"A bet? What kind of bet?" Shen Haoran asked, a little curious.

"Alright, I won’t take advantage of you. You possess the Fire Spirit Black Obsidian, don’t you? All you have to do is boil the water in this cauldron. If you do, I’ll leave immediately. But if you can’t, you have to come with me!" After speaking, Elder Huo took a large, pitch-black cauldron from his Storage Ring, then drew water from the courtyard well and filled it to the brim.

Seeing the serious look on Elder Huo’s face, Shen Haoran was filled with suspicion. "Is it really that simple?" The temperature of the Fire Spirit Black Obsidian was no joke. The heat accumulated by the Fire Element over millions of years was terrifyingly high—it could even melt Mid to High Level Spiritual Artifacts, let alone this cauldron!

’Is there something wrong with this cauldron?’ Shen Haoran hesitated, circling the large cauldron for a long while without spotting anything unusual. He then tried to summon Elder Yan, but in the presence of a Spirit Aspect Powerhouse, Elder Yan had proactively severed their connection. Shen Haoran had no choice but to give up.

"What’s the matter? Scared?" Elder Huo taunted.

"Of course I’m not scared!" Shen Haoran was, after all, a young man, and he still had an impulsive heart. He refused to believe that his Fire Spirit Black Obsidian couldn’t even boil a single pot of water!

"Good. I’ll give you the time it takes for one incense stick to burn. If it boils, you win. If it doesn’t, I win. Begin!" As Elder Huo finished speaking, an incense stick suddenly appeared in his hand. With a light snap of his fingers, the stick was lit.

Seeing the incense stick ignite, Shen Haoran took a deep breath and opened his palm. A black flame suddenly erupted with a FWOOSH! Because his power had recently broken through to a new level and his affinity with the Fire Spirit Black Obsidian had increased, the flame Shen Haoran summoned this time was much purer than before.

Seeing the pure black flame, Shen Haoran’s confidence surged. With a wave of his hand, he enveloped the pitch-black cauldron in fire.

Once the Black Flame enveloped the cauldron, it began to burn ferociously. The pitch-black cauldron was instantly seared red-hot.

Seeing the cauldron instantly turn red-hot, a smug look appeared on Shen Haoran’s face. He thought to himself, ’Asking someone with the Fire Spirit Black Obsidian to boil a pot of water... isn’t this a piece of cake?’

But slowly, the smug look on Shen Haoran’s face vanished, replaced by a grave expression. He discovered that no matter how red-hot he burned the cauldron, the water inside showed no sign of boiling.

’What in the world is going on?’ Shen Haoran was shocked. Although he had been afraid of melting the cauldron at first and hadn’t unleashed the full temperature of the Fire Spirit Black Obsidian, he had still raised it to sixty or seventy percent of its power. That temperature could instantly melt a Middle Grade Spiritual Artifact without any issue, yet now it couldn’t even boil a pot of water?

Seeing that the incense stick was already half-burnt, Shen Haoran gritted his teeth and fully unleashed the Fire Spirit Black Obsidian within him. The temperature in the courtyard instantly shot up a Level, the terrifying heat vaporizing the moisture in the surrounding air. The plants in the courtyard withered and dried out, eventually bursting into flames.

Sensing the terrifying temperature, even Elder Huo glanced over in surprise. Then, with a great wave of his hand, he isolated the heat from the outside world to prevent the Shen Family residence from being burned down. After setting up these defensive measures, Elder Huo sat cross-legged on the ground, still watching Shen Haoran with a calm expression, as if he weren’t the least bit concerned about the outcome of the bet.

Time ticked by, second by second. More and more sweat beaded on Shen Haoran’s forehead. But despite increasing the temperature, he made no progress beyond making the bottom of the cauldron glow even redder. Standing to the side, Ji Lingxuan grew anxious on his behalf.

Finally, the time it took for the incense stick to burn was up. Elder Huo stretched lazily, stood up, and looked at the still-cold water in the cauldron. "Heh heh, you lose!"

"I... lose," Shen Haoran said, slumping dejectedly to the ground. His clothes were soaked with sweat, and the continuous output of Spiritual Power had left him exhausted. Still, he just couldn’t understand why the temperature of the Fire Spirit Black Obsidian couldn’t even boil a single pot of water.

Seeing Shen Haoran’s dejected state, Elder Huo waved his hand. A mass of fiery red Spiritual Power enveloped the pitch-black cauldron. In less than ten breaths, the water inside began to boil. A few breaths after that, it had all evaporated without a trace.

Seeing the water in the cauldron vanish in an instant, Shen Haoran’s eyes went wide, his face a mask of utter disbelief.

"This cauldron was forged from Profound Nether Iron, mined from the northern Land of Extreme Cold," Elder Huo explained. "Profound Nether Iron is extremely rare; you could even consider it a type of life form! It automatically defends itself when it encounters high temperatures. Even something as powerful as the Fire Spirit Black Obsidian is helpless against it. Trying to boil the water inside with brute-force high temperature is definitely not going to work."

"Then how did you..." Shen Haoran began to ask.

"And that brings us to the main point! Profound Nether Iron automatically defends itself against high heat, so what if you were to separate the intense temperature from the flame itself? You could unravel it, like pulling silk from a cocoon, and have it seep inside thread by thread. This would easily bypass the Profound Nether Iron’s defenses. Then, once inside, you could merge those separated flames and finally detonate them. Boiling a pot of water would be effortless!

"Of course, this is easier said than done. It requires a very profound Fire Manipulation Skill. And a Fire Manipulation Skill is a required course for every Fire Attribute Martial Artist! You may possess the Fire Spirit Black Obsidian, but you don’t know how to use it or how to make it unleash its strongest combat power. That’s a reckless waste of a heavenly gift! Not only that, but your method of using flames is simply crude. It wastes your body’s Spiritual Power without unleashing the flame’s ferocious might. What would you call that? All effort, no reward. In a real battle, that would be a fatal flaw!" Elder Huo said sternly.

Hearing this, Shen Haoran lowered his head and began to reflect. It was true; Elder Huo was right. He really only knew how to use the most primitive power of the Fire Spirit Black Obsidian, but he didn’t know how to develop its potential. Every time he used it, he had to expend a huge amount of Spiritual Power. In that sense, the Fire Spirit Black Obsidian hadn’t been much of a help; instead, it had been holding him back.

Seeing that Shen Haoran had realized his mistake, Elder Huo spoke again. "A Fire Manipulation Skill can solve your problem perfectly. But without guidance, it takes a long time of trial and error to comprehend. However, if you join the Five Elements Sect, I will personally teach you!"

Shen Haoran looked at Elder Huo, truly coveting that Fire Manipulation Skill.

Seeing Shen Haoran’s resolve waver, Elder Huo continued, "Besides, your Fire Spirit Black Obsidian isn’t complete, is it? A Fire Spirit without its Fire Spirit Pearl cannot be called a true Elemental Spirit!"

At Elder Huo’s words, Shen Haoran was startled. He stared at the Elder in disbelief. Only he and Elder Yan knew that the Fire Spirit Black Obsidian was missing its Fire Spirit Pearl. Not even Ji Lingxuan knew. ’How could Elder Huo...?’

"If I told you that the Fire Spirit Black Obsidian’s Fire Spirit Pearl is in the Five Elements Sect, would you still want to refuse?" Elder Huo grinned.

"I’ll join!" Shen Haoran said this time without a second thought. The Fire Spirit Pearl was something he had to obtain. To achieve the Chaos Divine Body, he needed the complete Five Great Elemental Spirits. Regardless of whether Elder Huo was telling the truth, Shen Haoran had to give it a try.

"Good. Then what about this young lady...?" Elder Huo asked, looking at Ji Lingxuan.

"I’ll go wherever Brother Haoran goes!" Ji Lingxuan said with a light laugh.

"Excellent! Haha, that’s wonderful!" Elder Huo said excitedly. He had finally managed to recruit these two geniuses for the Sect. ’When I get back, I can’t wait to rub it in their faces!’

"Then pack your things. We leave tomorrow!" Elder Huo said impatiently. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"We’re leaving tomorrow?"

"That’s right. The Sect has a test for new blood like you. We need to go and register ahead of time."

"Alright..." Hearing this, Shen Haoran could only nod in resignation.

’The Five Elements Sect... Maybe life in a Sect will be interesting!’ Shen Haoran started to feel a sense of anticipation...