The stairs beneath Lin Ho's feet descended into the heart of the lotus-shaped ruin. Each step seemed to stretch reality — time slowed, sounds grew distant, and the weight of existence pressed in from all sides.
By the time he reached the bottom, it no longer felt like he stood within a secret realm. It felt older… more primal. A place built before the known cultivation paths were carved into heaven and earth.
The chamber opened into a circular hall. Golden-black flames danced atop braziers arranged in a perfect spiral, each one reflecting an era long forgotten.
At the center sat a massive stone tablet — blank, but somehow oppressive.
As Lin Ho approached, the tablet shuddered.
> "Primal blood… chaos awakened…"
The voice came not from any single direction. It came from the stone itself — as if echoing through time.
Suddenly, the flames leapt high. Each fire split into spectral figures, replaying fragmented scenes:
A figure cloaked in shadow slaying a sky-devouring beast with a single finger.
Stars collapsing around a floating throne.
Ancient cultivators kneeling before a horned being wreathed in chaotic light.
Lin Ho's heart pounded.
> "These memories… they don't belong to me."
> "And yet… they are yours," the voice intoned.
The stone tablet flared with golden-black light. Strange markings emerged — part formation, part script, completely alien.
> "If you are his heir… prove it."
A pillar of light engulfed Lin Ho, and the chamber transformed.
---
Trial Space – The First Flame
Lin Ho found himself suspended in a vast void. Before him burned a single flame — larger than a mountain, but flickering with uncertainty.
> "This is the First Flame… the origin of cultivation itself," the voice whispered. "Only those who can withstand its truth may command it."
The fire surged forward — not physically, but spiritually. It crashed into Lin Ho's soul, probing, testing.
Pain.
Memories not his own flooded in:
A world devoured by silence.
A betrayal that shook the stars.
A war against something that could not die.
Lin Ho gritted his teeth.
> "I am not him… but I will carry what he left behind."
His Chaos Qi surged on instinct. Unlike other forms of energy, it did not resist the flame — it wrapped around it, absorbed it, transformed with it.
The First Flame pulsed, then settled.
The trial had accepted him.
A brand appeared on his right palm — a spiraling flame mark encased in chaos.
---
Outside the Trial Space
The stone tablet's runes faded. The fire dimmed.
In the real world, the Sect's grand formation trembled for a moment. Elders looked to the portal with narrowed eyes.
> "Someone just awakened an inheritance that doesn't belong to this realm," one elder muttered.
> "Was it… him?"
---
Within the Realm
Lin Ho sat cross-legged inside the temple, the flame mark still glowing faintly.
> "First Flame… one of nine. What were you preparing me for?"
Silence answered.
But deep within the ancient ruins, another door opened — one that only the child of chaos could enter.
---
End of Chapter 68