Chapter 254: The Little Phoenix's Treasure! Hand It Over!
"Get me in touch with Feng Wu's communicator."
Jiang Chen suddenly remembered—he had never added that little Phoenix as a contact. But being who he was—the current head of the Evil-Eyed Tyrant race—adding anyone wasn't a problem.
The Phoenix Clan had deep foundations. As the only living Phoenix in existence, she surely had some treasures worth borrowing.
Without waiting for approval, he directly used his privileges to add her as a friend.
Her avatar was a chibi-style cartoon, and her username contained just three characters: Fire Phoenix.
When Feng Wu suddenly received the friend request, she froze in astonishment.
Wasn't it supposed to require consent to add someone?
Feng Wu: ?
What the heck just attached itself to me?
Jiang Chen (under his alias "This Lifetime, I Suppress All"): I'm Jiang Chen. Miss Phoenix, do you happen to have any rare metals you could lend me? If you'd like, I can also forge a battle armor for you while I'm at it.
If he wanted to "revitalize" the Phoenix Clan, this was the perfect excuse.
Fire Phoenix: ?
So direct?
Sure, she did have some—but why should she give any to him?
It wasn't like they were even close.
Feng Wu felt utterly bewildered. Such a pushy little tiger.
Jiang Chen messaged again: I can arrange to have you transferred to Sima Jinchi's side.
Feng Wu: !
Fire Phoenix: Really?
Truth be told, even though life within the Star Dou Forest was comfortable—brimming with life energy and surrounded by soul beasts who could be considered kin—she still felt trapped.
She wasn't allowed to leave the forest.
Her days consisted of nothing but dazing off and cooperating with strange humans conducting endless experiments. She was beyond tired of it.
After all, she was still only a newly born phoenix.
Inherited memory couldn't replace real experience. And her heart longed for freedom—to see the outside world.
But even if Di Tian approved, neither the Spirit Transmission Tower nor the Federation would consent.
Everyone knew how irreplaceable the last living Phoenix was.
Especially now, with Evil Soul Masters hunting her down, hoping to use her in a dark ritual to resurrect the so-called Demon Emperor of the Holy Spirit Cult, she couldn't take a single step outside.
But Feng Wu had long grown weary of this gilded prison.
As a phoenix—the king of birds, born to soar in the sky—how could she accept being caged?
So when she heard that Jiang Chen could free her, joy burst through her heart.
As for Sima Jinchi's name, she conveniently ignored that part.
Fire Phoenix: You can really get me out of the Star Dou Forest? You're not lying to me?
Jiang Chen: Of course!
To him, it was a trivial matter.
The Huo family would just have to run themselves ragged to make it happen.
If they dared refuse—
He'd sigh tragically: "Oh, your ancestor served the Huo family like an ox and horse for ten thousand years, raising it to its current glory, yet you can't even fulfill one small request? Such betrayal!"
He could already picture himself filing a complaint to the Huo ancestors, kneeling twelve god-tier mechas before the clan hall until they gave in.
For the Huo family, he was no negotiator. He was their living nightmare.
Feng Wu thought for a while before finally replying: Alright!
Jiang Chen: I need Phoenix Blood Crimson Gold.
She had been thinking of offering something modest—not too cheap, but not too valuable either. Yet when she heard what he wanted, her mind went completely blank.
Just like Di Tian earlier, her first thought was—impossible!
Phoenix Blood Crimson Gold, alongside Spirit Gold, was a cosmic-grade material of unimaginable rarity.
Spirit Gold could appear only on worlds with fully developed life cores, and even then only by miracle.
Phoenix Blood Crimson Gold, on the other hand, was born from the fusion of a phoenix's blood essence with metal veins rich in the gold element—nurtured over countless ages within a world's crust.
The conditions were insanely demanding.
Even the blood of a Phoenix was rarer than divine nectar, never lightly spilled. And the metal veins capable of supporting such fusion had to run vast across an entire plane.
In her inherited memories, Spirit Gold could form only in large life-bearing worlds.
Phoenix Blood Crimson Gold, however, came from dying or decaying worlds—where ancient phoenixes would scatter their lifeblood across the land, cultivating the metal in hopes of rebirth.
It almost always failed. Sometimes, it even corrupted the entire plane instead.
Even she barely possessed any—only a hollow, egg-sized nugget.
That piece had once served as the protective core of the Phoenix Egg that preserved her life through the great Dragon-Phoenix War.
Giving that away? Unthinkable. It wasn't even certain there was enough to build a full armor.
Fire Phoenix: I can give you some, but not much.
Jiang Chen: !
She actually had some!?
He had only been half-joking! Yet there really existed cosmic-grade metal!
"Great! Half is fine!"
Feng Wu: …
Who said half?
In the end, Feng Wu surrendered a third of her Phoenix Blood Crimson Gold in exchange for her freedom.
A phoenix that doesn't yearn for freedom isn't a true phoenix.
Now Jiang Chen's collection was dazzling: the Spirit Gold from the Soul-Eating Engraver, a fifth secretly bitten off the lakebed by the Golden Turtle, a small pendant Di Tian had once made for a divine beast—and now Phoenix Blood Crimson Gold.
Plenty enough for battle armor.
Even Bi Ji, when she forged hers, had used only a tiny trace of Spirit Gold. And her ten-thousand-year life force had yielded merely a thousandth the potency his materials contained.
Honestly, he was being excessive.
But if he was going to forge something, it might as well be the best.
Even Tang Shenwang's external soul bones had evolved into divine artifacts—how could his own battle armor end up obsolete?
At the very least, it should reach artifact level.
Combine God-King soul bones with divine-tier armor, and eventually—his own super artifact.
Moreover, Spirit Gold didn't just radiate life energy.
Its unique nature lay in evolution.
Hence its other title: The Mother of Metals.
It could draw out the life force from any other metal—but unless properly guided, that energy would dissipate into the air.
Luckily, he had the Golden Dragon Spear, capable of devouring and channeling life energy perfectly. Using it, none of the power would be lost during forging.
Without hesitation, Jiang Chen began preparations. It was a perfect excuse to lie low for a while.
After all, Gu Yue, Na'er, and Xue Di were far too troublesome to deal with right now.
So this time, when he left the academy, he brought no one.
He officially requested leave from Douluo University and departed quietly.
"Wait… shouldn't I have brought Huo Yuner along?"
He had left her behind the last time too. Since she was learning forging anyway, she ought to meet the Divine Craftsman Zhen Hua for guidance.
But he was already far outside the school, and Yuner shared a dorm with Xue Di and Gu Yue.
He hesitated, then sighed. "Next time. There's still time."
Just then, a cold-faced girl in travel gear appeared behind him, clutching a longsword close to her chest.
"Pervert! Where do you think you're running off to?"
(END CHAPTER)
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