109: The Beginning of the Fall 2

Seizing this gap, Xiao Yan made a decision—he grabbed the dark red crystal bead on the table and pressed it directly onto his right eye!

"Big Brother! No!" Ling Xiao's cry of alarm seemed to come from a great distance.

The world exploded before Xiao Yan's eyes.

He stood in a burning palace, the young Flame Lord with his back to him, and kneeling before him was a red-haired youth—that was the scarless Old Ancestor of Burning Sky, or rather, his former name was... Chi Yan.

"Revered Master, I have seen the essence of Chaos!" Chi Yan said fanatically, "It is not destruction, but Rebirth! Those contaminated worlds do not perish, but merge into a greater existence!"

The Flame Lord's voice was filled with sorrow: "You have been deluded, Chi Yan. The Chaos Devourer will only devour everything."

"No! You were blinded by the Ice Lord's fear!" Chi Yan stood up excitedly, a black glint flashing in his eyes, "We can use Chaos to become beings beyond the planes!"

The Flame Lord sighed and raised his hand, a chain of flames binding Chi Yan: "I must purify the contamination within you."

"It's too late, Revered Master." Chi Yan sneered, his right eye suddenly split open, black liquid flowing out, "It's already a part of me... and..." He violently broke free from the restraints, striking the Flame Lord's chest with a palm, "...it's a part of you too!"

The scene shifted. The Flame Lord and the Ice Lord confronted each other in the starry sky, twelve seeds of the plane floating between them.

"Half of them have been contaminated." The Ice Lord said coldly, "They must all be purified."

"No!" The Flame Lord objected, "We can save the other half!"

"Indecisive!" The Ice Lord rebuked angrily, "It is this weakness that gave Chi Yan an opportunity!" He pointed to the Flame Lord's chest, "Even you have been infected, you just refuse to admit it!"

The Flame Lord was silent for a moment: "Perhaps... we need another way..."

The memory switched again. The Flame Lord stood before a mirror, holding a ball of cyan-silver flame in his hand—that was his own Origin. With a painful growl, he split the flame in two, keeping the larger portion and merging the smaller portion into a drop of blood...

"To create... a pure self..."

The scene flashed back rapidly. Xiao Yan saw three infants being placed separately—one given to Old Yao, one secretly watched over by Ice Soul, and the smallest entrusted to the Spirit of the Plane...

In the final image, the Flame Lord knelt before the Chaos Furnace, his face haggard: "Emotions... are the last hope..."

The torrent of memories receded, and Xiao Yan returned to reality, only to find that time around him seemed to have stopped—Frost Soul's white light was suspended in mid-air, Ling Xiao's silver shield was frozen like a sculpture, and Xiao Bing's struggle was fixed in a moment of pain.

"A wonderful story, isn't it?" A voice sounded in his ear.

Xiao Yan turned his head and saw Dark Lingxiao lazily sitting on a floating piece of rubble. Although his whole body was pitch black, the malice in his eyes had faded considerably.

"You...?" Xiao Yan cautiously backed away, but found that he could move.

"Relax, I'm just a residual consciousness now." Dark Lingxiao shrugged, "The real me has already jumped into the furnace, remember?" He pointed to the crystal bead in Xiao Yan's hand, "Thanks to you activating the Flame Lord's memory, I was able to appear briefly."

The black threads in Xiao Yan's right eye calmed down, and there was a strange resonance between him and Dark Lingxiao: "These memories... are they real? Are we really..."

"The 'humanity' stripped from the Flame Lord and the Ice Lord?" Dark Lingxiao chuckled, "In a sense, yes. But you have long since surpassed your original design." He looked at the frozen Ling Xiao, "Especially him. The Spirit of the Plane should not have an independent personality; your emotions changed everything."

Xiao Yan processed this information: "Frost Soul and Old Ancestor of Burning Sky..."

"Early failures." Dark Lingxiao pouted, "One over-purified, one embraced Chaos. The Twin Lords realized that extreme paths wouldn't work, so they created the three of you."

"So what now?" Xiao Yan asked, "Frost Soul wants to kill us, Old Ancestor of Burning Sky wants to use us..."

Dark Lingxiao's expression suddenly became serious: "Listen, there isn't much time left. The truth of the Chaos Furnace has been distorted—the Fusion of the Three Spirits is not about sacrificing anyone, but about all three sharing the cost." He pointed to Xiao Bing, "His current situation is proof—ice and fire can coexist, as long as a balance point is found."

"How do we find it?"

"Emotions." Dark Lingxiao's figure began to fade, "Remember, the seed of chaos fears this the most. Now..."

He suddenly reached out and pressed Xiao Yan's forehead: "...It's time for things to return to their rightful owner."

A warm energy flowed into Xiao Yan's body, and Dark Lingxiao's figure completely dissipated. At the same time, time resumed flowing!

Frost Soul's white light pierced through Ling Xiao's shield, heading straight for Xiao Bing's heart! In the nick of time, Xiao Yan teleported in front of Xiao Bing, his right eye blazing with black light—the Chaotic Black Flame actually perfectly fused with the Flame Lord's Fire, forming a cyan-black wall of fire that neutralized the white light!

"Impossible!" Frost Soul took two steps back, "How can you control the seed of chaos?"

Xiao Yan didn't answer, because he was undergoing a strange change—the energy Dark Lingxiao returned was actually the Spirit of the Plane's power that Ling Xiao took with him when they separated! At this moment, the power of the Three Spirits briefly converged within him, bringing an unprecedented clarity.

"Ling Xiao!" Xiao Yan shouted, "Do you remember our resonance in the furnace?"

Ling Xiao's silver eyes lit up, and he immediately understood Xiao Yan's intention. He formed a hand seal, and the nexus seed emerged from his body: "Fusion of the Three Spirits!"

Xiao Yan also guided the energy within him, while simultaneously grasping Xiao Bing's hand: "Not sacrifice, but sharing!"

Three streams of power converged in the air, forming a swirling energy vortex. Frost Soul's face changed drastically at the sight: "Stop! You don't know what you're doing!"

She wanted to stop them, but it was too late—a three-colored beam of light shot out from the vortex, enveloping the three of them. The Crimson Refining Fire Seed and Xuanming Ice Flame within Xiao Bing no longer opposed each other, but began to slowly fuse; the black threads in Xiao Yan's right eye were enveloped by the Spirit of the Plane's power, no longer spreading; Ling Xiao's silver hair became even brighter, and a small three-colored rune appeared on his forehead.

Frost Soul's white crystal bead suddenly shattered, and she herself was thrown back by the impact: "No! This goes against the will of Lord Ice Lord!"

When the light dispersed, the three stood unharmed in their original positions. The ice crystals and burns on Xiao Bing's body had disappeared, replaced by a healthy glow; the black threads in Xiao Yan's right eye were still there, but were bound by a layer of silver light; Ling Xiao, on the other hand, seemed to have been reborn, his entire being radiating a soft glow.

"This... is true balance?" Xiao Bing looked at his hands in disbelief.

Frost Soul crawled out of the rubble, her veil falling off, revealing a face identical to Ice Soul's, filled with resentment: "Do you think you've won? The Chaos Devourer has already awakened! Without absolute purification, the Source World is doomed to destruction!"

She suddenly pulled out an ice crystal dagger and stabbed herself in the heart! Ling Xiao tried to stop her but was a step too late. As Frost Soul fell, a strange smile hung on the corner of her mouth: "Brother Burning Sky... will complete... the purification..."

Her body rapidly froze, turning into an ice sculpture in an instant, then shattered into countless specks of light with a "bang". Those specks of light did not dissipate, but converged into a small spatial rift, vaguely revealing countless white-robed figures standing on the other side...

"The army of the Purification Sect." Ling Xiao's face was pale, "She opened the passage before she died!"

Xiao Yan's right eye suddenly stung, and the black threads transmitted new information: "Not only that... she released the coordinates... Old Ancestor of Burning Sky can at any time..."

Before he finished speaking, the sky in the distance suddenly turned dark red—from the direction of Burning Sky Valley, a crimson-black pillar of light shot into the sky!

"The call of the Chaos Devourer..." Xiao Bing murmured, "He is actively guiding Chaos to descend!"

The three exchanged glances, understanding each other's decision without words. Xiao Yan picked up the dark red crystal bead from the ground—it had now turned pure red; Ling Xiao stabilized the small rift opened by Frost Soul; Xiao Bing re-condensed his ice crystal longsword, only this time the sword body was entwined with red and blue energy.

"First, stop Old Ancestor of Burning Sky." Xiao Yan said, "Then..."

"Face the Purification Sect together." Ling Xiao finished.

"And the Chaos Devourer." Xiao Bing concluded.

Their palms met, and new power flowed through their Bloodline. This time, they would no longer avoid their respective dark sides, but embrace and control them, just as Dark Lingxiao said—not sacrifice, but sharing.

Above the ruins of Utan City, three streaks of light streaked across the sky, rushing towards Burning Sky Valley...