Soul flame

Elias' mind raced as he tried to figure out what could have caused the disappearance of his debt. It could have been a natural disaster or maybe an attack from another clan.

But whatever it was, it was big enough to wipe out his entire debt.

Elias considered running away from this place but quickly dismissed the idea. He still did not have enough information. What if he directly ran into the disaster? It would only lead to death.

He couldn't take the risk.

Elias looked at the remaining cultivators guarding the place. All of them were too injured to be considered a threat. Even if they wanted to stop him, they wouldn't be able to.

His gaze shifted to the injured cultivators who were left guarding the warehouse. They were in no condition to stop him...or anyone as a matter of fact. They were barely standing, most of them wounded too severely to even put up a fight if something attacked. Missing limbs, bandaged eyes, stiff movements...it was clear that the attacks had taken their toll on the clan's force.

Elias had no concrete plan, but he was sure of one thing. He couldn't sit still and wait for disaster to strike. He needed to move and gather more information.

Quietly, he rose from his corner and slipped out of the warehouse while the guards were distracted by other panicked children. It was pretty easy, considering that half of them were blind.

Elias moved quickly but carefully, keeping his head low as he made his way through the courtyard. The few guards left didn't seem to notice him. They were huddled together, whispering about the fire in the distance.

Although Elias did hear some strange things about this fire, he wasn't sure about the validity of the information and only noted it internally.

Reaching the far wall, Elias spotted a few crates stacked nearby. He climbed onto them with a quick glance to ensure no one was watching. He then peered over the top of the wall.

The sight was deplorable.

The town was in ruins. Buildings that once stood tall were reduced to shattered wooden frames and piles of debris. The streets, usually bustling with life, were eerily empty, scattered with broken carts, torn banners, and personal belongings left behind in a hurry.

Yet, Elias wasn't surprised. Two days earlier, some beasts somehow dug their way through the town's defense and massacred a lot of unawakened but were eventually stopped by Liandor.

His gaze shifted to the elders' mansions. Even the grand estates, once symbols of power, had been hit hard. Roofs had caved in, walls were cracked, and the beautifully carved stone gates now lay in pieces on the ground.

Everything was destroyed.

Then Elias' eyes landed on the Xiawen mansion in the distance—his home. The mansion was on fire, but something about the flames was wrong.

The fire burned a strange blue instead of the familiar orange and red. It flickered lazily, almost as if it were alive, not spreading or roaring the way normal flames would usually.

Moreover, the flame did not seem to burn anything. Although the mansion was indeed on fire, there wasn't any smoke either.

He stared at the strange sight. The fire looked contained, almost controlled, as if it wasn't meant to destroy but to just be there.

Elias then noticed cultivators trying to smother the flames with fog-based manifestations, but the fire seemed to ignore their efforts entirely, continuing to burn without being extinguished or affected in any way. For a moment, one could almost believe this was a manifestation if we ignored its unusual size.

"Blue flames. Doesn't spread. No smoke. Contained. Ignore smoke-based attacks. Look almost like a manifestation." Elias thought, his expression unchanging. He kept analyzing, his mind coldly calculating. "It can't be someone using Blue Wrath Flame manifestation. If it were, this whole region would've been reduced to ash by now."

After a brief pause, Elias sifted through his memories of the game, piecing together the details. Finally, he found something that matched the description of the strange fire.

"...Rank 5 material. Soul Flame," he murmured to himself.

Suddenly, it all clicked.

This rare material had a very unique property. This flame pushed back aether, though not entirely. Moreover, unlike most material, it wasn't fueled by aether but by souls. It could absorb the soul of a creature that died nearby to grow. Judging by the sheer size of the flame, it must have absorbed all the souls from the previous attack wave.

"That would also be the reason for the beast wave," Elias realized, his gaze sharpening. "The beasts were rushing toward the city because of the flame. It's instinctual for them—they're drawn to high-ranked materials, trying to absorb them in an attempt to evolve. All beasts have the ability to vaguely feel the presence of a high-ranked material."

Disasters were often more than a single "brutal event"—they were like a line of dominoes. One small occurrence could trigger something else, which would then grow and lead to chaos. This was how karma debt worked. This flame, for example, served as a catalyst, triggering the beast waves.

"My karma debt has probably been settled because this flame went out of control."

"But why and how did this flame end up in the Xiawen mansion?" Elias wondered aloud. But even as he asked the question, he had a vague idea of the answer. After a few seconds of silence, he spoke again.

"...I see now. That was the reason he was so confident about saving his grandson."

Yet, Elias' expression darkened considerably. "A mature rank 5 material being exposed like this big will surely attract beasts from the surrounding area like moths to a flame."

Elias did not move and continued to observe the situation.

"They won't be able to do anything against a soul flame this size, even if they wanted to destroy it. But that is not my case. I could use my rune to destroy the soul flame," Elias thought, his fingers tracing the edge of the wall. "It would stop it from drawing in more beasts, and I'd even gain 20, maybe 25 years of lifespan in the process."

He paused, considering it seriously for a moment. It was a tempting idea—simple, effective. But his mind quickly rejected the thought.

"No. That's not the right solution." He shook his head slightly. "There is a better way. Risky, sure, but there's a bolder way to handle this. Let's make a gamble."