The Celestial Continent – An Unnamed Battlefield.

There was little ceremony to herald my awakening.

One moment I had been on my knees, skin charred and smoked, its appearance more reminiscent of the dead soil surrounding an active volcano than the once immaculate pink skin with which I was born into.

There was significant damage inflicted upon my person, I noted dryly, though I felt no pain, having excised such weaknesses before I had ascended to Core Formation.

Great lines split my rocky flesh, clean cuts by a trained swordsman; from such damage came my life force unbidden, magma weeping from each wound that revealed within the obsidian bone of my skeleton, cracked and, in some places, shattered.

I was beaten.

Such thoughts came unbidden; a haze of confusion made it impossible for my mind to piece together the events that led to this fatal miscalculation on my part; it is only logical that I, a being that had existed for close to eight centuries, would triumph easily over a young upstart that had not experienced his first hundred years.

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"This is not possible."

It was a statement of fact; my core had already been severely damaged, not enough to even detonate it and prevent my corpse from being hung as a trophy by the Orthodox Sects; how… frustrating.

An emotion, I realise belatedly; I had thought such mortal chains had been purged whilst on the path towards immortality, discarded with little concern as I focused my entire being and existence towards attaining that one most precious thing- Immortality.

The crunch of sediment and the cracking of glass alert my dulled senses to the advancing presence of the young Orthodox boy, who had done what none of his seniors dares thought possible.

I raised my head to stare at him with empty sockets; I could not see him, but that was not the point- I, the Exalted Fire, would go with dignity, facing the end as a man of my station ought to do.

After all, I had contingencies, untested as they were; I am no fool; this is a mere setback, a moment of learning that I shall adapt and overcome, so next time… Next time I shall be the victor.

"Foe unconquered… I shan't perish on the field… For I shall be born again… To cut the head off… Zhou…"

I felt the air move, my neck slowly part, brittle obsidian shattering beneath Qi-enhanced strength- The rushing of cool air, the sensation of falling, and finally, a severe crunch as my decapitated head met the gravel and shattered glass of the ground.

And then, I opened my eyes.