> [Emergency System Bulletin – Sovereign Flame Council]
📛 Alert: Ancient Sovereign Beast Signature Detected – Tier: Cataclysm Class (Unsealed)
Location: Flamecloud Province, Depth Sector Theta-17
Type: Undetermined Flame Variant – Primordial Affinity Confirmed
All Ranked Flameholders Requested for Deployment Authorization.
---
Council Call
Inside the Flame Council Hall, jade screens buzzed with flame signatures, movement reports, and power fluctuations. Headmistress Ye Qingmei stood before the gathered students and instructors.
> "It's confirmed. A Primordial Sovereign Beast has begun to awaken beneath the old Flamecloud Rift."
> "Before Long Chen, the Council sealed it. Before the Flamewheel fractured, it slept. Now… it stirs again."
She turned, gaze locking on Jiang Han.
> "We need fire that's burned across realms. We need those who've faced echoflames and shadow."
> "We need you."
---
Elite Joint Strike Team
Jiang Han stood among a gathering of elites:
Leng Qingyun, prodigy of the Snowheart Flame Sect, known for wielding Void-Ice flame and once rumored to have trained with Long Chen himself.
Wu Jian, a blunt-force war cultivator from Iron Heaven Academy, who bonded with a rare magma ox spirit.
Ni Lian, a calm-eyed girl with twin phoenix talismans and Sovereign Flame-reading ability.
And from Jiang Han's own academy: Bo Ren, Yue, Zhao Kai, and Tian Xue, all equipped and cleared for deployment.
> "Most of you don't know each other," Ye Qingmei said, "but if you fail to sync, this beast won't wait. It will rise."
> "And the last time it awoke, it killed five continents."
---
Mission Objective
> [Field Operation: Sovereign Seal Reinstatement – "The Flame Depths"]
Objective: Delay or suppress the Sovereign Beast until final sealing formation is activated.
Bonus Mission: Identify the cause of reawakening – records suggest interference from an unknown party calling themselves "The Ascenders."
Jiang raised a brow.
> "Ascenders?"
Leng Qingyun stepped forward.
> "They were Long Chen's enemies in the final years. Cultivators who believed mortal flame should be replaced with pure ascension energy."
Ni Lian added softly, "They're the ones who fractured the Flamewheel."
> "And they might be back."
---
Journey to the Depths
They traveled by sky-cutter and flame beacon gates to the crater basin of Flamecloud Province.
Once a volcanic wonder, it now burned cold—heat siphoned by something ancient.
The team moved into the crater's heart, weapons drawn.
Tempest coiled tighter around Jiang's wrist, sensing something wrong.
Yue whispered, "No birds. No insects. No heat."
Then the ground trembled.
> [Sovereign Signature Detected – Name: ??? – Origin: Pre-Flamewheel Collapse]
Power Level: Cataclysm (Unstable)
Status: Emerging. 83% Unsealed.
Zhao Kai muttered, "How do we stop something that's only 83% and already doing this?"
Jiang's flame flared in his chest.
> "The way Long Chen would've."
> "Together."