Chapter 489 – Soul Seed Materials!

Zhao Yulin's team had barely set foot inside Flame Pillar Mountain when another group arrived on their heels — men and women bearing military commendations on their chests.

Every seasoned hunter knew the rule: unless you commanded the strength to dominate an entire Demon-Beast territory, you never made casual use of Wing Enchanted Gear or flying mounts.

The Blazing Plains were surrounded on all sides by the Dunhuang Demon-Tiger clans. Reaching the North Corner of the Blazing Plains from any other direction meant cutting straight through their territory — a path not even Transcendent Tier Mages would dare take.

The only viable route was the Shamang River. But the Shamang River was itself a no-fly zone: any creature that passed over its waters would draw an enormous Undead dragon skeleton surging up from the depths to swallow whatever flew above it whole.

So with the Dunhuang Garrison maintaining no Celestial Eagles on one hand, and flight forbidden over both the Shamang River and the North Corner of the Blazing Plains on the other, the constraints were absolute.

"We'll scale it from the outside. The mountain is tall, but going through the interior means too many unknown dangers." A female officer with a hooked nose laid out the plan with quiet authority.

She was clearly in command — the others deferred to her without a trace of resistance.

"That old hunter mentioned that although Flame Pillar Mountain looks sheer and vertical, the rock itself isn't as solid as it appears. We can chisel out handholds as we climb."

"No time to waste. We move tonight — we can't afford to let anyone else get there first."

"Commander Nan Jue, what's so special about the Fire Calamity Fruit, anyway?" one of the officers asked. "Why go to all this trouble just to find it?"

"Its uses are many." Nan Jue paused. "Put simply — the most straightforward: it can serve as a synthesis material for condensing a Soul Grade Fire Seed, and the success rate is virtually one hundred percent."

The hooked-nosed female officer delivered that last part with cool precision.

"A… Soul Grade material… with a *hundred percent* success rate—?!"

The soldiers' eyes lit up almost as one.

A Soul Grade Fire Seed could amplify the power of every Fire Element spell by a factor of four — an extraordinary elemental treasure by any measure. Beyond that, Soul Seeds all carried Domain effects, and within a Domain, a Mage stood on practically unassailable ground. That kind of advantage was often worth more than an entire tier of cultivation resources, the kind used to bridge the gap from Intermediate-Level to High-Level.

Soul Seeds were extraordinarily rare. A hunter could scour Demon-Beast territories for a lifetime without finding a single one. Even the most prestigious auction houses in major cities only put Soul Seeds on the block at long, sporadic intervals. As a result, most Soul Seeds were synthesized by condensing Spirit Seeds — but the success rate was notoriously abysmal. Even pouring in auxiliary materials of staggering cost, failure still far outpaced success.

And yet this Fire Calamity Fruit could push the synthesis rate to one hundred percent. A genuine treasure among treasures.

Spirit Seeds, at least, were something money could still buy. Soul Seeds were something else entirely — a matter of luck and fate.

On the far side of Flame Pillar Mountain, a group clad in the blue-yellow expedition gear of the Hunters' Alliance arrived at the mountain's base. They had clearly come prepared for the sheer cliff face. One among them — a mage with crisscrossing scars across his forehead — summoned a mountain-climbing beast.

The creature's claws were built for exactly this purpose: they could pierce directly into the rock, then curl inward into hooks that locked onto the cliff with immovable grip.

Its body was enormous. The whole group simply attached themselves to it and rode it steadily upward along the face of Flame Pillar Mountain.

Less than two kilometers away along the mountainside, a Mage commanding a rare Earth Element Spirit Seed picked his way across sheer cliff faces as if on level ground.

He moved steadily upward along the rock, and wherever a jutting outcrop presented itself, he lashed a rope securely around it.

Anchor by anchor, higher and higher — and the Magic Association personnel below simply climbed the ropes he left in his wake.

The world holds wonders of every kind. The violent temper of the Shamang River had turned away no small number of Mages hoping to reach the North Corner of the Blazing Plains in search of treasure. But the three great powers — the Hunters' Alliance, the Magic Association, and the military — would always find the right people for the job.

And none of them had come for the Spirit Seed Fragments or Spirit Seeds scattered across the ground. What they truly wanted was the Fire Calamity Fruit.

The night sky hung in a deep, still blue. As the small hours crept in, wisps of mist condensed into gossamer veils that draped across the brilliant Star River above, their hazy light drifting down into the silent forest of Flat-Topped Mountain — lending it an eerie, haunting beauty.

Mo Fan sat on the hillside beneath the great Star-Whisper Tree. Above him stretched the boundless dark; before him, the vast sweep of the Blazing Plains; and somewhere in that expanse, one solitary Flame Enchantress kept her vigil.

He watched her tend to the Fire Calamity Fruit hanging from the Star-Whisper Tree's branches with careful, almost tender attention. He watched the silhouette of a creature that might have lived for uncounted ages, and found himself genuinely curious about her story.

"Why do you guard the Fire Calamity Fruit?" he asked, resting quietly as his body slowly recovered.

The Flame Enchantress drifted through the air with fluid grace, her form reminiscent of a woman moving in slow, elegant dance. She had been circling the Fire Calamity Fruit without cease, as though terrified someone might take it from her.

At his question, she slowly settled beside him and spoke in her own peculiar language.

"You're saying I should wait a few more days and I'll understand?" Mo Fan worked through her meaning carefully.

The Flame Enchantress gave a small nod.

"But it's already a fruit," he said, puzzled. "Don't tell me it's going to blossom and bear fruit all over again?"

Chenying had mentioned that the Fire Calamity Fruit, once formed, would vanish on its own before long. Her father had apparently sent people to search for it several times before, and each time they had misjudged the window of its existence.

If it was fated to disappear on its own anyway, why stand guard over it?

*Unless — is this like a persimmon? Does it need a few more days to ripen naturally before it's actually worth having?*

"Oh — you're asking how I'm feeling?" Mo Fan stood and stretched with a vigorous roll of his joints. Apart from some lingering soreness, he felt more or less whole. He turned quickly to the Flame Enchantress with a reassuring grin. "Nothing serious. I should really get going — my companions must be worried sick."

"Regardless of anything else, thank you for saving my life. If there's ever anything I can do for you, just name it."

The Flame Enchantress let out a clear, melodic cry. She made no demands of him, and she made no effort to hold him back.

"Alright then, I'm off." Mo Fan sighed. "Can't find the Flame Queen, and you've got the Fire Calamity Fruit well covered. Looks like I'll just go hunt for Spirit Seeds and Spirit Seed Fragments and sell them for coin." He said it with a rare, easy shrug, as if none of it really bothered him.