Fragmentary Map and a Girl

Gu Xia walked toward the skeleton. With his powerful soul force, he noticed that there seemed to be something unusual about it.

Ignoring the three keys in the skeleton's hand, Gu Xia focused instead on the bone arm from which the keys hung. He noticed that something seemed to be lodged within the cracks of that arm...

"What is this?"

Gu Xia tore off the skeleton's arm and found an ancient-looking piece of parchment. After examining it, he confirmed that it was the fragmentary map marked with the Pure Lotus Demon Flame from the original work!

I remember this Heavenly Flame seemed to have gained sentience, and it seemed pretty powerful...

Gu Xia recalled the Pure Lotus Demon Flame's storyline from the original work and realized that he seemed able to subdue this flame himself! The Pure Lotus Demon Flame was merely at the Dou Saint level. As a top-tier Dou Emperor, Gu Xia could naturally teach it how to be a proper flame with ease...

"Unfortunately, I don't remember where that Demon Flame Space is. Otherwise, I'd like to test the power of the legendary third-ranked Heavenly Flame."

Gu Xia shook his head and casually tossed the fragmentary map into his storage ring. After gathering some rare spiritual herbs and taking all the items, Gu Xia swept the place with his gaze once more. Once he was certain nothing had been left behind, he brought Little Flower and the others back up the cliff...

"Hmm, there's an Ice Spirit Flame Grass. Not bad." Gu Xia took stock of his gains this time. Setting aside that fragmentary map, the most useful things were several rare medicinal herbs. After all, his journey as an alchemist had only just begun, and the more medicinal herbs he had, the better.

"Wait, although I can't go subdue the Pure Lotus Demon Flame right now, I can go after other Heavenly Flames! Why do I need to trouble that big lion?"

On second thought, wasn't he a Dou Emperor? Why not just subdue a Heavenly Flame directly? Why insist on finding a beast flame?

"I may not know where the Pure Lotus Demon Flame is, but I know the approximate location of the Green Lotus Core Flame! Why am I even looking for a beast flame?"

Gu Xia had fallen into a misconception before due to the influence of the original work. He had subconsciously believed that the Green Lotus Core Flame belonged to Xiao Yan, causing him to overlook its existence. This time, after accidentally taking an opportunity that had originally belonged to Xiao Yan and the Little Fairy Doctor, he suddenly realized: why not simply snatch Xiao Yan's Heavenly Flame? Why leave it for him?

"I nearly forgot—I'm part of this world too. Why leave good things for others to take? Wouldn't it be better to take them myself?"

Having suddenly figured it out, Gu Xia had, at that moment, truly integrated into this world of Dou Qi. He no longer viewed this world as an observer...

"Hey! Does that mean I can marry my little sister? After all, I'm the one gathering herbs and refining medicine for her now!"

That was right. This time, it was Gu Xia, not Xiao Yan, who was helping Xun'er nourish her meridians! When he had first arrived at the Xiao Clan, he noticed that something seemed to be wrong with his little sister's body.

Taking another chance while they were playing, he had quietly examined Xun'er's body. He discovered that a trace of the Golden Emperor Burning Sky Flame's mark was scorching Xun'er's meridians. The Golden Emperor Burning Sky Flame was making her adapt to it in preparation for subduing it in the future!

Gu Yuan and the others should have known about this as well, yet they had not intervened. That made things rather thought-provoking.

There was no helping it. Since Gu Cheng and the others had chosen to pretend they had not seen it, Gu Xia could only act himself. After all, Xun'er becoming like this had something to do with him too, hadn't it?

"Sigh, what was I thinking back then? Why did I slap away such a ridiculously powerful Heavenly Flame? I really was an idiot..."

Remembering his "brilliant" move at the inheritance site, Gu Xia wanted nothing more than to slap himself.

Back then, he had acted entirely on an infant's instincts. How could he have known that after entering his body, the Golden Emperor Burning Sky Flame would gradually alter it? Driven by an infant's instinct for self-preservation, he had grandly slapped away the fourth-ranked Heavenly Flame!

"Now look at me.

I have to dig through sand like some miserable fool just to find a Heavenly Flame. Why am I such an idiot..." He had rejected what was handed to him for free and insisted on foolishly searching for one himself! And the one he found was not even as strong as the one he had been given for free. What kind of sin was this...

"Forget it. No Heavenly Flame, but an extra little sister isn't bad either..."

Gu Xia stopped dwelling on the Heavenly Flame issue. What was past was past. If one Heavenly Flame was gone, he could simply find another. Wasn't that third-ranked demon flame still there? No need to panic. Before the demon flame emerged, he could make do with the Green Lotus Core Flame...

"Fine, I'll find some time to dig through sand next time. That thing hasn't formed yet anyway, so there's no rush..."

After planning his next destination, Gu Xia mounted Little Flower. With a casual wave, he tore open a spatial rift. Once Little Flower carried Gu Xia into it, the rift slowly closed and finally vanished, as though it had never existed...

After Gu Xia and the others left, a giant eagle emerged from the clouds overhead. Sitting atop it was a woman dressed in a pale white gown. Though not breathtakingly beautiful, she was still a rare beauty, and her plain, fresh attire gave her an airy, ethereal aura.

Looking down at the place where Gu Xia's group had vanished, the woman patted the modest swell of her chest in lingering fear and began speaking with her mount...

"Little Lan, who do you think that young master was? He actually had a third-tier Wind Howling Tiger as a mount..."

The giant eagle called Little Lan merely chirped. Having only recently gained spiritual intelligence, it could not yet understand what its master was saying. After all, not everyone was a bastard like Gu Xia with maxed-out beast language skills...

"I wonder whether he took everything from the cave."

"If he took it all, what would you do?"

"What else could I do? I'd just have to accept my bad luck. I can't afford to provoke him..."

"Oh, so that's how it is. I thought you would seek revenge on him."

"I'd like to, but I don't even know where that guy is. Besides, his strength isn't something I can take revenge against. What if he catches me and makes me his maid..."

"Hmm, that sounds like a pretty good idea..."

The girl: "???"

Finally realizing that something was wrong, the woman hurriedly turned around. She discovered that the figure who should have left had somehow appeared soundlessly behind her. He had been speaking with her for so long, yet she had not noticed him at all!

"Ah!!! You!... You! Didn't you leave?!"

"Hehe. Rather than that, shouldn't you be more worried about yourself?"

Gu Xia looked at the girl's figure, which had already begun to blossom, and suddenly revealed an evil smile...

"You!... You!... What are you going to do?"

The girl watched as that certain someone wore an expression every man understood and steadily approached her. Little Lan seemed to have fallen asleep; no matter how she signaled it, it gave no response. Thus, on that small eagle's back, the girl could only tremble like a little lamb as she watched someone who was about to turn into a wolf...

"Heh heh heh, what am I going to do? A lone man and woman in these remote mountains—what do you think I'm going to do..."

"Y-you... don't come any closer! Help!"

"Hahaha—cough, cough. Scream all you want. Even if you scream your throat raw, no one will come save you. Little beauty, just obediently accept your fate..."

Having accidentally exposed his true nature, Gu Xia approached the beautiful girl, who had nowhere left to retreat, with a lecherous grin. It looked as though what came next would probably be rather inappropriate for children...

"Ah!..."

Seeing that there was nowhere left to retreat, the girl closed her eyes and prepared to accept her fate.

Once she accepted the "fact" that she was about to become an adult, she unexpectedly calmed down. To her surprise, she discovered that she did not actually dislike the thought of doing something embarrassing with this handsome young master, whose whole demeanor had gone seriously off the rails!

She even wondered whether she might as well stay with him from then on. She had even thought of names for their children!

But the words she heard next made her stop thinking altogether...

Their protagonist wore an expression of pure greed—no, lust—and said two words in an extremely serious tone!

"Robbery! Hand over your money to this young master!"

"Huh? ╭(°A°`)╮ Completely dumbfounded..."