Fallen Heart Flame Secured, Heading to Maple City!

Jia Nan Academy,

Inner Academy,

Elders' Pavilion,

"I felt that pressure from the Headmaster before..."

Su Qian set down the intelligence reports on the various factions of the Black-Corner Region.

He rose and walked to the window, looking toward the direction where that pressure surged like a tide. His clouded eyes were more solemn than ever.

A Saint

had come to the Black-Corner Region. That was no good thing for Jia Nan Academy...

The Black-Corner Region was a city of sin, the Capital of All Evil.

Though Jia Nan Academy stood in danger within the Black-Corner Region, it had also reached a certain balance with the region's native factions.

The dangers of the Black-Corner Region

could also serve as a place for students to temper themselves.

Yet at this moment, a force capable of changing the entire Black-Corner Region's landscape had appeared.

It would shatter that balance.

And shattered balance often meant change. Change followed the rule that the strong reigned supreme.

Buzz—

As Su Qian stood by the window, contemplating

the changes and dangers he would soon have to face,

milky-white flames gathered from every direction, converging behind him into a milky-white lotus of fire.

As the heat of the fire lotus emerged,

the temperature of the entire room,

and even all of Jia Nan Academy, rapidly soared within moments.

"This is... a Heavenly Flame?!"

Su Qian turned around. At the sight of the milky-white fire lotus, guarded as though in worship by endless flame mist, his voice became shrill with terror.

A Heavenly Flame!

Su Qian was no stranger to Heavenly Flames.

Jia Nan Academy possessed one itself, yet this was the first time he had felt fear in the presence of a Heavenly Flame.

It was as if

what stood before him was not a Heavenly Flame, but a terrifying existence he did not dare look directly at.

"Great Elder Su Qian!"

Qing Luo stepped out from the Heavenly Flame. The lotus petals around him transformed into pure source energy and flowed into his body,

repairing his previously cracked, flame-scorched body until it was whole again.

"Your Excellency..."

"Senior!"

Su Qian had intended to question Qing Luo,

but after sensing the Saint's aura within him, an aura that only the Headmaster possessed, Su Qian's entire body trembled.

Qing Luo ignored the trembling Su Qian.

He casually walked to Su Qian's seat in the office and sat down, propping both legs on the desk before calmly looking at Su Qian.

"I came to Jia Nan Academy to take Fallen Heart Flame."

What?!

"Fallen Heart Flame..."

Qing Luo's words

made Su Qian's mind buzz.

He had imagined countless reasons for the other party's visit to Jia Nan Academy, but he had never expected him to be so direct...

Fallen Heart Flame

was the very foundation upon which Jia Nan Academy stood. Jia Nan Academy would never permit anyone to take it away.

However,

though those words echoed through his mind countless times, Su Qian stood there blankly before the Saint lounging in the seat, unable to utter a single word.

"As compensation, I will remove the other factions in the Black-Corner Region."

"This exchange benefits you. Besides, there seems to be a brand-new Fallen Heart Flame at the bottom of the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower. I'll leave that one for you."

While Su Qian trembled, wondering how to refute this Saint,

Qing Luo continued speaking to himself.

Su Qian: ???

There was another Heavenly Flame?

He would remove the other factions in the Black-Corner Region?!

Since when were Dou Saints this reasonable...

"Thank you, Senior!"

Su Qian looked at Qing Luo gratefully.

Qing Luo gave a faint nod, rose to his feet, and walked out.

Wherever his white robes passed,

Jia Nan disciples and elders along the way felt inexplicable palpitations, instinctively lowering their heads and stepping aside.

It was the innate reverence that high-level lifeforms felt toward superior existences.

A moment later,

Qing Luo entered the towering Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower.

Layer upon layer of Heart Flame burned within the tower.

Countless violent and restless Heart Flame auras raged through it.

Yet the instant Qing Luo appeared, the entire ancient tower shook violently, and the rampant Heart Flame abruptly froze.

They floated in the air as though worshipping him, so docile that they did not dare stir in the slightest.

The sealing formation atop the tower retreated on its own.

Wave after wave of flame split to either side, opening a passage leading straight to the bottom of the tower.

Deep within the tower's abyss, at the pitch-black underground core, a mass of dark crimson flame slowly writhed and churned.

That was the fourteenth-ranked flame on the Heavenly Flame Ranking,

Fallen Heart Flame!

Sensing the aura of the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame, Fallen Heart Flame, which had been coiled deep underground with ferocious flames soaring to the heavens, suddenly became restless.

Invisible waves of fire surged upward.

Carrying endless resentment and the power of inner demons, they lunged viciously at Qing Luo.

"A lowly remnant flame dares to act so insolently."

Qing Luo's tone was calm.

There were no ripples, no pressure. He merely raised his eyes and glanced at it.

The Purifying Lotus Source within him stirred faintly, carrying starlike flame radiance as the supreme Ten Thousand Flames Suppression Dao Principle thunderously spread out.

Boom—

The previously savage, impregnable barrier of Heart Flame instantly shattered.

The countless inner demons and resentful thoughts entwined with the flames were directly dissolved, purified, and annihilated the instant they touched the lotus flame's starlight.

Fallen Heart Flame's rampage came to an abrupt halt.

The towering waves of fire froze in midair.

All ferocity and resentment were forcibly stripped away, leaving only pure Heavenly Flame source energy, trembling as it curled up in place.

Before the aura of the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame,

Fallen Heart Flame was like a firefly before the bright moon. It did not even possess the right to resist.

Qing Luo slowly stepped forward.

He raised his hand and gently laid it over Fallen Heart Flame's true body.

The sources of the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame and Three Thousand Burning Flame spread out.

Suppressed by the terrifying auras of the two flame sources, Fallen Heart Flame seemed to return to its origin. It obediently flowed along Qing Luo's arm and merged into the already perfected foundation of his Flame Dao.

The three flame sources instantly fused into a closed cycle.

The Star Lotus Flame within his body took on a layer of dark crimson radiance, its Dao resonance becoming ever deeper and weightier.

His realm did not deliberately break through.

Yet his own strength, and the power he could wield, underwent another qualitative transformation.

Afterward,

Qing Luo's gaze swept over a corner at the bottom of the tower.

There, a newborn, pure and flawless sprout of Heart Flame was taking shape.

It was precisely the brand-new Fallen Heart Flame source he had promised to leave behind for Jia Nan Academy.

Qing Luo flicked his fingertip.

A wisp of gentle Purifying Lotus Source fell into the sprout, stabilizing the foundation of its growth and allowing this newborn Heavenly Flame to remain safely within the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower, guarding Jia Nan Academy forever.

After doing all this,

Qing Luo turned and left.

The Heart Flame throughout the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower instantly became gentle and mild, all pressure fading away.

When Qing Luo stepped out of the tower gate,

Su Qian, waiting in the distance, looked at the figure in white, and only extreme shock remained in his heart.

Three flames upon his body, ten thousand flames bowing their heads.

This Saint

had long surpassed the scope of ordinary Heavenly Flame lifeforms. He was a truly living, terrifying existence!

After leaving Jia Nan Academy,

Qing Luo tore through the air.

His white robes ripped through the Black-Corner Region's murky miasma. In an instant, he crossed a thousand li of barren plains and appeared above Maple City.

The next moment,

the vast pressure of a Half-Step Dou Saint

descended without warning!

An invisible force field pressed down like an ancient divine mountain, instantly enveloping all of Maple City.

Heaven and earth suddenly fell silent.

The gale froze, dust hung suspended in the air, and all the restless Dou Qi, medicinal qi, and miasma in the city were forcibly restrained.

The towers, halls, and pavilions throughout the city shook in unison.

Wall bricks cracked.

Fragments of stone rose with soft rattles, only to be fixed in the air by Saint power.

Countless cultivators, mercenaries, and ordinary martial artists on the streets stiffened all over. Their limbs felt as though they had been filled with ten thousand tons of lead and mercury; they did not even have the strength to raise their heads and look toward the heavens.

From the depths of their souls rose instinctive trembling and submission.

Above the heavens,

Qing Luo stood alone in white, his indifferent gaze overlooking the entire city below.