Hades watched the burning hair ball along with Ling'er. They stared blankly as it slowly fizzled out, leaving just a normal(?) hair ball.
"Could Xiaohei always do that...?" Ling'er asked carefully.
"No..." Hades knew there were some strange changes in his body. He tried to remember what could have caused something like setting his hair balls aflame. Because this was definitely not normal at all.
"Does Xiaohei... need to go to the vet?" He could tell that Ling'er was just as confused as he was.
"I don't know..." He knew that this 'vet' could in aid in recovery, but he didn't really feel any pain.
"Lets just return for now. I don't think it's a big problem for now, I'll figure it out." He told Ling'er that it was alright, he knew his body best after all.
—————————————————————
When they returned, he went to Chen Yan's room to find an anatomy book. He opened it up to general feline anatomy, and began to compare his own organs.
He could vaguely feel the conditions of his internal organs by using his essence to scout around his body.
He would compare the organs he found with the ones in the book to see if it was normal or not. He found his heart, lungs, stomach, liver, etc. Fortunately it seemed his anatomy wasn't too different from current felines.
Eventually he found something that wasn't in the book. It was just under the center of his chest, and was rather small, around half as small as his heart.
He removed his qi, and felt the spot with his paw. It was strangely warm. He began to feel keenly aware of it slightly pulsing, just like how one would be aware of their breathing or heart beat.
He had no idea how to activate it. He was unsure if it was similar to how one couldn't consciously control how their intestines digested or the liver filtered blood, or if he could control it like one could with their bladder or breathing.
He tried various methods to stimulate it. He would prod at the spot it was at, he flexed various muscles to see if that would do something, tried deep breathing and calming down. None worked. It was like it was dormant.
Then he remembered how he felt something stimulated in his body when he was struck by the lightning. At that time it had pulsed violently, and all the rampaging electricity was instantly suppressed and dispersed by its pulse.
He tried to remember that feeling, that shock that stimulated all his nerves at once, and then finally, he felt a warm pulse in his body.
He could feel a strange heat moving throughout his body, going a full cycle before returning back to the organ and settling there.
He started to understand it a little.
Once again, he stimulated the organ, it was far easier this time, and the energy once more circulated.
This time, he felt there were several openings the strange energy could through, and actually exit his body.
He moved to the backyard. If it actually did something dangerous, he wasn't quite sure if he could explain it to Chen Yan. What could he say, it was a natural process of his body? He wasn't sure if such an explanation would suffice.
Once more. This cycle, he tried to will the energy through a passage leading to the from of his body. He presumed it lead out his mouth or something similar.
Sure enough, he felt an intense heat rise through his throat. It felt far different from the flaming hair ball from before. As it came up, he opened his mouth on reflex.
Then a fierce pillar of scarlet fire was expeled from his gaping maw like a stream of air from a popped balloon.
The pillar of fire had the strength of a bear, and the counterforce actually pushed him backwards. He could barely hold his own body as his paws clawed the ground as he desperately held his ground And controlled the flame.
The fire wouldn't stop, and he could only wait for it to expend, as he hadn't figured out how to stop it yet. He could feel the stream of energy slowly expending itself in the mysterious passageways it flowed through.
He decided to try to control the energy, and make it cycle back to the mysterious organ.
He forcibly suppressed the release of the energy with his qi, and moved it back to the passageways it came from. When he released it, the pillar of flame ceased, and the energy circled back to the organ.
He panted heavily, and he could feel that a large portion of his energy was burned up, presumably as fuel for the fire.
He observed the energy again, and saw that there was far less than before, most likely expenses from the prolonged use of the fire.
He looked in front of him, to see a large gap in the fence and a pile of ashes where a tree had been. Licks of flame still tickled the earth. Cold sweat ran down his back nervously as he assessed the damage. Chen Yan surely wouldn't be happy with this.
But more importantly, he knew what the organ was. It was painfully clear from its effects. He was incomparably familiar with this sort of organ, as he had eaten a number of them not long before his dormancy.
This was the organ that allowed the Abyssal Monarch Pluto the ability to wreath himself in an armor of flame, and bring havoc to all creatures in the abyss, until none dared to provoke him.
This was undoubtedly a fire gland.