Ten thousand years ago, beneath the fractured skies of the Extinction Realm, where stars bled light and time itself wept silence, a sovereign rose.
He was known by many names—the Void Emperor, the Heaven Slayer, the One Beyond Karma. Born from a singularity of fate and fury, he ruled the cosmos not through dominance, but defiance. When Heaven judged, he laughed. When Karma struck, he severed its threads. When the Dao resisted, he devoured it.
His empire stretched across the sacred realms: from the Mortal Dust World to the Spirit Surge Domain, from the Celestial Sanctuary to the Abyss of Fallen Divinities, and beyond into the hushed chaos of the Extinction Realm. Where others bowed to divine order, he carved his own law with the blade of twilight.
But even legends fade. Surrounded by the Celestial Alliance and betrayed by the last of his kin, he burned through time itself in one final clash that shattered constellations and sealed his soul—a divine ember—into the Sea of Conscience of a child yet unborn.
In the present day...
The sun spilled golden light over Qingling Mountain Manor, the most prestigious sect in the Spirit Surge Domain. Nestled between clouds and waterfalls, its spires shimmered with Dao runes, and its disciples walked in silence broken only by birdsong and the occasional explosive cough of a misfired alchemy experiment.
A sharp yell echoed across the eastern courtyard.
"Ling Xuanye! Come back here, you little star-plucked menace!"
A boy, robed in light azure silks with silver thread, darted between pine pillars, holding a jade scroll in one hand and a half-eaten spiritual peach in the other. His hair was tied in a messy topknot, a glint of mischief in his eyes, and a faint trail of glittering light followed his feet—a result of a botched movement technique.
Ling Xuanye, Young Master of Qingling Sect. Prodigy. Mischief-maker. Flirt. Secret genius. Son of the Sect Master, terror of his elders, beloved by nearly every junior disciple—and the bane of every instructor who valued peace and discipline.
"Don't blame me, Elder Yao! The scroll flew into my hand! The peach... it tempted me!" Xuanye shouted back, vanishing behind a spirit beast stable, narrowly avoiding a stampeding baby qilin.
Behind him, Elder Yao, the sect's most respected scripture master, huffed and gave up the chase, muttering about 'destiny's punishment' and 'youth without shame'.
Xuanye leapt over a koi pond, landing on a floating lotus formation that glowed beneath his feet.
"You missed morning lectures again, didn't you?" came a voice.
Xuanye spun midair and landed beside Shui Lin, his best friend since childhood. Calm, composed, hair perfectly combed. Everything Xuanye wasn't.
"Lectures are for the uncreative," Xuanye said, tossing him the peach. "Besides, I was... researching."
"By stealing restricted scrolls?"
"Borrowing. Spiritually. For enlightenment purposes."
The two walked along the bridge that curved over a mist-wreathed valley. From this height, the Skywriting Pagoda, Swordfall Plateau, and the Flame Orchid Pavilion gleamed like a dream made real. They passed junior disciples in meditation, sect elders discussing formations, and a trio of sword-wielding girls who giggled the moment Xuanye smiled at them.
Life was good. Too good.
Xuanye spent his afternoons pretending to nap during lectures, escaping to explore forbidden caves, convincing his teachers to let him duel with a 'handicap' and still win, and flirting with the daughter of the Alchemy Hall's grand elder.
But when he sat in stillness—truly stillness—a voice whispered.
"Heaven forgot what it means to tremble."
A pulse within his soul. A black star glimmering deep within his Sea of Conscience.
"Do you fear me, child of fate? Or do you desire to become what even Heaven dreads?"
His heart skipped. The voice was ancient. Male and female. Cold and infinite.
But then Shui Lin flicked his forehead, and the spell was broken.
"You're daydreaming again. Probably about Senior Sister Yue," Shui Lin teased.
Xuanye grinned, masking the confusion and the slight chill in his spine.
"Of course. Who wouldn't? She's poetry in motion and lightning in human form."
The world, for now, remained bright.
And yet...
In the deepest part of Xuanye's soul, where light dared not reach, a pair of cosmic eyes slowly opened. A being, once called the Void Emperor, stirred.
And far above, in the Celestial Sanctuary, a divine omen appeared in the stars—a falling void star with a broken seal around it.
Heaven took notice.
The era of peace was merely an illusion.
The world would soon remember the name Ling Xuanye.
To be continued...