In the depths of the Huo Clan, located within the Crimson Blazing Mountains of the Mortal Kingdom of Crimson Fire, the air was heavy with suffocating tension. The main birthing hall, carved directly into black volcanic rock and reinforced with fire-qi containment formations, glowed with the reddish light of solidified lava crystals embedded in the walls. Incense made from flame herbs burned in bronze tripods, filling the room with a sharp, acrid aroma that was said to calm the mother's qi, but on that night, nothing seemed capable of soothing the storm that was coming.
Huo Yan, the matriarch of the Huo Clan's main branch and wife of the current Patriarch Huo Tian, lay upon a platform of heated red jade, her body drenched in sweat and trembling in pain. Her swollen belly, marked by pulsing veins of crimson qi, contracted violently. She was a talented cultivator at the peak of the Qi Condensation Stage (Level 12), known for her cold beauty and firm temperament. At twenty-eight years old, she had already given birth to two healthy sons: Huo Lei, the eldest at fourteen, and Huo Ming, the second son at nine. This would be her third.
"Push, Matriarch! The qi is becoming too unstable!" shouted the elderly midwife, an old woman at Level 9 of the Body Tempering Stage, whose hands glowed with gentle flames of control. Beside her, several low-level servant girls rushed back and forth with clean cloths, medicinal herbs, and bottles of qi-stabilizing pills.
Huo Yan bit her lower lip until it bled, her eyes squeezed shut in agony. "It hurts… as if something is burning from the inside out…" she whispered in a hoarse voice. Her husband, Patriarch Huo Tian, a broad-shouldered man in the early Foundation Establishment Stage, stood beside the platform with a tense expression. His large hands gripped the hilt of his flame-forged sword, but there was nothing he could do except watch.
Suddenly, a primal scream tore from Huo Yan's throat. Her womb contracted with inhuman force. A surge of pure qi exploded from her body, causing the containment formations around the platform to tremble violently. The flames of the incense were extinguished instantly, replaced by an oppressive, suffocating heat, as though the very air itself were melting.
"It… it's the baby!" cried the midwife, eyes wide with terror.
The cry of a newborn split the air—not the weak, shrill cry of an ordinary mortal infant, but a guttural sound, almost a low, hoarse roar, like magma bubbling in the deep earth. At that same instant, a blackish-red aura erupted from the tiny infant's body. It was pure lava qi—dense, viscous, and corrosive. Droplets of incandescent black liquid streaked with red veins seeped from the newborn's skin, burning through the cloth wrapped around him and leaving smoking marks on the jade platform.
The red jade, known for its resistance to fire, began to crack and slowly melt beneath contact with that strange lava.
Huo Tian took a step forward, his face pale. "What… what kind of constitution is this?!"
The elderly midwife stumbled backward in horror as the baby—a boy with pale skin, though faint blackish-red veins pulsed beneath the surface—opened his eyes for the first time. His eyes were not the common brown or red of the Huo Clan. They were a deep red, almost black, like pits of boiling magma. A tiny, almost imperceptible smile curved the infant's lips. It was not the innocent smile of a newborn. It was something predatory, as though he already sensed the world around him as something to be possessed or destroyed.
The servant girls screamed as the black lava began to drip across the floor, corroding the stone and releasing the imagined stench of sulfur and burnt flesh. One of the containment formations exploded with a loud crack, sending fragments of flaming qi across the hall.
Two clan elders, who had been meditating in adjacent chambers, burst into the birthing hall. Elder Huo Feng, at the early Nascent Soul Stage, and Elder Huo Ling, also at the early Nascent Soul Stage, had sensed the aura the moment they entered.
"A demonic omen…" Huo Feng murmured, his wrinkled face twisting into a mixture of shock and fear. He extended a hand, releasing his soul qi to suppress the spreading lava. The black lava resisted for a moment, as though it had a will of its own, before slowly retreating back into the baby's body. "This child… his qi is not the pure fire of our clan. It is something older, wilder. Corrosive. Devouring."
Elder Huo Ling stepped closer with caution, eyes narrowed. "Look at the sky."
Everyone looked up through the open ceiling of the birthing hall, which gave a view of the night sky above the Crimson Mountains. Dense black clouds were gathering rapidly, though there had been no sign of rain. At their center, a swirling vortex of crimson and black energy rotated slowly, like a demonic eye watching over the clan. A low rumble of thunder echoed—not from ordinary lightning, but carrying a crushing celestial pressure.
"A tribulation… but for a newborn?" Huo Tian whispered in disbelief. He stepped toward the platform and, with hesitation, lifted the child into his arms. The heat was intense, almost unbearable even for a Foundation Establishment cultivator like him. The baby's skin was hot as burning coals, yet it did not completely scorch him—as if Huo Tian were recognized as "father" by the child's very nature.
"He shall be called Huo Rong," the Patriarch declared in a firm voice, though his hand trembled slightly. "Molten Fire. Let his name reflect the constitution he carries."
Huo Yan, exhausted and still bleeding, raised her head with difficulty. Her eyes met those of her newborn son. For a moment, she felt a deep chill—not one of pure maternal love, but of instinctive fear mixed with a strange attraction. The baby stared back at her, those deep red eyes seeming to draw in her soul. A tear rolled down her face.
"He… he smiled at me," she murmured weakly. "As if he already knew… who he is."
The elderly midwife dropped to her knees, trembling. "Patriarch… this is no ordinary talent. His constitution may be a blessing for the clan… or a curse. I felt his qi devouring my own qi when I tried to assist in the birth. He is like a living flame that wants to consume everything."
Huo Feng, the eldest elder, crossed his arms, his face grim. "We will observe him carefully. If this is a rare innate constitution, we may be able to use it to strengthen the clan against the rival Yan Clan and the Shadow Flame Sect. But if it proves too demonic… we will have to take measures."
While the elders discussed in low voices, Huo Rong—still in his father's arms—let out a low sound, almost a gurgling laugh. A small bubble of black lava formed in the palm of his tiny hand and burst, releasing a wave of heat that sent the servant girls stumbling back in terror.
Deep within his newly formed mind, even without words or complex thoughts yet, Huo Rong felt only one pure and primal thing:
Pleasure.
The world was warm. The world was his to melt. And he already wanted more.
Above the Huo Clan, the vortex in the sky spun faster, as if the heavens themselves had sensed the birth of something that should not exist.