The night air hummed with tension as Luo Tian scaled the outer walls of the Heavenly Sword Sect. Moonlight glinted off the nanomachines swirling beneath his skin, their blue glow pulsing in time with his heartbeat. Below him, the compound stretched out like a sleeping beast - unaware of the predator about to strike.
[Perimeter scan complete: 23 heat signatures detected. Seven active formation arrays. One elder-level cultivator in meditation.]
Echo's mechanical voice whispered through his mind as he dropped silently onto a tiled rooftop. The information unfolded behind his eyes like a ghostly overlay - guard patrol patterns marked in red, formation weak points blinking yellow, the elder's location pulsing crimson.
"Too easy," Luo Tian thought, his lips curling into a feral grin.
His first target never saw death coming. The guard crumpled as Luo Tian's palm connected with the back of his neck, nanomachines instantly severing the spinal cord while simultaneously absorbing the man's qi. The second guard turned at the soft thud - just in time to see Luo Tian's fingers pierce his chest.
[Qi absorption at 87% efficiency. Energy reserves replenished.]
By the time the third guard thought to sound the alarm, Luo Tian was already at the armory doors. The massive stone slabs, inscribed with ancient runes of protection, would have stopped any normal cultivator. But Luo Tian wasn't normal anymore.
He placed his palm against the cold stone.
[Runic analysis complete. Counter-frequency established.]
Blue tendrils of energy snaked from his fingertips, worming their way between the carved lines. The runes flared gold in protest before shattering like glass. The doors groaned open just enough for Luo Tian to slip through.
Inside, the air hummed with stored power. Racks of spirit weapons lined the walls, their energies dancing like fireflies. Shelves groaned under the weight of rare herbs and precious cultivation aids. But Luo Tian's eyes locked onto the central pedestal - and the weathered scroll resting atop it.
The Sky-Severing Sword Manual.
His fingers brushed the parchment just as a blade materialized at his throat.
"I knew you'd come for this."
Grand Elder Hong's voice held none of the fear or anger Luo Tian had come to expect. Only a terrible, calculating hunger. The sword at Luo Tian's neck burned with an eerie green light - not qi, but something older. Something wrong.
Luo Tian didn't flinch. "You're not here to stop me."
"Perceptive." Hong's free hand moved in a complex gesture. The armory doors slammed shut behind them, sealing them in. "I'm here to collect what belongs to my masters."
[Warning: Unknown energy signature detected. Threat level: extreme.]
The nanomachines in Luo Tian's body screamed as Hong's sword flared brighter. For the first time since his rebirth, Luo Tian felt Echo hesitate.
"Who are you really?" Luo Tian demanded, his muscles coiling.
Hong smiled. "Just a humble servant of the Sky Empire. And you, Luo Tian, are their lost property."
The fight that followed shattered centuries-old artifacts. Hong moved with impossible precision, his techniques unlike any martial art Luo Tian had ever seen. Each strike carried that same green energy - energy that made Echo stutter in his veins.
[Analysis failed. Combat style unrecognized. Adapting.]
Luo Tian's fist met Hong's palm in a shockwave that cracked the armory walls. He tried to absorb Hong's energy as he had with others - only to recoil as black tendrils lashed back at his nanomachines.
"You see now?" Hong laughed as he pressed the attack. "You're just a vessel. And I will carve you open to reclaim what's ours."
Blood dripped from Luo Tian's nose as the foreign energy ravaged his system. But deep within, something stirred. The Heavenly Spirit Herb's power - his awakened bloodline - roared to life in defiance.
[Bloodline resonance detected. Override protocols engaged.]
Void-black scales erupted across Luo Tian's skin as raw power flooded his meridians. When he next struck Hong, the elder flew backward through three stone pillars before crashing into the far wall.
The agent coughed blood, but still smiled. "Remarkable. The Void-Shattering Dragon bloodline was thought extinct." He pressed a device on his wrist. "The Empire will want you intact."
[Warning: Spatial distortion detected. Reinforcements inbound.]
The air rippled. Two more figures materialized - identical to Hong in every way, their eyes cold and empty.
Luo Tian spat blood and grinned. "Finally, a real fight."
As the three agents advanced, the armory doors exploded inward. The Thunderbone Ancestor stood framed in the wreckage, its mummified form crackling with stolen energy. Behind it, Sect Master Luo Zheng looked on with grim satisfaction.
"Kill them all," the Sect Master commanded.
The ancestor's hollow eyes locked onto Luo Tian.
And the real battle began.