In the next instant, the Fire Spirit’s body began to burn.
Orange flas completely enveloped his figure, but it was not a destructive fire. It was a fire of departure.
As if the Spirit itself were transforming into pure energy to travel sowhere far away.
First, the arms disappeared.
Then, the torso.
Then, the head.
The intensity increased continuously, the glow becoming almost unbearable.
Five seconds later...
Nothing remained.
The Spirit simply vanished.
As if it had never existed.
Silence once again dominated the do. Only Kyrian, the altar, and the bubbling magma below remained.
Kyrian stood watching the place where the Spirit had been for a few seconds.
’We’ll et again. In the Central Region.’ He thought.
Then, he noticed sothing.
The enormous red barriers separating the magma from the chamber were disappearing.
Cracks appeared across their entire surface, first as thin as strands of hair, then wider, deeper. The sound of shattering glass echoed throughout the do.
Soon after...
They collapsed.
Tons of magma began rushing violently toward the altar. The ocean of fire that had once been contained behind the barriers now spread freely, waves of lava cascading down like incandescent waterfalls.
Kyrian did not hesitate.
He imdiately turned around.
And shot forward.
The ground exploded beneath his feet.
It was not a visual effect. It was the actual impact of his strength against the stone. Wherever his feet touched the floor, the rock cracked.
His speed was absurd.
Each stride propelled him dozens of ters forward. The wind roared around him as he climbed the gigantic staircase, his feet barely touching the steps before leaping again.
The stairs blurred past him.
Kyrian was genuinely surprised.
He was not using Qi. He was not strengthening his body with spiritual energy. This was rely his physical strength, the pure power of his transford muscles, tendons, and bones.
Even so...
His speed had already reached nearly half of what he could previously achieve using Lightning Qi, which drastically increased his agility.
"Incredible."
The enhancent granted by the Bone of Heaven was even greater than he had imagined.
The minutes passed quickly.
One hour.
Less than one hour.
He was already near the top.
Previously, it had taken him nearly three hours to descend that staircase, every step cautious, every stair a battle against heat and exhaustion.
Now, he was traversing the sa path in reverse in a fraction of the ti.
But then...
Kyrian stopped.
His eyes narrowed.
The exit was blocked.
The upper entrance of the staircase, the point through which he had entered the chamber, where the red gate had opened, had been completely swallowed by magma.
The ocean of fire, after collapsing the barriers in the lower chamber, had risen. The pressure had pushed the lava upward through fissures and cracks, and now the entire top of the staircase was subrged.
A glowing crimson ocean filled the tunnel ahead.
Bubbling slowly.
Hot enough to vaporize steel.
Any ordinary cultivator would die instantly trying to cross it. Their Qi barriers would be consud in seconds, their bodies burned down to the bone.
Kyrian observed it for a few seconds.
Then he began walking.
Step after step.
Approaching the lava.
Strangely...
He felt no heat.
None at all.
Not even discomfort.
It was like standing before warm water. Familiar, welcoming warm water.
He extended a hand.
His fingers touched the surface of the magma.
They slowly sank into it.
The viscous, glowing substance, hot enough to lt rock, enveloped his skin.
But it did not burn.
It did not hurt.
It caused absolutely nothing.
On the contrary.
Kyrian felt sothing familiar.
A deep and instinctive connection.
As if the fire recognized him. As if the magma were alive.
And accepted him.
Kyrian’s orange eyes glowed.
At that sa mont...
The spinal column within his back lit up.
Through his robe, he could see the radiance. Vertebra after vertebra, from the base of his neck to his lower back, a crimson-gold light pulsed.
Golden veins appeared beneath his skin, thin as strands of hair, running across his arms, chest, and face.
Fire Qi responded imdiately.
Not as a tool. Not as an external power.
But as an extension of his own being.
Then it happened.
The magma moved.
Not because Kyrian used a technique.
Not because he cast so skill learned from ancient scrolls.
Not because he activated a formation or channeled Qi in a specific manner.
Simply because he wished it.
The waves of lava retreated.
Opening a path.
Like servants stepping aside before their king.
Kyrian watched, his eyes widening slightly.
He had done nothing except desire it.
The magma had obeyed his will.
As if fire itself understood his thoughts.
A smile appeared on his lips.
’The Bone of Heaven.’ He thought.
’The Law of Fire.’
It resides within now.
Then he moved forward.
Diving directly into the magma.
His clothes vanished instantly.
The fabric turned to ash upon contact with the lava. His boots burned away. His belt lted.
Everything was destroyed.
Everything except him.
Fire was no longer capable of harming him.
Kyrian continued onward, swimming through the lava. His movents were smooth and efficient, as though he were moving through water rather than an ocean of molten stone.
anwhile, the magma continuously parted around him, opening a path through sheer obedience to his presence.
Fifteen minutes later...
A light appeared above.
The exit.
The mouth of the volcano.
Kyrian accelerated, pulling himself through the magma with increasing force.
Then he erged.
The outside air struck his face.
He inhaled deeply.
The air was hot, but not because of the volcano. It was the natural heat of the Inner Area, mixed with the breeze rising from the slopes.
It was different from magma.
Kyrian felt the wind on his skin for the first ti in many hours.
The sensation was refreshing.
He swam toward one of the crater’s inner edges. His hands found the volcanic rock, rough and hot.
His fingers dug into the surface.
And he launched himself upward.
His body crossed dozens of ters in a single leap. The wind roared in his ears.
He landed atop a natural platform, a protruding ledge of black stone extending from the crater wall, protected from the direct flow of lava.
Kyrian remained there for a few monts.
Observing the world around him.
The sky was dark.
Ash continued to fall.
Heat distorted the landscape.
But he was alive.
Stronger than ever before.
Then, he opened his spatial ring.
He retrieved a new set of clothes, a simple orange cultivator’s robe made from durable fabric that had already endured the heat of the Interdiate Area.
After dressing himself, Kyrian wrapped the fabric in a thin layer of Qi.
Not because he needed protection. His body was already immune to such heat.
But his clothes were not.
And he preferred not to walk around naked.
Finally, Kyrian raised his head.
The summit of the volcano was still far away.
Hundreds of ters above, a nearly vertical wall of black stone surrounded the entire crater. Loose rocks, cracks, and fissures where steam escaped.
The landscape was hostile.
Imposing.
Fitting.
Kyrian studied it.
His orange eyes, with crimson flas dancing within their pupils, swept across the rocky wall, calculating the route.
Then he smiled.
A small smile.
But one filled with anticipation.
He clenched his fists.
He felt power pulsing through his bones.
The power of the Bone of Heaven.
The power of the fire that now flowed through his blood.
He felt the heat respond within his spine, each vertebra vibrating softly.
His journey inside the volcano had co to an end.
With a single leap, Kyrian shot toward the mountain wall.
His feet found the rock.
And he began his climb out of the Great Volcano.
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