Chapter 54: Chapter 54
Ethan knew this opportunity could only come once in a thousand years.
With Azraeth V’ khorath pouring spiritual fire into the eighteen floors, the entire area had become a vast reservoir—a living, roaring jar of fire for him to temper and absorb.
Not wasting a second, he’d messaged his master The Supreme Elder Ash Burn, and had the entrance to the seventeenth floor sealed, ensuring not a drop of this heat and flame energy would escape elsewhere.
What followed was a long, blissful trial by fire. Hours blurred into each other. Ethan lost track—three hours, six hours, perhaps a full day—he simply could not tell.
The only reality was the rising pressure: flame so thick it burst from black mist into hissing, popping flashes, tumbling around his form like angry spirits.
But every gain comes with a cost. Even Azraeth V’khorath, ancient and wily, started to sense something wrong.
"It’s been nearly twelve hours..." the Demon Lord murmured from the darkness beneath the slab, anxiety threading his arrogant tone.
"How can a mere human kid persist this long under the demon flame? No matter how refined his body, this is beyond logic."
Azraeth ’s suspicions sharpened.
Unless he’s faking it!
The moment that thought took root, the demon Azraeth V’ khorath cut off the flow of spiritual fire completely.
Instantaneously, Ethan opened his eyes, the agony and weakness gone from his face—replaced by a rosy, confident glow and a sly, unhurried smile.
"How’s my acting? Not bad?" Ethan couldn’t help taunting.
Azraeth V’ khorath let loose a string of curses, his voice echoing with raw frustration.
"You slick little brat! You just tricked me!"
It was true.
The energy in the eighteenth level was saturating to the point of near explosion; the air itself cracked with condensed fire.
With one thought, Ethan invoked the Celestial Jade Physique Scripture at full power—eight glowing arrays unfurled beneath him, drawing the sea of flames like a whirlpool. Black fire roared and twisted at his back, pooling in a vortex of concentrated energy.
"Time to eat, little one." With a flick, Ethan uncorked the jade bottle.
The blue flame leapt forth, a ravenous spirit-starved for months, now greedily devouring the abundant demon fire.
The primal, beastly azure burned with escalating strength, its appetite only growing as the room blazed to inferno.
Azraeth V’ khorath, below, could feel his own power slipping away—being drained as an offering to Ethan’s ambition.
None of this escaped his notice.
His demon eyes shimmered with more than anger now; a cold trace of fear wedged itself into his pride.
"What kind of physical cultivation technique is this? To calm and purify even demonic flame itself?" The Demon Lord’s eyes narrowed with realization.
"This is an ancient body-refining secret art—can that old Ash Burn’s Azure Origin Dao sect have revived it...?"
Azraeth V’ khorath was not a fool.
His age spanned centuries and his wisdom was carved from war and loss.
He saw the patterns emerging. Such inheritance was rare, veiled in blood and legend. He knew the consequences: if this boy was left to grow, within one, two, five decades, the Azure Origin Dao Sect would give rise to an enemy for him that would be able to stand against even the Mahayana realm.
His anxiety deepened as a new, sharp scent hit his senses—the unmistakable energy of the blue flame.
"That’s...!" His mind jumped.
"The blue flame of the blue phoenix—it’s beast fire! No, it’s even more. When matured it’s an innate spiritual fire, ranking high among the legendary flames of the world!"
Hatred and alarm warred within him. The blue phoenix’s natal flame was, in ancient lore, famed to rise to the top twenty among the forty-eight strange fires—the kind that could melt mountains or shatter fate.
And now, Ethan wielded it with effortless partnership. Azraeth’s pride twisted into panic.
"He...he must die! This boy’s luck, strength and talent everything he has is monstrous..."
He swallowed bitterness. To see a human youth, wielding a legendary ancient physical cultivation technique and strange flame, being taken under Ash Burn as his next successor—fear stirred his ancient confidence.
Even in his prime, Azraeth knew men such as these were the winds that uprooted dynasties. He couldn’t let it continue.
But what could he do? The immortal weapon, the crushing formations, all rendered him impotent to strike.
The only thing that flowed freely was his demon fire, and even that was now being stolen for another’s gain.
He ground his fangs.
"So be it. If I cannot finish him now, then others must. For the sake of the Black Demon Sect, I will summon death upon him from afar, even at terrible cost."
Azraeth V’khorath reached deep into the battered depths of his soul, drawing forth a forbidden secret art: the soul transmission, a reckless move that burned one’s own spirit to summon temporary mysterious power. Light blue flames rose around his demon-patterned flesh, the marks shining with ancient might and fierce despair.
Every inch of his tall, muscled body trembled as he channeled the secret method. Around him, fluorite embedded in the stone walls glowed with eerie, malicious lights—an unnatural sunrise in that starless pit.
Beneath the ground, the demon sat cross-legged, a titan in a prison, moving energy in ways forbidden to both gods, men and demons.
He focused on the illusory black flames that hung in the center of his prison—the true essence of his demon fire—to use it as a beacon and send out a message, a declaration, a curse.
On the surface, Ethan had no clue of this deeper malice. He only knew that the flames felt sweeter, every draw deeper and more potent, the blue flame in his arms dancing ever wilder.
He allowed himself a moment of pride—the line between genius and hubris razor-thin—but kept to his cultivation.
Yet, below him, a far greater game was opening, and the weight of a demon’s hatred was now racing across the void toward the Black Demon Sect.
A/N:
Extra Chapters
100 power stones - 1 Extra Chapters
200 power stones - 2 Extra Chapters
Capsule - 1 Extra Chapters
Massage Chair - 3 Extra Chapters
Luxury Car - 5 Extra Chapters
Magic Castle - 15 Extra Chapters