Chapter 1: The Flame Vein Testing Day

The morning mist had yet to lift, but the Lin Family’s training grounds were already packed with people.

In the center of the square, paved with blue-gray stone, stood a black stele half a man’s height. Its surface was covered in cracks, as if it had been scorched countless times by flames. This was the Flame Testing Stone, the object that determined a person’s fate for life.

Today was Flame Vein Testing Day.

Lin Jin stood at the very back of the crowd.

He wore a faded black short shirt, patched at the sleeves in a few places. Amidst the other teenagers in luxurious silks and fine robes, he looked completely out of place. No one spoke to him, but no one actively avoided him either—because in everyone’s eyes, he was practically not even a contender.

“Next, Lin Yue!”

The voice of the Flame Testing Elder rang out.

A teenage boy stepped forward quickly, placing his hand on the Flame Testing Stone. He drew a deep breath. Moments later, the stone glowed with a reddish-orange light, fiery veins spreading across it like blood vessels.

“Flame Vein, Level Seven!”

A low murmur ran through the crowd.

“Not bad… not bad, and only fifteen years old.”
“Among his generation, he’s truly one of the top.”

Lin Yue’s lips curved into a barely restrained smile. His gaze briefly swept to the back of the crowd, landing for a moment on Lin Jin before flicking away, as if he were looking at an obstructive stone.

The testing continued.

One name after another, the flames of the stone flickered and flared.

Level Six, Level Seven… and even a rare girl who triggered a faint golden flame pattern.

“Flame Vein, Level Eight!”

This time, even the elder nodded approvingly.

Applause, astonishment, admiration.

Lin Jin remained silent.

He lowered his gaze to his own palm. The lines were clear, but there was no warmth at all.

Sixteen years.

He had trained harder than anyone else.

He rose before dawn and only slept late at night. He could recite every flame technique by heart. Yet his Flame Veins were like a river forcibly dammed—flame energy entered, then immediately dissipated, leaving not even a ripple.

“Next.”

The Flame Testing Elder paused, glanced at the list, and his tone softened slightly.

“Lin… Jin.”

For a brief moment, the training grounds fell silent.

Then came stifled laughter.

“Finally, it’s him.”
“Sixteen years old and still hasn’t broken through Flame Initiation?”
“I heard his Flame Vein is incomplete—born with a broken flame.”
“Why is the Lin Family even keeping someone like this?”

Lin Jin stepped forward.

Each step was steady.

Not because he was confident, but because he was used to these eyes.

He stopped before the Flame Testing Stone and placed his hand upon it.

Cold.

Colder than ever.

Moments passed.

One breath. Two breaths. Three breaths.

The stone remained unresponsive.

The low laughter in the crowd grew louder, some no longer hiding it.

“As expected.”
“Not even Level Three, I bet.”

The elder frowned, about to announce the result, when suddenly—

The Flame Testing Stone flickered.

Not red. Not orange.

But a dim, almost grayish light.

Like embers after the fire has died.

The elder froze. He looked closer, but the faint light vanished as quickly as it had appeared, as if it had never been there.

“Flame Vein—”

He hesitated, his tone complicated.

“Level Three.”

The crowd erupted.

“Sixteen years old… Level Three?”
“Isn’t that even lower than last year?”
“Hahaha, the longer you train, the more you regress?”

Some laughed outright.

Lin Jin withdrew his hand and silently stepped aside.

He didn’t defend himself.

Because everything he had ever said had long since proven meaningless.

At that moment, a clear, cold female voice rang out from the front row.

“Lin Jin.”

He looked up.

A young woman in white stood at the Lin Family’s leadership table, her features cold and composed, like a lotus untouched by dust.

She was Su Qingxue.

The Lin Family had arranged a marriage with the Su Family years ago.

She was also now a genius with Level Eight Flame Veins.

All eyes instantly turned toward them.

Su Qingxue met Lin Jin’s gaze. Her expression was calm, neither contemptuous nor pitying, as if she were stating something she had long since decided.

“Our engagement… ends here.”

The air seemed to freeze.

“We are no longer on the same level.”
“To continue this union would only hold us back.”

Her voice was low but carried clearly across the training ground.

Not a single insult, yet sharper than any humiliation.

Lin Jin stood there, fingertips clenching slightly.

He had long known this day would come.

Just didn’t expect it to happen in front of everyone.

The elder cleared his throat, seemingly about to speak, but ultimately remained silent.

The head of the Lin Family stayed quiet for a moment, then nodded.

“In that case, the engagement is nullified.”

The words fell like the last stone onto Lin Jin’s heart.

Su Qingxue gave a slight bow and turned away.

Not a glance back.

The crowd erupted again.

“Completely finished.”
“Even his last support is gone.”
“Why keep someone like this in the Lin Family?”

Lin Jin turned and left the training grounds.

No one stopped him.

To them, he no longer deserved even a second glance.

Night fell.

Lin Jin walked alone to the Lin Family’s back mountain.

Long abandoned, the area was thin in flame energy—the place every cultivator avoided.

He sat on a rock and closed his eyes.

Flame techniques in motion.

The energy gathered as usual, but then dissolved immediately.

Failure.

Failure again.

Just as he was about to stop, a sharp pain surged through his chest.

Like something inside him was being violently torn apart.

Lin Jin groaned, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.

The next moment, his consciousness seemed dragged into a deep abyss.

In the darkness, a faint flame slowly flickered.

Not red. Not orange.

But a black flame, almost void-like.

A deep, muffled voice echoed in his mind:

“Finally…”
“Someone… can bear my presence.”

Lin Jin’s eyes shot open.

In his palm, a strand of black flame burned quietly.

No warmth.

Yet all surrounding flame energy instinctively avoided it.

He stared at the flame in shock, heart pounding.

At this moment, he vaguely understood—

From today onward, the world’s perception of him would be completely incinerated.