The world fell silent the moment the blood rain began.
It wasn't just the crimson sky or the black sun that made people kneel in fear — it was the whisper riding the wind.
> "The Abduction Path has returned."
In the small, crumbling village of Stone Lantern, no one believed in legends anymore. Not after the sects had taken every gifted child, leaving only farmers and forgotten bones. But today, Wang Lin, a seventeen-year-old orphan with nothing but a rusted pendant and an old promise, woke up choking on blood.
His own.
His chest burned — not with pain, but with power. It writhed like a beast inside him, screaming to be released. His fingers clawed at the earth as golden lines etched themselves across his skin. Symbols no one had seen in ten thousand years.
From the corner of the ruined shrine where he slept, an old man whispered, "You shouldn't have survived that fall, boy... not unless..."
Wang Lin's eyes opened — not brown anymore, but burning with silver flame.
> "What... am I?" he asked, voice trembling.
The old man backed away. "You're cursed. Or chosen. Depends on who finds you first."
Suddenly, the sky cracked.
A black sword descended from the heavens, splitting the mountains in the distance. Screams followed. The Blood Raven Sect had arrived — searching for the one who triggered the ancient prophecy.
Wang Lin stood, weak and barefoot, facing the storm.
"I don't want to fight," he whispered. "But I will."
And then it happened.
The moment a dying cultivator from the sect struck him, Wang Lin's pendant shattered — and his body absorbed the man's Qi, his memories, his techniques. Not copied. Not learned. Stolen.
It was the first time the Abduction Path revealed itself.