The wind howled through the desolate mountains as Ashen Wu knelt before the Wu Clan's ancestral hall. His robes were torn, caked in dried blood, and his hands trembled from exhaustion. The assembled elders and disciples of the clan stood in a semicircle, watching him with eyes full of contempt and amusement.
At the forefront, Wu Tianlong, the young master of the clan, smirked. He towered over Ashen, his golden robes gleaming under the torchlight. "A cripple like you dares to request another chance? Pathetic."
Ashen clenched his fists, his nails digging into his palms. His dantian—shattered since birth—made cultivation impossible. While his peers soared through cultivation stages, refining their Qi and forming their cores, he remained stuck, weaker than even a commoner.
"I only ask to take the Awakening Trial once more," Ashen said, his voice steady despite the humiliation.
An elder scoffed. "You failed at twelve. You failed at fifteen. Now, at eighteen, you want to try again?" His tone dripped with mockery. "Enough. The Wu Clan has no place for a cripple."
Murmurs of agreement rippled through the crowd.
Wu Tianlong took a step closer, leaning in so only Ashen could hear. "Do you know why your father never speaks for you?" He chuckled. "Because you are a disgrace. The mighty Wu Clan cannot have a failure tainting its name."
Ashen's chest tightened. His father, Wu Jian, stood among the elders, his gaze averted, his expression cold. Not once had he defended Ashen.
Tianlong's voice grew sharper. "Leave the clan, or I will personally remove you."
Ashen's heart pounded, his vision blurring. He had spent his life trying to prove he was more than a cripple, that he could stand among them. But in the end, the heavens had abandoned him.
Something inside him cracked—not just his pride, but his very soul.
Raising his head, he met Tianlong's gaze with defiance. "Then do it."
The crowd fell silent.
Tianlong grinned. "Gladly."
With a flick of his wrist, golden Qi erupted around him. He struck with the force of a peak Spirit Vein Realm cultivator, his palm descending like a hammer.
Ashen braced for death.
But just as the strike was about to land, something ancient stirred deep within him. A whisper echoed in his mind.
"Do you wish to burn?"
The world seemed to slow. A burning sensation ignited in his chest, spreading through his veins like wildfire. His vision darkened, and in that moment, he saw something—an endless expanse of ash and cinders, a forgotten ruin where an ancient, withered book lay open.
The Ashen Codex.
Then—
BOOM!
A shockwave erupted from Ashen's body, sending Tianlong skidding backward. Flames of pure gray flickered in the air around him, his once-broken dantian pulsing with an unfamiliar force.
The elders gasped.
Tianlong's eyes widened. "Impossible…!"
Ashen Wu slowly rose to his feet. His body still ached, but something was different. The heavens may have cast him aside, but something far older had answered his call.
For the first time in his life, he could feel power.
And it was only the beginning.