Here lies Wang Lin, upon the Immortal Continent of Xiangang, his eyes opening for the first time in this realm. A first awakening, to a land where his name would echo through the echelons of power!

This was his initial glimpse of the Immortal Xiangang through his own mortal eyes, the first breath of Xiangang’s aura to fill his lungs as he emerged from slumber.

Awakening, his first instinct was to seek the Haven-Shattering Coffin behind him, assured of its safety before turning his gaze upon the earthly fires surrounding him.

Mere earthly flames! Could they dare consume Wang Lin?

This extracted fire was but a trifle to him, a man who possessed the very essence of fire itself. It inflicted no harm, but rather hastened his awakening. Born of the Immortal Xiangang, it served as a catalyst, merging with the fire essence he had cultivated in the Cave World, initiating an astonishing transformation.

A metamorphosis unseen in all of Xiangang’s history, a battle between foreign flame and the fire essence born from the land itself!

Should the fire essence of Xiangang prevail, Wang Lin’s own would be devoured, assimilated into the land, leaving him with the essence, yet never the mastery. The fire’s true master would be Xiangang itself.

But should Wang Lin triumph, his essence of fire would reign supreme, transcending the lands of Xiangang, making him the true Emperor of Flame!

Wang Lin peered upwards, his gaze meeting swirling mists, sensing a weakling cultivator circling his prison, casting objects unknown that stoked the inferno’s fury and stirred the array beneath.

Strange energies surged from the array, seeking to infiltrate his being, to remold him.

With a mind as keen as Wang Lin’s, despite his recent slumber, the truth dawned quickly.

“…He found me in my slumber and brought me here to refine me… The array speaks of puppetry… Does he seek to make me his puppet?” A cold glint flashed in Wang Lin’s eyes.

In the Cave World, none would dare such an act, not even the Revered Thrones, their respect ran too deep to risk such a play!

The array held no fear for Wang Lin. Though arcane, now was not the time for study, but the earthly fire drew his keen interest.

Ignoring Kang Ren’s excited ministrations, unaware of Wang Lin’s awakening, he diverted a sliver of his consciousness into the depths, tracing the fiery path to its source.

He would witness the origin of this earthly fire, to compare it to his own, to measure the essence of Xiangang.

As his consciousness expanded, Wang Lin’s eyes shone with an otherworldly light, beholding a vast network of earthly fire beneath the mountains for tens of thousands of leagues.

This mountain range resided upon a branch of an earthly fire vein. Vast it seemed, but thin it was, connected to a main artery that delved deep into the earth, its final destination unknown.

Wang Lin’s consciousness spread further, and he was shaken to discover a labyrinth of earthly fire veins twisting beneath the land, ever hotter as they descended.

“…This earthly fire vein… it is as a vast fire array…” Wang Lin withdrew his consciousness, freshly awakened and unfamiliar with his surroundings, he could not yet probe too deeply.

“Though I cannot delve deeper, I can still draw forth the earthly fire, refining it, nourishing my own essence of fire.” After a moment’s thought, Wang Lin gently struck the array beneath him.

The entire Azure Dragon Sect shuddered! The earthly fire, in tens of thousands of leagues beneath the mountains, as if agitated, surged forth from all directions, cascading into Kang Ren’s cave!

This sudden change startled Kang Ren. His screams echoing as he retreated, his hands flashing in incantations, erecting countless defenses, summoning his nine puppets and two wooden figures to shield him from the sudden conflagration.

Scarcely had Kang Ren retreated than the array exploded with deafening thunder, the raging sea of fire coalescing into a towering pillar, incinerating the mists, obscuring all from sight in a mad blaze.

The cave could not endure. Cracks spread along the walls, threatening collapse, and the nine puppets before Kang Ren shattered under the fiery onslaught.

The two wooden figures followed, crumbling without resistance.

Terror seizing him, his eyes wide with stark horror as the searing heat roared forth, like the jaws of death about to devour him, suddenly, a faint light emanated from the inferno, enveloping Kang Ren, warding him from the flames’ touch.

Though spared, the brush with oblivion left Kang Ren paralyzed, staring blankly at the inferno consuming his cave, his heart consumed by fear.

“What… what have I brought back…?”

As the earthly fire erupted, Void Cloud and his master arrived at the cave’s entrance. As they approached, the white-haired elder recoiled, grabbing his disciple and retreating hundreds of feet.

Even as they fled, the gates of Kang Ren’s cave imploded, a wave of heat scouring the area.

The valley’s pavilions and towers were instantly vaporized, consumed by the sea of fire!

The surrounding peaks trembled as the earthly fire surged, threatening to erupt. The sudden cataclysm sent the disciples of the Azure Dragon Sect fleeing from their abodes, staring in horror at the scene.

“The patriarch is away… why does this earthly fire stir now?” Void Cloud’s master’s face darkened, his gaze fixed on the sea of fire, upon Kang Ren’s cave at the blaze’s heart.

At the same time, three mighty presences emerged from the Azure Dragon Sect, three figures appeared beside Void Cloud’s master.

Two were male, one female, two with hair as white as snow, the third a man in his prime. All radiated the aura of the Third Step.

These were no ordinary cultivators, especially the middle-aged man, his cultivation nearing the pinnacle of Empyrean Exaltation. He raised his head and roared.

“Disciples of the Azure Dragon Sect, heed me! The earthly fire stirs once per ten thousand years, and it is too early! Fear not! Deploy the Great Sky Water Array!” His voice echoed like thunder for tens of thousands of leagues.

The disciples of the Azure Dragon Sect trembled and sat, crossing their legs, their hands flashing incantations as clouds rose up from their bodies. Tens of thousands of disciples began to weave the great array with all haste!

The array rumbled into existence, transforming into a vast storm cloud that shrouded tens of thousands of leagues. The storm cloud was dark, hanging low in the air, filled with the power of the thousands of disciples of the Azure Dragon Sect.

At the same time, the other two Third Step elders, besides Void Cloud’s master and the middle-aged man, without need for order, went straight to the clouds. The two of them entered the clouds, and as a scream echoed, they transformed into two long dragons!

These two dragons were thousands of yards long, moving inside the clouds. After a moment, they showed their dragon heads and opened their mouths at the burning sea of fire on the ground. Suddenly, rain fell from the sky, and the two dragon heads spurted out a lot of water vapor, just like a crazy wind covering the earth.

“Elder Li, you arrived first, what has happened here?” As the rain poured down and fought the ground’s fire, the middle-aged man asked the white-haired man with a dark expression.

“Earthly fire is supposed to change every 10,000 years, which should happen 3,000 years from now. This is early, so there must be a reason!” The middle-aged man turned from the white-haired man to the hunchback youth.

The youth trembled from this look, barely keeping himself standing.

“Sect leader, this isn’t a normal earthly fire change. This is likely related to 3rd generation disciple, Kang Ren. I don’t know where he brought back two corpses from, and this fire change happened when he was refining puppets.” The white-haired elder pointed at Kang Ren’s cave at the heart of the burning mountains.

“Kang Ren?” The middle-aged man frowned. He didn’t remember this name.

“The sect leader and grand elder went to the Great Soul Gate, and I have already sent them jade slips, so they should be on their way. Since the trouble could be from the corpses that Kang Ren brought back, then let me go see what these two corpses are capable of to cause an earthly fire change!” The middle-aged man’s eyes lit up with killing intent. This earthly fire explosion had caught the Azure Dragon Sect off guard, and although there were no deaths, it had destroyed many structures and burned a lot of precious herbs and treasures!