As soon as the words fell, the newly named “Huohuo” buzzed with joy, zipping skyward in a brilliant arc.
It swooped, spiraled, rolled—the engine roared.
Absolutely showy.
“Wow, that speed!” Theresa exclaimed.
“It’s not just fast, it’s super agile!”
After a few dazzling loops, Huohuo shot back and settled steadily in front of Su Fu, engine humming softly, hull rocking as if waiting for her praise.
For a moment, everyone froze and thought, ‘Wait, why does this Flying Device act like a giant pet currying favor with its owner?’
Not only that, after receiving Su Fu’s praise, Huohuo even opened its hatch for her and shifted its position to make boarding easier.
It really looked like…
Everyone glanced at each other, and the same word flashed in their minds: ‘Obsequious. So obsequious.’
Something was off—how did it go from looking so cool and dashing to suddenly becoming fawning and eager to please?
But they didn’t know this was Huohuo’s own doing; they just thought Su Fu was manipulating it with divine power.
So their gazes toward Su Fu changed instantly.
Good grief, so the big shot likes this kind of thing?
Outwardly cold and powerful, calm and restrained, but in private, ahem, fond of this sort of…?
But they dared not speak, pretending not to notice and busied themselves awkwardly.
“This fire’s really blazing…” Theresa sighed, looking off at the distant Flame Mountain.
“Yeah, the sky’s so blue… I mean, so red,” George replied awkwardly, eyes flickering, not daring to meet Su Fu’s gaze.
Yi Congling turned around, pretending to check their gear.
Su Fu, now realizing what had happened: ‘It’s over! My reputation’s ruined.’
‘Huohuo, behave yourself!’
Huohuo immediately straightened up, hovering ramrod-straight beside her.
Su Fu coughed twice and composed herself.
“Now that the Flying Device is complete, it’s time to fulfill my promise and take everyone across the Flame Mountain.”
“So, everyone, get in. Let’s take it for a spin?”
Theresa’s eyes lit up, delighted, “So, we’re going to cross the Flame Mountain in this Flying Device?”
Su Fu, however, shook her head, “No.”
She looked toward the fiery mountains, flames rolling, red waves surging skyward.
Light and heat warped the air, the world reduced to a sea of red.
She spoke softly, “To clear the Flame Mountain, we have to extinguish its fire.”
Everyone stared, shocked, ‘What? Can this fire be put out?’
This was a Conceptual Divine Fire—the embodiment of the concept of burning.
To fight it, you’d need another conceptual power.
But where could they get such power?
But Su Fu was already in the pilot’s seat, gesturing for everyone to board. “Get in?”
They exchanged glances.
Since the big shot said so…
Heh, on board!
Time to experience Huohuo’s performance.
Huohuo lifted off and, after ascending, turned away from the direction of the Flame Mountain.
“We’re going back?”
“Yes,” Su Fu nodded, “To put out this fire, we still need an important artifact. But before that—”
She grinned, “Buckle up. I want to test the Flying Device’s speed.”
Hearing this, everyone immediately fastened their safety restraints tight—especially George, who even pulled down the overhead lock.
No joke—he’d made this himself and knew just how extreme its speed could get.
“Let’s go!”
Before she’d even finished speaking, Huohuo was already raring to go.
“Boom—!”
The Flying Device shot forward.
A huge thrust pressed everyone hard into their seats.
Yi Congling couldn’t help but scream; George followed with a “Aaaahhhh—!”
Huohuo streaked ahead like an arrow, instantly breaking the sound barrier.
The scenery around them blurred into streaks of color.
Blazing sun, volcano, clouds—all left far behind.
Theresa stayed calm, but a closer look revealed she was using divine power for protection.
Su Fu smiled and said, “This is just the beginning. Huohuo, ascend!”
Huohuo’s engines thundered, and it shot almost straight up into the sky.
The ground fell away, the sky rushed closer, and thick clouds whipped past.
With the crushing G-force, more screams rang out.
But as the Flying Device broke through the clouds, the world opened up—
Blue sky like a wash, radiant sunlight, a sea of clouds below—no more fiery red in sight.
All the noise was left behind; only boundless peace and grandeur remained.
“Wow!” Everyone exclaimed in unison at the breathtaking beauty.
Satisfied after testing Huohuo’s performance, Su Fu said, “Huohuo, let’s go down. Slowly.”
Huohuo obediently descended, the speed now gentle and smooth, gliding like it was over still water.
After dropping below the clouds, everyone finally got a good look at the magnificent landscape below.
“Look!” Yi Congling pointed at a crimson area in the distance.
“Is that the Flame Mountain?”
From high above, they saw the Flame Mountain like a wound in the earth—lava flowing, heat waves surging, and wild flames dancing above it.
But it wasn’t just the Flame Mountain; not far away was a completely different landscape.
A wide river snaked its way across the land, sparkling in the sunlight, forming a sharp contrast with the Flame Mountain’s red.
“I wonder what map that is—it looks beautiful.”
Su Fu followed Yi Congling’s gaze and realized she recognized this place.
It was the Tongtian River, within Xiniu Hezhou.
The Flying Device flew onward, revealing mountain ranges, peaks upon peaks, shrouded in clouds—majestic and grand.
Amid the mountains, they occasionally glimpsed unique buildings, some hidden in the mists, some perched atop cliffs.
Further on was a vast plain, and in the distance, the hazy outline stretched to the horizon, with no end in sight.
“This Ling Shan map is huge,” George couldn’t help but sigh as the scenery changed, “It seems endless. No wonder it’s the flagship map of Tianqiong Path Academy.”
Yi Congling was excited, “They say there are still many unexplored regions in the Ling Shan map. No one even dares to venture there. Who knows what kind of magnificent sights are waiting?”
Su Fu thought to herself, ‘the Journey to the West map really was massive.’
The monk and his disciples traveled from the Great Tang in the Southern Continent to Ling Shan in Xiniu Hezhou, and the Eastern Divine Continent is where the Monkey King’s birthplace, Huaguo Mountain, lies—that’s three continents.
Not to mention, from Huaguo Mountain to Gao Village, to the Women’s Kingdom, the Flame Mountain, Pansi Cave… and finally to Ling Shan, the journey was long—over eighty thousand miles to fetch the scriptures.
To truly recreate it all, what grandeur that would be.
“Actually,” Yi Congling suddenly spoke, cutting into Su Fu’s thoughts, “the largest known map right now is the Great Desolation Series. They say humans have explored less than one percent of it.”
George was curious and asked, “You know more about that map?”
“Of course,” Yi Congling lifted her chin, explaining, “Once, an exploration team spent an entire week in the Great Desolation map without meeting a single living thing. As far as the eye could see, even plants were pitifully scarce. They concluded it was a vast, desolate wilderness.”
“And you know,” she lowered her voice, “I heard the map keeps evolving. Even the same location changes every time you go in.”
Everyone gasped, ‘Such scale and mystery—hard to even imagine.’
“Next up is the Mountain and Sea series,” Yi Congling continued, “According to Shen Yan’s calculations, there are… three thousand worlds in the Mountain and Sea realm!”
“Three thousand worlds?!” George was stunned, “That many? How tough must the anomalies inside be!”
Yi Congling shook her head, “No idea. Human exploration is limited, but the world is boundless. My dream is to traverse every map in the universe and find ores I’ve never seen before. Maybe it’s the Eternal Ice Crystal from the Far Northern Ice Fields, or mineral veins never discovered in the three thousand worlds of the Mountains and Seas, or even Lihuo Gold at the core of a star in the Starsea Map…”
She scratched her head, a bit embarrassed, “Maybe it’s because I grew up around minerals, that’s all I ever think about.”
At that moment, she glanced shyly at Su Fu and asked, “Um… Boss, those ores you got from the Flaming Mountain this time… would you consider selling them?”
She was simply drooling over them.
Su Fu raised an eyebrow at her and asked, “You want them?”
“Of course!” Yi Congling quickly replied.
“I’m willing to pay triple the market price! Flare Jade is usually one hundred and fifty thousand per gram, I’ll give you four hundred and fifty thousand; rare Lihuo Gold goes for two hundred thousand per gram, I’ll pay six hundred thousand…”
“Of course, Boss, if you feel that evaluating with contribution points is a loss, we can trade for items. You name what you want—as long as I can get it, it’s yours!”
George couldn’t help but gasp, ‘So rich—such a tycoon!’
Su Fu had plenty of these ores, and countered, “So many contribution points—are you sure you have the final say?”
“Of course,” Yi Congling said confidently, “My mom will definitely support me!”
Su Fu laughed at that and said, “Alright, once the exams are over, let’s have a good talk about this deal.”
She breathed a sigh of relief—this young lady had finally brought it up herself.
Actually, she’d wanted to talk business with Yi Congling for a while now.
Why else put so much effort into collecting rare ores, even risking landslides and exposing deeper veins?
Wasn’t it all to attract the attention of this young heiress?
After all, this girl came from a family with countless mines and vast experience—her standards were sky-high.
From the first time Su Fu took out those minerals from the Flaming Mountain, she could tell: Yi Congling was pleasantly surprised, but didn’t really want them.
Clearly, such minerals weren’t rare to her—her family probably had piles of them already.
But when the mountains collapsed and deep-buried minerals were excavated, that was different.
The young lady’s face changed almost instantly.
Obvious interest—perfect.
What Su Fu wanted wasn’t just contribution points or a simple barter.
She wanted cooperation.
To compete against the Seven Great Clans, amass wealth, build power, and develop spiritual tools—all required resources.
Whether it was constructing the orbital ring, Bluebird Tower, or the Kunpeng Ship, a solid mineral supplier was essential.
Otherwise, it would all be castles in the air.
Given all this, Yi Congling was undoubtedly the best partner.
She was from the Third Star Ring, far from the Second Ring Core, not under constant surveillance from the clans—perfect for quietly developing in the early stages.
Besides, to raise such a wealthy heiress, her family had to be loaded with resources.
And, Yi Congling wasn’t just some spendthrift, ignorant rich kid—she was highly professional and insightful.
That meant her family didn’t get rich by luck, but probably had some godly skill or special talent, making them mineral tycoons.
All signs pointed to Yi Congling as the ideal business partner.
Now, the first step had been taken.
Just then, George suddenly shouted, “Wow, look at that city below—how beautiful! And there’s a river!”
Su Fu looked down as well, and sure enough, saw a sizable city.
Within, there were pavilions and towers, neat streets, crowds of people, and a steady stream of carriages—a bustling sight.
And the river encircling it was like a jade belt, sparkling under the sun, with flowers and trees lining both banks—truly picturesque.
“This is gorgeous!” George said enviously, “Why is there such a huge gap between maps in the Spirit Mountain region?”
Their own assignment was the extreme Flaming Mountain, yet here was somewhere so gentle and pleasant.
The candidates assigned here must be in heaven.
It looked like the perfect place for a spring outing.
But Su Fu felt something was off.
This place seemed… familiar.
She looked at George with a subtle, almost teasing smile and asked, “Really want to go down and take a look?”
It looked beautiful, and George really did want to go see it, but for some reason, Su Fu’s meaningful smile made him uneasy.
“Wait… is there something weird about this map?”
He swallowed, testing, “So, Boss, you know what this place is?”