Chapter 698: Unexpected Rank 7 - Part Two

For the one-thousand-and-five-hundred-year-old Vulcan Jade, Lin Jin was willing to give anything. Although he did not have anything to provide in return right now, he swore to repay the debt in the future. 

The second immortal to step in was Piao Yun, which startled Lin Jin.

Firstly, when did she return? 

Second, she was behaving differently compared to before. Without hesitation, she offered a beast skull so red that it looked like it was glowing hot.

"Mr. Lin, I have a fire catastrophe skull here, please take it. Though, I'm not sure if it is of any use to you." 

Lin Jin looked at the skull that looked like a clump of metal that has just been pulled out of a furnace. His instincts told him that it would come in handy.

Its standard was probably on par with the Vulcan Jade.

Lin Jin accepted the item reluctantly. 

"Thank you, Immortal Piao Yun," said Lin Jin.

"You're very welcome, Mr. Lin. I apologize for the ignorance and arrogance I have shown to you previously. I hope you can forgive me, Mr. Lin. That said, I was wondering if I could learn more about beast appraising from you?" asked Piao Yun earnestly.

Lin Jin failed to understand what she was implying. That aside, he was shocked by Piao Yun's sudden change in attitude. Still, it was a positive change, so he nodded readily.

Then, he looked at the others.

Xuan Yue Zhenren generously offered her inferno crystals.

This wasn't a magic treasure but a fire attribute gemstone used to refine items and improve cultivation. As the leader of the Immortal Cloud Sect, it went without saying that Xuan Yue Zhenren's inferno crystals were of the highest grade.

It was hard for anyone to gauge its price in the market since it was impossible to obtain these crystals anywhere else.

Lin Jin was aware that his debt was piling higher, but he needed these items to catch the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Xiao Huo to evolve. If he let this opportunity slip out of his fingers, he would have to wait for an eternity for the next one. Worse, the materials needed for the next opportunity would be more expensive and rarer.

"Thank you, thank you!" Lin Jin saluted. These items should be enough. As the clock was ticking, Lin Jin quickly dived back into the cloud sea.

Lin Jin left as abruptly as he came. Xuan Yue Zhenren watched as the cloud sea glowed brighter.

Its bright orange hue reminded them of sunrise.

"What on earth is going on inside the inner clouds?" muttered Xuan Yue Zhenren to herself. She took a deep breath and sensed that something huge was about to happen today.

The other immortals thought the same.

When Lin Jin returned to the cloud sea, the fire clouds had begun to thicken and spread out further. Then, about a thousand feet away, it crept up to form an inner circle.

The scene resembled the interior of a burning cauldron, the only difference being a lack of heat in this place.

What seemed to be the core of this cauldron looked like a creeping cucumber made of clouds.

Dazzling flames raged inside the creeping cucumber. Like the scorching sun, it was so bright that it hurt for one to stare at it directly.

Through their blood pact, Lin Jin sensed that Xiao Huo was inside that core, and they had now reached a pivotal point. The seemingly endless fire clouds were starting to die down.

If Lin Jin did not intervene right now, Xiao Huo's advancement to Rank 7 was destined to fail. He hastily tossed the premium-grade inferno crystals into the core.

A loud rumbling followed.

Like adding fuel to a fire, the fire clouds started burning fiercely once more.

It worked.

However, Lin Jin could tell this wasn't enough to propel Xiao Huo through its evolution.

Lin Jin decided to toss in the Vulcan Jade.

This old magic treasure should be equally effective.

Sure enough, the Vulcan Jade turned into a huge ball of light that engulfed the entire core as a large volume of energy was released.

Ba-dump! Ba-dump! Ba-dump!

The creeping cucumber started pulsating like a heart. Each pump transferred a certain amount of energy and Lin Jin watched on with great excitement.

As expected of a Rank 7 evolution. It was shocking, but unsurprising at the same time since advancing to Rank 7 would mean Xiao Huo being on the same level as a profound immortal.

Wouldn't a human's advancement to the profound immortal realm be just as grand? Lin Jin had never lived in the immortals' era before so he wouldn't know. At present, how many profound immortals were left?

Only a handful.

Thus, Xiao Huo's advancement to Rank 7 was a huge deal. It was no wonder Lin Jin was in such a panick to gather materials for the evolution.

The flaming core continued to pulsate like a beating heart. However, it wasn't long before the rhythm started increasing, and Lin Jin sensed something was off.

The level of energy was too high for them to control effectively.

This wasn't just blind speculation on Lin Jin's part. The entire cloud sea was trembling.

Lin Jin took a deep breath and retrieved the final treasure, the fire catastrophe skull he received from Immortal Piao Yun.

Lin Jin knew it was a priceless treasure because 'fire catastrophe' is an extinct beast. Lin Jin only knew this thanks to the museum.

Fire catastrophes weren't exactly powerful creatures. Their body was covered in flames, and everywhere they went would be set ablaze. 

Over time, people started calling these creatures 'fire catastrophes'.

As its flames appeared out of thin air and burned endlessly, they were hunted to extinction by immortals

In terms of animal welfare, this was considered a massive failure. Even the immortals realized how bad it was, but their realization came too late.

Who knows where Piao Yun obtained this fire catastrophe skull, but this bone could burn for an eternity, hence the reason for its rarity.

What made it so special was that its flames were warm, rather than scorching hot.

This complemented the fire cloud's properties.

The fire catastrophe skull may be useful for Xiao Huo to control the chaotic firepower contributed by the Vulcan Jade. Lin Jin had another idea.

After tossing in the fire catastrophe skull, he patted the Four Ocean Gourd.

This gourd had experienced a massive transformation after draining the Immortal Empress Spirit Pond.

Layers of water energy emerged from the Four Ocean Gourd, drifting toward the restless core. Although the rapid thumping slowed down after Lin Jin tossed in the fire catastrophe skull, more had to be done to stabilize the core.