During his stay in the grand, red-walled palace of the Tong Dynasty, Fang An dedicated every waking moment to studying the ancient Divine Fire Manual he had received in his subconscious realm. The book’s thick white cover felt cool to the touch, and its pages were filled with intricate ink diagrams, faded ancient scripts, and detailed explanations of techniques that drew directly from the core of his innate Divine Fire Energy. Each morning, he would rise before dawn to practice in the secluded training ground the emperor had granted him—a walled courtyard tucked away in the palace gardens, where tall bamboo groves shielded him from prying eyes. He knew that the battles lying ahead would test him beyond anything he had faced before—that his future opponents would at least possess power equal to, if not greater than, that of the Crimson Demon he had defeated in the charred forest. Every line he read, every posture he held, every breath he focused was a deliberate step toward forging him