A storm was gathering over Skycloud Peak.
Though the skies remained clear, and the sun bathed the Floating Cloud Pavilion in golden light, those attuned to the flow of energy could sense the change in the air. Qi moved sluggishly. The spiritual fields trembled ever so slightly. Even the beasts of the mountain had begun acting erratically—howling toward the heavens, as though sensing an omen.
But Li Yi, newly advanced to Core Formation Realm – Peak Stage, was unaware of the growing tremors spreading through the sect. He was still seated within the now-silent Flame-Sealed Hall, his robes scorched from the divine trial, his pulse echoing with a new rhythm.
His breath was steady.
His body, though drained, radiated a power unlike anything he had ever known. Each inhale pulled in elemental fire from the surrounding air, and each exhale released faint embers that danced and dissolved before touching the ground.
But more than power, something deeper stirred within him—a memory not his own.
Fragments of ancient battles. Names of beings long erased by time. Incantations in a forgotten language. A war against darkness in a sky far beyond this world.
"The Flame... came from the Origin Epoch..." he whispered. "Even the Gods once feared it."
A faint voice echoed in the back of his mind, the final echo of the being who had branded his soul with the primal inheritance.
Walk with caution, Child of Fire. For the world above has not forgotten.
Li Yi slowly rose. His once-plain eyes now carried specks of flickering gold, like the last light of dusk within a furnace. Power surged within, but it was tempered by caution.
He pushed open the ancient gates of the hall.
To his surprise, standing outside were two elders and nearly a dozen inner disciples, robes fluttering in the chilly mountain breeze.
Leading them was Elder Zhao Wushen, a tall, lean man with eyes like sharpened steel. His long sleeves shimmered with silver cloud patterns, and his cultivation had already stepped into the Nascent Soul Realm – Late Stage.
"Li Yi," Elder Zhao said coolly. "You entered a restricted ground without permission."
Li Yi remained calm. "I was summoned by the flame altar itself. The hall opened of its own accord."
The disciples behind Zhao exchanged uneasy glances. No one had ever entered the Flame-Sealed Hall voluntarily in centuries. It was protected by high-level formations and ancient seals.
Zhao's expression remained unchanged. "Regardless of reason, the Pavilion must assess any change in spiritual inheritance. Come with me. The Sect Master wishes to see you."
Li Yi nodded, offering no resistance.
As he followed the elder down the spiral path toward the Pavilion's main courtyard, he became aware of the murmurs. Disciples halted their training to stare. Some bowed respectfully, others backed away. A few whispered behind hands.
"He broke through again? Already?"
"I heard even the Heaven Bell stirred."
"Monster. Demon in human skin."
But Li Yi ignored it all. His heart remained still. He had not come to gain praise—only strength.
—
They arrived at the Skycloud Pavilion Hall, where golden stairs led to a crystalline platform suspended over a natural waterfall. Sect Master Xuan Jin waited at the top, hands clasped behind his back. Behind him stood Peak Master Bai Qing and three other Peak Masters. Each watched him with differing expressions—curiosity, caution, even envy.
As Li Yi stepped forward, the Sect Master turned.
"Li Yi," he said slowly, "you have disrupted the balance of the spiritual fields with your recent advancement."
"I apologize, Sect Master. I could not control the inheritance awakening."
"You could not," Xuan Jin agreed. "And yet, it responded to you. The Flame-Sealed Hall has not stirred since the age of Master Tianlong. The only other person to ever enter its core... became our Pavilion's founding ancestor."
The silence that followed was deafening.
Even Elder Zhao's gaze twitched at that.
Li Yi bowed his head, but said nothing.
Xuan Jin continued, "As of this day, your status within the Pavilion is elevated. You are no longer a mere disciple."
He waved his sleeve. A jade talisman floated through the air and landed in Li Yi's palm. It glowed with faint golden lines forming a complex sigil.
"You are now an Heir Disciple of the Pavilion, second only to the direct heir of the Sect Master. With this, you may access all cultivation libraries, secret realms, and armament vaults—under supervision, of course."
One of the Peak Masters frowned slightly.
"That is no small gift, Sect Master. The boy is still young—"
"He is no ordinary boy," Bai Qing interrupted quietly. "He holds a flame older than time."
Li Yi looked up. "Thank you. I will not disappoint."
Xuan Jin nodded. "There is something more."
He gestured, and a formation appeared in the air—a projection of a distant mountain range twisted in shadow.
"Two days ago, a dark pulse was felt beneath Star-Sundering Gorge. It matches the Abyssal fluctuation from the rift you helped seal."
The image flickered, revealing a spiraling abyss covered by frost and spiritual corrosion.
"The Demons of the Abyss are not dormant. We believe they are searching for something... or someone."
Li Yi's eyes narrowed. "You think they're looking for me?"
"They're hunting the First Flame, and by awakening it, you've become their beacon."
—
That night, as darkness fell and the moon cast silver upon the lake, Li Yi stood alone on the Skycloud Balcony, overlooking the mountain range. His thoughts were not on the sect, nor the enemies beyond, but on the truth within himself.
Who was my mother, truly?
He remembered the gentle hands that had held him. The lullaby she used to hum, in a language he now realized was not from the Xuan Realm.
"Mother… you left me behind for my safety. But the path you walked... I now walk too."
Behind him, a presence stirred.
It was Shen Lan, the cold-eyed inner disciple who had once mocked him, and now looked at him with veiled awe.
"You're not normal," she said quietly. "Everyone senses it. Even the Peak Masters are wary."
Li Yi turned. "What do you want?"
Shen Lan hesitated. "To follow you."
He blinked.
"My clan has always followed strength. And... I've never met anyone like you," she said, her voice steady. "I'd rather follow a real storm than be crushed by it."
Li Yi stared into her eyes for a long moment before replying.
"Then you'd better be prepared. This storm is heading toward a world far darker than you imagine."
—
Meanwhile, in the frozen Northern Expanse, deep beneath the ice where the first Abyssal Rift had once torn the world, a presence stirred.
Its voice was a whisper, a slither of hunger.
The Flame... has awakened...
Dark tendrils pulsed with corrupted Qi. From the depths, a shape began to rise—tall, humanoid, but utterly wrong in form. It wore no armor, no flesh, only a shell of twisting void.
Find the boy. Burn the world if you must.
The Abyss had marked its prey.
And its generals were awakening.
—
Back in the Pavilion, as Li Yi meditated once more, a strange vision overtook him—a battlefield in the sky, filled with flaming giants and serpent-like shadows. At the center stood a woman in robes of white flame, her eyes like twin stars. Behind her, a gate shattered into thousands of fragments as an army of abyssal horrors surged forward.
Mother?
She turned.
And whispered a name lost to all time.
"Li Yixuan… your true name."
The flame within him surged, and the world blazed white.
---