The Core Lake. Deep underwater.
Gu Changyuan and Feng Jiuli dove into the lake, swimming rapidly toward the absolute depths.
After slaughtering the Profound Water Flood Dragon, Feng Jiuli had sensed that something else remained hidden at the bottom of the lake. It was an overwhelmingly ancient and profoundly mysterious aura—one that shared an inexplicable, resonating connection with the Heaven-Burning Art.
It's right up ahead, Feng Jiuli's voice echoed directly in his mind through the Soul Pact.
Gu Changyuan nodded internally and continued swimming forward.
The lake water was crystal clear. Golden sunlight pierced the surface, casting a mesmerizing, mottled array of light and shadows across the lakebed. Dense patches of vibrant aquatic plants and schools of brilliantly colored fish swam around them, making the depths look exactly like an underwater wonderland.
But Gu Changyuan was in no mood to admire the scenery.
His absolute focus was entirely locked on what lay ahead.
There, towering in the silent depths, was a massive stone stele.
The stele was roughly thirty feet tall and pitch-black. Its entire surface was densely carved with intricate, cryptic runes. It stood silently at the bottom of the lake, exuding an aura that was incredibly ancient and unfathomably mysterious.
"This is..."
Gu Changyuan swam right up to the stele, carefully examining the carved characters.
He didn't recognize a single one of the runes, yet looking at them filled him with an inexplicable, deeply ingrained sense of familiarity.
It was as if... he had seen them somewhere before in a distant, forgotten dream.
"These are Primordial runes," Feng Jiuli swam up beside him and communicated via voice transmission. "Similar runes exist in the Divine Realm, but the ones we use are vastly simplified compared to these."
"Can you read them?"
"I can decipher a portion of them," Feng Jiuli nodded. Her phoenix eyes locked onto the stele as she began to carefully translate the ancient text.
"He who burns the heavens... incinerates all... including destiny itself..."
Gu Changyuan's heart jolted violently.
He had heard that exact phrase before.
Those were the final words written on the torn scroll of the Heaven-Burning Art, and they were the very last words his master had ever spoken to him.
"This stele... is directly connected to the Heaven-Burning Art?"
"It's more than just connected," Feng Jiuli's expression turned incredibly solemn. "This stele records the absolute true origins of the Heaven-Burning Art."
She continued to trace the ancient runes with her eyes, translating as she read:
"Tens of thousands of years ago... there lived a Supreme Almighty... known as Heaven-Burner..."
"He created a heaven-defying cultivation art... capable of incinerating anything and everything... even the very laws of the Heavenly Dao..."
"But this art contained a catastrophic flaw... With every major breakthrough... the cultivator had to endure the excruciating Agony of Heaven-Burning..."
"To perfect this art... the Almighty Heaven-Burner traversed the myriad realms... desperately searching for a solution..."
"Finally... within the Divine Realm... he met a Goddess of the Phoenix Clan..."
Gu Changyuan's heartbeat violently accelerated.
A Goddess of the Phoenix Clan?!
He looked sharply at Feng Jiuli and saw that her expression had also grown extraordinarily grave.
"Continue," he urged.
Feng Jiuli gave a slow nod and continued deciphering:
"The Almighty Heaven-Burner and the Phoenix Goddess fell deeply in love... They cultivated together... and discovered that the Heaven-Burning Art and the Divine Phoenix Bloodline possessed a natural, absolute affinity..."
"By fusing the two powers... the agonizing toll of the Heaven-Burning Art could be drastically mitigated..."
"But the good times did not last... The Phoenix Clan absolutely forbade their Goddess from loving an outsider... They dispatched their supreme experts to hunt down the Almighty Heaven-Burner..."
"To protect the Goddess... the Almighty fought a world-shattering battle against the Phoenix Clan's strongest experts... Ultimately... he fell..."
"Right before his death... he left the inheritance of the Heaven-Burning Art in the lower realms... waiting for a fated successor..."
"As for the Phoenix Goddess... she was permanently imprisoned by the clan for her transgressions... her ultimate fate unknown..."
The translation of the ancient text ended there.
Gu Changyuan and Feng Jiuli looked at each other, both seeing profound, world-shaking shock mirrored in the other's eyes.
"The creator of the Heaven-Burning Art... fell in love with a Goddess of the Phoenix Clan..."
Gu Changyuan muttered in disbelief.
He thought of his own encounter with Feng Jiuli.
One was the sole successor of the Heaven-Burning Art; the other was the fallen Goddess of the Phoenix Clan.
Was this... merely a coincidence?
"It is not a coincidence," Feng Jiuli said, seemingly seeing right through his thoughts. "The fact that the Heaven-Burning Art and the Divine Phoenix Bloodline share such a flawless, natural affinity is absolutely no accident."
"Perhaps... from the very beginning, our meeting was completely preordained by destiny."
Gu Changyuan fell dead silent.
Preordained by destiny?
He had never believed in destiny.
But the overwhelming evidence standing right in front of him forced him to acknowledge that an inexplicable, invisible thread truly bound him and Feng Jiuli together.
"There's more," Feng Jiuli pointed to the absolute bottom of the stele. "There is another short passage down here."
Gu Changyuan followed her gaze. There was indeed another block of text carved at the base, but the runes were heavily eroded by time and incredibly difficult to distinguish.
Feng Jiuli swam closer to the stele, studying the eroded marks for a long time before finally managing to decipher a few disjointed words:
"Heaven-Burning... Inheritance... Primordial Secret Realm... Complete..."
"What does that mean?" Gu Changyuan asked.
"I'm not entirely certain," Feng Jiuli shook her head. "But if I were to guess, this passage implies that the complete, absolute inheritance of the Heaven-Burning Art is hidden within a 'Primordial Secret Realm'."
Gu Changyuan's heart skipped a beat.
A Primordial Secret Realm?
He thought of the torn scroll his master had left him.
It was exactly that—a fragment, not the complete art.
If a Primordial Secret Realm truly held the complete inheritance...
"Keep this information securely in mind," Feng Jiuli advised. "Once our strength is formidable enough, we will search for this Primordial Secret Realm."
Gu Changyuan nodded heavily.
"Understood."
He reached out his hand and gently touched the cold surface of the stone stele.
The exact microsecond his fingers made contact, a bizarre, incredibly ancient power surged from the stone, flowing directly up his arm and into his body.
"This is—!"
He felt the Heaven-Burning Art within him begin to circulate with terrifying violence. Golden-red flames spontaneously erupted from his body, perfectly resonating with the ancient runes carved into the stone.
BOOM—!
The runes on the stele suddenly ignited, emitting a blinding golden-red light that illuminated the entire lakebed as if it were broad daylight.
"Gu Changyuan!"
Feng Jiuli cried out in alarm, reaching out to pull him back, but she was a split second too late.
The golden-red light entirely enveloped Gu Changyuan, and a colossal surge of ancient information violently flooded into his Sea of Consciousness.
It was a fragment of the Heaven-Burning Art's true inheritance!
Although it wasn't the complete art, it contained profound secrets he had never known before.
The true, absolute core principles of cultivating the Heaven-Burning Art... The specific methods to alleviate the Heaven-Burning Agony... The flawless integration path between the Heaven-Burning Art and the Divine Phoenix Bloodline...
This unfathomable amount of information crashed into his mind like a torrential tidal wave, causing his vision to swim violently.
"Mgh—"
He let out a muffled groan and dropped to one knee on the lakebed.
"Gu Changyuan!"
Feng Jiuli swam over instantly, gripping his shoulders tightly.
"How are you holding up?!"
"I'm fine..." Gu Changyuan shook his head dizzily. "It's just... the sheer volume of information is massive... I need time to digest it..."
Feng Jiuli let out a heavy sigh of relief.
She had truly been terrified for a moment.
"What exactly did you receive?" she asked.
"A fragment of the true Heaven-Burning inheritance," Gu Changyuan explained, his breathing slowly stabilizing. "It includes advanced cultivation principles, and... the exact method of integrating the Heaven-Burning Art with the Divine Phoenix Bloodline."
Feng Jiuli's eyes instantly lit up.
"The method of integration?"
"Yes," Gu Changyuan nodded firmly. "The stele confirms that the two powers possess a flawless, natural affinity. By actively fusing our powers during cultivation, the excruciating toll of the Heaven-Burning Agony can be drastically reduced."
"Furthermore..." He looked deeply at Feng Jiuli. "Cultivating together will exponentially accelerate both of our cultivation speeds."
Feng Jiuli fell entirely silent.
She recalled the battle against the Wind Wolf and the Mist Wolves, where their two distinct powers had seamlessly merged.
When combined, their destructive power was undeniably more than double what they could achieve alone.
"It seems our meeting truly was no accident," she murmured softly.
Gu Changyuan looked at her, his heart churning with complex emotions.
Tens of thousands of years ago, the Almighty Heaven-Burner and the Phoenix Goddess fell deeply in love. Tens of thousands of years later, he had met Feng Jiuli.
Was this truly just a coincidence?
Or... was there truly some invisible, omnipotent hand of destiny guiding them together from the shadows?
"Whether it is a coincidence or destiny, it doesn't matter," he declared firmly. "We are companions right now. And absolutely nothing will change that."
Feng Jiuli looked at him, a profound, undeniable warmth flashing in her eyes.
"Yes."
She nodded.
"We are companions."
The two swam up from the depths and broke the surface of the lake, returning to the shore.
"The Secret Realm will close in exactly one day," Feng Jiuli noted. "We should head back toward the entrance."
Gu Changyuan nodded.
This expedition into the Secret Realm had yielded rewards that shattered their wildest expectations.
A Rank 3 Demonic Core, Golden Spirit Fruits, priceless spirit herbs, and a crucial fragment of the true Heaven-Burning inheritance.
These resources were more than enough to guarantee a flawless breakthrough to Foundation Establishment.
"Let's go."
The two began the trek back toward the Secret Realm's entrance.
Along the way, they casually harvested a few more spirit herbs and rare ores, stuffing their Storage Bags to the absolute brim.
By dusk, they finally arrived at the perimeter near the entrance.
"The Secret Realm closes tomorrow, and we will be automatically teleported out," Feng Jiuli said. "Rest well tonight. The moment we return to the sect tomorrow, you must immediately enter secluded meditation and initiate your breakthrough."
Gu Changyuan nodded heavily.
"Understood."
The two found a perfectly concealed cave nearby, hastily set up a basic Warning Array, and settled down to rest.
Inside the cave, the campfire flickered and danced.
Gu Changyuan sat cross-legged, closing his eyes as he began to meticulously digest the vast ocean of information from the stele's inheritance.
There was simply too much to process; he needed time to fully comprehend the profound truths hidden within.
Feng Jiuli sat quietly to the side, her gaze resting softly upon him.
Her heart was filled with incredibly complex emotions.
Tens of thousands of years ago, the Almighty Heaven-Burner and the Phoenix Goddess fell deeply in love, only for their story to end in a catastrophic tragedy.
Tens of thousands of years later, she had met Gu Changyuan.
Would their ultimate ending mirror the tragic fate of their predecessors?
No.
She swore silently in the absolute depths of her heart.
This time, I absolutely will not let history repeat itself.
Outside the cave, the night grew dense and heavy. Inside the cave, the campfire flickered and danced.
Two people, two distinct destinies, were now inextricably, irreversibly intertwined.
And what neither of them truly realized was that this was merely the absolute beginning.
The true, horrifying origins of the Heaven-Burning Art were far more complex and terrifying than what was recorded on that simple stone stele.
And their destinies would soon undergo earth-shattering, apocalyptic upheavals because of it.
But that was a matter for the distant future.
Right now, they only needed to focus on the absolute immediate present—
Breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Realm, and completely stunning the world at the Grand Sect Tournament.