'Ugh...'

Raon bit his parched lips. The blood trickling down his white teeth evaporated instantly. The sun's heat was so intense it threatened to incinerate his entire body, making it impossible to maintain focus.

'To borrow Wrath's words, it's hellishly hot.'

Even with the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation operating at full power, he couldn't absorb all of the sun's heat. He couldn't fathom how such intense heat could be generated.

'However...'

Would absorbing this heat here affect reality? The realm of swordsmanship was a mental growth independent of the physical body, so what he learned here would certainly carry over to the outside world. But it seemed unlikely that aura or physical growth would extend to reality.

'No, for now, it's best to believe.'

The First Patriarch wouldn't have prepared such a test without reason. At this point, it was right to trust him and focus solely on cultivation.

'The heat is so intense it's making me think all sorts of things.'

If it were just pain, he could force himself to endure, but being unable to breathe at all left him helpless. If he hadn't been using the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation, his soul would have already melted like ice cream under the scorching sun.

'The First Patriarch was more ruthless than I thought.'

In his memories, the First Patriarch always appeared kind and considerate. He had thought him to be just a gentle person, but now it seemed he was a true hardliner.

'I don't want to lose when it comes to tenacity eith— Argh!'

Raon let out a faint laugh before wincing and hunching his shoulders.

'Damn it.'

The heat made it feel as if his skin, muscles, and even bones were melting. No, it wasn't just a feeling. There was actual pain, as if a knife was carving into his flesh.

'I can't endure this.'

This wasn't something he could overcome with concentration alone. He felt a bizarre sensation, as if his very soul was being erased.

'Should I try using Glacier alongside it?'

Glacier's frost was the opposite of heat, so it might help a little. With a surge of energy, he raised both the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation and Glacier simultaneously, as if in the midst of an urgent battle.

'This isn't working either.'

While Glacier's cold energy slightly reduced the heat around his mana circuits, the difference was negligible. The heat pouring down from the golden sun was too strong for the frost to have any effect.

"Ugh..."

A harsh groan escaped Raon's cracked lips. It wasn't intentional. His soul was screaming in response to the overwhelming heat. The sensation was not of being next to Vulcan's charcoal kiln, but of being inside it.

The sensation in his skin was disappearing. It meant the severity of the burns was increasing. Any more would be truly dangerous.

'Surely the First Patriarch wouldn't give an impossible trial...'

The First Patriarch had only ever presented trials that, while painful or difficult, could be overcome with sufficient effort. Surely there must be a way to endure this heat as well.

'What method should I use? To accept fire... Ah!'

While pondering the First Patriarch's intentions, he suddenly thought of a method he hadn't tried yet.

'The Ring of Fire.'

What the First Patriarch had passed down wasn't just the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation. There was also the Ring of Fire, which was both a cultivation method and not. Originally, when cultivating aura, one should only use a single method, but now wasn't the time to follow such theories. The Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation alone could never handle the sun's heat.

'Let's go.'

Raon clenched his fist on his knee and simultaneously activated the Ring of Fire and the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation. The Ring of Fire burst into the clearest flames yet, beginning to absorb the torrential heat from the sun.

As the nine rings resonated, the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation seemed to gain vigor, absorbing even more heat.

'The pain has lessened.'

The pain from the heat hadn't disappeared completely. It had subsided from feeling like being in a blast furnace to being on a hot grill, which was bearable enough.

'So the Ring of Fire was the answer.'

It seemed the First Patriarch wanted to teach that the Ring of Fire and the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation should always be used together, not just in battle but also during cultivation.

'He could have just told me...'

There was no need to beat him up to teach something that could have been explained with words. Though, thanks to this, he would never forget it.

'Let's start again.'

Exhaling a breath infused with heat, he focused on operating the Ring of Fire and the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation. The nine rings rippled, infusing his entire body with vitality, while the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation converted the heat into aura and guided it to his dantian. Raon sank into a deep state of enlightenment, listening to the clear resonance of the Ring of Fire.

*     *      *

"You've grown stronger."

The mysterious blue-haired child nodded slightly as he looked at Wrath.

"Is that the life you desired?"

The child curled his lips as if in mockery.

"To think you'd make me recall such a wretched time..."

Wrath pressed his lips tightly, looking at the child with a deep smile.

"You certainly know how to sour my mood."

This blue-haired child was both his past self and not. It was his worst and weakest period, and just looking at it made him feel sick to his stomach.

"Don't pretend to have changed."

The blue-haired child shook his head with a smirk.

"King of the Junkyard."

The child's eyes flashed menacingly, as if telling him not to run away.

"It's been a while since I heard that title."

Wrath clenched his trembling fingertips.

"It's both nostalgic and hellishly uncomfortable."

Though he was now called the Monarch of Wrath, he hadn't always been this strong. When he was born in the deepest darkness of the Devildom, that hell-like land where all the world's trash gathered, he was weaker than anyone else.

"Uncomfortable? Isn't this the hell you created?"

The blue-haired child bared his white teeth, asking why he ran away. His eyes held both mockery and resentment.

"I ran away? What nonsense are you spouting! You know better than anyone! The meaning of that damned war!"

Wrath roared like a beast, reaching out towards the blue-haired child.

"Yes. Tear out my throat. Just as you killed those dear to you with your own hands!"

The blue-haired child spread his arms wide, as if inviting him to do as he pleased.

"I..."

Wrath relaxed his fingertips, which had been emanating killing intent, and embraced the blue-haired child with his arms.

"I haven't forgotten the past. I'm just carrying it deep within me."

He closed his eyes, recalling that hellish moment from the distant past, unforgotten even after thousands of years.

"Ha! You damned bastard."

The blue-haired child twisted his lips in displeasure and vanished into smoke.

"...Was this the test?"

Wrath let out a sigh as he looked at the now empty cave.

'If I had erupted in anger, would it have been a failure?'

From the situation, it seemed that if he had shown anger towards the mirror reflecting his past, he would have naturally failed the test of the Room of Self.

'I was lucky.'

Who would have thought Raon's face would come to mind there? The past self that emerged from the mirror reminded him of Raon's childhood, filled with deep vengeance. Having seen how that boy had changed, he too was able to quell his boiling anger.

'The Monarch of Wrath can't fail to control his anger.'

Humans greatly misunderstand, but demon kings must not only deeply immerse themselves in their authority but also be able to control it more easily than anything else. The test in this cave seemed to be checking if he could control his anger.

"The Room of Self, huh..."

Wrath narrowed his eyes as he looked at the mirror from which the blue-haired child had emerged. In the black mirror, unlike reality, he saw his younger self covered in wounds.

"I don't know who you are, but you've named it well."

He looked down at the mirror, letting out a laugh filled with irritation.

'Still, I feel like something has changed.'

Wrath narrowed his eyes as he looked at his hand, white as if it had never seen sunlight. As he overcame his past, he could feel the authority residing in his soul growing. The name 'Room of Self' fit all too well, regardless of who had named it.

'Of course, I won't be able to gain everything from this place...'

From what he could sense, a small crack had formed when Raon and he entered simultaneously into a space that was originally meant for only one soul. It seemed he wouldn't be able to take all the power that could originally be obtained from this place.

'It's regrettable, but I should continue on.'

Wrath clicked his tongue briefly and entered the mirror from which his past self had emerged. He felt as if he was walking through water, and then something soft like a blanket touched his feet. As he slowly opened his eyes, he saw a pristine white snowfield that seemed untouched by anyone.

At the edge of the snowfield stood a World Tree that looked as if it had been carved from ice, stretching its branches towards the sky. Sitting on one of those branches was a handsome man with black hair and black eyes.

“I had a hunch, but you really did come out.”

Wrath bit his lip deeply as he looked at the black-haired, black-eyed handsome man.

“Monarch of the previous generation.”

*     *      *

Raon lifted his heavy eyelids. He saw nine rings floating in the sky and numerous swords roaming the heavens.

'Is this the mental world?'

It's always the same here. It seemed that even entering through the Room of Self didn't change anything in particular in the mental world.

'No, that's not entirely true.'

The nine Rings of Fire in the sky resonated intensely, forming a shape like the sun, and the swords floating in the sky traced sword paths that had clearly grown based on the experience gained here.

'I've grown.'

Just by observing the mental world, he could feel how much stronger he had become.

'Of course, it's not over yet...'

Although he had achieved satisfactory growth already, everything wasn't finished. The test would only end when he had completely transformed all of the endlessly burning sun's heat into his own. Raon raised the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation while looking at the nine resonating Rings of Fire.

He guided the heat to his dantian, imagining his entire body's mana circuits filling with flames.

His chest resonated like a drum beaten on a high mountain. It wasn't an actual sound, but his soul pulsating. He awakened his mind with that majestic reverberation and focused on cultivating the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation and the Ring of Fire. The heat absorbed from the sun had already filled his lower and middle dantians and was now surging towards the upper dantian.

As the heat refined through the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation and the Ring of Fire touched his upper dantian, he felt a mysterious sensation as if his soul was connecting with the sky. His three dantians and mana circuits expanded further, and the red flames filling them began to turn a deep golden color.

The Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation, having absorbed all of the sun's heat, had crossed a new threshold.

But his transformation wasn't over yet. A new ring was rising above the nine Rings of Fire, overlapping with them. Just as the tenth ring, made of golden flames, was about to connect with the other rings, blue cracks appeared in the sky, and the mental world began to shatter.

"Hah..."

Raon exhaled roughly and opened his eyes. The mental world had disappeared, and only the golden sun that had tormented him remained visible.

'What just happened?'

Did he fail? It seemed he had been expelled from the mental world due to failing to form the new Ring of Fire, but something felt off.

'It felt like I was about to succeed.'

The tenth Ring of Fire wasn't something he had drawn out himself, but a form that the Ring of Fire had created on its own. He didn't understand why it had been blocked.

'Come to think of it...'

It seemed like blue cracks had blocked the ring? He had the impression that just as the ring was about to complete, blue cracks suddenly appeared and shattered it.

"This is frustrating."

As Raon furrowed his brow, the sun disappeared, and in its place descended a man who resembled him but looked a bit older and as if he had lived a harsher life. It was the First Patriarch of the Zieghart family.

"This was unexpected."

The First Patriarch stroked his smooth chin as if intrigued. His voice sounded familiar, but his words were muffled as if blocked by the sound of waves.

"Perhaps because of the two souls... the influence..."

The First Patriarch let out a faint laugh as if finding it amusing.

"What are you saying? Please explain properly."

"If you wait... no need to be disappointed... this is another opportunity..."

He nodded as if pleased, seemingly unaware that his words weren't being heard properly.

"Now that it's come to this, we'll likely meet again."

The First Patriarch's last words were heard clearly. He waved his hand as if saying they would meet again someday and disappeared into the white space. As the First Patriarch vanished, the golden sun sank, revealing the peak of the sand mountain where he had taken the first test. It seemed he hadn't moved from this spot from the beginning.

"So, is the test over?"

Interpreting the First Patriarch's words, it seemed that all the arrangements he had prepared were complete.

"It's a shame about the tenth ring, but I've gained much more than that."

He had learned the proper use of the Ten Thousand Swords and greatly improved his swordsmanship. His three dantians and mana circuits had also expanded significantly, so not only the flow of his swordsmanship but also its power would be on a different level.

'Of course, there's something even greater...'

Raon curled his lips as he felt the heat burning in his dantian.

'The Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation is at the 10th level.'

Unlike the Ring of Fire, the level of the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation had increased. Though it was hard to feel properly now, once he returned to reality, he would likely be able to produce flames of a completely different dimension.

"I want to test that out quickly, but..."

Why wasn't it ending? Even though the First Patriarch had said they'd meet later, this world continued to persist. He was curious about what was going on.

'Come to think of it...'

Did he mention two souls? Though he couldn't hear clearly, the First Patriarch had mentioned something about two souls.

'One would be me, and the other...'

Could it be Wrath? Considering that Wrath's reflection was seen in the mirror before entering this place, it seemed certain that he had entered together.

'Then that sea must be Wrath's path.'

He had felt something familiar about the sea he saw before climbing the sand mountain, and now it seemed it was the path Wrath had taken. Imagining the blue cotton candy wagging its tail through that sea made him laugh involuntarily.

"So that's why he said it became another opportunity."

Raon licked his lips as he looked at the blue sea undulating like Wrath's hair.

"Shall we go try to squeeze some benefits out of our Wrath?"

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