Full-Time Magister: I Had No Intention of Reaching the Dimensional Throne

Chapter 373 The True and False Daughters, Star Horse Winged Serpent

The massive mountain range covers half the sky, like a giant beast lying on the earth, and only a vast and magnificent place like the Northwest can contain it.

The dark red obsidian is its body, its mane constantly billowing as if blown by the wind, yet it ignites the entire sky. Upon closer inspection, it turns out to be a raging fire covering the entire mountainside.

The fire flickered three times, illuminating three nights.

Once again, the flames subsided. In the center of the mountain, in a place where flames burned incessantly, amidst a terrifying sea of ​​fire capable of melting rocks and melting gold, nine figures slowly emerged.

They were naked, their bodies charred and blackened by the flames. The icy white rings on their wrists and ankles had faded to a fiery red, like branding irons.

The nine people walked unsteadily, and with each step, bits of their charred skin peeled off like the skin of a roasted sweet potato.

The blood seemed to have evaporated from their bodies, and the nine of them walked out of this dangerous elemental holy land with only their willpower.

Seeing this scene, Bai Mo could hardly bear to look at it. He understood the pain of these nine people. He had heard their suppressed roars for three days, but seeing their miserable state on the verge of death, even though he was mentally prepared, it still made him feel sad.

Staff Officer Shao and Nan Yao also looked reluctant. Staff Officer Shao turned to the military officer, who immediately stepped forward and gave him instructions.

"Don't speak, and don't move!"

At the same time, a shimmering healing glow emanated from him, and healing bottles appeared, protecting the nine people within them.

However, the nine people were too badly injured, and even the healing potion had little effect. Moreover, the military commander's healing skills were only at the fourth level and could not be described as proficient.

They were clearly prepared, but not well prepared.

However, after being suddenly cured, the nine people improved a little. At least they no longer fell off their charred bodies when walking, and their red eyes regained some luster.

The team leader, a researcher, tremblingly raised his hand. It was clear that his hands were already carbonized, and as he raised them, carbon dust fell to the ground.

Amidst the black dust, a silver light slowly shone forth. A spatial backpack opened, and its contents tumbled out—nine boxes cast from silver metal.

The boxes were covered with dense red patterns that appeared and disappeared in varying degrees of light. Staring at the nine boxes, he opened his mouth, his dry and determined eyes fixed on Staff Officer Shao, and it took him a long time to squeeze out four words from his stomach.

"I have fulfilled my mission!"

Staff Officer Shao took a deep breath, looked up at Tina, and then turned to the military commander.

"Can it be cured?"

"Yes, but they must rest now, end the activity, and then they will need a long time to recover. If we take them back to Jiuquan Pass now, a journey of 100 kilometers, it's likely they will die."

A near-death experience!?

Nan Yao opened his mouth, feeling that this assessment was still too lenient. They were all seasoned veterans of the battlefield; they might not know how to treat injuries, but they could recognize them at a glance.

These nine are currently only hanging on by Li Junsi's wings. Let alone leading them a hundred kilometers, even if they were to descend the Flaming Mountain, they would probably be utterly destroyed.

"I have some Parthenon healing potions here."

Seeing that the atmosphere was becoming heavy and that the important matter had been completed, Bai Mo suddenly spoke, flipped his wrist, and a dozen or so vials of medicine appeared in his palm.

"It can be used both for external and internal purposes. Five packets each should be enough for the nine of you."

Since clearing the Parthenon dungeon, these potions were only some of Ye Xinxia's small gains, while others came from another saintess.

In short, there's still plenty of white ink left, and we won't run out of it in the future.

Since Qin Yue started learning from Ye Xinxia, ​​the Bai family has conveniently established a partnership with her.

We're partners now, so buying some healing potions at cost price isn't unreasonable, is it?

As for the Parthenon Mountain potion being worth a fortune, sorry, we don't need the Parthenon name worth a fortune, we want the potion itself.

"Wow, you have something good to offer. No wonder you were able to overturn the Parthenon."

Nan Yao laughed loudly, not bothering to be polite with Bai Mo at this crucial moment. He stretched out his big hand and snatched the medicine away, then the short guy forced it down the throats of the nine researchers.

The military officer didn't sit idle either. He took some medicine and used his water-based abilities to control it, spreading it evenly on the nine people.

Then Staff Officer Shao took out new Northwest camouflage and had the nine men put on it. The nine men were touched, embarrassed, and a little ashamed.

Parthenon's holy medicine worked well, and the injuries of the nine people were quickly brought under control.

Bai Mo's gaze fell on the nine silver boxes on the ground. Although the surface of the boxes was covered with shimmering red patterns, he could not sense the slightest bit of heat emanating from them.

Clearly, the box is very well sealed.

"With these nine boxes of fire starters, supporting nine Tarim fortress cities will not be a problem."

Staff Officer Shao was currently storing the items into her spatial equipment one by one. Her brow didn't relax as a result; instead, she said:

"Is there any way to take them with us?"

The nine researchers made a great sacrifice, and she wouldn't abandon them. The problem was that even if they stayed put, and even if the nine people were kept alive by Parthenon's holy medicine, they still wouldn't be able to travel a hundred kilometers with them intact.

Her problem also caused Nan Yao and Li Junsi to frown. Injuries are always the most deadly thing in the wild.

Many military mages often die on their way back from field missions due to severe injuries.

In terms of emergency care, Li Junsi's advanced healing bottle is sufficient to handle most difficulties, but the current situation is beyond the capabilities of the healing bottle.

"I can set up a spatial teleportation array, but I'll need the spatial coordinates of Jiuquan City," Bai Mo said.

"You know how to use teleportation arrays?" Upon hearing this, Staff Officer Shao looked up in surprise and immediately took out a silver bracelet and handed it over.

"There's a set of space teleportation array materials here, specifically for teleporting back to Jiuquan City. But they were injured and couldn't move, so I didn't think of that. Do you think you can set it up?"

After taking the bracelet, Bai Mo scanned it with his mind and found that it was not a unique teleportation array, but the same one he had learned, so he nodded immediately.

"Sure, but it will take some time. Also, we need to find a more open space. The fire element is too strong here, so it's not suitable."

This isn't difficult. The researchers can't leave, but Bai Mo can use teleportation to carry them. For short distances, all that's needed is for Staff Officer Shao and the others to clear out the dust storm maggots in the target area.

Then, golden light and lightning exploded in a large area of ​​dust storm and vacuum zone at the foot of Flaming Mountain. Then, a silver constellation descended from Bai Mo, and nine researchers were successively sent into the spatial channel and appeared at the foot of the mountain.

Then he disappeared, reappearing at the foot of the mountain. Before leaving, he left another spatial portal in the same spot and took the three officers, including Shao, away with him.

The materials for the spatial magic array provided by Advisor Spoon were all processed semi-finished products, meaning that only people who understand spatial magic arrays need to build it.

While it's not to say that anyone can do it, and it's a completely foolproof operation, it's still quite simple for Bai Mo, who has never even formally set up a spatial teleportation array before.

Moreover, the core of this magic array is directly synchronized with the spatial magic array of Jiuquan City.

If Bai Mo were to come, he could only use his own modified version. He's not a formation master, so how could he carry spatial materials with him?

Therefore, only hollow willow branches could be used, and the location of the formation could not be precisely set at Jiuquan Pass.

Once the teleportation array was set up, the group entered it one after another, and Bai Mo immediately activated the array.

The space began to tremble, and strands of silver light enveloped the figures of the group, causing them to vanish from their spot.

Within the spatial passage, Bai Mo emitted a thin silver radiance. This radiance seemed to carry a powerful suppressive will, calming down the spatial shocks, turbulence, and other spatial impacts caused by long-distance spatial teleportation.

This is why Staff Officer Shao was confident in his idea of ​​using spatial teleportation to return to the city.

With Bai Mo's suppression, the discomfort caused by teleportation would not occur to the nine researchers.

As time and space turned, the light spread out, and Bai Mo and the others appeared in a corner of the ancient city gate.

Immediately, guards came to report and relayed Staff Officer Shao's instructions.

Bai Mo had completed his duties; as reinforcements brought in, he had done more than enough. Therefore, he said goodbye and left.

He had only taken two steps when a large hand grabbed him. "Kid, you haven't returned my things yet! That's my daughter's dowry. What, you want my daughter?"

Bai Mo paused, opened his palm, and the multitasking magic weapon immediately appeared in his hand. He then reached out and returned his daughter to her.

"Uncle, don't talk nonsense. I just forgot. How could someone who drinks the special agricultural medicine like water covet your magical artifact?"

"Hmph, you better be."

Nan Yao pursed his lips, muttered under his breath, "He has the desire but not the guts," and then ran off with the group of medical staff.

Bai Mo turned around and saw the afterglow of the setting sun shining on a straight figure in khaki camouflage. He grinned.

The fake daughter was sent away, and the real daughter arrived.

"What's wrong? Worried about your dad?"

He stepped forward, patted Nan Jue on the shoulder as a greeting.

Nan Jue's expression was somewhat strange; she felt there was something ambiguous about his words. She shook her head and said softly:

"I heard you were back and that some of you were injured, so I came to check on you."

"Oh. Those nine researchers were injured, seriously injured. They came out completely bald." Bai Mo paused, glanced at her, and added, "It's a good thing you didn't go."

"I can't go either, our functions overlap."

"Don't say that, it makes us sound like we're just tools."

Nan Jue chuckled and followed him outside. "Jiang Shaoxu contacted me, saying they've found traces of the Winged Fire Serpent and want you to go there as soon as you've finished your business."

"Huh?!" Bai Mo nodded, then paused in surprise.

"How did she contact you? She's still out in the wild."

"The military long-range communication device didn't make a direct phone call to me, but rather a signal, similar to Morse code, which was then relayed by people from the Central Military Region after being cracked."

"I see."

Upon hearing this, Bai Mo recalled that Jiang Shaoxu in the original novel had also asked for help in the Qinling Mountains, and then he understood.

"Are you looking for a totem?" Nan Jue suddenly asked, "or one related to constellations?"

"right."

Bai Mo wasn't surprised that she knew this. Nan Jue was also interested in and had studied these ancient things. Whether through speculation or by asking Jiang Shaoxu in advance, she could have known these things.

"We obtained several constellation tokens, and using these as clues, we found three of the seven constellations of the Azure Dragon. We are currently searching for the Winged Fire Serpent of the seven constellations of the Vermilion Bird."

"Why didn't you come to me? I remember saying that I have some knowledge of these ancient things," Nan Jue said.

Bai Mo was slightly surprised. It wasn't that she said she had studied this, but judging from her expression, she seemed to know something about the Vermilion Bird Seven Mansions.

"What do you know about the Vermilion Bird's Seven Mansions? Don't try to fool me with mythology." He asked with a hint of curiosity.

Nan Jue smiled mysteriously, not answering, but instead asking, "You should have seen the totem patterns of the constellations, so what do you think of them?"

"How is it?"

Upon hearing this, Bai Mo recalled the totem patterns of the Horned Wood Dragon, the Room Sun Rabbit, and the Di Earth Tapir that he had seen before.

In fact, the three tokens also have the patterns of three totems, but none of them are complete. The complete ones were only recorded when Bai Mo saw them in person.

Overall, the patterns on the three totems are intricate in detail, but relatively simple in general, and can be seen as the shapes of the three totems themselves.

However, the patterns and postures of the three totems are different. When combined, they form the horns and chest/abdomen of a dragon.

Upon closer examination, the patterns on the wing token in Ding Yumin's hand also bear a striking resemblance to the patterns on bird wings.

"In general, the patterns on the constellation totem are very similar to the image of the totem itself, and they also correspond to some parts of the Four Symbols."

"Yes, look at this, what does it look like?"

Nan Jue nodded, raised her hand and took out a round object, which looked like a badge.

The badge is not large, with a red background and brown patterns, depicting a magnificent horse galloping at full speed.

The horse doesn't appear to occupy the center of the emblem, but rather it seems to be running on the surface of the inner circle of the emblem. It is drawn rather long, almost connecting end to end around the inner circle of the emblem, forming a circle.

A horse's body is usually smooth and straight, but this badge twists it into a circle from the side, which is why it took Bai Mo a long time to recognize it.

At first glance, the pattern on this badge doesn't actually resemble a horse; instead, it gives the impression of having large eyes.

The brown torso encircling the center is the pupil, while the long limbs that sway outwards are like bulging blood vessels extending towards the eyes.

At first glance, it looks like the pupil of a ferocious beast with eyes wide open!

"This is."

The pattern of the divine horse, and the shape of its eyes. Bai Mo's mind raced, and in the blink of an eye, he thought of the Star Horse, one of the Seven Mansions of the Vermilion Bird. Among the Seven Mansions of the South, the Star Horse is considered to be the eye of the Vermilion Bird.

"The totem pattern of the Starry Sun Horse?"

He said it somewhat uncertainly.

"That should be true, but the actual pattern is probably far more complex than this. This is our family crest."

Nan Jue said slowly, "My love for studying ancient things is not without reason. My initial interest stemmed from my family crest."

"It's not only the symbol of the Nan family, but it's also used on various vessels and seals, and some seals even use similar patterns. This piqued my interest, so I started researching it and learned about the history of the Nan family, or rather, the origin of these patterns and seals."

As the sun set, the two stood in the shade. Bai Mo didn't interrupt and continued listening to her.

"It comes from a fortuitous encounter of the founding emperor a hundred years ago. It seems that the founding emperor did not obtain any specific artifacts, but only left behind these emblems and magical techniques."

"However, my search over the years has not been entirely fruitless. At least I know where the founding emperor obtained these things."

Nan Jue paused for a moment, seemingly waiting for Bai Mo to ask a question.

"There?" As expected, Bai Mo asked.

"In the Suzhou area in the south, not far from Gusu City, according to a few words in the Emperor Taizu's notes, he acquired these things after he left the Bamboo Forest."

After speaking, Nan Jue slowly walked towards her residence, with only her voice clearly audible.

"If you're going to look for them, you can call me; I'm very interested in these things."

Watching him leave, Bai Mo fell into deep thought. The information about Xing Ri Ma's location could be used by Lingling to pinpoint it later, combining it with their methods.

However, based on past experience, finding these constellation totems requires more than just fragmentary information; a crucial token is also needed.

Without a token, at most they would only find a trace of a totem artifact, like the Yuwen family in Tianmen City.

Even the Yuwen family only discovered it because they possessed a totem artifact component.

Nanjue's ancestor returned empty-handed, leaving behind only some derivative technologies related to the Star Sun Horse, but no totem objects or anything else, obviously because there was no token corresponding to the Star Sun Horse.

As darkness fell, he decided to stay overnight inside the pass and set off the next day for the location of Ding Yumin and the others.

Traveling alone is much easier than traveling in a group. The scenery around you keeps changing. Traveling through the night and the rising and setting of the sun and moon, you finally arrive at the fiery mountains above that basin.

Bai Mo left a spatial mark on Ding Yumin, which could accurately help him find her location, making it more useful than a spatial compass.

A few inconspicuous silver dust particles scattered across the vast expanse of yellow sand, and a figure flashed by. In the blink of an eye, it appeared atop a reddish-brown mountain.

The three of them were not in a secluded location; they simply set up their tents on the flat ground on the other side of the lava pool.

Jiang Shaoxu had planted a fence around the area with plants, and Bai Mo sensed fluctuations of mental magic from it.

This is a fence of psychological fear, which can make any creature that gets close feel a deep-seated terror and subconsciously stay away.

Bai Mo even saw them grilling meat; how arrogant!

Only those with a mind-based magic can play so skillfully in the wild. Other mages, aren't they all hiding in safe, secluded places?

"I am coming."

His figure landed, and he glanced at the meat on the fire, wondering what kind of demon it belonged to. Lingling and the other two looked at him, and Ding Yumin asked:

Have you eaten?

"No." Bai Mo blinked, so relaxed.

"We haven't eaten either," Ding Yumin said, turning the grilled meat in her hand. "Let's eat first, and I'll take you downstairs after we're done."

"What's going on?" Bai Mo asked Lingling.

"The ruins of the Winged Fire Serpent are in that lava pool. Let Sister Yu Mian tell you the details; she went down there," Lingling said, sipping her juice.

"This entire lava spring was formed from winged fire serpents. However, as the spring water flowed upwards, it was mixed with molten lava, which is why it became the lava pool it is today."

Before Bai Mo could ask any questions, Ding Yumin took the initiative to speak.

"The pool we saw last time was only about ten meters deep, but it's actually a hundred meters deep. The Winged Fire Serpent's body is at the bottom of the pool. There seems to be a special identification barrier at ten meters; only those with flames flowing over their bodies and the Winged Order can continue to descend."

"If the molten lava in the pool is completely depleted, the restriction will not appear, and you will not be able to enter it."

Bai Mo nodded slightly, surprised that things went so smoothly, but smooth sailing was always a good thing. Seeing that Ding Yumin had gone downstairs, he asked:

"Besides the winged fire serpent's remains, what else is down there?"

"Beneath the magma lies a clear spring—no, it should be a hot spring. That hot spring contains a special energy that can improve the quality of my fire-type soul seed. I absorbed most of it, and my fire-type soul seed has now reached the sub-celestial level."

Ding Yumin spoke slowly, handing him a skewer of grilled meat, and continued,

"I took out some hot spring water and let Lingling and Jiang Shaoxu try it. Their physical condition improved a little, as if impurities had been removed."

"Yu Mian, what you're saying isn't quite right. We're not dirty, so how can it be about removing impurities?" Jiang Shaoxu couldn't help but complain.

"Just get the gist of it." Ding Yumin reached for a piece of meat and stuffed it into her mouth before continuing her story.

"Besides the skeletons, there was also a bow at the bottom of the pool, which should be the totem artifact. I tried to awaken the Winged Fire Serpent, but it seems to have been dormant for a long time and is most likely dead."

Bai Mo nodded again, but this time the totem was another weapon, which was unexpected.

After finishing their meal, Bai Mo followed Ding Yumin to the edge of the lava pool.

A whooshing white-gold flame ignited from her body. Compared to the previous Soul-level flame, which was so ferocious and domineering, as if it could burn the entire world to ashes, the Calamity Annihilation Divine Flame was much calmer now, like a sword with its edge hidden in its sheath.

"Take good care of yourself."

As she spoke, she reached out and grabbed Bai Mo's hand, and at the same time, platinum flames spread across Bai Mo's body.

A thin layer of silver light instantly covered Bai Mo's skin, and all the flames clung to the light instead of his body.

The two got ready and jumped into the lava together.

The temperature inside the lava is extraordinary; only fire-type mages can survive for long. However, sinking tens of meters takes only a few seconds.

Enveloped in flames, he felt as if he were passing through a thin membrane. As he continued downwards, the fiery red color of the lava gradually faded, and the temperature dropped to that of lukewarm water.

He could feel wisps of energy flowing into his body from the crystal-clear hot spring.

The two descended to the bottom of the pool, where the space was much more expansive and open than above. It was no longer a pool, but more like a small underground lake.

At the very center of the lake, a giant serpent, its body seemingly carved from pure gold and warm jade, lay coiled. Its enormous body was of unknown length and as thick as a pagoda, and it lay coiled like a sacred, golden mountain, solemn and holy.

The scales on the snake's body are lifelike and have distinct outlines, yet they seem to be entirely formed from fire elements, emitting a bright but not dazzling light.

If it were to come back to life, it would probably be a creature like the totem serpent.

Even Bai Mo could sense the heavy death aura beneath that sacred body!

If it possesses dark power, this deathly aura is enough to turn this place into a small land of the dead!

(End of this chapter)