The Secret of the Candle Flame

Agonizing pain.

It felt as if billions of steel needles were being driven deep into the very core of his soul, then violently twisted.

Su Chen snapped his eyes open.

His vision was filled with an unfamiliar, gloomy gray.

It was a dilapidated courtyard, its half-collapsed earthen walls covered in withered, yellowed vines.

In the corner, a few stubborn clumps of weeds shivered in the autumn wind.

He was lying on the cold, hard stone floor, his thin clothing utterly unable to ward off the chill seeping up from the ground.

Where was this?

No sooner had the thought arisen than a new wave of agony struck like a landslide or a tsunami.

Countless memory fragments that did not belong to him, like a shattered mirror, surged into his consciousness, their sharp edges cutting deep.

A youth named Su Chen—the same name, yet an entirely different life.

Wutan City.

A small, remote border town.

The Xiao Clan.

A family in decline.

Images flashed by in rapid succession: youths training diligently on the martial arts field, the clamor of peddlers in the marketplace, and, more chillingly, scenes of powerful figures whose mere rage could unleash Dou Qi, effortlessly deciding life and death.

The strong rule.

These four words were branded onto his soul like a red-hot iron.

In this world, without power, there was no dignity, and perhaps not even the right to survive.

The original owner of this body had been an ordinary peripheral member of the Xiao Clan, orphaned and possessing mediocre talent. After a dispute, he had been beaten into a critical state and tossed into this abandoned courtyard, where he eventually breathed his last.

That was how he had arrived.

Su Chen struggled to sit up from the ground, leaning against the cold wall.

He looked down at his thin, weak hands, the knuckles appearing overly large due to malnutrition.

This was no dream.

He had transmigrated.

He had arrived in this extremely dangerous world known as the Dou Qi Continent.

A sense of intense panic, like an invisible giant hand, gripped his heart tightly.

This was not the civilized society of his past life, governed by law and order.

Here, might made right.

A guy at the ninth stage of Dou Disciple could easily take this body's life.

And those legendary Dou Practitioners, Dou Masters, and even the higher-ranked Dou Kings and Dou Emperors...

Su Chen dared not think further.

He was merely an ordinary person with no strength to truss a chicken; his soul had changed vessels, but his essence remained unchanged.

Lonely, weak, and helpless.

The shadow of death clung to him like a festering sore, making his entire body run cold.

What should he do?

How could he survive?

Should he cling to the coattails of the protagonist, Xiao Yan?

The moment this thought surfaced, he snuffed it out himself.

In his memories, the current Xiao Yan was in his third year of falling from genius to trash, the biggest laughingstock of the entire Xiao Clan and even Wutan City.

If he could not even protect himself, how could he shield another?

Furthermore, as a nobody, on what grounds could he approach the future Flame Emperor?

Was he destined to die silently in this small town, just like the original owner of this body?

He refused to accept it!

A desperate desire to live made Su Chen's breathing grow rapid.

He gritted his teeth, his fingernails digging deep into his palms; the stinging pain helped him maintain his final shred of clarity.

He had to find a way!

There had to be a way!

Su Chen forced himself to calm down, his brain racing at an unprecedented speed, frantically searching for any scrap of information he could use.

Under the dual pressure of the fear of death and the thirst for survival, his spirit was pushed to an unprecedented limit.

At this very moment.

A sudden change occurred.

Su Chen's vision suddenly became hazy.

The dilapidated courtyard around him began to twist and fade.

Immediately following, a strange scene appeared within his "perception" without any warning.

It was a space of absolute nothingness, not large, spanning roughly ten zhang in circumference.

In the very center of this space, an ancient stone platform floated silently.

The material of the stone platform was unknown; its entire body presented a warm, grayish-white hue, and its surface was inscribed with countless complex and profound patterns, as if it contained the ultimate truths of heaven and earth.

What... is this?

A hallucination?

Su Chen's heart began to beat violently.

He tried to focus his spirit, wanting to "see" it more clearly.

As his intent concentrated, that void space and the ancient stone platform became increasingly clear and solid.

It existed truly and undeniably, entrenched deep within his consciousness.

Is this the golden finger brought by his transmigration?

This realization made Su Chen almost stop breathing.

In the desperate darkness, a ray of light seemed to have shone through.

He reached out a trembling hand, wanting to touch everything before him, only to find his efforts futile.

This space seemed to be something that could only be perceived and interacted with through intent.

He suppressed the excitement in his heart, dragged his weak body, and stumbled back to the broken shack in the corner of the courtyard that barely provided shelter from the wind and rain.

The furnishings inside were extremely simple: a wooden plank bed and a table with a missing leg—that was all.

On the table sat an oil lamp, its wick burning with a bean-sized, slightly flickering flame.

This was the only source of light in the room.

Su Chen sat before the table, his eyes fixed intently on that flickering flame.

His heart drummed against his chest.

"If... if this space is real..."

"Then what exactly is its use?"

He took a deep breath and once again sank his entire focus into that strange void space.

The ancient stone platform remained floating there in silence.

Su Chen's gaze pierced through reality and the void; one end locked onto the candle flame on the table, while the other condensed upon the stone platform.

A thought, bold to the point of madness, took shape in his mind.

"Come in!"

He used his intent to issue a silent roar.

He attempted to "pull" the candle flame from the real world into his own space of consciousness!

Hum!

His mental energy seemed to transform into invisible tentacles, reaching toward the weak flame.

An unprecedented sense of strain washed over him.

Fine beads of sweat instantly broke out on Su Chen's forehead.

His face turned pale, and his body trembled slightly from the excessive consumption of mental energy.

The candle flame on the table began to sway and twist violently, as if an invisible hand were tugging at it.

It worked!

There was a reaction!

Su Chen felt a surge of joy and drove his intent even more frantically.

"Get... in here!"

The next moment.

Puff.

With a soft sound.

The candle flame on the table vanished into thin air.

The entire room was instantly plunged into pitch-black darkness.

But at the same time, Su Chen's space of consciousness suddenly lit up.

The wisp of candlelight he had forcibly dragged from the real world was now floating quietly directly above the ancient stone platform.

He had succeeded!

He had truly succeeded!

Su Chen's chest heaved violently as he gasped for air, his face twisted in uncontrollable ecstasy.

He could pull objects from the real world into this mysterious space!

Before he could recover from this immense shock, the stone platform suddenly underwent a new change.

The countless profound patterns on the surface of the stone platform suddenly lit up, emitting a soft white glow.

The light flowed like clear springs, wrapping around the wisp of candlelight.

A stream of profound information surged into Su Chen's mind, following some mysterious connection.

Item: Candlelight
Category: Mundane Fire
Composition: Oil, cotton wick, trace amounts of heaven and earth fire elements
Analysis: Simple structure, energy level too low, lacks growth potential
Function: Can be refined, can be replicated

These few simple lines of information left Su Chen completely frozen.

Refine?

Replicate?

He stared fixedly at the word "replicate," his heart nearly leaping out of his throat.

An option labeled "Replicate," like a brand, appeared clearly within his perception.

Without the slightest hesitation, Su Chen used his intent to fiercely "click" it!

A faint sense of fatigue welled up from the depths of his spirit, as insignificant as having a single drop of water drawn away.

Immediately after, a miraculous scene unfolded.

The ancient stone platform trembled slightly, and a replica, identical to the original candlelight, condensed out of thin air and floated quietly beside the original.

The two flames were indistinguishable in size, brightness, and the way they flickered.

Su Chen stared blankly at this scene, his mind a complete void.

A few seconds later, he snapped back to reality.

"Come out!"

With a shift of his intent, he "pushed" the replicated candlelight out of his conscious space.

Puff.

In the dark room, a spark of light appeared out of thin air.

A brand-new, warm candle flame appeared on the wick of the empty oil lamp, burning quietly.

Su Chen reached out a trembling hand, slowly moving it toward the flame.

The sensation of warmth traveled clearly from his fingertips.

It was real!

Everything was real!

He wasn't dreaming!

An indescribable ecstasy, like a volcanic eruption, instantly shattered all his reason and defenses.

He stared blankly at the flame he had "created" with his own hands, first baring his teeth in a silent laugh.

As he laughed, his shoulders began to heave violently.

Scalding tears surged uncontrollably from his eyes, carving paths through the dust on his cheeks.

These were not tears of despair.

They were hope.

They were the ecstasy of surviving a catastrophe.

They were the release of someone who had finally grasped a lifeline.

With this ability, this replication...

If he could replicate mundane fire, could he replicate even greater flames?

For example... the beast fire that alchemists dreamed of?

Or even... the legendary Heavenly Flame that could burn mountains and boil seas, capable of incinerating the very heavens and earth?!

This thought exploded in his heart like a thunderclap.

He looked at the tiny flame on the table, which seemed to illuminate his entire future, and clenched his fists tightly.

"I..."

"Can survive!"