His spine glowed beneath his skin.

Through his orange robe, the one he had put on after emerging from the magma, a faint, pulsing light could be seen.

Vertebra after vertebra, from the base of his neck down to his lower back.

Golden veins lit up like liquid magma, running along his spine in a steady rhythm.

The Bone of the Heavens stabilized everything.

It allowed Kyrian to use that power without suffering as he had when he used the Aura of Ice against the Five-Horned Lava Lizard.

’The ice almost killed me back then,’ Kyrian thought.

’The Aura was far too powerful for my body.’

’But now, because of my new body and the Heavenly Bone of the Fire Path, using the Aura of Fire won’t cause nearly as many problems, even though I still haven’t reached the Spiritual Fusion Realm.’

The old man retreated several more steps, his eyes fixed on Kyrian.

He had realized that he should not face those flames head-on. Not with his current Qi barrier, at least.

His expression became increasingly ugly, a mixture of frustration, shock, and something darker.

But at the same time...

His expression became increasingly greedy.

"Ming Hai..." he murmured, his voice low.

"You truly left something extraordinary behind..."

In his mind, there was no other explanation.

That power, those flames capable of melting his barrier, that supernatural resilience, and that absurd increase in cultivation could only be the result of the inheritance.

It could only be the result of the treasure hidden within the volcano.

And that meant only one thing.

He had to obtain it.

At any cost.

His greed increased.

So did his killing intent.

Then he advanced again.

This time without the slightest hesitation.

The spear rose above his head, pointed toward the sky.

Fire Qi exploded around his body, not as a defensive barrier but as an offensive storm. Waves of heat radiated from him in every direction.

An enormous flaming serpent appeared behind the old man.

Composed entirely of concentrated spiritual energy, the serpent was colossal, easily ten meters long, its body formed from flames so dense they appeared solid.

Its scales gleamed like molten metal, each one pulsing with Qi.

Its fangs, the size of short swords, looked capable of piercing any defense.

"Scarlet Spear Art – Fire Serpent!"

The serpent roared.

It was not the sound of an animal.

It was the sound of fire burning, air exploding, and Qi expanding.

And it lunged forward.

Following the old man’s thrust, the serpent shot ahead.

The attack crossed dozens of meters in less than a second.

Destroying everything in its path.

Any Core Formation cultivator would have died instantly.

Even someone at the peak of the realm, someone at the Ninth Stage, so close to Spiritual Awakening, would have been reduced to ashes.

But Kyrian had no intention of confronting it directly.

Being resistant did not mean being invulnerable.

His body, even after being transformed by the Bone of the Heavens, even with bones harder than spiritual metals, could still be injured.

The physical force contained within that spear, the impact, not the fire, was still dangerous.

Very dangerous.

A Spiritual Awakening spear could pierce even his reinforced bones.

’I can’t block it,’ Kyrian thought.

’But I don’t need to.’

His eyes began to glow once more.

The red flames within his pupils expanded until they occupied almost his entire iris.

And the world responded.

’FOOOOM!’

A sea of orange fire erupted around Kyrian.

It was not a wall.

It was not a barrier.

It was an eruption.

The very earth ignited.

Kyrian felt the Bone of the Heavens pulse, and the ground around him answered.

Walls of flame rose from the earth, completely blocking the advance of the flaming serpent.

Not one wall.

Not two.

Dozens.

The two energies collided.

And it was not an even struggle.

The serpent’s flames, the old man’s ultimate technique, his specialty, began to disappear.

Consumed.

Devoured.

As if they had encountered something superior.

Something dominant.

Something they simply could not challenge.

"What?!"

The old man’s eyes widened, his spear trembling in his hand.

He could feel his Qi being consumed.

His technique, instead of advancing, was being absorbed by Kyrian’s flames.

Then he felt something else.

Danger.

Instinctively, he turned his head.

And saw them.

Flames appearing behind him.

Out of nowhere.

Without warning.

They had not come from the ground.

They had not come from the air.

They had simply appeared, as though space itself had caught fire.

As if they could emerge anywhere within Kyrian’s field of vision.

The old man roared, a guttural, beastlike sound, as his Qi barrier instantly formed around his body.

The flames struck his defense.

And began to burn through it.

Again.

His expression changed.

It was no longer frustration.

It was fear.

He retreated violently, abandoning his position, abandoning the attack, and abandoning the serpent that dissipated into the air without his command.

But it was too late.

A portion of the fire touched his sleeve.

’FOOOOSH!’

Half the fabric vanished in the blink of an eye, transformed into ashes that scattered through the air.

The arm beneath remained intact only because he had reacted quickly enough to pull away before the flames could consume his flesh.

But only barely.

Very barely.

The other three leaders fell completely silent.

None of them could believe what they were seeing.

A Spiritual Awakening expert.

The oldest among them.

The most experienced.

The one with the highest cultivation.

Was being pressured.

By someone in the Core Formation Realm.

Someone who, theoretically, should not even have been capable of touching a Spiritual Awakening cultivator.

It was absurd.

Unprecedented.

Monstrous.

The old man was breathing heavily now.

Not from exhaustion.

His body was still far from exhausted.

Very far.

But from shock.

His left sleeve had vanished, reduced to ashes.

His pride was beginning to vanish as well.

Meanwhile...

Kyrian remained standing in the exact same spot.

Without injuries.

Without scratches.

Without even a burn.

Every attack the old man had launched had missed, or, when they struck the flames, had been neutralized by the superior power of his fire.

And even when the old man’s Fire Qi managed to approach him...

The flames simply disappeared.

As if they were incapable of harming him.

Silence overtook the battlefield.

The wind scattered the ashes of the destroyed sleeve.

Kyrian slowly raised his hand.

An orange flame danced in his palm, small, and controlled, yet pulsing with a power all four leaders could feel.

"Are you going to keep trying?" Kyrian asked calmly.

"Or are you finally going to realize that this is pointless?"

His eyes swept across the four men.

There was no fear in his gaze.

The old man gritted his teeth.

His hand tightened around the black spear hard enough for his knuckles to turn white.

But he did not attack again.

Not immediately.

Because for the first time...

He was no longer certain he could win alone.