The morning was gray, veiled by a light drizzle that fell like silk threads from the heavens. Despite this, the eternal flames of the Heavenly Flame Pavilion did not diminish, but rather crackled more strongly, defying the elements.
Xiu Wang had woken up before dawn. Not out of habit, but because she couldn't sleep. The night before, after that encounter with Mo Yeyan, she had felt a strange pulsation in the jade pendant she wore around her neck.
A simple jade, without carving or engraving, hanging on a dark thread. It had always been with her, for as long as she could remember. But last night… it shone. Faintly. A glow that didn't seem like light, but a whisper. As if a sleeping creature had opened its eye for an instant.
And then, silence.
Xiu got up, wearing her white and red robes. She looked at herself in the small copper mirror in her room, reviewing the details of her face. Not out of vanity. But because she wanted to engrave herself, now. Before the path of cultivation changed her completely.
The first training session was led by Instructor Bai Yuchan, a stern man with an icy gaze and a voice as tempered as a sheathed sword.
Instructor Bai:
"This pavilion is not for prodigies or lucky fools. Only those who understand fire survive here… and merge with it. Your names, your families, your past… none of it matters. From today on, you will be flames in the crucible."
Forty disciples lined up in formation. Among them, five shone with a particular arrogance. One, in particular, seemed intent on measuring strength with everyone.
Wu Jian, with sharp eyes and an arrogant voice:
"A girl like you with that manifestation? It must have been a mistake from the crystal."
Xiu ignored him. Which, of course, irritated him even more.
Wu Jian:
"Don't you know who I am? My clan has roots in the Crimson Flame of the East. You don't even have a worthy surname. What makes you think you can look down on us?"
Xiu replied without looking up.
Xiu Wang:
"When you open your eyes… perhaps you'll see that I'm already up there."
The laughter of the others died away with a single gesture from the instructor.
Instructor Bai:
"Do you wish to resolve your differences? Fine. To the Empty Flame Platform."
The platform was surrounded by black stone braziers. The rules were simple: no advanced techniques, just basic spiritual control of fire and body. It was a duel of will… and essence.
Wu Jian launched himself like a flash of flame, his feet leaving charred trails on the ground. His fire was bright red, aggressive, imprecise, but powerful.
Xiu waited. And when Wu's fire was about to reach her, she twirled like a leaf in the breeze. His palm rose, and fire erupted.
But it wasn't a visible fire. It was heat. Pure. Blazing. Invisible and suffocating. An aura that distorted the air and momentarily extinguished the braziers.
Wu Jian stopped in his tracks, gasping.
"What… kind of fire is that…? I don't see it… I don't see it…!"
Instructor Bai, observing intensely:
"Formless spiritual fire… a flame that doesn't need to show itself to burn."
Xiu didn't attack. He didn't need to. Wu Jian fell to his knees, sweating, defeated by a heat he couldn't resist.
After training, in the solitude of the forest by the pavilion, Xiu sat in meditation. He held the pendant in the palm of his hand. He closed his eyes.
Silence.
Darkness.
And then, a sensation.
As if something very, very ancient were on the other side of the pendant. Watching. Waiting.
A breath.
It wasn't his.
A muffled roar, deep as the bottom of the sea.
A whisper in the shadows: "Not yet... but soon."
Xiu opened his eyes, his heart beating like a war drum. But no one was there.
Or so he thought.
High atop a distant tower, Mo Yeyan gazed out of a window, a cup of tea steaming between his fingers. An old man in purple robes watched him from the shadows.
Old Man:
"Are you sure it's her? That girl... she has no known lineage."
Mo Yeyan, without turning around:
"It's not what she has. It's what sleeps inside her. And when she awakens... none of these clans will know how to stop her."
That night, the moon hid behind heavy clouds.
And on the jade pendant, for just a second… an eye opened.
It was golden.
And it didn't belong to any beast of this world.