The ocean beyond the East Sea was a graveyard of ambitions. Here, empires rose on coral thrones only to be crushed by tides stronger than any king. Taiyi walked alone, sword at his waist, blindfold hiding eyes that no longer sought light.
His arrival at the Sable Abyss did not go unnoticed. The Sovereign of the Abyss, Lord Heiyu, had ruled for centuries. His palace of black coral and jagged pearl spires was guarded by eel-dragons with jaws like spears.
When Taiyi entered, Heiyu's laughter echoed through the waters.
"A blind wanderer dares step into my domain? The tales must be lies. They say you felled the Leviathan of the Deep and cut through the fleets of seven kingdoms. Let us see if rumor is stronger than the abyss!"
The Sovereign raised his trident, its three blades glowing with abyssal runes. Around him, the sea churned as if obeying his will.
Taiyi, calm as still water, drew his blade.
"I do not fight for thrones, nor for glory. But if you bar my path… then I will cut you down."
The duel began.
Heiyu surged forward, trident unleashing "Tidebreak Annihilation"—a technique that summoned whirlpools sharp enough to slice coral mountains to dust. The currents spiraled, dragging Taiyi into a crushing vortex.
Taiyi stepped once. His sword drew a single arc—"Silent Current Severance."
The whirlpool split in two, collapsing into harmless bubbles. The surrounding soldiers gasped. They had never seen anyone cut water itself.
Heiyu's eyes gleamed with malice.
"Good. But the abyss devours all."
The Sovereign vanished into shadow, merging with the deep. His trident struck from blind angles, each blow infused with "Shadow Abyss Thrust", a style meant to skewer prey before they even sensed danger.
Yet Taiyi was blind, and blindness was his strength.
He closed his breath, heart steady. Each strike of the trident was heard—not seen. The vibration of the sea, the cry of coral splitting, the faint ripple of killing intent.
Taiyi's sword flashed, intercepting every unseen thrust. He responded with his own technique—"Moonless Cut." A formless strike, impossible to predict, aimed not at where the enemy was, but where his intent would travel.
The Sovereign reeled, scales split open. Blood blackened the waters.
"Impossible!" Heiyu roared. "You fight as if the ocean itself whispers to you!"
"It does," Taiyi said softly. "And it tells me you are loud, clumsy, and afraid."
---
Driven to fury, the Sovereign unleashed his ultimate art: "Crown of the Drowning Emperor." His trident shone with abyssal light as he conjured a colossal wave, a dome of crushing water that sought to entomb Taiyi forever.
The weight of the sea pressed down like a mountain. Entire coral towers collapsed under its force. The Abyss Kingdom's soldiers fell to their knees, unable to breathe beneath their lord's divine tide.
But Taiyi stood unshaken.
He lifted his blade in both hands, breath sharp as lightning.
"This is the abyss? Then I will cut it open."
His sword shone with a pale, eerie light.
"Blind Heaven Severance."
The slash did not merely cut water—it divided reality itself. The dome shattered, the sea split apart as if a canyon had opened. The trident snapped in two, the Sovereign's crown burst into shards, and his body was cleaved from chest to tail.
Silence followed. Then panic. Then kneeling.
The soldiers of the abyss lowered their heads. None dared look upon the blind swordsman, for his presence alone suffocated them more than the Sovereign's tide had.
Taiyi turned and left without a word, blood trailing faintly from his side.
Heiyu's corpse sank into darkness, but Taiyi's name rose like a storm.
The Blind Fang. The Wandering Sword.
The predator who could not be stopped.
And still, amid his victories, the name burned:
Tie Ling.
---
Above the mortal lands, the Phoenix Realm broke free from its ancient seal. For the first time in centuries, phoenix flames spread across the skies.
But the realm they reclaimed was not theirs alone. Fire clans had risen in their absence—beasts of flame and ash who had declared themselves kings.
The most fearsome among them was the Serpent Lord Yanlong, whose scales were forged from molten rock, whose venom dripped like liquid fire. He ruled with the technique "Inferno Coil," binding entire mountains in serpentine flame.
When Feng Jiu rose as Phoenix Queen, he laughed.
"A child dares claim the throne of fire? Little bird, return to your ashes."
Feng Jiu spread her wings. Her crown glowed like a miniature sun.
"If fire does not obey me, then I will burn even fire itself."
The war began.
---
Yanlong's body coiled through the skies, his "Inferno Coil" surrounding her in an endless storm of serpentine fire. Flames shaped like dragons bit and tore, collapsing mountain peaks.
Feng Jiu answered with "Nine Feathers Blaze." Each beat of her wings unleashed a feather of pure flame, exploding upon contact with the serpent's coils. The air became a storm of firestorms, sky burning brighter than day.
The Phoenix and Serpent clashed in midair, their roars shaking heaven.
---
Yanlong shifted tactics. His fangs dripped venom, each drop igniting like magma upon falling. He unleashed his killing art: "Thousand Venom Rain."
The venom fell like a storm of meteors, scorching the Phoenix army below. Soldiers screamed as the poison spread through flame, burning not only flesh but also spirit.
Feng Jiu's eyes blazed with wrath. She called forth her heartfire—"Undying Flame Lotus."
A lotus of fire bloomed above her army, each petal shielding her kin from the poison's touch. The venom struck, but the lotus devoured it, turning corruption into light.
"Your poison is nothing before rebirth," she declared.
---
Yanlong, desperate, merged with the volcanoes below, drawing upon earth-fire itself. His body grew colossal, scales like molten mountains, eyes rivers of lava.
"I am fire!" he bellowed. "No bird can claim it from me!"
Feng Jiu rose, her true form igniting. Wings spanned a thousand li, every feather a pillar of flame.
Her voice rang like thunder.
"Then behold fire's true sovereign!"
She summoned her ultimate art—"Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana."
From her body erupted a storm of immortal flames, so bright they burned away even the sun's light. The serpent's molten body writhed and screamed, scales cracking, flesh disintegrating until he was nothing but ash scattered in the wind.
When the flames cleared, Feng Jiu descended, her crown of fire shining upon her brow. Her people knelt, their voices rising in unison.
"All hail the Phoenix Queen!"
The clans of flame, once divided, bent the knee. Even the renegades who had spat on the Phoenix name trembled before her might. The skies belonged to her.
---
In the abyss, Taiyi stood upon corpses of kings.
In the skies, Feng Jiu stood upon the ashes of serpents.
Both bore crowns of power—one of silence, one of flame.
Both carried scars unseen.
Both whispered the same name in the dark.
Tie Ling.
The world trembled, for sword and fire were carving a path toward destiny, and when they finally met, heaven and earth would not remain unchanged.