The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

With a tremble of his soul, Liszt, with the help of Ach, had already successfully stripped away the residual malice of the Phoenix from his soul and infused it into the petrified Phoenix Egg through a Magic Array.

At the same time, a sliver of Liszt's consciousness, similar to a Mind Branding, was mixed into the Phoenix Egg, serving as a guiding force for the future evolution of the Phoenix—the intention of this Mind Branding was simple, to continually hint at the Flame Family.

To lay the groundwork for his descendants to tame the Phoenix—he felt it unlikely that he would witness the hatching of a new Phoenix.

"Brother, the Phoenix Egg already pulses with life. If returned to its original place to re-hatch, perhaps many years from now a new Phoenix will be reborn from flames."

Ach said, "Also, based on brother's description, Ach has designed a simple Magic Array for the nesting of the hatching Phoenix, which can help the Phoenix Bloodstone gather Fire Attribute Mana more effectively; this may assist the nurturing of the Phoenix."

"That's excellent."

Stripping away a piece of soul containing consciousness did not cause much adverse reaction to Liszt, nor did it leave him feeling excessively fatigued.

Here, the soul is the aggregation of Spiritual Power, but it seems that the soul is a nonrenewable resource unless it comes from the birth of new life.

For example, a bird egg goes from a lifeless liquid to eventually developing a soul and becoming a living being.

Human pregnancy is similar, two cells merge, and then a clump of flesh slowly fosters a soul.

The so-called rebirth of the Phoenix from its ashes doesn't seem to be true immortality, but rather a revival of the body after the soul has withered—it feels like asexual reproduction. From Liszt's perspective, a soul carrying memories is the true personality of a person; the body is just a shell.

Of course.

It's hard to tell if the Phoenix, once truly hatched, would be able to recall its past life, since this Phoenix hadn't had the chance to be reborn before being consumed by Liszt.

After a day of recovery, assuring there were no negative reactions, he swiftly rode the Formless Dragon Bard, crossing two natural nodes, to arrive at the Doomsday Volcano Crater. Transforming into a Phoenix, he plunged into the volcano, which was half-dormant with its magma fallen but still red and churning, allowing him to maneuver in Magic Form.

Thus, he quickly entered the original cave, placed both the Tinderpile and the Phoenix Egg back in their original spot, and began to repair the cracks in the cave, setting up the Magic Array prepared by Ach.

"I wonder if doing this will allow the Phoenix's fire seed to remain." Concentrating, he summoned the Smoke Mission and found that the task remained unchanged, still in an uncompleted state.

"This?"

Dispersing the smoke, he began to frown, having done everything he could and having discussed many plans with Ach, with only this soul-stripping method holding a glimmer of hope. Despite this effort, the task remained uncompleted, and the Phoenix seemed permanently deceased.

"No, that's not right!"

"If the Phoenix truly died, the Smoke Mission would definitely fail, but now it's merely uncompleted, so there must be a way!" With this in mind, he again scrutinized the entire cave and the Phoenix Egg, "So what else can be done to preserve the fire seed of the Phoenix?"

Fire seed...

Fire seed...

He turned his gaze to the Tinderpile beneath the Phoenix Egg, which, through the identification of the Knowledge Ancient Book, were branches of the Parasol Tree. While its appearance slightly differed from that of the Phoenix Perch Parasol Tree, the characteristics were almost the same, both fire-resistant and of the Fire Attribute.

"Previously, the Parasol branches were in a burning state, even though it was just an illusion of Fire Attribute Mana... Could it mean that there weren't enough Parasol branches?"

Legends say that the phoenix only perches on parasol trees and would not land on anything else.

Thinking of this, he didn't hesitate and left the Doomsday Volcano Crater to head to the Phoenix Perch Parasol Forest, where he chopped down a batch of robust Phoenix Perch Parasol trees. Then, dragging the branches rapidly back to the cave, he piled them all beneath the Phoenix Egg, feeling the fire attribute presence in the cave becoming significantly stronger.

Transforming into a phoenix, he fanned the flames fiercely a few times, raising the level of fire attribute mana in the cave to an extremely high concentration.

At that moment,

the tinderpile, which had shown no change, finally ignited, beginning to "roast" the Phoenix Egg.

"Did it work?" Liszt thought to himself, summoning the Smoke Mission. This time, the illusory smoke finally changed, showing the positive change he hoped to see.

"Mission completed, reward: Hundred Birds Toward The Phoenix."

"Not bad, the phoenix's flame has finally been preserved," he breathed a sigh of relief, and at that moment, a new Smoke Mission was issued.

"Mission: A huge number of schools have been quickly constructed across the territory, most in a state of chaos, but the foundations of education are gradually unfolding. With snowflakes soon to arrive on Black Horse Island, it is time to recap the schools' efforts and why not select the first batch of excellent students for better education. Reward: Obsidian Ring."

"Selecting excellent students, that's easy, just hold exams. The students focusing on civil roles take written exams, those training as knights participate in contests... It would be best to establish a standard examination system, I'll have the Development Committee prepare it once I return... Indeed, it's essential to cultivate exceptional talent to lay the foundation for my future Burning Legion."

He didn't pay attention to the reward of the Obsidian Ring.

The reward didn't seem to offer any useful clues.

Glancing around the Phoenix Nest, which was now on the right track, he didn't delay any further and transformed into a phoenix, leaving the Doomsday Volcano Crater. Standing on the solidified lava rocks of the volcano crater, he drew the Ice Soul Dragon-Slaying Sword, and with Dragon Dou Qi that had gradually become Superior Magic, he struck a few times.

Cracks appeared immediately on the surface of the volcano crater.

Without pausing, Liszt continued to hack away randomly, and these cracks gradually formed a few rough Serpent Script characters: "This mountain is sealed, strangers keep out—Liszt Flame."

The Doomsday Volcano Crater was officially sealed.

Admiring his calligraphy masterpiece, he felt that these Serpent Script characters were strong and vigorous, emanating a majestic aura, indeed quite remarkable.

He thought to himself, "Another day, I'll have Ach come here and set up a Magic Array to completely seal the volcano crater, preventing anything from accidentally entering and disturbing the incubation of the Phoenix Egg."

In reality, there was no need for such flamboyant actions.

Aside from himself and Leo, almost no person or animal could penetrate thousands of kilometers into the magma to find the Phoenix Nest—this was merely an insignificant self-comfort.

"Let's go!"

Without causing any further trouble, he transformed into a phoenix ablaze with flames and soared towards the heavens. Never before had he felt so unburdened since he had stripped away the residual malice of the phoenix and resolved the incubation of the phoenix's flame. He thoroughly relaxed.

A surge of information from the Phoenix Bloodline swiftly merged into his soul; it was about the phoenix's command over all birds.

"Hundred Birds Toward The Phoenix..."

Receiving this information, he turned his gaze towards the nearby Phoenix Perch Parasol Forest, where Flame Dragon Birds and Red Sparrow Birds lived.