Lin Yan woke up screaming.
Fire tore through his body.
Not the familiar burning pain of failed cultivation—but something deeper, more intimate, as if his blood itself had been replaced with molten flame. Every breath scorched his lungs. Every heartbeat felt like an explosion.
He collapsed onto the stone floor, clutching his chest.
The sigil.
A phoenix-shaped mark burned crimson-gold over his heart, pulsing in rhythm with his heartbeat.
"What… did you do to me?" Lin Yan gasped.
The cavern was silent.
Then the flames gathered, twisting and folding into a towering figure of fire. Wings unfurled. Golden eyes opened.
The Phoenix looked down at him.
"I saved you."
Lin Yan laughed weakly. "You call this… saving?"
"Your body was broken beyond repair," the Phoenix replied calmly."I remade it."
Lin Yan froze.
He slowly pushed himself up.
His limbs moved.
No—more than that.
They felt light.
He clenched his fist. Heat rippled outward, warping the air. The stone beneath his hand blackened and cracked.
His eyes widened.
"I can move spiritual energy…"
"Not qi," the Phoenix corrected."Flame."
Lin Yan's breath hitched.
The Phoenix's voice grew sharper.
"Listen carefully, apprentice. Your path is not cultivation."
The fire around them dimmed, revealing ancient murals carved into the cavern walls—humans burning, dying, and rising again from ash.
"Your body rejects qi because it was never meant to hold it.""It was meant to be consumed."
Lin Yan swallowed.
Consumed.
"Pain strengthens you.""Death refines you."
The Phoenix raised a burning talon.
"This is the Phoenix Path."
A surge of information flooded Lin Yan's mind.
Phoenix Path – First Mark: Ember Body
Body tempered by flame
Accelerated regeneration
Resistance to heat and fire
Strength increases after near-death experiences
Lin Yan collapsed again, gasping as the knowledge settled into his soul.
"So… if I die…" he whispered.
The Phoenix's eyes gleamed.
"You are reborn."
Silence fell.
Then Lin Yan asked the question that mattered most.
"…How many times?"
The Phoenix did not answer immediately.
Flames flickered.
"That," it said quietly,"depends on how much pain you can endure."
Lin Yan closed his eyes.
Images flashed through his mind—the mocking disciples, the cold elder, the years of being called worthless.
He clenched his fists.
"…Then I'll endure it all."
The Phoenix stared at him for a long moment.
Then it laughed.
Not cruelly.
Proudly.
"Good."
A violent tremor shook the cavern.
Cracks spread across the ceiling as rocks rained down.
"Your sect approaches," the Phoenix warned."They must not discover me."
The flames surged, wrapping around Lin Yan's body.
"You will return to the surface."
"What about you?" Lin Yan asked urgently.
"I will remain sealed," the Phoenix replied."For now."
The sigil on Lin Yan's chest burned hot.
"Hide your flame. Live quietly.""Grow."
The fire exploded.
Lin Yan awoke at the foot of the forbidden mountain.
Morning light pierced through the trees.
Disciples rushed toward him, shouting.
"He's alive?!"
"He fell into the abyss!"
"That servant should be dead!"
An elder rushed forward, eyes sharp.
"Explain," the elder demanded.
Lin Yan bowed deeply, his face pale, his breathing weak.
"I slipped," he said hoarsely."I was… lucky."
The elder stared at him for a long time.
Then—
"Take him to the infirmary."
As they turned away, Lin Yan looked down at his trembling hands.
Tiny embers flickered beneath his skin.
He smiled.
For the first time in his life—
The fire no longer hurt.