The Flame That Should Not Burn Again
I stood in front of a door taller than any mortal gate had a right to be. Black steel. Shimmering with veins of pulsing red light. The silence around it weighed heavy—like this wasn't just a door.
It was a boundary.
Between who I was… and who I used to be.
The stone-faced elder who led me stopped and spoke for the first time.
"Enter. Grandmaster Veil will speak only once. Make it count."
Then he vanished. Literally. Like a shadow swallowed him.
Great. That's normal.
---
I stepped through the door.
The chamber beyond wasn't what I expected.
It wasn't a hall or a throne room. It was a garden.
A floating garden, suspended in a void, lit by a blood-red moon. Black lotuses grew from floating soil islands. Silver koi swam through the air like fish that didn't care about physics.
And in the center—sitting calmly on a smooth obsidian bench—was a man with no face.
Literally.
His head was wrapped in white cloth. No eyes. No nose. Just runes pulsing where a face should be.
Grandmaster Veil.
"Li Xian," he said, voice like silk sliding over broken glass. "Or should I say… Ashen Fang."
The name hit me like a sledgehammer.
Memories surged.
---
I stood atop a battlefield, again. Same vision as before—but this time, it continued.
I watched myself—Ashen Fang—slaughter armies.
Golden flame. Eyes glowing like dying stars. A trail of ruin behind me.
And beside me... was her.
A woman with white hair and violet eyes. Dressed in black fire. Her laughter echoed across the void.
"You said we'd rule," she whispered to me. "You said the heavens would kneel."
I looked at her—my past self did—and said, "They will. But first... they burn."
And then—
She stabbed me.
Through the chest.
---
I gasped and stumbled. The memory cut like truth.
"You remember now," Veil said, unmoved. "That woman was Velrana—the Ember Warden. Your lover. Your betrayer. The reason we burned the records."
I was shaking. "Why...?"
"You grew too powerful," he said. "You broke the balance. You touched the Void Flame."
"The what?"
He raised a hand.
A single spark floated in the air.
Black.
Pitch black.
Not dark… but the absence of light. It burned cold. It burned concepts.
The spark whispered my name.
"Ashen Fang... Ashen Fang..."
---
"Only three beings in the history of cultivation ever awakened the Void Flame," Veil continued. "You were the fourth. The youngest. The only one who didn't die immediately."
"What happened to the others?"
"They became legends. Then monsters. Then stories used to scare children."
The spark drifted toward me.
My heart pounded. My body screamed at me to run.
I didn't.
I reached out.
It touched my palm.
---
[SYSTEM UPDATE]
> Memory Fragment #3 Recovered
Forbidden Flame Resonance Detected
Trait Acquired: [Voidflame Echo]
Warning: Qi Foundation Unstable
Host body reacting to sealed legacy
---
Power surged through me—and pain. I collapsed, visions spinning.
My skin glowed faintly gold. Then red. Then black.
I saw glimpses of myself—of Ashen Fang—holding entire worlds hostage with a word.
I saw Velrana. I saw myself whispering things no sane man should whisper.
I saw the Silent Saintess.
Crying.
---
The vision snapped.
I was back in the garden.
Veil stood now, towering, robes rippling in spiritual wind.
"The Void Flame never chooses randomly. You are its vessel again. Whether you burn the heavens or heal them… is up to you."
"I didn't ask for this."
"Few ever do."
---
Then he turned and raised a single finger.
A golden scroll unfurled in the air behind him.
"Take this," he said. "The technique you created… before we wiped your name."
It hovered in front of me.
The characters glowed.
"Ashes of Desire: Path of the Dual Flame Emperor"
Yeah. That sounded like something a past version of me would name.
Zhao Feng's voice echoed from down the hall behind me: "Hey! Why is your scroll making my hair stand up?!"
---
I took the scroll.
Power flooded through me. Controlled. Elegant. Ancient.
But something inside me stirred.
Like the flame remembered what it had done.
---
As I left the chamber, the Saintess waited for me outside.
Her veil fluttered slightly as I approached.
"You remembered her," she said. Not a question.
"I remembered being betrayed."
"She wasn't always your enemy," she whispered. "You were hers first."
I stopped. "You knew her?"
She nodded. Slowly. And then—for the first time—she looked... sad.
"She was my sister."
---
[SYSTEM NOTICE]
> Heaven's Maw Arc: Part I Complete
Forbidden Flame Skill Tree Unlocked
Unique Cultivation Path Activated: Dual Flame Emperor
Relationship Status Update:
Silent Saintess: [Emotionally Cracked – +20% Affection]
Zhao Feng: [Still Sarcastic – +100%]
---
To be continued…
---
Author'
s Note:
🔥 This chapter just cracked the lid open on the past:
Ashen Fang = Li Xian's original identity
Velrana = former lover, current betrayal baggage
The Silent Saintess = her sister?!
And the Void Flame… is waking up