The wind howled as Jayden stood at the edge of Wuzhen Valley, a place blanketed in eerie silence and veiled by perpetual crimson mist. The valley was feared across the martial world—not because of demons or beasts, but because of the spirits of fallen cultivators that lingered like shadows, whispering regrets into the air. It was said the valley's flames could talk. And now Jayden needed to walk into them.
He tightened his sash, his eyes sharp with resolve. After defeating three elder alchemists in a pill refining battle two days ago—earning the token to Wuzhen—he had no choice but to enter. Within the valley lay the Blazing Soul Flame, a divine fire needed to refine the god-tier "Soul-Opening Pill," the next step in unlocking the eighth seal in his Dragon Form bloodline.
"You must enter alone," Master Jinhai had warned. "And you must listen. The flames there do not burn flesh… they burn truth."
Jayden crossed the border, and the world changed.
Inside the valley, heat curled unnaturally from the ground, but it wasn't fire—it was memory. Every step he took stirred whispers in the mist. He heard a young girl's laughter. Then a dying man's scream. Then a familiar voice…
"Jayden… do not forget why I disappeared."
Jayden froze. That voice—it was his father's.
He spun, but nothing stood behind him. Only swirling red fog. The air here was heavy with spiritual residue, soaked in the emotions of fallen martial artists. These weren't illusions. This place reached into the soul.
He pushed forward, past charred skeletons and burnt jade fragments. Ancient banners flapped above him, marked with clans long forgotten. Then came the fire—not wild, but controlled, spiraling upwards from a black lotus rooted in the heart of the valley.
This was it: the Blazing Soul Flame.
Jayden knelt before it, breathing in the fire's aura. It didn't burn skin. It burned away lies. His thoughts were ripped open. Every doubt. Every guilt. Every unanswered question.
"You were never meant to walk this path," his father's voice echoed again, this time from within the fire.
Jayden gritted his teeth. "Then why do I feel like I've been walking it my whole life?"
The fire pulsed, reacting to his resolve. It surged forward—and engulfed him.
Pain Beyond the Physical
Jayden screamed—not in pain of the body, but of the mind. His memories poured out of him, cast into the flames. The street fights. His first time stealing to survive. The night he clutched his mom's bleeding arm after a gang broke into their apartment. The first time he felt something awaken inside—his instincts saving him before he even saw the knife.
And then, the pendant his father left behind.
It pulsed now at his chest, glowing wildly. The flame began to take shape—first as a dragon, then as a man. A translucent projection of his father.
"Jayden… I never meant to abandon you," the figure said, solemn and worn. "I tried to unlock the full Dragon Form before my time. The Celestial Sect punished me. Bound me here. But your arrival… it may be the key to freeing me."
Tears mingled with sweat on Jayden's face. "Tell me how."
"Refine the Soul-Opening Pill. With this flame. Then find the Heaven-Splitting Cauldron in the Iron Wastes. Only then can you unlock the final seals… and break my prison."
The figure faded.
Jayden stood—his body trembling but not from pain. From clarity. The flame was no longer resisting. It hovered before him like a tame beast.
He extended his palm.
"I am Jayden Cross," he said firmly. "Heir to the Dragon Form. I claim you."
The flame flared once—testing him. Then it vanished into his hand, absorbed through his meridians and settling in his dantian like a slumbering dragon of fire.
Return to the Sect
When Jayden exited the valley, even the elders of the Crimson Moon Sect took a step back. His aura had changed. His eyes burned faint gold. The very air near him shimmered with residual heat.
Lena ran to him, wide-eyed. "You did it…"
He nodded. "And I saw him."
Master Jinhai's expression turned grave. "Then your next path is even more dangerous."
Jayden looked toward the horizon. "I need to reach the Iron Wastes."
The other disciples whispered in awe, especially those who had mocked him months ago. Some still nursed wounds from their pill refining defeats. Jayden had become something else—not quite mortal, not yet immortal—but undoubtedly… feared.
A Message From the Celestial Sect
That night, just before dawn, a sword embedded itself in the training yard of the Crimson Moon Sect—plunging deep into sacred stone. A talisman was tied to its hilt. It bore the mark of the Celestial Sect.
Jayden pulled the sword free and read the talisman aloud.
"Jayden Cross. You've walked too far. The seal you carry is forbidden. Turn back, or face divine judgment in seven days."
A crowd formed. Silence gripped the sect.
Jayden crushed the talisman in his hand, letting the ashes scatter.
"Let them come," he said coldly. "This time… I'm ready."