The Chrysos Heirs of Amphoreus! Everyone's Will, a Path Without Error!

Bai Yuan climbed through the window into the room, landing without a sound.

The Black Robe glimmered dully beneath the moonlight, its dark red patterns flickering with his breaths as though they possessed lives of their own.

He stood by the window and glanced back outside.

Whew.

He was back.

He lowered his head and looked at the Black Robe he wore, silently saying, "Dismiss."

The black fabric began to fade from its edges, like ashes scattered by the wind.

The robe receded from his shoulders, the gloves vanished from his fingertips, and the mask shattered off his face, turning into countless tiny black motes that silently dissolved into the air.

A few seconds later, he had returned to his usual appearance.

Bai Yuan rolled his shoulders and let out a long breath.

The Black Calamity Set certainly looked cool, and its power boost was indeed fierce, but the feeling of being shrouded in darkness became stifling after too long.

All kinds of negative emotions flooded his heart.

He walked to the bed and sat down, extending his left hand.

The Worldbearing Coreflame appeared in his palm.

Golden and black flames intertwined, burning quietly.

The gold was warm and bright, while the black was cold and silent.

Two utterly different powers coexisted within the Core Flame, repelling and attracting each other, opposing yet unified.

The etched "1" flickered across the Core Flame's surface, clearer and more dazzling than before.

The faint outline of a second marking at its edge seemed to have deepened a little more.

Bai Yuan stared at the Core Flame for a long while.

It was still burning.

It had not stopped ever since he returned from the Spirit Ascension Platform.

Before, the Core Flame would only light up when he actively activated it or when it was stimulated by something external.

But now, things were different.

It continued to burn, to pulse, to breathe.

Staring at the ever-burning Core Flame,

Bai Yuan wondered whether a second cycle would begin once that marking completely lit up.

But judging from the last time, that cycle had not been complete.

The Core Flame would randomly select a memory to reenact.

Bai Yuan did not know what that meant.

But he could feel that after every reenactment, the Core Flame grew rapidly.

Bai Yuan closed his eyes, letting his consciousness sink deep into the Core Flame.

Within that blank, void-like space, golden and black light intertwined like two enormous dragons coiled around each other.

Standing amid that light, he raised his head to look at the boundless darkness overhead, and something indescribable suddenly welled up within him.

This darkness, this flame, this Core Flame—they were not external things. They were him.

Forget it. No point thinking so much. I should rest early; I still have my daily cultivation tomorrow.

Bai Yuan had just closed his eyes when he abruptly opened them again.

Something was wrong.

He sat upright once more and extended his left hand. The Core Flame appeared in his palm.

The golden and black flames burned quietly, the etched "1" flickering in and out of sight within the firelight.

But this time, he was not looking at that.

He sank his consciousness deeper, passing through the surface of the flames and diving into the void space at the Core Flame's foundation.

Then he saw them.

Several faint, nearly transparent streams of energy slowly circulated in the deepest part of the Core Flame.

They were neither golden nor black, but some kind of... pure energy without any attribute.

Like water filtered clean of all impurities, so clear that it was hard to believe.

Bai Yuan froze for a moment, then understood.

These were traces left behind by those Shrek disciples.

No, not traces.

They were something that had remained after the black flames devoured them.

Soul Power? Vitality? Or fragments of their souls?

Bai Yuan could not say for certain.

But after being incinerated by the black flames, those things had not vanished. Instead, they had become streams of pure energy.

Bai Yuan stared at those streams, and a thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.

The black flames were not Destruction. They were reclamation. They did not reduce everything to nothingness; they turned everything into the most primitive form of energy, and then—stored it. He tried using his consciousness to touch one of the streams.

The stream trembled slightly, flowing along his will to the Core Flame's surface before transforming into a thread of warm power that merged into his meridians.

Bai Yuan's body jolted.

The power was not much, but it was incredibly pure.

It required no refinement, no conversion. He could absorb it directly.

It was like a drop of nutrient solution purified to the utmost limit; drinking it would immediately replenish one's strength.

He closed his eyes and sensed it. That stream was roughly equivalent to the Soul Power he would gain from meditating for two hours.

Not much, but it was "clean" and fast.

Bai Yuan opened his eyes and looked at the remaining streams in the depths of the Core Flame, a slow smile curving his lips.

Killing people could increase his cultivation too?

These black flames were something else.

But he quickly calmed down.

Although this power came quickly, he could not use it casually.

Those people had been villains. Killing them was one thing, refining them was another.

But if he slaughtered innocents simply to increase his cultivation, what difference would there be between him and those lofty gods?

Bai Yuan shook his head, throwing the thought from his mind.

He withdrew his consciousness and lay back down, staring at the ceiling as he silently calculated.

There were still several streams within the Core Flame's foundation. He would save them for later.

His cultivation was still low and his foundation unstable. Absorbing too much external power might not be a good thing.

He could take them out when he needed to break through someday.

The Core Flame burned quietly in his palm, the streams of pure energy slowly circulating in its depths.

As if they were waiting for the right moment to bloom with their final radiance.

Bai Yuan opened his eyes, withdrew his hand, and gathered the Core Flame's glow back into his palm.

He stood and walked to the window, gazing at the myriad lights outside.

The Black Calamity Set, the black flames, Godspeed, the Immortal Body—

These powers were gradually becoming his.

Those people outside Shrek City were only the beginning.

There would be more in the future.

One day, he would make this decaying continent burn completely.

Just as Bai Yuan was about to withdraw his consciousness, suddenly—

The Core Flame shot up from his palm, hovering in midair.

Golden and black light exploded outward.

The light flowed through the room, staining the walls, ceiling, and floor in interwoven gold and black.

Bai Yuan's pupils contracted. Before he could react, one phantom after another emerged behind him.

They had not come from the Core Flame. They had come from his own body.

It was as though the memories and powers slumbering deep within the Core Flame had finally found an outlet.

Figure after figure appeared behind Bai Yuan. Some were clear, some blurred, while others flashed past in an instant.

They all had different appearances and temperaments, but every pair of eyes was fixed in the same direction.

They looked at Bai Yuan, at the Core Flame floating in midair.

Bai Yuan's breathing stopped for a moment.

He recognized them—the Chrysos Heirs.

The Chrysos Heirs of Amphoreus, the comrades who had fought alongside Phainon through countless cycles, the comrades Phainon had carried onward.

Then the figure in the center lit up.

White hair. White robes.

His features were handsome and gentle, and a faint smile rested on his lips, as though he had witnessed something that relieved him.

Xiao Bai.

The savior who had carried the Core Flame through countless cycles.

Xiao Bai extended his hand toward Bai Yuan.

The Core Flame's light became gentler the moment Xiao Bai raised his hand.

The cluster of intertwined golden and black fire slowly descended, returning to Bai Yuan's palm.

At the same time, Bai Yuan felt it.

The Black Calamity Set was changing.

It was as though it had fused with a power that did not belong to this world.

More importantly—the Core Flame's power had been soothed.

That flame which had kept burning, pulsing, and breathing.

After Xiao Bai's phantom appeared, it finally calmed down.

It had changed from "restless" to "serene."

Bai Yuan could feel the ever-expanding dark emotions inside him being cleared away bit by bit as well.

Bai Yuan let out a long breath, as though he had set down something unimaginably heavy.

He looked at Xiao Bai's slowly fading phantom. His lips moved, his voice soft but earnest.

"Thank you."

Xiao Bai's figure grew fainter and fainter, but the smile on his lips deepened.

Bai Yuan looked into those eyes identical to his own.

Bai Yuan nodded, his voice quiet but resolute.

"I understand. Our path is not wrong."