Red Lotus Karmic Fire, a Dou Venerable Emerges from Seclusion

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Red Lotus Karmic Fire, a Dou Venerable Emerges from Seclusion

An ancient secret realm, its location unknown.

Space warped, magma flowed, and the air was so scorching that even a Dou Emperor powerhouse would instantly be reduced to ash.

On an isolated island at the center of the secret realm, a young man sat cross-legged.

His eyes were tightly shut, and his face was as handsome as carved jade. Yet his entire face was flushed red, as if it were about to split apart. The beads of sweat seeping from his forehead evaporated the instant they rolled down.

An eerie red lotus wrapped around his body. Every opening and closing of its petals sent ripples through the air that could directly scorch the soul. This was the Red Lotus Karmic Fire, ranked eighth on the Heavenly Flame list. It looked as though it had only recently been born, wild and untamed.

Even a newly born Heavenly Flame possessed a tyrannical power that burned the heart and eroded the bones, enough to make countless Dou Venerable powerhouses shrink back.

Han Feng had persisted here for a full year.

A year ago, at seventeen, he had already reached the peak of the Dou Ancestor realm. Seeking a breakthrough, he had risked entering these ancient ruins. His luck had been good enough to find this wondrous treasure of heaven and earth.

Relying solely on ruthless determination and confidence in his own strength, he had decided to enter seclusion on the spot and refine it.

Boom!

The floating phantom of the red lotus suddenly trembled. No longer able to restrain itself, it transformed into a streak of crimson light and charged toward Han Feng's forehead!

This was its final counterattack! Success meant ascending to the heavens in a single step; failure meant the destruction of body and soul!

"It's finally here!"

Han Feng's heart tightened. Instead of dodging, he pushed the Nine Yang Dou Qi within him to its absolute limit and took the attack head-on like a heavenly river bursting through a dam.

The Nine Yang Divine Art was a high-tier Heaven-class cultivation technique—fierce, tyrannical, and endlessly regenerative. It was the greatest gift he had received after transmigrating, and the source of his confidence in daring to resist the Red Lotus Karmic Fire at eighteen.

"Suppress!"

A low roar echoed within his heart as golden Dou Qi collided violently with the crimson lotus.

"Buzzz—"

Red and gold light ravaged his body. His meridians tore with excruciating pain, as though they were being burned apart inch by inch. Yet he clenched his teeth, turning his powerful soul force into an invisible net that tightly locked the violent flames within the Dou Qi vortex in his dantian.

Perfected Spirit Realm!

After a year of tempering his soul with karmic fire, his soul realm had finally broken through its last bottleneck.

The deadlock continued for a long time.

Before this overbearing will and vast Dou Qi, the unruly red lotus gradually lowered its head.

The final wisp of flame slowly flowed through Han Feng's meridians into his dantian's Dou Qi vortex, merging with the sun-like core of golden Dou Qi.

Crack!

A crisp sound rang out from within his body. An invisible boundary between heaven and earth had been shattered.

The shackles of the peak Dou Ancestor realm were utterly fragile beneath the impact of this new power.

Dou Venerable!

One-Star Battle Venerable!

He had succeeded!

Han Feng abruptly opened his eyes. A flash of red lotus gold gleamed within them, and the magma throughout the secret realm began to boil before he slowly drew it back into his body, restoring everything to calm.

Rising to his feet and feeling the unprecedentedly surging power within him, a relieved smile curled across his lips.

Eighteen years old, a One-Star Battle Venerable, and a soul at the Perfected Spirit Realm.

On the Dou Qi Continent, such achievements were enough to shock any ancient clan.

Yet he did not feel much joy. There was only a heavy sense of reassurance in his heart.

Only with this strength did he have the foundation to surpass his teacher in the future.

Han Feng took a single step and was already outside the secret realm. He dispelled the formation at its entrance, took out a dust-covered communication jade slip, and examined it with his spiritual sense.

Messages from the past year surged in like a tide.

Most were routine reports from Falling Star Pavilion. Venerable Wind had also sent him greetings, but one message from the Pill Tower made him stop.

"Message from Elder Xuan Yi of the Pill Tower: Once you emerge from seclusion, you may come to the Pill Tower at any time to undergo the eighth-tier alchemist qualification assessment."

Eighth tier...

Han Feng nodded. This was within his expectations.

But there was another matter he cared about more.

After quickly reading through all the information, his brows furrowed tighter and tighter.

Nothing. For an entire year, there had been no news from his teacher, Yao Chen! Han Feng's heart sank slightly.

He was not originally from this world.

In his previous life, he had been an office drone raised in an orphanage. He had thrown himself into the blessings of the 996 work schedule, only to die suddenly in front of a proposal he had revised seventeen times.

When he woke again, he had become a two-year-old baby, held in the arms of an immortal-looking old man who was smiling as he stuffed pills into his mouth.

When he heard the old man say, "Little Han Feng, open your mouth," his entire being went numb.

Han Feng? Old Yao?

He had actually become that infamous traitorous disciple who betrayed his teacher and ancestors, only to be killed by Xiao Yan!

Fortunately, a mechanical electronic voice rang out in his mind.

[Ding! The beginner's gift pack has been distributed. The system is about to unbind and run away. Host, please take good care of your belongings!]

And then there was nothing else.

That runaway system had stuffed a Bloodline Inheritance Jade Pendant, bound to his soul, into his hands.

The jade pendant contained supreme cultivation techniques and Dou Skills modified to fit the Dou Qi Continent:

A high-tier Heaven-class cultivation technique: the Nine Yang Divine Art.

A low-tier Heaven-class sword art: the Green Lotus Sword Song, Sword Nine: Sword Control Technique.

A mid-tier Heaven-class sword art: Twin-Sleeve Green Snakes.

And a peak high-tier Heaven-class killing move: A Single Sword Opens the Heavenly Gate.

Beyond that, it also granted limitless talent in alchemy, swordsmanship, and cultivation, along with perfect dual fire-and-wood attributes.

Wasn't this the ultimate starting hand? He had cheats, a teacher, and a background—and in the future, he would even have a Battle God junior brother.

As long as he did not court death and developed steadily, at worst he would become a Battle God in the future. Perhaps he could even venture into the Great Thousand World and contend for the Sovereign Realm.

And the prerequisite for all of that was to do everything in his power to protect the benefactor who had raised him like a son and taught him everything without reservation.

As for everything Han Feng had done in the original story?

To hell with it!

Han Feng gazed at the sea of clouds in the distance and could not help grumbling.

"With my limitless talent, even if you gave the path of killing one's teacher to a dog, the dog wouldn't take it."

He slowly raised a hand, and a tiny Red Lotus Karmic Fire quietly burned in his palm.

As he felt the power capable of burning mountains and boiling seas, the unease in his eyes turned into icy killing intent.

His teacher had not contacted him personally for an entire year. That was highly abnormal.

Soul Hall had been secretly capturing powerful souls all these years, especially alchemists.

His heart skipped a beat. Could his teacher have fallen during this year of seclusion?

No. He had to confirm his teacher's safety as soon as possible.

To the Pill Tower!

First, he needed the title of eighth-tier alchemist. In the Central Plains, that nameplate was more useful than anything else and could save him a great deal of trouble.

Second, the Pill Tower was well-informed and served as the continent's intelligence hub. He had to quickly find out what had happened to his teacher, Yao Chen, and why there had been no news for an entire year.