The Beast Ancestral Lands were vast, a realm of primeval bloodlines where every step was heavy with the aura of ancient predators. Phoenixes had once roamed this place as rulers of the skies, but the centuries of exile had dimmed their fire. Now, Feng Jiu had led her clan back — and the land itself seemed to question whether she was worthy.
The Beast Sanctum stood at the very heart of the realm, carved into the bones of an ancient dragon. Its colossal skull had been hollowed into a palace, each tooth engraved with beast runes. The aura that pressed down on all who entered was suffocating.
Upon the throne of black jade sat the Dragon King, scales like obsidian armor, eyes glimmering with a molten hue.
When Feng Jiu walked in, flames danced faintly behind her steps, but her voice was calm.
"Your majesty, I come to this place bearing gifts from my clan."
The Dragon King tilted his head, gaze piercing.
"You are bold. What do you want?"
"Nothing much. A place for my people to stay as I search for answers to mysteries that still haunt my bloodline."
A long silence followed, heavy as chains. The Dragon King leaned forward, his presence filling the hall.
"You are no ordinary phoenix. Four bloodlines stir within you — Vermilion Flame, Nirvana Fire, Golden Sun, and Scarlet Blood. But you have only awakened fragments. A child with the shadow of an emperor's flame dares stroll my realm claiming strength?"
Feng Jiu's eyes glowed faintly.
"That should be none of your concern. Weak or not, I am strong enough to face what is coming."
The Dragon King smirked.
"Then what benefit does the Beast Sanctum gain from this… hospitality?"
Her gaze sharpened.
"What do you want?"
The hall fell silent as his lips curved into a cruel smile.
"You. I want to take you as my concubine."
For an instant, the world froze.
The Phoenix Queen stood utterly still. Then her aura erupted like an inferno.
But just as her power surged, something broke loose inside her mind.
She staggered, her consciousness slipping. Darkness swallowed her sight, replaced by visions — broken shards of memory that were not memories at all but fragments of a battlefield.
Endless corpses. Rivers of fire. Screams that echoed across heavens and earth.
And in the center of it all — a silver-haired young man, his sword dripping with divine light, his back to her, his form shielding something unseen.
Her chest tightened. Her flames twisted with confusion and pain.
When she opened her eyes, she was back in the palace. But it was no longer the same.
The throne of bone was gone, reduced to cinders. The jade tiles beneath her feet were cracked and molten. The once-mighty Dragon King stood before her, half his scales shattered, blood seeping from wounds that refused to heal.
Around them, beast generals knelt, trembling with fear. None dared to speak.
The Dragon King's voice was hoarse, edged with fury and something deeper — fear.
"You… what are you?"
Feng Jiu blinked, her aura still raging unconsciously. But her mind was blank.
"What happened?" she asked, genuine confusion in her tone.
The silence was deafening. Even her own clansmen standing outside the sanctum lowered their heads, unable to meet her gaze.
The Dragon King's molten eyes narrowed. For a heartbeat, his killing intent surged, but it faltered. He had seen something in those flames — something that terrified even him.
"It's nothing," he finally muttered. His massive body dissolved into motes of golden light as he vanished. Not merely leaving the sanctum, but vanishing from the ancestral lands altogether.
Across the beast realm, powerful bloodlines stirred as they felt his absence. For the Dragon King to retreat — something greater than war was about to begin.
Feng Jiu stood alone amidst the ashes, her heart pounding. Though she could not remember what she had done, she knew one thing with certainty:
The power inside me… it's not entirely mine.
---
Far below the heavens, beneath the sealed skies, the East Sea churned with endless storms. Taiyi had walked for years, carving his way through the dangerous depths, battling leviathans, serpent kings, and abyssal emperors.
Now he stood before the most dreaded place in all the seas — The Black Lightning Trench.
Legends said this abyss was a scar left from the ancient battlefield itself, where heaven's wrath struck the ocean and left lightning imprisoned for eternity. Countless cultivators had entered seeking to cross, but few ever returned. Those who did were mad, their bodies branded with marks of thunder that slowly devoured their souls.
Taiyi tightened the blindfold across his eyes. The sea howled before him, black lightning tearing through the currents. Each bolt was thick as a mountain pillar, tearing apart even the void it struck.
He inhaled deeply. The faint scent of blood still lingered on his robes from his duel with Ao Shen. His body was injured, his meridians strained, but his resolve was sharper than ever.
"One path forward." He drew his sword. The blade hummed faintly, eager.
"If lightning wishes to stop me, then I will cut lightning itself."
He stepped forward.
At once, a thunderclap roared. A bolt of black lightning struck him, shattering the seabed beneath. Taiyi's body convulsed, blood seeping from his lips. But he did not fall.
Instead, he swung his blade in a wide arc—"Heaven-Sunder Cut." The lightning fractured, scattering like broken glass.
But another bolt came, then another. Soon he was surrounded. Black lightning coiled like serpents, fangs of thunder biting into his skin.
He gritted his teeth, forcing his body forward one step at a time.
Each strike seared his flesh, yet his sword danced relentlessly.
"Silent Current Severance."
"Moonless Cut."
"Blind Heaven Severance."
Every technique carved a path through the storm, each strike more refined, sharper, deadlier.
Yet with every cut, visions intruded.
The battlefield again. Screams of gods and demons alike. Silver hair flashing beneath heaven's wrath. His own hand gripping a sword drenched in divine blood.
He stumbled, clutching his chest.
"Why… do these visions haunt me?"
The sea answered with more lightning.
His aura flared. A cold, unyielding determination surged.
"I am not afraid. Not of storms. Not of my past. If fate blocks me, I will cut it down!"
He unleashed his blade one final time, channeling all his pain, rage, and resolve.
"Sword of the Blind Heaven!"
The trench shook. Lightning parted, a rift carved through endless storms.
Taiyi's body collapsed to one knee, blood staining the waters, but his path was open.
He looked ahead — toward a shore he had never seen. His lips curved into the faintest smile, though his eyes beneath the blindfold were unreadable.
"I will walk this path… until the truth of my sword is revealed."
---
Above, Feng Jiu's flames shook the Beast Sanctum.
Below, Taiyi's sword carved through thunder itself.
Both had glimpsed fragments of the battlefield that tied them.
Both stood on paths that no longer allowed retreat.
And though neither knew it, their fates had begun circling toward one another again — like fire and sword bound by an unbroken thread of destiny.
---