Love must be selfless

Having gained love, courage, and betrayal, Ren Zu is no longer stalled by fear. He continues on his road. A snowman catches up to him, already having conquered three great fires and wanting to test a disputed fourth, the fire of love; hearing he has just gained love Gu, she asks him to summon it. ^{ch. 1229}

Love Gu says it can produce the fire but only with two hearts together. The snowman offers her huge, forceful heart of domination; Ren Zu offers his heart of discontent instead, dried and weak from spending nearly all its blood raising Ordinary Abyss’s trees. Love Gu passes through both hearts and sets them clashing; sparks grow into the fire of love. ^{ch. 1229}

The fire burns Ren Zu’s heart of discontent to ash at once. Love Gu tells him love has a price, since it makes people willing to sacrifice. The fire takes her heart of domination too and it only shines brighter; the snowman calls the flame all appearance, puts the heart back in her chest, and her body melts away like snow, leaving the heart burning. Shaken, Ren Zu calls the fire frightening; love Gu answers that its result depends on the heart it meets. Every experience of love is a risk and a gamble. ^{ch. 1229}

Struck by the thought that love can make others sacrifice for him, Ren Zu resolves to win the feathermen’s love so they will finally save his daughter. A boy named Blazing Glory Lightning Brilliance leaps from the burning heart of domination, calling Ren Zu father; learning of a sister he never knew of, he offers to help rescue her. Ren Zu and his son travel to the feathermen. He offers his heart of loneliness, but they refuse, saying the fire of love would burn their heart of freedom away completely. He presses them further, but no urging moves them. ^{ch. 1229}

Ren Zu asks love Gu to force the fire regardless. Love Gu answers that hearts must collide of their own will and cannot be forced. Ren Zu, unwilling to give up, has self Gu seize the feathermen and tear out their hearts, but no spark results. Love Gu warns that forcing love breeds only hatred, and hatred Gu appears at once, filling the feathermen with rage. They release wild freedom Gu from their own bodies, which fuses into one giant freedom Gu. It strips Ren Zu of his love Gu and declares love free, and self Gu, unable to snatch it back, bites away only a piece, insisting love still belongs to oneself. ^{ch. 1230}