Nickname：Fallen Flame
Name：WuJi

Image description Wu Ji was born into a family that blended martial arts with medicine, sharing his birthdate with his elder brother, Tian Hong.

Both brothers trained from a young age under the reclusive mountain master Sanfeng, learning the arts of defense, self-discipline, and conflict resolution. From their mother, a renowned healer, they learned the ways of healing and compassion.

Though equally gifted, their paths diverged sharply. Tian Hong was steady and reserved, focusing on solid foundations in combat and a gradual, holistic approach to medicine.

Wu Ji was impetuous and fierce, seeking only thunderous strikes and blinding speed in his fists, and favoring potent, aggressive remedies that delivered immediate results at any cost.

Master Sanfeng often cautioned Wu Ji: “Insufficient vital essence leads to rampant inner fire; excessive fire will surely consume your essence.” To Sanfeng, martial cultivation and well-being were one. Vital essence was the root, inner fire its function.

The essence nurtured the fire, but the fire needed the essence to temper it. Reversing this order led only to self-destruction. Wu Ji dismissed this with scorn. He believed only in strength: the strong rule, and a fist that defeats an enemy is justification enough.

As for “insufficient essence,” herbs could replenish it. What others called discipline, he saw as stagnation. Faced with such obstinance, the serene and patient Sanfeng chose to let nature take its course, believing time would deliver the final lesson.

On the day of their coming of age, Wu Ji challenged Tian Hong to a duel to prove his way. On the platform, the brothers faced each other, tension crackling in the air. Confident from past victories, Wu Ji brimmed with assurance.

At the drum’s signal, he lunged forth like a descending tiger, his fist-storm fierce and unrelenting, a barrage of blows raining down upon Tian Hong. The onlookers held their breath, certain of the outcome.

Yet, Tian Hong did not rush to counter. He retreated step by step, holding his power in reserve. When Wu Ji, eager for victory, finally exposed a flaw, Tian Hong struck back with decisive force, knocking him from the platform.

Tian Hong’s years of patient cultivation, though showing no immediate dramatic results, had built a profound and polished foundation. As the clan elders prepared to declare Tian Hong the victor, a tide of shame, fear, and jealousy overwhelmed Wu Ji, causing his inner fire to surge wildly out of control.

His anger transformed into a raging inferno within. Rising, his eyes bloodshot, veins bulging, and muscles flushed, He charged at Tian Hong, consumed by fury. Recognizing his brother’s lost composure, Tian Hong remained calm and defensive, evading the wild assaults before finally ending the fight with a single, precise close-range strike.

Humiliated by defeat, Wu Ji could not face his family. He left in anger, drifting into the wastes, eventually becoming a mercenary. His formidable record brought him renown, but his unstable foundation and constant inner turmoil took their toll.

Stagnant energy festered into internal fire, a “raging flame consuming his essence.” The once-powerful warrior wasted away, plagued by chronic coughs of blood and foul discharge, and neither his own herbal remedies nor specially tailored western medicine could help.

After the Juggernaut Descent, tales of the Void Stones spread. Wu Ji learned that one such stone was in Tian Hong’s possession. A dark thought took root: if he obtained the Void Stone, he could wield its anomalous power and perhaps even cure his affliction.

When the brothers met again, and Wu Ji demanded the stone, Tian Hong refused sternly. “This is our father’s legacy. Your energy channels are depleted, your vitality weakened. To use this recklessly would lead only to possession and self-destruction.”

Wu Ji laughed in furious scorn. Words spent, he moved to seize the stone. Brother fought brother, intent turning lethal. Wu Ji’s attacks were ferocious and brutal; Tian Hong’s blended strength and suppleness, defense turned to offense. They were evenly matched, a whirlwind of blows that left both bloodied and gravely wounded. The moment their hands simultaneously grasped the Void Stone, its energy erupted, flooding into them both.

Tian Hong, tempered by years of cultivating his inner balance, managed to mediate and harness the stone’s anomalous power, gradually integrating it with his own energy flow. Wu Ji, with his depleted and unstable vitality, could not bear the influx. The energy transformed into a corrupting fire that seared him from within, scorching sinew and bone. In moments, his remaining essence was like kindling, utterly consumed by the blaze.

Even so, Wu Ji greedily unleashed the flame’s power. His fists became a torrent of blazing fury, overwhelming and easily defeating Tian Hong, who had not yet fully assimilated the stone’s energy. Victory within grasp, Wu Ji laughed, proclaiming he had finally surpassed his brother and conquered fate.

But his laughter died as his chest tore open, spewing scalding, magma-like fluid. Agony beyond measure drove him to his knees, his gaze vacant. Wu Ji finally understood: the Void Stone granted power to shatter mountains, but at the cost of devouring the last of his vitality. Each breath seared his lungs like fire; every strike spent a piece of his life.

From that moment, there was no turning back. He had become a slave to the flame. His only recourse was to hunt [Ember Omnicores] and feed them to the hollow void within, a fleeting supplement to his depleted essence.

The once-promising martial prodigy was now a beast of fire, driven by power, forever running, hunting, clinging to a fading ember of existence… until the final burnout.