BOUND BY A MORTAL FLAME

The Battle In The Ferry Forest

Chapter 5: 🏇The Battle in the Ferry Forest 🏇*

**{Fue palace --Devil Realm}**

On reaching his palace, Fue’s expression didn’t soften. If anything, the mask of calm he wore in court fell away completely, revealing something colder underneath. The palace was silent, emptier than the court had been. Here, there were no sycophants, no trembling officials, no lies dressed as loyalty. Only shadows and the weight of expectation.

The Palace of the Young Lord was built on the highest cliff of the Blackpeak Mountains. Its purple-black stone walls absorbed light instead of reflecting it. The windows were narrow slits, and the torches burned with purple flame 🔥 instead of black. It was designed to feel like a tomb. That was intentional.

Fue sat on the high chair at the top of the room, his fingers tapping slowly against his forehead. Tap. Tap. Tap. The rhythm was steady, patient. Dangerous. Every tap seemed to count down to something inevitable.

“Mao!!” he called. The name echoed through the empty halls until it reached the courtyard below.

“Yes, My Lord, here I am!” The response came instantly. Mao burst through the doors, armor clanking, holding a long and impossibly sharp sword in his hands. He stood firm before Fue, head bowed. Mao had been Fue’s guard since he was twelve. He’d seen Fue kill a man with just a glance. He’d seen Fue smile while doing it.

“Prepare for the Tribulation tomorrow,” Fue said, leaning back in the chair. His tone was casual, as if he were discussing the weather.

“What?!!! My Lord?” Mao shot to his feet, his face pale under the torchlight. The sword in his hands trembled slightly. “Are you out of your mind? Are you craving death that much?” His voice cracked on the last word. For the first time, the legendary guard sounded like he was about to cry. “You can’t go through with this!”

“I understand you, Mao,” Fue replied without anger. His voice was calm, reasonable. “But I have no choice now.”

“But, My Lord, your body isn’t yet healed from the fight with the Guardian of the Bear in the Ferry Forest,” Mao said, his worry spilling over into anger. “How will you endure the Tribulation? You can barely stand without wincing! The wound is still not healed inside! If you enter the Tribulation like this, you’ll die!”

“I know, Mao,” Fue said quietly. His hand drifted to his chest, which felt heavy and painful inside, though there was no physical wound outside. “The Ferry Forest…........”

**********_FLASHBACK***********

**{Mortal Realm-Ferry Forest}**

🎍Bamboo Village 🎍

The wind in the Ferry Forest never stopped. It howled through ancient trees whose trunks were wider than houses, bending branches that had stood for centuries. The sound was like a thousand ghosts screaming at once. All the animals, from the smallest fox to the great horned stags, were running. They fled in packs, eyes wide with terror, trampling the undergrowth as they tried to escape something unseen. Birds abandoned their nests. Fish leapt from the rivers and died on the banks.

Above them, the sky had changed. What was once blue-white had turned to a sickly dark purple, like a bruise spreading across heaven itself. The clouds churned slowly, and lightning flashed without thunder. The air smelled of copper and ash.

On top of a high rock at the forest’s entrance, blue-red flames suddenly appeared. They danced without fuel, hot enough to make the air shimmer and distort. Standing within the flames was a figure, tall and unmoving. His posture was relaxed, almost bored.

“Who dares interrupt my sleep and shake my forest?” The voice echoed through the trees, cold as winter but strangely gentle, almost amused. It was the voice of the Beast Lord, guardian of the Ferry Forest for a thousand years. The trees themselves seemed to lean closer to hear his answer.

“All the animals are in chaos. How can you be sleeping, Beast Lord?” A second voice answered from the next rock over. This one was colder, devilish, cutting through the wind like a knife.

The Beast Lord lowered the bottle he’d been drinking from and peered into the distance. He was massive, nearly ten feet tall, with blue-red fur covering his body and eyes that burned like coals. “Your appearance caused the chaos, dude,” he said with a smirk. He took another long drink, the liquid inside glowing faintly. “You show up and suddenly the forest thinks the end has come. Can’t blame them.”

The figure in the dark purple flames 🔥 ignored the rudeness. “My presence here today is to borrow something from you, Beast Lord,” he said, smiling in a way that made the Beast Lord’s instincts scream.

The Beast Lord set the bottle down. “And who are you?” he asked, his easy posture vanishing. “Who gave you the audacity to come to me? Not even the Emperor in the Mortal Realm nor the Demon Lord in the Devil Realm would speak to me like this.”

The figure smiled wider. “Knowing me will only bring fight and death to the forest,” his voice dropped, turning colder, more dangerous. The air around him grew heavier. Frost began to form on the rock beneath his feet, though the forest was in summer.

“I don’t fear fighting,” the Beast Lord said, standing up fully. He was easily three times the figure’s size. “So what beast do you need? Tell me first, and I’ll decide if you can have it or not.” He took another drink, though his hand trembled slightly now.

“What I need isn’t a beast,” the figure replied. His tone was almost friendly now. “It’s something more precious than any beast.”

The Beast Lord finally looked up. “And what might that be?”

“The Beast Bead 🧿.”

The moment the words left the figure’s mouth, the Beast Lord moved. He didn’t think. He couldn’t. A powerful blue-red flame erupted from his palm and shot straight at the intruder with enough force to level a mountain. The heat was so intense the rock beneath the flame turned to glass.

But the figure was faster. He sidestepped the attack with inhuman grace, and the flame crashed into the rock behind him, shattering it into dust. Not a single hair on his head was singed.

“Am I too gentle, Beast Lord?” the figure asked softly. In an instant, his eyes turned purple, and dark purple flames began to swirl around his hand, forming a dense, pulsing ball. The temperature dropped so fast that frost formed on the trees for miles around.

“How dare you!” The Beast Lord roared, his fur standing on end. “The Bead I’ve guarded for over a thousand years! Who do you think you are?” He threw another flame, larger than before, a blazing sphere of blue-red fire that lit up the sky.

The figure met it with his own attack. Purple flame collided with blue-red, and the explosion lit up the entire forest. Trees for miles around were flattened by the shockwave. The ground cracked open.

“Oh,” the Beast Lord said, his stance shifting. His rage was now mixed with realization. “You’re from the Devil Realm. I can see your purple flame 🔥.” His claws dug into the rock beneath him, leaving deep grooves.

“Nice guess, Beast Lord,” the figure said calmly. “I am Young Lord Lee Fue.”

“Fue…

Fue…”

The name echoed through the forest more than twice, carried on a wind that felt alive. Every animal within hearing distance froze. The name itself carried weight, and the forest knew it. To speak it was to invite disaster.

“Young Demon Lord to be,” the Beast Lord said carefully now. He was weighing his options. “Go back home. Don’t pursue your grave. I don’t like fighting weak people.” He was trying to end it without bloodshed. The forest had already suffered enough today.

“I came with no harm, Beast Lord,” Fue replied, though his purple eyes said otherwise. “All I want is the Beast Bead 🧿.” He rubbed his hand gently as he spoke, a gesture so casual it infuriated the Beast Lord further.

The fight continued. The forest was destroyed and animals fled from every angle, seeking shelter.

The Beast Lord stretched both arms wide, and flames of magenta and lilac erupted from the forest itself. The trees, the soil, the air—all of it became fuel. He gathered the massive inferno into a single ball of devastating power and hurled it at Fue with a roar that shook the mountains.

The flame was too fast, too large. Fue couldn’t dodge it completely. It struck him square in the chest. The impact sent him flying backward through three ancient trees, and blood rushed from his mouth in a dark spray.

“Young Lord!!!” Mao’s voice rang out from the edge of the forest, where he’d been forced to stay behind. He tried to rush forward, but Fue lifted a bloodied hand, signaling him to stay back.

“Young Demon Lord,” the Beast Lord said, breathing hard but still standing tall. His chest was heaving, but there was no doubt who had the advantage. “I told you to go back home. Not even your forefather could take the Beast Bead 🧿.” He turned away, already walking back into the forest. He thought it was over.

It wasn’t.

Fue wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. He touched his forehead with his fingers, and a black-purple flame erupted from it, darker than the night sky. The flame was so dark it seemed to swallow light. He gathered the flame into a spear of pure destruction and launched it at the Beast Lord’s back.

The Beast Lord didn’t even have time to turn. The spear struck him between the shoulder blades, and he fell immediately, crashing to the forest floor with a sound like a mountain collapsing.

Fue walked closer, his footsteps slow, unhurried. He didn’t even look injured anymore. The blood on his lips was already gone. He looked down at the fallen guardian, blood pooling around his massive form.

“You should have taken the chance when you still could,” Fue said quietly. “Never look down on a small demon.”

The Beast Lord tried to speak, but only blood came out. His eyes, once burning with pride, were now dim.

Fue stepped past him and into the heart of the forest. He didn’t look back. Within minutes, he emerged with the Beast Bead 🧿 clutched in his palm, glowing faintly with a blue-red light that no longer resisted him.

The Ferry Forest was silent now. The wind had stopped. The animals had fled. Only the smell of burnt earth and blood remained.

**FLASHBACK ENDED**

Back in the present, Fue’s fingers stopped tapping. Mao was still standing before him, eyes wide with fear and loyalty.

“It’s my duty, which I can’t abandon. Do you understand now, Mao?” Fue asked softly.

Mao swallowed hard and nodded. “Yes, My Lord. I understand. But you should have given them an excuse like before, or used your coldest eyes to scare them off.”

“I understand you, Mao,” Fue said. “But something has to be done, no matter the delay.” He stood up slowly. Even wounded, he moved like a predator. “Prepare the altar. Tomorrow, the Life Tribulation begins.”

Outside, the first stars were appearing in the night sky. Tomorrow would be grueling. The Life Tribulation didn’t care if you were ready. It didn’t care if you were wounded. It only cared if you were worthy.

And Fue intended to prove he was.