An Unexpected Turn

"The Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow?" The elders' expressions shifted slightly.

They too wondered what connection Lei Chong had to the Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow.

"That's right." Lei Chong nodded.

"My tribe has no grudge against the Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow, so we paid him no particular attention. Besides, after the battle at the Kunpeng Nest ended, quite a few venerables passed through here," one elder said.

The elder did not say it outright, but his meaning was clear.

Even they did not know whether the Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow had passed through.

"Uncle-grandfathers, I'll go ask the patrol. Perhaps someone saw the Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow," the merfolk girl suddenly said.

The elders exchanged glances, then all nodded.

Seeing the elders agree, the merfolk girl hurried away.

After the merfolk girl left, one of the elders smiled. "Haha, our princess is very attentive to your affairs, young friend. What do you think of her?"

The other elders smiled at his words and chimed in.

Lei Chong sighed inwardly. These elders were far too crafty. They could plainly have sent someone to ask earlier, yet they had deliberately waited for the merfolk girl to set off.

"Your princess is kindhearted and beautiful enough to topple kingdoms and cities. If my heart did not already belong to another, I would never let such a beauty pass me by."

Lei Chong told a small lie to put an end to the elders' hopes.

The elders looked at one another and shook their heads, evidently giving up on the matter.

Before long, the merfolk girl returned with a smile on her face. Evidently, she had brought back some good news.

"Honored guest, I asked our patrol. About five days ago, a giant black bird flew across the sky, heading west. It should have been in the direction of the Fire Kingdom," the merfolk girl said.

Lei Chong's eyes lit up. He had actually found a lead.

The feast soon ended. Both sides had enjoyed their conversation, and in the end, the elders personally escorted Lei Chong to the teleportation array.

Finally, just before he left, they gave Lei Chong some treasures from the sea.

Lei Chong did not refuse their kindness. After all, living on land required certain supplies. The valuable things he possessed were relatively precious, and they were not suitable for selling either.

And there were few valuable things in those qiankun bags.

Lei Chong also took out a war spear and gave it to the merfolk girl.

The moment she saw the war spear, the merfolk girl's expression changed drastically. She knew full well that it was a divine artifact of the Flame Fish Clan.

The war spear had originally been in Han Tian's hands. At the moment of his death, the Flame Fish Clan had nearly lost it, but unfortunately, they had snatched it back.

She had not expected the war spear to fall into her hands just a few days later.

"This..." The merfolk girl held the war spear, at a loss.

"The war spear is yours," Lei Chong said with a smile, urging her to accept it.

The elders' eyes nearly popped out of their heads as they secretly urged the merfolk girl to accept it.

The merfolk girl hesitated for a moment, then accepted the war spear.

It was a divine artifact. Though it was not an artifact of the Merfolk Tribe, it was immensely tempting to them.

Soon, a pitch-black passage appeared, and Lei Chong stepped into it.

Only when Lei Chong had completely disappeared did the elders sigh.

"Alas, if such a gifted young man could have become our tribe's prince consort, our tribe would surely have carried on its ancient glory," one elder said, shaking his head.

"Let it be. Our tribe is too weak in the end to keep such an outstanding hero here. Forging a good connection is enough," another said.

The other elders' gazes grew profound, but they said nothing.

The Fire Kingdom, the Medicine Capital.

The teleportation array in the Medicine Capital lit up, and a figure stepped down from it.

The moment Lei Chong entered the Medicine Capital, he paused slightly. He sensed a richness of spiritual Qi far surpassing that of the vast North Sea.

A medicinal fragrance also drifted through the air throughout the Medicine Capital.

Lei Chong glanced around and saw an ancient tree. It was so thick that several people could not encircle it with their arms, and it bore an air of ancient vicissitude. Its branches were full of emerald leaves that gave off a green glow. There were also several enormous flower buds, shimmering with crystalline, rosy light and giving off a fragrance.

It was said that an ancient medicinal plant had mutated, growing from a spiritual herb into a tree that had lived for a very long time.

Before Lei Chong could move, a branch descended from the tree, touched his body, and emitted a faint rosy light.

The ancient spiritual medicine tree was inspecting him. If anyone harbored ill intentions, this ancient tree would discover it and give a warning.

The branch came down upon Lei Chong, but it did not affect him in the slightest.

It soon withdrew into the tree without any unusual reaction.

Whoosh!

Lei Chong sprang into the air. His destination was not in the city, but in Divine Medicine Valley outside it, where the object of his journey lay.

After flying several hundred li, Lei Chong arrived deep within a mountain range. There, a lush green valley looked like ordinary land.

But when Lei Chong opened his Heavenly Eye, he discovered that the scenery in the valley had changed.

Immortal Qi gushed and bubbled through the valley, and all manner of symbols shone brilliantly, enveloping it.

Even without drawing near, he could sense its spiritual beauty. The spiritual Qi seeping out through the great array was so dense it would not disperse. Even ordinary medicinal herbs within it had probably gained sentience after being nourished for so many long years.

At the center of these great arrays grew a plant, wreathed in divine radiance as though veiled by the river of stars. It was hazy and indistinct, and a faint, delicate fragrance could just barely be detected.

It was a small tree, only a little over a foot tall, surrounded by an astonishing sight.

Amid the hazy white immortal mist, a flower bloomed on the little tree and turned into a rain of light. The light gathered and became a little person the size of a fist, hopping and skipping about.

Lei Chong descended into the valley and landed on a boulder.

The boulder was a Dao platform, the only place from which the valley's wondrous object could be seen clearly. Sitting here and observing the arrays had unexpected effects.

As for the little tree, Lei Chong had no wish to provoke him, much less have too much contact with him. He had come only to observe the arrays.

The valley was still very peaceful now, with hardly anyone coming to disturb it.

Before observing the arrays, he wanted to look around for the phoenix bone.

He also wanted to confirm for himself whether it truly was a phoenix bone.

Hum!

Lei Chong's Heavenly Eye was now wide open, and a beam of light shot from it, piercing layer upon layer of mist to illuminate the area around the boulder.

Under the gaze of his Heavenly Eye, the array patterns gradually grew clear.

There were many corpses beneath the boulder, long since sliced to pieces by the great array.

There were even many shattered artifacts beside the corpses.

Ravaged by the array, the artifacts had also crumbled beyond recognition.

This was only the outermost area, where even the great array was at its weakest.

"What's going on? According to the original story, a phoenix bone should be buried somewhere around here." Lei Chong frowned.

Even if it was not a real phoenix bone, it was still an extraordinary bone.

"That's not right. I'll look again." Lei Chong resumed his search.

Two beams shot from his eyes as he carefully inspected every spot around him.

He soon finished checking the surrounding area, but still found nothing unusual.

Yet just as he was about to give up, the sound of chanting scriptures rang out around him. Lei Chong distinctly sensed a sudden flash before his eyes.