Golden Mark Illuminates the Fire of Nature, Jade Terrace Bestows Dragon Blood

Scarlet Tiger Lord stood before the gates of Abyss-Calming Prefecture, hands still cupped in salute. Three breaths had passed. Above the gates, a Golden Mark an inch long was set into the center of the dark gatehouse.

Scarlet Tiger Lord did not look up, yet heat prickled between his brows. The wisp of natal Tail Fire in his Purple Mansion abruptly shrank from a flame the size of a bean to a point like a needle tip. It did not even dare flicker.

He remembered something his master had once said.

His master had been sitting beside a lava pool in the Vermilion Mound Fire Mansion, turning a fire-copper rod in his hand. A half-melted lump of black iron hung from its tip. In an offhand tone, he had said:

"Before Divine Abilities, you cultivate techniques. After Divine Abilities, you cultivate methods. To go further still, you refine your 'nature.' When that great one's radiance of nature shines upon you, your every secret lies as plain as the lines on your palm. You cannot hide a thing."

At the time, Scarlet Tiger Lord had thought the old man had drunk too much fire-marrow wine and was talking nonsense. What Dao Foundation Real Person lacked a few ways to conceal his aura?

Cultivated to its depths, the Vermilion Mound Fire Mansion's Vermilion Fire Concealment Art turned every thought to flame. How could someone who practiced it have his mind read as easily as an ordinary man's? Yet standing beneath this Golden Mark, he finally understood that his master had not exaggerated. If anything, he had held back.

The Golden Mark was like a tiny skylight, with a restrained Great Sun hanging beyond it. Its light was neither fierce nor dazzling, but profoundly dense and heavy. It entered between his brows and