From the Heights of Babylon

Watching the clone's body begin to take shape, Li Moxun slowly opened his eyes only after it had fully solidified.

Opposite him, the ordinary-looking young man opened his eyes as well.

A strange symbol formed. But unlike before, a blazing flame slowly burned within it.

As the flame condensed and entered the other's body, Li Moxun raised his hand.

He slit his finger once more, and several drops of blood fell into the clone's body.

A scorching sensation spread through it. The clone opened its golden vertical pupils, its brilliant golden eyes glancing at Li Moxun's true body before it calmly turned and left.

Outside the Blacksmith Association, on a small roadside path, Mu Xi and Tang Wulin walked ahead.

Mu Chen followed behind them, his face full of gratification as he watched his daughter and his most capable disciple.

Watching the two chat as they walked ahead, he trailed behind them at an unhurried pace, a smile on his face.

Mu Xi turned her golden eyes slightly toward Tang Wulin. There was curiosity in her gaze, as well as a question.

"Wulin, are you planning to enter the forging competition in this Tianhai Alliance Grand Competition?"

"I heard there'll be many geniuses taking part in the youth division this time."

Tang Wulin tilted his head slightly toward his senior sister. After hesitating for just a second, he nodded.

"Of course I'm planning to enter. Master said that if I participate, I have a good chance of taking first place in the youth division."

As Tang Wulin spoke, he rubbed the hair on top of his head, a flicker of delight in his eyes.

After all, first place came with prize money. He was currently held back by a lack of materials and desperately wanted the reward.

Seeing Tang Wulin's expression, Mu Xi's eyes shifted slightly before she spoke.

"Let me discuss something with you. If it comes down to just the two of us competing for the championship, could you let me have the title?"

"When the time comes, I can give you both the first- and second-place rewards."

Mu Xi spoke with a smile on her face. Hearing her, Tang Wulin froze for a moment, then his eyes lit up.

"Sure, Senior Sister. I think we can do that. You can have first place when the time comes."

Tang Wulin spoke happily. After all, the rewards for first and second place from the Blacksmith Association were astronomical sums. That money would be enough for him to buy the materials the Golden Dragon King needed for its next stage.

Yet seeing Tang Wulin agree so readily, Mu Xi's expression turned somewhat strange.

After all, her forging ability was far inferior to Tang Wulin's. The two were not even comparable.

She was only a Level 3 Blacksmith, while Tang Wulin was already a Level 4 Blacksmith. He even had the quasi-Level 5 Blacksmith badge bestowed upon him by her father.

Mu Xi knew where that badge had come from, but she did not care. So what if she knew it belonged to Li Moxun?

Since he had offended her, and she had already made a move against him, even if her father was utterly impartial—

Li Moxun would absolutely not be among Eastsea City's candidates for the Tianhai Alliance Grand Competition.

So what if his ability rivaled that of a Level 5 Blacksmith? He would not even get the chance to compete.

As she thought this, the corners of Mu Xi's lips curved into a smile.

As several eastern cities formed this alliance, there were quite a few powerful blacksmiths, but the number of truly exceptional ones was ultimately limited.

By the final rounds, the two of them might really have a chance to advance.

But just as Mu Xi was thinking this, a young man dressed entirely in black approached from straight ahead.

The young man carried something wrapped in a wooden box. Mu Xi only glanced at it, paying it little attention.

But in the next moment, just as the three were about to pass one another, the young man's calm black eyes seemed to ignite with fire. Blazing, intense flames burned fiercely within them.

As Mu Xi turned her head to look, what she saw was a pair of burning Golden Pupils. Supreme majesty gleamed within those vertical pupils.

The next second, the wooden box in the young man's hand exploded, revealing a Level 5 soul-guided longsword inside.

The young man gripped the Tang Dao, and flames ignited around his body in an instant.

Before Mu Xi and Tang Wulin could react, a cool male voice sounded languidly from behind them.

"From the heights of Babylon, burn into a sun—Lord Flame!"

As the young man's words fell, an incomparably scorching and violent force swept forth, and terrifying power crashed toward them.

Mu Xi instinctively tried to run, but after taking only two steps back, the scorching flames had already descended.

Confronted with the blazing fire so suddenly, Mu Xi felt a sharp pain through her body. The next second, someone threw her to the ground.

Terrifying flames burned wildly outward. Beyond a range of ten meters, an enormous web of fire rose up, instantly bringing everything around them under control.

Within the fire web, Tang Wulin let out a scream as his left hand transformed into a Golden Dragon claw.

At the same time, a thin dark-golden membrane appeared over his body. But faced with the overwhelmingly scorching flames, that layer of defense rapidly began to burn away.

However, the young man was clearly not interested in Tang Wulin, so he merely walked over calmly.

Mu Xi barely raised her head and stared at those blazing Golden Pupils, confusion filling her eyes before turning into disbelief.

But before she could speak, an intense pain struck her.

The young man had already raised the longsword in his hand. As it fell, her arm was severed outright.

A bone-piercing agony surged through her, so intense that Mu Xi nearly passed out. Yet in the second before unconsciousness claimed her, she fixed her gaze on the young man.

There was no overwhelming fear or fury in her eyes, because she had not sensed any genuine killing intent from him.

There was only the judgment—or perhaps punishment—of someone looking down from above.

She did not understand where this feeling, this line of thought, had come from. Yet she could clearly sense that she was his target, while everything else seemed innocent.

That strange realization filled Mu Xi with pain and despair for an instant.

Especially as the scorching flames seared her wound, completely melting the arm that might otherwise have been reattached.

She watched her arm melt away, watched the young man stand there like a god high above all else.

Mu Xi wanted to open her mouth, wanted to roar, but she could not utter a single word.

She lay there blankly, like a salted fish about to be roasted through—unable to resist, unable even to turn over.

And in the second before she lost consciousness, she saw the young man raise his head, along with the explosive roar of her father coming from afar.

"You beast! Let go of my Xi'er! Who the hell are you? Why are you doing this to her?!"

Hearing the urgency and rage in her father's voice, the young man seemed to show no reaction at all. He merely rose to his feet calmly.

Only after the young man had moved away did Mu Xi slowly close her eyes.

In her final moments, Mu Xi did not think about what might happen to her father, nor did she think about the wounds on her body.

She only felt that this cool, aloof young man did not seem suited to flames so violently fierce.