Chapter 1: The Night of Despair
The night was dark and heavy, pressing down on the small village nestled at the foot of Blackwood Mountain. The cold wind carried whispers of rustling leaves, but Lin Xuan barely noticed. He sat alone by the river, his reflection staring back at him from the blackened water.
His hands trembled. His entire body was bruised and aching.
Today should have been the greatest day of his life—the Azure Sky Sect's disciple selection. The sect was one of the most respected cultivation sects in the region, and every young hopeful in the village had dreamed of joining.
Including Lin Xuan.
But fate had never been kind to him.
"No talent. No potential. A waste of time."
That was what the elder from Azure Sky Sect had said after assessing him. The moment those words were spoken, he became the laughingstock of the entire selection. The other youths, those he had once called friends, sneered at him with undisguised contempt.
When he returned home, his father's face was grim, his mother silent with unshed tears in her eyes.
"You are truly useless, Xuan'er..." his father's voice was quiet but filled with disappointment.
Those words hurt far more than the rejection itself.
Now, as he sat by the river, the weight of his failure crushed him.
Was this his fate? Was he really meant to remain a weakling, bound by the chains of mediocrity?
The thought burned inside him like a slow, festering wound.
Before he realized it, his feet carried him away from the village, deeper into the forbidden woods behind it.
The Darkwood Forest—a place avoided by even the bravest hunters. Legends spoke of ancient spirits and cursed creatures lurking within.
But Lin Xuan no longer cared.
The air grew colder as he wandered further inside. Twisted trees loomed over him like silent sentinels, their branches coiling like grasping claws. An eerie sensation prickled at his skin, but instead of fear… he felt something else.
A pull. A call.
His heart pounded as he pushed through the undergrowth, until finally—he saw it.
A crumbling shrine, half-buried in moss and vines, hidden between jagged rocks.
And inside it, resting atop a cracked stone altar, was a black tome.
Its surface was dark and weathered, with an eerie crimson emblem resembling an unblinking eye at its center. The very air around it felt… wrong. Heavy with something ancient and powerful.
Lin Xuan's breath hitched.
Something inside him screamed at him to run. But something deeper—something desperate—urged him forward.
As if in a trance, he reached out and touched the book.
The moment his fingers brushed against its surface, a voice echoed in his mind.
"You have been abandoned… forsaken… cast aside…"
"Do you wish for power?"
His entire body stiffened. The voice was cold, emotionless—yet it carried an undeniable allure.
Lin Xuan's fingers clenched against the book.
Power…
His whole life, he had been powerless. He had been looked down upon, ridiculed, and discarded like worthless trash.
If the heavens had no place for him—then he would carve his own place in the world.
"Yes."
At that single word, the eye on the book's cover glowed with a deep, sinister red. A sudden force surged through Lin Xuan's body, sending waves of searing pain through his veins.
He gritted his teeth, his vision blurring. Something was changing inside him.
And deep within the shrine, amidst the dust and broken relics, something stirred.
Bones shifted. Shadows flickered. A presence long forgotten… began to awaken.