Ninefold Trial of Fire

The first stage of the Emperor Fire Trial—the Heart-Burning Tribulation.

Emberfall Valley lay in the far south of the Central Plains. Molten lava churned beneath it, and crimson clouds hung overhead like blood. No place beneath heaven could temper the will more fiercely. The nine trial stages had opened since ancient times; only those who passed were qualified to contend for the Emperor Road.

A sea of people crowded before the Trial Stele.

Prodigies from great sects, noble families, and newly founded traditions gathered there. Dou Zong and Dou Zun were everywhere, while descendants of collateral branches of the Ancient Eight Clans stood proudly among the crowd, sweeping contemptuous gazes over challengers of "common birth."

"I heard some country brat named Lin Yan used ordinary fire to resonate with the Emperor Flame, and Emperor Xiao personally named him a privileged challenger?" A young man in white sneered. "What an absurd joke. Does he think the Emperor Fire Trial is child's play?"

"Ordinary fire? Hah. He probably can't even burn away his inner demons. He'll be reduced to ashes in the first stage."

"Just watch. If he dares to come, I'll show him—what an unbridgeable chasm looks like!"

As the crowd murmured, a lean figure approached across the yellow sand.

Lin Yan wore coarse hemp clothes, with the Flame Blade strapped to his back. His steps were steady, his eyes blazing like torches. Without looking at anyone, he walked straight to the Trial Stele, dropped to one knee, and pressed his palm against its surface.

"Name." An ancient, majestic voice sounded from within the stele.

"Lin Yan."

"Origin."

"Ash Kiln Village."

"The fire you wield."

Lin Yan closed his eyes. The wisp of ordinary fire within him slowly rose—weak yet tenacious, like a guttering candle in the wind that refused to go out.

"No Heavenly Flames, no inheritance. Burning solely through the Heart Flame." The Trial Stele fell silent for a moment, then suddenly trembled. "Qualifications for privileged entry confirmed. Entry granted—the Heart-Burning Tribulation."

Boom!

Crimson light shot skyward. The Trial Stele opened, revealing a gate of flame. Beyond it stretched an endless sea of fire, its heat surging in waves. Countless wails, whispers, and tempting voices drifted faintly from within—the voices of inner demons, past obsessions, fear and desire given form.

"He actually went in?" The crowd erupted.

"He's challenging the Heart-Burning Tribulation with ordinary fire? He doesn't even have Heavenly Flames. How will he resist his inner demons?"

"Just wait. Within three breaths, the backlash will throw him out!"

Inside the Heart-Burning Tribulation.

Lin Yan stood at the center of the sea of fire. The scenery around him abruptly changed.

He saw Ash Kiln Village burned to the ground, its villagers wailing. With his dying breath, the elder screamed, "Lin Yan... run!"

He saw his parents die beneath the iron hooves of the old clans, their blood staining the yellow sand.

He saw himself kneeling before the Trial Stele, mocked by countless people. "Who do you think you are? You think you deserve to contend for the Emperor Road?"

"Give up... You were born ordinary. You have no bloodline, no fortunate encounters. You can't even condense pure Dou Qi. What gives you the right to become an emperor?"

"You can't protect anyone. You can't save the world. You can't even save yourself!"

"Why not submit to the Dark Flame? At least—you'll survive."

Each voice stabbed into his mind like a blade. Lin Yan's knees trembled, veins bulged across his forehead, his Dou Qi ran wild, and his ordinary fire flickered on the verge of going out.

"Yes... I really am weak..." he whispered. "I'm not even a Dou Shi... What right do I have... to challenge the Emperor Road?"

The sea of fire churned, and his inner demon took shape. A dark figure emerged from the flames, looking exactly like Lin Yan, except for its pitch-black eyes and smiling mouth. "Give up. I'll live in your place."

"You're tired, you're hurting, you're full of hatred—leave it to me. I'll make you strong. No struggle, no pain. All you need to do... is submit."

Lin Yan sank to his knees and clutched his head with both hands. His ordinary fire nearly went out.

Just then—

Boom!

Outside the Trial Stele, the Nine Flames Emperor Stele suddenly rang in unison. Crimson-gold fire pierced heaven and earth from the direction of the Central Plains, and a voice resounded across the trial grounds:

"Lin Yan, hear me—"

It was Xiao Yan's voice, thundering in his ears yet gentle as the wind:

"Back then, I burned through all the Heavenly Flames only to prove my Dao. But you kindle your resolve with ordinary fire—that is the true meaning of the Emperor Flame."

"Your inner demon is not an enemy. It is the self you dare not face. But remember—true strength is not having no fear. It is knowing fear and still daring to kindle your fire!"

"Your fire lies not in your body, but in your heart."

"Burn—for Ash Kiln, for your parents, for every ordinary person trampled underfoot. Burn, just this once!"

Lin Yan jerked his head up. Tears slid from his eyes, yet he smiled.

"You're right... I'm weak, I'm ordinary, I have no one to rely on... But I—still want to protect others!"

"I, Lin Yan, was born in Ash Kiln and raised in the dust. My parents died from injustice, and my fellow villagers suffered at the hands of the Dark Flame... But I... never once thought of retreating!"

"I ask for no heaven-sent fortune, no bloodline inheritance—I ask only to burn a path with my ordinary fire!"

"A path—where those who come after me won't have to kneel to survive!"

Boom—!

His ordinary fire surged!

Though it lacked the might of Heavenly Flames, its light blazed hot as the sun, pure as a newborn resolve. It burned no objects and harmed no one, yet it scorched the dark figure of his inner demon layer by layer, until nothing remained but scattered ash.

"No... Impossible..." the inner demon howled. "You're only a mortal!"

"But I—am a mortal who dares to kindle his fire!" Lin Yan roared and drove his fist forward. His ordinary fire became a dragon of flame that pierced through the inner demon!

Rumble—!

The Trial Stele shook violently. Crimson-gold flames soared into the sky, and a new inscription split across its surface—eight characters appeared, blazing with boundless golden light: "Ordinary fire breaks the heart's fetters; Will Flame sets the plains ablaze."

"What?! The Trial Stele... revealed an omen for him?!"

"Only Emperor Xiao ever brought forth a phenomenon like this!"

"He... he passed the Heart-Burning Tribulation?!"

Silence fell over the entire grounds. Countless prodigies stared in shock. Those who had mocked him earlier were now struck speechless.

Before the Trial Stele.

Lin Yan staggered out, his clothes charred black and his body covered in wounds, yet his back remained straight.

He looked at the eight characters on the stele and whispered, "I... did it."

Suddenly, nine streams of crimson-gold fire descended from the sky and circled him. Before everyone's eyes, they condensed into a Flame Path—the nine flames opened the way, pointing straight toward the second stage, the Bone-Refining Prison.

"The nine flames... opened a path for him?!" an old man said, his voice trembling. "Such an honor appeared only when Emperor Xiao proved his Dao!"

"This boy... actually won the recognition of the nine flames?!"

Lin Yan raised his head and looked toward the horizon, as though he could see an emperor's silhouette smiling and nodding.

He tightened his grip on the Flame Blade and stepped forward.

"This is only the first stage... I, Lin Yan, will walk through all nine tribulations and step onto the Emperor Road—"

"With this body bearing ordinary fire, I will prove myself a supreme emperor!"

The Nine Flames Emperor Court.

Xiao Yan stood before the emperor stele. Yao Lao's remnant soul appeared and sighed softly. "Do you truly think he can shoulder the New Order?"

"For him, it isn't 'I think.'" Xiao Yan's gaze reached far into the distance. "It is 'I must.'"

"In the old world, the strong monopolized the Emperor Road. In the New Era, ordinary people should kindle hope. Lin Yan is not the first, nor will he be the last. But he—is the first child of ordinary fire for whom the nine flames have opened a path."

"His path is the path of the New Order."

"And all we need to do—is protect this spark until it sets the plains ablaze."

End of chapter

Next chapter preview: "The Prison of Bone Refinement"

Lin Yan entered the second stage, the Bone-Refining Prison, to temper his body with ordinary fire. The remnant soul within a Dou Di's skeletal remains appeared and demanded, "What gives you the right to become an emperor?" Lin Yan burned his bones as an oath. "My resolve never to kneel!" The nine flames stirred again. The first challenger without Heavenly Flames in the history of the Emperor Fire Trial would forge an Emperor Road unlike any before it.