In the dark beneath the canal basin, the fire doors swung open.
Lu Chen unlocked the backup spirit vein gates in his chest, stripping away every living restraint holding back the Asura Crucible.
The effect was instant and total.
Deep within his chest hearth, the tightly packed Yang-fire blew up like a keg of black powder tossed into a smelting kiln.
His inner body heat, kept at a stable fifty-two degrees, shattered its upper ceiling.
Within two rapid heartbeats, the internal heat tore through sixty-five degrees.
Four heartbeats: seventy-eight degrees.
Six heartbeats: eighty-nine degrees.
