Years before Maryam came to take the body of Song High, deep within the woods, a man was fighting an enormous snake. He was young and handsome, full of heroic spirit. His name was Nevus.
After a long and difficult battle, he landed the final blow. As soon as he saw his foe defeated, he collapsed to the ground from exhaustion.
Slowly, his eyes began to force themselves shut. Suddenly realizing something was wrong, Nevus struggled to get up, in a panic.
He was indeed exhausted from fighting, but not to the point of blacking out.
The snake had been emitting some strange sort of energy that had gradually been integrating itself into Nevus' body, making him tired.
When he had dealt it the final blow, a huge rush of this energy had been released from its wounds.
Nevus had been certain that this was a Black-Crowned Heavensnake, and that species had no such trait. In fact, Nevus had never heard of any beast with energy like that. Something was wrong.
He tried to drag his failing body away, but it was no use. Still desperately struggling, he lapsed into unconsciousness.
He woke to unbearable pain.
His eyes had been slashed out—nothing a cultivator couldn't heal from, but he was blinded for the moment—and all over his body, metal spikes had been driven directly through his skin and into his nerves.
It was his nerves, and not his channels, for all traces of energy had somehow been stripped from them.
He was kept there—wherever it was—for weeks.
Often, different types of energy would be forced along his nerves by the spikes. He often heard the scratching of pens and the occasional muffled murmurs, but he could never make out anything concrete.
Nevus cursed and shouted threats, but nobody paid them any heed.
One day, the energy channeled into him was allowed to remain in his body. It was stagnant and refused to respond to his control. Not only that, it was extremely difficult to remove, and it rejected all other powers. It occupied Nevus' body and allowed no room for beneficial or useful energy.
It was this energy that dealt the final blow and cut off Nevus' path of cultivation.
Eventually, Nevus' curses and threats faded, to be replaced with pleading.
"Please, why are you doing this? Why me?"
Then he heard the laugh of a young woman, bright, clear, and lovely. It was the first human response anyone had given him throughout this ordeal, and he clung to it.
Despite being blinded, he lifted his head towards the direction of the sound.
"Who are you?" he asked.
And through the darkness and agony and despair, he was given an answer of a sort.
Right by his ear, the woman spoke softly.
"Someday, you will recognize this voice. But by then, it'll be too late."