I shuddered with anticipation, a Heart Flame, here in this world? It's not something easy to find, hell even in the worlds where the Poison God traveled to, heart flames are as rare as phoenixes and dragons. And a green one at that, that's just a godsent.
The poison Book had already mentioned heart flames in one of its passages in alchemy, but I didn't give it much thought due to the difficulty of finding one, especially in a lower world such as the one I'm in, or at least the entirety of the country of Zhou, heart flames are so rare that the book mentioned that there could only be one or two in entire solar systems.
The heart flames are a strange thing, they're the best thing that one can use to heat up their cauldrons or outright use them directly to quench, purify and extract essence to make pills. They're spirits of fire condensed and gathered after eons in secluded places. And once they're matured, a person can come and refine them for their own use, making the heart flame a part of them.
The heart flames are divided by color but not power because every heart flame is as strong as its sister in the same rank. Yes, heart flames can also be cultivated to reach higher ranks.
Another thing, the color of the Heart Flame is related to its ability to create certain pills. A blue one is the best to create cold-type pills, Yin related, a red one is best to make Yang-type pills, heat, and fire. There are also black heart flames though they are weaker in creating pills, but they're best when used in Dark-type attacks, curses, or ghost cultivation. As for the Green Heart Flame, it is the best one to create poisons. Even the Poison God managed to get a heart flame, only he didn't find it, but rather bought it from an auction.
I was not going to waste this opportunity so I nodded at the old man, "Too much risk still," I said. "You're planning on using me as bait, if this Vitra'Ghoul knows I'll be after the rose, he will definitely try and get me killed, but you're trying to use me as a distraction so that Vitra'Ghoul focuses on me while you do your own thing and try to get the rose for yourself."
"I'm rather impressed, though no one would dare admit it, I shall, you've read through my thoughts."
"Then I can expect being betrayed," I said.
"That is if you are caught, I've already heard that for some strange reason you managed to use a flying treasure, so you'll have a great advantage, as for me I'll also be sending a group of cultivators after you, in case you die or fail they'll do their best to destroy the rose, but I will instruct them, that if you manage to obtain it, that you shall come to no harm, also here," the demon king said ad threw me a piece of paper.
I immediately swiped it with my hand and put it in my pouch, "This is?" I asked.
"It's the map for the Green Heart flame," Tarta'Ghoul replied with all seriousness.
"Then aren't you afraid I'll get the heart flame and ignore the rose altogether."
"You can, but you'll literally have to pass by the rose before you get the flame, all I ask is for you to destroy it, it shouldn't take more than a fraction of a second of your time to have me in your favor." The king said.
'Too many variables, too many risks, too many kings with armies after the same rose and I'm alone in the middle, though I have the advantage of poison, and flight, the numerical advantage is a monster on its own. Courage cannot beat numbers, and numbers can kill a lion. Still, greed, a vicious and insidious plague in one's heart, I cannot bear to give up such an amazing treasure, a green heart flame is not something that I can give up this easy, but I'm not too stupid to risk my life based on the words of a man I just met.'
"You said that a man that has been to the valley had seen the heart flame," I said, I wanted to make sure that this was not a trap.
"Yes," the old man replied.
"And he still lives, why didn't he try and refine the flame?" I asked. Because this wasn't simple, a heart flame is too damn hot for anyone below the Soul Formation level to survive, and the laws of this small demon world forbid the rise to this cultivation level within this realm.
"I believe you don't trust my words, but it's only natural, you can ask the man yourself," the king turned his head for a moment sending a divine sense message to a hooded man next to him.
The hooded man removed his hood and I saw it scarred with vicious burn marks. The demon then sent me a message, "I was only at the peripherical limit of the heart flame and was damaged this much when I tried to refine it. I knew I didn't have the ability to obtain the heart, and we sent even more people but none of them came back alive. If you're an alchemist, you'll probably have a better chance." The man said then covered his face.
I sent another divine sense to the king and said, "I've seen enough proof, the burns of Heart Flame is true, they cannot be healed unless one reaches above their cultivation realm or reforge their bodies. Your companion here is heavily damaged and I believe that only a heart flame can cause such damage that it will hinder a person's progress through the cultivation path." I replied.
"Then I believe you're satisfied." The king said.
"More than enough, but there is one issue left," I said.
"Which is?" the king asked his expressions becoming grimmer due to my unending questioning.
"How can I access the valley if I didn't partake in the tourney, I don't have a token."
"That's something easy to manage," the old man said and threw me a green circular token with a golden inscription on it. Tomb of Lords.
I frowned for a bit after seeing the words Tomb of Lords, it seems this place is more like a graveyard than a valley and the naming sense had changed.
"Once you use your token to enter, it will disappear only to appear once the demon gates open once again." The king said. "Now rest, tomorrow is a grand day."
Then Tarta'Ghoul and his company left the inn.
"What the hell was that, you've spoken mostly in sending, and I have no idea what was going on half the time, why does he want you to go to such a dangerous place?" Xiao Lang asked.
"Sometimes, it's best to be ignorant about matters, lest you're forced to reveal answers you wish not to have known," I said and Xiao Lang immediately quieted down, he understood that what I'm about to do entailed something dangerous and he would rather not know things he didn't need to.
"I'll take my leave for the night, I have something to do," I said and left.
After whistling once, Arslan came bounding and stopped in front of me, "You've been out for a while, did you find any caves?"
The lion nodded, "Take me to it," I said and jumped above the armored lion.
The creature dashed forward and pounced above the city gate, not waiting for the guards to even open them, then he continued running until he reached into the forest and began changing directions. Soon we arrived at a cave that had a couple of blood wolves inside it, but a single growl from Arslan had the wolves running away, whimpering and with their tails behind their backs.
I went inside and pulled out the pouches of a cultivator that I had not opened since the day I found it. The crimson-robed cultivator from the Poison God's Cave.
That man had something on his pouch that the poison god's book denied me to open, and now, it seems that it no longer had the same danger to me as the poison god's book didn't react.
Once I used my divine sense on the pouch, I noticed a restriction on it, it was a killing formation a small one made by a great inscriber, meant to kill anyone who didn't have the right key to open this pouch.
I sighed, I could have actually opened this the moment I learned inscriptions, but I thought it was some sort of curse or something else that might be too dangerous to tackle at the time.
After using my brush and a few quick strokes, I broke through the inscription on the pouch and opened it. Finding inside it massive numbers of spirit stones, jewels, gold and a lot of clothes, even random house decorations, but on one side, there were some things I didn't expect to find.