Chapter 73: Investigating the Heavenly Flame

The next morning.

Sitting cross-legged on his bed, Xiao Bai opened his eyes, a sharp glint flashing through them.

"I've finally fully recovered!"

Nearly twenty days had passed, and the soul power he had exhausted resisting the heavenly lightning was now completely restored. When he looked inward at his spiritual sea, he saw his soul power filling the entire space like a misty fog.

Feeling the dense soul energy, he sensed that he was not far from reaching the pinnacle of the Mortal Realm.

"Young Master, can Qing Lin come in?"

Hearing the soft, sweet voice from outside the door, Xiao Bai smiled. This little girl had fully stepped into her role last night. After finishing her cultivation, she had run to his room to tidy his bed and prepare his washing supplies.

She had even wanted to help him undress and insisted on staying until he fell asleep. In the end, Xiao Bai had to chase her out. She was still so young—where had she even learned all this?

"Come in."

"Good morning, Young Master!"

Qing Lin walked in, carrying a basin with a towel for washing up. She was dressed in a new outfit, her face bright with a big smile, revealing two adorable dimples on her cheeks.

Xiao Bai smiled back at her but sighed inwardly. He knew that, despite her cheerful expression, there was a hint of unease in her eyes. She was afraid.

She was afraid that if she didn't do well, Xiao Bai wouldn't want her anymore. So, she was extremely careful in everything she did, always cautious and meticulous.

Even though Xiao Bai had told her last night that he would never abandon her, it had little effect. He had no choice but to let time gradually wear away her fears.

"Qing Lin, stay here today. I need to go out for a while, but I'll be back later." After washing up, Xiao Bai wiped his hands and spoke.

The little girl's smile froze. Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears, and she lowered her head uneasily. "Alright…"

Seeing this, Xiao Bai reached out and patted her head, a bit helpless. "Don't overthink it. How could your Young Master ever bear to abandon such an obedient and sensible little maid?"

"If anything happens, go find that old man next door."

He was referring to Hai Bodong.

Last night, he had talked with Hai Bodong about the map. Even he wasn't sure of the exact location—it was merely based on information he had gathered over the past twenty years. So today, Xiao Bai decided to go with only Yao Lao to investigate.

After all, in the Tagor Desert, numbers wouldn't make much of a difference. He and Yao Lao had powerful soul senses that could cover a wide range.

—

The vast desert stretched endlessly, with the wind and sand raging nonstop.

In the daytime, the Tagor Desert was always accompanied by the scorching sun and swirling yellow sand.

A streak of purple light shot across the sky before slowly landing atop a sand dune.

Standing there, Xiao Bai gazed at the rolling dunes that seemed to extend to the horizon, feeling a bit astonished.

He had thought that if a Heavenly Flame was hidden underground, the surface above it would show some noticeable differences.

But as he looked around, all he saw was the same scenery—endless dunes, indistinguishable from any other part of the desert.

Taking out the map that Hai Bodong had made, Xiao Bai estimated that the target location was somewhere within a hundred-mile radius.

"Xiao Bai, are you sure the Heavenly Flame is here?" Yao Lao appeared at that moment, scanning the surroundings with some doubt. He didn't sense the usual violent energy that Heavenly Flames emitted.

"Yes, it's somewhere nearby. But not on the surface—it's underground!" Xiao Bai replied with certainty.

"Underground? Then how do we get down there?" Yao Lao glanced at the ground.

The yellow sands of the Tagor Desert were unimaginably deep.

Hundreds of meters? Thousands? Digging a tunnel here wasn't easy. The sand was constantly shifting, and before they could dig too deep, they might get buried alive.

Closing his eyes, Xiao Bai extended his soul sense to the maximum, covering a radius of about three kilometers.

Instantly, his perception shifted. The surroundings were filled with massive interwoven streaks of earthy yellow and crimson-red energy, but he didn't detect any distinctive fire energy fluctuations.

"Sweep your soul perception downward and see if there's any underground magma," Xiao Bai said as he opened his eyes.

Seeing Yao Lao staring at him with a strange expression, Xiao Bai was puzzled. "Senior, why are you looking at me like that?"

"Xiao Bai, did you not use your soul power to sense the underground earlier?"

Hearing this, Xiao Bai immediately extended his soul perception beneath the sands. A moment later, he couldn't help but let out a surprised sound.

"Huh?"

"You found something?"

"Yeah!"

"This is a desert. The earth-elemental energy here is highly concentrated and extremely active. With the ground's heat rising, your soul perception won't reach very deep!" Yao Lao stroked his beard as he explained.

Xiao Bai now understood. Unlike on the surface, where his soul perception could extend far, underground, it was struggling to go even 200 meters before feeling obstructed.

"This is troublesome." Xiao Bai found the situation rather tricky. A depth of 200 meters wasn't nearly enough to reach the bottom of the shifting sands. If they couldn't find an entrance within this range, what were they supposed to do?

"I wonder how that woman managed to find the underground passage," Xiao Bai thought to himself.

Queen Medusa's soul power was definitely not stronger than his, yet she had precisely located this spot and taken the Heavenly Flame. She must have had some special means.

"For now, let's scan for a passage within this 200-meter range," Xiao Bai said to Yao Lao.

Their soul perception ranges were roughly the same, so they would cover the entire mapped area. If they found nothing, they would think of another approach.

"That's all we can do for now," Yao Lao mused. There wasn't a better option at the moment.

Although he lacked a physical body, he had Taiyi Soul Art. As long as he didn't overconsume his energy at once, using his soul power wouldn't be a problem.

Thus, Xiao Bai and Yao Lao started searching the desert, but Xiao Bai quickly realized how painfully slow this method was.

Using soul power to probe underground in the desert was incredibly draining. Each attempt felt like being crushed by boundless and immense earth-elemental energy, squeezing his soul perception and consuming it at a rapid rate.

If he continuously used it, he would need to meditate and recover within two hours. Otherwise, if his soul power dropped too low, it would regenerate at an excruciatingly slow pace—perhaps only slightly better than the last time he had completely depleted it.

Yao Lao's limit was even shorter. In his incomplete state and without a physical body, he couldn't maintain it for long. As a result, Xiao Bai ended up doing most of the searching.

However, there was a silver lining—he could clearly feel his soul power becoming more resilient through this cycle of compression, depletion, and recovery.

As the sun set, the golden desert was bathed in a warm orange hue.

"Senior, looks like we'll be staying here for a while," Xiao Bai said, exhaustion evident in his voice. He planned to return to Stone Desert City and continue the search tomorrow.

Judging by the pace of their investigation, it would take them at least two months to cover the area marked on the map—and even then, there was no guarantee they would find the passage.

"No rush. As long as we return before Xiao Yan's coming-of-age ceremony, it'll be fine," Yao Lao said calmly. He didn't think Xiao Bai was deceiving him.

Heavenly Flames were never easy to obtain. Back when he searched for the Bone Chilling Flame, he had nearly died countless times before succeeding.