"When a man climbs from the darkness bearing flame, the world must either follow or burn."
The Inverted Temple trembled as Zang Xuan ascended. Behind him, the Scroll of Nine Dooms floated silently, sealed once more, its power now bound to his spirit core.
He emerged atop the Crimson Abyss just as the blood moon reached its zenith. The earth around the chasm had shifted — warped by the brief opening of the scroll. Mountains that had once stood proud were now half-sunken. Trees wept black sap. Beasts fled into the deeper forests.
But one figure stood waiting.
She was cloaked in violet silk, her presence veiled behind a barrier of mist and fragrance — a technique of the Fragrant Cloud Pavilion, one of the Nine Hidden Sects.
Zang Xuan's gaze was calm. "So… the Pavilion sends its scent to the battlefield."
The woman stepped forward, her voice melodious. "And the Bloodline of Calamity awakens once more. The gods will not ignore this, Zang Xuan."
A flicker passed through his eyes at the sound of his real name.
"I never expected them to," he said. "Let them come."
---
Zang Xuan journeyed east, across the War-Worn Plains, where the bones of three empires lay buried beneath scorched earth. Here, Qi was corrupted — twisted by countless soul sacrifices from the wars of the past.
As he walked, spirits followed.
Not ghosts, but Remnants — echoes of fallen cultivators tied to unresolved vows. They whispered fragments of long-lost martial techniques. Zang Xuan listened, absorbing the memories, letting his inner sea churn with new understanding.
From the whispers, he gleaned part of the Heaven-Wounding Blade Scripture, a forbidden manual once wielded by the Sword Saint of the Vanquished Moon.
---
In the distance, lights bloomed.
Yonglan, the City of Ten Thousand Lanterns — a trade city nestled between sect borders, neutral territory where martial law bowed to coin, and whispers traveled faster than blades.
Here, Zang Xuan adopted the alias once more: Zang Xuan, a wandering scholar of faded nobility.
He entered the city just as the Lantern Festival began. Crowds filled the streets, fireworks pierced the sky, and storytellers spoke tales of heroes long dead. No one knew that a calamity walked among them.
But not all eyes were blind.
Within a tea house on the third ring street, a youth with a single jade eye observed him. And high above, in the shadow of the Moon Pavilion, a black-feathered raven circled thrice before vanishing into nothingness.
The game had begun.
---
Deep within the Nine Heavens, the gods stirred.
The Divine Court of Eternal Judgment, guardians of balance and watchers of fate, had sensed the activation of the Scroll of Nine Dooms. Thrones of obsidian, crystal, flame, and silence were occupied once more.
The God of Silent Verdicts opened a single eye.
"The heir to calamity walks," he murmured.
And the Lady of Radiant Ruin smiled. "Let us see if destiny truly bends for him."
A decision was made.
A Heaven Envoy was dispatched — a celestial cultivator bearing divine mandate, tasked with observing Zang Xuan… and eliminating him if necessary.
---
In Yonglan, factions began to stir.
The Thunder Sabre Sect, known for their blood contracts and soul-slave warriors, recognized the energy signature that had pulsed from the Crimson Abyss. They believed the scroll had fallen into mortal hands — a weapon they now coveted.
Elsewhere, spies from the Waning Moon Sect passed word of Zang Xuan's appearance.
And far in the north, within a frozen citadel, an immortal opened his eyes for the first time in three centuries.
"Zang Xuan," he whispered. "I owe you blood."