There was his chance!
Drakos opened his eyes and saw a curious look in the Phoenix's eyes. He could use this to save himself!
"Yes! I got a method. I'm willing to share!" Drakos called out excitedly.
"You know I will kill you if you are lying?" The Phoenix warned, withdrawing her wing.
"Yes, yes! I know but I'm not lying. I really do have a method."
"Talk then," the Phoenix demanded.
"Ahem," Drakos cleared his throat. "Can you give me a moment? I need to regenerate my body. My whole body got burned just now."
The Phoenix only glared at him without saying anything so Drakos took it as a yes and sat down. The membrane of his wings and the scales on his arm were all ruined but after he channeled Fate Qi through his body, new scales began to replace them, shedding the old skin.
"Dragons still can't match the regeneration ability of us, Phoenixes." the Phoenix didn't shy away from throwing punches at him and his race, showing the deep grudge between the two races.
"Of course, when you die, you get reborn. Sounds quite overpowered. That's your only advantage when compared to Dragons but I have my own methods similar to those," Drakos replied with a smirk and stood up, all healed up. "See? I'm like new. I said before I had my Human Form. I already died once yet here I am, alive and kicking with a new body I created for myself. Amazing, right?"
Drakos' words brought out a curious look from the Phoenix.
"How?"
'Hehe, she is hooked,' Drakos commented in his mind and explained, gesticulating with his small hands. "You see, unlike other Spirit Beasts, we don't consume Spirit Qi to grow but Fate Qi instead. Throughout our lives, we grow up by consuming Fate Qi from the air. This process can take up many, many years but if we are patient, we will eventually reach the highest, Celestial Stage."
"That is correct," the Phoenix confirmed.
"But, what if I told you there is another method to grow much faster?" Drakos teased, continuing to pause after each question.
Too bad the Phoenix didn't belong to the most patient ones. "Tell me already. Stop stalling or else…" She threatened by flaming the tip of her wing.
"Okay, okay, I'm telling," Drakos quickly gave in. "The method requires you to first reach the Celestial Stage, take Human Form, and then separate your body and Spirit, rebuilding it once again using only Fate Qi. You will be able to use Fate Stones to cultivate much faster."
He basically described exactly what happened to him in his life.
Swoosh!
A flaming feather got shot by the Phoenix but Drakos already expected it, dodging beforehand.
"You… Are you trying to scam me? What is that useless method?" The Phoenix questioned angrily. "I thought you have a method that will help me reach Celestial Stage faster yet you try to cheat me. What's the point of recreating my body after I already achieved my Human Form?"
The Phoenix's body suddenly lit up with flames.
"I should have known I can't trust a Dragon."
Drakos' eyes widened, his idea of acting cool backfiring at him.
"Wait! My method is better!" Drakos shouted, trying to stop her. "Are you going to wait another thousand years before you can advance again or would you rather advance in days as long as you have resources to do so?!"
The Phoenix's flames reduced as Drakos hooked her attention again.
"Explain before I kill you!"
"So what if you have to recreate your body? As long as you have Fate Stones, you can go back to the Celestial Stage with your new Fate Qi Body within days. What's more, your new body would be no longer limited by any restrictions of your bloodline. You can keep all your abilities while a new boundless path opens in front of you. My Fate Qi body is also much stronger than before!"
"I'm not dumb. There has to be a catch," the Phoenix pointed out. "You keep mentioning you need to have a lot of Fate Stones for that. How much exactly? Just look at your small body right now. How long will it take you to recover?"
Drakos smirked on the outside but inside of his mind, he was panicking. If she learns the truth, he would be a goner immediately. Thankfully, his acting skills were top-notch.
"You don't have to worry about that," he stated confidently. "There just happens to be a huge Fate Stones mine right underneath this mountain that I was eying from the beginning. If you spare me now, I will help you with this whole process. It's not like you need to wait long for your next breakthrough."
The Phoenix glared at him. "And what if you are lying to me?"
"Well, I will be here under your control till you breakthrough. I'm not going anywhere. You will see how fast I'm growing by absorbing the Fate Stones from the mine and then you can decide if you want to proceed with my method," Drakos explained. "What do you think? Deal?"
The Phoenix hesitated for a moment before all of her flames disappeared and she agreed, "Fine, I will watch you for a while then and decide later. If I find out you lied, I will burn you into ashes."
"That's a deal then!" Drakos called out excitedly. "Let's go back and inform the rest."
He couldn't wait to get away from her.
'Hehe, such a naive girl… Just you wait… Once I regain my strength, I will get my revenge and let you taste my Legendary Flame…'
———
"I'm back!"
Xuefeng couldn't help but stare amazed at the small figure when he saw Drakos walk back in one piece.
"Oof, when I saw the flames, I thought you are already done for."
"Me too. Such a shame," Nuwa commented, making Drakos roll his eyes.
"I can hear you!"
Nuwa only shrugged. "You were meant to hear it. You still didn't pay me back for endangering Yiren's life."
No matter how clumsy Yiren was, she was still her daughter so she would stay by her side. If not Yiren, the Phoenix would eventually kidnap someone else so that argument was faulty. It would be even worse if she attacked them directly in the open field.
"Okay, I said sorry already. Everything worked out in the end," Drakos apologized and quickly changed the topic. "Anyway, I struck the deal with Miss Phoenix! You all can stay here while we visit the Mine underneath the mountain."
Huh?
Everyone was dumbfounded by it. Did she really strike a deal with this little scammer?
"And I will kill him if he lied to me," the Phoenix added.
Oh.
Everyone nodded, finding that more reasonable.
"Miss Phoenix, do you mind if we settle here?" Xuefeng asked to unload the tension in the air. "I would like to place a small house for us."
"House?"
His wives brightened when they heard him, looking at the Phoenix with excited glances.
"You mean something like a cave? Sure. Just don't make it too big," the Phoenix replied casually and suddenly grabbed Drakos with its claws. "Let's go!"
"Hey! Let go—"
Drakos' voice faded as the Phoenix flew to the edge, flying down the mountain.
Xuefeng turned around to the girls behind him and questioned with a smile.
"Who wants to build a house with me?"