Back at Earthfire Pavilion in level eleven, Jared and Lindsay returned to the forbidden ground after the wedding. Deep within, living flames coalesced, and the fiery silhouette of Gerald floated into view—majestic, ancient, and unburned by his own heat.
Jared bowed low. “Great Elder Earthfire…” Gerald nodded, his gaze sweeping over the two of them with satisfaction. “Excellent… Your auras have merged and are now in harmony. It seems you have truly become cultivation partners.”
Color flared across Lindsay’s cheeks, and she dipped her head, shy as dawn. Jared met the praise without flinching. “It’s all thanks to you, Great Elder Earthfire. We are grateful for your help.”
“Well then, I suppose you can finally honor your promise to me, yes?” Lindsay blinked, puzzled, and turned to Jared. “Promise? What promise?”
Jared nodded calmly. “I promised to restore Great Elder Earthfire’s body. For that, Lindsay, I’ll need your help and also Mr. Vermilion’s…”
Lindsay inhaled, then gave a steady nod. “No problem!”
With that, Jared reached inside his travel-worn cloak and produced the Pentacarna Tower. The ancient tower drifted upward, weightless and unhurried, until it hovered above his open hand. A dusky, primordial aura spilled from its bronze tiers, curling through the air like mist clinging to forgotten ruins.
Beside him, Gerald’s blazing, humanoid form rippled like a candle seen through summer heat. Within the molten contours of his face, two eyes—twin gold furnaces—blazed with unconcealed anticipation.
“Great Elder Earthfire, everything is ready. Shall we begin?” Jared asked, his voice steady yet thrumming with restrained excitement.
Gerald nodded. “Inside the tower, you will help me temper my soul and rebuild my flesh. In return, I shall impart to you the complete Earthfire True Scripture and guide you to the location of the Jadeheart Marrow.”
“Understood,” Jared answered with solemn resolve.
“Good… Into the tower, then!” Gerald declared, his words crackling like fresh logs catching flame. At once, the elder’s blazing figure collapsed into a streak of incandescent light, shooting into the mouth of the hovering pagoda.
Jared followed without hesitation, stepping across the threshold as though walking from night into dawn. Inside, time thickened. One day here would equal one hundred in the outer world, every second stretched taut as silk.
Within the tower, Gerald’s flame body gradually solidified, transforming into the spectral image of an elderly man with white hair and a beard and a kindly countenance. Although he was still in a soul state, he appeared much more substantial than he had earlier.
“Oh, this is simply wonderful!” Gerald’s exultation echoed against the tower walls. He spread his arms, feeling the accelerated flow of time and the special laws that ruled this place. “The Pentacarna Tower truly lives up to its reputation! With such a treasure to aid me, there is hope for me to reconstruct my physical body!”
“Let’s not waste any more time, Jared. Familiarize yourself with the basic chapters of the Earthfire True Scripture. When my soul is sufficiently refined, I will teach you the rest of it.”
“Got it!” Jared replied. With that, he crossed his legs on the warm stone floor, closed his eyes, and began absorbing the opening passages of the Earthfire True Scripture.
The technique proved worthy of its legendary status: layer upon layer of hidden runes describing nine ascendant levels of flame, each level deepening one’s grasp of the Law of Fire. At the ninth level, the practitioner could summon wildfire from horizon to horizon, enough to scorch mountains and boil seas.
Jared carried chaotic celestial energy within his veins—energy that embraced all elements—so every line of the scripture melted into that chaos, doubling his progress. In addition, he received personal guidance from the very founder, Gerald Earthfire himself, which further accelerated his progress.
Days blurred. Outside, a single sunrise passed; inside, one hundred had flared and died. Jared lost all sense of ordinary hours, living only in deep cultivation and the slow roar of invisible fire. Meanwhile, Gerald made full use of the tower’s time acceleration and unique laws, relentlessly refining his soul form.
His soul form, once insubstantial and illusory, gradually became more solid, even beginning to take on the sensation of a physical body. At the same time, he was also making preparations to reconstruct his physical body.
Reconstructing a physical body required an enormous amount of rare natural materials and treasures. Fortunately, Ignatius had long made preparations, steadily sending the Earthfire Pavilion’s millennia-old treasures into the forbidden ground.
“Millennia-Forged Fire Crystal Jade, Heart-Flame Iron, Crimson Sun Essence, Lava Blood Essence…” As he refined his soul body, Gerald simultaneously directed Lindsay and Vermilion Demon Lord in handling and sorting those materials.
Lindsay, still glowing with the thrill of her recent wedding, bit back longing and devoted every breath to the elder’s resurrection. Vermilion Demon Lord, on the other hand, stood guard at the spiral stair, arms folded, his scarlet aura flaring any time footsteps so much as echoed beyond the stone.
Inside the sealed tower, time dripped rather than flowed. One day blurred into two, two into three, until the count itself felt meaningless. A year passed in the blink of an eye, and during that time, Jared experienced transformative, monumental changes.
The Earthfire True Scripture now blazed to its sixth level inside him, granting a grasp of the Law of Fire so deep it seemed to speak. Chaotic celestial energy braided tightly with that law, doubling every pulse of power. Thanks to that, his cultivation climbed from Top Level Heavenly Immortal Realm Level One to Top Level Heavenly Immortal Realm Level Two, leaving him merely a step away from Heavenly Immortal Realm Level Three.
More startling still, his true combat strength far outstripped those numbers. With chaotic celestial energy, the Golden Dragon Bloodline, the Earthfire True Scripture, and weapons such as the Dragonslayer Sword and the Dragon Bell, Jared felt sure he could stand toe-to-toe with a High Immortal cultivator.
Gerald’s transformation was even fiercer. Twelve months of compression had forged his soul into something almost indistinguishable from living flesh. The materials for restoring the physical body were fully prepared. All that remained was the final step: using a single drop of Jared’s Golden Dragon blood essence to merge his soul with the materials and reconstruct his body.
Gerald’s eyelids lifted, and sparks of gold danced in his pupils. “Jared, the moment has come,” he said, voice low yet ringing. “My soul is tempered to the limit, and the materials stand ready. All I need is one drop of your Golden Dragon blood essence as a catalyst…”
Without hesitation, Jared bit the tip of his tongue. A bead of blood—pure gold, luminous—floated from his lips. As soon as the essence emerged, the space within the tower was suffused with a divine, majestic dragon power. Within that droplet, a tiny, five-clawed dragon circled lazily, radiating inexhaustible life.
Gerald, hands steady yet trembling inside, caught the droplet as though it were a newborn sun. “Perfect! With this blood essence as my catalyst, the chances of successfully reconstructing my physical body increase by at least thirty percent!” Then, he turned toward Jared, his gaze softening. “Thank you, Jared. And as for what I promised you, rest assured that I will keep my word.”
“You’re welcome, Great Elder Earthfire,” Jared replied. “Shall we begin the reconstruction now?”
To his surprise, Gerald shook his head. “Not yet… The entire process requires forty-nine days and must remain undisturbed. Besides, I can sense that something outside has begun to stir.”
Inside the Pentacarna Tower, molten, orange runes pulsed across the volcanic stone walls, bathing everything in an eerie glow. Gerald lifted three fingers, tracing invisible sigils that shimmered like embers in midair. Energy crackled around his knuckles, a silent equation only he could read. His brow furrowed, and a grim verdict fell from his lips.
“The Malevolent Path Hall has sent their people. They are here,” he murmured.
The final syllable had scarcely left his mouth when hurried footsteps and a high, panicked voice spiraled up the tower’s winding stair. Lindsay’s cry split the charged stillness, her words bouncing off the stone, urgent and raw. “Jared! Jared! Something has happened!”
A chill lanced through Jared. He met Gerald’s gaze, a single heartbeat of unspoken understanding flashing between them. Together, they blurred into motion, robes snapping behind like banners of alarm as they swept out of the tower and into the open air.
Outside, Lindsay stood pale beneath the tower’s shadow, copper eyes wide with dread. “Malevolent Path Hall’s army has reached the mountain. Three deputy leaders are at the lead, each at Top Level Heavenly Immortal Realm Level Nine. Our defense formation is moments from collapse!”
Jared’s breath caught. “What?” Color drained from his face, replaced by the steely focus of a man who knew the difference between panic and action.
Gerald, too, couldn’t help but furrow his brows. “Three Top Level Heavenly Immortal Realm Level Nine cultivators… Malevolent Path Hall sure has gone all out.”
“Jared, I’ve reached the critical stage of reconstructing my physical body… I cannot afford any interruptions. Otherwise, not only would all my previous efforts be wasted, but my soul form would also be severely damaged. Now, I can only rely on you to handle the invaders.”
Jared drew a lungful of molten air, eyes flashing like steel polished on ice. “Don’t worry, Great Elder Earthfire. Leave this to me.”
Without further ado, he swung toward Lindsay. “Lindsay, stay here and assist Great Elder Earthfire. Mr. Vermilion, you’re with me. Let’s greet our uninvited guests.”
Vermilion rolled his scarlet shoulders, talons clicking. “Ha! Finally! I’ve been cramped in this cave long enough. Time to get moving and my blood pumping!”
At the rim of the magma pool, Lucky, the small fire unicorn, dozed amid drifting sparks. Jared’s shadow fell across its glinting scales. A year of furnace heat had stretched the beast to thirty feet. Gold-and-crimson plates shone like hammered shields, and each hoof rested in a whirl of liquid flame. Its aura, fierce and unbridled, was already at Top Level Heavenly Immortal Realm Level Seven; the lava chamber had proven a perfect cradle for such growth.
Jared patted the unicorn’s head. “Let’s go, Lucky!”
The creature answered with a guttural, thunder-deep roar, eyes blazing at the promise of battle. With that, man, beast, and demon lord streaked from the forbidden ground, racing toward Earthfire Pavilion’s front gate in a comet of red light.
