Chapter Sixty-Three: Rebirth in the Jade Flames

"Aaaahhhh!"
An increasingly shrill cry burst uncontrollably from Li Ren’s lips. The raging heavenly fire was even assimilating the spiritual flame within his skull, gradually drawing it in and consuming it. Now, the point at the center of his brow was the last vulnerable spot on his entire body. The heavenly fire surged toward it with violent intent, burning that spot until it glowed red-hot, then turned incandescent white.

The pain was excruciating—so intense that he could no longer feel his body, yet could still keenly sense the heart-piercing agony. This bizarre, contradictory fusion of pain was more than Li Ren’s mind could bear. Nearly seven thousand attribute points he once possessed had been utterly consumed along the way, leaving only a pitiful few dozen—and even those were vanishing rapidly.

Li Ren had no energy left to care. Even if they were all lost, so be it! If he could trade them for a moment’s peace—just one instant free from this agony—he would gladly accept the cost.
But alas, he had no such chance.

The waves of pain kept coming, relentless as the tide, eroding the defenses he had so painstakingly built. This collapse would not just shatter his will—it would claim his life.

“What’s happening to me? Why am I struggling so desperately? Why am I so unwilling to accept this? Why... why...”
Li Ren’s shrunken body stood frozen in place, the searing white flames wrapping him mercilessly, absorbing him into their blazing embrace.

“It feels as if... there are things I haven’t done yet... people who still need me... something I haven't accomplished...”
In an instant, countless images flashed before his eyes—scattered scenes, shifting figures. Suddenly, vivid faces appeared one by one: Landis, Shadow, Falling Moon, Gentle Water, and more, spinning before him.

Gradually, it seemed as though he was melting into the boundless heat around him. Even the inferno didn’t feel as searing as he’d imagined.
On the contrary, he felt a warmth—a profound, unexplainable sense of safety, as if sheltered in a harbor of the soul.

Yes, he was slowly losing himself in this sensation.

Meanwhile, in Landis’s eyes, Li Ren’s actions were utterly bizarre. He spread his arms wide, exposing himself completely to the raging flames.
The fire raged on, but his body, already forged to a hardness like white jade, began to crumble within flames that previously could not harm him.

Fragments of bone shattered in the air, dissipating into wisps of blue smoke before they could even reach the ground.

Landis sighed. “So, it was still too much to hope for?”
Shadow watched Li Ren’s efforts end in vain, his fists clenched tight. He, too, was unwilling to accept it.

Even though true death was impossible within the Tower of Worlds, even though Li Ren had reached the final threshold of the Heavenly Fire Domain—
He had not crossed it. He had not truly completed the trial of the domain. That alone was a tremendous loss.

Because no one is granted the same chance twice.
The defeated have no rights.

Landis folded up her portable chair and walked forward alone.
“Wait here for me. With your abilities, you still cannot pass through the Heavenly Fire Domain.”

Shadow said nothing. Everything before him made him realize just how much he had relied on Li Ren, pinning all his hope on him, never once considering what he would do if Li Ren failed. Perhaps he was afraid, perhaps he was simply avoiding the thought—he no longer knew how to face what was happening.

The confusion was not only in Li Ren’s heart, but in Shadow’s as well, a witness to the entire ordeal.

Landis continued on ahead, unhurried.
She knew well that, had the trial proceeded normally, Li Ren would have passed the Heavenly Fire Domain without question. Yet for some reason, at the final step, the trial’s intensity had leapt tenfold!

A tenfold Heavenly Fire Domain—even she would have struggled, let alone Li Ren, who was experiencing the forging for the first time.

To her, this was still within the bounds of normalcy, though it failed to produce the scene she had most hoped to see—a slight disappointment.
In truth, Li Ren’s performance had been extraordinary—truly, remarkably so.
But would Li Ren truly be silenced for good?

Suddenly, Landis paused. Though she had entered the domain, the surrounding flames halted at her side, forming a strange circle that shielded her.

Shadow, too, sensed something amiss.

Where Li Ren had vanished, something new was happening!
A green flame! Amid the pure white blaze of the Heavenly Fire Domain, a spark of green appeared, growing rapidly before their eyes.

Closer inspection revealed that the green fire was devouring the heavenly fire strand by strand, feeding on it to grow.

Landis was stunned; everything she saw now shattered her understanding.
The legendary Heavenly Fire—the most ferocious of flames—was being slowly devoured?
Who could consume the Heavenly Fire, renowned for its fury?

Even if this was but an incomplete form of the true heavenly fire, at its core, it was still heavenly fire!

Pale green, brimming with the energy of life, the flame swelled and brightened before their astonished eyes.
Yet the most astonishing sight came next.

As the green flame grew, the surrounding heavenly fire gathered toward it at an ever-increasing pace.
Countless fires collided, burned, and were extinguished—only to be transformed into something new.

Hard bones formed, pure and lustrous as mutton-fat jade, building up from the toes, forged by the endless heavenly fire.

“What is this? The heavenly fire itself forging a new body? Could this be the legendary Jadefire Rebirth?” Landis cried, so shocked she forgot herself.

Shadow stared, dumbfounded, at the miraculous sight. He did not know what Jadefire Rebirth meant, but clearly, it was something exceedingly rare.

The heavenly fire continued, unceasing, until at last Li Ren’s entire form was reconstructed. The flames did not abate, but gathered even more fiercely.

His skull was reformed; finally, all the flames surged wildly toward the center of his brow. With a roaring explosion, the fire retreated in every direction as though struck by some overwhelming force.

Li Ren’s eyes shone with green fire. He took a bold step forward, seized an item from the pedestal before him and placed it in his pack. From afar, he gazed across to the other side of the fire domain, but made no further move.

He felt it!
Yes, at the very moment of his true rebirth, he sensed a presence—
He knew it.