You're the Three Thousand Burning Flame!

"W-where is this?"

He looked around. Everywhere he could see lay profound darkness, dotted with countless stars, some bright and some dim, some near and some far.

There was no up or down, no left or right, no sense of time passing—only eternal silence and vastness.

There was no solid ground beneath his feet, yet he could still "stand," as though suspended at the center of the universe.

This looks nothing like anything I remember about the Douluo Continent. It's more like...

The endless Star Domain beyond the Dou Qi Continent that Ancestor Xiao Yan once mentioned in passing.

"Forget it. What matters most is getting out of this damned place."

In his soul form, he could neither draw on Soul Power nor sense the Three Thousand Burning Flame that had just fused with his body. All he could do was move in one direction by force of will.

In this Star Domain, movement did not depend on his feet. Wherever his mind turned, his form drifted after it.

Yet no matter how far he "walked," the scenery seemed never to change. There was still only profound darkness and endless stars.

Nearly an hour later.

"Why haven't I found the end yet? How much farther do I have to go?"

Just as he was about to abandon his aimless search, a faint point of purple light appeared at the far edge of his vision, abrupt as a lighthouse on a dark sea.

It was not the cold light of a star, but a flickering flame that held the aura of life and destruction.

"Hm? There's light over there! I'd better take a look. Maybe that's the exit."

"What is that?"

"What's going on?"

"Why is the Core Flame my ancestor left inside me reacting to what's ahead? I have to see!"

Xiao Shenghe focused all his will and sped toward the purple light.

A tremor rose without warning from the depths of his soul.

It was not fear of the unknown, but a resonance—a sense of kinship and summons, as though they were bound by blood!

At the core of his soul form, the faint bloodline imprint of the Flame Emperor Xiao Yan began to give off warmth on its own, answering the distant purple light!

"Ha, ha, ha..."

"The closer I get, the stronger this feeling grows! There must be something ahead!"

The call in his blood grew clearer, urging him onward, guiding him.

"And the farther I go, the hotter it gets. I'm almost there!"

A soul form should have been unaffected by heat or cold, yet Xiao Shenghe could distinctly feel the "temperature" rising.

It was not heat that burned flesh, but a "warmth" that acted directly on the soul, laden with violent stellar energy. In the dark

void, wisps of purple-black flame, barely visible to the eye, began to wander like living sprites.

At last, he passed through a curtain-like region of fine purple-black sparks, and the view before him opened up—

The purple light revealed its true form.

It was neither an exit nor a solid object.

It was an unimaginably vast... existence composed entirely of pure purple-black flame!

It hovered silently at the center of the starry sky, its shape ever-changing: now a winding dragon, now a phoenix spreading its wings, now a burning nebula.

Its core was as deep as a black hole, while brilliant points of starlight danced along its edges. Destruction and creation mingled perfectly within it, cycling without end.

Merely gazing at it was like watching the universe come into being and pass away.

And directly before that vast mass of flame, a figure sat cross-legged in the void.

Its outline was formed from denser purple-black fire. It was vaguely human, though its features could not be made out.

Only its eyes, seemingly formed from condensed stars, could be seen. They were quietly "watching" Xiao Shenghe race toward it.

"Ah—" Xiao Shenghe's soul form stopped short. The magnificent, sacred sight stunned him, and the fiery figure's gaze held him fast.

Beneath that gaze, he felt as though none of his secrets could remain hidden.

A grand, ancient voice, carrying what seemed like the echo of the stars, sounded directly in the depths of his soul. It was utterly calm, yet held supreme authority:

"Boy, we meet again."

Again?

Xiao Shenghe froze.

This aura, this energy, this unmistakable resonance in my blood...

There's no mistake. He's one of my ancestor's Heavenly Flames—the Three Thousand Burning Flame!

How could he be here? Was it my ancestor's doing?

What else could it be but the original consciousness of the Three Thousand Burning Flame, which had just entered his body and now drawn his soul into this strange Star Domain?

He immediately composed himself. His soul form took on a respectful posture, and he bowed to the fiery figure, sending a clear reply with his thoughts:

"Junior Xiao Shenghe pays his respects to Senior Three Thousand Burning Flame."

The fiery figure's "gaze" seemed to soften a little. It did not speak aloud, but its voice sounded directly in his soul once more:

"That you reached this place and stirred a response from my essence proves that the Flame Emperor's bloodline does indeed run within you, and that you have begun to bear my Core Flame."

"This is the Flame Star Illusion Realm, where my original consciousness dwells. It is also the place of passage you were drawn into when your soul first began to fuse with my Core Flame."

Understanding dawned on Xiao Shenghe, though it brought still more questions.

He recalled all the strange things that had happened since he crossed over, and the scorching power that had stirred faintly within him ever since he awoke.

That power was nothing like the Soul Power system of the Douluo Continent. It was wilder, more domineering.

It seemed to spring from the depths of his blood, sharing the same source as the being before him that called itself the essence of the Three Thousand Burning Flame.

"Senior, how do I leave? My body..."

Xiao Shenghe's soul form conveyed his anxious thoughts.

He feared for his physical body outside. On this unfamiliar Douluo Continent, an unconscious body was terribly vulnerable.

"Leave? The time has not yet come."

The fiery figure's voice remained even, yet carried authority that brooked no dispute.

"Your body is undergoing a profound transformation, nourished by both my Core Flame and the laws of the Douluo World. Wake it now, and all that has been done will be for nothing."

The flames swayed gently, and starlight flowed with them, forming scene after mysterious scene:

"What you must do now is devour me and make me your First Soul Ring."

The words exploded through Xiao Shenghe's soul like a thunderclap.

Devour a Heavenly Flame?

That was how Ancestor Xiao Yan made his name on the Dou Qi Continent!

Could that path of inheriting power have reappeared on the Douluo Continent in the form of Soul Rings?

"I have now opened your first seal, allowing you to awaken your first Body Martial Soul: the Earth Soul, one of the three souls."

The fiery figure continued, a trace of ancient weariness entering its voice.

"And I, the Three Thousand Burning Flame, am the manifestation of the essence of your Earth Soul Martial Soul... and the First Soul Ring you are about to obtain."

"A Body Martial Soul? Three souls? The Earth Soul?"