The dawn of the second round arrived with an oppressive heat. The team gathered in Elder Bao's laboratory for one last strategy session. Jian Ming was sharing what little information he had gathered on their next trial.
"The Crimson Caldera," he said, his voice grim. "Official records describe it as a training ground for high-level fire element cultivators. But the rumors… the rumors are darker. It's a pocket dimension that simulates an active volcanic caldera, a self-contained ecosystem filled with lava rivers, obsidian plains, and creatures born of pure fire. They say the very air burns there."
Elder Bao handed each of them a small, ceramic jar. Inside was a pearl-white salve that smelled of cooling mint. "Frozen Fire Salve," he explained. "It won't protect you from a splash of lava, but it will keep the blood beneath your skin from boiling for a time. The rest is up to you." His gaze lingered on Ci Ying. "This is your hunting ground, girl. Or your grave. Fire is a faithless ally."
When they stepped through the transportation gate, a sudden wave of heat struck them like a physical wall. They found themselves in a scorched hellscape under a blood-red sky. The black obsidian ground beneath their feet glowed from within. In the distance, a massive volcano lazily spewed smoke and ash into the sky. The air smelled of sulfur and molten rock.
Jian Ming and Lian Hua began to sweat instantly, the salve not enough to completely ward off the suffocating heat. Ci Ying, however, took a deep breath, an expression of vitality on her face. "This energy… I can feel it," she whispered, a small flame dancing on her fingertips.
For Bu He, the experience was different. The intense external heat was a new form of pressure for his body, a new kind of torment. His skin tightened, as if being forged on an invisible anvil. His Blood Core responded to this external fire with a pleased hum.
An ancient voice echoed across the arena, announcing the rules of the second round: "You will collect three 'Volcanic Hearts' from the Fire Elementals that roam the caldera. However, a Heart will only manifest after a final blow delivered with a fire-aspected attack. Teams with three hearts must climb to the summit of the central volcano to pass the trial. Combat is permitted. Survive."
"This rule… it puts all the weight on you, Ci Ying," Jian Ming said.
A determined fire lit Ci Ying's eyes. "I am ready to carry that weight."
Their first challenge was a wide river of lava that blocked their path. Jian Ming found the narrowest point to cross. Bu He, with a grunt, tore a massive slab of obsidian from the ground and placed it over the river as a bridge, his muscles straining like steel under the heat.
Once they crossed, they met their first opponent. A humanoid monster made of molten rock and obsidian rose from a pool of magma—a Fire Elemental. The creature roared and launched a wave of lava at them.
"Stand back!" Ci Ying yelled. She stepped forward; this was her dance. As a master of fire, she answered not with lava, but with flame. The flames that shot from her hands were not brute force, but an elegant, controlled art. She deflected the elemental's lava attacks with her own spirals of fire, dancing around the creature with a deadly grace.
"She's weakening it," Jian Ming noted, quickly scribbling in his journal. "But she needs to wait for the perfect moment for the final blow. We have to protect her until then."
As Ci Ying slowly wore down the elemental, another group appeared at the edge of the caldera. They wore red and gold robes bearing the symbol of a blazing sun. "The Blazing Sun Sect," Jian Ming hissed.
Their leader was a youth with an arrogant smirk. "Well, well, look at the Secret Tower's little fire-cat, trying to play with a monster," he mocked. "Step aside, little girl, and let us show you what the flames of a true sun look like."
The leader of the Blazing Sun Sect summoned his own fire. His flames were not controlled like Ci Ying's, but wild and explosive; he launched a massive fireball towards the sky.
"The elemental is ours!" he roared.
It had become a duel of fire arts. The supporters of both teams moved in. Two disciples from the Blazing Sun Sect tried to flank Ci Ying. But they found Bu He standing in their way like a mountain.
"You shall not pass," Bu He said, his voice calm and final.
One of them threw a fire-fist at him. The blow struck Bu He's chest, burning his robes, but when it reached his skin, that familiar crimson glow appeared. His Dark Ascension was absorbing even the fire-aspected Qi attack as fuel. The attacker's shocked expression was the last thing he saw before Bu He knocked him to the ground with a single blow.
While Bu He single-handedly occupied two opponents, Lian Hua and Jian Ming provided tactical support to Ci Ying. "His weak point is his left shoulder!" Lian Hua cried out, sensing a momentary hesitation in the rival leader's Qi flow.
That was all the information Ci Ying needed. She dodged one of her opponent's wild, massive attacks. She was no longer throwing large flames. She focused all her energy, all her will, into a single point. On the tip of her finger, a needle-thin, white-hot point of flame appeared, as bright as the core of a star.
"Heart of the Flame," she whispered.
In an instant, she darted forward. Her opponent realized she had bypassed his defenses too late. That tiny, intense needle of flame pierced both the Blazing Sun leader's Qi armor and the glowing core in the chest of the Fire Elemental behind him.
A moment of silence. Then, both the elemental and the sect leader cried out in pain and collapsed. As the elemental crumbled into a pile of cooling obsidian, its first Volcanic Heart, glowing like a miniature volcano, appeared in its center.
The remaining members of the Blazing Sun Sect grabbed their defeated leader and retreated. Their leader shouted one last threat over his shoulder: "This isn't over! This Caldera will be your grave!"
The team had their first heart. But they were tired, and now they had a new, vengeful enemy sworn to hunt them in this fiery hellscape. And they still had two more hearts to collect.