Chapter 686: The Arsonist
He had finally reached the Grandmaster Realm.
Xu Wuyi’s consciousness withdrew from his sea of consciousness, and he slowly opened his eyes. The sunlight was just right, filtering through the branches and leaves of the old locust tree and casting a warm glow over his body.
He looked down at his hands. They were the same hands—skin, bones, and flesh—without any changes. But he knew that everything was different now.
He stood up, walked to the center of the courtyard, and looked up at the sky, which was fragmented by the locust tree’s leaves. Then, with a slight shift of his mind, a surge of power welled up from the depths of his sea of consciousness. It was a power he had never experienced before—not the scorching heat of Flame or the crushing weight of Gravity, but something far purer and more primal.
The moment this power emerged, he felt a connection form between himself and the world—an invisible tether. It was an incredibly wondrous sensation. It felt as if he had been locked in a small room, only able to see the outside world through a window. Now, that window had suddenly been thrown wide open. He could step right out, stand amidst heaven and earth, feel the wind blowing from all directions, and gaze upon a boundless landscape.
He closed his eyes, carefully savoring that connection.
Between heaven and earth, everything was filled with something formless and intangible. It wasn’t Energy or matter, but a far more profound existence. Some called it the primal qi of heaven and earth, some called it the origin of the universe, and others called it Dao Rules. No matter what it was called, it truly existed. Moreover, it could be perceived, mobilized, and controlled.
This was the greatest difference between a Grandmaster and an ordinary Martial Artist. Ordinary Martial Artists used their own power, accumulated within their bodies and unleashed in an instant. A Grandmaster, on the other hand, wielded the Power of Heaven and Earth, using themselves as a bridge to channel the boundless Heaven and Earth Energy.
Therefore, a Grandmaster’s might far surpassed that of an ordinary Martial Artist, and even that of a Quasi-Grandmaster. Because no matter how strong a person was, they could never be stronger than heaven and earth.
As Xu Wuyi felt this connection, a sense of enlightenment welled up in his heart. This was the first step of a Grandmaster.
Externalizing the Heart Image to connect with heaven and earth.
𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮
It meant completely releasing the Heart Image from the sea of consciousness, allowing it to become a bridge between oneself and Heaven and Earth Energy. The stronger the Heart Image, the wider and more stable the bridge, and the more Heaven and Earth Energy one could mobilize.
He opened his eyes, raised his right hand, and shifted his mind slightly. A wisp of blue Flame rose from his palm.
That was the Flame of Order, his most familiar and adept application. But now, this Flame was completely different from before. The previous Flame of Order, although capable of burning Order, was ultimately derived from his own power. Its might was limited, and its consumption was immense.
The current Flame of Order was formed by directly connecting with Heaven and Earth Energy, using the Heart of Order as a bridge. It was no longer Xu Wuyi’s own power, but the Power of Heaven and Earth manifesting through his Will. The wisp of Flame burned quietly, its color purer and deeper than before. It danced in Xu Wuyi’s palm like a living sprite, ready to obey his commands at any moment.
Looking at the Flame, Xu Wuyi willed it once more.
The Flame surged instantly. It shot out from his palm, transforming into a pillar of fire that soared into the sky. The pillar was as thick as two people embracing. It shot straight up tens of meters into the air, its color shifting from light blue to dark blue, and from dark blue to an almost transparent white.
Bizarrely, such a massive Flame emitted no heat whatsoever. The surrounding air remained cool, the leaves of the old locust tree still swayed in the breeze, and the distant voices from the alleyway were still clearly audible.
What this Flame burned was not matter, but Order.
Xu Wuyi looked up at the towering pillar of fire, a sudden thought springing to mind. He wanted to see just how high this pillar could reach.
With another shift of his mind, the pillar of fire continued to extend upward: one hundred meters, two hundred meters, five hundred meters, one thousand meters...
He felt the Heart of Order in his sea of consciousness trembling slightly. The Power of Heaven and Earth poured in endlessly, sustaining the pillar’s combustion. This power seemed boundless; no matter how much he needed, he could draw it from heaven and earth.
But he also knew that this was not without its limits. His limit did not lie in the Power of Heaven and Earth, but in the Heart of Order itself. The Heart of Order was his bridge to heaven and earth. The width and stability of this bridge determined how much Power of Heaven and Earth he could mobilize. Right now, this bridge had just been built. It wasn’t wide enough, nor was it stable enough.
When the pillar of fire reached an altitude of around fifteen hundred meters, it began to tremble slightly. The tremor was faint, but Xu Wuyi could clearly perceive it. It was the Heart of Order sending him a signal—that was enough; he couldn’t push it any further.
With a thought, the pillar of fire stopped rising, standing silently between heaven and earth.
One thousand five hundred meters.
A blue pillar of fire over two meters in diameter shot up from that secluded little courtyard, piercing straight into the clouds. The Flame’s color transitioned from dark blue at the base to light blue higher up, culminating in an almost transparent white at the top. From afar, it looked like a radiant blue pillar of light connecting heaven and earth, shimmering under the afternoon sun.
Even more bizarrely, this pillar of fire emitted no heat. It was not matter that it burned, but Order.
Wherever the pillar reached, everything in the world that was once orderly began to descend into Chaos.
First was the air. The air had originally flowed according to established rules, with a gentle breeze blowing from east to west, softly brushing past the treetops. However, the air around the pillar of fire began to dart about erratically—sometimes east, sometimes west, sometimes up, and sometimes down.
Next was the light. Sunlight originally traveled in straight lines, forming clear light and shadows in the air. But the light around the pillar began to twist, refract, and scatter, creating patches of bizarre, iridescent colors.
Then came the sound. The distant voices from the alleyway were originally faintly audible. But the sounds around the pillar began to distort, warp, and overlap, as if countless voices were echoing all at once.
Finally, it affected something even more profound. The ordinary people living in this area suddenly felt an indescribable sense of disorientation. They didn’t know why they felt so disoriented; they only felt that something was off about their surroundings.
The alleys they had walked for decades suddenly felt unfamiliar; the neighbors they had known for years suddenly felt like strangers; their intimately familiar homes suddenly felt as if they were stepping inside for the very first time. The feeling was hard to describe. It wasn’t fear or panic, but a deeper sense of bewilderment.
It was as if their meticulously ordered world had suddenly had its Order disrupted by something, losing its proper form.
Beneath the old locust tree, Xu Wuyi stood quietly, gazing up at the towering pillar of fire. He could feel everything happening wherever the pillar reached. He could feel the Chaos in the air, light, and sound, and he could feel the bewilderment in the hearts of those ordinary people.
That Chaos and bewilderment were the results of Order being burned.
And he was the arsonist.