The days following the great battle felt quieter for Xiao Yan. The silence that enveloped his life after many years of constant battles and a long journey to the peak made him feel as if something was missing. Even though he had mastered the legendary flame and defeated his enemies, an emptiness lingered, as though something far greater was waiting to be revealed.
That morning, as the first rays of sunlight touched the Yun Mountain, Xiao Yan stood at the cliff's edge, feeling the cold wind blow. But something was off. The fire he had always controlled so easily began to blaze with an extraordinary intensity, as if it wanted to break free from his body.
"This is impossible..." Xiao Yan pondered, sensing something deep within himself. After years of training with the flame he had mastered, it had felt like it had become a part of him. But this time, the flame felt foreign and darker, as if it was more than just an energy he could control.
As he closed his eyes and focused, he heard a voice buried within his soul, a voice he had never heard before. The voice reminded him of a distant place, a place beyond the reach of ordinary humans—a world filled with darkness, known as the Realm of the Abyss.
Suddenly, his body jolted, and his body temperature spiked drastically, nearly unbearable. The fire flowing through his blood seemed to not only warm his body but also tear through his limits. Xiao Yan knelt, trying to stabilize his breathing, but the flame appeared to expand, overtaking him. The pain and overwhelming power nearly caused him to lose control.
"This... this is no ordinary flame," Xiao Yan rasped, struggling to make sense of the strange feeling overwhelming him. For the first time, he felt that the power of this fire was not merely a technique—it was something far greater, something that connected him to a deeper world. "What is happening to me?" he wondered.
Without warning, his body suddenly erupted with a massive surge of fiery power. However, despite the sensation that his body was nearly burning up, the fire did not consume him. Instead, the power emanating from within seemed to be more connected to a broader and darker world.
Xiao Yan knew this was the beginning of something monumental, something that would change everything. He had to find answers and uncover the origins of the power now burning inside him.