Myriad Fire Hall, Two-Star Dou Wang

The hall housing the Myriad Fire Furnace was less a hall than a colossal plaza carved by force from the heart of a mountain.

Its dome rose over a hundred zhang high, covered in flame reliefs blurred beyond recognition by the passage of countless years.

At the center of the plaza stood a massive cauldron that seemed forged from warm, ancient jade. Its entire body was an unusual pale cyan, and it stood more than ten zhang tall—like a small mountain simply placed there.

A green halo swirled around its mouth. The energy it gave off was not merely scorching; it also carried an unpredictable, uncanny rhythm, as though it could contain and evolve countless kinds of flame.

Yet at this moment, the atmosphere in the plaza before the furnace was tenser than the ever-changing starfire within it.

Figures stood scattered about, clearly divided into several groups, their invisible pressure intertwining and clashing.

The lineup here was many times more formidable than the one at the Fire Pavilion.

Mo Tianquan, the Great Elder of the Black Emperor Sect; Fan Lao of the Blood Sect; Silver Elder, one of the Gold and Silver Elders; and Han Ya, Maple City's fairly renowned Rank 5 Alchemist, stood surrounded by several Dou Wang guards.

On Jia Nan Academy's side, Hu Gan stood at the forefront, while several other Dou Wang elders of the Inner Academy were positioned to either side.

The weakest person present was at least a Four-Star Dou Wang.

At this moment, everyone's gaze was focused on the middle-aged man in dark red robes standing in the center.

Yun Lie, Sect Leader of the Earthflame Gate.

"Sect Leader Yun Lie," Mo Tianquan spoke first, a teasing smile on his lips. "This Myriad Fire Furnace is a legacy of the Fallen Fire Sect, an ownerless object. Though your Earthflame Gate claims to have inherited its lineage, words alone prove nothing. Now that everyone has gathered here, all who see it deserve a share. If you wish to keep it all for yourself, I'm afraid that doesn't fit the rules of the Black Corner Region, does it?"

Fan Lao licked his lips and said sinisterly, "Exactly. Open the seal, and whatever's inside will go to whoever has the ability to claim it. Otherwise, hmph."

"Yun Lie, stop wasting words. Open the seal, and perhaps you'll still get a share. If you want to keep everything to yourself, I'm afraid your teeth aren't good enough for it."

Listening to the threats from every side, Yun Lie's face was full of mockery.

"On one hand, you question the Earthflame Gate's right to inherit the Fallen Fire Sect's legacy and refuse to acknowledge the connection between my sect and this Myriad Fire Furnace. On the other, you righteously demand that I open the seal left behind by my ancestors?"

He sneered. "Don't you find that contradictory? Isn't it utterly ridiculous?"

His pointed words made Mo Tianquan, Fan Lao, and the others' expressions darken slightly.

Of course they were being unreasonable, but having it exposed to their faces still did not look good.

"Enough with your clever tongue!"

Mo Tianquan shouted. "Will you open it or not? You have three breaths to consider!"

As his words fell, several powerful Dou Emperor auras vaguely locked onto Yun Lie.

Yun Lie's face turned livid, his gaze shifting, but in the end, he gritted his teeth and turned toward the pale cyan Myriad Fire Furnace.

His hands formed a complex, strange seal gesture. Dark green Dou Qi surged from within him and flowed into several runes at the base of the Myriad Fire Furnace, where silver-white starlight flickered.

Buzzz...

The furnace trembled slightly. The silver-white runes on its surface lit up one after another, while the aurora-like green halo at its mouth began to churn violently.

A vast energy fluctuation, as though it contained endless change and inclusiveness, roiled into a nebula within the cauldron and slowly spread outward...

At the same time, in a secluded valley far from the Myriad Fire Furnace plaza, a Lava River flowed past, sending waves of heat steaming into the air.

Qin Han sat cross-legged atop a relatively flat black rock, his eyes shut tight. The aura around him rose and fell unstably, while flames of different colors faintly flowed beneath his skin.

For three days, he had operated his cultivation method at full force, guiding and refining the source energy of the flames within his body.

Now, he had reached the final stage.

Within his Dantian, the Qi Whirlpool spun madly, while the Dou Wang crystal at its center shone brilliantly.

A vast amount of refined, pure Dou Qi flowed continuously into the Qi Whirlpool like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, causing it to slowly expand while spinning faster and faster, emitting an even more powerful suction force.

"Condense!"

Qin Han shouted inwardly, driving his will to its limit.

Boom!

It was as though some barrier within his body had been shattered. The Qi Whirlpool jolted violently, its size stabilizing at an entirely new level.

A sense of power nearly twice as strong as before instantly coursed through all four limbs and every bone in his body!

He had become a Two-Star Dou Wang!

He opened his eyes, a sharp glint flashing through them before vanishing. The surging aura around him gradually settled.

He rose and stretched his body, his joints letting out a series of crisp cracks.

Only then did he realize that the valley was utterly silent. Wu Tianlang was nowhere to be seen.

"Zi Yan?" he called out.

There was no response either.

Qin Han frowned slightly and left the rocky area he had been using for temporary secluded cultivation. As he turned near the entrance to the valley, he heard Zi Yan's silver-bell laughter, carrying a hint of childish arrogance.

"Hehe, still trying to run?"

By a relatively calm lava pool not far away, Zi Yan was crouching down, her little hand darting like lightning into the bubbling magma.

Splash!

A crimson, half-human-height blurry shadow was pulled out of the magma by her.

The shadow had no fixed form. It looked like a mass of condensed flame that had taken on a rudimentary outline, constantly twisting as it gave off faint sizzling sounds. Its aura was roughly at the peak of the Dou Ling realm.

It was the same kind of fire spirit they had encountered before.

But this one seemed more docile—or perhaps just dumber—and did not take the initiative to attack anyone.

Zi Yan found it amusing. Like teasing a small animal, she poked it once, and the fire spirit shrank back once. It tried to slip into the magma, only for Zi Yan to intercept it even faster.

Qin Han's gaze fell upon the struggling, twisted fire spirit, and his heart gave an inexplicable little jolt.

A strange sense of familiarity welled up inside him.

It was not familiarity with its appearance; this thing had no fixed appearance at all.

Rather, it was... its aura?

Or perhaps the state of its twisted existence made him feel as if he had encountered something similar somewhere before.

Yet when he thought carefully, he could not find any relevant memory.

"What the hell is this thing?"

Qin Han muttered to himself as he walked over.

"You're awake?!"

Seeing Qin Han, Zi Yan happily waved. In her distraction, the fire spirit slipped back into the magma with a hiss and vanished.

"Hm, I just broke through." Qin Han nodded and asked, "Where's the old man?"

Zi Yan patted away nonexistent dust from her hands. She had wrapped her hands in Dou Qi when catching the fire spirit; no matter how strong her body was, she did not dare touch the magma directly.

Besides, who knew what that neither-human-nor-ghost fire spirit even was?

"He left first. He said he was afraid of missing something, so he went ahead to take a look. He told me to wait here for you and said that once you came out of seclusion, we should hurry in and find him."

"How long was I in seclusion?"

"It's already the fourth day!"

At the mention of this, Zi Yan pouted in dissatisfaction. Baring her teeth and claws, she waved her little fists as if she were about to rush over and beat Qin Han up.

Zi Yan had recovered on the first day Qin Han entered seclusion. After that, she had spent her time idly wandering around the valley, at most taking a stroll through the nearby area.

As waves of disturbances continuously came from deep within the Fallen Fire Sect, Zi Yan could only patiently wait for Qin Han.

Gluttonous Dragon loved playing, moving around, and eating, but she knew she could not leave Qin Han behind here.

"Let's go. We'll catch up to them!"

Seeing that the little girl's patience had run out, Qin Han took her along and flew swiftly toward the depths of the Fallen Fire Sect.

Originally, he had wanted to study the Great Sun Burning Heaven Seal. An Earth Rank low-grade Dou Technique was certainly not something that could be mastered overnight, but after thinking it over, he decided to study it after they returned.