On the quiet garden walkway, two figures walked slowly, one behind the other.
Luo Chen kept his eyes on the charred footprints Nether Fire Old Freak left in his wake.
The footprints were striking, yet after three steps, they vanished without a trace, as though nothing had happened.
But Luo Chen knew this was no illusion!
A mighty Nascent Soul Middle Stage cultivator can't suppress his own Truefire and lets it spill out?
The thought struck Luo Chen as absurd.
As an expert in the Fire Dao, he could tell that the charred footprints came from leaking Truefire steeped in Death Qi.
Judging by the old man's title, Nether Fire Old Freak was clearly skilled in the Fire Dao too, and had refined some kind of Source-less Fire into Source True Fire.
That was precisely what made it strange. How could a cultivator fail to suppress his own Source True Fire?
Unless...
"Desolate Rogue, have you noticed anything?"
The old man's hoarse voice reached his ears. Luo Chen nodded slightly, his expression calm.
The man was showing this "sorry state" on purpose. If Luo Chen could not see that much, he would never have been invited alone to the rear hall.
Nether Fire Old Freak gave a bitter laugh. "Perhaps you think I'm doing this deliberately, but the situation inside my body is as precarious as a stack of eggs."
Luo Chen asked tentatively, "Sect Leader, has the Source True Fire you refined turned on you?"
"Yes."
That single quiet word held emotions of extraordinary complexity.
Nether Fire Old Freak sighed and began recounting the past.
"Even though Mu Lan Gaoxiong's path of cultivation was severed for life, he used my grave injuries and Frost Willow's death as stepping stones to rebuild his fearsome reputation."
"People merely think Frost Willow