Two days passed.
Feng Jiuli's external injuries were slowly healing, but the erosion of the forbidden curse was growing increasingly severe. The dark red runes had already spread across half of her cheek. It flared up every few hours, and each episode brought agony worse than death.
Gu Changyuan kept watch by her side, yet he was utterly powerless to do anything.
He could only watch helplessly as she endured the torment, wiping the cold sweat from her forehead after she passed out.
"You don't need to keep guarding me," Feng Jiuli said weakly. "You have your own things to do."
"I am a servant disciple; I have nothing to do," Gu Changyuan replied lightly. "Besides, I promised I would help you."
Feng Jiuli looked at him, a complex emotion flashing through her eyes.
She didn't understand why this man was helping her.
They were complete strangers, and she had given him no benefits. He was merely a piece of trash with ruined meridians; helping her served absolutely no purpose for him.
Yet, he helped her anyway.
"You..." She opened her mouth to speak, but was violently cut off by a sudden surge of excruciating pain.
"Mgh—!"
The forbidden curse flared up again.
The dark red runes began to spread frantically, extending from her cheek to her forehead, and creeping right between her brows. Feng Jiuli's body trembled violently, her teeth biting into her pale lips until they bled.
"Feng Jiuli!"
Gu Changyuan rushed forward, but he didn't know how to alleviate her pain.
He could only firmly grasp her hand, letting her know that someone was right there beside her.
Feng Jiuli's hand was freezing cold, yet she gripped his hand back tightly.
At that moment, something deep within Gu Changyuan's heart was plucked.
He thought of himself three years ago.
That night, when his meridians were ruthlessly shattered, the pain had been unbearable. How desperately he had wished for someone to hold his hand and tell him that everything would be alright.
But there had been no one.
His master had died trying to save him, leaving him alone to endure all the agony.
I must help her.
He swore silently in his heart.
No matter the cost, he had to help her survive.
The flare-up of the forbidden curse lasted for the time it takes an incense stick to burn.
When Feng Jiuli finally calmed down, she was so weak she didn't even have the strength to open her eyes.
"Time is running out..." her voice was as faint as a mosquito. "One day at most..."
Gu Changyuan's heart sank heavily.
One day.
Only one day left.
Looking at Feng Jiuli's dreadfully pale face, his heart was filled with a suffocating sense of powerlessness.
He wanted to help her, but there was nothing he could do.
He was just a cripple with ruined meridians. He couldn't even save himself, so how could he possibly save someone else?
"Master..."
He muttered to himself, his gaze falling upon the cloth bundle tucked inside his robes.
It was the final relic his master had left him.
The Heaven-Burning Art.
For three years, he had tried countless times to comprehend its mysteries, yet he had never been able to grasp it. His master had said this incomplete scroll might save him, but his meridians were already shattered. Even if he understood it, what could he do?
But now...
He suddenly remembered his master's dying words.
"Changyuan... this is my life's work... the Heaven-Burning Art... maybe it can..."
Maybe it can what?
His master hadn't been able to finish that sentence.
But now, Gu Changyuan finally seemed to understand.
Maybe it can... save someone.
He took the cloth bundle from his robes and unrolled the yellowed, damaged scroll.
The text on the scroll was incredibly cryptic; he hadn't been able to decipher it in three years. But this time, he didn't try to read the words. Instead, he pressed the scroll tightly against his chest and slowly closed his eyes.
"Master, if your spirit is watching from heaven, please tell me what to do."
He prayed silently in his heart.
"I refuse to watch another person die right in front of me."
Silence.
A long, heavy silence.
Just when Gu Changyuan thought nothing was going to happen, he felt a sudden surge of heat.
A blazing current poured out from the scroll, flowing directly through his chest and into his body.
"This is—"
His eyes snapped open.
The torn scroll was burning.
Golden-red flames rose from the parchment, yet they didn't scorch his hands. The flames were warm and gentle, carrying an indescribable sense of intimate familiarity.
And then, he heard a voice.
It was a hoarse, benevolent voice—the voice of his master.
"Changyuan... Your master has waited three years for this day."
"The Heaven-Burning Art is not read with the eyes, but comprehended with the heart."
"Only when you truly wish to protect someone will it finally awaken."
"Now, it has awakened."
"Go, my disciple."
"Incinerate all, including destiny itself."
The voice faded into the void, and the scroll crumbled into ash.
But the ashes didn't fall to the ground. Instead, they transformed into a streak of brilliant golden-red light, surging directly into Gu Changyuan's Sea of Consciousness.
"Argh—"
Gu Changyuan let out a muffled groan.
He felt something completely new materialize within his mind.
It was a complete cultivation manual.
The Heaven-Burning Art.
Not a fragment, but the absolute, complete manual.
As it turned out, his master had hidden the complete Art within the torn scroll all along, waiting for a specific condition to be met to trigger its release.
And that condition was—
The genuine desire to protect someone.
"Master..."
Gu Changyuan's eyes reddened slightly.
For three years, he had believed his master only left him a useless fragment. He never expected that his master had prepared everything for him from the very beginning.
He was just waiting. Waiting for him to let go of his obsessive hatred, waiting for him to learn how to trust again, waiting for him to truly want to protect someone else.
"I understand now, Master."
He took a deep breath and began to circulate the Heaven-Burning Art.
The First Layer of the Heaven-Burning Art: Meridian Reconstruction.
The moment the technique began to circulate, Gu Changyuan felt a terrifying, blazing current rampaging through his body.
The heat flowed like liquid magma, surging through his shattered meridians, incinerating absolutely everything in its path.
"Mgh—"
He gritted his teeth hard, dense beads of cold sweat breaking out across his forehead.
Pain.
Agonizing pain.
That pain was even more horrifying than when his meridians were forcefully ground to dust three years ago.
It felt as if a heavenly hellfire was actively burning inside him, completely reducing his internal organs and all his meridians to ashes.
This was the Agony of Heaven-Burning.
The price of the Heaven-Burning Art.
With every single breakthrough, one had to endure this excruciating torment. It could not be skipped, it could not be lessened; it could only be endured head-on.
"Ah—!"
Gu Changyuan let out a suppressed, guttural roar.
His body trembled violently, his clothes completely drenched in sweat. Golden-red flames erupted from his body, illuminating the entire cave in a brilliant glow.
Startled by the commotion, Feng Jiuli struggled to open her eyes.
What she saw left her in absolute shock.
Gu Changyuan was sitting cross-legged on the ground, enveloped in swirling golden-red flames. The fire was dazzlingly bright, exuding an indescribable aura of overbearing dominance and primal fury.
"This is..."
Her phoenix eyes widened slightly.
This aura...
She felt a trace of familiarity.
It was the aura of a Primordial Almighty.
"He... he is breaking through?!"
Feng Jiuli stared at Gu Changyuan in utter disbelief.
Weren't his meridians completely destroyed? How could he possibly be breaking through?
But the sight before her proved it—he was indeed breaking through.
And he was doing it in a way she had never witnessed before.
The Agony of Heaven-Burning lasted for two full hours.
When the final wisp of the blazing current flowed through his body, Gu Changyuan felt as if he had been entirely reborn.
His meridians... were reconstructed.
No, it was more than just a reconstruction.
His new meridians were far wider and infinitely more resilient than they were three years ago. The flames of the Heaven-Burning Art had completely incinerated his broken meridians and forged a brand-new set directly from the ashes.
"I succeeded..."
He muttered, a faint smile touching his lips.
Three years.
Three years of waiting, three years of silent endurance—he had finally reached this day.
He was no longer a piece of trash.
He could cultivate again.
"The Ninth Level of Qi Condensation."
Feeling the surging spiritual energy within his body, a flash of pleasant surprise crossed his eyes.
The Heaven-Burning Art hadn't just reconstructed his meridians; it had catapulted his cultivation base straight to the Ninth Level of Qi Condensation.
This meant he was only one step away from breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Realm.
"Gu Changyuan."
Feng Jiuli's voice drifted from the side.
Gu Changyuan turned his head to see Feng Jiuli looking at him with an incredibly complex gaze.
"You... succeeded?"
"Yes," Gu Changyuan nodded. "The Heaven-Burning Art has awakened."
Feng Jiuli fell silent for a moment.
"The Heaven-Burning Art..." she murmured. "I have heard of this name before."
"A heaven-defying technique left behind by a Primordial Almighty, capable of incinerating anything and everything, including the very laws of the Heavenly Dao."
"I never imagined that such a legendary art would be in your hands."
Gu Changyuan didn't speak.
He merely looked at Feng Jiuli, his eyes filled with unwavering determination.
"I promised I would help you."
"Now, I have the power to do it."
Looking into his eyes, Feng Jiuli saw sincerity, she saw absolute resolve, and she saw an indescribable warmth.
She had lived for thousands of years, yet no one had ever looked at her with such a gaze.
"Gu Changyuan..."
She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but found her throat choked with emotion.
In the end, she simply gave a gentle nod.
"Alright."
Outside the cave, the sun set in the west.
Inside the cave, the golden-red flames slowly receded.
Two people, two destinies, seamlessly intertwining at this very moment.