Crimson Heaven Hunt
The air inside the Domain had turned thick—too thick for breath, too quiet for peace.
Every sound was swallowed before it could echo.
Every light shimmered as though afraid of its own glow.
Lin Xuan stood alone atop a fragment of broken earth floating above a sea of clouds.
The horizon flickered between scarlet and white, as if two worlds struggled to exist in the same sky.
When he exhaled, the fog parted slightly, revealing the shifting landscape below—mountains that bled light, rivers that reversed their flow, and a black sun hanging motionless in the far distance.
"So this is the true core of the Domain…" he murmured, eyes narrowing.
The Divine Ascension Domain was not a mere trial ground.
It was alive.
It watched, it shifted, it remembered.
And tonight, it whispered his name.
A tremor rippled through the air.
Lin Xuan felt it in his bones—six distinct ripples of qi moving in unison.
Each was faint, deliberate, and expertly veiled.
Only someone trained in assassination arts could hide so cleanly.
He crouched, pressing two fingers against the floating slab beneath him.
A pulse of spiritual sense extended outward like invisible threads.
The currents of energy around him changed direction; the Domain itself seemed to respond, carrying faint traces of killing intent through the mist.
> Crimson Sect… and they're using blood sigils to cloak themselves.
Lin Xuan exhaled slowly and adjusted the rhythm of his breathing.
Every inhale drew in the spiritual essence of the Domain.
Every exhale released the turbulence in his mind.
He had learned this technique from a dying wanderer in the outer sect—a man who claimed to have once seen the "Heavenly Gate."
At the time, Lin Xuan had thought it a tale.
Now, standing within this fractured reality, he understood that man's final words:
"The sky is not above you. It's inside you. One day, it will open."
The wind shifted again.
This time, the scent of iron drifted through it.
He turned slightly—and caught the faint shimmer of crimson mist on the far edge of the ridge.
Without hesitation, he moved.
Each step was silent, his qi condensed into the soles of his feet.
His body blurred into a streak of shadow as he slipped between pillars of broken stone and levitating debris.
The air around him thickened, forming faint distortions of space.
It was as if the Domain resisted intrusion, yet also guided his path.
Beneath the distortion, he saw them.
Six figures in blood-red robes, masks glinting faintly under the false sun.
Their movements were unnaturally synchronized, like puppets sharing a single mind.
The Crimson Sect—the cult that slaughtered thousands in the lower realms and vanished into legend.
Even among ancient sects, their name carried weight.
They worshipped not Heaven, but the Fractured Emperor, a being said to have stolen half of Heaven's authority before being cast into the void.
Their purpose here could only mean one thing—
They sought the same fragment now buried within Lin Xuan's chest.
He retreated slightly and scanned their formation.
Their leader—a tall man with silver embroidery on his sleeves—walked at the center.
The others moved around him in a perfect hexagon, each one tracing faint runes with their fingers.
Lin Xuan recognized the pattern.
A Blood Echo Formation.
Designed for one purpose: to hunt cultivators with unstable soul energy.
"They're not after the Domain…" he whispered. "They're after me."
The realization chilled him, but it also lit a spark behind his calm eyes.
He had been hunted before—but never by something this coordinated.
He closed his eyes for a heartbeat.
The fragment inside his body pulsed faintly—once, twice—like a heartbeat out of sync with his own.
Then the world slowed.
---
The leader of the assassins stopped walking.
"Target within sixty breaths," he said flatly.
"Activate phase two."
They fanned out, their bodies dissolving into streams of blood-colored mist.
The mist slithered through the cracks in reality itself, moving faster than sight.
But Lin Xuan had already moved.
His figure flickered, dissolving into shadows.
He reappeared behind a floating boulder hundreds of meters away, crouched low, hand pressed to his chest.
The fragment's pulse had changed—stronger, but erratic.
Every time it throbbed, his vision blurred.
He could feel the Domain bending in response to it, as though reality itself listened when the fragment stirred.
"Not yet," he whispered. "If I unleash it too soon, Heaven will sense me."
He reached into his sleeve and drew out a slender jade token.
The surface shimmered faintly with ancient symbols.
This token had belonged to his master—the last remnant of the Heavenly Attribute Collector Sect, long erased from history.
He channeled his qi through it, and the jade token hummed softly, projecting a thin net of light across the air.
The symbols began aligning themselves, linking with the Domain's unstable structure.
"Come," he murmured, eyes cold. "Let's see which of us the heavens will favor tonight."
The air behind him shivered.
A whisper like rusted steel brushing silk reached his ear.
"Found you."
He moved instinctively.
A spear of condensed blood energy tore through where his chest had been an instant ago, detonating in a burst of scarlet light.
The blast shattered the floating stone beneath him, scattering debris into the void.
Lin Xuan landed lightly on another fragment below, dust swirling around him.
The first assassin materialized out of the mist, spear spinning, crimson qi coiling around his arm like living fire.
Four more shadows appeared above, surrounding him in a ring.
Each raised a weapon—sword, chain, staff, dagger—all forged from the same red energy.
Their leader stepped forward, voice calm and detached.
"Orders are clear," he said.
"No survivors. The fragment returns to the Sect."
Lin Xuan smiled faintly, eyes cold.
"Then you've already failed."
He took one deliberate step backward.
The air beneath his foot shimmered—and exploded into light.
The Formation Field activated.
Runes blazed across the floating ground, forming a massive circle of jade and silver.
The assassins froze as the Domain itself responded, feeding power into the formation.
Chains of translucent light erupted from the symbols, wrapping around two of the attackers before they could react.
Their screams were muffled as the chains burned through their bodies, drawing their essence into the Domain.
Lin Xuan thrust his palm forward.
The jade token pulsed in his grip.
"Seal."
The command echoed like thunder.
The chains tightened, dragging the captured assassins into the earth—then the light swallowed them whole.
Nothing remained but silence and the faint smell of scorched iron.
The remaining three hesitated.
Then they blurred into motion—splitting in three directions, attacking from every angle.
Lin Xuan parried the first strike, blade ringing.
The second came from behind; he twisted, catching it on the flat of his weapon.
But the third came not from a direction, but from beneath.
The ground itself ruptured as a blood-colored rune detonated.
The explosion hurled him backward, slamming him into a wall of floating stone.
Pain rippled through his ribs.
He coughed once, tasted iron, and grinned.
"So you can adapt."
He flicked the blood off his lips and let his sword dissolve into motes of light.
The assassins approached cautiously, sensing something shift in the air.
The fragment inside Lin Xuan's chest glowed faintly, veins of golden light tracing his skin.
The ground around him warped—the jade formation beginning to rewrite itself.
Then came the voice.
Deep. Resonant. Not his own.
"Do you wish to command the Domain, bearer of the fragment?"
Lin Xuan's breath caught.
"Command?"
"The Domain responds to the Emperor's will. You carry his mark. Speak, and it shall obey."
He hesitated for a fraction of a second.
Then he said, quietly: "Bind."
The world obeyed.
From the sky, hundreds of luminous chains rained down like falling stars.
Each one struck with divine precision, weaving itself into a prison of light around the assassins.
They screamed—not in pain, but in disbelief—as the chains dissolved their bodies into motes of red dust.
The last one tried to flee, transforming into pure blood mist—but even that mist froze midair, crystallizing into rubies before shattering.
Silence fell again.
Lin Xuan dropped to one knee, gasping.
The light faded from his veins.
His vision dimmed at the edges.
The fragment's power withdrew, leaving only exhaustion behind.
His hand trembled as he steadied himself on the shattered stone.
"You wield what you cannot control," the ancient voice whispered inside his mind.
"Each use invites Heaven's gaze."
He stared at his palm.
The faint golden sigils pulsed once, then vanished.
"Then I'll make Heaven blink first," he said softly.
Far above, in the Observation Hall, reality rippled.
A dozen figures stood within a transparent dome of light, watching the events unfold like reflections on water.
They were not mortals—they were Envoys, observers from the higher realms sent to judge the Domain's candidates.
One of them, a scholar in grey robes, spoke first.
"He's commanding the Domain directly. That's… impossible. Only a realm-lord could—"
"Not impossible," interrupted the woman at the center.
Her robes shimmered like sunlight reflected on water, her hair silver as moonlight.
She watched the boy with unblinking golden eyes.
"I have seen that resonance before," she murmured.
"When the First Emperor defied ascension and tore open the Heavenly Veil."
The other Envoys turned sharply toward her, shocked.
"You mean—he bears that mark?"
She smiled faintly.
"Perhaps. Let them hunt him. Heaven will decide whether he is heir… or heretic."
Back within the Domain, the sky rumbled faintly.
The false sun dimmed, turning a deeper shade of crimson.
Lin Xuan pushed himself to his feet, the echoes of the battle fading behind him.
The air felt heavier now—charged with unseen intent.
He could sense movement in the distance, dozens of qi signatures converging from all directions.
The Crimson Sect had not sent six assassins.
They had sent an army.
He sheathed his sword, eyes narrowing toward the northern storm.
Lightning crackled there—scarlet, not gold.
"So be it," he whispered. "You want the shard? Then come take it."
The wind caught his words and carried them into the shifting sky.
For a moment, the Domain itself seemed to respond—its endless horizon trembling faintly, as though amused.
Somewhere in the unseen distance, an ancient voice laughed—a sound older than mountains, colder than time.
And so began the Crimson Heaven Hunt