Night passed like smothered smoke.
No light. No dream. Just the quiet weight of flame-fed resolve sinking deeper into the marrow.
By dawn, Shen Yao was gone. Only the faint scorch marks on the cave floor — circular, precise — hinted at the meditative inferno he had spent the night within.
Outside, clouds hung heavy over the outer sect valley. Rain threatened, but none dared fall. The sky itself seemed to flinch from the ash rising beneath it.
Shen Yao walked alone, his footsteps soundless.
Behind him, Lian Xue practiced flame harmonization. Each flicker of her healing flame matched her breath, guided by the patterns he etched on the stone walls before leaving.
He hadn't said goodbye.
There was no need.
The next name on the Sinflame Ledger demanded full attention.
Elder Ruo.
The man who, in Shen Yao's first life, had praised his genius… then shattered his dantian under celestial decree.
Not in battle but during a trial and in the middle of a public reward ceremony, smiling all the while. That smile still haunted Shen Yao more than the pain.
Elder Ruo resided in the Blazing Sky Pavilion, a sect-controlled fortress nestled atop Mt. Yansheng. Normally off-limits to outer sect disciples but Shen Yao no longer followed "normal."
His cloak shifted colors, hidden by a Smokeweave Talisman pilfered from Yun Cheng's corpse. One of many divine trinkets that would serve him better than it did the dead.
Even so, walking into inner sect territory was no small gamble. One mistake, and he would be branded a traitor but branding didn't scare him. He had already burned alive once.
What was left to fear?
The climb was long.
At the halfway ridge, he paused — not for rest, but to open the Sinflame Ledger again.
He needed to see the name.
Ruo Jinhai – Crimson Vein Elder.
Realm: Cinder Vein peak.
Status: Favored by Heaven's Eye.
That part still twisted his gut.
The bastard had cultivated under divine surveillance, gaining immunity to minor karmic attacks. A clever parasite. Every act of betrayal layered in bureaucratic favor but Shen Yao had something Elder Ruo did not.
The Infernal Immortality System.
[Karmaflame Pulse calibrated.]
[Target: Ruo Jinhai. Active karma thread located.]
[Warning: Engaging target within Heaven's radius will trigger Ledger Disturbance.]
[Suggested Option: Suppress flame arts. Initiate mundane infiltration.]
He smiled faintly.
"No. Let Heaven watch."
He ascended.
The Blazing Sky Pavilion wasn't a palace but was a prison of gold. Hundreds of flame-etched towers, all symmetrical. Lawful. Orderly. Beautiful to those who never understood how many corpses lay beneath their foundations.
Shen Yao walked through the gates like mist.
Outer disciples bowed to him, assuming he was an alchemist's errand boy — just another silent servant wrapped in fire-resistant robes. He passed three guards, two flame initiates, and one cultivation steward.
Not one recognized him but Ruo Jinhai would.
Soon.
He found the elder inside a private cultivation chamber, high in Tower Nine. The man was just as Shen Yao remembered.
Sharp eyes. Neatly tied silver beard. Crimson spiritual robes embroidered with false humility.
He sat cross-legged before a flame mirror, cycling Qi from a crucible of beast marrow. His aura glowed — pure, hot, steady.
Fake.
All performance.
Shen Yao stepped forward, letting the illusion peel off like wet silk. His robes burned away. His cloak disintegrated. His flame reeked of ash and blood.
Elder Ruo opened his eyes.
The flame mirror shattered.
"You—!"
Shen Yao didn't wait for the elder to rise.
He launched forward.
Void Ash Step.
Teleportation through flame flickers — even mid-air.
He struck with a two-fist twist of Cremation Palm, not aiming for the heart, but the shoulders — targeting the same joints Elder Ruo shattered ten years ago. Ruo roared, catching one palm with his left hand, but the second slammed into his right side.
Crack.
Bone broke.
Qi flared.
But the old man spun away with terrifying speed, countering with a blazing arc of his own — Crimson Wave Burst, an inner sect technique that immolated everything in a five-meter sweep.
Shen Yao didn't dodge.
He inhaled. Then exhaled through his palm.
A dark pulse burst forth — Karmaflame Pulse.
The crimson wave sputtered, then reversed course — returning to Ruo's own spiritual shield. The elder staggered.
"You bastard—what flame is that?! You're just a—"
"I'm not what I was."
Shen Yao raised his hand again.
This time, he summoned something deeper.
The first Flame Resonance Node flared alive within his soul.
A red-black lotus bloomed behind his back, made of swirling embers and shattered vows.
The room quaked.
Ruo leapt backward, eyes wide. "You're tampering with Karma! That's forbidden!"
Shen Yao's voice was low.
"Then call the fu*king heavens."
He moved, again faster than before. This time, his entire body pulsed with flame — not just Qi, but spirit fire drawn from the Tribulation Core. Ruo raised a warding array. Three rings of sacred fire, etched with divine glyphs.
Shen Yao punched once.
The first ring shattered.
Second punch.
The second collapsed.
The third— He didn't punch.
He burned.
Ash gathered around his fist like falling feathers.
Then— Infernal Chain Breaker.
The chain lashed out, struck the glyph directly. Shen Yao surged forward through the gap — now inside the elder's personal flame field.
They clashed.
Flames roared.
Ruo tried to summon celestial decree, a glyph formed behind him.
He shouted: "By Heaven's Eye, I—!"
Shen Yao laughed — not with joy, notwith cruelty, but with cold defiance. He raised two fingers and a brand appeared on his chest — faint, like a scar across his heart.
Mortal Lock.
Still unbroken but fading.
"I've already burned beneath it," he whispered.
He touched the glyph.
"Now it's your turn." and he pushed.
Ruo Jinhai died differently than Yun Cheng.
"Not instantly, not quietly — he burned, screaming, clinging to a divine authority that refused to save him. He burned like a hypocrite, and when the flames were gone, there was no body
Only a voice from above, faint and cruel:
"You are watched, Shen Yao."
He raised his head.
"I know."
Then he smiled for the first time in this life.
"And next time, you'll see me coming."
[Sinflame Ledger Entry Cleared.]
[Karmic Ash Reclaimed: 1.]
[Tribulation Core Activity: Stabilized. Next eruption: Pending.]
[System Alert: Divine Interference Triggered. You are now Marked by the Lesser Heaven's Eye.]
[Reward: Access unlocked to passive skill – Flame Vein Rebirth.]
Regrow damaged meridians once per lunar cycle by sacrificing one Karmic Ash.
As Shen Yao descended Mt. Yansheng, the skies finally opened.
Not rain but Ash. From clouds above, fine black snow began to fall.
Spiritual beasts howled.
Sect bells rang.
Heaven had taken notice and for the first time in ten years, Shen Yao felt alive. They branded him with fate. He answered with fire.