Battle Through the Heavens: Starting with Cao Ying as an apprentice

"Damn it! Are we just going to leave the old patriarch's blood feud unpunished?!" With a bang, the second elder, the most hot-tempered of them all, slammed his palm on the heavy sandalwood table, instantly sending spiderweb-like cracks spreading across the solid surface. "We haven't even found out who killed the old patriarch yet! Are we just going to slink away like this? I won't swallow this insult!"

"Yes! The old clan chief has treated us with immense kindness, and this enmity is irreconcilable!"

"We can't leave! Even if it means fighting to the death, we must find the mastermind behind this!"

"Avenge the old clan chief!"

Grief and humiliation ignited the suppressed emotions of the crowd. The council hall was filled with righteous indignation, and shouts of revenge rose and fell, as if they would lift the roof off.

Just as the atmosphere was about to spiral out of control—

"enough!"

A thunderous roar was followed by an even louder explosion!

Suddenly, Xiao Zhan stood up, and the solid table in front of him was smashed into pieces by his angry palm!

Amidst the flying sawdust, his eyes were bloodshot, and his battle aura surged uncontrollably. The aura of an eight-star battle master instantly enveloped the entire arena, forcibly suppressing all the noise.

Everyone stared in astonishment at the usually composed young clan leader, whose chest heaved violently, veins bulging on his forehead, as he roared hoarsely, "Don't I want to avenge my father?!"

"Am I really going to willingly leave this land that my ancestors built up like a stray dog?!"

His voice was filled with tearing pain as his gaze abruptly shifted to the side, where sat a gentle woman with a protruding belly—his wife. Xiao Zhan pointed at his wife, his voice trembling, "And...and can't you see? My wife, she...she's about to give birth to our Xiao family's third child!"

"I don't want her to suffer the hardships of displacement at this time more than anyone else!"

"I don't want to! I absolutely, positively don't want to!"

The roar echoed through the hall, making everyone's eardrums buzz.

Xiao Zhan seemed to have all his strength drained away. He staggered and slumped back into his chair, his face ashen, his voice hoarse and filled with despair.

"But...do we even have a choice now?"

"The enemy is in the dark, while we are in the light! They were able to kill my father silently and erase all traces with ease. Even Uncle Nalan had to compromise. Their power is terrifying, far beyond our imagination!"

"Now that Father is gone, there is no strong figure to protect the Xiao family! If we stay here, we are like fish on a chopping board, at their mercy! The other side is only suppressing us in secret, simply because they are wary of the remaining power of Uncle Nalan and the empire's overt rules."

"Once they lose patience, or if there is any change on Uncle Nalan's side, what awaits our Xiao family is annihilation, the extermination of our entire clan!"

"Let's go! While Uncle Nalan still wields considerable influence, and while we can still leave, this is the only way to preserve the Xiao family bloodline and leave a glimmer of hope for the future!"

"If we hesitate any longer, and the other side completely cuts off all our escape routes, we won't even have the right to choose to 'leave'!"

"Today's evacuation is not cowardice, nor is it giving up! It is to survive, to preserve the seeds of revenge! Only by living, only by accumulating strength, will we one day... one day have the opportunity to uncover the truth, kill our enemies, and comfort our father's spirit in heaven!"

After Xiao Zhan finished speaking, he seemed to have aged ten years. He closed his eyes wearily and stopped talking.

The council chamber was deathly silent.

All the anger, resentment, and humiliation were completely extinguished by this cold and cruel reality.

Everyone clearly saw the two paths before them:

Staying behind may seem heroic, but it is actually a worthless sacrifice, a path to annihilation of the clan and death, a dead end.

Leaving, though a humiliating retreat, contains the hope of survival; it is the only option to continue the family line and lie low while waiting for an opportunity.

Cold, cruel, but there was no other choice.

After a long silence, Elder Xiao Shan slowly stood up, his aged voice breaking the silence with a sense of resignation: "Young Clan Leader... is absolutely right. For the sake of the Xiao family's continuation... we will move to Wutan City."

This time, no one objected. Only an almost tragic silence permeated the night. The fate of the Xiao family was forcibly reversed that night.

Chapter 35 The Lotus Platform of Strange Flames

A day later, at the city gates of the capital of the Gama Empire, a convoy silently departed from the bustling city. The Xiao family members glanced back at the capital, then, with mixed feelings, embarked on their unknown journey.

Almost at the same moment, deep within the Nalan family home, in a secluded room with flickering candlelight, Nalan Jie stood with his hands behind his back.

A dark figure silently knelt on one knee behind him, reporting in a low voice: "Reporting to the Lord, the entire Xiao family has safely left the capital without encountering any obstacles along the way."

Nalan Jie slowly turned around, the candlelight casting flickering shadows on his weathered face. He remained silent for a moment, a complex emotion flashing deep in his eyes, before saying in a deep voice, "Send another reliable team to secretly follow and protect them. Once they have found a safe place and settled down completely, they can return to report."

"Yes!" The shadowy figure accepted the order, and with a flicker, disappeared into the corner of the secret room like a ghost.

The heavy stone door slowly closed, and the room returned to silence, save for the occasional soft crackling of the burning candle wick.

Nalan Jie walked alone to the table, stretched out his calloused hand, and gently brushed his fingertips across the flickering flame, as if he could see the face of his old friend Xiao Lin in the flame.

He sighed deeply, his low, hoarse mutterings echoing in the secret room:

“Brother Xiao Lin… I’m so sorry. That blood feud, I, Nalan Jie… am ultimately powerless to avenge you.” His voice was filled with unspeakable heaviness and guilt: “Behind me is the entire Nalan family, the lives and futures of hundreds of people are in my hands. I cannot… dare not gamble the entire family on a revenge with no chance of winning.”

He raised his head, his gaze seemingly piercing through the stone wall, looking towards the distant horizon, as if making a promise to his deceased friend in the afterlife: "Your people, as long as I, Nalan Jie, am alive, I will do everything in my power to protect them and help them continue their bloodline."

"As for how far they can go in the future, and whether they can regain their former glory, that really depends on their own fate and choices..."

"That's all the help I can offer."

"As for the marriage agreement we made for the younger generation, if Xiao Zhan's third child is indeed a boy and has good talent, I will keep the agreement."

As soon as he finished speaking, he gently pinched the flickering candle flame between his thumb and forefinger, extinguishing it. With the last glimmer of light gone, the entire secret chamber was plunged into boundless darkness, burying all his helplessness and resolve along with it.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Deep in the remote Tagor Desert, there lived the Snake People tribe.

Inside a high-level enshrined chamber designated as a forbidden area, the heat was intense, and the air itself was slightly distorted by the high temperature.

Su Baichen was completely focused, his body radiating powerful soul fluctuations. With his left hand, he precisely controlled the Glazed Heavenly Flame, as if holding a gentle yet destructive purple ribbon, continuously injecting the scorching flames into a huge fireball suspended in the air.

His right hand moved rapidly, pure energy flowing from his fingertips, outlining ancient and profound hand seals that were continuously injected into the fireball.

At the center of the fireball, the outline of a lotus flower could be vaguely seen slowly coalescing and taking shape, with each flicker of the flames making its form clearer.

Throughout the entire process, Su Baichen held his breath and remained focused, not daring to be careless in the slightest.

The art of weapon crafting, especially the crafting of such special magical artifacts, demands extremely high standards in the control of soul power and the grasp of timing. Any slight mistake could lead to the failure of all previous efforts.

When the last magical seal, emanating an obscure fluctuation, merged into the fireball, a sudden change occurred!

The lotus at the center of the fireball suddenly burst forth with a blinding blue light, and the entire lotus platform trembled violently. A powerful energy wave surged and spread outwards like a tidal wave, about to break through the confinement of the secret chamber.

"Om-"

Just as the azure light was about to touch the wall, the invisible barrier that had been set up around the secret chamber suddenly lit up, with runes flowing around to form a solid barrier that firmly sealed off the energy fluctuations and dazzling light that were enough to alarm the entire snake-people race.

Seeing this, Su Baichen finally showed a relieved smile.

He had anticipated this, so he spared no effort in setting up this concealment formation at the very beginning of the refining process.

With a thought, the Glazed Burning Heaven Flame swirling around him receded into his body like rivers flowing into the sea, and the huge fireball also quickly subsided and dissipated.

In mid-air, a light blue lotus platform, about the size of a washbasin, floated silently.

Its entire body has a warm, jade-like blue luster, with distinct and lifelike layers of petals. Strange flame patterns flow faintly on the surface of the lotus platform, exuding an aura of antiquity, purity, and immense fire-attribute energy.

After carefully examining the work that had taken so much effort, Su Baichen let out a long sigh of relief. His tense mind finally relaxed completely, and fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

"Phew—finally done. The art of weapon crafting is indeed profound and complex, several times more difficult than I imagined. I'll have to study it more in the future." He sighed softly, his tone tinged with fatigue, but mostly with the joy of success: "Although this Strange Flame Lotus Platform doesn't have a clear rank, it's an extremely special magical artifact that aids in cultivation and has extremely high defensive capabilities. If my soul power hadn't far surpassed that of others of the same rank, I probably wouldn't have been able to successfully craft it."

Su Baichen's skill in weapon crafting is not high; the highest level of magical artifacts he can currently craft is only fifth-grade.

However, fifth-tier magic artifacts may still be useful in the early stages of cultivation, but they become ineffective in the later stages.

Fortunately, Su Baichen found a special method for refining weapons in the Heavenly Book. Although the weapons he refined were of low grade at the beginning, they had no upper limit.

These magical artifacts will continuously improve in quality as they are fed by their host, making them a type of magical artifact that can grow.

Moreover, his fifth-grade weapon-refining skills are more than enough to forge it.

As he pondered, his gaze returned to the azure lotus platform, filled with anticipation.

Since obtaining the natural lotus platform born from the core fire of the Azure Lotus Earth, and sensing the strange energy contained within it and its strong affinity for flames, Su Baichen immediately realized that it was a unique artifact-making embryo, the best material to tailor-make a magic weapon for his first disciple, Cao Ying.

Cao Ying's future main cultivation technique will inevitably be the "Divine Journey Fire Refining Technique" that he prepared in advance. His cultivation path is destined to be to constantly seek, absorb, and refine various strange fires in the world, using them as the core to improve his strength.

As Su Baichen's first personal disciple, if he didn't have a unique magic weapon that perfectly matched him and could assist his cultivation, wouldn't it be a disgrace to his master?

This "Strange Fire Lotus Platform," based on the lotus platform born from the core fire of the Azure Lotus Earth, incorporates a variety of rare auxiliary materials and is meticulously crafted with its own Glazed Heavenly Fire. Its greatest characteristic is its unparalleled inclusiveness and affinity for strange fires.

Chapter 36 Refining Fire Treasures

The azure lotus platform has four main functions, each of which is enough to drive cultivators from the outside world mad:

First, because this lotus platform is a byproduct of the extraordinary flames of heaven and earth, it inherently possesses the divine effect of calming the violent aura of flames. Whether it is raging beast fire or even more unruly extraordinary fire, it will be harmonized by its aura within the lotus platform's range. If the user can enter the center of the lotus platform to refine it, the risk of backlash against the mind and body, and being burned to pieces, will be reduced to an extremely low level, making it the best auxiliary artifact for refining all the flames in the world.

Secondly, the lotus platform is incredibly profound, spontaneously absorbing the purest energy from the surrounding天地 (heaven and earth) and concentrating it within. Over time, a unique cultivation environment with an energy concentration far exceeding that of the outside world will form inside the lotus platform. Cultivators meditating and cultivating here will absorb spiritual energy at a rate several times faster than outside, achieving twice the results with half the effort, and breaking through bottlenecks will be much easier.

Third, the lotus platform itself is made of extraordinary material, forged through countless trials by the earth's fire, making it incredibly sturdy. Once activated, the lotus platform can form a solid barrier, strong enough to withstand the fierce attacks of powerful enemies, making it a rare and top-tier defensive magic weapon.

Fourth, the most promising function of this lotus platform lies in its ability to automatically absorb the dissipated flame essence whenever a user successfully refines a beast fire or exotic fire within it. This process is akin to a martial artist tempering themselves, refining and nourishing the platform. Over time, the lotus platform will continuously advance in rank and grade, and the aforementioned three functions—assisting in fire refining, gathering energy, and providing defense and protection—will also be enhanced and strengthened accordingly.

(Note: The size of the lotus platform is controllable and can be enlarged or reduced according to the user's wishes. It can be as small as the palm of a hand or as large as a cultivation platform several feet in diameter. It is extremely mysterious!)

The lotus platform possesses four functions: its ability to greatly reduce risks and assist in refining myriad flames, its heaven-defying ability to gather energy and accelerate cultivation, its inherently strong defensive capabilities, and its rare growth potential. Any one of these functions, if it appeared on any magical artifact in the outside world, would be enough to cause a bloodbath, and countless powerful individuals would flock to it, fighting to the death for it.

Now, these four extraordinary functions are combined into one, which shows just how rare and precious this "Lotus Platform" is, and its value is immeasurable.

Su Baichen stared intently at the lotus platform before him, which emitted a faint blue glow, his eyes filled with joy and satisfaction.

He pondered for a moment, gently stroked the lotus petals, and said loudly, "It has many functions, especially in controlling fire. Its azure radiance is restrained, just like the gentlemanly lotus. From now on, I will call you 'Myriad Fire Azure Lotus'!"

After naming it, Su Baichen's thoughts stirred, and the "Myriad Fire Azure Lotus" rapidly shrank, transforming into a beam of azure light which he stored in his storage ring. Then, with a flicker of his figure, he vanished from the secret chamber in an instant, as if he had never been there at all.

Meanwhile, in Cao Ying's room.

Cao Ying lay listlessly on the exquisite wooden table. Her usually bright eyes had lost their sparkle, and her little mouth was pouting so high that it could almost hold an oil bottle.

She casually traced the surface of the table with her fingers, making a soft rustling sound.

"Sister Butterfly..." she said weakly, drawing out her words, "Why hasn't my master come out yet? He's been inside for days! I haven't even seen a trace of him."

"Tell me, what earth-shattering thing was he tinkering with all by himself in that airtight, secret room?"

She suddenly looked up, her face full of grievance and doubt: "Could it be... that he has forgotten that he has the most filial, most talented, and most adorable apprentice in the world?"

"Ahhh! No, no!" As she spoke, Cao Ying thought about it more and more and felt that it was possible. Frustrated, she went crazy and rubbed her hair haphazardly with her two small hands, making her originally smooth black hair a mess.

"Has Master forgotten about his old apprentice because he got a new treasure?"

A few days ago, after her master Su Baichen successfully obtained the Azure Lotus Earth Core Flame, he only gave a few hurried instructions before plunging into his private cultivation chamber. He also set up a restriction outside the door, strictly forbidding anyone from disturbing him.