The flame that dares to rise invites the wind to strike.
It started in the kitchens.
Not the training halls or council chambers, but among the pots and smoke, where servants spoke softly, heads bent, eyes darting.
"They say he talks in his sleep. Growls like a beast."
"He burned through an entire scroll during meditation. The parchment hissed like it was alive."
"He isn't cultivating. He's consuming."
By noon, outer disciples were exchanging glances during lessons. By nightfall, a few stopped bowing when Shen Li passed by. Only slightly. Only once.
But in a sect as ancient as Emberheart, symbolic gestures burn louder than words.
And someone was fanning the flames.
The Ember Council assembled in the Jadefire Hall, moonlight pooling along the polished stone as torches flickered. Elder Kaiyuan stood before the central dais with calm poise.
"Let it be clear," he said, "that we do not accuse. We only inquire."
He held no scroll. No evidence. Just a single emberstone tablet.
He placed it before the elders.
The stone glowed faintly—etched with lines of energy fluctuation. Unstable cultivation signatures. Fire qi threaded with something wilder.
"Pulled from the heir's chamber during a maintenance sweep," Kaiyuan said.
A calculated half-truth. The sweep had been unauthorized. The data likely manipulated. But it looked legitimate.
Elder Lian frowned. "This doesn't prove deviation."
"No," Kaiyuan agreed. "But it justifies caution."
Elder Mei, ever a moderate voice, added, "And the disciples... they murmur. If we do not act, they may take matters into their own hands."
Elder Yun finally spoke. "The fire has always taken many forms. Some feared the Founder too, before he forged the sect from war."
Kaiyuan turned to him. "You compare a rogue ember to the First Flame?"
Yun met his gaze, unblinking. "Yes."
Silence fell. Measured. Uneasy.
Later, Shen Li passed a group of juniors in the northern courtyard.
Their training slowed as he walked past. One boy lowered his gaze. One did not.
The boy's voice was soft but deliberate. "The heir burns too bright. Sooner or later, he'll burn us all."
Shen Li stopped.
He turned, slowly, calmly.
"What's your name?"
The boy hesitated. "Feng Ye."
Shen Li nodded. "Train harder, Feng Ye. So if you're right... you'll have a chance to survive me."
He said it without anger.
But the boy paled anyway.
That evening, in the mirror-lit chamber of Emberheart's hidden sanctum, Kaiyuan met with Su Lin.
She knelt before him, head bowed.
"I was assigned to Shen Li's third formation," she said. "He shares training schedules openly. Doesn't conceal his flamework—but he... meditates in strange ways. With the lights off. Always with beastbone incense."
Kaiyuan raised an eyebrow.
"Do you believe he's hiding something?"
Su Lin paused. "I believe he's not afraid to be seen. And that's... unsettling."
Kaiyuan dismissed her with a whisper and turned back to the dark.
Alone now, he mused aloud.
"You burn too confidently, little heir. The stars above shine brightest right before they fall."
Kaiyuan's next move was subtler—and far more dangerous.
A formal petition was drafted and presented to the full council:
Request for External Inquiry
On the Unverified Cultivation Methods of Heir Shen Li,
in Accordance with Sect-Unification Decree 43-White.
Signed by three inner elders. Not all loyal to Kaiyuan—but all afraid of another Sect War.
Its intent was clear: bring in Skyreach Sect, the neutral arbitration body, to "validate" Shen Li's methods.
A public vote followed.
Five in favor. Two abstained. Elder Yun stood alone in dissent.
He threw the scroll across the table.
"You fear what you don't understand," he spat. "You'd rather leash the flame than learn from it."
Kaiyuan folded his hands. "We do not leash it, Elder Yun. We simply ensure it doesn't consume the temple."
Shen Li sat with Elder Yun beneath a canopy of ember-leaf trees.
The old man passed him the decree. Shen Li read it once, then folded it without expression.
"They fear you," Yun said quietly. "That's why this was inevitable."
"They should," Shen Li replied. "But not for the reasons they think."
Yun raised an eyebrow.
Shen Li stood, brushing ash from his robes.
"Let them send Skyreach. Let them crawl through my techniques and whispers.
Let them test the fire.
If they dare to strike—let it be at a flame that is ready."
The emberlight in his eyes was quiet.
Not fury.
Conviction
The fire was not growing reckless.
It was growing patient.