Versatile Mage (Web Novel)
chapter-457

Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

"You can raise the Flame Belle, every time you feed her a Soul Seed Piece in her youth, there's a higher chance that she would develop a Soul-grade flame as she ranks up. By then, your Contracted Beast is going to be terrifying; even Advanced Magicians would be scared to fight her!" Zhao Manyan became more excited the more he spoke. It was clear that he too had not expected Mo Fan's Secret Tipping Scroll to contain information about a Flame Belle!

These Secret Tipping Scrolls were truly a great place to find a fortune!

Frankly speaking, Mo Fan was not too interested in the Contracted Beasts that were auctioned in the marketplace. It felt like they were not as useful as his Swift Star Wolf. It would be a waste of money if he could not get a significantly stronger Contracted Beast after spending forty million RMB.

As such, the Flame Belle that Zhao Manyan had mentioned was quite ideal… If he was planning to get one, he wanted to get something great!

He finally decided to spend the money. He had to get all the information he could about the Flame Belle!

---

The community of the Hunters had lots of rumors being shared around every day. Most of the rumors were traded in the Hunter Union, yet some special places would also provide valuable information. Similar to the inns in the milieu of Wuxia tales, where cultivators always discussed and traded the rumors they heard, the Hunters also had their places of gathering too...

Zhao Manyan seemed to be quite an expert about things like this. He quickly sent his men to these places to search for the information, and let Mo Fan buy the Secret Tipping Scrolls from specific locations, to see if he could find anything related to the Flame Belle.

"My money is getting used up at a crazy rate considering I'm only buying a few lines of words..." In the room, Mo Fan felt his heart aching as he glanced at the scrolls piling up on the table in front of him.

The truth was, it did feel like a lottery. The only difference was, he would know if he had won the jackpot, but he needed a huge sum of money for it...

"This piece of information is valuable. This group of Hunters trespassed into a Flame Belle's territory when they were looking for a Soul Seed, and were fiercely attacked by the Flame Belle. This means that the Flame Belle is very cautious and hot-tempered, which makes sense if she was about to give birth," said Zhao Manyan.

Mo Fan had learned a great deal about the North Burning Valley from the scrolls, including the places where the Flame Belle was active. Not many Hunters would be hunting around the area, as not everyone could handle the extreme heat.

However, Dunhuang was one of the go-to places for Hunters to search for treasure, as there were lots of ancient artifacts waiting to be discovered, even though the place was roaming with demon beasts.

"We've now learned the location, the path to take, the danger level and the treasure waiting for us. What we lack is an on-the-spot investigation," said Mo Fan.

The Secret Tipping Scrolls had provided lots of extra information. If they were actually planning a visit to the Burning Valley, the information would save them lots of trouble. After all, the place was located in the demon beasts' territory, and it would be troublesome for humans without any tricks.

"So you've decided to go, with only the information we have?" asked Zhao Manyan curiously.

"Just a field trip, it won't bring any harm to us, just treat it as a training..." said Mo Fan.

"Don't mention the word 'training'," said Zhao Manyan with a long face.

"HAHA, I remember that the North Burning Valley isn't far away. If we fly to Gansu and skip Dunhuang City, we should arrive at the North Burning Valley fairly quickly. The trip won't take more than half a month. I'll have plenty of time to rest up to prepare myself for the second challenge week for next month!" said Mo Fan.

"You seriously do whatever comes to your mind," Zhao Manyan said helplessly.

Most Hunters would spend some time preparing themselves so they would not return empty-handed. Only a few like Mo Fan would set out for an adventure straight away.

That being said, it was more practical to visit the place than trying to find clues from the unreliable pieces of information.

"I wish you all the best then. I hope you'll bring a Flame Belle back, and crush all students at the Pearl Institute's Main Campus!" Zhao Manyan gave Mo Fan his blessing.

"Wish my ass, did I say I'm going alone?" said Mo Fan, raising his eyebrows.

"Crap, don't tell me you're thinking of dragging me along, too?" Zhao Manyan asked in surprise.

"What do you say?"

"..."

Mo Fan had finally learned the meaning of 'a turtle shell defense' during their battle with the vampire. The adventure would be significantly less dangerous with Zhao Manyan tagging along. It was obvious that finding the child of a Flame Belle was going to be a difficult task. Mo Fan did not think he could handle it without the help of some elites.

After a series of intimidation and bribery, Mo Fan finally convinced Zhao Manyan to come along.

Zhao Manyan was not a fan of involving himself in dangerous situations, yet considering his cultivation had been stagnant for quite some time recently, he might somehow benefit from the trip.

After all, if it were too dangerous, they would just give up and come back. The journey would not take much time at all.

"Just the two of us isn't enough, we should look for more people, someone that we can trust," said Zhao Manyan sternly.

Going to the North Burning Valley was no joke; it would be naive to rely on themselves. They needed a team that could fight, defend, retreat, and flee!

"I've asked Lingling, and she seems quite interested, we'll bring her along," said Mo Fan.

Lingling was their intelligence capsule, and also an experienced Hunter. With her in the team, it would save them a lot of trouble.

"Mm, mm, we need someone to do the planning. Our operation will be more efficient with her help," Zhao Manyan agreed.

Zhao Manyan was fairly impressed by Lingling after the incident of the Mother Scale Skin Phantom and the vampire hunt. She was surely better than those unreliable old Hunters.

Mo Fan dialed a number and asked for Zhang Xiaohou.

If there was anyone he could trust, Zhang Xiaohou was surely top on the list. Zhang Xiaohou was courageous, honest, and smart when facing demon beasts. If it weren't for his help when dealing with the Xuanwu Giant Lizard and the Giant Poisonous Centipede, they would not have been able to carry out their plan. Those were Commander-level creatures, yet Zhang Xiaohou was bold enough to agree to it. He would not blink if Mo Fan asked him to come along to the North Burning Valley.

In addition, Gansu happened to be right beside Xiaxi, thus Zhang Xiaohou could easily meet up with them.

"We also need a Healer. The Burning Valley is infamous for to its danger level. There's a high chance we might lose a limb or break a leg there. Casualties are inevitable without a Healer," emphasized Zhao Manyan.

"Do you think Healers are like cabbages, that you can simply grab from the streets?"

"How about Bai Tingting, have you asked her?"

"I haven't seen her since I've come back to school, I should pay her a visit some time… You have broad connections, aren't there any Healers that you can trust?" said Mo Fan.

"Unfortunately, no, apart from those Buddhas from my family, but there's no way I can afford to bring them along," said Zhao Manyan.

Healers were luxuries for every group of Hunters. The adventure they were planning was fairly unique, hence they could only invite those that were trustworthy. How could they possibly find one that fit the criteria? Bai Tingting had not returned to school since the incident.

"Our group isn't as complete as those experienced groups, so we definitely need a Healer. Without one, we should just call it off. It's good if we get it, but it won't bring any good if we're dead," Zhao Manyan said seriously.

Mo Fan felt a headache too. Healers were the hardest to find in the world, but the more he learned about the Flame Belle, the more he wanted one to be his Contracted Beast...

"By the way," a sudden thought crossed Zhao Manyan's mind. He tapped on Mo Fan's shoulder and asked, "Isn't your sister Xinxia a Healer, whose primary Element is the Healing Element, and secondary the Psychic Element? Unlike demon beasts, those Elemental Beasts are not necessarily hostile toward humans. With your sister's Psychic Element, we could easily convince them to let us pass, which would make our adventure a lot easier!"