While Little Green was still talking to Su Jiu, quite a few disciples were already beginning to falter.
Their meridians did not begin to rupture as Su Jiu had imagined, however. Instead, their skin underwent a slight change.
Red markings appeared on their skin, growing from faint to distinct, as though they had sprouted from beneath their flesh.
The red markings took the shape of flames. Before long, they covered every inch of skin, including their exposed necks, faces, and hands.
The flames looked somewhat strange. Rather than the shapes ordinary people recognized, they resembled flowers of flame blooming across the skin. Each flower had not one tongue of flame, but five, arranged rather unevenly.
In other words, each flower of flame had a single root and five tongues of flame.
"It really is the Vermilion Bird sacred flame." Little Green said this to Su Jiu alone, confirming its earlier suspicion.
"Could the Vermilion Bird really still be alive...?"
"Whether it's still alive or not, I'm afraid we'll only know once we've seen it with our own eyes."
Su Jiu nodded. "Never mind. Dealing with what's in front of us comes first. So, do you have any way to draw the fire spiritual qi out of their bodies?"
Little Green flew up from Su Jiu's wrist. "I thought you weren't going to ask me for help..."
As it spoke, Little Green had already left Su Jiu's wrist. Its tiny, weightless body made a single circuit through the air, scattering a shower of green motes.
The green motes then burrowed into the cultivators' skin. The red markings slowly began to fade, and Little Green returned to Su Jiu's wrist.
"Is that your ability?"
Little Green sounded rather pleased with itself. "One of my abilities. Since the four of us are special