The call from deep within my heart summoned the flames, an event that should never have occurred. I had already lost the Vermilion Bird Seed, talents related to mana had been stripped away, and both my body and soul were damaged. The fact that I wasn't dead was already hard to comprehend. And yet, I could still wield mana. It was akin to building a castle in the air—impossible to explain.

But now is not the time for concerns like that. I needed to stop Shan Liangyi from killing someone important to me, and I had regained the power to move. If I wasted time debating logic, it would truly be unwise. I immediately reconstructed my body and soul with flames.

During this process, I noticed some differences.

In the past, when I wielded Flame Magic Power, although it involved transforming my spiritual consciousness into fire, there was a certain external theme guiding the transformation. It was like writing an essay where the pen and ink were mine, the words were indeed written by me, yet the topic was predetermined. What governed all this was the Vermilion Bird Seed deeply hidden within my soul. Therefore, the flames I conjured were called Vermilion Bird Fire by me.

Now, however, the flames seemed to have an unruly flavor, free from their original framework. It felt like being told to "write whatever you want" for the first time after being confined to a set topic, leading to a sense of disorientation. I only hesitatedly followed the old topic to express myself. I felt that the mana I wielded now didn't necessarily have to be flames; it was just my habitual expression in the form of fire.

This seemed to have transcended the pure Vermilion Bird Fire, no longer confined by the Four Symbols and Five Elements System, and became a mana truly belonging to my own soul, exhibiting my unique color.

The disorientation brought by freedom seemed to manifest in strength, making my power initially weak. At first, it was only at a Great Success Rank, not much different from when I first encountered Mazao. However, once I dispelled distractions, the scale and density immediately soared, surging back to the level of Great Impermanence.

My reconfigured body took on a Crown Form and charged at Shan Liangyi.

Although uncertain whether the Furnace Slag still resided in my soul, I could no longer produce Ash Weapons. The Third Form "Corona," based on the Furnace Slag Impermanence Divine Sword, should have been impossible to execute. Yet, as I reminisced about past feelings of entering the Corona Form and habitually attempted it, my body naturally entered this state.

"——Hmm?"

Shan Liangyi had originally turned away, but sensed my mana fluctuations the moment I charged, whipping his head around with a shocked expression on his face.

No wonder he was so astonished. Seeing me resurrect and wield the Power of Great Impermanence must have felt like witnessing a chicken skeleton, stripped of all skin and meat, suddenly reassemble into a skeletal chicken and pounce at him.

Yet, he truly deserved to have opened the third door to Great Impermanence, likely having experienced bizarre things before. Shocked yet undeterred, he forcefully disregarded his emotional waves, reflexively lifting his right hand. Gravity, strong enough to warp space and time, coalesced in his palm, transforming into a dark, concentrated blast that swiftly shot at me.

The feeling of destiny and causality being forcibly locked rose in my heart. It's likely not only due to Shan Liangyi's inherent abilities but also the innate properties of gravity. One aspect of gravity's essence is inescapable fate, the Power of Fate. In the past, when I wielded Solar Eclipse Fire to kill Huang Quan and Great Demon Xuanwu, I also exhibited this characteristic. Now, I found myself in a similar predicament.

Evading this attack was impossible. Unable to, I focused my thoughts on what came after. Hoping to endure this attack and launch a self-sacrificial strike to buy Mazao and Zhu Shi a chance at survival was my reflexive thought. In truth, I knew my current level couldn't withstand a strike from Shan Liangyi, especially with lethal intent.

Perhaps because I consciously neither thought to evade nor not, my body's instinct for survival followed some mysterious instinct, unconsciously performing an evasive maneuver. As I dodged, the locked-on sensation inexplicably slipped away from me.

The dark wave of gravity brushed past me.

"Dodged it?"

Shan Liangyi seemed utterly unprepared for such an event, though uncompromised by surprise, he immediately unleashed a second strike.

Again, that feeling of being locked on enveloped me, yet it failed to truly catch me. I barely reacted to his second strike, merely continuing in my evasive stance, only realizing what happened as his attack tore past me, missing again. I felt like a dry leaf drifting on a small stream, or a mimic organism maintaining the same color as its environment. My body seemed to meld with heaven and earth, becoming an untargetable entity.

I felt I could become any substance, any energy, any existence, any phenomenon... even any "role," any soul.

"Could it be..."

Shan Liangyi seemed to realize something, his expression turning distorted. "No... this can't be possible!"

As he said this, his tone rose, while a third wave of dark gravity gathered in his palm.

I immediately altered my course, speeding away into the distance. In an instant, the battlefield shifted to a place where neither Mazao nor Zhu Shi would be endangered. Shan Liangyi pursued without hesitation, refraining from releasing his attack immediately, instead opting to compress and accumulate his mana.

Within that terrifying gravity lay magic fluctuations even greater than his two previous strikes combined.

At some point, I realized I could discern his mana fluctuations.

Far stronger than any Great Impermanence I had encountered, not even Taoyuan Village Master Meng Zhang, fully accepting the power of "Paradise," could compare. Combined, none of the present Great Impermanence and Great Demons could scratch him; he was the embodiment of despair.

And his third strike wouldn't be like the first two. This time, it was sure to hit me, pushing me into the abyss of death.

So... I needed power.

Much greater power than I possessed now.

I must become a stronger self—

The moment this thought emerged, my soul, resonating with my will, underwent a fundamental transformation.

Though I had stated many impossibilities before, I had to repeat it: altering the soul's structure was never supposed to happen, or permissible in the first place. The soul is a manifestation of one's consciousness, spirit, thoughts—a concretization of personality. Altering the soul's structure equates to a mental suicide. Despite having dismantled and reassembled my soul in the past, its structural principle was never changed, nor could I do so.

Conversely, the "Great Renunciation" allows one to break limits and grow stronger because this action can fundamentally change a person's heart, ushering in a soul revolution, attaining a stronger new self by killing the old.

But now, I could tread on any path, become any self.

I was no longer the same self bound to narrow paths.

My mana fluctuations surged at a terrifying speed, even when surpassing tenfold my original power, they didn't halt, rapidly reaching a bottleneck. The limit ahead appeared as a tightly shut door.

Shan Liangyi's gravity surged towards me with earth-shattering force.

Simultaneously, without pausing, my soul instantly plowed through that door, launching my power into a new realm.

Concentrating Flame Magic Power in my fist, I charged against the gravitational wave with all my might.

The terrifying gravitational wave that could have pulverized my former self burst apart like an exploding sandbag under bombardment, unraveling into numerous streams of deep yellow turbid gas. In exchange, my arm couldn't withstand the excessive impact, exploding on the spot.

This exchange left my arm unable to sustain the excessive impact, shattering on the spot.

My body, now reinforced to a density far beyond the Corona Form's, could hardly be penetrated by gravitational waves.

Yet my soul and strength continued to grow.

I finally confirmed one thing. For some reason, my Innate Manifestation Ability wasn't entirely taken by the Vermilion Bird Seed, and not only had I not lost all my power... I had actually advanced further.

"Maybe I should thank you, Shan Liangyi," I said. "Thanks to you, it seems I've opened the third door."

Hearing this, Shan Liangyi's expression twisted as if realizing something. "No... It can't be!"

As his voice grew louder, the dark gravitational wave in his palm suddenly coalesced into a massive force that erupted, binding me like chains and paralyzing my every move.