Ye Chen let out a slow breath, loosening his limbs. Though he hadn't sparred with anyone yet, he could already feel the immense power surging through his bones and blood—absolutely incomparable to his former self.

"This is the Heaven and Earth Incineration manual. Cultivate it diligently. This secret text is divided into three layers: 'Devour Fire,' 'Refine Fire,' and 'Forge Fire.' When you cultivate to the third level and can personally create the first divine fire of Heaven and Earth Incineration, only then will you have truly mastered it."

The Blood Phoenix opened its beak and swallowed the scripture of the Phoenix Nirvana, then spat out a bone shard of the same size, which drifted toward Ye Chen.

Ye Chen reached out and took it. The bone shard was densely covered in minute script, no larger than pinpricks, yet with his vision, he could perceive every detail clearly.

"Master Sister Vermilion Bird, is the flame you finally forged the Vermilion Bird Flame?" Ye Chen looked up and inquired.

"Indeed," the Blood Phoenix nodded. "Your Second Sister forged the Primeval Phoenix Blaze. This fire can refine all matter and energy in the world into Crystalized Flame. These Flame Crystals replenish her vital essence. In other words, she can devour everything from an enemy’s attack—all energy, including Laws—making any assault completely immune to her."

Ye Chen's face was etched with astonishment. "Doesn't that make her invincible?"

"Certainly not," the Blood Phoenix sighed softly. "For those at your current realm, it is indeed invincible. But once you reach a certain height, where you possess no energy yet the entire world is your body, where you can command the power of the cosmos to crush everything directly—that is what is truly terrifying."

Ye Chen suddenly understood.

"As for what kind of flame you can forge, you must comprehend it yourself," the Blood Phoenix sighed again. "This can only be achieved through self-discovery. If you only manage to forge the most basic, common flame, there is nothing that can be done. This manual can only be practiced once. Some who learn it become unmatched in the world; others remain utterly useless.

Ye Chen grasped its meaning. His expression grew solemn as he looked down at the text on the bone shard, commencing his cultivation according to the first level's technique, 'Devour Fire.'

'Devour Fire' first required him to inhale the maximum amount of flame his body could withstand, tempering the five internal organs, allowing the vital fire to course through his very blood, making fire his blood, and blood his fire.

The torment required for this first step was certainly no less severe than the preceding Divine Fire Body Tempering; perhaps even more terrifying.

Ye Chen immediately settled into a cross-legged meditative position, swallowing the golden flames surrounding his body, using them to temper his heart, liver, spleen, and lungs. With his eyes closed, he subjected his blood vessels, heart, brain matter, eyeballs—everything—to intense, molten fire.

Time flowed silently...

He sat like that for ten years.

Ten years left no visible trace upon Ye Chen. Even the beard that had grown was swiftly incinerated by the fierce flames. Instead, his full skin grew more elastic and robust under the fire's tempering, taking on a delicate yet unyielding sheen.

In the quiet sea of golden fire, Ye Chen abruptly opened his eyes. His gaze erupted like twin flames, radiating a terrifying divine light, as if his entire being was a mass of furious fire, untouchable.

The light in Ye Chen’s pupils gradually subsided, but his entire person still exuded an unparalleled, rigid might. He let out a breath, but what sprayed from his mouth was a stream of fire. His teeth, tongue, bones, blood vessels, and blood—all were searing hot like raging fire, unquenchable and ceaseless!

Even his soul seemed to be a luminous, radiating flame!

"My body has finally become a complete Flame Physique," Ye Chen murmured, looking down at his skin. He extended a finger, and a small cluster of flame, dancing with an arcane golden fire, emerged from the tip.

"Next is 'Refine Fire.'"

Ye Chen pulled out the bone shard to check it. Even within the sea of golden fire, the shard remained ice-cold, like eternal, unmelting frost—who knew what savage beast's bone it had been carved from. "'Refine Fire': Use your body as a furnace to smelt everything within you—bones, blood, heart, life, soul, even your secret techniques, Laws, and energy. Burn everything!"

"Finally forging a unique flame exclusively yours!"

"If a single misstep occurs, you risk being refined down to nothingness, losing even your consciousness, becoming merely a husk," Ye Chen frowned upon reading this, then paused in thought before slowly beginning the practice.

At the center of his body, a ball of flame abruptly coalesced, enveloping his heart and bones, smelting them as if deep-frying. The roaring fire burned his skeletal structure and heart, seemingly allowing drops of pure, oily essence to flow out—an agonizing heat that felt bone-deep and maddening.

Ye Chen’s teeth ground together with audible cracks. If his entire body hadn't been hardened by the fire's tempering, he surely would have shattered them. At this moment, his eyes were bloodshot, nearly bulging from their sockets, his face contorted into a grotesque mask by the overwhelming agony.

Ye Chen clenched his jaw tight, terrified that relaxing his grip would mean an immediate surrender.

Refine! Refine!

Ye Chen melted his internal bones, blood, and viscera into a dense sheet of flame, burning them into ash—even his life force, his soul, the Laws he commanded, and all his various energies.

Even the Twelve Energy Profound Meanings began to melt under the spontaneously generated flame.

With every element smelted away, the internal flame grew fiercer, its momentum stronger. After refining the internal organs, the flame shifted from golden to a blood-red hue, burning thickly within him like malevolent gore, carrying the scent of slaughter.

As he continued, integrating the Profound Meaning of Ice and Snow, the Profound Meaning of Sky, the Profound Meaning of Earth, and the other twelve Profound Meanings, the flame’s color deepened from sanguine red, shifting from vibrant to dark crimson, until it took on a purplish tint, finally mellowing into a dense, inky black.

The Twelve Energy Profound Meanings burned fiercely within Ye Chen. Next came the Origin Law of Wind.

Under the incineration of the dark flame, this Law manifested as a cyan vortex, slowly shrinking as it was smelted, until it gradually vanished without a trace. Yet, the temperature of the inky-black flame became even more terrifying, taking on a certain lightness.

Ye Chen then proceeded to refine the Divine Blood within him. This single drop of golden Divine Blood had accompanied him since the Earth Era, enabling his three Superman modes: Ant-Man, Lightning-Man, and Sky-Beast-Man, and even allowing him to devour the genes of three powerful beings for refinement.

However, at this echelon, the genetic level of the body became secondary; what mattered was the absolute power each individual commanded!

At this stage, the drop of Divine Blood, 99% of which he had already refined since breaking through to the Divine Emperor realm, underwent the final great smelting. It took an unknown amount of time before it slowly transformed from a golden weight into something as light as flame, gradually seeping into the inky-black fire.

This infusion of the Divine Blood lent the dark flame a layer of sacred radiance. Though its pitch-black appearance seemed sinister and terrifying, the aura it emitted was pure and gentle, akin to pure light!

Ye Chen then began smelting the Ant-Man genes, followed by the Lightning-Man genes, and finally the Sky-Beast-Man genes.

The Ant-Man and Lightning-Man genes merged relatively easily, dissolving instantly upon contact with the dark flame.

The Sky-Beast-Man gene resisted slightly, but eventually, it too was slowly integrated.

Next came the Source Crystal Grass on his body, the Heavenly Dao Scripture, the Blood God Secret Art, the previous Phoenix Nirvana, and every technique he had ever learned, including the Blazing God Secret Canon.

Ye Chen's body functioned as a massive furnace, burning everything to dust.

The various manuals were melted down, serving as nourishment for the inky-black flame. With every manual refined, the dark flame’s color deepened by a shade, until it became so black it seemed bottomless, like a ghostly abyss that inspired horror.

Ye Chen's mind achieved an unprecedented state of tranquility.

He wasn't sure if he even possessed a heart anymore; he only knew that the heart that had grown later was melted, his consciousness was dissolved, his soul was fused, and everything about him was being consumed.

Slowly dissolving...

Becoming the fuel for the inky-black flame, causing the fire to erupt more brilliantly.

If Ye Chen had opened his eyes now, he would have witnessed the Blood Phoenix’s look of utter shock. For in the center of the golden sea of fire, Ye Chen was now enveloped in surging black flames. This viscous fire, bearing an aura of malevolence, appeared to be the most terrifying and wicked thing in the world, causing the surrounding golden sea of fire to automatically recede like a tide; nothing dared approach.

Any golden flames caught unaware were touched by the black fire and, as if stuck in glue, were rapidly engulfed and swallowed.

The black flames acted like a massive, monstrous mouth, consuming everything that came near until nothing remained.

After a long, long time.

Ye Chen slowly opened his eyes.

Beneath his long, slender lashes were a pair of pupils of profound black, deep as a pool, carrying a cold, uncanny glint, as if belonging to an ancient evil deity.

When the Blood Phoenix saw these eyes, its heart skipped a beat, as if struck by electricity, trembling involuntarily. When it realized its reaction, it was even more stunned.

"You—what kind of fire is this?" the Blood Phoenix asked Ye Chen. "What is inside you that you have refined and transformed into such an arcane and wicked flame?"

Ye Chen paused, raising his palm. A cluster of viscous, pitch-black flame, radiating an unholy, eerie light, materialized in his palm. "I merely refined everything within my body. I don't know how it transformed into this."

The Blood Phoenix stared deeply at him. "You must possess something belonging to the Great Dark Demon God. This sensation of profound evil—besides him, no one else carries it!"