"The lower realm?" The man stepped down from his throne, each footfall leaving behind a footprint of white flame that scorched the very fabric of space and time. "Are you proud of such lowly origins? Do you take pride in carrying a dull red cloth and cold jade as reminders of your weakness?"

  He stopped directly in front of Zhi Xuan, his searing heat beginning to peel away the protective layer of cold Kun Peng aura. The fire-man’s eyes glared sharply at the red cloth draped over Zhi Xuan’s body, then shifted toward Mei Hua, who lay fast asleep, her breathing growing heavy under the irrational pressure.

  "Look at yourself, Zhi Xuan. You are a dragon trying to crawl through the mud because you are too afraid to fly and leave your rotten nest," the manifestation of Summer mocked. "This little girl, that cloth, that jade... they are anchors holding you at the bottom of an ocean of suffering. In this pure Summer, there is no room for those who still embrace the shadows of the past."

  Zhi Xuan felt a pure rage explode in his chest, an emotion far hotter than the lava surrounding them. He no longer cared about the difference in realms or the oppressive authority of the law. To him, insulting what he carried as his identity was an act that could only be paid for with annihilation.

  "You talk of flying?" Zhi Xuan smirked, a terrifying expression on a face drenched in blood. "I don't need to fly to your arrogant sky. I will pull that sky down and bury it beneath my feet."

  Zhi Xuan stomped his foot, and instantly the Heavenly-Blood Body Law, carrying the weight of thousands of Slaughter Seals, radiated a malevolent pressure that collided with the Yang oppression. From his free hand, he manifested a five-element disk shadowed by the foundation of the Four Seasons Law, giving him a grand, nine-colored disk.

  "You speak of karmic ties," Zhi Xuan hissed, lifting the five-element disk high. "Not even the Heavenly Dao will be able to make me let go of my anchor!"

  The fire-man laughed uproariously, a sound like a series of volcanic eruptions. He raised his hand, letting tongues of white flame dance at his fingertips, forming ancient symbols containing the burning authority of the Summer Law.

  "Arrogant brat! You use the Four Seasons Law I gave you against me?" The man sneered, his burning eyes looking at the Nine-Colored Disk in Zhi Xuan’s hand with disdain. "That disk is but a mere wheel if you lack the courage to cut your karmic roots! Look at how weak your intent is while you still embrace that burden!"

  "Burden?" Zhi Xuan roared, his voice splitting the roar of the lava. "Mei Hua is not a burden! She is the only reason I haven't become a mindless demon here! And you... you are just the part of me that fears feelings! You are a coward who wants to become a God by throwing away your heart!"

  "The heart is but a barrier to Eternity!" The fire-man lunged forward, his fist wrapped in white flame striking the air, creating a heat wave capable of evaporating celestial metal. "Without a heart, you will become the law itself! Without a heart, you will have no weakness for your enemies to exploit!"

  Zhi Xuan did not dodge. Instead, he thrust his shoulder forward, letting the Nine-Colored Disk spin wildly as a humming energy shield. The collision between the fire fist and the law disk created an explosion that toppled the obsidian pillars around them.

  BOOM!

  Zhi Xuan was pushed back several steps, his feet leaving deep trenches in the glowing earth, but his hold on Mei Hua did not loosen in the slightest.

  "Look!" The fire-man pointed with a burning finger. "Because you protect her, your movements are slow! Because you think of her safety, you cannot release your full power! Give her to me, let me burn her to ash, and you will see how light your soul becomes to touch the horizon!"

  "Not even in your wildest dreams will that happen!" Zhi Xuan spat blood, his sapphire pupils flashing with the red glow of devil blood and the sea-blue of the Kun Peng authority united. "You want me to be a heartless law? Then bear witness... I will become the law that destroys its own creator!"

  Zhi Xuan stomped again, his physique—now like celestial steel—sending shockwaves through the surroundings. The atmosphere grew even more suffocating as he withdrew all emotion, letting a piercing, sharp silence emanate from him.

  "I consciously swallow these karmic ties," Zhi Xuan hissed coldly, his voice parched and sharp. "Until the moment I need to release karma, I will still carry those who are my anchors!"

  "Swallowing karmic ties?" The man sneered. "Who do you think you are? You are but a wanderer lost among the stardust. You wish to bring them with you to the highest peak? That peak is very narrow, Zhi Xuan! There is only room for one absolute existence. If you bring them, you will only fall and shatter together!"

  Zhi Xuan raised his chin, letting the steam sweep over his face, which was now half-covered by disheveled silver hair. "If the peak is too narrow, then I will level it and build a new plateau on top of it. I do not need recognition from the Heaven you glorify."

  "A new plateau?" The fire-man laughed cynically, his hands forming an ancient seal that triggered a white fire vortex. "Disgusting. A true cultivator has nothing to anchor them; they are all but dust in the endless cycle of samsara. Only the Dao is eternal! You, with all your devil blood and sword intent, are still shackled by lowly emotions!"

  "These lowly emotions are what kept me standing when I walked toward death time and again!" Zhi Xuan countered with a roar that shook the lava. "You speak of the eternal Dao, but you yourself are just a shadow trapped in a mirror! Who is truly pathetic here? Me, who has something to protect, or you, who has only an empty fire with no purpose?"

  The fire-man’s face turned deep red, his fury exploding in a firestorm that lashed out at the obsidian pillars. "How dare you insult me! I am the purity of Yang! I am the sun that burns away all falsehood!"

  "The sun?" Zhi Xuan smirked bitterly. "Even the sun will go out if it has nothing to shine upon. You are but a fire devouring itself out of loneliness."

  The man went silent for a moment, but the trembling in his hands showed how shaken he was by Zhi Xuan’s words. "Loneliness is the price of power. Something you will never understand as long as you still embrace that useless little girl!"

  "She is useful to me!" Zhi Xuan barked. "Mei Hua is the mirror for my heart that has begun to turn to stone. She reminds me that behind all this slaughter, there is still a reason why I want to go home."

  "Then die with your anchor!" The fire-man spread both arms, calling all the essence of Summer in the Secret Realm to converge in his palms. "Let us see if that home of yours can withstand the heat of this purifying fire!"

  "I will show you," Zhi Xuan whispered, his voice calm yet carrying deep final authority. "That strength derived from an anchor is far stronger than a fire with no roots. I, Zhi Xuan, will swallow your summer and make it a torch for my dark path!"

  This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

  "The Great Samsara forms all life like a Wheel," Zhi Xuan hissed, the Secret Realm responding to his shift in emotion. "But this Zhi only asks: is Reincarnation truly real?"

  From within his Sea of Consciousness, the Heavenly Samsara Wheel spun in an elegant melody. The Four Seasons Dao runes residing there resonated with the Secret Realm, which began to vibrate faintly—as if the Dao mirror manifesting the Four Seasons Law was nearing its end because the owner of the Law was reclaiming it.

  "Reincarnation..." The fire-man was stunned, his hands holding the purifying fire trembling violently. "You question the foundation of all heavenly laws? You, a mortal flea, dare to doubt the cycle that regulates the breath of the universe?"

  Zhi Xuan did not answer with words, but with action. He released his absolute grip on emotion, letting the void in his Dao Heart gape wide. The Heavenly Samsara Wheel within his soul now spun in reverse, creating a paradox that pulled all the Summer heat toward his chest.

  "If Reincarnation exists," Zhi Xuan said, his voice sounding like thousands of voices merging into one tone, "then why does an old man always ask when reincarnation will come? Why do only grudges and wounds repeat?"

  "Because you haven't reached the peak to see the truth!" the fire-man screamed, launching a giant white fireball resembling a falling sun. "Accept your fate! Perish under the Yang Law!"

  "Fate?" Zhi Xuan smirked, raising his left hand, which was covered in sea-blue scales and sapphire tattoos. "My fate is to eat your fate. Everything... Returns To Origin!"

  WHUMP!

  The giant fireball did not explode upon contact with Zhi Xuan’s body. Instead, it was sucked into a black vortex appearing in front of Zhi Xuan’s chest—exactly where the Heavenly Samsara Wheel resonated. The lava around them suddenly froze, not from cold, but because its energy essence had been forcibly extracted.

  "How is this possible?!" The fire-man staggered, his glowing body beginning to dim, revealing an appearance increasingly similar to an exhausted Zhi Xuan. "You swallowed my law? You stole my Summer?!"

  "I did not steal," Zhi Xuan hissed, his steps now feeling like hammer blows on the world's anvil. "I only took back what was already mine. You are but a shadow of my misguided ambition. You are the form of my fear of weakness."

  He stopped just an inch in front of the fading man. Zhi Xuan looked directly into the fire-eyes that were beginning to go out. "You said the peak is narrow? You were wrong. The peak doesn't actually exist. There is only a path without end, and I choose not to walk it alone."

  The fire-man looked at Mei Hua in Zhi Xuan’s arms, then at the dull red cloth wrapped around the youth’s shoulder. "So... you still choose that anchor? You choose the burden over freedom?"

  "Freedom without a burden is futility," Zhi Xuan answered with a deep, authoritative tone. "Without a burden, you will be carried by the wind of fate wherever it blows. With this anchor, I am the one who determines where my feet step."

  "Heh... stubborn," the shadow of Summer chuckled hoarsely, his voice fading into a hiss of steam. "Zhi Xuan... if you truly want to carry them to the end of the road, make sure your back is strong enough. Because the higher you climb, the heavier that anchor will pull you down."

  "I have been used to heavy burdens since I carried corpses on my back," Zhi Xuan replied coldly.

  The fire-man’s body exploded into thousands of hot orange light particles, but instead of destroying, the light soaked into Zhi Xuan’s skin, merging with the Spring essence he had absorbed earlier.

  Instantly, the Secret Realm shook again. The coppery orange sky cracked and collapsed like glass struck by a hammer, revealing a new, much more silent landscape. The heat vanished, replaced by a strong wind carrying the scent of dry leaves and quiet despair. The black sand desert and the peach valley were gone. Now, Zhi Xuan stood in a yellowing meadow under a gloomy gray sky.

  "Autumn," Zhi Xuan murmured. He felt his energy nearly depleted, but his eyes remained sharp. "This trial... truly wants to dissect every aspect of my soul."

  He looked down at Mei Hua, who began to stir. "Mei, we're almost there. Just a little more..."

  "Brother... this place is lonely," Mei Hua whispered, rubbing her round eyes. "Why are all the leaves falling?"

  "Because they must fall so they can grow again later," Zhi Xuan replied, though in his heart he wondered if he himself was capable of falling and rising again at the end of this trial.

  He felt the Heavenly Samsara Wheel within his soul spinning with a slower but far more powerful rhythm. Two of the four law seals had been conquered. Now, the silence of Autumn awaited him—a season that brought neither temptation nor anger, but reflection on loss.

  Zhi Xuan stepped over the withered grass, each blade creaking and breaking beneath his feet. The Autumn wind blew through his tattered robe, carrying a hollow chill that seemed to drain every drop of spirit left in his marrow. On the gray horizon, golden-brown leaves swirled in an eternal dance of death, never touching the ground, as if trapped in an endless wait.

  "This is a different kind of silence," Zhi Xuan murmured, his voice hoarse, his throat still feeling the scorched remains of the Summer fire.

  Suddenly, from behind the thin Autumn mist, a woman appeared, sitting under a large, nearly bare tree. She wore a faded dark yellow dress, her face covered by a thin silk veil, but her eyes—the color of dry leaves—stared at Zhi Xuan with a sadness capable of toppling mountains.

  "Zhi Xuan," the woman called, her voice like the rustle of dry leaves on a headstone. "You have swallowed your desire for peace, you have swallowed your anger for power. Now, what will you do with your loss?"

  Zhi Xuan stopped ten steps in front of the woman. He did not lower his guard, but he felt no killing intent from her. "Loss? I have lost nothing that I cannot take back with my sword."

  The woman laughed, a laugh that sounded like a stifled sob. "Your sword can cleave the body, but can it rejoin the broken threads of fate? Look behind you, Wanderer."

  Zhi Xuan frowned; he was reluctant to look, but an urge from his Dao Heart forced him to glance back. There, in the middle of the yellowing meadow, stood faint shadows. There were figures of himself he recognized, faces from his shattered past, and even faceless figures he had cut down along his journey.

  "They are all what you have shed to reach this point," the woman said as she stood up. "Autumn is about letting go of what is no longer needed. Why do you still hold that anchor so tightly?"

  The woman pointed toward Mei Hua in Zhi Xuan’s arms. "This child... she is the symbol of a life you can never have. She is a reminder that you are an incomplete being. Do you not feel tired carrying this burden that has no spiritual essence?"

  "Autumn," Zhi Xuan murmured, his eyes widening slightly as he looked at another version of himself—one where he aged due to the slowness of cultivation caused by all the burdens he carried, and how the turbulent Xuan-Huang and Heavenly-Blood Body Law limited his realm to Soul Transformation.

  Zhi Xuan stared at that aging reflection with trembling pupils. In this Autumn vision, he saw himself withered like a dying leaf; an old man coughing blood, trying to protect Mei Hua in the middle of an ice storm, while his enemies laughed from the sky because his power was held back by the shackles of karma.

  "Look," the veiled woman whispered, stepping closer, the scent of damp earth and rotting wood following her. "That is your future if you persist in carrying those burdens. Your cultivation will slow, your meridians will crack under the weight of conflicting Laws, and in the end... you will die as a failed old man, unable to protect anyone."

  Zhi Xuan went silent, his eyes still fixed on his fragile future self. "Soul Transformation... stopped there?"

  "Only there," the woman replied with a tone of false sympathy. "Even though without that anchor, you could soar beyond all these lower realms, becoming an entity untouched by time. Let them go, Zhi Xuan. Let them fall as these leaves must fall. Only by letting go of the past can you have an eternal future."

  Zhi Xuan felt Mei Hua’s tiny fingers squeeze his shirt. The little girl looked up, her clear eyes searching Zhi Xuan’s pale face. "Brother... are you going away? You look sad looking at that old Grandpa."

  Zhi Xuan was jolted. He looked down at Mei Hua, then back at the woman. Suddenly, a lopsided smile—the bitterest smile he had ever worn—spread across his dust-covered face.

  "Hah... hahaha!" Zhi Xuan laughed, at first softly and then louder until his voice echoed across the silent meadow.

  The woman stepped back, her brow furrowed behind the veil. "Why do you laugh? You are staring at your own destruction."

  "I laugh because you are so funny, Auntie Dry Leaf," Zhi Xuan hissed, roughly wiping the blood from the corner of his eye. "You show me that I will age and stop at Soul Transformation? Do you think I believe you?"

  Zhi Xuan stepped forward, letting his chaotic but strong aura press against the Autumn mist. "Wherever this world seems endless, that is where I will always walk. When I reach Soul Transformation later, do not close your pitiful eyes; watch how I become the strongest."