The fire in the sky was dying.
Dusk settled over the Crimson Flame Sect like an omen, painting the clouds in crimson streaks that bled into the horizon. The wind carried the faint scent of ash—a whisper of battles yet to come.
Long Feng stood atop the highest stone balcony near the Alchemy Tower, watching the sun fall behind the mountains. His robe fluttered with the wind, sleeves stained faintly from dried blood and pill ash. Behind his calm eyes, a storm brewed.
> Since returning from the Flame Sealing Chamber, he hadn't spoken much.
But everyone had felt it.
Something inside him had… changed.
The disciples avoided his gaze now, even those who once laughed when he passed. The flame that wrapped around his presence was no longer warm. It devoured.
And tonight, that fire would be tested again.
---
A Letter Written in Blood
A knock echoed from his chamber.
Mei Ling's soft voice came through the door. "Feng… the sect elders sent for you. There's something urgent. From outside the empire."
He turned slowly. "I'll come."
Within minutes, he stood inside the Council Pavilion, where the sect's highest-ranking elders were already gathered around a scroll. But it wasn't made of paper.
It was stitched from beast skin—thick, coarse, and oozing the faint smell of death.
Blood ink formed the message in a jagged, spiked dialect: ancient runes from the Bloodbone Wastelands—a territory far beyond the empire's northern reach.
Elder Hua Tian stepped forward and handed it to Long Feng silently.
He read it slowly. His hand clenched the edge of the scroll.
> "Your flame stirs echoes in the forbidden lands.
The name 'Long Feng' returns to the wind.
You were supposed to be dead.
Now we come for you.
The price of rebirth… is blood."
—Signed, Blackshade Hall, Warlord Rank
A quiet settled over the room.
Elder Mo broke the silence. "It's an assassination letter."
"Not just any," Hua Tian murmured. "A Blood Letter. Public. They've placed a death bounty on your soul."
Long Feng raised his eyes.
"How much?"
"…One hundred spirit stones," Elder Mo said, swallowing. "And a heaven-tier flame crystal."
Even for inner sect prodigies, that price could spark sect wars.
The hall was silent again.
Long Feng looked down at the scroll one last time, then crushed it in his palm. Flames devoured the beast-skin without leaving a trace.
"Let them come."
---
The Fire That Invites Death
The elders exchanged uneasy glances. Elder Mo stepped forward.
"You don't understand, boy—"
"I understand perfectly," Long Feng interrupted. His voice was calm, but sharp.
"This is a declaration. Not from our world, but from the outer realms. From those who remember what I was… and what I could become again."
His voice turned cold.
> "The fact they're acting now means they believe I'm rising too fast."
Mei Ling's breath caught at the door, where she stood unnoticed, watching him from the shadows. His back was to her—but the tension in his shoulders told her he wasn't surprised she was listening.
She clutched her robe tighter, her heart pounding.
Even she hadn't heard of the Blackshade Hall in detail. Only rumors.
Assassins trained in shadow flames. Born with no hearts. Bound by blood oaths.
And now… they were coming for Long Feng.
---
Shadows at the Gate
That night, the sect went on silent alert. Patrols doubled. Spirit barrier arrays flared across the perimeter. But it was no use.
Because the assassin was already inside.
Long Feng's room was quiet when the candlelight flickered. He didn't look up from his scroll—he had sensed the shift the moment it happened.
A faint distortion in the air.
No heartbeat.
No breath.
Then—
Shhhk.
A blade of black spiritual steel whistled toward his throat.
But Long Feng was faster.
He leaned back just enough—his chair tipping onto two legs—and raised his hand mid-fall.
> "Ember Seal – Mirror Pulse."
A burst of flame spun from his palm, forming a mirror-like barrier of swirling fire. The blade struck it—and shattered with a screech, spraying sparks.
The assassin appeared from the shadows, cloaked in darkness, eyes glowing faint purple beneath a bone-like mask.
"...Target confirmed," it hissed. "Begin soul harvesting."
Long Feng stood fully, voice still calm. "Only one of you? How insulting."
The assassin vanished again—flickering around the room like smoke.
But Long Feng didn't move. He closed his eyes.
> This body has awakened to the Eternal Ember…
You thought fire was just heat?
Fire is life. Fire is perception.
He spoke one word.
> "Burn."
And the air exploded.
A halo of flame spread from his skin outward like a ring of divine wrath. The assassin's cloak ignited mid-flicker—its form collapsing into view, screaming in silence.
"—no—! This wasn't—!"
Long Feng raised his hand.
> "Flame Blade. First Form."
A curved arc of golden fire sliced the assassin clean through the chest. Its body convulsed, withered, and crumbled into ash.
The room returned to silence.
But he didn't sit back down.
He walked to the window, eyes scanning the moonlit sect roofs.
> "That was a scout."
> "They'll send stronger ones next."
---
🌒 The Night Before War
Later that night, Mei Ling entered his chambers again—this time without knocking. She saw the burn marks on the floor, the scorch lines along the walls.
But what caught her most was Long Feng sitting shirtless, his upper body covered in flame marks glowing faintly beneath the skin. His breathing was slow, meditative—but the burden of power was pressing hard on him.
"You didn't even bandage yourself," she whispered.
He opened one eye. "No point."
She walked over and knelt beside him. "You're bleeding."
He gave a half-smile. "Still alive."
She looked at him for a long moment… then pressed a small healing jade to his shoulder, activating the internal warmth.
> "Promise me," she said softly, "you won't fight them alone again."
He didn't answer right away.
Then: "If they touch you… I won't give them the luxury of dying easily."
Mei Ling looked down, cheeks warm. Her hand lingered on his skin, and for a moment, everything slowed.
Outside, the stars began to fade.
The war drums had not sounded yet.
But in the heart of the sect, the fire of war had already begun.
---