A Sword, A Flame, and a Jealous Cultivator

The moment we returned to the guest quarters in Heaven's Maw, the air changed.

Not metaphorically. Literally.

The spiritual pressure had thickened like fog soaked in lightning. Every breath felt charged.

I stepped through the threshold of our courtyard and immediately noticed the circle drawn in spirit chalk. Wards. Defensive ones. But they weren't mine.

Qing'er stood at the center, her blade unsheathed, eyes sharp, hair tied back in a quick combat knot.

She didn't speak.

She simply pointed her sword at me.

"Fight me."

Zhao Feng choked on his tea. "What the actual—"

"I'm not in the mood," I said, raising my hands. "Also, nice to see you too."

Her eyes narrowed. "You reek of corrupted flame. I'm not letting you sleep near any of us until I know you're still sane."

"Still sane is relative," Zhao muttered.

"Qing'er," I said slowly, "I just walked out of a memory garden where I relived being stabbed by my past lover and then got handed a sword I apparently made to kill people for fun. I'm tired."

She slashed.

It wasn't a slow, symbolic swing. It was a real, fast, full-bodied cut aimed for my face.

I ducked, cursed, and rolled across the courtyard.

---

"I said fight!"

I drew my blade.

But the moment it left its sheath, flames coiled along the steel. Not my regular crimson Qi—this was darker. Hungrier. The Void Flame responding to danger.

Qing'er paused.

"What… is that?" she said, eyes wide.

"I call it a bad idea," I muttered. "Back down before it lights itself."

But she didn't.

She moved again, faster this time—three steps, sudden burst, blade arcing like lightning.

I parried with a twist, our blades sparking mid-air. But the pressure behind her swing sent me sliding backward, my feet digging into the stone floor.

"You've gotten stronger," I admitted.

"So have you," she said. "But yours isn't natural."

She lunged again. I blocked, twisted, stepped inside her guard—and tapped her forehead with two fingers.

Her whole body froze.

Then a pulse of Qi knocked me back like a blast of wind.

She panted, blade trembling.

"You… you're really him," she whispered. "Or you're becoming him."

"I don't even know who 'him' fully is yet," I said.

Zhao Feng leaned on the courtyard wall. "Alright, drama club, can we cool the sparks? Literally. The floor is starting to smoke."

---

Lan Ruo appeared behind him, arms crossed, watching quietly. Her gaze was unreadable.

"Finished sparring?" she asked.

"Barely started," Qing'er muttered.

"She was testing me," I explained.

"I know," Lan said.

I waited for her usual sarcasm or teasing jab.

Instead, she stepped forward and looked me over like someone inspecting an old wound.

"You're different," she said. "I knew it when I saw you walk out of the Saintess's chamber. You weren't walking like Li Xian anymore. You were walking like someone who owns pain."

"Poetic," Zhao said. "Also terrifying."

"I'm still me," I said. "Just... with new baggage."

Lan Ruo narrowed her eyes. "How much new baggage?"

I reached into my sleeve and pulled out the scroll.

"Ashes of Desire: Path of the Dual Flame Emperor"

The air shifted. Even the birds on the rooftop scattered.

Zhao Feng took two steps back. "Oh hell. That thing again."

"You've been reading it?" Lan asked.

I nodded. "It's a technique I created in my past life. Supposedly."

"Let me guess," she said. "It involves fire, forbidden knowledge, and—" she squinted at the scroll title, then turned crimson.

"—dual cultivation?"

---

Silence.

Zhao Feng snorted. "He's officially that guy."

Lan Ruo looked at me like I had slapped her with a warm spirit fish.

"I didn't name it," I protested. "Past me did."

"Past you needs counseling."

Qing'er blinked. "Wait. You dual cultivate now?"

"No! I mean—not yet! Look, it's in the title, but it's not… It's a technique! Like a spiritual fusion method."

Lan folded her arms. "Which also apparently involves skin-on-skin enlightenment."

"Technically, yes, but—"

"Do you even know how to use it?"

I stared at the scroll.

"No."

---

At that moment, the Saintess arrived. Quiet. Calm. Dressed in black again, her veil back on.

Zhao Feng groaned. "And here comes the mystery woman who might actually be plotting your murder and your wedding."

She ignored him and looked straight at me.

"You are leaving tomorrow," she said. "The Elders have permitted it."

"Permitted?"

"Most who come to the Maw do not leave. You are the first in decades to be given that choice."

"That's oddly flattering."

She stepped closer, slower now. The others fell silent as she approached.

"I have something for you," she said.

She extended a jade ring.

"Storage?" I asked.

"Yes," she said. "With your true robes. And your blade."

My heart thumped. "My blade?"

She nodded.

"I kept it," she said. "I shouldn't have. But I did."

---

The ring glowed as I took it. Inside: a set of black-red robes with flame symbols… and a weapon wrapped in cloth.

I unwrapped it slowly.

The Blade of Ash.

Pitch black. Thin. Elegant. Not a sword built to intimidate, but to end. It was forged to cut through spirit, not flesh.

It pulsed in my hand like it had missed me.

"I forged this?"

"Yes," she said softly. "When you were still human. Before the flame consumed everything else."

I looked at her.

"Why help me?"

"Because I failed to stop you last time," she whispered.

---

Later that night, we sat around a small fire. Zhao Feng was sharpening his spear in complete darkness because he said "light was for cowards."

Lan Ruo brewed tea without speaking.

Qing'er sat on the roof, watching the moon.

And me? I was reading the scroll again.

The technique's first page was... weird.

> To cultivate the Dual Flame Emperor Path, one must link both heart and Qi.

Body, spirit, and will must unify in passion.

If you are unworthy, the flames will consume both partners.

Romantic.

Deadly.

Overkill.

---

Zhao leaned closer.

"You planning to use it?"

I didn't answer.

"You realize," he said, "if you ever use that technique with anyone, the bond is permanent. Soul-deep. If you get it wrong, you'll both suffer backlash. If you get it right... it's basically a divine marriage."

"Why do you know that?"

"I read ahead."

"You can read ancient flame script?"

"Nope. I bribed a monk."

---

Lan Ruo spoke for the first time in a while.

"If you use that technique," she said quietly, "don't pick someone out of convenience."

I looked at her.

Her expression was neutral. But her hand was trembling slightly as she poured the tea.

"I wouldn't," I said.

"You better not," Qing'er added from the roof.

"Everyone's really interested in who I'll dual cultivate with," I muttered.

"We just don't want you dying mid-coitus," Zhao said.

"That's... fair."

---

As the fire burned low, I looked up at the night sky. The stars above Heaven's Maw were brighter—like the world itself was waiting.

I had the technique.

I had the flame.

I had the memories.

Now, I had choices.

Too many.

---

[SYSTEM UPDATE]

> Flame Authority Level: 2

Void Flame: Stabilized (for now)

Bonded Item: Blade of Ash

Technique Unlocked: [Ashes of Desire – Stage 1]

Dual Cultivation Level: Uninitiated

Relationship Tension: 3 Women. 1 Problem.

Current Quest: Return to Mortal Plains and Uncover the Next Memory Fragment

---

To be continued...

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📝 Author's Note – by Akiro Kaze

🔥 Chapter 16 delivers heat, heart, and hesitation:

Qing'er wants proof you're still you

Lan Ruo... lowkey jealous and mad at herself

Saintess dropped the Blade of Ash reveal

MC's past is rising fast—and now he has the scroll

Dual cultivation is no longer a maybe—it's a when and with who