Chapter 82: The Flame That Did Not Belong
The silence following the temple's collapse was unlike any Han Feng had experienced before.
He walked along the shores of the Lake of Ashes, maintaining a steady pace while the wind carried gray dust across the barren ground.
From a distance, nothing appeared unusual.
The lake remained dark and motionless. The surrounding mountains stood beneath the night sky, and the ruins of the ancient temple had disappeared beneath the water.
Yet the landscape had changed.
Small patches of ash reflected a faint reddish light. The air carried an unfamiliar pressure, and the spiritual energy drifting through the region occasionally twisted into currents that vanished before Han Feng could examine them.
The disturbance had subsided.
It had not ended.
Han Feng glanced back at the lake.
Whatever happened inside that temple, the consequences are still spreading.
He remembered the enormous shadow beyond the fissure, the foreign cultivators who had demanded the crystal, and the sphere whose containment formation had nearly collapsed.
Most troubling of all was the red fragment.
It had struck the sealed container holding his purple-black crystal and disappeared. Since then, a faint red trace had remained beneath the crystal's surface.
Han Feng had not absorbed the fragment.
He had not refined it.
He didn't even know whether it was still present in its original form.
But the crystal had changed.
That alone was enough to make him cautious.
He had no intention of opening the container merely to satisfy his curiosity.
Han Feng adjusted his storage ring and continued toward the mountains.
Behind him, the lake remained silent.
For one brief instant, a reddish reflection appeared beneath its surface.
Then it vanished.
By midnight, Han Feng had reached a narrow valley several dozen kilometers from the lake.
Tall cliffs enclosed the area, while ancient trees grew between scattered boulders. The terrain offered several escape routes, and the local spiritual energy was sufficiently stable for him to recover.
He inspected the valley before choosing a small cave beneath an overhanging ridge.
There were no fresh footprints.
No obvious formation marks.
No traces of recent cultivation.
After examining the entrance twice, he placed a simple concealment formation across the opening.
It would not stop a powerful cultivator.
That wasn't its purpose.
It only needed to obscure the cave from casual observation and give him enough warning to react if someone approached.
Han Feng sat down and closed his eyes.
His first task was to examine his condition.
His primordial essence remained stable. His meridians showed no obvious signs of injury, although the repeated exposure to the temple's foreign energy had left his spiritual sense unusually sensitive.
The Celestial Diagram continued its slow rotation.
Six points remained visible.
The seventh flickered faintly.
Nothing indicated a breakthrough.
Han Feng checked his Gu one by one.
The Dual Chaos Larva remained stable.
The Celestial Transmutation Gu had recovered most of its strength.
The Blue Star Flame Gu was still present, but its fluctuations were irregular. It had reacted violently inside the temple, and the strain had consumed a considerable amount of Gu essence.
He would need time before relying on it again.
Finally, Han Feng examined the golden seal beneath his chest.
It remained quiet.
The seal had helped him withstand a limited exposure to the foreign energy beyond the metallic gate. However, it had not made his body immune to that energy, and his previous experiments had shown how easily his spiritual sense could be injured.
He had no reason to believe the seal could protect him from everything.
Han Feng slowly exhaled.
"At least nothing has broken."
That was the best result he could reasonably expect.
He turned his attention toward the storage ring.
The purple-black crystal rested inside its sealed container.
Han Feng didn't remove it.
Instead, he extended a thread of spiritual sense toward the container and carefully observed the fluctuations passing through its outer shell.
At first, nothing happened.
Then a faint red pulse emerged from within.
The Celestial Diagram responded.
Han Feng immediately withdrew his spiritual sense.
His eyes opened.
The red pulse had lasted less than a heartbeat, but he had felt something beyond a simple reaction.
For an instant, the crystal's energy had resembled a signal.
Not a message he could understand.
Not a command.
Only a brief fluctuation that seemed to travel outward before disappearing.
Han Feng stared at the storage ring.
"Are you responding to something?"
The crystal remained silent.
He considered opening the container.
Then rejected the idea.
He had already seen what happened when an ancient containment system failed. He wasn't going to repeat the experience inside a narrow cave with nowhere to run.
For now, the crystal would remain sealed.
He would investigate it after finding a safer place and a more reliable method of examining its energy.
Han Feng leaned back against the stone wall.
He had barely begun to recover when a faint vibration passed through the concealment formation.
His expression changed.
Someone was approaching.
Han Feng extinguished the nearby spiritual lamp.
The cave fell into darkness.
He remained motionless and expanded his perception, carefully avoiding any sudden release of spiritual energy.
Footsteps reached the valley entrance.
One person.
Then another.
Han Feng continued listening.
Three.
Four.
Five.
A sixth presence moved farther behind the others, maintaining a distance that suggested the group had experience operating together.
They weren't wandering cultivators.
Their movements were too disciplined.
Han Feng's gaze narrowed.
The Celestial Corpse Sect.
He couldn't identify the group by sight yet, but he recognized the faint spiritual residue carried by their techniques. It was the same cold, oppressive quality he had encountered during previous clashes with corpse refiners.
He had hoped the sect would need more time to trace him.
Apparently, hope had been misplaced.
Han Feng didn't immediately flee.
The concealment formation had not been broken. The approaching cultivators might be searching the valley without knowing his exact location.
If he moved now, he could reveal himself.
He waited.
A pale green light appeared outside the cave.
It moved slowly across the ground, illuminating the rocks and the roots of dead trees.
A bone lantern.
Han Feng's expression hardened.
The lantern stopped several paces from the entrance.
A man's voice followed.
"There's a trace here."
Another cultivator answered, "The same one we detected near the lake?"
"Similar. Not identical."
The first man raised the lantern.
Its green light swept across the cliffs.
"The signal weakened after the temple collapsed. Whatever caused it has either been sealed or moved."
"Could it be a Gu?"
"Perhaps."
The man paused.
"Or something that imitates one."
Han Feng remained still.
So they detected the crystal's reaction.
He couldn't tell whether the group had tracked the crystal itself, the red trace left by the fragment, or a residual fluctuation from the temple.
But the distinction no longer mattered.
They were close enough to find him if he remained here much longer.
A second voice spoke.
"Should we request an elder?"
The lantern bearer gave a low laugh.
"If we request an elder every time we find an unfamiliar fluctuation, we'll never accomplish anything."
He stepped closer to the cave.
"Search the surrounding rocks. Don't damage the source if you find it."
Han Feng's eyes became cold.
They weren't merely investigating.
They wanted to recover whatever had produced the signal.
If they discovered the crystal, they would almost certainly try to take it.
And if they discovered the golden seal, the situation would become considerably worse.
Han Feng began preparing his escape.
He had two possible routes.
The first led toward the valley entrance, where the six cultivators were gathering.
The second passed through a narrow fissure behind the cave, leading toward a steep slope covered in loose stones.
The second route was dangerous.
It was also less likely to be guarded.
Han Feng quietly moved toward the fissure.
Then the bone lantern brightened.
The concealment formation trembled.
A thin green line appeared across the cave entrance.
The formation had been exposed.
Han Feng stopped.
Outside, the lantern bearer smiled.
"Found you."
Han Feng dismissed the formation himself.
There was no reason to waste energy trying to preserve something that had already been compromised.
He stepped into the moonlight.
Six cultivators stood across the valley.
Five wore black robes embroidered with pale silver runes. Their faces were expressionless, and each carried a different corpse-refinement tool.
The sixth was an older man with long white hair and a bone lantern hanging from one hand.
His robes were darker than those of the others, and a narrow silver emblem marked his collar.
He wasn't Elder Li.
But he was no ordinary disciple either.
The man's gaze settled on Han Feng.
"You're the one who left the disturbance near the Lake of Ashes."
Han Feng said nothing.
The man studied him for several seconds.
"Your cultivation is lower than I expected."
"Then perhaps you've found the wrong person."
The man smiled.
"A reasonable answer. Unfortunately, the signal brought us here."
He lifted the lantern slightly.
"Whatever you carry has a resonance that doesn't match the spiritual structure of this world."
Han Feng's expression remained neutral.
"Many things are unfamiliar to people who haven't seen them before."
"True."
The man's smile widened.
"Which is why we're going to examine yours."
Han Feng glanced at the five cultivators behind him.
Their positions were deliberate.
Two stood near the valley entrance.
Two had moved toward the rocky slope.
The last remained several paces behind the lantern bearer, holding a small black plate.
A tracking artifact.
Han Feng's gaze returned to the older man.
"Who are you?"
"Executor Guo Shun, serving the Celestial Corpse Sect."
Not an elder, then.
At least not one willing to reveal such a title.
Guo Shun continued.
"You have two choices. You can surrender the object responsible for the disturbance and accompany us for questioning, or you can resist and make the process considerably more unpleasant."
Han Feng tilted his head.
"And if I have nothing to surrender?"
"Then we will determine that after searching you."
The answer was immediate.
Han Feng almost smiled.
They had already decided that he was guilty of possessing something valuable. Everything else was merely an excuse.
He had no intention of cooperating.
But he also had no intention of fighting six cultivators in a valley that offered limited room to maneuver.
The executor was likely stronger than him. The other five had prepared positions, and the bone lantern could interfere with his spiritual sense.
A direct confrontation would be foolish.
Han Feng let his shoulders relax.
"Then search."
Guo Shun paused.
One of the disciples exchanged a glance with his companion.
The executor's expression remained unchanged.
"You're surrendering?"
"I'm allowing you to waste your time."
For the first time, the man's smile disappeared.
Han Feng moved.
Not toward the executor.
Toward the rocky slope.
A thread of primordial essence struck the loose stones above the two cultivators stationed there.
The stones shifted.
A moment later, several large rocks came crashing down.
The two cultivators jumped aside, disrupting their formation.
At the same instant, Han Feng activated Shadow Concealment and slipped behind a dead tree.
"Stop him!"
The bone lantern flared.
Green light swept across the valley.
Han Feng felt the pressure brush against his spiritual sense. His concealment wavered, exposing a faint outline of his body.
Guo Shun raised his free hand.
A black chain shot from his sleeve.
It crossed the distance with startling speed.
Han Feng twisted sideways.
The chain scraped his shoulder and wrapped around the trunk behind him.
The wood blackened where the links touched.
Corpse-refinement energy.
Han Feng did not allow the chain to tighten.
He released a small burst of Qi, severed the dead branch, and slipped free before the links could close around him.
The chain snapped back.
Guo Shun's eyes narrowed.
"You're more troublesome than you look."
Han Feng didn't answer.
He was already moving again.
The valley erupted into motion.
One cultivator released a cloud of gray mist.
Another sent several corpse-controlled Gu toward Han Feng's path. The tiny insects moved through the air in erratic patterns, leaving faint trails of cold spiritual energy.
Han Feng avoided the first wave and used a boulder to break the second cultivator's line of sight.
He couldn't afford to let the group surround him.
His apparent cultivation remained suppressed, but maintaining the concealment while dodging attacks was becoming increasingly difficult.
A black chain struck the ground beside his foot.
The earth froze.
Han Feng jumped backward, only to find a second chain descending from above.
He twisted in midair and narrowly avoided it.
The chain struck a rock and split it in two.
Their coordination is better than the last group.
Han Feng landed hard.
Pain shot through his ankle.
He ignored it and continued moving.
The bone lantern rose higher.
A wave of green light spread across the valley, and the air filled with the faint sound of chanting.
The ground began to tremble.
Han Feng felt movement beneath his feet.
He leaped onto a boulder.
Several corpse-controlled bodies emerged from the earth.
They were not powerful spiritual corpses. Most had damaged limbs and incomplete refinement marks. But their bodies had been reinforced, and their movements were being controlled by the lantern's formation.
Their purpose was simple.
Restrict Han Feng's movement until the chains could capture him.
Guo Shun watched from behind them.
"Stop struggling. Your body may still be useful after we're finished."
Han Feng looked at the corpses.
Then at the lantern.
The green light was not merely controlling them.
It was linking the corpses to the six cultivators, forming a network of spiritual connections.
If he attacked the bodies directly, the lantern would simply replace the damaged links.
If he attacked the cultivators, the others would protect the formation.
He needed to disrupt the structure itself.
Han Feng's gaze settled on the ground beneath the lantern bearer.
The valley floor was uneven, crossed by narrow cracks and loose gravel.
He had noticed the slope before entering the cave.
Now he understood how to use it.
Han Feng threw a small stone toward the far end of the valley.
It struck the rock wall.
The sound echoed.
Two of the corpse-controlled bodies immediately turned toward the noise.
Their movement pulled against the formation.
The spiritual connections tightened.
Han Feng threw another stone.
This time, it struck a patch of loose earth above the stream.
The soil collapsed.
Water rushed through the narrow channel, carrying gravel and debris across the valley floor.
Guo Shun's formation did not fail.
But the uneven terrain forced two of the cultivators to adjust their positions.
For a single instant, the green light flickered.
Han Feng seized the opportunity.
He activated the Blue Star Flame Gu.
A small blue flame appeared between his fingers.
It was weak compared with its full potential, and the Gu's reserves had not completely recovered. Han Feng knew he could afford only a brief release.
He sent the flame toward the nearest spiritual connection.
It struck the green line.
The energies collided.
A sharp crack echoed through the valley.
The connection snapped.
One corpse collapsed.
The lantern's light dimmed for a fraction of a second.
Guo Shun's expression changed.
"That flame..."
Han Feng immediately retreated.
He had revealed something.
Not the crystal.
Not the golden seal.
But enough to make the executor reconsider his assumptions.
The Blue Star Flame Gu returned to his hand, its glow weaker than before.
Han Feng felt the cost at once.
His primordial essence had dropped, and the spiritual strain behind his eyes intensified.
He could not repeat the attack many times.
He needed one more opening.
Guo Shun raised the bone lantern with both hands.
The green light expanded, covering the entire valley.
The remaining corpses stopped moving.
Then their heads turned toward Han Feng at the same time.
A cold pressure descended.
The lantern bearer spoke in a low voice.
"Enough."
The corpses lunged.
Han Feng retreated toward the narrow fissure behind the cave.
He deliberately allowed one corpse to approach closer than the others.
Its reinforced arm swung toward his chest.
At the last moment, Han Feng shifted aside and let the creature's momentum carry it into the rocky wall.
The impact dislodged a cluster of stones.
Han Feng released a controlled pulse of Qi.
The loose rocks collapsed between him and the two nearest cultivators.
The barrier would not hold them for long.
But it broke their line of sight.
Han Feng turned toward the fissure.
A black chain shot through the dust and wrapped around his forearm.
Pain flared.
The chain's cold energy began spreading through his skin.
Guo Shun pulled.
Han Feng stumbled backward.
For an instant, the two men locked eyes across the collapsing rocks.
"Got you."
Han Feng's expression remained calm.
"Not quite."
He did not try to overpower the chain.
Instead, he directed a thread of primordial essence into the Celestial Transmutation Gu.
The Gu responded, releasing a brief fluctuation that altered the energy circulating through his arm.
It was not enough to neutralize the corpse-refinement technique.
But it was enough to destabilize the chain's hold for a fraction of a second.
Han Feng twisted his wrist, slipped his hand through the loosened links, and fell backward into the fissure.
The chain scraped his skin before snapping free.
He hit the ground hard.
The impact drove the air from his lungs.
He tasted blood.
Behind him, Guo Shun shouted an order.
The cultivators began clearing the fallen stones.
Han Feng forced himself to his feet.
He couldn't fight them again.
Not with his current reserves.
He moved deeper into the narrow passage, using Shadow Concealment to reduce the traces left by his passage.
The fissure descended for several dozen meters before opening onto the far side of the ridge.
Cold wind struck his face.
Han Feng climbed out and continued into the darkness.
He didn't look back.
He had survived.
For now, that was enough.
By the time Guo Shun reached the fissure's exit, Han Feng had already disappeared into the forest.
The executor stood beneath the trees, the bone lantern hanging at his side.
His expression was unreadable.
One of the disciples approached.
"Should we pursue him?"
Guo Shun looked toward the dark forest.
"No."
The disciple hesitated.
"Why?"
"Because he wanted us to follow him."
The younger cultivator frowned.
Guo Shun lifted the lantern.
Its green light flickered weakly. The broken spiritual connection had damaged the formation, and the remaining corpses were no longer responding properly.
"We have already confirmed that he carries an unusual energy source. Chasing him through unfamiliar terrain would give him another opportunity to separate us."
He turned toward the valley.
"Recover the formation remnants. Record the location. I want every fluctuation measured."
"And the target?"
Guo Shun's eyes narrowed.
"Report that he escaped."
The disciple bowed.
Guo Shun paused.
"Do not mention the blue flame in the initial report."
The disciple looked up.
"Why?"
"Because I don't yet know whether it was a Gu, a technique, or something else."
The executor's gaze returned to the forest.
"And I won't allow the Patriarch to make a decision based on an incomplete description."
He turned away.
The Celestial Corpse Sect had not captured Han Feng.
But it had learned something important.
The target was carrying an energy that could interfere with corpse-refinement formations.
And the disturbance near the Lake of Ashes had not been an isolated event.
It was connected to a living cultivator.
That information alone would be enough to draw attention from people far more dangerous than Guo Shun.
Han Feng did not stop until dawn.
He eventually found shelter beneath a broken stone arch, where he sat down and examined his injuries.
The chain had left a dark line around his forearm.
The cold energy had not penetrated deeply, but his skin was numb, and the surrounding meridians felt sluggish.
He circulated a small amount of primordial essence.
The numbness receded slowly.
His ankle was bruised.
His shoulder had been scraped.
His spiritual sense was exhausted.
The Blue Star Flame Gu had consumed more energy than he wanted to spend.
And he had gained no treasure, no cultivation advancement, and no new understanding of the red trace inside the crystal.
Yet he was alive.
Han Feng leaned against the stone and closed his eyes.
He replayed the confrontation in his mind.
Guo Shun had been cautious. The group had not acted randomly, and their formation was designed to capture rather than kill.
They had wanted him alive.
That meant the Celestial Corpse Sect suspected he carried something valuable.
The crystal was the most likely target.
But the red trace might have made it easier to detect.
Han Feng opened his eyes and examined his storage ring.
He did not remove the container.
He would need a more secure location before attempting another test.
The golden seal beneath his chest remained silent.
The Celestial Diagram continued its slow rotation.
The seventh point flickered faintly, but it showed no sign of opening.
Han Feng took a deep breath.
"I need to become stronger."
The words were not a boast.
They were an assessment.
He had survived because he used the terrain, exploited a weakness in the formation, and escaped before the enemy could reorganize.
If Guo Shun had been more powerful—or if the valley had offered fewer escape routes—the result might have been different.
Han Feng would not mistake survival for victory.
He stood and adjusted his cloak.
His next destination would be the Central Region.
He needed reliable information about the temple, the foreign energy, and the people who had appeared beyond the fissure. He also needed to understand why the crystal had begun producing a detectable signal.
Until then, he would avoid using the Blue Star Flame Gu unless there was no other choice.
The flame was useful.
It was also a liability.
And now the Celestial Corpse Sect had seen it.
Han Feng stepped into the morning mist.
Far behind him, beneath the waters of the Lake of Ashes, a faint red light appeared once more.
It did not spread.
It did not open a fissure.
It merely pulsed, then disappeared beneath the dark water.
High above the mountains, the red and purple stars remained visible in the fading night.
For a brief moment, the golden star flickered as well.
Han Feng did not see it.
He was already moving toward the Central Region, carrying a sealed crystal, an unexplained mark beneath his skin, and the knowledge that at least one powerful faction had begun searching for him.
The hunt had not ended.
It had become more precise.