The quiet of Su Chen's courtyard was a welcome shift from the frenzied echoes of the trial grounds.
Even the birds seemed to avoid his presence now, as if sensing the storm that brewed within him.
He sat cross-legged beneath the old spirit tree—a gnarled relic once thought dead but now pulsing faintly with Qi, its brittle bark shedding sparks of green under the moonlight. Since awakening the Mirror of Origins, even the world around him had begun to change. The wind listened. The ground responded. Life itself bent subtly in his favor.
It wasn't arrogance.
It was inevitability.
> [Flame Seed – Tier 1 Available]
A dormant spiritual flame. Integrating it will allow the cultivation of unique Legacy Techniques aligned to Flame Qi.
Warning: Will alter spiritual root structure.
Proceed with implantation?
Su Chen's eyes narrowed.
To most cultivators, tampering with one's spiritual roots was taboo—akin to reshaping the foundation of a tower after it had already been built.
But he wasn't like other cultivators.
He was a Resetter.
He drew a slow breath and whispered, "Begin."
The world dissolved into heat.
Not fire. Not pain. But something more primal. Essence. A flame that remembered its own birth, its own reason to burn.
It entered through his palm, threading into his meridians like molten silk. It flowed downward, toward his Qi Sea, where his spiritual root floated—an ethereal white lotus blooming in a lake of golden light.
The Flame Seed hovered beside it for a heartbeat.
Then it plunged in.
Agony surged—not through flesh, but through soul. His root convulsed as violet fire engulfed it, searing and reshaping each delicate strand.
His breath caught.
Then—
> [Integration Complete]
You have awakened: Violet Ember Lotus Root (Rare)
+25% Flame Qi control
Unlocks unique Flame-based Legacy Path
Su Chen's eyes snapped open.
The courtyard looked the same, but everything had changed. The air shimmered faintly around him, like heat haze above desert sand.
He raised a hand.
A single flicker of violet flame danced on his fingertip—silent, controlled, obedient.
No chants. No talismans.
Just a thought.
Power answered.
His.
> [Legacy Path Unlocked]
Path Name: Lotus of the Void Flame
First Technique: Blooming Void Petal (Stage 1/5)
Type: Single-Target Flame Technique
Requirement: Practice to unlock next Petal Stage
Not a sect script. Not an inherited jade slip.
A technique that was his alone.
He stood slowly and extended his hand.
"Bloom."
A soundless burst of air followed as a lotus-shaped flame spun into being on his palm. It hovered for a moment—elegant, radiant, and deadly—then dispersed in a puff of sparks.
The grass beneath it had turned to ash.
Su Chen chuckled. "Not bad for a first bloom."
But across the courtyard wall, hidden among the trees, someone else watched.
A young woman in a Core Disciple's robe, her features hidden behind a silver fox mask. Her eyes gleamed through the slits—sharp, calculating.
She had sensed it the moment he returned from the trial.
Not just the flame.
The resonance.
He was different.
Too different.
She turned silently, leaping across rooftops like a whisper of wind.
"Su Chen," she murmured. "You weren't in any of the old prophecies. So why do you burn like someone fated to rewrite the sky?"
Later that night, Su Chen sat on the rooftop, gazing at the moon.
His body still vibrated with energy from the Flame Seed's integration. Though he remained at Qi Condensation 8th Layer, his effective strength now rivaled early Foundation Establishment cultivators.
But raw power wasn't enough.
He needed precision.
Control.
> [Side Quest Unlocked: Proving the Flame]
Objective: Defeat a Foundation Beast using only Blooming Void Petal.
Reward: Unlock 2nd Petal of Technique / +200 System Points
Su Chen's lips curved.
It was time to test what he had become.
And let others see.
Elsewhere in the sect, Ji Liang stood before an elder whose face was veiled in spiritual mist.
"She awakened?"
Ji Liang nodded. "He's attracting attention—too much of it. First the Mirror. Then the flame. Now… rumors of a Legacy Root."
The mist stirred.
"Then kill him before he grows further."
Ji Liang hesitated. "The inner rules—"
"Rules?" the voice snapped. "Did rules save him in his last life?"
Silence.
"Burn him out," the voice said. "Before the Resetter burns us all."