The cold wind rustled the frostbitten leaves as the moon cast its silver glow over the barren stretch of land outside the Qin Clan's compound.
Qin Zhen stood barefoot on cracked soil, blood still wet on his knuckles, steam rising faintly from his skin. His breath came out in slow, steady streams, misted with dark qi. Behind him, the crumbling hut stood like a broken tomb. Before him death walked on two legs.
A figure emerged from the trees, calm and methodical.
Gray robes. Black veil. A sigil embroidered in red thread glinted faintly on the figure's chest: the mark of the Qin Clan's Inner Enforcement Hall.
Assassins. Silent blades of the clan. Used to remove traitors, failures… embarrassments.
The man stopped ten paces away, unsheathing his sword with a slow, deliberate motion. The steel gleamed under the moonlight refined, sharp, humming with barely-contained spiritual energy. A cultivator's killing tool.
"Qin Zhen," the man said, his voice flat, devoid of emotion. "By order of Elder Council decree, your presence is deemed… detrimental to the honor and future of the clan."
He paused, sword angling forward in a formal execution stance.
"Your disposal has been authorized. Do not resist."
Qin Zhen tilted his head.
"'Disposal'? What am I garbage?"
The assassin said nothing.
A faint breeze passed between them, carrying dust and tension.
[System Scan Complete]
Target Identified: Qin Long (Clan Enforcer – Skin-Refining Realm, 4th Layer)
Martial Path Affinity: Wind-type Sword Style
Threat Level: Moderate
Estimated Victory Chance: 64%
Combat Suggestion:
▸ Use stored Bone-Severing Palm (Cooldown: 1 Use Remaining)
▸ OR Activate Bloodline Pulse (5% Risk of Overload)
Kill Reward:
▸ +1 Realm Level
▸ Unlock Access to Enforcer Technique Manual
▸ Item Drop Chance: Spirit Weapon, Clan Intel
Clan Reputation -15
Qin Zhen exhaled.
"Then let's test whether your blade… can keep up with someone who's already died once."
The assassin didn't speak.
But he moved.
FAST.
One instant he was standing still then his body blurred as he lunged forward with a shout:
"Bladed Wind Slash!"
The blade arced, trailing a crescent of cutting wind. Even the ground cracked from the force. The gust sliced past Qin Zhen, missing by inches but carving a deep gash into the stone behind him.
Qin Zhen's feet slid backward from the air pressure alone.
Too slow.
His body still lagged behind his instincts. The training of a war-hardened god was clashing with the limitations of a mortal shell.
But…
He had something the assassin didn't.
Battle memory.
He inhaled shallowly and dropped into a crouch, his stance suddenly shifting light on his toes, arms loose, his center of gravity coiled like a spring.
An ancient form. One lost to the world for millennia.
"Third Form of the Abyss: Ghost Step."
[Abyss Technique Activated]
Form: Ghost Step
Effect: Evasive Movement + Phantom Trail (1.3 seconds)
Duration: 3 movements
Cooldown: 12 hours
His body flickered then vanished.
The assassin's eyes widened, confused for only a fraction of a second.
Then
CRACK!
Qin Zhen reappeared behind him, his palm glowing with spectral light.
Bone-Severing Palm.
The assassin gasped as his shoulder was crushed inward. His right arm went limp. He stumbled forward, knees buckling.
But Qin Zhen wasn't finished.
His fingers curled into a claw, and black-red light flickered at his fingertips. His pupils narrowed into slits.
[Bloodline Pulse: 5% Activation]
Temporary Boost:
+1 Strength
+1 Speed
Abyssal Enhancement: Muscle Tension Surge (5 seconds)
Power flooded his limbs hot, hungry, pulsing like a beast beneath his skin. He felt light, but lethal. Every muscle surged with violent potential.
He dashed forward again.
Too fast now.
The assassin barely raised his sword just in time to block the incoming strike.
Steel met flesh.
But Qin Zhen's hand didn't stop.
He grabbed the blade.
Blood ran down his fingers as he pulled the sword aside and slammed his knee into the assassin's chest.
BOOM.
The enforcer gasped, coughing blood.
Qin Zhen spun, his elbow slamming into the side of the man's head, then stepped in close.
His hand surged with abyssal energy.
He gripped the assassin's face and slammed him into the frozen ground.
CRACK.
A crater formed beneath them. Dust exploded outward. Stone shattered.
The assassin twitched.
Then lay still.
[Enemy Eliminated]
Level Up: Skin-Refining Realm – 2nd Layer
New Ability Unlocked: Bloodline Insight – Beast Vision I
Loot Acquired:
▸ Spirit-Rune Sword (Mid-Tier)
▸ Spirit Pouch (Low-Tier)
▸ Hidden Message Token (Unknown Origin)
Qin Zhen rose slowly, blood dripping from his palm, lips curled into a cold, tired smile.
"Second kill."
He looked down at the body.
"One for Heaven..."
He turned to the moonlit forest, wind brushing his face like a whisper.
"…One for the clan."
He wiped the blood from his cheek with the back of his hand and bent down to inspect the corpse. The assassin's sword a fine spirit-forged blade etched with qi-conducting runes gleamed faintly. A sharp, balanced weapon. Better than anything he could've found in the clan's outer compound.
He took it.
It hummed in his grasp, resonating faintly with his energy. Accepting him.
He clipped the spirit pouch to his belt, then reached into it, fingers brushing across talismans, jade slips, and
A cold pulse.
Something deeper.
Something hidden.
He withdrew a smooth, obsidian token, etched with a symbol he hadn't seen in thousands of years.
[System Alert]
Unknown Artifact Detected
Seal Matches: Abyssal Heaven Sect – Extinct Faction
Time of Extinction: 9,173 Years Ago
Cultivation Alignment: Forbidden Path
New Quest Unlocked: Echoes of the Forbidden Past
Track Origin of Abyssal Token
Objective 1: Investigate Discreetly
Objective 2: Prevent Detection by Heaven's Watchers
Qin Zhen's fingers clenched around the token.
His mind flashed back to his past life, long before his rebellion, when the Abyssal Heaven Sect still ruled from the shadows. A sect of monsters. Visionaries. Heretics.
And one of them had taught him the Nine Abyss Breathing Technique.
"This… should not exist anymore."
The sect had been wiped from the world, not by war but by erasure. Heaven itself had cast them into oblivion, removing even their name from ancient records.
Yet here it was.
A token from the forgotten.
A warning.
Or a message?
"Looks like my enemies aren't just from this life after all."
He stood and looked back toward the Qin Clan compound in the valley below.
Lights flickered inside tall walls.
He could already see the next moves in their game the clan would send someone to investigate the shockwave. Rumors would begin. Whispers about the cripple who hadn't died.
That was fine.
Let them talk.
He wanted them afraid.
He sheathed the new sword across his back, the symbol of the enforcers still visible on the sheath.
"Keep sending blades," he said to the wind. "I'll send back corpses."
He turned and began walking into the dark, toward the edge of the forest.
The next phase had begun.