The sky was on fire.
Boiling clouds of flame swallowed everything in sight. Thick, roiling layers blocked out the sun, and deep within the blazing canopy, enormous blister-like bubbles bulged and burst with thunderous cracks—like molten lava gurgling inside a volcano.
In the blink of an eye, those bubbles multiplied like crazy, packing the sky with grotesque shapes. The fiery clouds bulged like a scorched face covered in burns—countless blisters swelling up, oozing flaming liquid, and exploding into a storm of fire rain.
Sparks poured down like a drizzle—soft, steady, almost gentle—except this rain was death.
In an instant, the world caught fire. A beautiful maple forest turned into a sea of flames. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of trees went up at once, their branches popping and crackling like firecrackers, the air thick with the smell of burning wood.
The heat came crashing down like a tidal wave. Faces turned flushed red from the blast—so red you couldn't even make out anyone's expression anymore.
And then, Minglan finally lost it. He was screaming like a madman, nothing like his usual calm, immortal-like self.
"Thousand-mile Firecloud… Heavens! Run! Get out of the forest!!"
The disciples were already frozen stiff from fear. But as soon as his words sank in, they sprang into action, pulling out the fastest escape technique they had—sword flight.
Five of them shot up instantly, riding their swords into the sky before Minglan's voice twisted into something almost unrecognizable:
"DON'T FLY—"
A deafening boom exploded from the heavens—like thunder tearing the sky apart. The shockwave hit hard, leaving everyone momentarily blind and deaf.
And in that exact moment… the five who took off were gone. Just like that. One second they were there—soaring upward—and the next, they were nothing but ashes, swept away by the scorching storm like paper dolls thrown into a furnace.
Qi Yun screamed.
And before her scream even faded, Yue Mingfeng grabbed her, clamped a hand over her mouth and shouted: "HIT THE DIRT! RUN ON FOOT! DO NOT FLY! That's the Hundred Tribulations and Thousand Layers of Hellfire above us—beware the 'Flying Tribulation Fire'! It'll eat you alive!"
He flung her out of the forest with all his strength. The rest of the third-generation disciples didn't wait around either. They hit the ground rolling, flailing through the underbrush like desperate tumbleweeds.
No time to grieve. No time to think. It was all survival now.
But Li Xun didn't didn't drop flat right away.
Strangely unlike himself, he paused. Because he caught a glimpse of Lin Ge's face—and in that fleeting second, it twisted with emotion: savage, sorrowful, utterly hopeless… and then, just like that, calm again.
Then—wham—a sharp pain to the back of his knee. Lin Ge had kicked him down.
As Li Xun hit the ground, he felt Lin Ge pull something from his head—the Phoenix Feather Needle—and shove it into his chest.
"Guard your heart with this. Pair it with the Jade Bixie. Might just save your life. Once you're out, run. Don't look back."
Before he could say a word, Lin Ge gave him another kick—precise, powerful, but not painful—and Li Xun was launched out of the forest like a stone from a sling. In the blink of an eye, he landed smack in the middle of a mountain trail.
The last disciple to make it out was Qi Bi. Minglan and Yue Mingfeng had flung her out together. She landed beside Li Xun, her face lit up bright red by the firelight—but no glow could hide the terror etched deep in her eyes.
"The Hundred Tribulations and Thousand Layers of Hellfire… how could it be real…?"
Hearing her mutter that, something in Li Xun froze. He remembered Lin Ge's warning. His gut turned to ice.
He grabbed her wrist, voice low and urgent: "Master said to RUN—"
A cold snort cut through the air.
Flash—a streak of light zipped past his eyes. He shouted instinctively—
And then his chest turned cold.
The jade Bixie at his heart shimmered with chill… and the phoenix feather needle suddenly began vibrating violently against his skin.
A muffled boom. And Li Xun felt an intense wave of heat slam into him, knocking the breath clean out of his lungs. The scorching wind had hurled him across the ground like a ragdoll, and he nearly rolled right off the mountain path into the gorge below.
He heard Qi Bi let out a pained groan. Her voice was barely a whisper, but the agony in it was clear. And the next moment—yank—he felt a powerful jolt in his arm. He cried out in pain as Qi Bi tore free from his grasp and tumbled over the edge into the gorge.
At that height, and given the state things were in, a fall like that… chances of surviving were next to impossible.
"Damn it!" he cursed, spitting out dirt as he lay face down on the scorched path. The ground swayed beneath him like the world was spinning, but he forced his eyes open, trying to make sense of what just happened.
What he saw nearly drove him insane.
The mountain road was… empty. Totally empty. Just a few wisps of black ash drifting upward, caught in the hot breeze.
Of the ten third-generation disciples who made it out of the burning woods, only two remained—himself, and Qi Yun, who sat collapsed nearby, her face blank with shock.
As for Qi Bi, who'd fallen into the ravine… her fate was sealed. And everyone else? It was as if they'd never existed.
The maple forest was still burning, blazing alongside the endless sea of fireclouds above. But now it felt… hollow. Like the world was on the verge of collapse. Aside from the occasional snap-crack of branches bursting in the heat, everything was dead silent.
Smoke and heat rippled through the air, warping the world like a mirage. Li Xun squinted through the haze—and there he saw it.
A streak of fire fell from the sky.
But unlike the chaotic, metal-melting hellfire from before, this was different. This flame was clean. Pure. The light was nearly transparent, as if layer upon layer of fire had been refined down to its purest essence—controlled, focused, restrained.
Yet when it touched the ground… whoom—just one low, rumbling sound.
And the entire maple forest within a few miles was gone. Reduced to nothing but ash. Bare, scorched mountainside exposed beneath.
The smoke cleared.
And from the now-barren hillside, the three senior elders who had been hidden appeared.
But what Li Xun felt wasn't relief. It was raw, primal fear.
The three stood in a triangle formation. Only Lin Ge was still on his feet, barely. Minglan and Yue Mingfeng… were swaying like drunkards. Their steps were feeble, unsteady—then suddenly, their bodies glowed.
Li Xun's eyes nearly burst from their sockets.
Tiny flames began pushing out from under their skin. Thin, sharp flickers of fire, like countless invisible blades, sliced them apart from the inside out. Piece by piece, their bodies were shredded—and then, finally, consumed.
There were only two faint groans. Then… silence.
Minglan and Yue Mingfeng were gone.
Li Xun's legs gave out completely. He couldn't even stand, much less run. All he could do was stare at Lin Ge—his only hope, the last one still standing.
And as if sensing that plea, Lin Ge turned and looked at him.
His face was pale, nearly bloodless. He gave a faint, bitter smile.
Then… his body wavered. He dropped to one knee.
The streak of fire that had landed from the sky dimmed, its brilliance withdrawing. A soft rustle followed—a clear sound like cloths fluttering in the wind.
Still in a daze, Li Xun's gaze was pulled toward it—only to see a red cloak swaying in the wind, beneath was someone drenched in a red so vivid it pierced the soul.
Facing Lin Ge. Back turned to him.
He couldn't make out the person's face. Only the shape wrapped under the cloak— it was slender, tall. And not a shred of murderous aura about her.
A figure flashed through Li Xun's mind—there was only one person who could have that kind of cultivation. Only she would appear out of nowhere and, without a word, wipe out over ten disciples of the Mingxin Sword Sect like she was brushing dust off her sleeve. Effortless. Casual.
"Fenghuang'er (phoenix)... you're really still alive!"
Lin Ge's voice was barely a whisper. It was obvious that blocking that last wave of tribulation fire had drained him completely. Was this really the same man who, just a few days ago, had driven off Xin Jizi in only a few moves?
The gap between him and this woman before him... was ten times greater than the gap between him and Xin Jizi.
That much was obvious.
Her cloak gave a gentle rustle—as if she'd made a slight motion—and the blazing clouds that had blanketed the sky scattered in an instant, vanishing as suddenly as they'd come. The sky above the mountain returned to normal, with not even a spark left.
But the forest of red maples that had turned to ash, and the fifteen cultivators who met the same end, would never return.
Then Li Xun heard a soft, melodious sigh:
"Ah, darling... you've really gone downhill these past hundred years."
It was hard to say what emotion was hidden in that sigh. But just from her voice alone, Li Xun found himself picturing a regal, graceful woman.
Only such a woman could have a voice so unhurried, so calm, and yet laced with the faintest thread of sorrow and affection.
A peerless beauty, no doubt...
Compared to her, Lin Ge's reaction was downright pitiful.
Kneeling on one knee, he tried twice to stand, but failed. Finally, he collapsed onto his side gasping for breath before he managed to speak.
"Fenghuang'er... have you come to kill me?"
Fenghuang'er. The infamous figure behind the "Slaying the Phoenix" incident a century ago. The Tongxuan Realm called her the Demon Phoenix, though she herself went by Lady Qixia (Dwelling in the Glow).
She and Lin Ge had once been dao companions, their bond tacitly approved by his sect. But when she began practicing the forbidden Seeded Jade Demon Art, not only did Lin Ge abandon her, he joined in the effort to hunt her down. In the depths of the Ten Thousand Mountains Range, 33 sects laid the massive Heavenly Extermination Formation meant to wipe her out. Thousands of elite cultivators came for her blood—yet she escaped, vanishing without a trace.
And now, a hundred years later, she reappeared for the first time, offering up fifteen Mingxin disciples as the first blood of her return. Now, with three more, what did it matter?
"Of course," she simply answered. "I've been thinking about killing you every single day these past hundred years... But you were holed up in Lianxia Mountain, and I couldn't challenge Zhong Yin, so I let it be."
If she'd screamed those words with fury and heartbreak, Li Xun wouldn't have batted an eye. But she said them in a voice full of quiet, lingering tenderness, like the memory of an old love. The softness in her tone was stranger than any killing intent.
Lin Ge's voice was trembling. He sucked in a sharp breath and said, "So... the moment I left the mountain, you knew. And rushed here to finish it."
"Naturally," the Demon Phoenix said with a laugh—gentle as flowing water. "Darling... from the day you abandoned me and our daughter, I've waited over a hundred years. You think I can keep waiting forever?"
"Hah..."
Lin Ge suddenly burst into laughter, harsh and hoarse, before rasping out: "How ridiculous! You say I abandoned you? You? The Seeded Jade Demon Art! Don't forget what you practiced!"
She sighed. A quiet, almost sorrowful sound.
And somehow, that sigh was full of pity.
It made her next words sound even softer.
"A reason like that... good enough to scare kids, maybe. Might even work on the younger generation. But you—you were there, Lin Ge. You saw what happened at the Water Mirror Gathering. And you still believed that?"
She paused, just for a moment. "Or maybe… you just had to believe it. To sleep better at night?"
Lin Ge's laughter cut off abruptly.
"Humans and Demons are different by nature," the Demon Phoenix said softly. "If we wanted to have a child, the Seeded Jade Demon Art was the only way that is. Had I truly been cultivating it for power, a mere single primordial fetus formation would've sufficed. Why would I go through three full years of pregnancy, suffering pain beyond imagining? Others may not know the truth, but you really didn't?"
Lin Ge's breathing grew ragged, but he still said nothing.
The Demon Phoenix kept speaking, her voice without a trace of fluctuation, like she was stating something utterly mundane: "In the end, it was the approaching Four Nine Heavenly Tribulation. That child of us... she was born against the will of the heavens. She fated to meet the tribulation.
"With her alive, Heaven's Will grew unpredictable—the tribulation would have spiraled beyond control. No one could say how many cultivators in the Tongxuan Realm would die as a result. But if the child was gone... then everything would go back on track. Isn't that exactly what was foretold during the Water Mirror Gathering?"
Lin Ge's breathing suddenly went still.
But down the mountain path, Qi Yun's breath quickened—clearly shaken to her core by what she had just heard.
Li Xun finally had a moment to glance her way. She didn't look seriously hurt—no visible wounds at least—but her face was pale, and her breath came short and uneven. She was clearly suffering from serious internal injuries.
As for what the Demon Phoenix had just revealed, Li Xun was certainly shocked—but not overwhelmed.
In fact, he thought this explanation made far more sense. The stakes were clear, the logic tight—it was much more convincing than the whole "she practiced a demonic art, so we had to stop her to save the world" story.
Besides, ever since hearing Xin Jizi's cryptic remarks days ago, he'd braced himself for some ugly truth.
And the clearer that truth became, the stranger Lin Ge's reaction felt. Something about it just didn't sit right with Li Xun. He couldn't quite put his finger on it... but the unease gnawed at him.
After a long silence, Lin Ge's voice finally came—weaker than ever:
"...You knew?"