The night fell coldly over the devastated halls of the Jiangs, and the silence was broken only by Seth's shrill whispers in my mind. It was like a fever, a dark voice that pulsed with a life of its own, insatiable. Seth, the spirit that had now accompanied me since that tragic night, was a restless and indomitable companion, always speaking, always inciting.
"If you want revenge, Jiang Wuxin, you must learn to control the power that runs through your veins now. These are not just ordinary shadows; they are an echo of your own anger and the pain that you hold within your heart of stone," Seth insisted, as if his words could mold me, carving my soul into the cold steel of vengeance.
I walked away from the courtyard of the Sacred Tree, which was without its magical power and slowly rotting. It left me devastated... Now everything is marked by the bloody footprints of the Blackwoods and the devastation of the White Lotus Sect. The images from the night before still burned in my mind, my father fallen, his empty eyes turned to the sky, while my sister's body was carried away by shadows that laughed like demons. There was a wound in my soul, a hunger for retaliation that coiled around me like Seth's darkness.
"Shut up, Seth," I muttered, my fist clenched as I walked toward the ruins of my family's ancestral temple.
"Ah, young master," Seth mocked, his voice echoing like the whisper of death. "Pretending you can ignore the dark power within you is like trying to extinguish a candle flame with a drop of water. But if you truly wish to master the darkness, there is a way."
I stopped walking and stared at him in my mind, as if I could materialize that spirit to confront him. Seth knew too much, knew the secrets of the dark world that now permeated my heart, and although every cell in me screamed not to trust him, I knew I needed answers.
"The Jiang Temple, you forgetful fool," he continued, almost hissing, "the place where your family kept forbidden techniques, ancient cultivation secrets that few have dared to touch. Within this forgotten relic lies a path for the powerful and the damned. It is up to you to understand them or not."
I looked up at the two tallest mountains in the city, where the stone temple stood amid the ruins of Arthovya. For generations, the structure had served as a sacred refuge for the Jiang, a place where our ancestors cultivated strength and wisdom. I knew that this was where my destiny awaited me, but a chill ran down my spine as Seth's words sank into my mind, full of promise and venom.
"These techniques… are they dangerous?" I asked, my voice breaking a little, though I tried to keep it steady. The truth was, I knew the answer; the knowledge Seth offered was a double-edged blade, cutting through both flesh and soul.
"To say they are dangerous is like saying the sea is wet, or fire is hot," Seth scoffed, chuckling in my mind. "The temple holds techniques for good and evil. But remember, Wuxin… power comes at a price. There is also the Imperious Flute of the Demon Emperor Asmodeus Greymon, who was defeated by your late great-grandfather a hundred years ago. It can maintain complete control over dark cultivation."
I closed my eyes, feeling the weight of the silent promises that hung in the air around the temple. I knew that this path was one of darkness and corruption, where each step would take me further away from the Jiang Wuxin I was and closer to something darker, something unknown. But the blood in my veins screamed for vengeance, and the weight of my ancestors pressed down on my spirit. I could not retreat, not while the power of the Blackwoods and the White Lotus threatened to consume everything I held dear. "Seth," I said, my voice low but resolute. — If the price is my own soul... then so be it. But they will pay for what they have done.
And then, as if his words were the crack of a whip, Seth laughed, a sound that reverberated in my mind like thunder.
"Good, good! That is the spirit. But remember, Wuxin, revenge is a path of no return. And when you step into the shadows that rest in that temple, you will be marked forever. If you can overcome the control that the flute can impose on you, then you will be worthy of possessing the famous world-destroying weapon" Seth mentioned. But I was only more concerned with what I would do from now on, alone in the world.
And what is left for the living when the shadows dance over the bones of the past?
The ruins of the Jiang clan stretched out before me, immense and lonely, like a shadow eternalized at the foot of the mountains. I had returned to the place I once called home, but at the same time, it seemed more distant than ever. My boots stomped silently through the broken hallways, my footsteps echoing on the floor as if the spirits of the house themselves were waiting for my goodbye.
When I reached my room, a piece of the past still immune to the chaos, I felt a presence. It was the silent specter of everything I had been. I gathered some belongings from a life that would never return. I pulled a black cloak from an old trunk. And from that moment on, I would be a shadow among shadows, following a path marked by those who had risen and fallen before me.
With my hood over my face, I left what was left of my old life and headed out of the city. In the alleys and squares, I heard whispers among the people about the massacre of my clan. Some said that the Blackwoods blamed their earliest crimes on the Jiang family, that they had plotted every detail, and that even some families here — blinded by greed or fear — had allied with them on that terrible night.
"Just as the snow holds the bones of the dead in winter," Seth murmured, "the secrets of these streets hold what happened that night. And it seems that humans are truly strange beings. At the first opportunity, they wreak havoc."
My heart, however, knew no stillness of that winter. The heat of anger pulsed within me like an untamed flame, and as I looked down at my hands, I saw a black mist escaping through my fingers. The power of Seth, the dark legacy I carried, screamed in my bones, calling for vengeance. I felt the shadows dancing, on the edge of an abyss where control was nothing more than a memory. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, allowing the silence of the night to calm the fire within, if only temporarily.
On the continent of Austherya, I know that demonic cultivation is not, by nature, wholly considered a curse by humanity. It is simply the path chosen by those who dare to fight evil with evil, to challenge the darkness with its own shadow. Among the Jiang, some walked this dangerous path, using the darkness without ever succumbing to it. But the Blackwoods and the White Lotus… They took a different path. To them, power had no purpose other than cruelty, and its trail left nothing but blood.
And since the Demon Emperor's death at the hands of Jiang Xianyi, darkness has been without a master, like a river without a bed, flowing in all directions. And now, where there was once honor, only emptiness remains.
With these thoughts, I set out on my path. I was a spark, a shadow guided by an oath. The Jiang clan had fallen, but the flame of vengeance burned brighter than ever. I would be the spirit that would roam these lands until every wrong was righted, every shadow dispelled.
After climbing the great mountains, I managed to enter the Jiang temple without any difficulty, after touching a strange rune in the shape of a Chinese dragon on the wall. Perhaps I was accepted because I was a blood member of the clan. Inside, the air was heavy with the presence of ancient spirits and memories that seemed to watch my steps. The sound of my boots echoed through the cold stone corridors, and as I walked, some of the torches on the wall lit up one by one. Seth guided me with instructions I didn't even know, leading me to the deepest room. He must have sensed the energy of the Imperious flute.
In the center, a statue of an ancient Jiang stood imposingly, his face serious and implacable. In his hands, he held an artifact: a short, ancient blade, its metal tarnished by time and the dark energy that seemed to emanate from it. It was the legendary Shadow Katana, an object of forbidden power, said to contain the spirit of a vengeful ancestor, the king of the youkai.
Seth stopped speaking, and I felt silence fill the room, as if time itself hesitated. I knew what I had to do; Imperious was my family's last resort, a weapon of incalculable power that drained the spirit of its wielder but granted strength and dominion over the darkness. It was inside a golden box, completely sealed by an eternal seal talisman. This can only be deactivated if a drop of blood is used to erase the writings.
I approached the talisman and took a drop of blood, breaking its strength. I wasn't very patient, so I just opened the box, and held the flute in my hands, soon, I ended up feeling a wave of cold energy run through my arm, as if ice had replaced my blood. My mind began to spin, and the voices of my ancestors whispered in my ears, encouraging me, warning me to stop.
And then, Seth spoke again, his voice like a murmur almost reverent. "Now, Wuxin, your path opens, forged by blood and darkness. Use this power, master it... and make the world remember the name Jiang. Control it before it dominates you," he said.
As I held the Imperious flute, I looked at the darkness around me. My heart was hardened, my soul consumed with a determination that surpassed fear. I felt at one with my own shadow, an extension of the darkness that inhabited the temple and my lineage. This power is mine, I will not let it rule over everything what I had left.
"I want this, I desire it!" I whispered to myself, forcing the negative energy to empty itself from my mind. This will not control me. It will do the opposite.
Deep within me, something began to stir. The Imperious flute vibrated lightly between my fingers. Its dark energy tried to penetrate my mind, as if there was a presence within it eager to take control. With each passing second it became heavier; the darkness surrounded and suffocated me, pressing down on my thoughts.
I fought against that force, feeling as if it were the last battle I would ever fight. But then, in the midst of the abyss of my mind, the image of Li Meiyu appeared, more vivid than a memory could be. She was there, standing in front of me, as beautiful as in her best days. Her eyes pierced me, her smile as sweet as it was poisonous. She came closer, her fingers brushing my face with a touch that brought a dangerous sense of peace. Her lips murmured enigmatic words, something that seemed hypnotic and enveloped my being.
"You belong to me, Wuxin... and I, to you. Let the world disappear. Stay here with me, and nothing else will matter."
She kissed me then, a gesture that dissolved my strength in an instant, a kiss that almost made the flame of my resistance go out. But there was something in me that still resisted, a fragment of sanity clinging to reality. I knew, somehow, that this was not real.
With an effort that seemed to split my soul in half, I lifted the flute, holding it with all my strength. The object seemed to vibrate, trying to move away from my hands, but I refused to let go. I closed my eyes and played a melody – I didn't know what I was playing, I just allowed the sound to flow through me. An ancient Jiang musical technique to strengthen the mind. The notes rang out, breaking the silence of the night like sharp blades, and Li Meiyu's image began to waver, slowly fading away.
And in the blink of an eye, the illusion dissipated completely. That burning kiss, the touch that was so familiar and yet so strange, everything was gone like a broken dream. I opened my eyes and was there, alone, with the flute still in my hand. My mind was clear, free of the dark weight, and I could feel the dark energy of that place being drained by Imperious, as if the flute was feeding on it.
It was then that I felt Seth's presence, like a voice whispering in my mind. "Inside the box, there are still some techniques of the demon emperor that can keep you safe. However, relying on power will not always be enough, Wuxin. Battle requires more than magic; you have to remember your body, your martial arts. The strength of your sword, the precision of your hands," he said seriously, as if he wanted to force me to listen to him.
His advice was clear. The flute could be a shield and a weapon, but it would not be everything. I needed to be more, to live more, to remember the teachings that my own Jiang family had left me.
And when I left the temple that night, I was no longer the same Jiang Wuxin who had entered. This was the first step on a journey of revenge, and I knew that no matter what happened, there would be no going back.
To be continued...