Black Calamity Appears! A New Power!

Gu Yuena stood beneath a tree, her silver hair drifting gently in the night breeze.

She watched the black figure vanish completely into the darkness before slowly withdrawing her gaze.

Bai Yuan.

An orphan with no background whatsoever, yet he possessed Twin Martial Souls, Innate Full Soul Power, and spiritual power at the Spirit Connection Realm.

A person like that, if she could make him serve her...

The corners of Gu Yuena's lips slowly curved upward.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to bring him under her command?

Then, within the Spirit Pagoda, wouldn't she be able to have whatever she wanted?

Leng Yaozhu's resources, the Spirit Pagoda's power.

All of it would flow into her hands through Bai Yuan.

Hahahahahaha!

Gu Yuena laughed wantonly in her heart, though her face still wore that aloof, reserved expression.

She raised her head and looked at the crescent moon overhead, her violet eyes filled with a victorious gleam.

That idiot Qiangu Dongfeng had better be ready to obediently hand over the position of Pagoda Master to me.

At the thought of that old man who strutted about the Spirit Pagoda Council with his Coiling Dragon Cudgel Martial Soul.

And how, one day, he would have no choice but to bow his head and call her "Pagoda Master," Gu Yuena felt especially pleased.

So what if the Qiangu Family was powerful?

So what if they had three Limit Douluos in one family?

Once she controlled the Spirit Pagoda, the Qiangu Family would be nothing more than an old dog at her feet.

"My wisdom..."

Gu Yuena sighed softly, her tone carrying a touch of narcissistic sentiment.

"Ah, that's just how it is sometimes. People can infuriate people by comparison, and dragons can infuriate dragons by comparison too."

She recalled the Dragon God's fate.

Slain by the combined forces of the gods, its divine soul split into the Golden Dragon King and the Silver Dragon King, ending in utter death and dissolution.

If the Dragon God had possessed a mind like hers, would it have ended up that way?

Definitely not.

She had understood it long ago, back when she was still the Silver Dragon King.

What the Dragon God lost to was not strength, but brains.

Gu Yuena withdrew her gaze and turned toward the Spirit Pagoda.

"If the Dragon God had a mind like mine, it wouldn't have ended this way, would it?"

She murmured to herself, her tone tinged with regret, though pride outweighed it.

But it did not matter. She would finish what the Dragon God had failed to do.

Unify the Soul Beasts, revive the dragon clan, control the Spirit Pagoda, and stand at the peak of the continent.

Step by step, she would accomplish it all.

As for Bai Yuan?

Gu Yuena narrowed her eyes, a sly glint flashing through her violet pupils.

First, she would win him over. Then, she would control him. Finally, she would make him willingly devote his life to her.

An orphan with no backing—give him a little sweetness, and wouldn't he obediently follow her?

She pushed open a side door of the Spirit Pagoda and entered the brightly lit hall.

Several Spirit Pagoda staff members were on night duty in the hall. Seeing her enter, they all lowered their heads in salute.

Gu Yuena gave a slight nod and crossed the hall without looking aside, heading toward the elevator.

The elevator doors slowly closed. She pressed the button for her floor, leaned against the elevator wall, and closed her eyes.

Bai Yuan's performance at the Training Ground surfaced in her mind.

The speed of his sword, the angle at which he broke the shield, and that strange Core Flame.

She had to admit that this human truly had some skill.

But that was fine. The more capable someone was, the more valuable they would be once she had won them over.

"Bai Yuan,"

she silently repeated his name in her heart.

"You will become my finest chess piece."

Early in the morning, when the sky had only just begun to brighten.

Bai Yuan had already swung his sword more than a thousand times at the Training Ground.

Dawnmaker turned, thrust, spun, and slashed diagonally in his hands.

Every swing was smoother, more precise, and sharper than the day before.

The sound of the blade cutting through the air was faint and dense, like a series of drawn-out threads weaving a vast net through the empty Training Ground.

The Core Flame in his palm gave off a faint heat.

It was not a burning sensation, but a warm feeling, as though something was flowing from the depths of the Core Flame into every part of his body.

That something was not Soul Power, nor was it energy. It was memory.

It was Xiao Bai's memories from countless cycles.

The muscle memory and battle instincts accumulated through countless sword swings, countless battles, and countless struggles at the edge of life and death.

Bai Yuan thrust his sword, and the tip left behind a silver-white trail in the air.

He suddenly froze as an image flashed through his mind.

When Xiao Bai had faced the pincer attack of three enemies, he had not chosen to retreat or dodge.

Instead, he charged toward the most dangerous one. In the instant they crossed, he shifted aside, twisted his wrist, and struck with a backhand slash, neutralizing all three attacks at once.

So that was how the previous strike could be used.

Rather than cutting through it head-on, he could follow the trajectory of the enemy's attack and cut in, using the least force to achieve the greatest effect.

Bai Yuan closed his eyes and replayed the scene in his mind three times before opening them and swinging his sword again.

This time, his movements were gentler than before, yet even deadlier.

His blade no longer hacked and slashed in a straightforward manner. Instead, it traced a subtle arc through the air.

Like flowing water winding around a rock, it naturally found the weakest point in the enemy's defense.

"Not bad."

Bai Yuan sheathed his sword and stood still, slowly exhaling a long breath of stale air.

He had to admit that, with the benefit of Xiao Bai's combat experience from so many cycles, his rate of improvement far exceeded expectations.

Bai Yuan looked down at the Core Flame in his palm, a slight smile appearing on his lips.

That tiny, mysterious flame was still burning, a little brighter than yesterday.

"Xiao Bai,"

he said softly.

"Thanks."

The Core Flame flickered faintly, as if replying.

"You're welcome."

Bai Yuan smiled, gripped Dawnmaker again, and continued swinging.

If a thousand times was not enough, then he would do it two thousand times.

If two thousand times was not enough, then he would do it ten thousand times.

Xiao Bai had given him the experience, but turning that experience into something truly his own still required him to earn it with sweat.

Sword light flashed across the Training Ground like a stream.

The youth's figure cast a long shadow in the morning light.

Every swing carried an almost obsessive seriousness.

Bai Yuan swung his sword, and its edge drew a perfect arc through the air.

Just as he was about to withdraw the sword and continue with the next move, suddenly—

The Core Flame violently trembled.

Before Bai Yuan could react, a black energy burst from the depths of the Core Flame. Like an undercurrent that had been suppressed for far too long, it surged wildly through his arm and into his body.

The energy was cold and heavy, carrying an indescribable sense of oppression.

It was not the blazing intensity of the power of Destruction that incinerated all things, but something gloomier and quieter, like the lightless darkness at the bottom of an abyss.

Bai Yuan's pupils abruptly contracted, and his body instinctively stiffened.

What was this???

The black energy coursed through his meridians, bringing waves of bone-chilling cold wherever it passed.

It was not harm. It was not corrosion. It was a... strange sense of familiarity.

As though it had always belonged to him, only sealed away for far too long, and had finally found its way back.

The Flame Reaver?

Or rather, Black Calamity?

That name flashed through Bai Yuan's mind.

The being who had taken another path through countless cycles, who bore the same Core Flame yet chose a different fate.

The Fire Thief, One Who Steals the Fire Seed, the Savior Walking in Darkness.