Cao Guang barely crawled to the peak of the largest mountain among the Burning Mountains but there was no soul grade seed there yet. Which meant Ardent Sunset was yet to be born.
Soul grade seeds sometimes took long periods of time to grow, there was a strong presence of fire there and possibly even a top notch Spirit grade seed version of Ardent Sunset there but not the Soul grade one.
Cao Guang did not find the any leftover carcasses or the unborn eggs of Sandstorm Demon Locusts there either as he went down the hill. Little Flame Belle's odds to evolve would be better in an Elemental Sacred land with a Soul grade seed.
Cao Guang could also feel the energy that would only be explained by the presence of a Soul grade seed in the elemental sacred land he just couldn't find it. He would keep looking during the nights, if he could not find it he would let the Flame Belle evolve in only the presence of a spirit grade flame.
Cao Guang searched for the whole night for as long as he could before he concluded the Ardent Sunset mountain did not have a Soul grade seed yet. He then went down the mountain to an area he could tolerate and decided to meditate in the presence of Fire energy.
His speed in this Sacred land was far faster than his previous cultivation speed. He managed to control fourteen more stars just that morning. That morning Tong Xuan left the military relay station to inform HQ.
That night Cao Guang climbed the mountain adjacent to the one he climbed the previous night in search of the Soul grade seed. He heard the buzz of wings flapping when he turned and a saw a horde of Sandstorm Demon Locusts do what he expected them to.
They flew in to the blazing fire without a care for their life in search of an evolutionary opportunity. None of them survived as he expected, improvement in strength as a species did not happen in a single day or a single year.
Cao Guang made his way to the mountain only to realise it was hotter than the previous one and he couldn't even make it up there. Cao Guang cast his spell and opened his contract space and let the Flame Belle out.
Since he couldn't go any further he needed to let Flame Belle make her way there alone.
Fortunately she was only weakened and in pain and not a Calamity Fire again.
Cao Guang took a fe steps back as he saw the Flame Belle float her way towards the top. She would now need time to evolve.
He made his way back down with a peace of mind and could finally be bothered to pick up all pieces of soul seeds that were lying around. He continued to cultivate through night and the next day waiting for the Flame Belle to return.
Through the contract he made, he was sure the Flame Belle was okay, while he was making insane progress in controlling his stars. Evolution was slower than birth so Cao Guang ended up spending a whole week in and around the mountain cultivating faster and faster than he ever did before he saw the Flame Belle again.
During these days he had gained control over another 112 stars!
The Flame Belle appeared before him inher form as a teenage girl wrapped in plumes of Fire.
She had become a Commander level Elemental Sacred spirit. Cao Guang could feel the improvement of Calamity Fire just by standing near her. It could boost his magic atleast 4.5 x now. Calamity Fire and Prairie Flames would now multiply his spells 7 x every time now.
Ning Ning
And according to Little Flame Belle there was a primitive Soul grade Fire seed on the top of the mountain. It was the fire into which the Sandstorm Demon Locusts flew into every night. It was a top notch Soul seed, but after her evolution it had weakened a bit as she drew energy from it along from the sacred land.
It had fallen to a multiplier of 5 x now, even then it was stronger than the current Calamity Fire and unlike the Calamity Fire it also had a Domain.
A Domain was an ability possessed by the best among the Advanced mages, it was when they concentrated the presence of an element to a five hundred to thousand metre radius around them.
A Domain possessed multiple abilities, it could improve one's control over spells, improve the strength of one's spells and even supress the opponent elements to an extreme degree if they did not possess one as well.