Jin Rou stood on the cliff's edge, wind brushing against his worn skin.
Below him, smoke curled into the sky from burning villages. The air tasted like ash. The scent of blood and scorched wood drifted up the mountain path.
His legs were weak, but his spirit was still unbroken. He had escaped the prison beneath the mountain — a place not just meant to contain his body, but to bury his soul.
The message from the system echoed again in his mind:
> [Main Quest Initiated: Reclaim Your Name]
[Objective: Discover what shattered the Nine Great Sects.]
[Reward: Unlock first meridian — Vein of the Rebellious Flame.]
The Nine Great Sects… shattered? That single thought struck him harder than any blow.
They were the pillars of the world — ancient institutions that ruled continents and balanced power between kingdoms. Jin Rou once walked among them. He had even challenged their Elders… and survived.
Now, the system claimed they were gone.
He glanced at the body of the Azure Phoenix Sect disciple lying nearby. His chest was pierced clean through — not by a beast, but by something sharper, crueler… a blade.
The robes were scorched at the edges, stained with blood. Jin Rou stepped forward, bending down slowly. His bones ached, and every movement made his body protest.
> [Qi Veins: Blocked]
[Status: Core Inactive | Vitality at 23%]
[System Suggestion: Harvest Flame Vein Residue]
[Warning: This process is painful and dangerous]
"Pain and danger," Jin Rou muttered, his voice dry, but laced with irony. "It's been a while since I knew anything else."
With a breath, he placed his hand on the disciple's chest.
The world around him dimmed. The mountains faded, the sky blurred. In his mind's eye, he saw a flicker of light within the corpse — a trace of spiritual flame still clinging to the meridian paths in the disciple's body.
He reached inward, guided by instinct and the system's faint outline, and pulled.
Agony exploded in his arm.
It felt as though a blade of fire slid under his skin and into his veins. His body seized. His vision pulsed red. But he didn't let go.
> [Extracting Flame Vein Fragment… 63%… 81%… Success]
[Warning: Your mortal body cannot handle direct essence. Diluting… Processing…]
[Initializing First Vein Reconnection: Rebellious Flame]
Jin Rou collapsed onto his side, gasping. His vision swam, and his skin felt like it was burning from the inside. But then — a pulse.
A single, thumping beat inside his chest.
Not his heart.
Something deeper.
> The first vein remembers.
The flame is pain. The flame is strength.
The voice in his head — not quite the system, but part of it — spoke again. Less robotic, more human. As though someone was slowly waking up within him.
Jin Rou rolled over, staring at the sky. The red morning light now looked different, sharper, more vivid. He felt something stir beneath his skin — like liquid heat moving through old, clogged rivers.
> [First Meridian Reconnected: Vein of the Rebellious Flame]
[Qi Flow: 3% Restored]
[You may now perform Basic Flame Techniques]
[Unlocked: Ember Palm (Unstable)]
[Unlocked: Flame Sight (Low Grade)]
His fingers trembled.
Years of silence. Of powerlessness. And now… even if it was weak, even if it was unstable… it was something.
He had Qi again.
The world had changed, but the Path remained.
---
Hours passed.
Jin Rou moved slowly down the mountain trail, staying out of sight. His body was still fragile, but his senses were returning. Every flicker of wind, every shifting leaf, now carried meaning.
He reached the edge of a burned village by dusk. Crows circled overhead. No one alive.
But he wasn't alone.
Footsteps.
Rough voices. Two men. One young, panting. The other older, speaking calmly.
"…S-senior Wei, we should leave. The beasts will come back."
"Quiet. Search the bodies. We need their cores. Someone will pay for sect remains."
Jin Rou hid behind a shattered wall, heart steady. He peeked out.
Mercenaries. Cultivators, but low-level. Probably scavengers, hunting corpses for valuables.
In his prime, he wouldn't have even bothered to acknowledge them. But now, they were dangerous.
He studied their movements. The younger one was nervous. The elder — Wei — held his blade with experience. Still, neither noticed the small flames dancing on the edges of the ruins. Residual Qi. Dangerous if disturbed.
A plan formed.
Jin Rou closed his eyes and focused. He stretched his palm toward a glowing ember lying beneath some debris.
> [Activating Ember Palm…]
[Warning: Host meridians unstable. Technique may backlash.]
"Do it," he whispered.
Flame sparked to life in his palm, a small, pulsing orb of fire. He hurled it toward a dry patch of wood behind the two men.
It burst, louder than expected.
The young one shouted. Wei turned, drawing his blade. "Who's there?!"
Jin Rou moved like a shadow, slipping past the smoke, silent as death. He struck from behind.
He wasn't fast. He wasn't strong.
But he was precise.
His hand latched onto the young man's back — right over a fractured vein. Qi surged from his palm into the boy's body.
> [Qi Disruption Pulse Activated]
The boy screamed, convulsed, and dropped.
Wei turned — too slow. Jin Rou ducked under his sword and kicked the man's knee sideways. A bone cracked. Wei grunted and fell forward. Jin Rou caught his head and slammed it into the stone wall.
Silence.
He staggered back, panting. Blood dripped from his lips. His vision blurred. That last move had cost him.
But both men were unconscious.
He searched them quickly. Spirit stones — cracked but usable. A low-grade beast core. Some dried herbs.
Enough to recover. For now.
Then he found something strange.
A scroll. Sealed with a brand he hadn't seen in centuries.
The Jade Spiral Sect…
They were dead. Long dead.
So why was their seal here?
> [Side Quest Discovered: Echoes of the Jade Spiral]
[Investigate the surviving records of the lost sect.]
[Optional Reward: Secret Technique - Spiral Flame Body]
Jin Rou looked to the horizon, where stars began to blink into the night sky.
He had a path. He had power, even if it was faint.
And now, he had a question.
Who destroyed the world I once knew — and why was I buried alive beneath it?
He would find the answer. Even if it meant climbing back from the bottom of the abyss, one broken vein at a time.