Martial God Calendar 2216
At the highest realm of Tianwu Continent—the Martial Realm.
Black tempests roared ferociously across the sky, tearing open colossal gashes that pulsed with devouring void fissures. These ravenous cracks in reality resembled an ancient primordial beast, ceaselessly consuming all within reach.
This was the Valley of Death—one of Tianwu Continent's Seven Forbidden Lands.
For millennia, the valley's eternal void storms had ground countless experts to dust. A meatgrinder of the cosmos, it annihilated all life daring to trespass. Even the most arrogant martial sovereigns avoided this place, for these storms could shred a Nine Heavens Martial Emperor like paper.
"Why...Xier, Shaoyu...why betray me?"
Qin Chen stood bloodied at the cliff's edge, glaring at the couple before him. Crimson streaks marred his robes, his eyes twin pools of venomous anguish. Every heartbeat brought searing agony—not from wounds, but from the dagger plunged through his soul.
Qin Chen—the Legend of Tianwu.
Orphaned at birth with crippled meridians, he had defied the heavens themselves. A Ninth-rank Alchemic Emperor. Eighth-rank Bloodline Sovereign. The first in history to conquer the Eighty-One Celestial Arrays of Heaven's Matrix Mountain at twenty-six. By thirty, none could rival his pill-forging arts or bloodline mastery.
Yet now...
His beloved—Shangguan Xier, the Continent's First Beauty—whom he'd nurtured to become a Nine Heavens Martial Empress.
His sworn brother—Feng Shaoyu, for whom he'd forged the mighty Xuanyuan Empire.
Both stood before him as executioners.
Three days prior, Xier had stabbed him with the divine blade he'd crafted for her. Shaoyu's ambush left him fleeing across continents until cornered at this accursed valley.
"Why?" The word tore from Qin Chen's ravaged throat.
Xier—ethereal as a painted immortal—giggled and nestled into Shaoyu's embrace. The traitorous prince's hand slid possessively around her waist.
"We've been lovers since before meeting you," Xier sneered, her celestial features twisting with venom. "Every touch from you made my skin crawl. You were but a stepping stone."
Shaoyu's smirk mirrored a viper's grin. "For ten years, I watched you defile my woman. Now, your treasures, your legacy—even your precious 'soulmate'—all become mine."
As the couple laughed, Qin Chen's world shattered.
Ten years of devotion—reduced to ash.
With his last strength, Qin Chen leapt backward into the devouring void. The lovers' enraged screams followed him into oblivion.
Three centuries later
Martial God Calendar 2516
In Dingwu Prince Manor, Qi Kingdom:
"XIER! SHAOYU! I'LL MAKE YOU PAY!"
A gaunt youth bolted upright on a brocaded bed, drenched in cold sweat. Agonizing memories flooded his mind—memories not his own, yet more vivid than reality.
The youth stared at his trembling hands.
He—Qin Chen—had been reborn.
Not as the peerless legend, but as the bullied bastard son of a minor noble. Three hundred years had transformed his betrayers into godlike rulers: Emperor Feng Shaoyu ruled the continent-spanning Xuanyuan Empire, while Empress Lingbo (Shangguan Xier) commanded the ethereal Misty Palace.
"Heaven grants me vengeance." The youth's bloodshot eyes gleamed with primordial fury. A phantom whirlwind of killing intent swirled through the chamber.
The door burst open. A jade-haired woman rushed in, tears glistening on lashes as long as butterfly wings.
"Chen'er!" Qin Yuechi—his mother in this life—crushed him in a trembling embrace. The warmth of her arms momentarily thawed his frozen heart.
Through fragmented memories, Qin Chen understood: This body's original owner—also named Qin Chen—had perished from head wounds after a duel. Now, merged with the ancient legend's soul, a new storm brewed.
"Mother...I promise." The words flowed naturally, finalizing the soul's fusion. As residual consciousness faded, the youth's gaze hardened into twin shards of glacial resolve.
Somewhere beyond the horizon, two god-emperors shuddered inexplicably.