The dawn barely touched the horizon when Xie Zhen reached a remote village nestled in the steep mountains of Huangfeng. His clothes, stained with the blood of his enemies, added to his sinister appearance.
For most travelers, a place like this would have been nothing more than an insignificant stop, but for Xie Zhen, it had special significance: this village was home to a renowned herbalist known for her unique remedies and poisons. She possessed rare knowledge of spiritual herbs, and Xie Zhen needed certain ingredients to perfect a forbidden technique.
The village was still calm, wrapped in an eerie silence, broken only by the first songs of the birds. Xie Zhen walked through the narrow alleys, observing the modest buildings with a calculating eye. He blended into the shadows, avoiding attention. Here, he was just an anonymous visitor, a shadow among ordinary men.
He found the herbalist's house on the outskirts, bordered by strange plants with intoxicating scents. Without hesitation, he pushed the door open and entered, leaving behind an unsettling silence.
Inside, the herbalist—a woman of a certain age, with silver hair and piercing eyes—looked up with a stern gaze.
She seemed to instantly perceive the dangerous nature of her visitor but showed no fear. She was used to peculiar visitors, even renowned cultivators.
"What can I do for you, stranger?" she asked calmly.
Xie Zhen wasted no time on pleasantries. "I want black moonroot, shadow flower petals, and lunar serpent blood. I will pay whatever it takes."
The herbalist furrowed her brow. "These are rare and dangerous ingredients. They are only used for forbidden techniques... or lethal poisons."
Xie Zhen flashed a cold smile. "How I use them is none of your concern. You will receive generous compensation if you have what I seek."
She scrutinized him for a long moment, as if trying to probe his soul—if he still had one.
Then, she nodded and turned toward a shelf behind her, filled with mysterious vials and jars. She slowly gathered the requested ingredients and placed them before him.
"The price for all this is high," she said in a measured voice.
Xie Zhen placed a few gold coins on the table, a sum that would have been enough to live in luxury for several months.But money held no value for him compared to the power these ingredients would grant him.
The herbalist took the gold, but as he prepared to leave, she spoke again. "I know what you are, young man.
A cultivator with a corrupted soul. The darkness I see in you surpasses that of anyone who has crossed my threshold. Be careful, for even the most powerful will one day meet an opponent who is their equal."
Xie Zhen stopped and looked at her with amused contempt. "The day that happens, it will be too late for me to fear anything."
He left the house without a backward glance, his new acquisitions carefully tucked away. In the safety of the mountains, he could finally begin the ritual he had in mind, a forbidden technique that would temporarily amplify his abilities.
A few hours later, at a respectable distance from the village, he set up camp in a secluded clearing, hidden from view. Arranging the ingredients around him, Xie Zhen began the ritual, chanting incantations in a forgotten language. The dark energy of the herbs began to spread through the air, forming a thick, black mist around him.
As he absorbed the energy, he felt his body vibrate under the influence of the corrupting power. His muscles tensed, his veins seemed to burn under the influx of dark energy.
The shadows around him thickened, almost fusing with his skin. His technique was working. He was becoming faster, stronger, and above all, more ruthless.
But suddenly, a disturbance in the air pulled him from his concentration. An unknown aura was approaching, a presence he hadn't anticipated.
He opened his eyes to discover a man in a long black robe, bearing the insignia of the Tianming sect. He seemed more powerful than the cultivators he had eliminated before, and a fierce determination blazed in his eyes.
"Xie Zhen, I am here to avenge my brothers. You made the mistake of underestimating our sect. I am Li Cheng, and I will give you a death you will never forget."
Xie Zhen smiled, slowly standing, still infused with the dark energy from the ritual. "I see you still don't understand. I have no interest in remembering you or your weak sects. You are nothing but tools on my path."
Without waiting, Li Cheng unleashed a technique of spirit blades, shards of energy sharp as razors slicing the air around him.
Xie Zhen dodged the first few strikes, but one of the blades cut into his arm, leaving a line of blood. He gritted his teeth. This opponent was tougher, but that only added to the enjoyment.
With a swift movement, he summoned a shadow technique, forming a dark wave that engulfed Li Cheng's field of vision.
The latter squinted, trying to pierce the darkness, but it was already too late. Xie Zhen moved silently and struck with brutal force, breaking one of Li Cheng's ribs.
Li Cheng staggered back, spitting blood, but the rage and determination in his eyes did not fade. He gathered his strength and unleashed a greater power.
A red flame aura enveloped his body, burning the shadows around him and illuminating the clearing with a fiery glow.
"You are not the only one with forbidden techniques," Li Cheng shouted. "We, of the Tianming sect, have ways to make even monsters like you suffer."
Xie Zhen looked at him, intrigued. For the first time, an adversary sparked something other than indifference in him.
But this curiosity was laced with contempt. He would not back down before a mere mortal who thought himself superior.
He concentrated the dark energy in his hand, preparing a final strike. But before he could attack, Li Cheng unleashed a wave of destructive fire, a burning breath that spread across the clearing. Xie Zhen was enveloped by the flames, feeling the heat sear his skin.
He stifled a cry of pain, but did not stop. His body, infused with dark energy, resisted, and he managed to emerge from the flames, his face marked by pain, but his eyes still sharp.
In one final effort, he hurled a shadow projectile directly into Li Cheng's chest. The attack pierced the man completely, leaving him frozen, eyes wide open, before he collapsed to the ground, lifeless.
Xie Zhen stood, panting, his body battered but victorious. He gazed at the lifeless body of his opponent, a cruel smile on his lips.
"Let this be a lesson to all of you, Tianming sect," he spat blood, then turned on his heel. "Keep coming, I need only more sacrifices to perfect my techniques."
In the hours that followed, Xie Zhen left the clearing and disappeared into the shadows once more. The wounds reminded him that obstacles to his power existed, but they were merely sources of learning.
And more than ever, he was determined to crush any opposition, to rise to the top of this universe where the only law was that of the strongest.
The Tianming sect would surely send more warriors. It didn't matter. They would all eventually understand that before Xie Zhen, they were nothing but puppets waiting to have their strings severed.