if one could not even find the exact location, what was the use of knowing which part was the core? What difference was there between having this map and not having it?

For this thing, what had he been putting on airs for earlier?

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

Steward Bai also knew that the Heavenly Flame Map was a little too incomplete. Somewhat awkwardly, he said, "Our Pavilion Master actually obtained this map 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 the Netherworld Marsh. As for where the Netherworld Marsh is, I do not know. Oh, and this Heavenly Flame seems to be called the Nether Poison Flame."

"Nether Poison Flame?"

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

Leaving aside how incomplete the map was, the flame itself was also problematic. The 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 Shrouding the Heavens Poison Miasma of the poison marsh, the flame devoured endless poisonous miasma. It gained spirit after a hundred years and took shape after a thousand. Once fully matured, it became greenish in color, like ghostly fire drifting through the poisonous miasma.

Because this flame had been nurtured into spirit by Poison Miasma and contained intense poison, merely touching a spark of it would leave one poisoned. Devouring and fusing with it was even more out of the question! For that very reason, unless someone was tired of living, no one would seek out this Heavenly Flame. As a result, few people even knew of its existence.

Xiao Ming even dared say that while someone might possess other types of Heavenly Flames somewhere on the entire Dou Qi Continent, absolutely no one could possess this poison flame. No normal person could withstand it; even Poison Masters who specifically cultivated Poison Dou Qi could not handle the 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 flame was simply too treacherous and completely unsuitable for Alchemists. Who would use it to refine medicine? What they refined would probably be poison.

Apparently misunderstanding the reason for Xiao Ming's silence, Steward Bai said anxiously, "This Heavenly Flame Map is absolutely genuine. We would never deceive customers. It was even authenticated at an Eight Gates auction."

"Then why wasn't it auctioned off?" Xiao Ming countered.

Was it not because the Nether Poison Flame had no market?

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

Honestly, if he could, he would not even want to reveal which Heavenly Flame this map recorded.

After all, no normal person would seek out this flame. But if he did not provide that bit of information, no one would buy the map given how incomplete it was. As for giving only a location while hiding the Heavenly Flame's name in order to trick someone into buying it, that was even less possible.

Others were not fools. The moment he mentioned the Netherworld Marsh, anyone with even a little knowledge of Heavenly Flames would know that this was no ordinary flame.

Just as Steward Bai thought the 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 had never expected that someone would still want to buy it after learning which Heavenly Flame it was. Was this man so rich that he disliked having too much money?

"Yes. How much?"

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

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

But did he not have the Life Simulation Simulator? After buying it, he would definitely keep an eye out for it. Perhaps in one of his Life Simulations, he would find it.

At worst, it would give him another Heavenly Flame entry.

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

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

Anything Ling devoured would have no effect on him. Just like how Green Rock Profound Water was corrosive, yet 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 that corrosive trait, he could have Ling share it with him.

Put simply, the traits Ling possessed after Devouring something were like removable buffs to Xiao Ming, and for Ling itself, these buffs could also be equipped and removed with considerable freedom.