The Sun-Pepper Root tasted like lightning and ash.
Zhou Kai sat cross-legged in the center of the abandoned smithy. Ling Yue had drawn a containment circle around him in salt and powdered iron. "This will keep the energy from leaking out and alerting every elder on the mountain," she'd said. "But it won't keep you from burning up from the inside."
He chewed the root. It ignited in his stomach.
Heat flooded his meridians. Not the gentle warmth of cultivation. A raging river of fire. His skin flushed red. Sweat evaporated before it could form, leaving his skin dry and hot.
[Ingested Sun-Pepper Root (mature).]
[Qi circulation multiplier: x4.]
[Duration: 2 hours.]
[Side effects: Meridian stress, emotional volatility, sensory amplification.]
[Warning: Core instability likely.]
"Breathe through it," Ling Yue instructed from outside the circle, her voice calm. "Guide the heat. Don't let it guide you."
Zhou Kai tried. He focused on the coiled fire shape inside him. It was stirring, awakened by the inferno in his veins. It was eager. Hungry.
He fed it his rage.
Not the petty anger at bullies. The deeper fury. The injustice of being branded useless. The constant fear of discovery. The weight of six silent lives depending on his secrecy. The heat had a direction now. A purpose.
His Qi surged. Stage 24. Then 25.
The air around him shimmered. The salt circle glowed orange. Ling Yue took a step back, shielding her eyes.
"It's working," she said. "But it's too fast. Your core can't stabilize at this rate."
Zhou Kai gritted his teeth. He could feel his spiritual foundation cracking under the pressure. The fire didn't care. It wanted out.
He thought of Hong. Of the crate from the Earth-Shatter Sect. Of poison in a cup. His fury found a perfect target.
Stage 26.
A spark jumped from his shoulder to the anvil nearby. It left a black mark.
"Zhou Kai, you're leaking!" Ling Yue's voice was tight. "Reinforce your spiritual skin. Now!"
He tried. But the fire was a living thing now. It had its own will. It wanted to meet the world.
He remembered Elder Mu's words: Fire is the hardest blade to control. Because it wants to be free.
Maybe control was the wrong approach.
He stopped fighting it. He opened the gates.
[Emotional resonance peak achieved.]
[Core concept grasped: Fire must be given a channel, not a cage.]
[Qi Condensation Stage: 27.]
[Remaining to requirement: 3 stages.]
The heat in the smithy became intense. The rust on the tools flaked away, revealing bright metal. Ling Yue's containment circle began to smoke. The salt lines turned black.
"Zhou Kai!" she shouted.
He opened his eyes. They glowed like banked coals. "It's okay," he said, his voice rough, smoky. "I'm not losing control. I'm… directing the overflow."
He raised a hand. A small, perfect flame danced on his palm. It wasn't orange. It was void-purple at its heart, wrapped in white heat. It didn't burn his skin. It rested there, obedient.
He closed his fist. The flame vanished.
The raging river inside him calmed, settling into a powerful, contained furnace. The spiritual cracks didn't heal, but they stopped spreading. He had reached an equilibrium. Precarious, but real.
[Stage 28 achieved.]
[Stage 29 achieved.]
[Fire Blade resonance: 91%.]
[Void Resonance Trial unlocked: Ready.]
[Time until tournament: 14 hours.]
He had the stages. But the trial would take time he didn't have. And it would leave him drained.
He looked at Ling Yue. "I can't do the trial before the fight. I'll have to go in with just the resonance. With the heat. Without the Blade."
She studied him, her healer's eyes missing nothing. "You're a walking forge right now. Your Qi is unstable but powerful. It might be enough." She paused. "But Hong won't fight fair. That crate…"
"I know."
"Be ready for anything."
The semi-final ring was packed. This wasn't just a tournament match anymore. It was a grudge fight. The mysterious attendant versus the brute with external backing. The air crackled with anticipation.
Hong entered first. He wore new bracers of dark metal etched with unfamiliar runes—Earth-Shatter Sect craftsmanship. They hummed with a low, tectonic power. In his hand was not a practice weapon, but a spiked maul that looked like it could shatter stone.
Elder Mu was overseeing again. His face was grim as he inspected Hong's gear. "Those are not sect-approved tournament implements."
"Family heirlooms, Elder," Hong said with a smirk. "Allowed by rule 7-C, regarding personal cultural artifacts."
Elder Mu's jaw tightened. The rule was obscure, but valid. He nodded reluctantly. "No lethal intent. The match ends at yield or incapacitation."
Hong's smile didn't reach his eyes. "Of course."
Zhou Kai entered. He felt the heat in his core like a second heart. The sheath hung at his hip. He had no external weapons. Just his empty hands and the clothes on his back.
They bowed. No courtesy. Just formality.
The flag dropped.
Hong didn't hesitate. He charged, maul swinging in a wide, devastating arc. The air screamed.
Zhou Kai didn't try to block. He ducked under the swing, feeling the wind of it tear at his hair. The maul struck the ring's stone edge. Chunks of rock exploded outward.
The crowd gasped.
Hong ripped his maul free and swung again. Backhand. Faster. Zhou Kai slid aside, but the spiked head grazed his ribs. A line of fire erupted across his side. Not just impact. The runes on the bracers flared, and the pain was amplified—spiritual and physical.
[External enchantment detected: Pain-link runes.]
[Effect: Physical damage causes proportional spiritual feedback.]
[Counter: Avoid all contact.]
Impossible. The ring was only fifty feet across. Hong was herding him, using wide swings to cut off space.
Zhou Kai needed to change the tempo.
He stopped retreating. As the next overhead smash came down, he stepped forward, inside the arc. He planted a palm on Hong's chest.
He didn't push. He released a pulse of raw, resonant heat.
Hong's robes over his heart turned black and smoldered. He grunted, stumbling back, more surprised than hurt. The heat hadn't penetrated the bracer's protection, but it had gotten his attention.
"A new trick," Hong growled. "But heat won't break stone."
He slammed his maul's handle into the ground. The runes on his bracers flashed yellow. A shockwave rippled through the stone of the ring, turning it momentarily liquid. Zhou Kai's feet sank an inch into suddenly-soft ground.
Hong yanked his weapon free and lunged, aiming for Zhou Kai's trapped legs.
Zhou Kai wrenched one foot free, but the other stayed stuck. He twisted, taking the maul's blow on the sheath.
CRACK.
The sound was different. Not the clean thump of a sword. The maul's spike bit into the leather. For the first time, the sheath's surface dented. A tiny fracture appeared in the void-buffer.
[Sheath integrity: 87%.]
[Structural stress detected.]
[Warning: Concentrated physical force bypassing void-dispersion.]
Hong saw it. He grinned. "Not so tough." He raised the maul for another smash, aiming for the same spot.
Zhou Kai's trapped foot was burning from the residual heat of the softened stone. The pain-link runes made it feel like his bones were cracking.
He reached for the fire within. Not for an external flame. For the principle of expansion. For explosion.
He focused the heat into his trapped foot. Not to melt the stone—to superheat the air around it. To create pressure.
The stone around his boot flashed to glass, then exploded outward in a shower of sharp, hot fragments.
Hong flinched, raising an arm to protect his face. Zhou Kai ripped his foot free, bleeding but mobile.
He didn't retreat. He pressed.
He couldn't match Hong's strength. But he didn't have to. He just had to make Hong's strength a liability.
He darted in, avoiding the maul's head, and slammed the heel of his hand into Hong's elbow joint. A precise strike, fueled by fire-quickened reflexes. Hong's arm numbed. The maul dipped.
Zhou Kai grabbed the maul's handle with both hands. He didn't try to take it. He poured heat into the metal.
The runes on the haft glowed red, then white. Hong screamed, his grip slipping—the metal was heating faster than his bracers could negate. He let go, stumbling back, his palms blistered.
The maul clattered to the ground, glowing cherry-red.
The crowd was on its feet. This wasn't defense. This was aggression.
Hong looked from his blistered hands to the discarded weapon. Rage overtook his pain. "You think that's enough?" He raised his bracer-clad arms and slammed them together.
The runes flashed a deep, ugly brown.
[Earth-Shatter Sect technique detected: Seismic Concussion.]
[Area effect. Unavoidable in ring.]
[Counter: Grounding or dispersion required.]
A visible wave of distorted air shot out from Hong in all directions. It wasn't aimed. It filled the ring. The stone floor rippled like water.
Zhou Kai couldn't dodge. He took the full force in the chest.
It felt like the mountain had fallen on him. His ribs creaked. His ears roared. He was thrown backward, skidding across the stone, coming to rest at the very edge of the ring. Blood trickled from his nose and ears.
His vision swam. The fire inside him guttered.
Hong strode forward, pulling a short, jagged dagger from his boot. It glistened with a green film. "Yield," Hong spat. "Or I'll make sure you never cultivate again."
Poison. Again.
Zhou Kai pushed himself up on trembling arms. The world tilted. He saw Elder Mu, tense, ready to intervene. But the rule was clear: only if lethal intent was undeniable. A poisoned blade to a non-vital area… could be argued as "incapacitation."
He was out of options. Out of space. Out of clever tricks.
He had only one thing left. The thing he'd been saving. The thing he was afraid of.
He reached into the void-pocket of his sheath. Not for the stored toxin. For the connection to the sleeping Fire Blade. The resonance was at 91%. The trial was waiting.
He didn't have time for the trial. So he'd do it the hard way. He'd force the forge. Here. Now.
He poured every ounce of his remaining Qi, his pain, his fury, his desperate need to protect himself, into the coiled fire shape.
[Attempting forced forge: Fire Blade.]
[Without Void Resonance Trial: Success rate 34%.]
[Risks: Spiritual backlash, permanent damage, blade instability.]
[Proceed?]
Yes.
He didn't have a choice.
He pulled the fire shape from his soul and thrust it into the physical world.
The air in front of him tore.
Not a shimmer. A rip. A wound of pure heat and light. From it stepped a figure.
Fire was not like Stone or Water. It didn't coalesce calmly. It erupted.
It was a silhouette of raging flame, constantly shifting, never settling into a single form. Its outline wavered between a man and a bonfire. Its "face" was a mask of dancing orange and void-purple flame. In its hands, it held no tool. Just two swirling vortexes of concentrated fire.
It didn't look at Zhou Kai. It looked at Hong.
The crowd's noise died. Complete, stunned silence.
Hong froze, dagger half-raised. "What… what is that?"
[Third Forge Complete.]
[Blade: Fire. Manifested.]
[Sheath Capacity: 3/7.]
[Synergy Unlocked: Thermal Dominion. Emotional Resonance Scan.]
[Warning: Forge unstable. Blade obedience: conditional. Duration limited.]
Fire took a step toward Hong. The stone beneath its feet turned to glass.
Hong panicked. He threw the poisoned dagger.
Fire didn't dodge. It caught the dagger in a swirl of flame. The metal melted in mid-air. The poison vaporized with a hiss.
Hong stumbled back, hitting the ring's boundary. "Monster! Elder, stop it!"
Elder Mu was pale, but he didn't move. The Blade had emerged from Zhou Kai's symbol. By the tournament's loose rules, it was part of his "ability."
Fire reached Hong. It didn't strike him. It simply wrapped him in a cage of shimmering heat. Not burning. Containing. The air inside the cage grew instantly, unbearably hot. Hong screamed, not from burns, from the sensation of being baked alive.
"Yield," Zhou Kai commanded, his voice raw.
Hong couldn't speak. He nodded frantically, tears evaporating on his cheeks.
Zhou Kai willed Fire to stop.
The heat cage vanished. Hong collapsed, gasping, his skin red and parched but unburned.
Fire turned its flaming gaze to Zhou Kai. For a second, Zhou Kai felt its will—a wild, joyful desire to keep burning, to turn the entire arena to ash. He pushed back with his own will, the sheath's authority.
Return.
Fire hesitated. Then, with what felt like a sigh of embers, it dissolved into a stream of sparks and flowed back into the sheath.
The sheath glowed red-hot for a moment, then cooled.
[Blade sheathed.]
[Stability: precarious.]
[Zhou Kai spiritual reserves: 4%.]
[Physical condition: critical.]
[Victory confirmed.]
Elder Mu stepped into the ring. He looked at the glassed footprints. At the terrified Hong. At Zhou Kai, who was swaying on his feet.
"Winner," Elder Mu announced, his voice hollow. "Zhou Kai."
No cheers this time. Just whispers. Fear.
Zhou Kai turned to leave. His legs gave out.
Ling Yue was there before he hit the ground, catching him. She and another healer half-carried him from the ring.
As they passed the crowd, he saw Dao Feng. The Sword-Scribe wasn't watching Zhou Kai. He was staring at the spot where Fire had stood. His face was not afraid. It was full of a profound, terrifying understanding.
In the infirmary, the healers worked quietly. They treated his cracked ribs, the cuts, the burns on his foot. They couldn't treat the spiritual emptiness.
Ling Yue stayed after they left. She placed a cool cloth on his forehead.
"You forced it," she said.
"I had to."
"I know." She sat beside his cot. "The entire sect is talking. They're calling it a 'combat construct.' A 'spirit of vengeance.' The elders are in emergency session."
"Elder Mu?"
"He's defending you. But the Earth-Shatter Sect envoy has arrived. They're demanding an investigation. They claim Hong was attacked by a forbidden demonic technique." She met his eyes. "They're not entirely wrong."
"It's not demonic."
"I know. But it's not anything they recognize." She squeezed his hand. "You have one day before the finals. Your opponent will be the winner of the other semi-final. It's Dao Feng."
Of course it was.
"He saw," Zhou Kai said.
"He saw everything. And I think… he understands more than anyone." She stood. "Rest. I'll bring you food. You need to recover what you can."
She left.
Zhou Kai lay in the dim room. He touched the sheath, now cool on the bedside table. Inside, three Blades rested. Stone. Water. Fire.
Fire was restless. Unhappy. It wanted to be free. It was a blade forged in desperation, and it knew it.
[Post-combat analysis.]
[Forced forge side-effect: Fire Blade loyalty requires periodic release. Suppression may lead to internal backlash.]
[Recommendation: Designate controlled burn activities.]
He had a day to recover. To try and bond with the unstable fire in his soul. To prepare for Dao Feng, who had seen all three Blades in action now.
And to face the elders, who were deciding if he was a treasure or a threat to be locked away.
He closed his eyes. In the darkness, he felt the heat of Fire, the flow of Water, the patience of Stone.
Three down.
Three to go.
And a sword-scribe waiting to ask the final question.