When the three of them reached the area where the Heavenly Flame had been, they found exactly what Yao Lao had expected: only a green lotus seedpod remained.
"It really has been taken! What do we do now? Are we going to lose our chance at the Heavenly Flame?"
Xiao Yan looked at the empty space above the lotus platform, his spirits sinking. Queen Medusa had crushed them so thoroughly yesterday-how could they possibly snatch the Heavenly Flame from her today?
Han Chen, on the other hand, lit up with delight when he saw that the lotus platform was indeed still there.
He swam over faster, cut the entire stone platform free from the ground, and stored it in another of his Storage Rings.
He wasn't sure whether the lotus platform could survive once separated from the stone.
After all, although it had roots, he didn't know whether it counted as a plant. The safest method was to take the surrounding soil along with it.
Besides, the lotus platform had previously held a Heavenly Flame. If he stuffed it into his usual Ring of Holding and it burned everything inside to ashes, wouldn't he be screwed? Putting it in another Ring of Holding was safer.
After putting away the lotus platform, he turned around and saw the grave expressions on Xiao Yan's and Yao Lao's faces.
Seeing that Han Chen had accomplished his objective, Xiao Yan immediately forced a smile.
"Congratulations, Brother Han. You finished your task so quickly. Are you heading back now?"
Han Chen knew that, despite those words, Xiao Yan certainly didn't want him to leave just like that.
Snatching a Heavenly Flame from Queen Medusa was already difficult enough. If a powerful ally left now, he would have even less hope.
But he couldn't very well