Chapter 2: Embers of Mortal Flames (Part 2)**

Seven days later, Luo Hun Ravine.

Yun Wuyue stood astride her glacial jiao, jade veil masking exhaustion. The sect had ordered her to retrieve the "lost Fire Spirit Pearl," not mentioning its bearer was an Abyssal Hall target. When her Frostbracelet detected the pearl's resonance, she found the bloodied boy kindling fire—*with his fingertips*—at the ravine's heart.

"Surrender the pearl."

Her ice blade kissed his throat. He gripped the edge barehanded, steam hissing from melting frost. "Even Xuan Frost's saintess turns bandit?" he grinned through bloodied teeth.

Chaos erupted.

Blood-bats coalesced into a colossal claw. Yun Wuyue's ice barrier splintered under corrosive strikes. Lin Jin seized her wrist, the Blazing Eye blazing: "Cooperate or die!"

The Fire Spirit Pearl hovered between them, flame and frost merging unnaturally. Yun Wuyue felt her congenital chill recede as crimson sigils devoured her spiritual energy. The Blood Puppet Enforcer manifested, bone staff summoning a tide of corpses that turned the ravine to a sanguine swamp.

"Three steps left! Xun position!"

Lin Jin barked. She instinctively wove seals. As Frostmoon Domain immobilized the horde, he slammed the pearl into the earth—geysers of magma ensnared the Enforcer. Amidst screams, Lin Jin dragged her onto a cliff ledge, clutching the molten staff core.

"How did you know our Stellar Steps?" Her blade trembled.

He tossed the core, golden eyes dimming: "You recite astral formulae in your sleep."

Under a fractured moon, pursuit ebbed.

Yun Wuyue watched the boy slump by the fire, Frostbracelet reflecting the birthmark on his neck—*identical to the god-devil mural in the Hall Master's sanctum*. Her sword hovered at his heart, trembling.

Wind scattered half-charred talismans, revealing eight blood-etched words:

**"Flames shall scorch nine realms to ash; frost alone binds eternity's heart."**