Darkness, thick as tar, enveloped him. As Xiao Feng plummeted, he forced himself to activate Heavenly Demon Wings, only to find Dou Qi bogged down as if trapped in a swamp. The system panel flashing across his retina showed oxygen levels below 15%, while the temperature had soared to 80°C. This wasn't an ordinary spatial rift, but the Burning Soul Purgatory, created by the Soul Clan with quantum technology.
"System, exchange for a radiation-proof suit!" he roared inwardly. Blue light flashed, and a silver nano-fabric suit covered him from head to toe. An oxygen-circulation device automatically deployed from the mask. The moment he landed, the anti-gravity devices in his boots cushioned the impact. The sight before him made his pupils contract:
The Xiao Clan ancestral home had been reduced to ruins, mechanical wreckage scattered among the broken walls and rubble. Xiao Zhan was trapped inside a transparent quantum cage, tubes driven into all four limbs. The console beside him displayed the words "Bloodline Extraction in Progress" in red. Thirty of the Xiao Clan's elite had been transformed into half-machine soldiers, the energy cores in their chests pulsing with the Soul Clan's distinctive purple light.
"Father!" Xiao Feng lunged at the cage, only to be thrown back by an invisible force field. The system chimed:
Ding! Third-generation Soul Clan quantum cage detected. Three passwords required to crack it: Xiao Clan birthday, year the Xiao Zhan Blade was forged, and Xiao Feng's date of transmigration.
He gritted his teeth. Hun Dan really did know the Xiao Clan like the back of his hand. His fingers flew across the console. When he entered "2020.05.15" (the date he'd transmigrated from Earth), the cage suddenly blared an ear-piercing alarm, and countless mechanical spiders poured down from the ceiling.
"I knew you'd come." Hun Dan's virtual projection appeared in the center of the ruins. Behind him, Xiao Yan's body dangled like a puppet on strings. "Take a look at your dear little brother. He's my finest enforcer now."
Xiao Yan slowly opened his eyes. The golden light in them had already been swallowed by purple-blackness. He flicked his hand, and the half-machine soldiers raised their pulse rifles in unison. Bullets etched with Soul Clan incantations tore through the air. Xiao Feng activated the Diamond Indestructible Dou Technique. The Emperor Scale layered with his radiation-proof suit, and the bullets bounced harmlessly off him.
"Xiao Yanzi, wake up!" He lashed out with the Soul Movement Three Thousand soul whip, but when it touched the boy's brow, he saw countless data chains circling through his sea of consciousness. They were a prison woven by Hun Dan from system code.
Xiao Zhan coughed violently inside the cage, black blood spilling from the corner of his mouth. "Feng'er, don't worry about me! Go destroy the central processor. That's... cough, cough... Hun Dan's system hub!"
Only then did Xiao Feng notice the enormous computer in the center of the ruins. Its screen displayed the "Battle Through the Heavens System V10.0" startup interface, with the Blood Sacrifice Jade Slip Xiao Yan had brought inserted beside it. He used Snow-Treading Trace-less to dodge the laser grid, but just as he neared the mainframe, a mechanical tentacle suddenly coiled around his ankle.
"Want to destroy my foundation?" Hun Dan sneered. "Here's a secret: I planted a nanobomb in Xiao Zhan's body long ago—" He tapped the screen, and Xiao Zhan's quantum cage began flashing red. "Ten minutes on the countdown. Either watch your father get blown to atoms, or surrender quietly."
Xiao Feng felt his heart clench. The Space-Time Locator in his system space suddenly grew hot, and Gu Yuan's phantom appeared within it. The Ancient Clan Chief was watching through a rift in space and time.
"Xiao Clan member, I know you're a transmigrator." Gu Yuan's voice was heavy with age. "Xiao Xuan left a prophecy back then. Only 'two emperors joining forces' can stop the plane from collapsing. Go awaken Xiao Yan's true self. His Flame Emperor Fire can burn through system code."
The instant the phantom vanished, inspiration struck Xiao Feng. He turned to Xiao Yan and spread his arms, dropping every defense. "Xiao Yanzi, do it. Use your Flame Emperor Fire to burn through this damn code!"
"Third Brother, are you insane?" Xiao Zhan cried. The mechanical rifles' sights wavered over Xiao Feng's brow. Xiao Yan's finger curled around the trigger, but at the very moment he pulled it, the Fire Lotus at his fingertip veered off course, burning through the mechanical tentacle binding Xiao Feng.
"Program error..." Hun Dan's voice stuttered. "How could you break free of my control?"
Seizing the opportunity, Xiao Feng lunged at Xiao Yan. The Emperor Scale resonated with the Flame Emperor Fire, and Xiao Xuan's Clan Mark appeared in both their palms. The system chimed like heavenly music:
Ding! Dual Emperor bloodline resonance triggered. "Time Reversal" skill unlocked. Time remaining: 9 minutes, 59 seconds.
The world suddenly froze. Only Xiao Feng could move freely. He swiftly cracked the quantum cage and removed the nanobomb from Xiao Zhan's body, then ripped the hard drive out of the central processor and hurled it into the devouring black hole in his system space. When time began to flow again, Hun Dan's projection was already collapsing.
"No! My data... my system..."
Xiao Zhan staggered over and steadied himself against his son. Watching the mechanical legion gradually dissolve amid the ruins, he suddenly pointed into the distance. "Feng'er, look!"
Xiao Yan was kneeling on the ground. The jade slip at his brow was coming loose, revealing the Flame Emperor Mark beneath. Xiao Feng seized the moment to activate the Great Dao Pill Universal. Golden patterns spread along his bloodline, forcing the last traces of purple-black energy from Xiao Yan's body.
"Third Brother..." Xiao Yan looked up, his eyes clear once more. "I think I had a nightmare. I dreamed I killed so many of our clansmen..."
Xiao Feng embraced his younger brother and felt the Fire Lotus mark on his back growing hot. Inside the system space, the devoured hard drive suddenly reassembled into a crystal engraved with the words "Emperor Flame Key":
Ding! Hun Dan's system core acquired. "Plane Management Authority" unlocked. Freely travel between Earth and Douqi Continent.
Watching his sons embrace, Xiao Zhan took an ancient-looking ring from his robes. It was the Storage Ring Xiao Yan's mother had left behind. "Before your mother died, she said there was a gift from Xiao Xuan to the Flame Emperor's successor inside this ring."
Xiao Yan opened the ring with trembling hands. Inside lay a Nokia phone, a model long since discontinued. The screen showed an unread text message:
"Xiao Yan, if you're reading this, it means I'm gone. The chip in the ring holds the true coordinates of the Xiao Clan ancestral land, and... the contact information for the Earth Transmigrator Alliance. Remember, don't trust anyone who calls themselves a 'system administrator.'"
Xiao Feng's pupils contracted. He recognized that phone number—it belonged to his ex-girlfriend back on Earth! The system chimed again, this time with a gravity it had never shown before:
Ding! Multiverse coordinates detected. The space-time tunnel between Earth and Douqi Continent is about to open. Host, do you choose— A. Return to Earth and end your transmigration B. Stay on Douqi Continent and rebuild the Xiao Clan C. Take control of both worlds and become the Lord of the Plane
Xiao Zhan watched the shifting light in his son's eyes and gently patted his shoulder. "Whatever you choose, your father will be proud of you. But the Xiao Clan's duty was never a shackle. It gives you the confidence to choose."
Xiao Yan gripped his brother's hand. Flame Emperor Fire and Emperor Flame intertwined in their palms, lighting up the Xiao Clan banner as it rose once more from the ruins. In the distance, the Ancient Clan's teleportation array shimmered, and Gu Yuan's voice carried on the wind:
"Xiao Clan members, the Soul Clan's mechanical legion is attacking the Jia Ma Empire. And on Earth, your 'former coworkers' have already noticed the space-time fluctuations. It seems the real war has only just begun."
Xiao Feng looked up at the sky. A golden rift split it open, and he could just make out Earth's skyscrapers overlapping with the vast starry sky of Douqi Continent. He smiled and pressed all three options at once.
"Only kids make choices. I want all of them. System, prepare for cross-plane warfare."
Before you continue