Heavenly Fire Venerable readily agreed to Xiao Yan's proposal. Aside from the fact that the terms of the deal hardly seemed excessive to him, he had little choice in his current state. His soul was on the verge of scattering-what else could he do? Even the worst outcome would still beat dropping dead on the spot, right?
On the way back, Heavenly Fire Venerable also told Xiao Yan how he had fallen into such a miserable state. He had been the previous owner of the fallen heart flame within Xiao Yan's body. After discovering a heavenly flame seed of another fallen heart flame in the magma, he had intended to devour it as well with his formidable fire-control skills. Instead, he suffered a backlash, then came under attack from those Flame Lizardmen in the process. That streak of rotten luck had cost him both his life and his cultivation.
Simply put, he was an upgraded version of Hai Bodong: he had found a treasure somewhere, only to draw an attack from stronger foes. What made his fate even more miserable than Hai Bodong's was that he had never even gotten a chance to escape. He had died outright from his grievous injuries. Had he not been proficient in spatial power, even his remains would likely have been dragged off and desecrated by the lizardmen.
Xiao Yan expressed great sympathy for Heavenly Fire Venerable's plight, then promptly packed up his corpse as well. The old fellow was dead anyway, so he might as well keep it and put the waste to good use.
After leaving the underground magma, Xiao Yan handed the infant fallen heart flame he had found to Great Elder Su Qian. It was of no use to him for the time being, so he might as well earn