Dark Flame Sets the Plains Ablaze

West of the Central Plains, along an ancient road shrouded in yellow sand, three figures staggered forward, their clothes torn and their Dou Qi in turmoil. Leading them was the newly appointed Emperor Flame Envoy, Luo Qing, a girl who had once been a maidservant's daughter. Now, she bore the seal of the Nine Heirs of Emperor Flame and had been ordered to carry the flame to the Western Region.

"Hurry... I can't hold on..." The man behind her coughed blood. An eerie black flame had eaten into his right arm, charring his flesh and sealing his Dou Qi.

Luo Qing gritted her teeth. Emperor Flame flickered faintly in her palm, but she dared not unleash it rashly—the black flame seemed sentient, feeding exclusively on the power of Emperor Flame. The slightest contact would turn its backlash against her.

"It's Dark Flame..." Her pupils contracted. "Not Heavenly Flames, nor Dou Qi... Someone is... using Imitation Emperor Flame!"

Before her words faded, seven dark figures emerged from the sandstorm. All wore gray robes and masks traced with silver patterns. Eerie dark-red flames floated above their palms—the flames resembled Emperor Flame, yet writhed like snakes. Deep within their cores were runes strikingly similar to those on the Nine Flames Emperor Stele!

"Who... are you?!" Luo Qing shouted angrily, forcing her Dou Qi to surge.

The black-clad leader sneered. "Us? We are Those Abandoned by the New Order. You cry out that 'anyone can become an emperor,' but have you ever asked who decides 'who may become an emperor'? Xiao Yan, the Lord of the Emperor Flame? Or those nine worthless steles?"

He raised his hand, and Dark Flame surged upward. "We merely seek to return Emperor Flame to those who truly deserve it."

Boom—!

Dark Flame swept forth and collided with Emperor Flame, actually matching it blow for blow! More terrifying still, Dark Flame coiled around Emperor Flame like a living creature, attempting to devour, replicate, and transform it!

"No!" Luo Qing's mind reeled. "They... can steal the power of Emperor Flame!"

"Go!" She abruptly thrust the Emperor Fire Seal into the arms of the last survivor. "Take the seal to the Central Plains. Tell Emperor Xiao—someone is using Imitation Emperor Flame, and deep within the chaos, 'New Order Keepers' are rising!"

Boom—!

She detonated her own Dou Qi, and Emperor Flame scorched the heavens, buying her companion a slim chance of survival. Within the sandstorm, one final muffled explosion faded into silence.

The Central Plains, the Nine Flames Emperor Court.

Xiao Yan stood before the emperor stele, holding half of a shattered Emperor Fire Seal—the token Luo Qing had sent out before her death. He closed his eyes to sense it, and Emperor Flame murmured within his blood—the aura of that Dark Flame bore a seventy-percent resemblance to the Order Keeper's power of laws, yet was mingled with some kind of... will that did not belong to the Dou Qi Continent.

"It isn't lingering chaos," Yao Lao's remnant soul murmured from within the Medicine Cauldron. "Someone is using fragments of the Order Keeper's laws, combined with fluctuations from the Emperor Fire Trial, to reverse-engineer the power of Emperor Flame. They... are creating 'False Emperor Flame.'"

Gu Ling's expression was grave. "If they succeed, not only will the Emperor Fire Trial be corrupted, but more terrifyingly—they may use this to reshape the Emperor Road and establish another New Order, or even... use false flame as a catalyst to refine false emperors!"

Boom—!

Xiao Yan opened his eyes, and Emperor Flame blazed across the heavens. "Issue my orders. The Nine Flames Elders are to mobilize immediately, seal every major route between the Central Plains and the Western Region, and search for traces of the gray-robed faction. At the same time—"

He raised his hand, and the Nine Flames Emperor Stele resonated:

"Activate 'Emperor Flame Tracing.' I will find out exactly where this Dark Flame came from."

Three days later, in the Northern Desert.

Within an ancient ruin buried beneath yellow sand, the gray-robed figures gathered. A mass of dark-red flame hovered above the central altar, and within it, a faint phantom appeared—an "emperor phantom" bearing an uncanny resemblance to Xiao Yan, yet with empty eyes and an expressionless face.

"The first 'Emperor Embryo' has taken shape." The gray-robed leader knelt in reverence. "Once we gather all nine seals of the Heirs of Emperor Flame, we can infuse it with an emperor soul and bring forth the Reforged Emperor of Order."

"Xiao Yan thinks breaking the old order will usher in the New Era? Laughable." Another sneered. "True order has never been determined by 'flame,' but by 'who commands the flame.'"

"We will return Emperor Flame—to those who truly deserve to command it."

Boom—!

Dark Flame swelled violently. Deep within the ruins, nine remnant souls appeared, bound in chains—the very Nine Dou Di Remnant Souls the Order Keeper had suppressed all those years ago! Now, however, Dark Flame had corroded their souls. They slowly opened their eyes, devoid of light, holding only mechanical obedience.

"This... isn't order-breaking." Yao Lao's remnant soul jolted awake in the Central Plains. "This is imposing an even more terrifying monopoly in the name of Emperor Flame! They don't want to break the Emperor Road, but to—control the Emperor Road!"

Five days later, an alarm reached the Central Plains.

Three Emperor Flame Envoys were attacked in the Eastern Region, and their Emperor Fire Seals were seized.

News arrived from the Southern Wasteland that Dark Flame had burned villages to ashes. The villagers' corpses had turned into gray-robed puppets, chanting a Buddhist invocation: "The New Order shall perish; Dark Flame shall burn forever."

More terrifying still, some cultivators had already willingly joined the gray-robed faction in pursuit of power, accepting the "gift of Dark Flame" and becoming "False Flame Envoys."

"They use power as bait and fear as their net," Medusa said gravely. "The New Order is not yet stable, and people's hearts are wavering. Unless we break this deadlock swiftly, I fear all flames will fall into darkness, and the New Era will plunge back into chaos."

The Emperor Ruins Plains, before the emperor stele.

Xiao Yan stood at the pinnacle of the nine flames, Emperor Flame flowing around him. With his eyes closed, he extended his senses and finally caught a faint yet familiar fluctuation deep within the chaos—it came from a scrap of the Order Keeper's gray robe, which he had burned away all those years ago. Now, that scrap was resonating with the fluctuations of the Emperor Fire Trial.

"So that's it..." He opened his eyes, Emperor Flame sharp as a sword. "They aren't imitating Emperor Flame—"

"They want to use the Emperor Fire Trial to let the Order Keeper's will borrow a corpse and return to life."

Boom—!

He took a step forward, and Emperor Flame shot into the heavens:

"Relay my imperial decree—"

"All Heirs of Emperor Flame are to return to the stele immediately. Reactivate the Nine Flames Return to Origin Grand Formation! I will use true flame as the catalyst to burn away the source of Dark Flame and sever the soul of the old order that dares seek to descend upon us again!"

"This battle is not for me, Xiao Yan, but for all who would set their lives ablaze with flame and fight to cross the Emperor Road—"

"This battle is fought—for the New Order!"

End of chapter

Next chapter preview: "Flame Devours the Dark Abyss"

Xiao Yan activated the Nine Flames Return to Origin Grand Formation, drawing all flames into resonance. The Dark Flame faction revealed its true identity—the Order Keeper's remnant soul, reborn through an "Emperor Embryo." Emperor Flame clashed with the false emperor's flame amid the chaos. Flame Devours the Dark Abyss as good and evil met in their final showdown.