Chapter 807: Return

The Son of Fire truly lived up to expectations, quietly inviting the Prophet.

This Prophet is a top-secret figure of the Fire Spirit tribe, and currently still in a deep slumber, so naturally, she could not come riding a horse or sitting in a carriage in a grand manner. The Son of Fire had the eight young divine officials who had not returned carry a divine fire palanquin, pretending to transport divine fire, but in reality, they carried the Prophet from the deepest part of the tribe's back mountain.

Originally, the task he received was to invite the Prophet to "come" here. In terms of wordplay, it seemed he should have invited the Prophet to walk over while awake, or at least be escorted in a carriage. But only after arriving did the Son of Fire realize that was completely impossible; that Prophet was simply not someone he could awaken. He decided to ignore all that, placed the sleeping Prophet into the palanquin, covered it tightly, and transported her over as if she were cargo.

He left the others outside and carried the Prophet in alone. He saw that everyone inside was still maintaining their previous posture of sitting in eight directions, staring at the fire pile with focused expressions. Everyone looked very exhausted, their Eye Beads bloodshot, and even their hair was redder than usual. The atmosphere was very scorching, as if the entire Shenghuodi could be ignited if a single spark fell.

After he entered, the old man from before shifted his gaze slightly and said, "Hui is back? Did you invite the Prophet?" When he spoke, only his Eye Beads moved; his entire body remained motionless, maintaining a state of outputting power with all his might. Except for him, the others did not even move their Eye Beads, as if they were completely unable to be distracted.

The Son of Fire, Hui, was a bit worried; the situation seemed even more troublesome than before he left. It wouldn't really go wrong, would it? But he could only say first, "I have already invited the Prophet, but she is still in a state of slumber; I have no way to awaken her."

The old man smiled rarely and said, "Of course you cannot awaken her. If you could awaken her, that would be a problem. She would not have been able to persist until here. Come, invite her out." Hui agreed, and dismantled the still tightly sealed palanquin on the spot, revealing a reclining figure.

That was a red-haired woman. The color of her hair was as bright red as the Fire Spirit tribesmen, one could even say it was purer, like the most intense flame. However, her facial features and figure were entirely that of a Human. In the Human world, she should be considered a beauty who could topple cities. Now, her eyes were closed, long eyelashes covering them, her complexion like snow, her red hair like clouds, just like a deep-sleeping peony flower.

Hui stared straight at her. He was not bewitched by her beauty; to be honest, this Prophet's appearance did not conform to the Fire Spirit tribe's aesthetics at all. Not to mention anything else, just her pair of eyes were too small, not even one-third of an average Fire Spirit tribe woman's eyes. How could Hui possibly fancy her?

He was just thinking about the legend of the Prophet: it is said that this Prophet was born together with the Taixiong God. When the ancient ancestors of the Fire Spirit tribe discovered the divine fire, she walked out of the flames gracefully, then displayed the powerful strength of "words becoming law," clearly a messenger of the gods, eventually becoming the Prophet of the Fire Spirit tribe.

However, only a few people knew this legend. Even those who knew it had never seen the Prophet. It was fortunate they hadn't seen her; if ordinary tribesmen saw her, they probably wouldn't be able to accept that such an important figure in their tribe was actually an outsider, right?

The Prophet was helped up to sit by the fire pile. At first, she was like a sculpture, but unconsciously, she was like someone frozen who had been warmed by the fire, gradually recovering consciousness. Her eyelashes trembled slightly, and the Eye Beads under her eyelids also began to rotate slightly.

Is she about to wake up?

Hui swallowed a mouthful of saliva, feeling a bit nervous.

The old man said, "Hui, you go out first."

The Son of Fire felt some regret, but since the Elder had spoken, he could only stand up. At this moment, the head of the Supreme Elder above said, "Let him stay. Many things should gradually be taught to him to participate in. Otherwise, how will he be able to handle things on his own in three months?"

Hui bowed excitedly in response and sat back down.

The head at the very top called out, "Prophet, Prophet, wake up quickly, the final moment has arrived."

Hui thought: Ah? Is it enough to just shout like this?

But perhaps this is the principle of the world he does not know. The Supreme Elder shouted a few times, and the Prophet actually opened her eyelids a crack. But Hui could not be sure if she was awake, because he could not see if there were Eye Beads under the eyelashes, only seeing a glimmer of light, which seemed to be watery.

It was as if there was only a blur under the eyelids.

"Ah, I have come." The Prophet lowered her eyes and spoke in a low voice.

This voice was very pleasant, like an oriole coming out of a valley or Blue Stone dripping on jade. It was pleasant in the general sense; even the Fire Spirit tribe felt it sounded good. After hearing it, Hui felt she didn't look so strange anymore.

Moreover, this was a very pure Fire Spirit tribe language, without a trace of strange noise. Just listening to the voice, Hui would only think it was some beautiful young girl in the tribe, and he identified with her a bit more.

The others, however, were greatly shocked: This Prophet actually took the initiative to speak?!

You must know, the Prophet is a very special existence. Regarding whether she is a "Human," there is still debate within the tribe.

To say she is not a Human, all her external forms are exactly the same as a living Human; she can speak, move, and even cry and laugh. But if one says she is a Human, she has no proactive reactions. She can speak, but only when others ask her will she speak, and once she speaks, it is bound to be earth-shattering. She can move, but almost never does, nor will she follow others' instructions; she is just like a statue that doesn't move much, only occasionally making inexplicable gestures.

She also does not eat or excrete; it is unclear how she maintains her life. She almost never takes action, but the Fire Spirit tribe publicly acknowledges that she possesses powerful and magical strength.

Those Elders who do not believe she is a Human have proposed a viewpoint: she might be some kind of powerful creation, created by imitating Humans, or perhaps a means of the gods, so she is like a Human yet not a Human.

Although she is so strange, she has demonstrated abilities beneficial to the Fire Spirit tribe, so everyone still worships her.

Now, she actually spoke proactively, and the Supreme Tribal Chief hadn't even asked yet. These few short words, "I have come," might be just a greeting to others, indicating she has arrived, but the Prophet would not have such consciousness. She would not say boring, empty words; the few words she said must have a deeper meaning.

In the past, if the Prophet said one word, the Fire Spirit tribe would study it for a whole day, extending it to ten thousand words before stopping. At this time, they were naturally brainstorming crazily. The Supreme Elder, however, continued, "Prophet, we have encountered trouble in sealing the divine fire. What do you think should be done?"

The Prophet's eyes widened a bit, and finally, one could see the unfocused, ruby-like Eye Beads in her eyes.

"I will go in."

"What?"

This time, it was not vague, but so clear that everyone was stunned.

The Prophet stood up from the ground on her own. Her height was a head taller than the average Fire Spirit tribesman; several sitting Elders only reached her knees. They were even a bit flustered.

Ever since this Prophet came to the Fire Spirit tribe, her strength has been constantly weakening. Thinking about it, it makes sense; she doesn't eat or drink, and prophecies consume strength. With only output and no input, how could she last? So, in these years, her strength has weakened more and more severely; she would fall into a long slumber after saying one or two words. It even reached the point where she wouldn't wake up at the end. The Supreme Elder judged at the time that the next time she woke up, she would almost certainly fall into an eternal slumber.

Seeing her move like this, several Elders were even more surprised.

They originally thought that when she woke up again, it would be the end after saying a few words or making some movements. How could she start walking?

The Elder who came first couldn't help but recall a theory: this Prophet came from the divine fire; the reason she was constantly weakening was that she was too far away from the divine fire. If she were allowed to return to the divine fire, she might have recovered long ago.

However, everyone could not take the risk. Who knew what would happen if she went back? The divine fire was too important to the Fire Spirit tribe, while the Prophet was not that important. How could they risk the divine fire for the sake of the Prophet?

From this point, it can also be seen that the Fire Spirit tribe's faith is different from other tribes' belief in gods. If it were other tribes, the Prophet would be a messenger of the gods; one would not isolate her from the divine fire, nor would one block a divine messenger from returning to the embrace of the gods.

But having just encountered such danger, the Supreme Elder broke the usual layer of tacit understanding and let the Prophet see the divine fire. Now the Prophet wanted to walk into the divine fire; should they stop her?

But at this moment, even if they had this thought, everyone was already under great pressure. The cover in the middle and the suction of the divine fire inside were too fierce. It was not easy for everyone to persist now, so how could they spare a hand to stop the Prophet's movements?

Let go, and then fall short of success?

Then why invite the Prophet here?

Finally, the Supreme High Sacrifice made the decision: "Do not act rashly! Let her go! Since the Prophet was born, she has never harmed the interests of our tribe. The decisions she makes are all good. I believe this time is the same; she will not harm us."

Saying this was actually a bit of going with the flow out of helplessness, but it was the truth after all, and it also made the other Elders feel at ease for the time being. They watched the Prophet walk toward the fire pile step by step.

At first, she walked like before, step by step as precise as if measured by a ruler, not like the pace of a living person. But gradually, she walked more and more lightly, and vivid expressions gradually appeared on her calm to indifferent face—joy, longing, nostalgia, love... all kinds of positive emotions intertwined, an expression that made people feel hope.

Although they were of different species, several Fire Spirit tribe Elders could also be infected by her emotions, and their moods couldn't help but turn for the better. But at the same time, their reason gave them the feeling that something was going terribly wrong.

Seeing the Prophet reach the front of the cover, several Elders felt hope: with the solid barrier blocking, she definitely couldn't get in; this matter wouldn't succeed! Let's see what other methods there are!

But the next moment, they were terrified. The Prophet's hand had already reached into the cover, contacting the divine fire. The barrier that looked impenetrable from the outside had no effect at all.

She touched the fire and said softly, "I have come, finally returned."

At this moment, a pair of eyes also opened in the flames, meeting her gaze: "You have returned! Welcome back!"

However, is Tang Zhao really on the ship? He is becoming more and more elusive now; what exactly is he doing?