Apotheosis

The woman yelled in cracking hoarse voice dripping with shock. She least expected that Zen would have the patience to withstand her flirtation. And what surprised her more was his thorough resistance and finally she felt powerless in front of him.

It was a common sense that Flirtation was a fighting tactic that worked mostly on men at younger age as when they hit puberty they were evidently attracted to the feminine nature the most. And at the moment, seeing this man who was less than 20-year-old and should be the easiest prey of her seduction, brazenly turn down her attempts, made her curious and more determined.

With this first encounter, the woman, who was in fact the owner of Weapon Pavilion, got a profound impression of Zen. A flame of curiosity was raging in her heart, and this possessed her and pushed her to pursue Zen and find out more about him.

"Is it you who want to buy that sword?" inquired the woman, passing a wide inviting smile to him.

Even though her voice remained broken and hoarse, the whole tone on the contrary was soft and appeasing. No one could deny the gentle and soft feeling that stuck in the heart. "You are right, that is me," Zen replied reverently as he nodded his head.

"Well..." The woman sighed with hesitation as she held out her hand to start brushing the white tiger's hair. With a polite yet shrewd smile still lingering on her face, she began to approach him. "Didn't Manager Qi tell you? This particular sword is not for sale," she said while gazing into Zen's eyes.

Zen smiled back with equal politeness and said, "Yes, he did. It is just that the sword attracted me so much that I will be so depressed if I cannot earn it. Do you think you could bend your rule this once and quote a price for it?" He pursued diligently.

Upon hearing his persistent attempt, the woman burst out into a small shrill laugh. She shook her head expressing her refusal and explained, "This sword is not any common sword on which I could bear to put a tag. It is a combination of the knowledge of Chase's last times on earth. He poured his lifetime's hard work, knowledge and dedication into this sword when making it. And I inherited it because he was my father's close friend. And according to his will, I am not allowed to sell it to anyone unless someone would be able to refine it into a fairy weapon,

and drought, the clan's elder invited a witch to disperse the bad omen that people believed to be the reason of their hardships. And from that time on, they set up a giant furnace and kindled the fire obeying the witch's spell. And henceforward, the clan only grew wealthier and stronger, and began to expand their territory. They then became the largest and the most powerful clan in the Eastern Region. And the fire that lit in the furnace had never been extinguished from the first day till this day. It became the most holy and divine symbol in the whole clan which kept their hopes and dreams afloat.

After the fire had burned for over one thousand years, a living spirit came out of it eventually, and it was never easy for people to see a fire spirit rising from any kind of fire despite of how long time it had burned. There were only a few fire spirits in the whole worldwide. And today, very luckily, they happened to come across one, a beautiful, delicate one.

Zen remembered the fire of the Earth's core that he absorbed in his body in the past. He believed that the fire had also burned in the cave under the ground for over a thousand years before he took it in at length. But even that fire did not possess the capability to produce a fire spirit.

As Zen was lost in his line of own thoughts wondering about the fire spirit, the woman broke the silence and resumed speaking, "I don't like my time to be wasted. You better be as strong as you claimed. So now it is your show time." Evidently, her tone carried a hint of mockery and despise.