It burns...
His internal organs, engulfed in fire.
Lin Xiao felt his body growing hotter by the second.
His once-fair skin had turned the bright red of a boiled shrimp.
The evil fire had reached a critical point.
If it continued any further—
What awaited Lin Xiao was spontaneous combustion, reduced to ash.
Or worse, before he could even burn, the fire-poison would ravage his body and make him explode from within.
"I don't want to die…"
Lin Xiao's consciousness was already starting to fade.
But his fierce will to survive forced him to bite his tongue sharply, keeping himself from passing out.
He might be a man of principle—
But that didn't mean he was ready to die.
In a daze,
A distant memory surfaced—
The mantra of the Heart of Ice Technique from his past life.
"With a heart as clear as ice, the sky collapsing brings no fear.
Amid endless change, remain calm, mind and breath still..."
Clinging to the faintest hope, Lin Xiao began to silently recite the chant.
And before long, he truly felt a sliver of coolness arise from deep within.
Under the technique's suppression, the evil fire in his body seemed to subside slightly.
But the calm didn't last!
Soon came a vicious backlash!
Gasping for breath, Lin Xiao stumbled to his feet and scooped a large ladle of water from a barrel. Without hesitation, he gulped it down.
His body was severely dehydrated—
If he didn't replenish his fluids, he would die from exhaustion even before the evil fire consumed him.
Swaying back to his mat, Lin Xiao forced himself to sit cross-legged in the traditional Taoist meditation posture he had once seen in his previous life.
He resumed the mantra:
"Let the heart be unburdened, the mind free of clinging.
Release the spirit, forget the soul.
As water flows undisturbed, as clouds drift unhurried.
A heart empty of attachments, free through the ages."
In a blurry haze, Lin Xiao drifted off into unconsciousness.
The next morning.
Outside the hut, voices could be heard.
"Teacher, if Lin Xiao refuses to release the evil fire no matter what, why should we keep bothering with him?"
"He's going on about 'better to die as jade than live as tile'—what, is he the only one with integrity? Makes it sound like I'm filthy or something. I didn't have a choice either, okay…"
Flender gave Ma Hongjun a side glance.
This disciple of his...
Last night, after taking him to the brothel to relieve the fire—even though Flender hadn't watched, the sounds coming from the room were enough to imagine the scene.
The evil fire had clearly been expelled.
Yet Hongjun still seemed reluctant to leave the brothel women behind.
To be honest, Flender felt a little disappointed.
Lin Xiao had made quite an impression on him. Even though he'd been angry the night before, deep down Flender admired the boy.
His dream was to build the best academy on the continent—
And with a student like Lin Xiao, how could other schools compete?
With that thought, Flender pushed open the broken wooden door.
As soon as he stepped inside, his expression changed.
Lin Xiao lay on the straw mat, deathly pale, unmoving. The air carried the faint scent of ash. Even the mat itself smelled lightly scorched.
Could it be—the evil fire had exploded last night?!
Flender rushed forward to check his condition—
But just then, a strange, demonic flame appeared out of thin air and shot toward him!
Such terrifying heat—
It felt as if space itself were warping.
"Spirit Possession: Owlcat!"
Flender's seven spirit rings appeared behind him—revealing his strength as a Spirit Sage. Using his soul power, he tried to extinguish the flame.
But as soon as his energy touched the fire, it flared up like dry kindling, burning even more fiercely.
Flender was shaken.
They're both Evil Fire Phoenix spirits—why is Lin Xiao's flame so different from Ma Hongjun's?!
"Fourth Spirit Skill: Wind Blade Slash!"
With a wave of his hand, Flender summoned a dozen wind blades, slicing the demonic flame apart until it was extinguished.
Ma Hongjun stood frozen in disbelief.
Why does Lin Xiao's evil fire feel so different from mine?
Lin Xiao stirred, slowly waking.
Flender frowned.
"Your evil fire erupted last night?"
Lin Xiao nodded.
Now Flender was truly shocked.
"Your evil fire erupted—and you're still alive?"
Rubbing his temples with a tired expression, Lin Xiao muttered:
"Just a stroke of luck."
Flender snapped coldly:
"But even if you survived this time, what about the next?!"
"You're suppressing the evil fire by force, but that doesn't make it weaker—it grows stronger every time it's pushed down!"
"Can you guarantee you'll be lucky every time?"
You might dodge the first, but you won't dodge the fifteenth.
If Lin Xiao didn't expel the evil fire, death was inevitable.
As long as his martial soul remained flawed, the evil fire would endlessly accumulate. And in the future, it would evolve even further—
The outbursts would become more destructive each time.
This was why Lin Xiao's flames were so much stronger and more chaotic than Ma Hongjun's—aside from his higher innate soul power.
Ma Hongjun vented his fire at regular intervals.
But Lin Xiao stubbornly let it build up—
And the more it built, the more monstrous it became.
Lin Xiao said nothing.
He wasn't blind to reason—he had always been looking for a solution.
The Heart of Ice Technique could suppress the fire for now,
But one day, the fire would become too strong even for that.
If he wanted a true cure…
He needed an immortal herb.
"In a few days, I'm leaving."
Lin Xiao suddenly spoke.
Flender looked surprised.
"Leaving? You're not even a full soul master yet. You've only just awakened your martial soul—where could you possibly go?"
Lin Xiao didn't answer truthfully.
"I want to travel... see more of the world."
Truth be told, Lin Xiao didn't know much about the real Douluo Continent.
He'd read the novel in his previous life—
But only by living here did he realize how different reality was from fiction.
The people he encountered weren't just names on a page—they were real, with blood and breath.
In a novel, life-and-death moments are brushed over with a few lines.
But now that Lin Xiao had lived through one—
It felt like lifetimes had passed.
Flender muttered in confusion:
"Taking one last look at the world before death…"
"What a pity. Your life is just beginning. This world is far more vibrant than you imagine—yet you choose a path toward destruction."
"Is it really worth it?"
Even Flender couldn't help but feel a deep sorrow.
Why does it have to be this way?
A boy so young—yet so unbearably stubborn!
But Lin Xiao just smiled.
And in that smile, some of the pallor left his face.
His crimson hair was slightly disheveled,
But his delicate features had taken on the early outlines of handsomeness, and his eyes burned with a resolve far beyond his years.
He raised a finger, pointing to a spot beyond the moss-covered threshold of the broken hut.
There, a cluster of wild chrysanthemums stood proud and tall.
"Better to die clutching fragrance upon the branch,
Than be scattered by the northern wind."
Lin Xiao murmured softly.
Flender gave up all hope.
He sighed deeply and left with Ma Hongjun.
Inside, his heart echoed with a single lament:
What a shame. What a shame...