The trees in the northern woods had long forgotten how to grow straight.
They twisted, cracked, and leaned like they were trying to run away from the heart of the forest — but their roots were chained too deep in the ground. Even the wind avoided this place, curling around it instead of passing through.
And at the center of the silence… stood Wang Lin.
The sky above him was stained with faint streaks of violet, not from sunset — but from the egg.
Even sealed in his spiritual inventory, its influence bled outward.
And what it summoned… was no longer hiding.
The earth ahead shattered.
Something rose.
Its form was a blur of ink-black threads wrapped around bones that were never human. The creature had no face — only a long, jagged tear across its head that leaked fog like breath.
It dragged two long claws behind it, scraping stone, and where it moved, the ground withered.
A Karma Beast.
Born from collapsed destinies, cursed timelines, and forgotten sins — pulled here from the rift in cause and effect left by the Void Dragon's awakening.
| "It's not from this world, but it's wearing this world like a mask." |
"How strong?"
| "Core realm mimic. But unstable. You break the mask — you break its right to exist." |
Wang Lin rolled his shoulders.
The beast let out no roar, no challenge.
Just silence.
It rushed him.
Faster than anything that size should move.
Wang Lin dodged, sidestepped—
The claws grazed his side, slicing through his outer robe and tearing a shallow cut into his ribs.
He twisted midair, struck with an open palm—
Crushing Palm – Echo Variant.
His strike hit the beast's shoulder.
It barely flinched.
| "It's rejecting physical resistance. Your Qi attacks will only irritate it unless you anchor the strike." |
"Anchor how?"
| "Infuse it with Void Intent." |
Wang Lin's body paused.
He took a slow breath—
And pulled.
From inside.
From the bloodline still stitching itself together with every heartbeat.
Violet light sparked along his skin.
He crouched.
Voidstep.
The ground under him caved in, and he reappeared directly in front of the beast — palm glowing, eyes cold.
The creature tried to dodge—
Too late.
Void Echo – First Release.
He struck.
The energy didn't explode.
It collapsed — folding into the beast like a star imploding. The monster twisted inward with a scream made of a thousand overlapping regrets — and burst into a mist of black dust and flickering white light.
Silence.
Only Wang Lin remained.
Breathing hard.
Alive.
Victorious.
Then—
The wind shifted.
The dust spiraled toward him — not to attack, but to fuse.
It poured into his skin.
His chest.
His bloodline.
And the system responded.
[VOID DRAGON BLOODLINE – TRAIT UNLOCKED]
First Trait: Voidbound • You are now partially disconnected from the mortal karma cycle • Fate threads pass through you without binding • Resistant to oath bindings, fate seals, and destiny-based techniques • Bonus: Voidstep unlocked as permanent mobility skill • Hidden Status: Observed
| "Wang Lin..." |
"I felt it."
| "They saw that. Not just the sect. Not just this realm." |
"I know."
He stood still, looking down at his palm.
Violet embers flickered across his fingertips before fading.
"I'm not just breaking paths anymore…"
"I'm erasing them."
| "Yes. And that makes you something they've never prepared for." |
Far away, on the edge of the Central Sky Palace…
A woman sat before a mirror.
In its surface, she saw Wang Lin — bathed in starlight, breath fogging in the cold, energy pulsing like a heartbeat behind his calm expression.
She smiled.
"Found you," she whispered.
Then vanished.
Back at the sect, Elder Wun Tian stared at a cracked jade slip in his hand. The moment Wang Lin unlocked the Voidbound trait, the seal embedded in the elder's personal formation fractured.
A warning.
A declaration.
The boy was no longer bound by fate.
And no longer touchable by conventional means.
He crushed the jade in silence.
And whispered,
"We need the Blood Order."
Wang Lin returned to the remains of Pavilion Seventeen before sunrise. Silent. Blood drying beneath his robe. Breathing smooth.
He knelt and placed one hand on the ground.
The egg emerged in a shimmer of light.
It hovered before him.
Still closed.
But still listening.
He looked it in the eye again.
And said, softly,
"Whatever you are…"
"Stay with me."
"I'll burn down everything that tries to separate us."
The egg pulsed once.
Then twice.
A promise.
| "And when it hatches…" |
"We won't kneel."
| "No." "We'll rise." |