Emperor Battle in Chaos

Deep within chaos, there was no sky or earth, no light or shadow. Only eternal deathly silence and remnants of laws drifted through the void. This was beyond heaven and earth, at the end of time—the place where Dou Di fell, and also the Court of the Order Keeper.

Xiao Yan stood at the chaos rift, Emperor Flame swirling around him as he drove the Nine Flames Return to Origin Art to its utmost limit. Before him, the gray-robed figure slowly raised his hand. The laws of heaven and earth wound around his fingertips like threads, as though he were the Heavenly Dao itself.

"Xiao Yan, do you know why all Dou Di fell?" The Order Keeper's low voice rang like a bell tolling across eternity. "I did not kill them. They sought their own destruction. Dou Di power can rewrite the laws, but if everyone could rewrite them, heaven and earth would collapse, and countless worlds would descend into chaos. Everything I have done was to—keep this world from perishing."

"Protect the world?" Xiao Yan sneered, his Emperor Flame surging. "You use 'protecting the world' as a pretext to monopolize power. You let the nine clans control Emperor Blood, force the masses to kneel, cut geniuses down before their time, and sever the Emperor Road—is that what you call 'protecting the world'?"

He stepped forward, his Emperor Flame forming a sword aimed straight at the Order Keeper. "Today, in the name of Order-Breaking, I will slay you in chaos!"

Boom!!!

The Emperor Flame sword light tore through chaos, unraveling laws and warping spacetime wherever it passed. The Order Keeper raised his hand, and a gray light appeared, forcibly freezing the sword light in the void. Then he swept his hand back. Chaos roiled, transforming into ten thousand spears of law that rained down on Xiao Yan.

"How could you possibly comprehend Dou Di power?" the Order Keeper snapped coldly. "You have only just entered the Emperor Realm, yet you dare defy heaven? Today, I will show you—what a true emperor's tribulation is!"

Rumble!

Chaos exploded, and nine enormous phantoms emerged from nothingness—the remnant souls of nine fallen Dou Di! Their bodies were shattered and their imperial might dimmed, yet the Order Keeper had bound them with chains of law, reducing them to slaves who upheld his order.

"Do you see?" the Order Keeper sneered. "They were once just like you, untamed and defiant, foolishly trying to rewrite the Heavenly Dao. But in the end—I suppressed them all here, to uphold my order for all eternity!"

Xiao Yan's pupils contracted sharply, and his Emperor Flame churned violently. He saw them—among those nine remnant souls were the founding patriarch of Burning Flame Valley whom Yao Chen had once mentioned, Thunder Venerable's ancestor, and a fallen Dou Di of the Gu Clan... They had all been peerless geniuses across the ages, yet for touching the truth of the Emperor Road, they had been erased, sealed, and enslaved.

"You... should never have suffered this." Xiao Yan's voice was low, yet it carried a fury that could burn everything to ash. "You are Dou Di, lights across the ages, the hope in countless cultivators' hearts! Yet you were chained in this chaos, buried as sacrifices to 'order'?"

"I refuse to accept it!"

Boom!!!

His power erupted. Emperor Flame soared skyward as the Nine Flames Return to Origin Art fully fused with the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame Origin, forming a crimson-gold wave of fire that swept across chaos. Nine chains snapped within the flames, and the Nine Dou Di Remnant Souls let out low roars, as though answering this long-lost fire of freedom.

"With my flame, I will kindle your remnant souls!" Xiao Yan roared. "With my imperial power, I will affirm your final wishes! Today—I will win justice for you!"

Boom!

Emperor Flame swept over the nine remnant souls. Using his own Emperor Flame as a catalyst, he helped them revive for a brief moment. Nine auras of imperial might rose once more. Though they were no longer at their peak, it was enough—at last, they could fight for themselves!

"Order Keeper!" the Nine Dou Di Remnant Souls roared together, their voices shaking chaos. "You use 'order' as a pretext for tyranny. Today—we have returned!"

"Heirs of the Nine Flames—heed my command!"

Gu Ling, Medusa, Xiao Yi Xian, and the other thirty-six Heirs of Emperor Flame knelt together before the Nine Flames Emperor Stele in the Central Plains, calling forth the resonance of Emperor Flame.

"With my flame, I will help the emperor burn heaven!"

"With my soul, I will guide the emperor to break order!"

"With my life—burn!"

Boom—boom—boom!

Thirty-six streams of crimson-gold fire shot skyward, passed through the chaos rift, and poured into Xiao Yan's body. The heirs of the Nine Flames set their own souls ablaze, using their lives as the catalyst to help Xiao Yan break through the limits of the Emperor Realm and enter the legendary—True Dou Di realm!

"You... have gone mad!" The Order Keeper finally lost his composure, his gray robes snapping. "Burning your lives to fuel an emperor—you are destroying your own foundations!"

"We aren't mad." Gu Ling smiled within the flames. "We simply—believe in him."

Boom!!!

The Dou Qi within Xiao Yan's body boiled furiously. Emperor Flame fused with the souls of the heirs of the Nine Flames, and the Nine Flames Return to Origin Art evolved to its ultimate form—Nine Flames Burn Heaven, all eternity returns to order!

"Order Keeper—" Xiao Yan raised his hand, and Emperor Flame formed a crimson-gold longsword, its blade inscribed with the Nine Flames Emperor Seal. "The 'order' you protect is the shackles of the old world. Today, I will wield Emperor Flame as my blade—

"Slay you! Break order! Open a new heaven!"

Rumble!!!

The Emperor Flame longsword slashed down, splitting chaos and shattering laws. The Order Keeper roared, summoning chains of ancient laws to bind Xiao Yan's body, but that sword light was too swift, too fierce, too unstoppable!

"No!"

The gray robes tore apart, and the Order Keeper's body split open, ancient deathly energy spilling in every direction. At last, he revealed his true face—a face that bore a striking resemblance to Xiao Yan's, but with no light in its eyes, only deathly stillness.

"So... you were a chosen 'vessel' too." Xiao Yan sighed softly. "But you chose to kneel."

Boom!

Emperor Flame burned away the last scraps of gray robes, and the Order Keeper was utterly annihilated within chaos.

The nine Dou Di remnant souls slowly faded in the firelight, yet each wore a smile of relief. At last, they were released. At last—they were free.

"Xiao Yan..." Yao Lao's remnant soul appeared at the very end and said softly, "The Emperor Road has opened. I hope you... will safeguard this flame."

"I will." Xiao Yan solemnly cupped his fist. "In the name of an emperor, with fire as my oath."

Boom!

Chaos returned to silence. Only a crimson-gold flame slowly rose, illuminating the entire Dou Qi Continent.

The Emperor Battle had ended. A New Era was about to begin.

End of chapter

Next chapter preview: "Emperor Flame Burns Forever"

Xiao Yan returned to the Central Plains, established the Emperor Court, and set a New Order. Though the heirs of the Nine Flames had fallen, Emperor Flame endured, its torch passed from one generation to the next. Deep within chaos, a new disturbance quietly emerged—the secrets of Dou Di were far from over.