It was winter.
Fine snow drifted from the sky, the earth was covered in white, and even the giant trees were coated with a layer of frost.
The entire world was dressed in silver at this moment.
“Boom——”
Another sound of energy impact echoed from deep within the forest.
The shockwave rippled outward, instantly melting the fine snow, shaking the giant trees, and sending countless piles of accumulated snow tumbling down.
At the site of the battle, two figures kept crossing paths.
Flames burst forth, and the terrifying heat subtly warped the surrounding space.
A young girl stood not far away, overseeing the entire situation, occasionally issuing commands to one of the figures.
“Feili, dodge quickly!”
“Feili, sword dance!”
“Chirp!“
“Feili, now! Flash Flame Charge——”
With a chirp, the figure high above immediately unleashed its full power.
Golden flames surged upward, wrapping around its entire body.
The intense light and heat made it seem as if it had transformed into a miniature sun!
The figure then dove downward, smashing straight into the massive lion beast.
It was too fast; the lion beast had no time to react and was struck directly.
Blazing flames exploded in that moment.
And the lion beast collapsed helplessly into the snowy ground.
Afterward, Feili’s figure landed slowly.
A smell of roasted meat wafted through the air.
Blood stained the melted snow.
“Chirp~”
Feili spread its wings again, circled once above the lion beast’s head, and finally landed proudly on the girl’s shoulder.
Lu Mo patted Feili’s head.
“Well done, Feili.”
“We’re having roasted meat tonight.”
“Yay!”
Feili was absolutely thrilled at that moment, transmitting to Lu Mo:
“Lu Mo Mama is the best!!”
“Looks like we’ve got dinner sorted for tonight too.”
Before long.
Smoke rose.
Lu Mo cut off some of the lion beast’s meat, marinated it briefly, and started roasting it.
The simple grill let out a “sizzling” sound.
Feili, meanwhile, stared intently at the roasting meat, eyes gleaming.
Lu Mo watched Feili, who had grown quite a bit, and smiled.
It had already been four years since they said goodbye to Old Jack.
Over those four years, they had traveled to many places and experienced quite a few things.
In that time, she had fused another strange flame.
And Feili had completed an evolution.
Now, its body had grown somewhat larger, and its color was no longer just plain pale yellow—it now bore traces of light red.
Wasn’t this just the model of the little yellow chick from the real world?
The system was too lazy to change things and just copy-pasted directly.
It was no longer the dull, silly little yellow chick it used to be.
This appearance, Lu Mo was familiar with.
By comparison, over these four years, her changes were far greater than Feili’s.
She had entered puberty and grown quite a bit taller.
Her chest had also become somewhat fuller at this point.
She had shed some of her childishness, gaining a fresh, youthful radiance.
Of course—
That deep, long scar was still there.
As she grew, it seemed to have expanded somewhat.
It looked quite shocking.
Sometimes, without hiding the wound, she would walk down the street and feel sympathetic or fearful gazes upon her.
But she no longer cared about those looks.
After all, it had been so long.
“Chirp~”
And the one most focused on her chest was none other than Feili.
Staring at her now-fuller chest, it seemed to be fantasizing about something again.
What was it thinking?
Could it be about milk?
It had been so long—did it still remember what happened when it was little?
Lu Mo wondered.
Feili’s strength was still formidable.
It was the main combat force, having successfully broken into the seventh rank.
Such talent was impressive even among magical beasts, perhaps only slightly inferior to the offspring of the beast kings.
Lu Mo still remembered the first time she brought Feili into battle.
She pointed at the lone bamboo beast in front of her, signaling Feili to charge.
“Feili, use flame!”
It really felt like just a snap of the fingers.
Four years, gone in the blink of an eye.
The little yellow chick had turned back to look at her, its body trembling slightly.
“Go, Feili!”
“You can do it!”
Lu Mo kept encouraging Feili.
And so, Feili mustered its courage, step by step moving forward.
Just then, the lone bamboo beast suddenly twitched.
“Chirp?!”
Feili was scared to tears in an instant, turned around, and flew straight into Lu Mo.
“Feili, it’s okay, that’s just an ordinary beast…”
“Gruh——”
In its panic, the little yellow chick slammed right into Lu Mo’s face.
Both girl and bird collapsed, completely out of commission.
The lone bamboo beast glanced at the two who had lost their fighting ability and quickly walked away.
That night, the girl and the bird sat by the fire, neither speaking.
Lu Mo rubbed her nose, still feeling the pain.
If the little yellow chick had used even a bit more force, her nasal bone might have been broken, right?
Feili crouched off to the side, letting out a dejected sound.
“Disappointed Lu Mo Mama again.”
“It’s already a useless chicken.”
Sensing the little yellow chick’s low mood, Lu Mo quickly ruffled its head.
“It’s okay, Feili.”
She encouraged the little chick: “For a first battle, getting that close to the enemy is already incredibly impressive.”
“I believe that next time, you’ll do even better!”
“Chirp?”
Lu Mo always encouraged it like this.
No scolding, no blaming.
And the little yellow chick, under her encouragement, picked itself back up.
Mustering its courage, it went into battle once more.
Limited by her body, Lu Mo couldn’t unleash the power she had in her previous two Simulated Reincarnations.
But her judgment in battle was still incredibly sharp.
She would issue commands to Feili at critical moments.
Feili followed them, and the battle was soon decided.
After talking about Feili, it was soon her turn.
Over these four years, she hadn’t made any progress in raising her realm.
The realm power she could unleash was only around the second rank.
And that was with the fusion of three strange flames.
Great—she couldn’t even reach the third stage of Dou Zhi Li.
Useless. Completely useless.
However, during this period, her mastery over flame fusion had improved by leaps and bounds.
She now understood the mechanism of strange flame fusion—
Two years ago, when she fused another special flame, she felt her wounds beginning to stir again.
So she had to find a new spirit-grade strange flame and attempt fusion.
Two years ago, Feili’s strength was only at the fourth rank.
She was still worried that if they encountered a high-rank beast at the flame source, they might not be able to win.
That special flame was naturally formed, hidden deep within a cave.
That time, they got lucky.
The terrain around the special flame was extremely narrow; stronger beasts couldn’t get in at all.
Lu Mo led Feili to avoid the beasts, found an opportunity to slip into the cave, and finally arrived before the flame source.
This time, no one was there to help her.
She had to guide the strange flame herself, little by little, merging it into her body.
Spirit-grade strange flames weren’t violent.
But even so, as it fused into her body, Lu Mo still felt an intense burning sensation.
She tried using her body as a vessel, allowing the purple-gold flame and the strange flame before her to merge.
Her body soon became chaotic beyond measure.
Blood seeped from the corner of her mouth, the scar on her chest split open, and her life force was in utter disarray.
“Chirp!”
The little yellow chick didn’t want Lu Mo to endure such pain.
The next second, it actually lunged toward the flame source.
“Careful!”
Lu Mo tried to pull the little chick back.
But then, something miraculous happened.
The moment that flame made contact with the little chick’s body, it trembled violently!
And when the little chick fully plunged into the flame source, not only did the flames fail to harm it in the slightest—they seemed… to be suppressed by it!
Lu Mo felt her body lighten considerably at that moment.
The chaotic flames interwove and soon reached a balance within her body.
The flames began to flow slowly into the little chick’s body.
“Sizzle——”
Lu Mo felt the power within her body transforming.
Now!
She seized that instant.
The two flames merged violently in that moment!
And at the instant of merging, Lu Mo felt the golden portion of her original flame erupt with dazzling brilliance.
In that fleeting moment, she sensed something ancient, something weathered, and glimpsed ancient scenes in a daze!
But all of it passed in an instant.
That gold completely took dominance.
The two flames soon finished merging completely.
The original purple-gold flame, after absorbing the new strange flame, took on a pale blue hue.
Within the pale blue, a thread of gold still flowed.
That was the flame belonging to the little yellow chick.
No matter what strange flame she fused, that gold from the little chick never seemed to change.
Lu Mo had succeeded.
She now wielded a strange flame fused with two others.
And she grew ever more curious about the little yellow chick’s true identity.
Before long, the little chick was fine too.
It fluttered its wings, shaking off the last few sparks.
The flame source was gone, and the cave plunged into darkness.
Only the cracks in the ground remained, radiating terrifying light and heat.
To birth another spirit-grade flame might take an extremely long time.
Lu Mo spoke to the little yellow chick.
“Thank you, Feili.”
“Chirp~”
The little chick smiled at her, then suddenly lost its strength and dropped.
Lu Mo caught it, feeling how hot its body was.
“Feili?”
It had burned out…
No, it had simply fallen asleep.
But its vitality was remarkably vigorous.
It seemed some latent potential had been awakened within it during the process of devouring the strange flame.
Soon, golden threads spread out from its body, wrapping around it.
Eventually… it transformed into a golden egg.
From within the egg came a sound like a heartbeat.
Lu Mo knew the little yellow chick was about to evolve.
Right now, it had no defenses and was very weak.
It needed a quiet place to complete its evolution.
The spot they were in now seemed suitable.
“So be it.”
With that, Lu Mo quickly made her decision.
She placed the golden egg beside her and sat down in the cave.
She gazed at the egg, waiting for the little chick’s evolution.
Just like many years ago, when she sat at the table holding an orange-tinged egg.
She waited for half a month.
“Crack——”
Finally, one morning, she heard the sound of the eggshell breaking.
Feili struggled to break through the shell, curiously poking its head out.
“Chirp?”
And when it saw Lu Mo smiling at it, it quickly let out a joyful sound.
Its telepathic voice sounded much older, but still carried an unspoiled childishness.
“Mama!”
It burst through the shell’s confines and flung itself at the girl without hesitation.
“Mama!”
Lu Mo caught it.
And she saw that its body now bore a trace of light red, and its size had grown a little bigger compared to before.
Little yellow chick…
No, from now on, should she call it little yellow chick?
This time, Lu Mo had remained fully conscious throughout the strange flame fusion.
She had figured out the conditions for successful flame fusion.
The two flames had a primary-secondary relationship.
And in her case, the core of the fusion was the little yellow chick’s golden flame.
Once she understood the most critical step, her research afterward naturally became incredibly smooth.
And now, back to the present.
“Sizzle——”
The roasted meat was done.
Lu Mo quickly picked it up and placed it on a plate.
Feili had long been unable to wait.
The moment Lu Mo handed it the plate, it began wolfing everything down, completely ignoring its image.
“Eat slowly, there’s plenty of meat.”
Lu Mo watched it devour the food and smiled.
But soon, she frowned again.
Her chest was starting to hurt again.
About a month ago, the flame in her chest had shown signs of being unable to suppress her wounds.
That was why she had chosen to travel far.
Coming to this region to search for a new strange flame.
Legend said that deep within this snowy forest, there was a fire spring.
At the fire spring, fire-attributed power was extremely dense.
Sometimes, phantom flames would even rise above the spring.
And at night, the fire spring emitted light and heat, illuminating its surroundings.
“That description sounds a lot like Mirage Mist Flame, but…”
Lu Mo murmured.
The Mirage Mist Flame was ranked quite high among spirit-grade flames.
Lu Mo felt that constantly fusing ordinary spirit-grade flames wasn’t a viable approach.
It was time to try obtaining a more powerful strange flame.
She hoped she could find the Mirage Mist Flame this time…
If this fusion succeeded, she could undoubtedly live longer.
And as for Feili—after the little yellow chick devoured the remaining Mirage Mist Flame, what would happen?
Would it evolve again?
And after evolving, what would it look like?
Just a bit bigger?
Or would it go from being a little yellow chick straight to a beautiful big bird?
Or… could it take human form?
“But turning into a human form is probably not realistic, right?”
Thinking about it, Lu Mo spoke again, dismissing the idea.
Even the offspring of king-rank beasts needed at least ten or twenty years to truly take human form.
No matter how monstrous the little yellow chick’s talent was, it still fell within the scope of normal beasts.
Without reaching that level, it shouldn’t be possible, right?
Besides, the little yellow chick’s current form was already perfect.
It couldn’t just accomplish something even king-rank beasts couldn’t do on its second evolution, right?
And besides, it was best if the little yellow chick didn’t get any more weird evolution forms.