The forest soon gave way to craggy hills as Vill Long Feng pressed forward, his pace unhurried but steady. The landscape was rugged, filled with jagged rocks and sparse vegetation, yet it held an eerie stillness. The man's cryptic words continued to echo in his mind. "The true test of power is not how much you can destroy, but how much you can protect."
Vill's fists clenched at the thought. Protect. It was a word that didn't sit well with him. His life had been one of survival, of clawing his way through the shadows of his past. His father's cruelty had never taught him the meaning of protection—only the brutal reality of taking what you wanted and holding onto it at any cost.
But as his mind drifted to his wives—Lilith, Eve, Luis, Dazie, and Lilly—he felt a flicker of something unfamiliar in his chest. A sensation he had long buried beneath his ambition. It was the spark of an obligation, of care, something he had never allowed himself to feel deeply.
Shaking the thoughts from his mind, Vill pressed on. His journey was far from over, and the weight of his destiny was something he would never let go of. But there was no denying the truth in the man's words: the enemies Vill had made, and would continue to make, were only growing stronger. As his power grew, so too would the attention it attracted.
He stopped atop a rocky hill to survey the terrain ahead. The sun was beginning to dip below the horizon, casting long shadows across the land. The distant silhouette of a mountain range loomed in the distance, jagged and steep. A deep, primal instinct told Vill that beyond those mountains lay something important. The heart of the world, perhaps. A place where he would find both answers and challenges that would forge the next stage of his journey.
As Vill began his descent from the hill, a rustling in the bushes caught his attention. His body tensed instinctively, and his hand flew to his side—ready to strike. But a familiar, yet unwelcome, voice stopped him in his tracks.
"Still the same, I see."
Vill's gaze shot forward, locking onto the figure that emerged from the shadows—none other than Luis Karpilo, his fourth wife, the fiery and impulsive warrior he had met long ago. The one who had once challenged his authority and who now stood as an integral part of his inner circle.
But Luis was different now. There was something colder about her, a sharp edge that hadn't been there before. Her eyes, once full of defiance, now bore the weight of something deeper, something more complicated. She was no longer the free-spirited woman he had once known. She had been tempered, much like him.
"What are you doing here?" Vill's voice was sharp. His eyes scanned the surroundings, sensing something off. There was a hidden tension in the air, a palpable energy that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.
Luis gave him a sardonic smile. "You didn't think you could run from your past forever, did you?"
The words cut deeper than she realized. Vill's past had always been a shadow lurking just out of sight. The death of his bastard father, the abuse that had scarred him both physically and emotionally—it was all part of the price of his journey. But he had left it all behind, hadn't he? He had forged his own path.
And yet, here was Luis, the one who shared his past, who knew what he had endured, reminding him that it could never truly be left behind.
"Explain yourself, Luis." Vill's tone was low, controlled, yet beneath it, the fire of anger simmered.
Luis hesitated for a moment, her usual brash confidence faltering. "There's no easy way to say this," she began, "but I came to warn you. There's someone after you. Someone who knows about your powers, your bloodlines... someone who won't rest until they've taken everything from you."
Vill's heart skipped a beat. "Who?"
Luis stepped closer, her voice barely above a whisper. "The Black Flame Sect. They've been hunting those with the Phoenix and Dragon bloodlines for centuries. They believe that controlling you will give them dominion over all of the elemental forces."
The words hit Vill like a hammer. The Black Flame Sect. A name he had heard in passing—whispers in the darker corners of the cultivation world. A sect known for their cruelty, their ruthlessness, and their obsession with acquiring forbidden powers. But to think they had turned their gaze toward him... toward his bloodlines... was unsettling, to say the least.
"I thought I had left the sect world behind," Vill muttered to himself, more to the air than to Luis. He had spent his entire life avoiding the politics and manipulations of sects and clans, preferring to forge his own path. But now it seemed that path had led him straight into the crosshairs of one of the most dangerous sects in existence.
Luis stepped forward again, placing a hand on his shoulder. The touch was unexpected, but in it, there was an urgency. "You're not alone in this, Vill. I didn't come here to fight you. I came because I still care. We've been through too much together, and whatever comes next, you'll need help."
Vill turned his gaze toward her, his expression unreadable. He could feel the weight of her words, the truth in them. His heart wavered for just a moment, as if considering the possibility of having someone by his side. But then his thoughts returned to his training, his cultivation, the future he had carved for himself.
"Fine," he said, his voice hard but not unkind. "We fight together, but understand this—my path is mine alone. No one else can take the reins. If you can accept that, then we'll stand together. But if not..."
Luis met his gaze unwaveringly, her lips curling into a fierce smile. "I can accept that. I never wanted to lead. I only want to be by your side when the time comes to burn everything down."
The two stood in the silence for a moment, understanding the weight of the battle they would soon face. They weren't allies because they had to be. They were allies because they knew the darkness that would soon come, and the only way to survive was to embrace the flames together.
As the first stars began to twinkle in the sky above, Vill turned toward the mountains in the distance. There was no turning back now. The Black Flame Sect would come for him. And when they did, they would find that he was no longer the struggling underdog—he was the Sovereign of Flames.