Among humans, talent was king, while among the other races, bloodline was king. Their bloodlines were divided into common blood, high blood, noble blood, king blood, emperor blood, and sovereign blood.
"Other races" was a collective term encompassing thousands upon thousands of different kinds. The Ghost Goat Demon God, for example, belonged to the broad category of demons.
From the day they were born, their future paths were largely set. The demon race, for instance, had innate talents for fire and the physical body.
The Fire and Flame Mystic Realm was used to gather flames, so demons and their kind made up half of the more than one hundred members of the other races gathered here.
The strength of a member of the other races' bloodline could also be judged by appearance: the more human he looked, the stronger it was.
A glance revealed black demons more than three meters tall, with wings and grotesquely distorted facial features.
Yet those demons bowed in submission to the little demons in front of them, who were just over a meter tall, with pale faces and somewhat delicate features.
The Fire and Flame Mystic Realm was slowly taking shape. In about half an hour, it would be possible to enter.
Xiao Fan sat quietly and began considering his objectives for this trip.
He would leave his brother-in-law to his own devices, but he needed to help Xianhuo activate the second stage of the Fire God Saber. The method was simple: find a flame with special properties and use it for tempering.
This tempering was not just for the saber. The person and saber had to be tempered together to produce a resonance, which could give them a chance to unlock the second stage.
Next came his own business.
First, he hoped to break through to Lesser Grandmaster inside the mystic realm. Cultivation was a long road, and speeding it up required piling up vast quantities of resources.
For example, lots of essence blood from the other races.
At that thought, Xiao Fan unobtrusively swept his gaze over the crowd of other races, judging which ones would be easy to bully and which ones he should avoid.
The second thing he needed to do:
Find a powerful flame and absorb it into his arsenal!
He now understood just how important elemental attributes were.
They could even turn a body into flames. That was downright cheating!
If he had not possessed the lightning element, he might really have been helpless against Lin Lianshen yesterday. In the future, there would only be more situations like that!
That was where the strength of the All-Round Walker showed. Although it was a venerable-grade talent, its characteristic was that it granted an intermediate level of affinity for every kind of talent!
That was already quite good for the current Xiao Fan. Once he had the All-Round Great Sage, his affinities would rise another notch!
Finally, Xiao Fan glanced at Wang Qingtian behind him. Wang Qingtian was staring at him murderously and even made a throat-slitting gesture at him.
"Beyond saving," Xiao Fan said calmly.
Just then, a thunderous rumbling came from the mystic realm before them. The churning flames grew increasingly vivid red and solid.
A ripple of spatial power rose. As Xiao Fan watched it, his heart trembled. It seemed that anything entering that space now would be distorted without distinction!
Above them, the Ghost Goat Demon God suddenly produced a short blade and said mildly, "My hands are itching. Care to make a bet?"
The short blade was black and red, like a bloodstained night. It was called Black Blood, a damaged demigod artifact.
Lin Wugui raised an eyebrow. My son-in-law doesn't seem to have a weapon that suits his hand yet, does he?
"Let's bet on whose side has more people come out in the end!" Lin Wugui's storage ring flashed, and a bottle of dark yellow blood appeared. The liquid was viscous, and one could sense the terrifying power it contained.
Seventh-tier king blood.
A flicker of disdain passed through the Ghost Goat Demon God's eyes. "You're betting that against my demigod artifact?"
"And you have the nerve to bring it out?"
Lin Wugui sneered. "Take the bet or leave it. Who doesn't know that Black Blood is actually a pretty ordinary weapon?"
Seeing Lin Wugui about to put the essence blood away, the Ghost Goat Demon God immediately snorted. "You're on!"
Just then, both of them looked up. The spatial vortex had fully formed. The Ghost Goat Demon God lifted a foot and announced loudly, "You can go in now!"
"Remember, every human head is worth a hefty amount of military merit!"
The two hundred or so young geniuses heard his voice, and everyone from the other races was excited.
Lin Wugui showed no weakness either. He said mildly, "Kill one of the other races, and you'll get a bottle of essence blood as a bonus!"
In an instant, the Ghost Goat Demon King and Lin Wugui locked eyes, their killing intent rising.
Elsewhere, Xiao Fan held Lin Xianhuo's arm as they stepped into the spatial vortex and entered the Fire and Flame Mystic Realm!
The teleportation was random, but people holding hands could go together. Lin Lianshen chose to split up from them; otherwise, he feared they would divide the spoils unevenly!
In Lin Lianshen's eyes, his brother-in-law's strength was... passable. He would have no trouble protecting his sister!
Upon entering, Xiao Fan's first impression could be summed up in one word: hot.
Sweat instantly broke out all over his body, faster than he could wipe it away. Everywhere he looked, flames of all sizes surged and erupted. Getting splashed by them would be bad news.
"Are you hot?" Xiao Fan asked, looking at Lin Xianhuo with concern. But she wore a sweet smile, and there was not a drop of sweat on her face. "Not at all. It's really comfortable here!"
"Want me to get you a towel and wipe you down? Wow, you're sweating so much!"
"All right, never mind." Xiao Fan felt helpless and sighed inwardly, Now that's talent!
He then activated the Demon Man Scripture to resist the onslaught of heat.
The two of them began searching for fire seeds: fire-element power that could be absorbed into the body!
But they could not absorb just any fire seed, because each person could absorb only one kind of flame. That was practically an ironclad rule!
Lin Xianhuo had only used ordinary flames up to now because she was waiting for an especially powerful fire seed. Anything else would be a sheer waste!
But just then-
[Ding! Congratulations to the host on activating the elemental fusion mechanism. Absorbed attribute elements can be fused, but only with elements of the same kind!]
Hearing that voice, Xiao Fan felt like laughing.
This system was getting better and better!
Just then, Lin Xianhuo suddenly raised an eyebrow. "Fanfan, I think I can sense a fire seed over there. Let's go take a look!"
"Let's go!" Xiao Fan did not hesitate.
Soon, the two arrived before the fire seed. Xiao Fan, who had read widely, recognized it at a glance.
[Earth fire seed. Rarity: one star. Strength: one star.]
It was in the lowest tier, but he would absorb it first and worry about the rest later!
Xiao Fan walked forward, and Lin Xianhuo asked in surprise, "Fanfan, you're going to absorb earth fire?"
"Isn't that too much of a waste?"
Xiao Fan shook his head and grinned. "I'll let you in on a secret: I can fuse elements!"
"Huh?" Lin Xianhuo was stunned. "What do you mean?"
"Don't tell me you can absorb several kinds of flames and fuse them into something stronger?"
Xiao Fan chuckled. "Clever!"
"I'll help you fuse the strongest fire seed someday!"
"Wow..." Lin Xianhuo's little mouth fell open, and her eyes were full of disbelief. How was an ability like that any different from a cheat?
"Shh, it's a secret. Don't tell anyone!"
"Of course!" Lin Xianhuo pouted. "I'm not the kind of woman who goes blabbing!"
"Heh." Xiao Fan was in a good mood, having heard her familiar way of referring to herself again.
But suddenly, a dark shadow slowly approached from the side!
"Isn't that the human trash?"
Xiao Fan and Lin Xianhuo turned together to see two early fourth-tier demons approaching slowly, their faces twisted in wild grins!
One had common blood, the other noble blood!
Sada, the noble-blooded demon, was beside himself with excitement. "The Demon War God's daughter?"
"His son isn't here protecting you?"
"Heavens, how can I be this lucky?!"
He trembled all over with excitement! If he killed the Demon War God's daughter, he would earn a mountain of military merit when he returned!
And now that the fearsome Undying Fire, Lin Lianshen, was absent, wasn't this military merit being delivered right to his doorstep?
I really am favored by the heavens!
But just then, Xiao Fan grinned too. "Noble blood?"
"Looks like my luck's pretty good too! Once I absorb you, I'll be able to break through again."
Sada froze. Had he heard that right?
"You trash... said you're going to absorb me?"
Xiao Fan shrugged. "Don't even think about running. You won't get away."
Sada was dumbfounded.
Run?
Me?
I'd run?
He suddenly realized that this trash of a human... was insulting him!
Sada flew into a rage and roared, "You piece of shit! I'll make you regret ever coming into this world!!"
As his voice fell, he sprang into motion!
P.S. Construction woke me up early this morning. I couldn't get back to sleep, so I got up and wrote a chapter first. I'll sleep for a while at noon, then write more this afternoon!