The sky cracked open with thunder, as if the heavens themselves were weeping.
On the peak of the Forbidden Divine Mountain, the Immortal Emperor Xiao Zhen stood tall, blood dripping from his lips, his black robes torn and tattered. Behind him, seven figures floated midair—his disciples, his so-called children, now traitors, faces masked with indifference and greed.
"You raised us… taught us everything we know," said the eldest, Zhou Yan, holding the Heaven-Slaying Sword. "But you've lived long enough, Master. The legacy should belong to us."
Xiao Zhen laughed—a hollow, thunderous sound that echoed across the heavens. "So… this is what loyalty means in this era?"
He raised his hand, summoning the shattered pieces of the Void Origin Mirror, his most precious artifact. But he was too late. His spiritual core had been pierced, his immortal body on the verge of collapse.
A flurry of divine arts struck him in unison—seven ultimate techniques meant to kill gods, now used against the very one who taught them.
As his body crumbled into ash, Xiao Zhen's last thoughts were not of hatred… but amusement.
"Fine. If the world wants a demon… I shall return as one."
---
A thousand years later.
In the eastern outskirts of the Cangxuan Realm, a blood-soaked boy lay in the mud, his chest pierced by a rusted blade.
His name was Lin Feng, the "disgrace" of the Lin Family—talentless, weak, bullied since childhood. The boy had just been beaten to death by his own cousin for daring to speak to a noble girl.
As lightning struck the mountains, a dark force surged into Lin Feng's corpse.
And then—his eyes opened.
Black. Depthless. Cold.
"...This weak vessel..." The voice that echoed in Lin Feng's mind was not his own. "Yet… how familiar."
Memories surged like a tidal wave. Immortal arts, divine wars, betrayals, conquests… and death.
Xiao Zhen had returned.
He sat up slowly, the blade still lodged in his chest. Around him, three young men backed away in fear.
"Didn't we kill him?" one stammered. "H-he was dead!"
Lin Feng—no, Xiao Zhen—pulled the blade from his chest with a low chuckle. "You call that a kill?"
He rose to his feet, despite the broken ribs and shattered dantian. His body was fragile, but his soul… unbreakable.
In a flash, he moved.
A single finger tapped the forehead of the boy who'd stabbed him. A pulse of dark light erupted.
The boy dropped dead, eyes wide in terror.
The other two screamed and ran. Xiao Zhen didn't follow. He didn't need to. He had no interest in ants.
He looked at his bloodied hands, then to the dark sky above.
"Fate… you sent me back in the body of a worm," he murmured. "So be it."
A sharp pain stabbed through his core. The body's cultivation was crippled. The spiritual veins were severed. In this realm, he was worse than useless.
But Xiao Zhen smiled.
"Let the world laugh. I will rise again… and this time, I will burn the heavens themselves."
---
Three days later.
The Lin Family Estate. Outer grounds.
Lin Feng limped through the courtyard, dressed in rags, head held high. Servants and disciples pointed and whispered.
"Isn't that the trash Lin Feng?"
"I heard he died. Why's he still walking around?"
"He's a disgrace to the family."
Xiao Zhen ignored them. He had no need for weaklings' approval.
At the cultivation hall, a group of elders gathered.
"Lin Feng," barked Elder Mu. "You were expelled. Why are you here?"
"I came for what's mine," Xiao Zhen replied calmly.
The hall burst into laughter.
"And what would that be?" Elder Mu sneered.
"My ancestral right," he said. "And the soul-forging jade in the vault."
"You—!" Elder Mu's face turned red. "You're a cripple! You think you can cultivate now?"
Xiao Zhen stepped forward. His gaze locked onto Elder Mu's soul.
"Try me," he whispered.
Suddenly, Elder Mu's body trembled. His face turned pale. He saw it—a shadow behind the boy. A colossal being of darkness, staring into his soul.
"…You…" Elder Mu took a step back, sweat pouring from his forehead.
Xiao Zhen smiled faintly. "I'll be taking the jade now."
No one stopped him.
---
That night.
In a broken chamber at the edge of the estate, Xiao Zhen sat cross-legged. In his palm rested the Soul-Forging Jade—a rare treasure used to reshape shattered cores.
He crushed it.
Dark light surged into his body, repairing the spiritual channels, reactivating the dantian.
Pain exploded through him, but he didn't flinch.
Hours passed.
And then—boom.
A wave of pressure exploded from the chamber, knocking down trees, shattering stone.
The cripple had entered the Spirit Condensation Realm in a single night.
Outside, dozens of cultivators gasped.
"What—what was that?"
"Did someone break through?"
Xiao Zhen opened his eyes.
The world… felt slow.
He clenched his fist. The power was faint—nothing compared to what he once wielded—but it was a start.
"I was once the Immortal Emperor," he whispered. "Now I walk again. Not as a man of mercy. Not as a teacher. But as the blade that severs all."
He stood.
"They betrayed me once. I'll make sure no one ever dares again."
---
[End of Chapter 1.]