Chapter 10: A Flame That Remembers
Zhao Yuchen emerged from the hidden chamber with steps heavier than when he entered — not from fatigue, but from something deeper. A weight he now carried with him.
He didn't tell anyone what he saw.
Not the ancient memories.
Not the voice that spoke as if it came from Earth itself.
Some truths were too big for words.
The mansion above had shifted. Or maybe it was him. The walls felt narrower. The sky dome above District 7 felt more artificial than ever.
He had touched something real — and now, this world felt like a cage.
He went straight to his private training room and sat cross-legged.
The flame core newly awakened within him was unlike any standard cultivation source. It wasn't just energy — it was memory. A remembrance of what Earth once was. Of what humanity once stood for.
He breathed slowly.
One inhale.
One exhale.
The crimson-gold energy responded, forming delicate threads around him — flame threads that shimmered like stardust, moving with intelligence, like they remembered being alive.
> "Begin channeling… Emberwake Phase Two," he whispered.
The cultivation path he'd chosen — Flameborn — was now revealing itself layer by layer.
Pain laced his arms, but it was familiar now.
Growth, after all, was never painless.
His skin glowed faintly.
Veins began to shine — not blue like blood, but red like magma lines beneath a cracked world.
Each breath pulled more cosmic qi into him.
But something strange happened.
The fire within his dantian pulsed and released an echo — a ripple that spread out… and beyond. It touched something outside the mansion.
He opened his eyes.
> That wasn't supposed to happen.
Outside, far from the manor, across the glowing streets of District 7, deep inside a sealed observatory station — an ancient artifact flickered to life.
A silver orb. Marked with forgotten Earth runes.
It pulsed once, matching the rhythm of Yuchen's flame core.
A technician jumped up in shock.
> "What the—? That thing's been dormant for a thousand years!"
Alarms didn't go off — because the artifact wasn't tied to the system. It was older than the system.
But the surveillance logs activated silently.
Data streamed to hidden networks.
And far away, in the Central Sector, a pair of mechanical eyes opened.
A voice, cold and synthetic, whispered:
> "The Flameborn Line… has moved."
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Back in his chamber, Yuchen didn't know what he had triggered.
He only knew that something ancient within him had awakened… and the stars were starting to watch.