Crimson Flame

Crimson Flame, usually called the Duke of Crimson Flame, is an ancient Surging Indulger imprisoned beneath the planet that bears his name. The four Great True Worlds keep him in a regenerative execution: his power forms the planet's volcanoes, his life sustains sealed alien beasts, and his body is repeatedly cut apart whenever it heals. His meeting with Su Ming, an Abyss Builder able to invoke an old pact between their peoples, gives him both escape and a new purpose. (Chapters 750–783)

Biography

The prisoner beneath Crimson Flame Planet

Su Ming first learns of the duke after arriving on Crimson Flame Planet, where the local cultivators fear True Guard patrols and harvest Crimson Flame Grass. The duke's dispersed flesh and World Plane power have shaped the planet for ages, tempting Tian Lin and other exiles to raid his seal. Deep below the surface, however, the skeletal prisoner senses Su Ming's Abyss Builder blood and invokes the Fifth Abyss Pact. He offers protection and service in exchange for the eventual resurrection of millions of fallen Surging Indulgers whose souls remain in Abyss Soul Flags. (Chapters 750–780)

Su Ming initially distrusts him and refuses to approach until battle forces them together. Their needs nevertheless align: the duke needs an Abyss Builder and freedom, while Su Ming needs to survive Jing Nan Zi and the True Guards. As the seal breaks, Crimson Flame protects Su Ming from detection, helps him escape, and later uses the planet's stored essence and a relocation pillar to carry him away. The alliance is contractual at first, not immediate devotion. (Chapters 780–801)

Escape, pursuit, and earned loyalty

Crimson Flame guides Su Ming through the Barren Lands on a red coffin, conceals his presence with a time-and-space distortion, and budgets his remaining relocation power. The art leaves pursuers seeing a seven-day-old trace, but a galaxy-wide monitoring Rune can still locate Su Ming directly. Crimson Flame admits the limitation and preserves one shift for the blockade near Black Ink Planet rather than pretending his protection is absolute. (Chapters 799–801)

Their relationship changes after Su Ming obtains his Ecang clone. Crimson Flame fully acknowledges him as master and begins using offensive power he previously conserved, declaring that those Su Ming condemns must die. He fights at Black Ink Planet, identifies ancient Fifth True World Runes, helps capture the Malicious Eye, and guards Su Ming during vulnerable training or drunkenness. His service becomes chosen loyalty built on Su Ming's growth and the possibility that the Abyss Pact can truly be fulfilled. (Chapters 884–960)

Divine Essence and the Furnace promise

Crimson Flame contributes both knowledge and power during the journey through Divine Essence Star Ocean. He recognizes blood-based flame transformations, explains ancient cultivation scales, and combines his strength with Su Ming to maintain the Bald Crane and Abyss Dragon's speed while they lure a vast beast swarm. These actions show a veteran adviser who can support complex plans, but they also expose his reduced state: exertion makes him pale, and his former ancient might is not continuously available. (Chapters 955–1000)

His personal motive returns when Su Ming discusses the duke's wife. Su Ming promises that once he can activate an Abyssal World, he will resurrect her; meanwhile, he offers to nourish her remaining soul within the Fifth Furnace so it will not disperse. Crimson Flame does not possess clear knowledge of the Abyss Builder resurrection mechanism himself, so the agreement rests on trust and preservation rather than certainty. Later references remember him as part of Su Ming's long Barren Lands journey, but do not confirm that the promised resurrection occurred within the supplied scope. (Chapters 1034–1168)

Appearance and personality

Crimson Flame is first seen as an enormous white skeleton half-submerged in purplish-black magma, with a short red sword driven into his skull and seals repeatedly shredding his regenerating flesh. After release he commonly manifests as a bald man, appears from a totem on Su Ming's arm, or accompanies Su Ming through space beside the red coffin. His fire and ancient presence reflect the body that once gave Crimson Flame Planet its volcanic character. (Chapters 763–783, 801, 940–960)

He is cautious, knowledgeable, and initially transactional. Centuries of torture do not make him trust blindly, and Su Ming likewise keeps his distance until necessity proves their cooperation. Once convinced, Crimson Flame is formal and loyal, obeying plans, calling Su Ming master, and taking a fierce satisfaction in destroying threats. He can be puzzled by modern systems that arose during his imprisonment, so his ancient knowledge is broad but not infallible. (Chapters 780–801, 884–960)

Abilities and cultivation

Lunar Kalpa cultivation and fire. Crimson Flame is identified as a Lunar Kalpa Realm cultivator from an older era. He creates seas of fire and condenses them into enormous hands, fights World Plane experts, and supports large-scale sealing and pursuit operations. He is not invincible: Solar Kalpa pressure restricts him, prolonged exertion drains him, and his fight with a Tai Ci Family guest reaches a stalemate. (Chapters 884–889, 936–959, 1000)

Time-space concealment. His Secret Art twists the trace around an Abyss Builder so observers detect where the target was seven days earlier. The exceptional effect depends on Su Ming's innate affinity with time and space; on another person it would be weaker. Close enemies and a galaxy-monitoring Rune can bypass it, so it misdirects ordinary tracking rather than making its subject unfindable. (Chapter 801)

Relocation and support. Crimson Flame can shift Su Ming and companions across enormous distances, manifest from his arm totem, distribute the fatigue of allies, and combine fire with seals. After escape he can perform only two immediate long shifts and then requires a hundred years to gather enough power for another, making each use a strategic resource. (Chapters 801, 940, 955–960)

Planetary essence control. While linked to his prison, he can stir the essence stored in Heavenly Treasure Planet and control its relocation pillar. The resulting detonation helps destroy pursuit forces, though the nine True Guard sword auras—not his essence alone—cause the planet's complete ruin. This distinction limits the scale that can be attributed to him unaided. (Chapter 799)

His latest confirmed cultivation remains Lunar Kalpa; no complete advancement sequence is shown after his liberation. His ancient insight sometimes exceeds later cultivators', but knowledge and era do not convert him into a higher realm. (Chapters 1000–1034)

Relationships

Su Ming. Their Fifth Abyss Pact begins as mutual necessity and develops into a master-retainer bond. Crimson Flame saves, relocates, advises, and guards Su Ming; Su Ming offers the only plausible route to restore the duke's people and wife. Trust grows when Su Ming gains Ecang and demonstrates that he can carry an ancient obligation. (Chapters 779–801, 884–1034)

The Surging Indulgers and his wife. Crimson Flame identifies himself as a Surging Indulger and carries responsibility for millions who died in the ancient war. His request for resurrection is collective, while the later preservation of his wife's soul makes that ancient loss personal. Neither restoration is completed on page. (Chapters 779–780, 1034)

Bald Crane. The Bald Crane instinctively remembers the duke's title before understanding why, then alternates between suspicion and attempts to bully him. Crimson Flame tolerates its antics, helps maintain its speed, relocates it from danger, and seals the bait it carries. Their comic friction sits within reliable battlefield cooperation. (Chapters 755, 801, 955–960)

Items

Red coffin. Su Ming travels on a red coffin while Crimson Flame guides and relocates him through the galaxy. It functions as transport and a visual sign of their escape, but the corpus does not establish that all of the duke's spatial power originates from it. (Chapter 801)

Arm totem. Crimson Flame can reside as a totem on Su Ming's arm and manifest when summoned. This form lets him guard Su Ming without remaining physically exposed, though it is a state of association rather than evidence that Su Ming owns him as an object. (Chapters 940, 955, 960)

Abyss Soul Flags. These preserve the souls of fallen Surging Indulgers and are the basis of Crimson Flame's resurrection request. He cannot restore them himself and depends on a sufficiently awakened Abyss Builder. (Chapters 779–780)

The Fifth Furnace. Su Ming proposes placing the duke's wife's soul in the Furnace for nourishment so it will not scatter before resurrection becomes possible. It is a preservation vessel in this relationship, not Crimson Flame's personal weapon. (Chapter 1034)