Side Chapter: Huo Long's Awakening Part 1

This chapter takes place during chapter 87 of the main story.

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"Master, are you sure that I have a chance to get the Fire Origin Fruit? I heard that even the Second Elder from the Wang Clan is here trying to get it." Huo Long couldn't help but mutter.

Currently, he was inside a motel dining area, with a large cloak covering his body and face.

But under the cloak, one could see that while Huo Long had a young face, his expression was anything but such.

Other than a set of bags that seemed to be ever plastered onto his face, his eyes looked laser focused and contained a determination that no young boy his age could carry.

It was more than obvious that he had suffered many harsh tribulations from the last time that Xue Bai saw him.

After being kicked out of Wushen Academy, life had been anything but good for Huo Long.

However, thankfully before he had completely given up on himself, he met Feng Huang, his Master.

And through her, Huo Long learned how to cultivate even without his Martial Veins.

Huo Ming, Huo Long's father, never gave up on his son and would constantly use his position as the Huo Clan's Patriarch and give Huo Long many Natural Treasures that could help keep his son's body strong and full of vitality.

Of course, he didn't expect the Natural Treasures to somehow fix his son's Martial Veins but only hoped that his son would live longer thanks to them.

The worst feeling for a parent was to watch their child die, and Huo Ming didn't want to see his son wither up and die of old age while he was forced to live hundreds of years after that.

He had already lost his wife and couldn't bear to lose his only son too.

But little did Huo Ming know that the few Natural Treasures that he gave Huo Long were the catalyst in fixing his condition!

While Huo Long's Martial Veins were crippled and his Dantian was shattered, the veins he had pathed out were still there inside of him. However, since he couldn't absorb or even sense Spiritual Qi, they were completely useless.

However, in Feng Huang's mind, instead of a calamity capable of destroying Huo Long's future, it was a blessing in disguise.

Now with his Dantian shattered, that meant that all of his veins weren't connected anymore, meaning that Huo Long could also fully complete the Vein Transformation Realm.

So using the Natural Treasures that Huo Ming gave to him and the help of Feng Huang, Huo Long was able to complete the Vein Transformation Realm.

But after that came the difficult part. Huo Long still had his Martial Veins crippled and couldn't sense Spiritual Qi. So deciding to take a gamble, Feng Huang bestowed him a drop of the Blood Essence she had saved in order to recreate her physical body.

With it, she proceeded to heal Huo Long's Martial Veins hoping to not only fix them but also bring them to a level deserving of a disciple under her.

Inside the Blood Essence was also Feng Huang's pure High God-grade Phoenix bloodline. However, due to the very small amount she was willing to give Huo Long, in order to make it enough to reconstruct Huo Long's Martial Veins, she was forced to distill it, which ended up lowering its rank to low Heaven-grade.

Thankfully her work paid off, and Huo Long's Martial Veins were successfully upgraded to the low Heaven-grade while also slightly mutating his original fire element, turning it into the Nirvanic Flames of the Phoenix.

This version was much better than the normal fire element and was something that Feng Huang didn't expect to appear in her humble disciple.

It had the characteristic of being not only undying but also able to heal injuries making it an extremely versatile flame.

Huo Long also inherited the bloodline of his Master from this process.

And while this was certainly a huge bonus, because of his transformation, Huo Long was also forced to follow the cultivation path of a Phoenix, which replaced the five physical realms with nine nirvana that, when completed, would give Huo Long not only the physique of a Phoenix but also the trademark feature of a Phoenix, Rebirth from Ashes!

With it, he could also transform into a half-demonic beast form like Xue Bai, which would greatly enhance his combat power. However, the greatest perk was the Rebirth from Ashes innate ability. Because now, should Huo Long ever 'die' or come close to it, he could choose to use the ability and be able to effectively resurrect himself.

But until Huo Long completed all the nine nirvana, he would still be a complete mortal with no strength to protect himself.

This was the cultivation path of a Phoenix, after all. And as a noble race that stood at the top of the Immortal World even before they underwent their nirvana, they would already have a physique comparable to a human in the Xiantian Great Realm.

Their cultivation technique wasn't meant for a human, like Huo Long, who was born with an inherently weak physique.

Because of this, from then on, Huo Long would slowly try and regain his strength at home while learning alchemy from Feng Huang in the safety of his own courtyard.

However, even in the year and a half that Huo Long had been closed up at home, he still had only managed to undergo four nirvana, and coupled with his pace Huo Long feared that by the time he did manage to complete all of his nirvana his Huo Clan would long be wiped out!

Every passing day, clan members would turn up missing, and even more would come home with severe injuries.

Huo Long knew that his family was in a terrible situation, but since he wasn't even strong enough to do anything to help, he could only clench his teeth and cultivate like a madman.

But one day, Feng Huang, his Master, told him that something that was vital to his comeback was appearing soon.

A Flame Origin Fruit that could possibly allow Huo Long to complete all nine nirvana and reach the Qi Sea Realm in one swoop was going to mature in a few weeks.

So after giving his father a half-hearted excuse, Huo Long readied whatever he could and left home, hoping to be able to retrieve the Flame Origin Fruit.

Whether he died or not, in his mind, didn't matter. If he didn't die but came home empty-handed, he would die all the same when his Huo Clan was attacked in the future.

Risk it all for his future!

"While your chances by yourself would be zero, with me here, no one else can dream of getting the Flame Origin Fruit." Feng Huang confidently spoke from inside the ring. But within her voice, Huo Long could sense deep exhaustion and pain.

Ever since she had reconstructed his Martial Veins, Feng Huang had been in a deep state of weakness and couldn't even leave the ring lest her remnant soul dissipated completely.

And to make matters worse, Huo Long couldn't do anything to help his Master as without any cultivation to speak of, he couldn't supply her with Spiritual Qi to help her situation.

'I'll repay you, Master, one day,' Huo long swore inwardly as she clenched his fists so tightly that blood almost leaked.

"But Master the Second Elder is someone in the Domain Lord Realm. How can I contest him?" Huo Long asked.

Hearing his question, Feng Huan explained her plan, but at the end of it all, Huo Long wasn't happy at all.

"Master, no, I don't agree. You already are extremely weak from helping me reconstruct my Martial Veins. If you manifest again, you might truly die!" Huo Long denied the idea instantly.

Feng Huang wanted to possess Huo Long's body momentarily, then by using her soul strength, suppress everyone there before stealing the Flame Origin Fruit under the eyes of everyone.

This plan was their best option and also had the greatest chance to succeed, but it also meant Feng Huang would further injure herself.

Currently, Feng Huang couldn't even leave the Spatial Ring, so if she used her powers once more, who knows how bad her situation would become.

"Long'er, you know that I need to do this." Feng Huang spoke sternly, "If we don't get this Flame Origin Fruit, both of our lives are over. And while it might be close, I am confident that I have enough energy to grab the Flame Origin Fruit and hide in a safe spot for you to consume it."

Huo Long, too, knew how dire their situation was, so after hearing his usual kind and soft-spoken Master speak so sternly, he could only force down his arguments and bitterly nod.

He truly didn't deserve such care from Feng Huang.

"Then I will be in your care, Master!" Huo Long said dishearteningly.

Further speaking wouldn't help either of their situations, so Huo Long could only let his Master bear his burden once more.

After Huo Long finished his conversation with Feng Huang, he lost his appetite and left the dining area to go back to his room. Tomorrow would be the most important day of his life, and he needed to be fully prepared both mentally and physically for it!

So after reaching his room, he sat on the bed before cultivating according to the innate Phoenix race cultivation technique Feng Huang gave him. It was through this that Huo Long was able to complete his nirvana.

And while spending one more night cultivating was meaningless, doing it every night had become a habit ingrained in Huo Long's schedule, and whenever he didn't, he would feel uncomfortable and get little sleep.

The night quickly passed, and after waking up at the crack of dawn, Huo Long was ready.

Exiting his motel room, Huo Long easily found the crowd of people going toward where the Flame Origin Fruit was maturing.

However, very quickly, Huo Long learned that the Flame Origin Fruit was going to be much harder to obtain than he thought.

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A lot of people have constantly spoken about getting a view into the eye of Huo Long, so I took decided to split his awakening into two chapters and make the first one mainly about briefly explaining his origin and powers.