The flame came in silence.
Leon sat in seclusion atop the northern ridge of the Fang estate, where few dared disturb him. Snow had begun to fall, thin flurries dancing through the wind. But around him, the air shimmered with heat.
He'd felt it building for days.
The spiritual energy in his body had begun to crystallize, condensing into patterns—fractals that formed the gateway to a higher realm.
Foundation Molding was over.
The next step had begun: Soul Ignition.
In his previous life, this stage had nearly killed him.
This time, he welcomed the fire.
He pressed two fingers together, channeling Qi from his dantian through his heart meridian, igniting the spark at his solar plexus. A heat bloomed beneath his ribcage—not painful, but sacred.
Then it erupted.
A plume of flame shot upward from his body, visible to any cultivator within ten miles. Not red. Not orange.
Azure.
True flame.
The sky shuddered.
A flock of birds screamed and scattered from the treetops.
And deep beneath the Fang estate, the sealed remnants of the ancestral flame stirred—responding to the bloodline awakening above.
Leon opened his eyes.
They burned blue.
"I remember now," he whispered.
In his first life, he had stumbled upon the Azure Flame by accident, awakened it by trauma. But now… he knew the method. The path. The structure of the soulfire itself.
He had not merely been reborn.
He had returned complete.
—
At that same moment, Envoy Lan meditated inside her temporary residence near South City's eastern lake.
When the surge of spiritual flame burst through the sky, she jolted upright.
"What in the—"
Her mirror flickered. Runes flared. A message appeared.
**Code Azure: Confirmed Awakening**
She stood immediately.
So it's true, she thought. He hasn't just reawakened… he's begun to fuse.
She grabbed her blade, slung it across her back, and walked outside without a word.
—
An hour later, Leon stood in the clearing, the last embers of blue flame dancing around his hands.
He sensed her before she arrived.
"You came quickly," he said.
"I'm not the only one who felt it," Lan replied, stepping into view. "You lit the sky."
Leon didn't reply.
"I came to see it for myself," she continued. "To see if you're really the same boy who burned in Jinling."
"I'm not," Leon said. "He died."
"Then show me," she said, drawing her blade.
Leon's eyes narrowed. "This is your idea of diplomacy?"
"This is a test," she replied. "You want our help finding Valeria? Then prove you're still worthy of her."
He didn't hesitate.
He moved.
Their blades met mid-air, a clash of steel and spiritual pressure. Sparks flew. The earth cracked beneath their feet.
Lan spun, her crimson blade carving an arc of Qi toward his ribs. Leon ducked, stepped inside, and tapped her shoulder with two fingers.
Qi exploded at the point of contact—she was flung back ten meters, skidding across the snow.
She laughed. "That's not Foundation Realm anymore."
"I told you," Leon said. "He died."
Lan stood, brushing frost off her robes. "Good. Then perhaps you can survive what comes next."
Leon tilted his head.
"The Valley stirs," she said. "Other factions have sensed her. They don't want her returned."
"They'll try to stop me?"
"They'll try to erase you."
Leon's flames flared slightly.
"I'd like to see them try."
—
Later that night, Leon sat by the lakeside, alone again.
He looked at the ring on his finger—the one from the ancestral chamber. It pulsed in rhythm with his heartbeat.
He placed the jade pendant beside it.
And then it happened.
The flame within the ring flared.
So did the pendant.
For a moment, they resonated.
Then a voice whispered—not from within his mind, but from somewhere far beyond it.
"Leon…"
But this time it wasn't just her voice.
It was her **presence**.
He felt it—like a hand reaching through time.
And then—
**Pain.**
A flash of silver. A scream.
His nose bled instantly, and he collapsed forward, gasping.
The connection had been… corrupted?
No. Intercepted.
Someone else had accessed Valeria's soul fragment.
He gritted his teeth.
They were closer than he thought.
They were touching **her**.
And now, they had his scent too.