Battle Through the Heaven: Purple Heaven

"What do you feel now?" Xiao Bai asked, studying Qing Lin's eyes.

"Wanting… and afraid," she replied.

Pondering, Xiao Bai wondered if her Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils craved the thunder or the wood essence. Dispelling the cyan glow at his fingertip, he summoned a flicker of silver lightning. "Now? What's the feeling?"

Qing Lin shook her head. "It's gone."

Nodding, Xiao Bai understood—her pupils sought the wood essence, not the lightning. Raising two fingers in a sword gesture, he conjured a wisp of cyan mist, slowly nearing her forehead. As she flinched, he said sternly, "Don't move!"

Qing Lin stilled, suppressing her instinctive fear, her eyes fixed on the approaching glow. Xiao Bai halted inches from her brow, and the three faint dots in her pupils grew brighter. Suddenly, they blazed, unleashing a meter-long, conical beam of jade-green light.

The moment the light appeared, the Twin-Headed Fire Spirit Snake froze, plastering itself to the ground, trembling in primal fear. I can't let that beam touch me, or my life's over! it seemed to sense instinctively.

Xiao Bai squinted, momentarily blinded, as if hit by high beams in his past life. He felt the cyan mist at his fingertip stir, as if something tried to consume it but couldn't. Within, Little Yi bristled, indignant at the attempted theft, nearly bursting out before Xiao Bai calmed it. The mist was gradually absorbed, and Qing Lin's green beam deepened, stretching to a zhang before stabilizing.

Seeing no further absorption, Xiao Bai withdrew his finger, commanding, "Look at the snake's heads! Envelop them with your light!"

Qing Lin, unsure but obedient, directed the beam onto the snake's massive, ferocious heads. The trembling beast stiffened, its fearful gaze dulling as it lay docile. The green light retracted, forming two three-petal flower marks on the snake's heads.

Tch, the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils truly are the bane of snake beasts! Yao Lao marveled, awed by the now-tame snake. A first-stage Dou Zhi Qi girl taming a fourth-tier beast was unthinkable.

"Indeed," Xiao Bai agreed, a twinge of envy rising. Twelve years in this world, and I'm only a six-star Da Dou Shi. Qing Lin's potential outshines even my cheat-like advantages.

"Young Master, it feels strange. It's… like we're connected. I can sense its thoughts!" Qing Lin said hesitantly, pointing at the snake.

"Don't be scared. Your eyes are special—Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils, the nemesis of all snake beasts. Feeling it is normal," Xiao Bai said, patting her head. Turning to the stunned Hai Bodong and Xiao Ding, he said gravely, "Keep Qing Lin's matter secret. Not a word."

Both nodded solemnly, sensing the weight of Xiao Bai's mysterious authority, assuming it was critical. Hai Bodong, recalling the timid girl who offered him a bun, saw her anew. Invest in her now? Glancing at Xiao Bai, he sighed. Too costly. Xiao Ding, his twenty-year worldview shaken, marveled. Xiao Bai, a fourth-tier beast, and this prodigy girl—Stone Desert City's outcast for years, yet a genius!

"With this volatile fire energy and a fire-attribute beast, there's a high chance of a Heavenly Flame here," Hai Bodong said, refocusing on their goal.

"Kid, you said we'd pass through magma. Is the flame underground?" Yao Lao recalled their deal.

"Exactly. Tian Can Zi told me it's beneath the magma," Xiao Bai said, deftly shifting blame to the fictional Tian Can Zi, a convenient scapegoat no one could verify.

"Young Master, if you're seeking a Heavenly Flame, Qing Lin might know where it is," Qing Lin said softly, stunned by their purpose.

"Oh? Tell us, little Qing Lin," Xiao Bai prompted, knowing the truth but preferring her to reveal it. The magma expanse was vast—pinpointing the flame would save time.

"Little Fire knows the exact spot," she said, pointing at the snake, now dubbed "Little Fire."

"Little Fire?" Xiao Bai blinked. Named it already? The snake, catching his gaze, shrank back fearfully.

"Brother Xiao Ding, stay here with Qing Lin. Elder Hai, come with me. Once Little Fire returns to guide us, leave immediately for Stone Desert City. Don't linger—go straight back," Xiao Bai instructed Xiao Ding gravely. His Heavenly Heart Sensing Chapter practice, with its occasional unity-with-heaven states, sharpened his instincts. Something's coming, likely her—the desert's queen.

Seeing Xiao Bai's repeated, solemn warning, Xiao Ding nodded, grasping the stakes.

"Lead on!" Xiao Bai kicked the snake lightly. Though battered, it wasn't fatally wounded and could navigate the magma world.

Nodding to Hai Bodong, Xiao Bai donned a yellow-gray light shield and plunged into the magma. Following Little Fire, they dove deeper, the temperature rising, the magma shifting from fiery red to a red tinged with faint teal.

"It's really a Heavenly Flame's aura, haha!" Yao Lao's excitement surged in the ring, sensing the energy shift.

As they neared the flame, far in the desert's depths, a figure with crimson energy wings sped toward their location.