Burning the Heavens Across the Five Realms

The spiritual-vein flame seed lies hidden in the Burning Heaven Tower and sustains the balance of the five realms. Yet every thousand years, it triggers a devastating natural disaster: ground fires ravage the human realm, ancient trees wither in the spirit realm, flames rage out of control in the fire realm, ice spreads across the water realm, and black mist devours everything in the void realm. Everyone believes these disasters are natural upheavals that a “Flame Guardian” must lead the effort to quell. They don't know they're part of a cyclical curse laid by the Godless One, sealed away in the Realm of No Delusion: the Flame Guardian will eventually be corrupted by the Godless One's remnant soul and become the “kindler” of the next disaster.

Lin Ye, the Lin family's exiled “good-for-nothing,” has avoided anything to do with “guarding the flame” ever since witnessing the massacre of an entire village as a child. But he has a rare inverse-fire constitution that lets him devour flames and purify the flame seed. The power also builds up a heart-burning fire inside him, threatening at any moment to destroy his memories and emotions. When a hundred-year ground fire erupts in the Canglan Realm, he's forced to reveal his constitution. The Water Realm's saintess, Su Qinghan, considers anyone who controls fire ill-omened and hunts him down. Meanwhile, elders from his own clan pursue him, and he unexpectedly gets caught up in a conflict involving Mo Chen, a young spirit-realm clansman who has turned against his people, and Chi Xiao, a wanted general from the Fire Realm.

The cold water in Su Qinghan's palm is the only antidote that can ease the heart-burning fire, but it accelerates her own “iceification.” Mo Chen knows a secret art for awakening ancient tree spirits, but discovers that the crisis in the spirit realm stems from contamination of the flame seed. Chi Xiao refuses to kill innocents and exposes how the upper ranks of the Burning Heaven Clan have long been infiltrated by the Godless One. The four people, each carrying their own secrets, are forced to form an alliance. From fleeing the border to tracing the spiritual veins, and then racing across the five realms to build a Flame Guardian alliance, they must not only fight the Godless One's schemes, but also break the prejudices and lies passed down through generations in all five realms.

With the Godless One's countdown to breaking free underway, more than half of the spiritual-vein flame seed contaminated, and Elder Xuan on his deathbed