Then, as if the leader had already started, the Golden Mist Soul Fire would slowly follow, merging with the innate fire.

Although this merging process was very quick and didn’t delay Qin Ruqing’s usage, it indeed occurred in this sequential manner.

Qin Ruqing found it bewildering—were they having a separation inside her body?

And they even had a sequence for work?

Seeing Qin Ruqing’s tense face and her silence, Shaozhen couldn’t help but ask, “How is it? Have you felt the dormant Soul Fire Spirit?”

Qin Ruqing quickly pulled her focus back and vaguely responded, “Yes, I’m sensing it… I have indeed found a bit, a small issue.”

Qin Ruqing momentarily set aside her frustration with the fire and started following the Celestial Venerable’s instructions to sense the Soul Fire Spirit.

After some time, she finally sensed the white light Shaozhen had mentioned.

Qin Ruqing knew that this was likely a place similar to a consciousness space, where she could communicate with the Golden Mist Soul Fire.

She quickly immersed herself in it.

The space before her was a vast expanse of white.

Qin Ruqing concentrated and finally found a faint golden mist in an inconspicuous corner.

She could clearly sense that this was the spirit of the Golden Mist Soul Fire.

It remained still, having a subtle but incomplete connection with her.

This incompleteness was probably because the soul fire hadn’t entered into a true contract with her and was in a dormant state.

Qin Ruqing silently observed the mist for a while, then sent a mental impulse, which roughly translated to, “Golden Mist, wake up.”

The mist stirred, began to expand, and eventually grew from the size of a fist to that of a cloud.

During this process, Qin Ruqing felt a bit nervous and was also thinking about how to persuade the Golden Mist to enter into a formal contract with her.

When the Golden Mist Spirit awoke and saw her, the first thing it said was:

“Master, you’re here~”

This was all conveyed through mental communication, without needing to produce any audible sound.

Qin Ruqing was stunned on the spot, almost unable to control her expression.

Master, Master!!

It actually called me Master.

How embarrassing… but, didn’t we not have a contract?

Qin Ruqing’s consciousness body involuntarily took a step back, but then she managed to hold herself together.

Seeing the Little Golden Mist in this manner, it seemed the carefully prepared words she had thought of were completely unnecessary.

After some thought, Qin Ruqing asked, “Um, Little Golden Mist, is it alright if I call you that? I came to find you because I noticed you’ve been in a dormant state. You reside within me and are my companion, but we still need to complete the contracting process. Are you willing to officially contract with me?”

The faint golden mist expressed clear joy.

It happily and softly said, “So, Master, you don’t dislike me~”

“Previously, your other fire scared me, and I thought you didn’t want to contract with me, so I went into dormancy.”

The other fire… scared it.

The Little Golden Mist was so serious that Qin Ruqing reflected on whether she had indeed used her divine fire to scare the Little Golden Mist.

Then she realized it wasn’t quite right.

Back in the magma pool, it was precisely because she refined the Golden Mist Fire that she awakened the second stage of her Dao Physique, and at that time, the divine fire had emerged.

In other words, the Little Golden Mist came before the divine fire.

So it was related to her divine fire? Had the divine fire scared the Golden Mist when she was unaware?

Qin Ruqing pondered for a moment, extended her palm, and deliberately controlled her thoughts, “As long as the divine fire, as long as the divine fire…”

To her surprise, a peculiar wave indeed emanated from her palm.

Her divine fire had no color; if Qin Ruqing didn’t know where it was, one couldn’t see it with the naked eye.

Upon seeing the divine fire, the Little Golden Mist indeed shrank back in obvious fear.

Qin Ruqing signaled the Little Golden Mist not to be afraid and turned to ask the divine fire:

“Did you scare it before?”

The divine fire responded with an agitated thought, “I didn’t scare it. It was just too timid. I was merely suppressing it out of instinct when I first awakened!”

The Little Golden Mist weakly added, “No, it initially tried to consume me. Later, due to insufficient strength, it switched to suppression.”

However, the divine fire still insisted it hadn’t done so intentionally; it was all just instinctive.

Qin Ruqing looked thoughtfully at the divine fire.

The divine fire was, in a sense, a divine ability of the Dao Physique. So, was the Azure Lotus Dao Physique this domineering?

Qin Ruqing recalled what the Dao Sovereign Fusheng had said earlier.

The Azure Lotus actually referred to the title of the Dao Ancestor.

The Azure Lotus Dao Physique should actually be called the Chaos Dao Physique.

Chaos.

It originally had no attributes, representing a mixture, disorder, origin, and end, undefinable and incomprehensible.

It could blend all things in the world.

In other words, all things in the world could be said to have originated from chaos and ultimately return to chaos.

This was why, even though she only had the Heavenly Fire Root, she could inexplicably absorb energies of other attributes, even when her cultivation level was low.

Her Lotus Fire had been fed various strange things, like ancient spiritual crystals and the power of thunder tribulations.

Regardless of the attributes, whether they were strong or weak, it could all be blended together.

Looking back now, it wasn’t that the Golden Mist Soul Fire could absorb other attributes, but rather that the “innate fire” or the characteristics of the Dao Physique could absorb them.

And now, both the Dao Sovereign and Immortal Venerable Shaozhen had said that Heavenly Fire generally does not merge.

Contracting with even one is a very dangerous thing.

Yet she could contract two, and it was also one of the conditions for the Dao Physique’s divine nature to awaken.

Perhaps the “Chaos” within played a role.

Qin Ruqing felt that she finally had a clear and rough understanding of her Dao Physique, no longer in the completely ignorant state she had been before.

She withdrew her focus and looked at the small Golden Mist Soul Fire.

From the recent conversation and the expression of the Golden Mist, she felt it was a soul fire with a somewhat timid personality but actually very considerate and soft-tempered.

It had a bit of an angelic personality but was easily hurt. Once it felt unacknowledged or disliked, it would retreat and heal itself.

So, after it felt “unacknowledged and rejected,” its spirit silently fell asleep but could still be used normally.

Such a good temper.

Qin Ruqing sighed and earnestly said to it, “Little Golden Mist, I’m sorry for having ignored you before. Because you were weak, I didn’t notice your existence.”

“I’m asking you formally now, do you wish to contract with me?”

The Little Golden Mist responded loudly, “Master, I am willing!”

Qin Ruqing smiled.

Since it called her master so readily and without any sign of reluctance, she was relieved.

In the outside world, Qin Ruqing suddenly opened her eyes.

Before her floated a Golden Mist Soul Fire, now unified with her Dao Physique and soul spirit.

Qin Ruqing bit her tongue to draw a drop of blood, which stained the Golden Mist slightly red.

After absorption, the fire returned to her body.

At this moment, Qin Ruqing clearly felt the difference between the true contract and the previous one.

Seeing Qin Ruqing’s delighted expression, Shaozhen smiled and asked, “How is it? Judging by your look, the contract seems to have gone smoothly?”

Overjoyed, Qin Ruqing didn’t think too much and nodded with a smile, saying, “After establishing a mental connection with the Golden Mist Soul Fire Spirit, it immediately called me ‘Master.’”

“It turns out there was a misunderstanding before.”

“Now that the formal contract is established, it’s quite simple~”

Shaozhen’s smile stiffened for a moment.

It was strange that contracting Heavenly Fire could be so easy.

She had thought Qin Ruqing would at least face a trial of mental burning.

It was said that the ten famous Heavenly Fires each had their own temper.

Could it be that this girl encountered the one with the best temperament?

Shaozhen felt a complex emotion rising within her.

She remembered how, when she contracted the Purple Lightning Cloud Fire, she had spent a whole decade negotiating with it before it finally acknowledged her sincerity.

She had once thought that ten years was not too long.

Now, seeing Qin Ruqing, she felt she had wasted her time.

Shaozhen was somewhat skeptical.

She summoned the Purple Lightning Cloud Fire from her palm, which she had been given by Fusheng when he woke her.

Shaozhen announced, “Since you’re in good condition, let’s immediately start contracting the next Heavenly Fire!”

Perhaps the Golden Mist Soul Fire had a good temperament.

But the Purple Lightning?

Heh…

When it was born, no one survived within a thousand miles of its thunder pool.

Let’s see how this girl handles it!