Inside the twilight library, buried beneath layers of sealing formations, Han Li stood before an ancient pedestal. Dust blanketed every inch, but atop the stone rested a black book bound in beast hide, pulsing faintly with dark energy.
"Still breathing after all these years…" Han Li muttered.
Only the true mad would dare touch the Tome of Nine Sorrows, a manual banned by ten thousand sects, believed destroyed. But Han Li had found it again—because he wrote it.
Back then, he was different—more wrathful, more broken.
Now, he unsealed it with a wave of his finger, ignoring the angry runes biting at his skin.
The first page bled ink. The words rearranged themselves, responding to Han Li's aura. A low, mad whisper echoed through the chamber.
"Madness grants freedom. Sanity chains the soul."
Han Li smiled. "Good to see you too."
The tome began syncing with his spirit energy. Hidden techniques—things even gods feared—came alive in his mind. But this time, he wasn't reading it for himself.
He was preparing a lesson plan.
—
Elsewhere in the academy, Instructor Wu paced before the Head Council.
"That man—Han Li—is a threat to structure! Class D scored third in the cultivation drill against Class A, and he used forbidden movements! There must be consequences!"
Elder Yao raised a brow. "Do you have proof?"
Instructor Wu faltered.
The Headmaster, a man whose smile had long since withered, simply said, "Let the tournament decide."
—
That night, in Class D, Han Li arrived with the tome hidden in his robes.
He looked at his students and smirked.
"Tomorrow," he said, "you'll learn a cultivation method never seen before. I call it—The Pathless Way."
Their fate would change forever.