Chapter 3945: Understanding of Fire

The Sky God turned toward Alex.

"Ashmaker went first. So it is your turn to choose if you wish to."

Alex thought for a moment before making the choice.

"I wish to understand just how well senior Ashmaker understands Fire and Yang. I wish to compare our knowledge."

The crowd murmured with nods.

Ashmaker thought for a moment. But before he even had to speak, someone else spoke in favor of him.

"If you wish to go for our lord, you have to prove that you’re worth it," Blazelight said as she stood from her spot. "If you dare, try and take me head-on first."

People turned to look at her, some growing curious, while some gave disapproving looks.

Alex didn’t have to accept it at all and could simply force the Fire God to fight him. However, there was the smallest possibility that the audience would take his refusal as a sign of weakness.

More than that, however, he wanted to defeat the Fire Sage anyway. There was a grudge to settle, and if he could use this stage to do so, he was happy to.

"If that is what you want, I will welcome you, senior Blazelight," Alex said.

Blazelight flew through the air with her bright red hair flowing in the wind, untied. She landed in the center and bowed toward the Fire God before turning toward Alex with a haughty expression on her face.

"You wish to test your understanding of fire?" she asked. "Very well. Show us all the fire Daos you understand."

Alex gave not even a nod in response and simply created bright red and orange fire around him, formed simply out of his Dao. The flames moved around him, each time producing a separate aura strong enough for even those without any Fire spirit roots to recognize.

The aura changed from one Dao to another, making it perfectly clear how many of them Alex knew, before it all converged to a single aura again, presenting the True Fire Dao for all to see.

The audience were quite impressed to see that, but nowhere near enough. This much was expected from someone who was trying to become a Fire God.

Blazelight let out a loud harrumph. Her own hands moved, fire trailing behind them as she gestured, moving through various auras before landing on a single tongue of flame that carried the aura of the True Fire Dao.

"Anyone can use the True Fire Dao," she said. "If you really want to show you have a great understanding of fire, show the flame you have cultivated instead. Here’s mine."

The regular fire in her palm that was formed out of her usage of Dao suddenly changed in color. It became red all of a sudden, carrying a tiny hue of purple and blue, almost giving off a pinkish light overall in the surroundings.

"Do you know what this is?" the woman asked, making the flame grow bigger and stronger.

Alex stared at the flame with a serious gaze. There was something familiar about the flame that he almost thought was a part of him. As though he understood it at a level that shouldn’t have been possible.

In the audience, various people watched it as well, not many understanding what was so special about the flames. A few knew the answer, especially those from the Fire God’s cult, so they couldn’t help but hold a smug expression on their faces.

Heatwave let out a snort. "Senior Blazelight thinks too highly of him. How could he ever know what that is?"

The others around him gave affirmative murmurs.

Further up in the stands, where Alex’s family and friends were seated, Scarlet leaned in further, her eyes narrowing at the sight of the flame.

"What’s going on?" Pearl asked from beside her. "Do you know what that flame is?"

Scarlet shook her head, but the shaking itself had hesitation as well. She wasn’t sure if she didn’t know it for a fact at all.

"I’ve never seen it before, but for some reason, it feels familiar. As if..."

Her eyes slowly widened in surprise at the thought of a possibility. "Could it be..."

Alex understood not long after himself. The feeling of familiarity made sense considering the bloodlines he had. As soon as he made the connection, the answer came to him.

Blazelight laughed. "Since you obviously don’t know the answer, let me tell you—"

"That’s the flame of the Nine-Headed Phoenix, isn’t it?"

Alex’s words forced Blazelight’s sentence to come to a complete halt.

Her eyes widened in pure surprise. Behind her, even Ashmaker raised his eyebrows.

"How... how do you know?"

Alex smiled. "I’m correct, aren’t I? That’s the flame of the Nine-Headed Phoenix."

"Umm..."

"Actually, I would argue it’s not exactly the flame of the Nine-Headed Phoenix. It’s a bit too weak to be the flames of a primordial god," he said, walking toward Blazelight.

"How... how do you know that?" she asked. "Who told you this?"

Alex raised an eyebrow. "Did someone have to tell me?" he asked. "It’s obvious, isn’t it?"

That was, of course, not true at all. The only reason Alex had even recognized the flames was because of the Vermilion Bird bloodline inside of his body that gave him familiarity with the flame.

The Vermilion Birds were descendants of two Primordials. One was the Three-Legged Crow. And the second was the Nine-Headed Phoenix.

Their phoenix flame acquired properties from the two birds’ flames as well. From Sunfire, they received the destructive property. And from the Nine-Headed Phoenix’s flames, they received restorative properties.

Alex now stood directly next to the flame and read it with his sense. Slowly, he lifted his own hand and attempted to create a tongue of fire that contained the same color and aura as the one before him.

It was difficult to get it correct right away. But even as seconds passed, he was immediately on the correct path to learning the flame. If given enough time, he would learn it.