Chapter 3 - The Flame That Should Not Exist
Yao Chen did not dream that night. He remembered things that had never happened.
That was the only way he could describe it when morning light entered his room and found him sitting awake on the edge of his bed. He had seen furnaces larger than mountains, herbs blooming beneath dead stars, hands covered in golden fire, and countless wounded souls waiting in silence. None of the images stayed long enough to become clear. They passed through him like fragments of someone else's life, yet each one left behind an ache of familiarity.
Dao Realm Academy had awakened beneath pale gold light. Outside, new disciples hurried along stone paths, some carrying wooden swords, some clutching manuals, some arguing loudly about which pavilion held the best resources. Training platforms rang with shouts. Spirit cranes circled above cloud-wrapped halls. Waterfalls poured from one floating island to another and vanished into white mist before reappearing as streams below.
The academy seemed designed to remind every disciple of one truth: entering the gate did not make them great. It only showed them how small they had been.
Yao Chen understood that more deeply than most.
He sat cross-legged on the meditation mat and closed his eyes. Dao Qi flowed through his meridians. As a Meridian Opening Realm cultivator, his foundation was still early, yet his energy moved with unusual smoothness. His father had taught him not to force circulation. "A river reaches the sea not by rage," Yao Lao often said, "but because it never forgets direction."
Yao Chen breathed slowly.
The spiritual energy of the academy entered him.
For a while, everything remained calm.
Then warmth bloomed in his chest.
Yao Chen opened his eyes.
A tiny golden spark appeared above his palm.
It was no larger than a candle flame, but the moment it came into being, the room changed. The air grew still. Dust motes floating in the sunlight stopped drifting. The academy formation lines hidden beneath the floor seemed to pause, as if something ancient had entered a room too small to hold it.
The flame flickered gently. Its light was soft, almost kind, yet Yao Chen felt an immense weight behind it.
Before he could react, images flooded his mind.
Ancient furnaces buried beneath mountains. Alchemists in robes older than kingdoms refining pills under star-filled skies. Medicinal flames shifting color with a single breath. Herbs blooming in sealed valleys where time moved differently. Pills that could heal shattered meridians, calm broken souls, repair ruined dantians, and pull dying cultivators back from the edge of death. Names, formulas, heat patterns, furnace rhythms, flame-control techniques, and medicine theories poured through his consciousness like a river breaking through cracked stone.
Yao Chen clenched his fist.
The flame vanished.
He sat there breathing harder than before, staring at his closed hand. "Why do I know these things?"
The room gave no answer. Only the warmth remained, faint but undeniable.
Before he could think further, his door burst open with a bang.
"Chen!"
Lin Xiao rushed inside with the confidence of someone who believed knocking was a delay invented by boring people. His hair was messy, his eyes bright, and his robe only half-straightened.
Yao Chen looked at the door, then at him. "Do academy rules allow this?"
"Probably not," Lin Xiao said. "But rules are most dangerous when remembered too early. Why are you still sitting here?"
"I was cultivating."
"That is what everyone says when they are late."
"Late for what?"
Lin Xiao stared at him as if he had confessed to forgetting how to breathe. "The Alchemy Pavilion is holding its first examination today. If we pass, we can become official academy alchemists."
Yao Chen stood slowly. "You want to become an alchemist?"
"I want status, resources, personal safety, and the ability to say mysterious things while holding expensive pills. Alchemy provides many paths."
"That is not a medical reason."
"It is still a reason."
Huo Yuan was waiting outside the residence, arms folded, expression calm. "The test begins soon."
Lin Xiao pointed at him. "See? Even Brother Huo is urgent."
"I am not urgent," Huo Yuan said. "I am punctual."
"That is urgency with better posture."
By the time they reached the Alchemy Pavilion, many disciples had already gathered. The pavilion stood on one of the higher floating islands, a vast circular hall built from red stone and dark wood. Hundreds of furnaces lined the floor, each engraved with heat-control formations. The air smelled of herbs, smoke, and spiritual fire. Disciples whispered nervously, some trying to look calm, others already regretting their ambition.
At the center stood an elderly man in crimson robes.
His hair was white, his back straight, and his eyes sharp enough to cut through noise. The hall fell silent the moment his gaze moved across it.
"I am Elder Gu," he said. "Master of the Alchemy Pavilion."
His voice was calm, but no one dared ignore it.
"Alchemy is not the art of making pills. That is only its surface. Alchemy is the art of understanding transformation. A leaf becomes essence. Essence becomes medicine. Medicine enters the body and becomes life, strength, or poison, depending on the one who refined it. A careless alchemist wastes herbs. A foolish alchemist destroys furnaces. A dangerous alchemist kills people while believing he is saving them."
Some disciples swallowed.
Elder Gu raised one hand. "Before you touch medicine, prove that you can control fire."
The first test began.
Disciples stepped forward one by one. Some produced weak flames that shook violently. Some failed completely. A few revealed decent talent and earned approving nods from nearby students. One proud clan youth summoned a green flame that impressed the crowd until it spat sparks into his sleeve and forced him to slap himself in panic.
Lin Xiao immediately brightened. "Good. The competition is emotional."
When his turn came, he stepped forward with great confidence. He lifted his palm, and an orange flame burst to life. It was bright and energetic, though unstable enough to worry anyone standing too close.
Several disciples nodded.
"Fire attribute."
"Not bad."
Elder Gu looked at the flame for a breath. "Strong, but impatient. Like its owner."
Lin Xiao returned proudly. "He saw my strength."
Huo Yuan glanced at him. "He called you impatient."
"Great strength is often misunderstood."
Huo Yuan went next. He extended his hand, and a blue-white flame appeared above his palm. Unlike Lin Xiao's, his fire did not jump or flare. It burned quietly, controlled and deep. Elder Gu's expression softened slightly.
"Stable. You have practiced."
Huo Yuan bowed once and returned.
Then it was Yao Chen's turn.
The hall watched him step forward. By now, rumors had already begun moving through the new disciples. Silver hair. Stage Three. Crystal pillar shaking. Late arrival. Cloud-Locking Steps. Some were curious. Some dismissive. Mo Tianyu, standing near the back of the hall, watched without speaking. He had come not because he cared for alchemy, but because talented people often revealed themselves in places they thought were secondary.
Yao Chen raised his hand.
For several breaths, nothing happened.
Then a tiny golden flame appeared above his palm.
It looked small. Almost unimpressive. Yet the moment it came into being, several nearby furnaces trembled. Their internal flames bent toward Yao Chen's palm as if greeting something above them. The reaction lasted less than a blink, but Elder Gu saw it clearly.
His eyes narrowed.
Yao Chen felt the old knowledge surge again. Flame temperature, herb structures, furnace breathing, impurity separation, pill condensation. Methods far beyond a beginner trial rose in his mind naturally, as if someone had opened a library whose shelves stretched into darkness.
He suppressed it at once.
The golden flame steadied.
Elder Gu stared at it. "Interesting."
Yao Chen lowered his hand and stepped back calmly.
Inside, his thoughts were not calm at all.
This flame cannot be shown too much.
After the flame test ended, assistants distributed herbs. Elder Gu's sleeve moved, and the furnaces lit in sequence.
"You will refine a Spirit Recovery Pill," he announced. "It is a basic pill used to restore spiritual energy. If you succeed, you earn the title of One-Star Alchemist. If you fail, learn why. Failure that teaches is still medicine."
The hall erupted into activity.
Almost immediately, chaos arrived.
Some disciples burned their herbs within seconds. Others used too little heat, leaving the medicinal essence trapped inside the leaves. One furnace coughed out black smoke so thick that three nearby disciples fled. Another shook violently until an assistant sealed it before it exploded.
Lin Xiao stared into his own furnace with horror. "Why does it hate me? I praised it before starting."
Huo Yuan sat before his furnace with focused eyes. His control was steady but slow. He clearly had not refined many pills before, but his patience prevented disaster.
Yao Chen sat before his furnace in silence.
The herbs were simple.
Too simple.
In his mind, the entire process unfolded perfectly. First warm the furnace to open the pores of the Three-Leaf Spirit Grass. Lower heat before adding Moon Root powder. Separate excess moisture. Fuse with gentle pressure. Condense in three breaths. Cool in one. He knew ten ways to refine the pill, three ways to improve it, and one method to turn the basic formula into something no beginner should know.
That was exactly why he could not do it.
Yao Chen released only a thin thread of golden flame. The furnace responded too quickly, its runes brightening beyond what a beginner should cause. He weakened the flame at once, then deliberately slowed his movement. He let the first herb lose some essence. He allowed the second to almost overheat before correcting it. He left impurities that he could have removed with ease. He made his hands careful, but not perfect.
Even so, the herbs obeyed him.
The furnace rhythm adjusted to his breathing. The medicinal liquid fused without resistance. The pill core formed as if it had been waiting for him to remember how.
After some time, a soft glow appeared inside the furnace.
Yao Chen withdrew his hand.
Elder Gu walked over and opened the lid.
A small round pill rested inside. It was not dazzling. It carried no heavenly fragrance. At first glance, it seemed like an ordinary successful Spirit Recovery Pill.
But Elder Gu's gaze sharpened.
"Success," he said aloud. "Yao Chen has refined a Spirit Recovery Pill. From today onward, he is a One-Star Alchemist."
Lin Xiao, whose furnace had produced something black and stubborn, cheered louder than anyone. "Chen! You actually did it!"
Yao Chen smiled faintly. "I was fortunate."
Elder Gu looked at him.
Fortunate.
The word almost made the old man laugh.
After the trial ended, disciples left the pavilion in waves. Those who succeeded walked with bright faces. Those who failed looked embarrassed or bitter. Lin Xiao insisted his furnace had sabotaged him. Huo Yuan, whose pill had formed but lacked stability, accepted failure without complaint.
Yao Chen walked with them, but his thoughts remained on the golden flame.
Inside the Alchemy Pavilion, Elder Gu remained alone. He picked up the pill Yao Chen had refined and studied it beneath furnace light. The pill appeared ordinary, yet its internal structure was too stable. The medicinal energy was compressed evenly. The impurities had been left in just enough quantity to make it seem average, but not enough to damage its effect.
That was not luck.
That was concealment.
Elder Gu placed the pill into a jade box and sealed it. Then he took out a communication slip and hesitated. Reporting a disciple too early could destroy trust. Ignoring a dangerous secret could destroy more. After a long moment, he wrote only one sentence.
The silver-haired disciple has awakened a flame that does not behave like fire.
He sent the slip toward the deepest tower.
Night came softly over Dao Realm Academy.
Most disciples returned to their rooms, but Yao Chen stood alone in a small courtyard near the Alchemy Pavilion. A golden flame hovered above his palm. During the examination, he had suppressed it. Now he allowed it to burn slightly stronger. The air warmed at once. Faint Dao patterns appeared inside the flame, forming and vanishing like tiny stars. They were too complex for him to understand, yet they felt familiar.
"Why does it feel like I have used you before?" he whispered.
The flame flickered.
For a brief instant, an ancient symbol appeared within it: a burning star surrounded by countless Dao patterns. The symbol pulsed once, and Yao Chen's heart beat with it.
Then a voice sounded in his mind.
Not yet.
Yao Chen's body stiffened.
The flame vanished.
The courtyard became silent.
He turned sharply, searching the shadows, but no one was there. Above him, the academy stars shone cold and distant.
Far above the clouds, a dark-robed figure watched from the sky, hidden behind a veil of night. In his hand was an ancient stone disk engraved with runes. The disk glowed faintly, its pointer fixed toward Dao Realm Academy.
"So it has awakened," the figure said.
His fingers closed around the disk.
"The Primordial Flame has appeared again."
For a moment, killing intent passed through the clouds like winter wind.
"Find the boy," he whispered.
Then his body vanished into darkness.
Back in the courtyard, Yao Chen looked toward the stars. He could not see the watcher. He could not hear the order given in the night. Yet uneasiness entered his heart, as if something ancient and dangerous had turned toward him.
In his palm, the warmth of the vanished flame remained.
And deep within him, something waited.