Flame Mark Burning Heart, Unquenchable Fire Forged

Spirit City.

A side courtyard of the Worship Hall.

Midnight.

Yuan Yu woke to searing heat.

When he opened his eyes, a black hole had burned through his quilt. The Sun Wheel Blade hovered beside his pillow, its second pattern glowing fiery red-gold.

The flame was small.

But it was scorching.

Yuan Yu sat up and looked at the corner of his quilt, then at the Sun Wheel Blade.

"Senior Fire God, is this how you wake people up in the Divine Realm?"

No one answered him.

Flame curled off the blade, and the foot of the bed began to smoke.

Yuan Yu reached for the blade.

The moment his palm touched the hilt, he jerked back from the heat.

Instinctively, he tried to summon the Water Pattern.

Blue light had barely appeared when the Sun Wheel Blade shuddered and knocked his fingers away.

A Divine Sense entered his mind.

"Do not use the Water Pattern to evade the Flame Pattern."

Yuan Yu looked down at his reddened fingers.

"Fine. No cheating."

A Soul Master on guard outside heard the commotion. He pushed the door open, and his expression changed at once.

"Young Master Yuan Yu!"

At his shout, several bursts of Soul Power lit up the courtyard.

Yuan Yu threw on his outer robe, gripped the Sun Wheel Blade, and rushed outside.

He dared not stay in the room.

Wait much longer, and the Worship Hall would have a new roasting room by morning.

The stone paving in the courtyard was cool.

The moment Yuan Yu steadied himself, the Flame Pattern flashed again. Fire curled up the hilt toward his palm, but he gritted his teeth and held on.

Ling Yuan Douluo was the first to arrive.

Her expression darkened when she saw Yuan Yu's hand.

"Let go."

Yuan Yu shook his head.

"That'll make it worse."

Ling Yuan did not reach out to suppress the flames.

As a fire-attribute Titled Douluo, she could tell at a glance that this fire had not started outside him. It surged from the Sun Wheel Blade and poured out through Yuan Yu's Soul Power. If she forced it back now, she might not save him. The backlash could injure both him and the blade.

She gripped Yuan Yu's shoulder.

"Don't channel any other Soul Power."

Yuan Yu looked up.

"I didn't manage to."

"You almost did."

"Didn't the blade knock my hand away?"

"It knocked you away to save you."

As soon as she spoke, the red-gold fire drew sharply inward.

Bibi Dong, Qian Daoliu, Azure Luan, Chrysanthemum Douluo, and Ghost Douluo arrived one after another.

Chrysanthemum Douluo glanced at the smoking room.

"Good aim this time. You only burned your own room."

Yuan Yu sucked in a breath through the pain but still shot back.

"Grandpa Chrysanthemum, could you praise me some other time?"

Bibi Dong said coldly, "There's going to be a next time?"

Yuan Yu shut his mouth at once.

Bibi Dong walked up to him and looked at his palm.

The skin was already burned red.

She did not ask whether it hurt.

"If you can't hold on, drop the blade."

Yuan Yu tightened his grip. His voice softened.

"Teacher, can the blade feel pain too?"

"Whether it hurts doesn't matter."

Bibi Dong looked at him.

"You cannot die."

The courtyard fell quiet for a moment.

Yuan Yu understood and nodded.

"I'll remember."

The next instant, the Fire God's Divine Sense rang out across the courtyard.

"Second of the Ten Thousand Manifestations Nine Trials: Flame Mark Burning Heart."

"Within three months, master the Flame Pattern and obtain a God-given Spirit Ring bestowed by the Fire God."

"During the trial, your elders may not suppress the Flame Pattern for you. Nor may you cover it with the Water Pattern to avoid the fire's backlash."

"If you fail, the Flame Pattern will fall dormant, and the Ten Thousand Manifestations Nine Trials will end."

Yuan Yu looked down at the blade.

"Three months?"

Ling Yuan said, "Too long for you?"

"No. It sounds pretty urgent."

Azure Luan looked at Qian Daoliu.

Qian Daoliu said gravely, "Activate the array at the Crimson Fire Platform."

Bibi Dong said, "Have the Medicine Hall stand by."

Ling Yuan turned.

"From now on, I'm training you."

Yuan Yu ventured, "Can I have breakfast first?"

"After training."

"Can we negotiate?"

"No."

Ling Yuan grabbed him by the back of his collar and hauled him straight to the Crimson Fire Platform.

The Crimson Fire Platform was already lit before dawn.

Its dark-red stones radiated heat, and steam rose from the cracks. The moment Yuan Yu stepped onto it, the Flame Pattern grew restless again.

Ling Yuan drew a circle on the stone.

"The line of fire must stay inside the circle."

Yuan Yu looked down.

"What if it doesn't?"

"No dinner."

Yuan Yu's face fell.

"Even Senior Fire God wasn't that cruel."

Ling Yuan folded her arms.

"Try it and see."

The first slash.

The line of fire veered as soon as it left the blade's tip, crossing the circle by half a foot.

The second slash.

The fire curled back and burned through his cuff.

The third slash.

The Stone Golem was untouched. A nearby stone pillar was blackened instead.

Ling Yuan looked at the scorch mark.

"Are you attacking the Stone Golem or redecorating the Crimson Fire Platform?"

Yuan Yu lowered his head.

"My mistake."

"Again."

After failing again and again, Yuan Yu began to get the hang of it.

Water needed to flow.

Fire needed boundaries.

He could not simply force the fire back. He had to give it a path first.

Instead of standing still to swing, he stepped half a pace forward and lowered the blade's tip, letting the line of fire skim the ground with his movement.

When it reached the Stone Golem's feet, the fire tried to veer outward again.

Yuan Yu sank his wrist and drew the back of the blade inward.

The line of fire stopped at the circle's edge.

It had not crossed.

Ling Yuan's eyes flickered.

"Again."

On the fifth try, the line of fire stopped.

On the seventh, it retreated to the blade's tip.

On the tenth, it curled around the Stone Golem's feet and scorched half its leg black.

At some point, three people had appeared beside the platform.

Hu Liena, Xie Yue, and Yan.

Yan folded his arms.

"Fire doesn't obey that easily."

Yuan Yu looked up.

"Are you good at it, Yan?"

Yan sneered.

"At least I don't burn my own sleeves."

Yuan Yu looked down at his cuff.

"I'm just letting my clothes breathe."

Hu Liena burst out laughing.

Ling Yuan looked at Yan.

"Get on the platform."

Yan froze.

"Me?"

"Ten punches."

Ling Yuan said, "Yuan Yu, no Water Pattern. Yan, if you can't stop a Flame Pattern that's only just awakened, go back and write 'Flame Lord' a hundred times."

Yan's face darkened.

"I can stop it."

Yuan Yu straightened, blade in hand.

"Don't go too hard, Yan. My hand still hurts."

Yan snorted.

"Scared?"

"No. I'm afraid you'll say I bullied you when you lose."

Hu Liena laughed even harder.

Yan threw a punch.

Yuan Yu blocked the first punch with his blade and was driven back two steps.

The second punch sent flames grazing his shoulder, blackening a patch of his white robe.

Yan put more force into the third. Flames curled back along the blade and burned straight through the medicated bandage on Yuan Yu's palm.

Hu Liena's expression shifted.

"Your Majesty Ling Yuan?"

Ling Yuan did not move.

She saw that Yuan Yu had not released the blade.

When the seventh punch came down, Yuan Yu suddenly lunged forward.

He did not retreat.

He drove half a step into the wind of the punch.

His blade tip skimmed low, dragging a red-gold line of fire across the stone.

Fragments of a scene flashed through his mind.

Night.

Firelight.

The body followed the fire; the blade followed the step.

Yuan Yu drew a deep breath.

"Flame Breathing: First Form."

"Unquenchable Fire."

The blade flashed.

The line of fire grazed Yan's side, and the back of the blade struck beneath his ribs.

Heat flared under Yan's foot. He instinctively stepped back half a pace.

Half a pace.

Barely anything.

Yet the Crimson Fire Platform fell silent.

Xie Yue said quietly, "That wasn't a Soul Skill. It was swordsmanship."

Yan stared at the scorch mark by his foot and said nothing for a long while.

The Fire God's Divine Sense roared with laughter.

"Flame Mark Burning Heart, first stage passed."

A red-gold ring of light descended from above.

The second God-given Spirit Ring was complete.

The azure and red-gold Spirit Rings lit up together behind Yuan Yu.

The Fire God's voice rang out.

"Flame Element Control."

"It can burn, explode, and cut."

Yuan Yu's face had gone pale, but his eyes shone.

"Sister Ling Yuan."

Ling Yuan grabbed his hand, her expression darkening.

"What now?"

"Can I have another bowl at dinner?"

Ling Yuan said coldly, "Half a bowl."

Yuan Yu grinned at once.

"Deal."

Then Bibi Dong's voice came from below the platform.

"Yuan Yu."

Yuan Yu's heart tightened.

Bibi Dong stood at the entrance to the Crimson Fire Platform.

"Come to the Papal Hall."