Morning skies over Luoshui Village were still heavy with mist when the corpse rose.
For three days, Ye Lin's body had lain stiff on a wooden plank, surrounded by death flowers and smoldering incense. The village elders had just finished tying red cords around the corpse the final rite before burial when his frozen heart suddenly thundered back to life.
BANG.
The sound was like a gong struck from inside a coffin.
People screamed, stumbling back in fear.
Only one man remained still a cultivator from the Venomous Leaf Sect, robed in green, passing through by chance. His narrowed eyes gleamed with suspicion.
"Corpse revival?" he muttered, right hand already forming a poison seal. "Or a demon in disguise?"
Inside the Inner World, Ye Lin watched everything unfold through crystal eyes grown on the walls of the giant heart where his soul now resided.
As his physical body rose in the outer world, he felt the laws of nature rebel against him:
The air refused to fill his lungs.
Sunlight scorched his pale skin.
Even the earth beneath his feet trembled in protest.
But the strangest was the Qi the spiritual energy all cultivators relied on fleeing from him like terrified animals.
"Unbelievable," growled his half-melted shadow, sprawled across the Inner World's floor.
"These tiny energies dare run from you?"
Outside, the Venomous Leaf cultivator lost his patience.
"Undead must be destroyed!" he roared, leaping forward, his poisoned palm striking.
Ye Lin still stiff like a wooden puppet only managed to lift one arm.
But then, something unexpected happened:
His black blood boiled and formed a thin shield.
His rib cracked, but...
The poison Qi was absorbed into his skin, drawn down into the Inner World like water into a drain.
[AUTOMATIC DEFENSE: ACTIVE]
[FOREIGN ENERGY ABSORBED: 3%]
[WARNING: CONTAMINATED QI]
The cultivator's eyes widened. "What ?!"
Ye Lin didn't hesitate.
His new instincts as a Boundary Keeper kicked in before his thoughts could catch up.
His now-clawed hand grabbed the cultivator's wrist and began to drain.
"No—!" the man screamed as his Qi was pulled from him. "You're not a cultivator… you're a monster!"
In the Inner World, Ye Lin's shadow cackled madly, dancing among the glass flowers filled with memories.
"LOOK!" it cried, pointing toward a pool of blood.
"THEY'RE AFRAID OF YOU!"
The image showed the Venomous Leaf Sect a group of green-robed cultivators frozen at the village's edge, their faces pale with fear.
But Ye Lin had no time to process it.
From his back, something began tearing through skin and bone:
Two enormous wings, shaped like butterfly wings but forged from living iron, burst forth with a sickening sound.
Each movement left behind streaks of blood-red light in the air.
[UNEXPECTED FUNCTION: UNLOCKED]
[BOUNDARY HERITAGE: IRON BUTTERFLY]
The cultivator screamed in terror as one wing sliced through the air like a blade severing the hand still held by Ye Lin.
"RUN!" he screamed to his companions as he fell.
"TELL THE PATRIARCH! THE BOUNDARY KEEPER HAS AWAKENED!"
As the villagers scattered in panic, Ye Lin felt the world rejecting him further:
Grass beneath his feet withered and died.
Sunlight bent away, keeping him in shadow.
Even the wind refused to touch his skin.
But the most terrifying were the whispers from his iron wings:
"WE ARE HUNGRY"
"FEED US"
"FEED US QI... FEED US LIFE..."
Ye Lin looked into the blood pool—his reflection now had red eyes, and golden circuit-like lines crawling across his face.
"Damn it," he growled. "I just came back, and I'm already being hunted?"
His shadow laughed wide and wild.
"WELCOME TO THE CULTIVATION WORLD, NEW KEEPER!"