The air outside was thick with the stench of decay and desperation. The city of Xingling-a crumbling shadow of its former glory-lay sprawled before him. The once proud streets were now choked with filth, beggars, and thieves blending into the crowds of merchants peddling spoiled goods. People shuffled past, their eyes hollow from despair, their hopes extinguished long ago, just like Li Shen's own soul.
Xian Hei stood there for a moment, breathing in the stifling air; yet, despite all that decay surrounding him, something inside stirred. This wasn't the body that he was in, or those pitiful memories from Li Shen's life-things that really drove him on. It was a huge need to get back to his powers, high above the filth to punish those who had dared to tear him down.
This place… it shall be the crucible of my rebirth.
He began to walk, his every step purposeful, as his mind went to work already, plotting what was next. In Li Shen's memories, he knew of the remnants of his family's estate, a noble one buried beneath the foundation of what once had been a thriving district of the city. It was there, deep in those forgotten depths, that the Nine Veils of Shadow waited for him. First, he would need strength.
---
It was a city rife with weakness, too many to count, too many to ignore. Xian Hei felt the raw, unshaped potential in every soul that passed him by. But it wasn't enough just to feed off their despair; he needed to refine that power, to turn it into something more potent. He needed a kill, and he needed it fast.
He walked deeper into the city, his eyes scanning for potential prey.
Too soft… too weak…
Then he saw them—a group of local thugs, laughing as they accosted an elderly merchant on the street. The merchant's trembling hands offered the last of his meager earnings, but the thugs weren't satisfied. They were pushing him to the ground, kicking and cursing, taking his goods with cruel relish.
Xian Hei's lips curled into a smirk. Perfect.
It formed the result of a flick of his wrist-a shard of dark energy formed from within him, a fragment of his broken cultivation. A ripple, subtler than that would ever be picked up by ordinary men. The thugs weren't ordinary men. Weak, desperate, and arrogance-filled. They felt it.
The first thug whirled around, his eyes widening as the air seemed to grow cold about him. He opened his mouth to shout, but before the sound could leave his throat, the shard of darkness struck. It tore through the thug's chest with the precision of a spear, the jagged edges of the energy twisting into his heart and draining him dry. In an instant, his body crumpled to a heap, a lifeless husk.
The other thugs froze.
Xian Hei stepped forward, the shadows in the alley seeming to writhe around him. His eyes were now glowing faintly with dark power as they locked on the remaining two.
"You… you didn't see anything," the second thug stammered, fumbling for a rusty dagger.
Xian Hei didn't say a word. He didn't have to. The shadows writhed around him, an extension of his will, and with the flick of a wrist, they surged ahead. The thug's body was lifted into the air, his breath choked as the darkness smothered him. His struggles were for naught. In a moment, he was crushed, his bones snapping like twigs beneath the relentless weight of the shadows.
The third thug turned to run, but Xian Hei's eyes tracked him with inhuman precision. The darkness didn't just drain life; it manipulated the very essence of fear. It turned it into power, into strength. And as the last thug bolted into the street, Xian Hei called upon that power, surging with malevolent energy.
The thug's scream was swallowed by the night as it wrapped itself around his body, twisting, tearing until nothing was left but a bloody smear on the cobblestones.
---
The power that surged in Xian Hei intoxicated him as it flooded in. The dark shadows withdrew, and the hunger within him did not subside. He felt the taste of their lives on his tongue-fear, anger, and the desperation of those who had thought themselves beyond punishment. It was all so easy, so effortless. He could feel his cultivation stirring within him, the remnants of his broken dantian starting to heal, ever so slowly. But it wasn't enough. Not yet. He turned back to the elderly merchant, whose body still shook and quivered upon the ground.
"Stand up," Xian Hei said impassively.
The merchant, staring at him with terrified eyes wide as saucers, slowly rose his shaking body and opened quivering lips.
"T-Thank you, s-sir… I… I don't know who you are, but —"
"I'm not interested in your thanks," Xian Hei interrupted. His tone was devoid of emotion. "Tell me where the Li family estate is. Tell me where I can find the vault beneath it."
The merchant's face paled. He looked as though he might faint, but after a long, tense pause, he managed to speak.
"Y-You're one of them, aren't you?" He stammered. "One of the nobles… You… You've heard the stories, haven't you? The estate was destroyed years ago. The land's abandoned. Nothing's left…"
Xian Hei's eyes flashed with a cold, terrifying fury.
"Tell me, or I'll make sure your death is as painful as those thugs'."
The merchant swallowed hard; his eyes were wide with fear, but he spoke nonetheless. "It's. it's in the East District. The ruins are hidden behind a wall, near the old marketplace. But I swear, there's nothing left."
Xian Hei gave him a withering glare.
"Go. Leave. And if you speak of this to anyone, I'll come for you.
The merchant nodded furiously, his knees trembling as he stepped back into the shadows and disappeared into the night.
Xian Hei stood quiet for a moment, the silence a soothing balm to his frazzled nerves. It wasn't enough, though-the power surging inside him wanted more.
He wanted the Nine Veils of Shadow.
And he would have it, no matter the cost.