Ruler of the Blazing Plains!
The flame figure's height and build were no different from a human's — more precisely, her form closely resembled a woman's, with graceful, flowing curves…
Unlike when Mo Fan used Blazing Fist to shroud himself in fire — where the flames burned on the outside of his body, erupting like a tiny universe detonating — this creature was composed of fire itself. Even her face was made of burning flame, with the faintest suggestion of features, nothing as refined as a human face.
"You can understand our language?" Mo Fan studied the unusual flame enchantress with quiet wonder.
She hovered beside him, her face wearing an expression Mo Fan couldn't quite read.
"Either way — thank you for saving me." Mo Fan smiled.
*Survive a great disaster and strange fortune is sure to follow.* He never would have guessed that the very flame enchantress who had saved Chenying's mother all those years ago would be the one to pull him from the brink now, carrying him all the way up to this flat-topped mountain.
The flame enchantress looked at him, something like a smile drifting across her face, the corners of her mouth slowly parting…
Watching her, Mo Fan felt a strange, wordless sense that she was a kind soul — even her smile carried warmth and gentleness.
"Right — my companions are still trapped inside the mountain." Only now did that thought hit him.
The flame enchantress shook her head, then communicated through a mix of gestures: the lava flow wouldn't last long, and barring any accident, his companions had almost certainly found their way out of the inner mountain passages by now. Going there would accomplish nothing. More importantly, Mo Fan's bones were badly broken — he needed to rest and recover with the help of fire cloud fruit.
Mo Fan knew there was nothing he could do. With a rueful smile, he settled in to chat with this remarkable flame enchantress who understood human language.
The Totem Xuan Serpent could understand human speech as well. Running into a flame enchantress from the North Corner of the Blazing Plains with the same ability wasn't entirely beyond his expectations.
"May I be so bold as to ask — are you the Flame Queen?" Mo Fan studied her carefully and asked with a straight face.
According to the texts, the Flame Queen took the form of a woman. Seen from afar, she resembled a graceful young woman walking through fire, radiating a sacred, inviolable air of nobility and majesty.
Though this flame enchantress didn't quite match the written description, Mo Fan had a feeling she might still be the one.
Those who had traveled here before always spoke of the Flame Queen as a terrifying being. She bore no relentless hostility toward humans, but anyone who provoked her or stumbled into her territory would face the full weight of her consuming wrath.
If this flame enchantress really was the Flame Queen, then the Flame Queen was actually quite amicable — she had saved Chenying's mother more than a decade ago, and now she had saved him as well.
The flame enchantress shook her head at that, indicating she was not the Flame Queen.
"Ah — you're asking what I came here for?" Mo Fan read her gestures and answered honestly. "I came looking for the Flame Queen. I'm a Summoning Element Mage — I want to form a contract with one."
The flame enchantress shook her head again, clearly signaling that he should drop the idea.
"I'm just giving it a shot. If it doesn't pan out, so be it," Mo Fan said.
The night sky was a curtain of black velvet, the stars vivid jewels sewn across it. Lying atop this solitary flat-topped mountain, Mo Fan felt the vast heavens enveloping him on all sides — even looking straight out along the ground, a dense, timeless sea of stars stretched endlessly before him…
It was a peculiar first — lying at the summit of a mountain, chatting with a creature made entirely of fire.
Eventually, the flame enchantress seemed to have somewhere else to be. She gestured for him to rest, then quickly took her leave…
Mo Fan felt a pang of regret. He had a feeling she was no ordinary creature, and now he would have to wait for her next appearance before he could learn anything more.
**Ssssss!**
A cool breeze swept in suddenly, carrying with it a low, unsettling hiss that made his scalp prickle.
Mo Fan's body hadn't fully recovered — at best, he could manage a normal walk. He quickly scanned his surroundings, trying to make out what was lurking nearby.
The flame enchantress had sensed it before he did. Her gaze swept sharply across the flat-topped mountain, over the sea of fire cloud trees blanketing its surface…
Without warning, the crimson leaves carpeting the ground burst apart in all directions, as though something was writhing rapidly beneath them.
Leaves spiraled into the air, and through the chaos, Mo Fan caught sight of a long, flame-patterned serpentine creature racing toward them at terrifying speed. Compared to an ancient serpent patriarch like the Totem Xuan Serpent, its body was almost modest — but it still stretched fifteen or sixteen meters long.
Most startling of all: the creature had three heads. Its body was especially thick around the vital point, splitting into three distinct forms.
Three fearsome heads reared up, each a different color.
The left head was dark brown — its hide dense as plate armor, thick and heavy: the skull of a stone python.
The middle head blazed crimson, its scales emblazoned with vivid flame markings so finely detailed that Mo Fan could make out the delicate patterns woven within each line. Its eyes burned with a fierce, radiant fire, and the light they cast sent a jolt of alarm through him.
The rightmost head was a dark, sickly blue-green — the kind of color that screamed lethal venom at first glance. Its fangs were fully bared, and everything about it radiated mortal danger.
The sight of the three-headed beast made Mo Fan's heart seize.
Its size fell short of the Commanders he had faced before, but a creature bearing three heads and three elemental affinities was absolutely no Common Grade beast.
Mo Fan couldn't gauge the tier of the stone or venom heads on his own, but Ah Li Junnan — Huo Tuo's disciple — had once told him that in Serpent Clan creatures, the more intricate the scale patterns, the higher the bloodline. The flame head in the center bore noble serpent markings. That was all Mo Fan needed to know about its rank.
**Sssss-ROARR!**
The three-headed serpent had caught the scent of a human. Of all prey, humans drew out its most savage, bloodthirsty instincts.
Councillor Zhu Meng had always ranked the ancestor-level Totem Xuan Serpent as the highest threat precisely because Serpent Clan creatures were so terrifying.
Mo Fan had no illusions that his connection to the serpent patriarch would cow a beast of this caliber. Seeing all three pairs of eyes lock onto him, ice shot down his spine.
Never mind that he was badly injured and in no condition to cast a single spell.
Even at full strength, the aura rolling off this creature made one thing perfectly clear — this was not something he could handle.
**Krrring!**
Just then, a sharp, clear cry — laced with fury — rang out from somewhere close by.