Back on Earth, U.S. ground; before the conversation between Lucifer and Fire Sorrow ended.

Bai Zemin had fallen into his own thoughts after his conversation with Fire Sorrow. 

One thing he did not expect was that Lucifer would simply leave without saying more. At the end of the day, Fire Sorrow had probably already told the Leader of the Demonic Army about his existence even if Lilith had not.

Did Lucifer want to be his enemy? Bai Zemin could not tell with precision what were the thoughts and what was the goal of this mysterious Leader.

From beginning to end, Lucifer never said or did anything to antagonize him or his faction. In fact, Bai Zemin learned that Lucifer had made an important bet with the Dragon Monarch and had placed all his trust in him to emerge victorious over the 9-Headed Immortal Dragon despite the clear difference in levels between the two.

However, he did not agree to enter into a Soul Contract with Bai Zemin… and Bai Zemin had made it clear that anyone who did not do so would be labeled as a future enemy.

Why on earth would someone who had no ill intentions not want to form a Soul Contract with him after all? If Lucifer still disdained him because he was a Lower Existence then Bai Zemin would be too disappointed about this existence whom even Lilith pointed out as someone extremely cunning and difficult to read.

‘However, that’s fine with me too.’ Bai Zemin’s eyes glittered slightly as he thought in his heart: ‘Darkness Manipulation is a skill I need to obtain to evolve my Soul Manipulation… and with this cruel time limit hanging over my head I doubt I can learn to manipulate a universal law on my own.’

Bai Zemin knew he was a genius, but he was also not arrogant enough to think that in a couple of years he would be able to learn something that no one managed to learn on their own over millions and millions of years.

While Bai Zemin was thinking about how things would develop from now on, forgetting that there was still one more Leader present, Eternal Phoenix’s voice brought him back to reality.

“Girl, what is your name?”

Girl? Bai Zemin blinked and for half a second thought if his gender was in doubt. However, he quickly realized that Eternal Phoenix, like everyone else, already knew his name.

Indeed, when he followed the eyes of the Phoenix Empress Bai Zemin noticed that she was looking at another person standing a meter or two behind him.

The eyes of the mage with the strongest magical attack power in the entire Transcendent faction were indifferent as she looked at the mage with the strongest magical attack power in the universe: “Feng Tian Wu.”

“Feng Tian Wu.” The Phoenix Empress muttered as she nodded to herself. After a moment of silence, she looked at Feng Tian Wu and said something that took everyone by surprise.

“Then, Feng Tian Wu… Would you like to join my Endless Crimson Flame when you reach the peak of the Fourth Order? Someone with your power and talent should be more than capable of reaching that stage in less than 300 years… Leaving aside that mysterious girl from the Demonic Army who appeared recently you will be the youngest Higher Existence of all.”

Leaving aside the team led by Angelo who still didn’t quite understand what was going on and had no idea about the most powerful factions in the universe, everyone in Bai Zemin’s team who did have a clear understanding of what was going on and knew about the eight factions of Higher Existences were slightly dumbfounded.

It was not that they were surprised by the high evaluation Eternal Phoenix was having on Feng Tian Wu; in fact, they all knew in their hearts that Empress Phoenix was greatly underestimating their teammate.

The reason why they were all shocked was because they did not understand the reason why Eternal Phoenix would show much more interest in Feng Tian Wu than Bai Zemin. At the end of the day, Bai Zemin also controlled fire and his flame was the most terrifying of all in the faction leaving aside the strange Domain that Feng Tian Wu could only activate at the cost of her own life.

However, if they thought carefully they would realize that from a certain point of view it was natural for Eternal Phoenix not to invite Bai Zemin into her faction. At the end of the day, Bai Zemin had made it more than clear that he would not join anyone.

“I can see from a distance that you have an affinity with the fire element even equivalent to mine.” Eternal Phoenix said calmly as her eyes remained fixed on Feng Tian Wu, watching her every reaction and movement, “If you join Endless Crimson Flame not only will your magical attack power skyrocket into the clouds but you will become a genuine Phoenix. Your overall beauty will increase more than you can imagine, and your control, as well as your ability to handle fire, will reach entirely new levels.”

It had to be said that the offer from the Phoenix Empress was very tempting; especially for female fire mages.

Phoenixes were legendary creatures that everyone knew; beautiful, powerful, and noble. They were slightly below dragons only because their physical bodies were not as tough and their physical attack was not as high, but when it came to pure magic they were unbeatable without a doubt!

However, Feng Tian Wu did not even hesitate when she slightly shook her head. Her indifferent expression did not change, and her tone of voice was the same one they all knew and for the first time felt was not so unpleasant to hear, “Thank you for the offer, but I’m afraid joining you and your faction is out of the question, Phoenix Empress.”

Eternal Phoenix lowered her head slightly for a few seconds before raising it again and asking casually, “May I know the reason? I think my faction suits you better than that of the guy you follow. This applies even in the hypothetical case that he manages to become the 9th Leader of the universe.”

Feng Tian Wu looked at her silently for several seconds without replying, or perhaps she was looking at the sky beyond; only Feng Tian Wu herself knew it for sure. Finally, she shook her head again and spoke calmly.

“I have decided to follow only one person in this life. It may not be the best thing for me, and as you just pointed out it may be that joining your faction will grant me the greatest rewards overall… However, in the past, I used to be a person who looked at material rewards such as power and money, something I will not have enough time to regret. This is a mistake I will not commit again. I would rather live a small life with no regrets than a long one full of glory but with my heart having regrets.”

“We all have regrets and sorrows.” Eternal Phoenix pointed serenely from the sky. “Even after I became one of the eight most powerful existences in the universe I have done things that to this day cause me to regret to some extent. There is no such thing as a perfect being, so we can never escape the regret that our actions and decisions will lead to whether we like it or not.”

Unless a living being could see the endless paths of the future that existed depending on each action, so that he or she could choose the best path free of regrets, it was impossible not to feel this emotion no matter how slight.

‘Follow current novels ON N (ovelB in.)’,

However, despite being so young, Feng Tian Wu was a lot more mature than practically anyone her age. She had had her low moments in this life, and that had given her time to think, rationalize, and learn.

“When we make one decision we are surrendering to another, so when we take the left path we are surrendering to the right path and all the opportunities this path held for us.” She said softly and for a brief moment looked at the back of Bai Zemin, who was still not looking at her. “I have decided to follow whatever path this person chooses to take. I don’t know whether or not I will regret it tomorrow, but I do know that I will regret it today if I change my mind.”

Eternal Phoenix stared at Feng Tian Wu for almost a full minute, and her beautiful phoenix eyes flashed with mild surprise. Most surprising was the slight smile that soon formed at the corner of her lips as she closed her eyes and nodded.

Even Bai Zemin was stunned looking at the beautiful smile on the face of the Phoenix Empress not to mention other male soul evolvers present. He had seen all kinds of smiles, including Lilith’s and Fire Sorrow’s smiles, but Eternal Phoenix’s smile conveyed a kind of genuine warmth that was incredibly pleasant.

Little did they know that in reality, no one had seen Eternal Phoenix smile in a long, long time; and those still alive who had seen her smile could be counted with the fingers of one hand.

Not for nothing did Eternal Phoenix compete with Uriel for the unofficial title of the most beautiful female under the heavens.

“I see… I understand.” The Phoenix Empress nodded. She stared at Bai Zemin for 5 seconds before asking curiously, “May I know the name of your fire? You don’t need to hide it, I know it’s a divine flame. But don’t worry, I have no intention of fighting you for it. I can tell that you and your flame are bound by a very powerful Soul Contract so no one can take it away from you even if you die.”

Bai Zemin thought about it for a moment and weighed the pros and cons of revealing the name of his divine flame. The pros were still a mystery, and the cons were only two.

“Endless Blue Lotus Flame.” He said as he stared at the Phoenix Empress. “That is the name of my flame.”

“Endless Blue Lotus Flame…. So this is really what it’s like.” Eternal Phoenix muttered as she stared at Bai Zemin without saying anything for a long time.

In reality, she had just tested the human male child in front of her.

Eternal Phoenix had no interest in the Earth itself nor did she care about its treasures, instead, what she cared about was some people. Precisely because of this, she had no problem forming a Soul Contract with Bai Zemin; however, she would not enter into a Soul Contract just for the sake of it, because in all honesty, she did not care if he saw her as an enemy or not.

She wanted to see if Bai Zemin was telling the truth or lying, simple. If he lied then she would leave without saying more, and in the future, they would probably become enemies.

As for how would she know if he was lying or not? That was even simpler; Eternal Phoenix had the only book in existence with the name and characteristics of the 10 divine flames that ever existed.

“Endless Blue Lots Flame, the flame whose color is said to be so beautiful that the universe would allow it to stretch to its ends to burn and become one with it.” Eternal Phoenix nodded. “Was that how you managed even without using your Mana to cover it or feed it that spark of blue fire to sneak into the dragon’s head?”

“Yeah. that’s right.” Bai Zemin did not hide it but nodded earnestly. “My Endless Blue Lotus Flame can spread without losing power even while away from me since we are bound by a strong Soul Contract.”

Eternal Phoenix nodded before pricking her thumb using her index finger. She raised her right hand and her noble voice spread across the sky, “I, Sun Xiuying, Leader of Endless Crimson Flame, swear on my deepest records not to perform any act that will negatively affect Earth as a world or antagonize the faction led by the human named Bai Zemin. This contract will become null and void when any member of the aforementioned faction attacks me or any member of my faction.”

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