The Fireveil Expanse greeted them with a sky ablaze—an endless dome of molten clouds and golden lightning that danced like dragons across the horizon. Beneath, crimson sand dunes rolled like tides of flame, and obsidian ruins pierced the land like the bones of giants long perished. It was a place of fire, of wrath, and of ancient war.
As Lin Sheng and his companions stepped off their skyship and onto the scorched surface, the air shimmered around them. Protective arrays activated immediately to keep them from combusting. Even then, the heat bit at their skin and dulled their breath.
"This land burns with more than flame," Fei'er murmured. "It's hate… buried in the ashes."
The Fireveil Expanse had once been the seat of the Emberlight Court, a celestial order that governed fire cultivation arts before the Age of Sundering. After the court fell to betrayal and civil war, their realm was sealed, left to rage in its own flames.
According to Lin Sheng's system, the next Guardian slept beneath Mount Vehr'Zhan—the court's former seat of power.
[Aeonic Accord Path Update: Location Confirmed. Guardian: Aelther, the Emberlight Blade.]
[Warning: Local Hostilities Detected. Flame Tribes in Uprising. Sovereign Agents Suspected.]
As they made their way toward the mountain, they found themselves passing through ghost towns scorched beyond recognition. Occasionally, flickers of memory played out in the fire—forged soldiers marching to their doom, phoenixes descending in flame, and a crimson-robed figure wielding twin blades of searing light.
It was Aelther.
They reached the mountain's base just as the sun dipped behind the burning clouds, casting the entire world into a twilight of fire and smoke. But before they could climb, they were intercepted.
A host of flame-wielding cultivators rose from the sands, clad in armor that shimmered like molten gold. At their center stood a tall woman, her eyes glowing with red sigils and her voice like thunder in a forge.
"I am Commander Zura of the Flame Tribes. Who trespasses in the land of the dead?"
Lin Sheng stepped forward. "I am Lin Sheng, disciple of the Aeonic Accord. We seek Aelther."
Zura narrowed her gaze. "Many have come seeking the Blade. All have burned."
Fei'er tilted her head. "Then maybe it's time someone survived."
A flicker of amusement crossed Zura's face. "We shall see."
She raised her hand, and the ground exploded beneath them. Fire trials had begun.
Each member of the group was separated into a trial zone forged from their own fears and inner fire. Mira found herself reliving the day her clan was slaughtered by flame demons. Jin Rui battled an endless army of himself, each one corrupted by rage. Fei'er stood before an inferno that whispered all the truths she never dared to face.
Lin Sheng found himself in the ruins of Earth, his home planet—a burning metropolis where the sky bled orange and the buildings collapsed into themselves. Standing atop a ruined skyscraper was a version of himself clad in sovereign robes, holding the Flame Sigil.
"You are not ready," the doppelgänger said.
"I wasn't. But I am now."
The two clashed in a flurry of fire and storm, each blow rewriting the battlefield. Lin Sheng called upon both his elemental cores, fusing Sovereign Flame and Stormbearer's Wrath.
His system buzzed.
[New Skill Acquired: Emberstorm Requiem]
With a final strike, he shattered the illusion.
They awoke atop the mountain, each changed by their trial.
Zura stood before them again, and this time, she bowed. "You have passed. Come—Aelther awaits."
They descended into the volcanic depths of Vehr'Zhan, crossing molten bridges and firelit cathedrals. In the heart of the mountain stood a blade pierced into a pedestal of obsidian. It pulsed with power—ancient, furious, and pure.
As Lin Sheng approached, the air stilled.
A voice spoke—not aloud, but in his very soul.
"You carry the fire of creation and the lightning of judgment. Why do you seek me?"
"Aelther," Lin Sheng replied. "The Sovereign returns. The Accord must be whole."
"You burn, mortal. But do you endure?"
The blade flew from the pedestal and clashed against Lin Sheng's will.
He screamed. Fire entered his soul, tested every boundary, and sought every weakness. The pain was unimaginable.
But he did not break.
He remembered Earth. His family. His fall and rise. The comrades who now stood by him.
And he endured.
With a final burst of flame, the blade shattered—and reformed in his hand as a longsword of radiant embersteel.
[System Update: Aeonic Guardian Aelther Awakened. Emberlight Pact Formed.]
Zura knelt. "You are worthy."
Outside, the skies began to change. The fires above parted, revealing the first stars in the Fireveil in ten thousand years.
Lin Sheng looked ahead. "The Sovereign will feel this awakening. We move now—north, to the Iron Wastes. The last Guardian stirs."
The final path had begun.
To be continued in Chapter Twenty-One – "Forge of the Forgotten King"