The Abyss Tower appeared as if it would be a death sentence. The massive black stone entrance swallowed the sound, and the glowing runes carved into the stone seemed to pulse like an open mouth, wanting to claim another life. The guards dragged Lin Xuan to the door and didn't care about his panicked expression.
He struggled despite the glowing chains around his wrists. "No—no, don't! Don't send me in there!" Desperation coated every word, his voice cracked. His knees grazed the cold stone surface, his body shaking, memories of burning flesh erupting through his mind. "Please! Someone! Anyone! I didn't do it... I didn't!"
The guards didn't even look at him. To them, this was just another task, another sinner thrown into eternal damnation. One of them pulled the scarlet lever, and the gate slowly opened with a low, grinding growl. Moreover, Lin Xuan already sensed the heat surging forth like the exhalation of an active inferno.
The fire welcomed him before his body had even crossed the threshold. His face contorted in fear, recalling every second of his previous demise. Tears filled his eyes as he was dragged across the glowing line of seals.
The guards shoved him in without hesitation. He fell down forward, catching himself with his hands. The gate boomed shut behind him with the sound of a coffin sealing.
Silence.
And then… heat.
The cavern floor glowed red, molten (It looked like a sea of fire hardened and turned to stone). The air wavered with heat, and each breath felt like razors cutting into his lungs. Fire hung in the air itself, effortlessly tearing itself to his skin like invisible claws.
It was exactly as before. The cursed flames would eat him until not even bones remained.
"No… no, not again." Lin Xuan staggered back against the black wall of the tower. His shaking hands pressed into the stone. His heart hammered in his chest. "Not again! Is there no justice in this world?! I was framed—yet heaven won't defend me, my master won't defend me… am I really that worthless?!"
His voice cracked, raw and hoarse. He screamed into the burning air, his throat already searing from heat. "If the gods exist… do you enjoy this? Do you turn a blind eye while wicked people prosper and the innocent are destroyed?"
A searing pain radiated across his arm; the skin was already starting to redden, small blisters rising up from the heat. His fingers dug into the ground and began to bleed; his voice trembled. "At least let me die once… not again and again in the same way. Please!"
Just as the flames seemed ready to swallow him whole—
Time stopped.
The flames froze midair. The waves of heat collapsed into silence. Even Lin Xuan's ragged breathing stilled, yet he was still conscious, still aware.
And then—
"Ding!"
A clear chime resounded in his ears like crystal shattering. A calm, emotionless but powerful voice spoke inside his head.
"Host detected."
Lin Xuan's eyes flew wide. His body stiffened. He turned his head wildly, though everything around him was frozen in stillness. "Who… who is talking?!"
The voice echoed again, each word landing firmly in his skull.
"Binding successful. Host, I am your Check-In System. From this moment onward, you are my bearer. Each day, you may check in once for rewards to aid your cultivation journey."
Lin Xuan stared blankly, breathing uneven. "System? Check… in?" His voice cracked halfway. "I… am losing my mind, aren't I? Burning to death so many times… maybe this is a hallucination."
But the voice didn't fade.
"New host detected. Initializing newbie gift pack. Do you wish to open it?"
His throat tightened. Hope sparked faintly against the darkness flooding his mind. This wasn't his imagination. This was something real—something he hadn't experienced before, not even in his last death.
"Yes!" His voice cracked with urgency. "Open it! Whatever it is—open it!"
There was a pause.
Then, again, the calm chime:
"Ding! Congratulations, host. You have obtained the Supreme Bone. Would you like to begin merging?"
Lin Xuan's heart stopped. His breath caught. Supreme Bone? A rare constitution, a divine gift that elevated one's destiny? Could it be—something even more powerful than the Chaos Bone he lost before?
He didn't even hesitate. "Yes—merge it now!"
The moment the words left his lips, agony exploded within him.
He screamed. His body arched backward as if struck by lightning. The ground beneath him cracked from how violently his body thrashed. It was worse… far worse than burning alive.
His skin moved under him like he was covered in thousands of ants. His bones broke apart and reformed, softly glowing in colors he couldn't begin to comprehend. His marrow burned hot with streams of fire boiling the blood in his veins. Pain attacked him from every direction and tore him apart side to side.
He screamed as he dug his claws into his own torso. "AHHHHH!"
The sound of the scream carried into the quietness of the frozen world around him. He coughed, blood rolled, he rolled into and to the ground, hitting his own head against the stone, anything to take away from the pain. Pain that did not make sense.
Minutes... hours... eternities later, he laid in a pile soaking in his own sweat, blood, and tears. His throat was battered. He could only mutter out a weak whisper, "System... why did you not warn me?"
"…System?" He trembled. "Why won't you answer me? At least… say something! Damn it, why aren't you saying anything?!"
No response. The system had gone mute, coldly ignoring his pitiful shouts.
Finally, the world shifted again. Time resumed its flow. The flames returned with a roar—and this time, Lin Xuan braced himself for death once more.
But the pain didn't come.
Instead, as the flames licked at his skin, a faint golden glow emanated from his bones. The fire struck him, but it rolled off like water spilling over glass. The inferno that had melted him to ash last time now only burned faintly, like standing too close to a kitchen stove.
Lin Xuan gasped. For the first time, he wasn't dying.
The System's voice finally returned, calm and mechanical:
"The Supreme Bone has successfully merged. Effect: Natural resistance against elemental environments—80%. Cultivation speed dramatically increased when in contact with natural energy sources such as fire, water, ice, thunder, wind, or earth."
Dumbfounded, Lin Xuan looked down at his own hands, trembling. A faint glow pulsed within his body, inside every limb. His despair slowly melted into a rising, trembling joy.
"I… I survived the flames. I'm alive!" His voice broke, but his lips curved into a smile even as tears ran down his face. "Heaven… finally gave me a chance."
Lin Xuan forced himself to his feet. Around him, the red cavern stretched endlessly. His eyes adjusted now that heat wasn't killing him, and he saw what had been invisible before.
Bones. Charred, broken skeletons littered the floor. Each one belonged to a disciple or criminal cast here to die. Their jaws hung open as if still screaming. Some retained traces of Qi condensation, broken cores glinting faintly among ashes.
Even the strongest had turned to dust here.
And yet, now, Lin Xuan sat among them without burning.
His breath trembled out slowly. He sat cross-legged by a stone and closed his eyes. Finally, for the first time since losing his Chaos Bone, he tried to sense Qi once more.
To his astonishment, the flames encircling him were not an affliction—but a blessing. The quality of the fire pooled in his body, it held onto him, and it gave him power. Thanks to the Supreme Bone, it hurt him no longer—it gave him sustenance and energy.
Like a starving man tasting food after years, he devoured it hungrily. Spirals of flame entered his veins, warming him from within. His closed eyes shook as his consciousness dipped into a state of focus.
Cracks echoed faintly. Meridians long shattered by the removal of his Chaos Bone re-knit themselves, toughened under the Supreme Bone's glow. His dantian, which had been empty, awakened once again.
Hours passed before his eyes opened.
"Qi Condensation—Stage One."
He exhaled, steam erupting from his lips. His heart pounded with exhilaration. After everything, after despair upon despair—he had returned to cultivation.
His smile dimmed as realization struck him. "Wait… I haven't checked in yet."
Almost instantly, the mechanical voice chimed in his head.
"Ding! Daily Check-In detected. Congratulations, host—you have received a Level 7 Qi Condensation Breakthrough Pill."
Lin Xuan froze. He read the words again and again in his mind, as if afraid they would vanish. "…Level 7?"
The voice continued without pause.
"This pill, once consumed, will instantly refine and stabilize host's spirit root, upgrading host directly to the seventh level of Qi Condensation."
His lips trembled. His chest shook. He sat upright, holding back raw laughter.
"Hahaha… Heaven! Heaven finally looks at me again! Lin Shan, juniors, Master… Sect Master… you threw me here to die! But I… I will climb out of hell itself!"
He didn't hesitate. He swallowed the pill.
A powerful wave of energy swept into his abdomen and spread through his veins like an enraged dragon charging. The pain returned, but it was the pain of re-birth; meridians ruptured and re-knitted with an even greater strength. His dantian overflowed with the reckoning of spirit essence, causing unrehearsed vorts of energy to erupt from within.
Sounds like cracking porcelain flooded his being as it broke and reforged. He gripped his fists tightly and bared down like he was weathering astorm. Each moment passed, the energy exalted him, stronger and faster.
"One… two… three…!" He roared with every breakthrough. "Four… five… six… seven!"
In less than a day, the abandoned cripple, the false criminal, climbed back to the seventh stage of Qi Condensation.
His body shone subtly. His eyes sparkled red, mirroring the fire. For the first time in years, Lin Xuan's chest was filled with something he had long since pushed away.
Hope.
He exhaled heavily, his trembling hands curling into fists. "This time… I will not forgive. None of you believed me. None of you saved me. You wanted me dead, forgotten." His voice lowered, his tone sharp as steel.
"But I… will survive."
"And then… I will make the Azure Sky Sect remember the Holy Son they abandoned."