After our little escapade, Illumia and I returned to normal, which was good since I could see Patriarch Renata glancing at us, and the same went with Comet; unsurprisingly, the latter's eyes were full of lust when he looked at Illumia. It was a little annoying if I'm being honest, but I didn't dwell on it for more than a few seconds since I had closed my eyes and patiently waited for the Phoenix clan's ancestor and Patriarch Renata to begin the ritual.
While standing off to the side, I watched Patriarch Renata hand the Ancestor a dimension ring, which she quickly looked through before walking towards the small, flickering, multicolored flame, only to stand before it while summoning a small fruit, which was a rainbow peace, a tasty fruit, but nothing like a lightning cherry. With one swift motion, she tossed the fruit into the flame, and almost immediately, the flame devoured it, causing it to grow slightly as its vitality marginally increased. However, this was merely the beginning, and quickly, with each fruit tossed into the flame, its vitality grew along with its size and heat.
Though quickly, once it got to the point where it was the size of a small child, the fruits no longer did anything, and that's when the Ancestor started to truly use resources with densely packed Qi, such as special herbs, plants, and even a few pills. Of course, all the resources started off relatively weak and were only of the Heaven rank meant only for Divines and below, but within minutes, she was forced to use Saint rank resources, something most Divines use, and by this time, despite having eaten so much Qi, slightly more Qi than even I have currently, the flame was still only roughly thirty percent larger from before.
'The fruits from before must've been merely to awaken the flame, and now that it's awakened, it's ready to eat voraciously.' Thought Elif lightly as he gently fanned himself with his Quạt tay while gazing at the Flame of Rebirth.
While it took longer than before, even Saint rank resources eventually stirred no growth within the multicolored flame, which caused the Ancestor to switch to Divine rank resources. Each plant, herb, pill, and every other resource you could name was filled with large amounts of Qi, far more than I have ever experienced, even when I used the forbidden technique a few years back.
However, despite each resource being filled with more Qi, the flame continued to grow at a fixed rate, as if it didn't care how much Qi it was eating, and although they lasted for quite some time, nearly twenty minutes, after dumping thousands upon thousands of Divine rank resources into the Flame of Rebirth, it once again no longer affected it Now came the Celestial resources, which were resources I usually used, and yes, they were a bit of overkill since Divine resources would suffice just as good, Great-grandmother is generally the one who restocks my supply whenever I visit her, so I won't be the one to blame if our supply ever gets low, which it won't.
The Qi I could sense within these Celestial resources was always slightly mind-boggling to me; the sheer amount of Qi compared to what I had was like the difference between a drop of water and the ocean; even then, that might not have been accurate enough.
'Heh, to think I'm casually seducing someone that much stronger than me.' Mused Elif lightly as he glanced at Illumia, who happened to look at him, causing him to smirk behind his Quạt tay before winking at her.
Focusing back on the multicolored flame, which had grown to be about the size of Elaine, though nowhere near as cute or lovely, despite the resources being of the Celestial rank, the Ancestor never once hesitated when tossing them into the flame and quickly the number reached the thousands before eventually, not even celestial resources did anything.
This time, when the Ancestor summoned resources, it was of the God rank, something only beings of immense strength, like Grandfather, Grandmother, Great-grandmother, or Great-grandfather, would ever use, unlike before where she would constantly throw them into the flame she took a few second intervals between each one as the flame seemingly took some time to fully digest the tremendous about of Qi.
Although it took much longer than any of the previous categories of resources, it only used roughly two hundred compared to the thousands before, though even I couldn't help but softly wince at the sheer wealth being burned away before my very eyes.
The amount of resources just lost; while it wasn't anywhere near a lot for the Elven Empire, it also wasn't a small enough amount that we'd just gloss over it, especially considering it will be repeated three more times.
'Though, he comes the real pain. Immortal.' Mused Elif as he narrowed his eyes when he glanced at the white lotus suddenly appearing in the Ancestor's hand.
A pleasant yet potent smell filled the entire room when the white lotus appeared. It caused the intense heat to rapidly cool down as frost began to form on the walls of the cavern, completely overpowering the intense lava above us and even managing to cool it down.
"Even for me, this is a little painful to watch." Muttered Elif softly as he watched the Ancestor take a deep breath before tossing the white lotus into the flame, which suddenly surged in ferocity, growing several times the original size.
After a full minute had passed, the flame began to calm itself as it shrunk down to about the size of myself, though it once again violently surged as the Ancestory tossed another immortal herb. Once the fire calmed down after a minute passed, she threw a third and final pill into the fire as it surged for the final time before steadying itself a minute later, about twice the size of me while a few meters in diameter.
"It is done; the Flame of Rebirth is ready to undergo the Rebirth ritual. Who shall be going first?" Stated the Ancestor solemnly as she gazed at the raging multicolored flame before turning and glancing at the five, only for Hayat to suddenly step forward without any hesitation, causing Renata to smile proudly.
"I shall go first, Ancestor." Stated Hayat firmly as he lightly bowed to the Ancestor, who nodded before backing away and gesturing to the raging flames.
"It is yours; remember, you must be in your true form." Replied the Ancestor lightly as she looked at Hayat, who nodded before his body emitted a bright, fiery light, only for a blue phoenix to stand in his spot.
'Yes, he is not too much larger than Ember.' Mused Elif lightly as he glanced at Hayat's true appearance while comparing him with Ember.
With cautious, slow steps, Hayat approached the Flame of Rebirth and stood right in front of it, gazing into the brilliance of its multicolored flame, before he shook his head and finally stepped into the flame, which surged even stronger than it ever had. Watching Hayat, he stood right in the middle of the flame with his eyes closed; for several minutes, nothing happened, but then, I noticed that he was slowly disappearing; he was becoming one with the flame, until not even a minute later, he hand vanished, leaving nothing behind, not even traces of his Qi.
Glancing at Patriarch Renata and the Ancestor, I assumed this was normal for Phoenxies since they both looked completely fine, so I also patiently waited like everyone else for Hayat to reappear, which took longer than I expected. After roughly three hours of gazing at the Flame of Rebirth, it started to rapidly calm down as it shrunk down to its original size, and while it did so, Hayat's figure slowly came into view; he was still in his true form, yet he was lying unconscious on the ground, though he seemed to be in perfect health.
Once the flame shrunk back down to its small, flickering size, Patrrach Renata waved his hand and lifted Hayat up with his Qi before bringing him towards himself; however, while doing so, I noticed Hayat's cultivation had improved by two minor realms, which isn't a lot, but the Rebirth ritual wasn't about improving your current strength, it was about improving your future strength so, it was already rather impressive he had improved by two minor realms.
'Hayat's gotten slightly bigger, and his blue flames are more potent than before.' Mused Elif lightly as he looked at Hayat floating in the air beside Renata while he peacefully slept.
"Hayat is fine; don't worry about him; the Rebirth ritual is a very exhausting process for both the body and soul; it's expected for one to be unconscious for quite some time when it's over." Stated Renata as he glanced at the Spica, Comet, Unnamed Phoenix, and Elif, who were all looking at Hayat.
"Hmm, I see." Muttered Elif softly with a nod as he glanced back at the Ancestor, who began to feed the Flame of Rebirth resources like before.
The process took just as long as the first time; the only thing noteworthy was that she had used different immortal resources, which was smart unless you only had one such immortal resource, and such a thing wasn't uncommon by any means. Once the Ancestor finished roughly an hour later, it was time for another person to step forth, and this time, it was the unnamed phoenix. Since I had already seen it the first time, I wasn't that interested, so, I simply closed my eyes and hovered cross-legged in the air as I meditated