The Vein-Breaker's carcass underwent a grotesque transformation the moment life left its eyes. The dark-purple crystal clusters lost their luster, dissolving into pools of foul-smelling black sludge that hissed as they seeped into the fissures of the rock floor.
Gu Hanzhou held the fist-sized crystal core, feeling the violent, raw energy vibrating within. He didn't rush to absorb it. Instead, he tucked it into a hidden pocket of his tattered coat and turned his gaze toward the depths of the tunnel.
In the direction from which the monster had emerged, the darkness was no longer absolute. A dim, blood-red luminescence pulsed from the shadows, beckoning him.
He followed the light for nearly a hundred meters before the claustrophobic tunnel suddenly opened up.
Gu Hanzhou gasped. He was no longer in a mine shaft. He was standing in a gargantuan subterranean dome—a cathedral of stone buried beneath miles of industrial rot. The walls were covered from floor to ceiling in intricate bas-relief carvings. These weren't the historical triumphs of human city-states, nor were they the totems of the Nightborn clans. They were scenes that threatened to shatter Gu Hanzhou's very understanding of the world.
On the walls, the sky was depicted as broken glass. Massive, celestial chains descended from a void, binding a royal court that floated among the clouds. Below that court, all living things—human and Nightborn alike—knelt in unison, trembling under the shadow of those chains.
"The Remnant Court of the Old Night..."
Gu Hanzhou whispered the words inscribed at the base of the nearest carving. The syllables seemed to explode in his mind, triggering a sharp, needle-like pain behind his eyes.
In the center of the hall stood a fractured stone statue. Its face was weathered into oblivion, leaving only a broad-shouldered torso and a single, down-turned hand. Resting in the palm of that stone hand was an ancient oil lamp.
The wick had long since died out, but the reservoir was filled with a pool of viscous, dark-gold blood.
The Order Sigil on Gu Hanzhou's chest began to throb with a frantic intensity. Even the [Black Order] Tang Dao in his hand let out an excited, low-frequency hum. The sections of the blade where the rust had fallen away began to glow with a faint, predatory light.
He approached the statue. As he stepped within three paces, a desolate and majestic aura slammed into him, as if time itself had slowed to a crawl in this sacred space.
"This isn't ordinary blood."
Gu Hanzhou could sense it clearly. The dark-gold liquid in the lamp contained a form of "Order" that was pure, ancient, and absolute. It was worlds apart from the chaotic, toxic dregs he had absorbed in the Waste Pit. This energy was calm, but it possessed an undeniable, sovereign pressure—the kind that demanded submission.
He reached out his hand. His fingertips hovered just inches above the golden liquid, and he hesitated.
In the Order Realm, the more refined a power was, the more terrifying the "Karmic Debt" it carried.
Suddenly, a faint click echoed from the high ceiling of the dome.
Gu Hanzhou snapped his head up.
High in a corner of the vaulted ceiling, a black metallic sphere floated silently. A red electronic eye flickered on its surface, scanning the room. It was an [Eye of Order]—the specialized surveillance tech used by the Inquisition.
Lin Xiu had never intended for him to walk out of here. This "Rift" was an ancient site the Inquisition had been hunting for years. Gu Hanzhou was never a pioneer; he was "Live Bait," sent in to clear the traps and draw out the monsters so the Legion could swoop in and claim the prize.
Once Lin Xiu confirmed the secrets within, the entire site would be purged with the Legion's cleansing fire.
"There is no way back."
Gu Hanzhou's gaze turned ruthless. He stopped hesitating and plunged his hand into the lamp, his fingers making contact with the pool of dark-gold blood.
BOOM—!
The air in the hall froze.
The gold blood didn't just coat his fingers; it surged upward, flowing against gravity and burrowing into his skin with violent hunger. Gu Hanzhou felt as if a white-hot iron rod had been driven through his entire right arm. The blood in his veins began to roar, clashing with the new intruder.
The simple, hook-shaped sigil on his chest began to tear itself apart, screaming under the influx of the ancient power.
Crack! Snap!
It was the sound of reality shattering. The dark-gold blood was systematically grinding his old vessels into dust, rebuilding his entire biological structure into something stronger, something more perfect.
Gu Hanzhou collapsed to his knees, his fingers clawing into the stone floor until his nails shattered.
"AAAAAAAGH!"
A primal, agonizing roar echoed through the silent cathedral.
The sigil on his chest expanded, branching out into a complex, intricate pattern that resembled a jagged crown. The veins beneath his skin turned a blinding gold for a fleeting second before vanishing into the depths of his flesh.
Awakening Phase: Peak Stage.
Not only had he reached the limit of the first realm, but his stamina—previously drained to the dregs—was instantly refilled. His sensory range expanded exponentially. He could now feel the tremors in the earth above him. He could sense Lin Xiu standing at the tunnel entrance, surrounded by a squad of armored Adjudicators, coldly preparing to ignite a massive array of demolition charges.
Gu Hanzhou slowly stood up. Deep within his pupils, two faint, dark-gold chain patterns flickered before fading.
He looked down at [Black Order].
The blade had absorbed a portion of the golden blood as well. The final layer of stubborn rust shattered like glass, falling away to reveal a blade that was pitch-black, thin as a cicada's wing, and etched with gold veins that radiated a suffocating sense of slaughter.
He gripped the hilt and felt a sense of unity he had never known. The sword was no longer a tool; it was a part of his soul.
"Lin Xiu."
Gu Hanzhou whispered the name, a cold, predatory smile curling his lips.
He didn't choose the path back. Instead, he closed his eyes and sensed a microscopic rift in the laws of space behind a section of the wall carvings—a secret passage hidden behind the reliefs. According to his new, expanded perception, it led directly to the Legion's Armory in the upper levels of the Night Furnace District.
He wasn't going to run.
In this dark world where humans and Nightborn coexisted in a cycle of cruelty, if he was meant to be a "consumable," then he would show those high-and-mighty Adjudicators a simple truth:
When a madman grasps the sovereign power of a dead era, the fires he lights will burn their entire "Order" to ash.
He turned, his black tattered coat snapping in the wind generated by his own aura.
[Black Order] was sheathed.
Gu Hanzhou's silhouette vanished into the secret passage just as a series of earth-shattering explosions rocked the dome. Massive fireballs descended from the ceiling, burying the statue and the altar in a sea of cleansing flame.
Standing far above in the mining tunnel, Lin Xiu watched the signal on his screen vanish. He casually shut the device down.
"Just another piece of fuel," he remarked casually. "Let's move. Report to high command that the site has been successfully purged."
However, Lin Xiu failed to notice one thing. The Inquisition collar around his neck—the symbol of his absolute authority—had developed a tiny, inexplicable crack.
It was the first mocking laugh of a ghost from the old era, directed at the Order of the new world.