The sky over Blackthorn Ravine groaned beneath a curtain of storm clouds. Lightning danced like celestial spears, illuminating the scene below—where a boy lay broken, bloodied, and breathing in shallow gasps.
Feng Mo, a name most in the Azure Flame Sect associated with failure, was on his knees. Blood dripped from the corners of his mouth, mixing with the dust beneath him. His body was battered, his robes torn, and the amulet around his neck cracked.
"You should've stayed in the servant quarters," sneered Lin Zhen, an Inner Sect prodigy. "A bastard like you should know his place."
The other disciples didn't speak. They watched from a distance, their eyes filled with either indifference or amusement. None stepped forward. Not for the orphan. Not for the trash.
The bone amulet—his only keepsake from his father—had begun to glow faintly. It pulsed with each beat of Feng Mo's faltering heart. Ancient, cold... almost alive.
"I didn't steal from the sect," Feng Mo rasped. "That amulet... it's mine by right."
Lin Zhen's response was a sharp kick to Feng Mo's ribs. The sickening crack echoed through the ravine. The flame hound beside him barked, laughing in its own cruel way.
"You? You have no right. Your mother was exiled. Your father vanished. Your cultivation? Trash tier. Even the elders use you as a punching bag. And now you dare talk about rights?"
Feng Mo's vision blurred, not from the pain, but from something far more ancient stirring in his blood. The earth beneath him shuddered—softly, then violently. The glow from the amulet grew intense.
Crack!
The stone beneath his knees split open. A chasm yawned, wide and dark, and swallowed him whole.
Gasps echoed.
Then silence.
Darkness.
And a whisper older than time itself.
"Bearer of the Eternal Blood… rise."
Feng Mo tumbled through a void bathed in crimson light. Images flashed before him—wars between immortals, mountains torn apart by roars, a man with nine stars burned into his back, standing against heaven itself.o
Then, he landed.
It was a circular chamber, immense and hollow, lit by floating lanterns shaped from bone. Blood-colored mist drifted through the air, and the walls pulsed with runes carved in living flesh.
A towering monolith stood at the center, ten meters tall, bleeding faint light.
"You have awakened the Primordial Soul Tomb," the voice echoed. "Your blood is the key. You are the last inheritor of the Eternal Bloodline."
He took a step forward. The amulet shattered into dust.
Blood poured from his body—but it didn't fall. It hovered, spinning, pulled into the runes etched on the monolith. Power beyond comprehension surged.
Then came the pain.
His body convulsed violently, limbs trembling as a tide of crimson energy raced through his meridians. His very soul screamed. And in that moment, he saw his past—and his future.
His eyes turned silver. His veins glowed like rivers of fire.
A message burned itself into the monolith:
> Eternal Bloodline — First Vein Unlocked
Skill Awakened: Blood Devourer's Pulse
Body Tempered: Mortal Bone Stage – Awakening Progress: 1%.
Above the ravine, Lin Zhen turned away from the crevice.
"Let that be a warning to the rest of you," he announced smugly. "Trash belongs underground."
Suddenly—
BOOM!
A column of blood-red light exploded from the fissure. Wind roared. The trees bent as if kneeling. Disciples staggered back in fear.
From within that light… a figure rose.
No longer broken. No longer pitiful.
Feng Mo stood upright, his hair dancing wildly, his eyes glowing silver. Crimson marks swirled on his chest like runes etched by fate itself.
Lin Zhen's smirk faded.
"You… you're supposed to be dead!"
Feng Mo walked forward.
"You were right," he said coldly. "I was born cursed. But not by fate."
He raised his hand, palm burning with power.
Blood Devourer's Pulse — First Strike: Heart Shatter.
The strike landed. Lin Zhen screamed as his body flew backward, crashing through two trees, coughing blood.
The others stood frozen in terror.
Feng Mo didn't look back.
"Tell the elders," he said, walking toward the sect gates, "the dead bloodline has returned."